National Obituaries

NEW YORK (AP) — Grace Bumbry, a pioneering mezzo-soprano who became the first Black singer to perform at Germany's Bayreuth Festival during a career of more than three decades on the world's top stages, has died. She was 86.

PRAGUE (AP) — Soňa Červená, a Czech opera singer who became known for playing Carmen and more than 110 roles in San Francisco and other opera houses behind the Iron Curtain, has died. She was 97.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish economist, politician and former head of the United Nations Development Program Kemal Dervis died Monday at the age of 74, Turkish news outlets reported. He was being treated for an unspecified illness in Washington D.C.

Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash A’s to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, died Saturday, according to the

DALLAS (AP) — Don January, who won the 1967 PGA Championship in a playoff and became the first winner on what is now the PGA Tour Champions, died Sunday, the PGA Tour announced. He was 93. The tour did not list the cause of death.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Nicolas “Nick” Gilbert, the son of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who became the team's good luck charm at NBA draft lotteries, has died. He was 26.

CHICAGO (AP) — Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a "vast wasteland," died Saturday. He was 97.

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Strachwitz, a producer, musicologist and one-man preservation society whose Arhoolie Records released thousands of songs by regional performers and comprised an extraordinary American archive that became known and loved worldwid

DALLAS (AP) — Lance Blanks, who played in the NBA for three seasons and later worked as a scout and front office executive, has died, his family announced Thursday. He was 56.

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech forward Petr Klima, a Stanley Cup winner with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990, has died. He was 58.