National Obituaries

GENEVA (AP) — Elisabeth Kopp, an advocate of equal rights and the environment who was the first woman elected to Switzerland's seven-member executive branch, has died. She was 86.

NEW YORK (AP) — Anne Perry, the best-selling crime novelist known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk detective series and for her own murderous past that inspired the movie “Heavenly Creatures,” has died at age 84.

LONDON (AP) — Mary Quant, the visionary fashion designer whose colorful, sexy miniskirts epitomized London in the 1960s and influenced youth culture around the world, has died. She was 93.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Wayne “Big Daddy” Sims, who played in four NCAA Tournaments with LSU from 1987-1991, died Wednesday at age 54. LSU's athletic department confirmed Sims' death. No cause of death was immediately disclosed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jim Harrick Jr., who played at Pepperdine and worked as an assistant basketball coach at Georgia and several other schools, has died. He was 58. Harrick Jr.

HOUSTON (AP) — Steve Murdock, a former state demographer of Texas who served one year as the director of the U.S. Census Bureau, during which he helped keep the 2010 census on track, has died. He was 75.

NEW YORK (AP) — Al Jaffee, Mad magazine's award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," has died. He was 102.

PRAGUE (AP) — Dana Nemcova, one of the leading Czech dissidents and human rights activists from the communist era, has died. She was 89.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican ballad singer Julián Figueroa has died at the age of 27, his mother confirmed Monday. Figueroa was the son of actress Maribel Guardia and singer Joan Sebastian, who died in 2015.

Michael Lerner, the Brooklyn-born character actor who played a myriad of imposing figures in his 60 years in the business, including monologuing movie mogul Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” the crooked club owner Bugsy Calhoun in “Harlem Nights” and an