Other Notable Deaths

The Baltimore Sun

WAYNE DOWNING, 67

Retired general

The retired general, one of President Bush's key counterterrorism advisers after the Sept. 11 attacks, died yesterday in Peoria, Ill., a coroner said. .

The four-star general, a West Point graduate, was admitted to the hospital Monday, suffering from bacterial meningitis and multiple myeloma, a form of cancer, Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said.

General Downing retired in 1996 after 34 years in the military, ending his career as head of all U.S. special operations forces. He commanded more than 47,000 soldiers, including the Army's Green Berets and Navy's SEALs.

General Downing was pulled from retirement after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001 and appointed by President Bush as national director and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism.

He had also been tapped in his retirement to lead a 40-person presidential task force that investigated a 1996 attack that killed 19 Americans at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, making recommendations on how to better protect Americans abroad.

General Downing "served this country well for many years in the military and at the White House, and even after government service continued to provide important advice and counsel," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, General Downing commanded a joint task force of 1,200 U.S. special forces that halted Iraq's SCUD missile attacks on Israel and eased overall missile threats in the war zone.

General Downing, a military analyst for MSNBC, received the U.S. Military Academy's distinguished graduate award last year.

"His reputation was that of a smart, decisive, forceful and caring leader, known in particular for his unwavering determination to accomplish any mission assigned and provide his soldiers the best possible support," the academy wrote in bestowing the honor.

BART BURNS, 89

Longtime actor

The actor, who appeared on Broadway, in movies and TV shows for five decades, died of natural causes yesterday at his home in the West Hills area of Los Angeles, his son, Brendan Burns, said.

Mr. Burns made several Broadway appearances, including appearing with Henry Fonda in a production of Mr. Roberts.

On television, he played Pat Chambers on the Mike Hammer series in the 1950s and made hundreds of guest appearances on shows ranging from Gunsmoke to The Rockford Files.

His movie roles included Ernest Farmer in the 1982 Jessica Lange feature Frances.

He had small roles in many other films, including Seven Days in May, Legal Eagles and Tora, Tora, Tora.

Mr. Burns wrote the four-part "Kilroy Was Here" feature for the 1950s TV show Disneyland.

Mr. Burns was born George Joseph Burns in New York City. To avoid confusion with comic George Burns, he took the name Bart when he began his acting career in 1947.

During World War II, Mr. Burns was a Marine captain in the Pacific, where he was wounded twice. He won a Silver Star for leading a tank through a minefield to destroy a Japanese pillbox on Iwo Jima.

WILLIE MARSHALL, 65

Mo. Green Party leader

Willie Marshall, a leader of Missouri's Green Party who once received 21 percent of the vote for St. Louis mayor, died Saturday in St. Louis.

Mr. Marshall, who headed both the state party and the St. Louis Green Party Central Committee, died of heart failure and emphysema, his son, Mark Marshall, said Tuesday.

Mr. Marshall's social activism was sparked by his ill treatment as a black man both in the military and once he got home, friends and family said. He was a paratrooper, and after the military worked as a heavy equipment operator and a letter carrier, known in his neighborhood as "Mailman."

He recruited blacks to the local Green Party and brought a black perspective on police violence, prejudice, reparations and other issues, party activist Don Fitz said.

Mr. Marshall effectively changed the Green Party in St. Louis from almost all-white organization to a group at which blacks are a majority at most meetings, Mr. Fitz said.

In 2005, he was the Green Party nominee for mayor and won 21 percent of the vote against Democrat Francis Slay, who won re-election.

That was the highest vote percentage that any Green Party candidate, including Ralph Nader, who ran for president in 2000, has ever received in St. Louis, Mr. Fitz said.

Mr. Marshall worked with the Green Party on preventing childhood lead poisoning. His latest venture was organizing citizens to fight for justice through boycotts of certain goods and services.

TIM TUCKER, 50

Outdoors writer

The longtime syndicated outdoors sports writer was killed Monday in a three-car wreck on Interstate 75, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Mr. Tucker was a senior writer for Bassmaster magazine and B.A.S.S. Times and a longtime columnist with The Gainesville Sun.

He wrote eight books about fishing and was featured on several national TV shows.

Mr. Tucker also wrote for Universal Press Syndicate's outdoor page, which is distributed to 33 newspapers.

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