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☆ A Deadly Dog Attack Upends an Elite Westchester Farm
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Christopher Maag | Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On a cool, windy day in February, two big white dogs escaped from a well-known nonprofit farm in Westchester County and ended up on a public footpath deep in a New York State park. They encountered a 10-pound miniature poodle on a leash. The larger dogs attacked, killing the poodle and then severely injuring its owner. Acting on the recommendations of state law, a local judge ordered the dogs to be euthanized. The farm, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, which is connected to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Pocantico Hills, filed an appeal on Thursday to stay the dogs’ euthanization.

Persons: Yong Ging Qian Organizations: Stone Barns, Food, Agriculture, Michelin, Mount Pleasant Justice Court Locations: Westchester County, New York State, Stone, Pocantico Hills, Mount Pleasant

☆ Marty Krofft, Co-Creator of Fantastical TV Shows, Dies at 86
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | More About Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Marty Krofft, who, with his brother Sid, created a string of television shows that captured audiences from Saturday morning to prime time, including fantastical children’s fare, like “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost,” and variety shows, like “Donny and Marie,” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. But Krofft shows, which featured extravagant puppets and scenery, were often expensive to produce and sometimes had premises that could be a hard sell; one show, for instance, focused on magical, talking hats. Marty’s business acumen and ability to woo studio executives ensured that some of the strangest programs ever to appear on the small screen actually got made. “Sid was always ‘the artist,’” Marty was quoted as saying in “Pufnstuf & Other Stuff: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sid & Marty Krofft” (1998), by the critic David Martindale.

Persons: Marty Krofft, Sid, Pufnstuf, Donny, Marie, ”, Harlan Boll, Kroffts, “ Sid, ’ ” Marty, “, Marty Krofft ”, David Martindale Locations: “, Los Angeles

☆ Lewis Branscomb, Champion of Science Across Fields, Dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the Cold War was waning, the physicist Lewis Branscomb feared that America’s economic and scientific superiority was in jeopardy. Declining scientific literacy and critical thinking in American education, he believed, could have disastrous consequences for the country. Students, he told “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” on PBS in 1986, “don’t need to know a lot of facts about science, but they really do need to understand how to think in the way scientists think — that is, in a problem-solving approach, given a complex environment within which to make decisions.”Whether in academia, private industry or government, Dr. Branscomb made it his job to push for the advancement of science and give it a bigger role in public policy. He held out hope for a brighter future through technology, but only if scientists and policymakers could get the public behind the idea. Dr. Branscomb, who worked at the nexus of science, technology, policy and business throughout his career, died on May 31 at a care facility in Redwood City, Calif., his son, Harvie, said.

Persons: Lewis Branscomb, “ The MacNeil, Lehrer, ”, Branscomb, Harvie Organizations: Students, PBS Locations: Redwood City, Calif

☆ James Crown, Chicago Businessman and Avid Philanthropist, Dies at 70
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An avid philanthropist, Mr. Crown met Mr. Obama in 2003, when he was preparing to run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, and became an enthusiastic supporter. They also said he needed money, Mr. Crown provided both. “I was just taken with his sensibility, his intelligence, his values and how he conducted himself during that campaign,” Mr. Crown told The New York Times in 2007. Mr. Crown and his family donated a total of $112,500 to Mr. Obama during the Democratic primary, and Chicago’s Jewish leaders raised hundreds of thousands more during the campaign. A few years later, Mr. Crown became Mr. Obama’s chief presidential fund-raiser in Illinois.

Persons: Crown, Obama, Mr, “, ” Mr, Alan Keyes, Obama’s, Henry Crown Organizations: U.S . Senate, Democratic, New York Times, Mr, Senate, Museum of Science, Industry Locations: Illinois, Chicago

☆ Ivan Menezes, Who Led a Liquor Giant, Dies at 63
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ivan Menezes, who as chief executive of the spirits corporation Diageo used his canny understanding of the drinking public to help the company grow into a global colossus, died on June 7 in London. The cause was complications of emergency surgery for a stomach ulcer, a Diageo spokesman said. Diageo is omnipresent in the world of alcohol, selling more than 200 brands in more than 180 countries — including Smirnoff vodka, Tanqueray gin, Johnnie Walker Scotch, Captain Morgan rum and Guinness beer — and has the largest global net sales in some spirit categories. Mr. Menezes (pronounced muh-NAY-zes) was trained in marketing, and closely studied consumer sentiment. To him, spirits provided what he called “accessible luxury” to customers — a dram of the good life even in an unstable economy.

