Mehdi Bazargan, 87, who was appointed Iran's first prime minister by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the overthrow of the shah, died yesterday of heart failure in Zurich, Switzerland. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 and held the post for nine turbulent months until he resigned in disagreement with the seizure of the United States Embassy in Tehran by Islamic militants.
Vera Maxwell, 93, the fashion designer who pioneered casual American sportswear and transformed it for a half-century, died Sunday in New York after a brief illness. For decades, she designed clothes that were casual, comfortable and classic.