Ann Sather, 90, founder and former owner of the Belmont Avenue restaurant that bears her name; she purchased The Swedish Diner in 1945 with $4,000 saved from working 21 years in a meat-packing plant, then turned it into a landmark ethnic eatery; April 23, in her sister’s home in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she had lived since 1995.
Rev. William D. White, 75, former senior pastor (1981-89) of the Chicago Temple, First United Methodist Church of Chicago, and a former president of the Church Federation of Greater Chicago; he was a minister for the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church for more than 40 years; April 19, in his home in Madison, Wis., where he had lived since 1994.
Henry Mucci, 88, World War II Army colonel who became an instant and enduring U.S. hero in 1945 after leading the raid that rescued 500 survivors of the fall of Corregidor and the Bataan Death March from a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines; his unit penetrated 30 miles behind Japanese lines north of Manila to rescue the men, most of them U.S. soldiers, who for almost three years had endured an excruciatingly brutal confinement; April 20, in Melbourne, Fla.
Herman J. Dressel, 91, former executive with and partner in Dressel’s Bakeries who helped the company become the largest producer of decorated wedding cakes in the country; April 20, in his Hinsdale home.
Herbert Zipper, 92, Viennese Jewish conductor whose life became the subject for a 199O Oscar-nominated documentary, “Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper”; in 1938, imprisoned by the Nazis in Dachau, he recruited other ex-musician inmates to give secret concerts to raise prisoners’ spirits and co-wrote “Dachau Song,” a resistance tune that spread among the camps; after he was freed, he went to Manila but was imprisoned by the Japanese; later, he worked as a secret informant for Gen. Douglas MacArthur; April 21, in Santa Monica, Calif.
Goldie Bachmann Luftig, 93, who grew up on the West Side before joining her five brothers in 1935 to establish the first of several outlets in the now-defunct chain of Polk Bros. appliance and furniture stores; over the last decade, she contributed to many Jewish causes; in 1991, a health center was named for her as part of the Ark, a social service agency for the indigent; April 20, in Deerfield.
Diosdado P. Macapagal, 86, the Philippines’ fifth president (1961-65), who introduced the nation’s first land-reform measure, in 1963; the law changed little due to inadequate funding and landlord opposition; he was defeated for re-election by Ferdinand Marcos, whose authoritarian rule lasted 20 years; April 21, in Manila.
Gen. Andres Rodriguez, 73, former Paraguayan president (1989-93) who ousted dictator Alfredo Stroessner in a 1989 coup and steered the country back to democracy; he was Stroessner’s right-hand man as commander of Paraguay’s 3,000-man 1st Army Corps for almost three decades; on Feb. 3, 1989, he rebelled, and as many as 500 soldiers were killed as they ousted Stroessner; three months later, he won the presidency in a general election; April 21, in a New York City hospital.
Ann Durbin, 87, mother of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); born in Lithuania, she emigrated to East St. Louis, Ill., in 1911 and became a naturalized citizen in 1935; the senator is one of her three sons; April 23, in a hospital in Bethesda, Md.
Lucille B. Williams, 67, retired employee development specialist in Chicago for the Social Security Administration; in 1993, she represented Illinois in the Ms. National Senior Citizen Pageant; April 19, in her home in the Fernwood community.
Akira Arai, 94, retired personnel department employee with International Harvester Co. who worked for the federal government during World War II to recruit other Japanese-Americans in internment camps for defense industry jobs in the Chicago area; he later testified before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians; April 20, in Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Sayed Mekkawi, 69, Egyptian composer and singer whose operetta, “The Big Night,” which portrays Egyptians celebrating a religious feast and which has sold millions of copies; he was blind since childhood; April 21, in Cairo.
Tang Wing-cheung, 81, Cantonese opera singer also known for his philanthropy; affectionately known as “Older Brother Cheung,” he was the fedora-wearing king of Cantonese opera, the southern version of China’s traditional art form; after retiring, he became renowned as the “king of charity” for his donations; April 21, in Hong Kong.
Edward A. Leary, 83, Indiana author and newspaper columnist whose “Hoosier Scrapbook” appeared weekly in The Indianapolis Star in the 1970s; he wrote several books, including the award-winning “The 19th State,” which recounts Indiana history; April 20, in Indianapolis.
Glanville Williams, 86, leading British criminal law expert whose many books on civil and criminal law have become standard textbooks, including “Learning the Law,” first published in 1945, and “The Sanctity of Life and Criminal Law” (1956); he had been the Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at Cambridge University (1968-78); April 10, in London.
