National Obituaries

WINNIPEG — Ken Ploen, a two-way star who led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to four Grey Cup titles, has died at 88. The Blue Bombers confirmed Ploen's death in a statement Tuesday. A cause of death was not given.

NEW YORK (AP) — David Bouley, the award-winning and frenetic chef whose idiosyncratic haute cuisine and crusty breads pleased critics and the public during a career chasing sleek deliciousness, has died. He was 70.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Edwards, who anchored National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” for just under 25 years and was the baritone voice who told many Americans what had happened while they slept, has died. Edwards, who died Saturday, was 76 years old.

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Ostrow, who founded the trailblazing New York City gay bathhouse the Continental Baths, where Bette Midler, Barry Manilow and other famous artists launched their careers, has died. He was 91. The Brooklyn native died Feb.

COLUMBIA, S.C.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez Smith, a renowned soprano known for her performance in the 1981 French cult-classic film “Diva” and who sang through the U.S. and Europe during her operatic career, has died at age 75.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — J.M. “Jimmy” Van Eaton, a pioneering rock ‘n’ roll drummer who played behind the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Lee Riley at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, died Friday at age 86, a family member said.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida women's tennis coach Andy Brandi, whose teams compiled a .914 winning percentage over 17 seasons and won three national championships, has died. He was 72.

PARIS (AP) — Robert Badinter, who spearheaded the drive to abolish France’s death penalty, campaigned against antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and led a European body dealing with the legal fallout of Yugoslavia's breakup, has died. He was 95.

THE HAGUE (AP) — Dries van Agt, the Christian Democrat prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 until 1982, has died by euthanasia, “hand in hand” together with his wife, according to the human rights organization he founded. They both were 93.