Federico Fellini, 73, cinematic giant who incarnated the Italian film industry and inspired many colleagues to take up their vocation; his half-century career as a director spanned Italy’s postwar movie resurgence; he was best known for his “Amarcord,” “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2”; he won four Oscars, more than any other foreign-language filmmaker, and a career achievement Oscar last April; Oct. 31, in Rome, after a heart attack, respiratory problems and a stroke.
River Phoenix, 23, actor whose intensity as a youthful star of the 1986 movie “Stand by Me” launched his career; among his other films were “My Own Private Idaho” (1991), “Sneakers” (1992), “The Mosquito Coast” (1986), “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), “Little Nikita” (1988) and “Running on Empty” (1988); Oct. 31, outside a Sunset Boulevard club in Los Angeles. An autopsy ruled out any heart ailment or foul play.
Robert O. Atcher, 79, former singing cowboy who turned to politics and led Schaumburg’s growth from a sparsely populated farming community; as the town’s president (1959-75), he was widely regarded as a political visionary who realized the northwest suburbs had the potential to become a major regional center; born in Kentucky and raised on a North Dakota horse farm, he moved here in the 1930s to start a radio career as a country singer; he became known widely as a radio performer and was seen on WGN-TV as the emcee of the “National Barn Dance” variety show; Oct. 30, in his home near Louisville.
Edwin A. Walker, 83, retired major general whose right-wing political activities led to an official rebuke and his resignation in 1961 after 30 years in the Army; he was demoted from the rank of general by President John Kennedy for espousing his beliefs to his troops in Europe; on April 10, 1963, a sniper fired at him as he sat at his desk in his Dallas home, barely missing him; the assailant was identified as Lee Harvey Oswald by the Warren Commission investigating the Kennedy assassination; Oct. 31, in Dallas.
Duncan Gibbins, 41, British director and screenwriter whose film credits include “Fire With Fire,” “Eve of Destruction” and “Third Degree Burn”; he also made music videos for such groups as the Eurythmics and Wham!; Nov. 3, in a Los Angeles hospital, of extensive burns suffered in a Malibu, Calif., wildfire when he tried to rescue his cat from the burning cottage he was renting.
Severo Ochoa, 88, Spanish-born biochemist who won the 1959 Nobel Prize in medicine for pioneering work on DNA that helped set the foundation for modern molecular biology; he was president of the International Union of Biochemistry and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 1946, he became professor of the Department of Pharmacology at New York University and in 1956 became an American citizen, returning permanently to Spain in 1985; Nov. 1, in Madrid.
David “Disco Dave” Hawkins, 40, an associate producer with Chicago radio station WGCI-FM and a radio personality with the urban music station for six years; the Chicago native started out doing miscellaneous jobs that eventually led to the position of on-air “sidekick” on the station’s Rap Down program, which aired from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturdays; Oct. 30, in a friend’s Chicago home.
Dr. George Sheehan, 74, the running guru and erudite writer who was called “Mark Twain in sneakers;” he authored seven books covering all facets of running and was the medical editor for Runner’s World magazine for the past 20 years; was a college middle-distance runner who gave up the sport when he became a cardiologist only to resume it at age 45, and later ran his fastest Boston Marathon at age 61 with a time of 3:01; Monday in Ocean Grove, N.J., after a six-year bout with prostate cancer.
George Hage, 78, professor emeritus of journalism and American studies at the University of Minnesota; he retired in 1983 after 37 years on the Minnesota faculty; that same year, the national Society of Professional Journalists gave him its Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award; he worked for the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen newspaper for five years before going into teaching; Oct. 29, in Minneapolis.
John G. Winant Jr., 71, who was taken prisoner by the Germans during World War II while his father was the U.S. ambassador to Britain; a lieutenant and pilot in the Army Air Force, he was shot down with his B-17 and captured by Nazi troops in 1943; he was released in May 1945; he later was an investment banker on Wall Street; his father was a three-term governor of New Hampshire; Oct. 31, in Princeton, N.J.
John “Mike” Mihalowski, 82, who won the Medal of Honor for his role in the rescue of 33 sailors from the USS Squalus when the submarine sank in May 1939 on its shakedown cruise in the Atlantic; although the nation’s highest military honor is rarely given in peacetime, he and three other Navy divers received it for their heroism in the 16-hour rescue effort; 29 sailors died on the sub; Oct. 29, in Largo, Fla.
Francisco Salgado Zenha, 70, veteran defender of democracy and co-founder of Portugal’s Socialist Party; a lawyer who defended scores of pro-democracy activists during Portugal’s five-decade rightist dictatorship, he was a prominent opponent of former dictator Antonio Oliveira Salazar and was persecuted for years by the secret police; Oct. 31, in Lisbon.
James P. O’Brien, 89, former District Court judge in Omaha (1961-77) who was known for his compassion and creative sentences; once, when sentencing a gambler, he had the man roll a die to determine sentence; the maximum six-month term was meted out when the man rolled a six; Nov. 1, in Omaha.
Frank M. Matthews, 77, a political writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for more than 40 years; he joined the paper in 1938, two years after beginning his journalism career with United Press International in southern Florida; Oct. 28, in Pittsburgh, of cancer.
Judge Bernard M. Decker, 89, a judge for 36 years before his retirement in 1987; he sat on the U.S. Distrct Court bench and decided a number of cases that attracted national attention; these included the 1974 conviction of former Ald. Thomas Keane, the right of a band of Nazis to demonstrate in Skokie on Hitler’s birthday and the constitutionality of Morton Grove’s precedent-setting ban on handguns; a longtime resident of Waukegan, Nov. 2, in Westmoreland Nursing Home in Lake Forest.
James F. Madden, 65, a retired police detective and a 33-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department; he was an authority on organized crime; his covert surveillances led to the identification of many of the city’s mob bosses and drug figures; Nov. 3, of leukemia in his Tinley Park home.
Louis A. Wexler, 85, a former Cook County Circuit Court judge; while in the Chicago corporation counsel’s office he used a little-known state law to put substandard residential buildings into receivership, forcing property owners to make improvements or face their demolition; in 1963, he forced landlord Jack Winkler out of business at a time when Winkler owned 19 substandard buildings that housed 2,000 residents; the crusade won him the nickname “Demolition Lou”; after his election to the Circuit Court, he was the first judge assigned exclusively to housing cases; Nov. 3, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Robert J. Healy, 84, worked as an administrative assistant under five Cook County state’s attorneys and then for 17 years as director of personnel for the Cook County Board; a resident of Hinsdale, Nov. 2 in Americana-Monticello Health Care Center in Hinsdale.
