LI Zhisui, 75, the personal doctor of Mao Tse-tung whose recently published memoirs portrayed the Chinese leader as a manipulative egomaniac with little tolerance of dissent and scant care for hygiene, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack at his home in suburban Chicago. He was little known outside China until his book, "The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician," was published last October. The book included sometimes-racy anecdotes and unusual insights into the workings of the upper echelons of the Chinese government. Dr. Li moved to the United States in 1988 to seek medical treatment for his wife, who died later that year. He then settled in the suburban Chicago area with his two sons, who survive him.
Chief Geronimo Kuth-Le, also known as Geronimo III, a man who said he was Geronimo's grandson but was derided by Apaches as a phony, died Saturday of heart disease in Tucson, Ariz. He was 91 -- or maybe 115. He said that he was 115 years old, but his driver's license gave his birthdate as Dec. 29, 1903. Geronimo, a 19th-century Apache warrior who declared war on white people after they killed his family and members of his tribe, led a small band that took on about 5,000 U.S. Cavalry soldiers. He surrendered in 1886 after a five-year reign of terror.
Frederic Schwartz, 88, retired chief executive and chairman of Bristol-Myers Co., died Monday of pneumonia. He was chief executive from 1957 to 1967, during the time when the company grew from a medium-sized pharmaceutical manufacturer into a multinational health and beauty care products company.