Paul Griffin, 62, an organist and pianist who played for the albums of several music stars including Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, died at his New York City home June 14.
The cause was apparently a heart attack, said his wife, Mary Beth. He also had diabetes and was awaiting a liver transplant when he died.
Mr. Griffin played for thousands of recording sessions and was a keyboardist on albums by Dylan and Franklin as well as Steely Dan, Don McLean, the Isley Brothers, the Shirelles and all the albums that Burt Bacharach and Hal David made with Dionne Warwick. His piano is also heard in "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head."
Lewis Arnold Pike, 82, a pioneer in using television as an educational tool, died May 31 of pneumonia in Woodland Hills, Calif.
The nutritionist began producing instructional programs for children in the 1950s. His longest-running and best-known show, "Viewpoint on Nutrition," was created in 1970 and ran until he retired in 1998.
Mr. Pike was a self-described "98-pound weakling" until he was introduced to Physical Culture, a magazine produced by Bernarr Macfadden, a weightlifter and food faddist prominent in the 1920s and 1930s.
Robert Blair Ridder, 80, a former media executive and one of the original owners of the Minnesota North Stars hockey team, died at his home Saturday in Mendota Heights, Minn.
A member of the Ridder media family, he was former president of WCCO Radio and Television in Minneapolis. He managed radio stations in Minneapolis and Duluth and had a hand in several publications and groups in the Midwest.
Joshua Myron, 102, one of the last of the camel-mounted Zionist brigade that fought with Vladimir Jabotinsky against Turkey in Palestine during World War I, died in Manhattan, N.Y., on June 8.
The British army unit, which recruited Jews from both the Middle East and Europe, used camels to move from front to front, and Mr. Myron rose to become company sergeant in charge of transport.
Among the other members of the brigade was David Ben-Gurion, later the first prime minister of Israel.
Dr. William A. Liebler, 76, a specialist in sports and dance medicine whose clients included the New York Rangers hockey team, the American Ballet Theater, the New York City Ballet and the Martha Graham Dance Company, died Monday, June 19, at Lenox Hill Hospital. He was 76.
Dr. Liebler, who lived in Bronxville, N.Y., died of complications of a gall bladder infection and cancer, said Nancy Smith Hall, a family friend.
One of his most important achievements was the development in 1988 of a minimally invasive laser procedure for relieving pain caused by some kinds of spinal injuries.
Dr. Irving L. Lichtenstein, 80, who transformed hernia surgery from an operation requiring hospitalization and long recuperation into an uncomplicated outpatient procedure, died June 11 at his home in Marina del Rey, Calif.
The cause was Parkinson's disease, his family said.
Dr. Lichtenstein announced his new procedure in 1964, to the dismay of many in the medical establishment.
For a century before that, surgeons had regarded the repair of hernias, which occur when tissues protrude through a weakened area of muscle wall, as a straightforward, not especially interesting procedure with a basic technique hardly worth revisiting.
Dr. Lichtenstein, however, said that both prolonged bed rest and general anesthesia were unnecessary - and that the anesthesia was even counterproductive. To prove this point, he insisted that many of his patients walk away from the table after surgery.
"He exploded the myth of not letting the patient do any physical activity for two months," said Dr. Parviz K. Amid, director of Lichtenstein Hernia Institute.
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