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Dr. Feinberg was well-known for his stroke research at UA
A memorial service will be held Friday for Dr. William Feinberg, 45, a University of Arizona neurologist known for his research on stroke and its prevention.
He died last Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest Oct. 18.
In a 1996 nationwide survey, he was chosen among the 350 best heart doctors.
He was the principal investigator for many stroke studies – including a 1994 finding that surgery on partly blocked neck arteries can reduce the risk of stroke by more than half.
”Dr. Feinberg was a world-class stroke researcher and literally one of the best physicians in America,” said Dr. Bruce Coull, chief of neurology at UA College of Medicine.
He helped on national prevention studies on the use of aspirin and Coumadin, a blood thinner, for high-risk patients, and the use of the drug TPA within a few hours of a stroke to reverse damage.
He was medical director of University Medical Center’s neurology clinic and head of the university’s Stroke Research Laboratory.
”His accomplishments were many, and those who worked with him were touched by his kindness and intelligence,” said Dr. Gordon Ewy.
Survivors include his wife, Lois Loescher; son Max, 6, and daughter Hope, 4; his parents, Dr. Milton and Marjorie Feinberg of Encino, Calif., and a brother.
Friday’s service will begin at noon at Arizona Health Sciences Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.
(Dated Oct 29, 1997)
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Victor Mills invented Pampers, Jif, Pringles
Chemical engineer Victor Mills, who invented the first disposable diaper and other household products, died Saturday at his Tucson home – seven months after celebrating his 100th birthday.
Mr. Mills’ inventions included Pampers, Jif peanut butter, Duncan Hines cake mix and Pringles potato chips.
He worked 35 years for Procter & Gamble, which formed an honorary society of product technologists in his honor.
After he earned a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Washington in 1926, the Kansas native was urged by a college counselor to apply to the Cincinnati-based manufacturer.
”I asked him, ‘What the devil would a chemical engineer do at Procter & Gamble?’ He said, ‘Nothing yet,’ ”Mr. Mills said in an interview with the Citizen last year.
It didn’t take Mr. Mills long to make his mark.
Early in his career, he developed a process to remove glycerine from fat – what he felt was his greatest accomplishment with the company. The process trimmed production time for Ivory soap from seven days to just two hours.
Last year, Procter & Gamble commemorated the 35th anniversary of the invention of Pampers disposable diapers.
Mr. Mills crafted the first disposable diaper from an awkward sheet of paper a cohort brought back from Europe in 1961. During a family trip from Ohio to Maine, he fitted the paper diaper on his granddaughter, Gracie, using the tailgate of the family station wagon as a changing station.
Later, while seeking a way to make potato chips less susceptible to rancidness, Mr. Mills packed like-shaped chips into a vacuum-sealed tube, creating Pringles.
Jif was born when he called on a childhood favorite, adding honey to peanut butter to prevent it from sticking to the roof of his mouth.
When Proctor & Gamble formed the Victor Mills Technologist Society in 1990, he was hailed as ”the most productive technologist in company history.”
His widow, Ruth, agreed, saying yesterday,”I think he made the company.”
Mr. Mills, whose first wife died, moved to Tucson in 1965 and remained in the same remote Catalina foothills’ home until his death.
At his request, no memorial services will be held.
(Dated Nov 04, 1997)
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Frank E. Johnson guided Star
”He could hardly wait to get back to the typewriter. Newspapering was his life.”
That’s how Louise Johnson remembers her husband, Frank E. Johnson, who spent 40 years as a reporter, editor and executive with The Arizona Daily Star.
Mr. Johnson died yesterday in Tucson of pulmonary fibrosis.
”People wanted to excel for him,” added Louise Johnson. ”If you didn’t like Frank, there was something wrong with you.”
His daughter, Christia Louise Gibbons, followed her father into the world of journalism, now serving as city editor of the Ontario (Calif.) Bulletin. She recalled her father saying, ”Every day I learn something new. It’s fun to be a newspaper manager.”
He was born July 1, 1920, in Pekin, Ill., and was educated in Galion, Ohio. His first newspaper job was with the Galion Inquirer in 1938-39. ”He was not ‘a’ reporter,” said Louise Johnson, ”he was ‘the’ reporter. It was a small paper.”
He wrote obituaries, covered city hall, police and fire departments and schools, and wrote features in his ”spare” time.
Mr. Johnson was with the Civilian Conservation Corps briefly before joining the U.S. Army in 1940. He was a sergeant with a field artillery unit during World War II, and saw combat during the Guadalcanal, New Georgia and Bougainville campaigns.
In 1946, while in school here, he joined The Arizona Daily Star, working part time as the night police reporter. He soon went full time, and three years later, he was promoted to city editor.
From 1961-67, he served as assistant managing editor, moving thereafter into the managing editor slot. He was named executive managing editor in 1982 and became executive editor a year later.
In July 1982, he and three other newspaper employees were injured in a series of electrical explosions at the newspaper building at South Park Avenue and East Irvington Road. He spent six weeks in the hospital as a result of burns and inhalation of smoke and fumes.
