Geoff Ballard, 76, a Canadian pioneer of the fuel-cell industry and an entrepreneur whom Time Magazine once named one of its “Heroes for the Planet,” died Saturday. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Ballard developed the world’s first hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered, zero-emission transit bus. Science World, a science center in Vancouver, British Columbia, unveiled the vehicle in 1993.
In 1979, Ballard founded Ballard Power Systems Inc., which makes hydrogen fuel cells that are used in materials handling, residential cogeneration, backup power and transportation. He served as chairman of the company until 1997. In 1999, he started General Hydrogen, which was bought by Plug Power Inc. last year for $10 million.
Robert A. Maheu, 90, a former Howard Hughes confidant and CIA operative once involved in a failed plot to poison Fidel Castro, died Monday in Las Vegas, said his son, Peter Maheu.
Robert Maheu was the public face of Hughes’ massive corporate empire in the 1960s. He worked for the FBI in the early 1950s and later as a private investigator.
Robert Hazard, 59, a songwriter and musician from Philadelphia who wrote the 1983 Cyndi Lauper hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” died unexpectedly Tuesday after surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said his wife, Susan.
Hazard, born Robert Rimato, led the band Robert Hazard and the Heroes, a fixture in Philadelphia clubs through the mid-1980s.
