Erich Kunzel, 74, the award- winning conductor who headed the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra since it was founded three decades ago and who won international fame through sales of more than 10 million recordings, died Tuesday of cancer. He continued conducting while undergoing treatment. On July 4, Kunzel conducted a concert at the U.S. Capitol with Aretha Franklin. He had led the National Symphony on the Capitol lawn in nationally televised Memorial Day and Independence Day concerts since 1991.
Robert Decatur, 88, a former Tuskegee Airman who went on to become a judge and civil-rights lawyer, died at his home in Titusville, Fla., on Aug. 19. He was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the country’s first black military pilots and crew, who fought overseas during World War II but faced discrimination when they returned home. He later spent 25 years as a probate judge in Ohio, hearing thousands of cases, and taught at six law schools.
Sheila Lukins, 66, an influential cookbook author and Parade magazine food editor who demystified and helped popularize gourmet cooking in America’s home kitchens, died Sunday of brain cancer at her home in New York.
Lukins’ “The Silver Palate” is one of the 10 best-selling cookbooks of all time. She wrote it with her business partner, Julee Rosso, in 1979, two years after they opened one of the nation’s first gourmet takeout shops, Silver Palate Restaurant, in New York.
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