Katherine Bogdanovich Loker, 92, heir to the StarKist tuna fortune who along with her husband donated millions of dollars to Harvard University, the University of Southern California and other institutions, has died.
Loker died Thursday at her home in Oceanside, Calif., five days after a stroke, USC announced Friday.
Loker was the daughter of a fishing boat captain who in 1917 founded a fishing cannery that became StarKist Foods, which is now owned by Del Monte Foods Co. She and her husband, Donald Loker, contributed tens of millions of dollars to institutions that included Harvard, her husband’s alma mater, and USC, her alma mater.
Loker also made gifts to the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation in Yorba Linda, California State University at Dominguez Hills, the Donald P. Loker Cancer Treatment Center in Los Angeles, the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the California Medical Center of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Music Center.
Ira Tucker Sr., 83, longtime lead singer of the gospel group the Dixie Hummingbirds, which influenced many other performers and backed up Paul Simon on “Loves Me Like a Rock,” has died.
Tucker had severe heart problems and died Tuesday in Philadelphia, where the group was based for many years, said his son, Ira Tucker Jr.
Among those influenced by the band were the Temptations, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Al Green, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, which honored the Hummingbirds in 2000.
They became widely known to Top 40 radio listeners in 1973, when Simon’s “Loves Me Like a Rock” reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Besides singing backup with Simon, the Dixie Hummingbirds also produced their own version, which won a Grammy for best soul gospel performance. In 2007, the group’s “Still Keeping It Real” was nominated for the Grammy for best traditional gospel album.
