Thomas H. Kuchel, 84, a progressive U.S. senator who served four years as Republican whip but refused to endorse conservative candidates such as Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan, died of cancer Monday in Los Angeles. He was appointed to the Senate in 1952 by Gov. Earl Warren to finish the term of Mr. Nixon, who had been elected vice president. During his 16 years in the Senate, Mr. Kuchel supported civil rights bills and desegregation of public facilities. In 1965, he was one of about a dozen Republican senators who helped push through passage of Medicare.
Rabbi Alfred Jospe, 85, a retired national director of B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundations, died Saturday of Parkinson's disease at his home in Washington. He spent 35 years with the organization, which offers cultural, religious and counseling services to Jewish students. On retiring in 1975, he recalled that his campus ministry spanned "nine student generations, no two of which were precisely alike."
Charles Baskerville, 98, a portraitist of military men, royalty and celebrities, died of a heart attack Sunday in New York. His subjects included Jawaharlal Nehru, Bernard Baruch, the Duchess of Windsor, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes and the King of Nepal. Some of his military works from World War II are on permanent exhibition at the Pentagon.
Charles J. Bensman, 61, president of Thomas More College from 1986 to 1992, died Tuesday of cancer in Crestview Hills, Ky. As president of the Roman Catholic college, operated by the Diocese of Covington, he helped raise millions for capital improvements and construction of an athletic center.
Charles Upham, 86, a sheep farmer who won two of Britain's highest military decorations during World War II, died Tuesday, the New Zealand Press Association reported in Wellington. He was a reluctant hero who always insisted that the medals belonged to the men he fought alongside. He won the Victoria Cross in 1941 for his bravery during the unsuccessful Allied defense of Crete against German troops. After being promoted to captain, he won the Bar to the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the North African campaign, fighting on Ruweisat Ridge in the western desert. According to Who's Who, he was the only fighting soldier ever to win both the Victoria Cross and Bar.