He became a contributing editor for the Arizona Daily Star in 1985, and retired on Jan. 1, 1986.
Mr. Johnson earned many honors during his career, including being named to the Arizona Newspapers Association Hall of Fame last year.
He was named Newsman of the Year by the Tucson Press Club in 1966, and later served as the group’s president.
He served as president of the Arizona Associated Press Association in 1968, and over the years presided over the Arizona Press Club and the Southern Arizona Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the national journalistic society.
He was elected president of the Arizona Newspapers Association in 1976, and was a member of the board of directors of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. He was elected into the APME Regents in 1985 for distinguished service to journalism.
In 1977, Mr. Johnson received the Arizona Press Club’s award for distinguished service to journalism, and in 1982 he was honored with the Master Editor-Publisher Award of the Arizona Newspapers Association.
In addition to his wife, Louise, of Tucson, and daughter Christia, of Riverside, Calif., he is survived by a son, Frank Edgar Johnson of Tucson; and a brother, Richard V. Johnson of Galion, Ohio.
Louise Johnson said no services would be held, at her husband’s request.
(Dated Nov 10, 1997)
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Cancer takes beloved bluesman, family man Rainer
One of Tucson’s most beloved musicians, Rainer Ptacek, died yesterday after a 1 1/2-year bout with brain cancer.
He was 46.
Known simply as Rainer (pronounced RYE-ner), the singer/songwriter/bluesman was a master practitioner on the 1939 National steel-bodied guitar – his trademark instrument – and a unique and gifted vocalist.
”He was the culmination of the most beautiful smile, and the most powerful rhythm, and the strongest conviction,” his best friend, local musician Howe Gelb, said today.
”He was a master craftsman in everything he did, whether making music or raising his kids or riding his bike. It’s amazing the number of people who loved him so much for so long. Rainer had a calming effect on everyone around him.”
On Sept. 30, Mr. Ptacek suffered a seizure while at work at the Chicago Store downtown. He was taken to University Medical Center, where tests revealed that his brain tumor had returned and had grown substantially.
But Mr. Ptacek, although enrolled in a hospice home health care program, refused to give up. He returned to the studio to record a new album with his band, Das Combo.
”I’m just counting my blessings,” he said at the time. ”Every day is such a gift, and I’m so lucky to feel so much love.”
He spent his final days at his mother-in-law’s house, visited by family and friends.
Mr. Ptacek was born in East Germany. His parents immigrated to Chicago when he was 5.
In Chicago, he soaked up the sounds of such blues legends as Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Son House. Over the years, his listening tastes broadened to include the whole blues, rock and soul spectrum, techno music and opera.
He moved to Tucson in 1972 and was involved in numerous groups over the years, including Giant Sand, Green on Red, Naked Prey, River Roses and his own band, Das Combo.
Mr. Ptacek also was a prolific and highly respected solo performer, composer and recording artist – earning critical praise here and in Europe. One of his fans was Robert Plant, former lead singer of the rock group Led Zeppelin.
Mr. Ptacek supported himself and his family through his performances and recordings, and as an instrument repairman at the Chicago Store.
”He doesn’t put up anything between him and you,” said a fan, Patricia Wagner, at a benefit concert last month for the bluesman. ”Just the fact that he chose to stay here and be a family man is so great.”
In February 1996, while bicycling to the Chicago Store, Mr. Ptacek blacked out. He awoke three days later at UMC to news that he had an inoperable brain tumor.
Over the next few months, Tucson’s musical community, spearheaded by his longtime friend Gelb, held a series of benefit concerts for their ailing comrade.
With his cancer in remission, Rainer returned to the stage on Dec. 17, 1996, performing an emotional show for 300 doctors, nurses, patients, friends and fans at UMC.
He started the show with ”Funny How Time Slips Away” and received a standing ovation at the end of his set. Medical staff and friends hugged him after the show.
”This is very important to me,” Mr. Ptacek told the crowd. ”As you walk around (UMC), you should take note of the work being done and the people doing it. They all have my gratitude.”
Through the summer, he performed more actively, doing solo shows and guest appearances in Tucson and around the Southwest. His last appearance was Sept. 12 in Silver City, N.M., where he opened for singer/songwriter Greg Brown.
In July, Gelb rallied some prominent musicians for a tribute album, in which Mr. Ptacek played on seven tracks.
Titled ”The Inner Flame,” it featured Gelb, Giant Sand, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris, Evan Dando, PJ Harvey, John Parish, The Drovers, LK and Jonathan Richman playing the Tucsonan’s songs.
”I especially want to thank my wife, Patti, for taking care of me all this time,” Mr. Ptacek said before the album was released. ”And all the people here in Tucson who have done so much for me and my family. We feel blessed.”
He is survived by his wife, Patti Keating; sons Gabe, 20, and Rudy, 13; daughter Lily, 2; his mother Inga Ptacek of Chicago; and brother Robert Ptacek of San Francisco.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.
A memorial concert is in the works. Donations may be sent to the Charitable Fund for Rainer Ptacek, P.O. Box 13719, Tucson, Ariz. 85732-3719.
(Dated Nov 13, 1997)
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