Persons: Ivan Menezes, Johnnie Walker Scotch, Morgan, Menezes, ” Mr, Johnnie Walker Blue Organizations: Diageo, Yorker, New York Times Locations: London

☆ Bill Oesterle, Co-Founder of Angie’s List, Dies at 57
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 1999, with the dot-com boom near its apogee, Angie’s List moved online. The site, which still charged a subscription fee and also made money through advertising, rated different businesses from A to F in categories like punctuality and professionalism. It also allowed users to write signed reviews about different businesses in their area, which Angie’s List hoped would make reviews fairer and more accurate. Mr. Oesterle became chief executive in 1999, when Ms. Hicks left to attend Harvard Business School. In 2004 Mr. Oesterle stepped away to run Mr. Daniels’s campaign for governor.

☆ Bernadine Strik, Whose Insights Helped Blueberries Thrive, Dies at 60
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bernadine Strik, a horticulture professor at Oregon State University whose innovative cultivation strategies shook up the American blueberry industry, died on April 14 at a hospital in Corvallis, Ore. She was 60. The cause was complications of ovarian cancer, said her husband, Neil Bell. Modern farming is as much science as labor, and Dr. Strik, whose career at Oregon State began in 1987, brought a skeptical, scientific approach to blueberry cultivation. “She was able to connect with the growers,” Scott Lukas, who took on Oregon State’s endowed professorship for Northwest berry production after Dr. Strik retired in 2021, said in a phone interview. She could view research “from that down-to-earth perspective,” he added, “and be a human about it and not get lost in the science.”

☆ Tori Bowie, World Champion Sprinter, Is Dead at 32
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bowie’s world championship title came the next year in London in a dramatic 100-meter race. Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou sprung into the lead and seemed well ahead of the rest of the pack. But near the end of the race, Bowie accelerated, caught up to Ta Lou and leaned through the finish line ahead of her, then tumbled to the ground. Bowie won another gold at that world championship, in the 4x100 relay. Bowie went to the University of Southern Mississippi, where she became the national champion in the long jump in 2011.

☆ Keshub Mahindra, Billionaire Indian Industrialist, Dies at 99
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Keshub Mahindra, an Indian industrialist who built a family steel and automotive business into a vast multinational conglomerate, but whose reputation was marred by his conviction for negligence in a poison gas leak that killed thousands of people in Bhopal in 1984, died on April 12. His company, Mahindra Group, confirmed his death in a statement but did not specify where he died. Under Mr. Mahindra’s leadership, the company expanded rapidly from its core businesses of steel trading and building Willys jeeps to become a conglomerate with businesses in more than 20 industries, including cloud and network technology, hospitality, renewable energy, logistics, financial services and real estate. He made international partnerships with companies like Peugeot, British Telecom and Mitsubishi, helping those companies build businesses in India while taking Mahindra global. He did not neglect Mahindra’s core business as he expanded, and in time the company became a leading automobile manufacturer in India, known for SUVs, and a global purveyor of tractors.

☆ Charles Hull, Who Brought Theater to Young Audiences, Dies at 92
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Charles Hull, who co-founded Theaterworks USA, a touring theater company that has brought professional performances to tens of millions of young people across the country, died on April 14 at his home in Manhattan. Hull, who had been an Off Broadway, summer stock and commercial actor, founded the company that became Theaterworks in 1961 with the director Jay Harnick. Hull was the company’s managing director and Mr. Harnick its artistic director. Hull and Mr. Harnick were staging as many as 20 made-to-move productions in nearly 500 cities a year without the fuss, or expense, of a Broadway effort. “The term we use is cafegymatorium,” Michael Harrington, Theaterworks’ current executive director, said in a phone interview.

☆ April Stevens Dies at 93; Her ‘Deep Purple’ Became a Surprise Hit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Daniel E. Slotnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

April Stevens, whose rushed recording of “Deep Purple” with her brother, Nino Tempo, became a chart-topping single in 1963 and won a Grammy Award, died on April 17 at her home in Scottsdale, Ariz. She was 93. The Stevens-Tempo version of “Deep Purple” — a jazz standard that had been a hit for Bing Crosby — featured the siblings harmonizing over a mellow arrangement accented with a harmonica. In one section, Ms. Stevens recited the lyrics and Mr. Tempo sang them back in falsetto. Ms. Stevens then fed them to him during that session. A friend loved the effect, Mr. Tempo said in a phone interview, and “we knew we had backed into something magical.”

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