Robert F. Beauchamp, 84, a dentist lauded for providing low-cost services to minorities and the poor, died of cancer Sunday in Los Angeles. Dr. Beauchamp, dubbed "the credit dentist" for offering credit to patients, took over his late father's dental office in 1939. He opened his practice to blacks when other dentists refused to do so out of fear of offending white patients, drawing praise from civic leaders.

Edward Robb Ellis, 87, one of the most prolific diarists in the history of American letters, with some 22 million words, died Monday in New York.

Mr. Ellis began scribbling in a diary in 1927, documenting his youth in Kewanee, Ill. His unedited diaries -- about half the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica -- became part of the manuscript collection at New York University's Fales Library last spring.

Pub Date: 9/11/98