David D. Newsom, 90, the third-ranking official at the State Department and a central figure during the Iran hostage crisis of 1980, died March 30 of respiratory failure at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
Soon after Washington was alerted that the embassy was being overrun by Islamic fundamentalists, New som led behind-the-scenes efforts in the Carter administration to negotiate an end to the 444-day crisis.
Working through the diplomats of other countries, Newsom negotiated for the release of the 52 Americans. He also was involved in expelling Iranian diplomats from the United States, freezing Iran’s overseas assets and embargoing its oil. Those and other efforts were unsuccessful, and most of the hostages were not released until after President Jimmy Carter left office. The Washington Post
Josef Mikl, 78, whose abstract works went a long way toward rehabilitating Nazi-ravaged Austria’s visual art scene, has died.
Mikl died of cancer March 29 and was buried Thursday, the Austria Press Agency reported Friday, quoting Mikl’s wife, Brigitte Bruckner.
Mikl was considered among the key Austrian representatives of the “informal” style, with a wide range of expression exhibited in works that spanned more than half a century. His abstract paintings and sculptures helped define Austria’s postwar art direction. The Associated Press
Kaku Yamanaka, 113, Japan’s oldest person, has died in central Japan, officials said Saturday. Yamanaka died at a hospital where she was taken early Saturday after falling ill at a nursing home in Yatomi City in Aichi prefecture (state), an official at her nursing home said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Born on Dec. 11, 1894, Yamanaka became Japan’s oldest person when Tsuneyo Toyonaga, 113, died in February. Yamanaka was known for her love of singing and took part in karaoke contests, nursing home officials said.
Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, is recognized as the world’s oldest person at age 114, according to Guinness World Records. She was born April 20, 1893.
The Associated Press
