OTHER NOTABLE DEATHS

The Baltimore Sun

SHIRLEY SLESINGER LASSWELL, 84 Licensed Pooh characters

Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, who licensed the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters to Walt Disney and later sued the company over disputed royalties, died Thursday of respiratory failure at her daughter's Beverly Hills home, family spokesman Lonnie Soury said.

Ms. Lasswell, born Shirley Ann Basso on May 27, 1923, was married to Stephen Slesinger, who in 1930 obtained U.S. and Canadian licensing and merchandising rights to Pooh, Christopher Robin and other characters created by British author A.A. Milne.

When her husband died in 1953, she took over developing the characters and creating clothing, dolls and other items. She licensed Pooh to Disney in 1961, the first of two licensing agreements between Stephen Slesinger Inc. and The Walt Disney Co.

Stephen Slesinger Inc. sued Disney in 1991, alleging the company miscalculated royalties due under that deal. Disney denies additional royalties are owed.

A dismissal of the company's main lawsuit is being appealed in state court.

In 1964, she married Fred Lasswell, the cartoonist behind Snuffy Smith and Barney Google. He died in 2001.

FRED TROST, 61 Hosted outdoors show

Fred Trost, who hosted the popular Michigan Outdoors hunting and fishing television show, died Wednesday of a rare lung condition after spending several weeks in a Michigan hospital, his son, Zachary Trost of East Lansing, said Thursday.

Michigan Outdoors was broadcast on public television across the state until a $4 million judgment against him for an investigative series he did on deer scent lures led to his departure in 1992. He later began broadcasting another show, Practical Sportsman, also on public television.

In the late 1990s, while still working on the show, Mr. Trost enrolled in Cooley Law School, graduating cum laude, his son said. Mr. Trost stopped production of Practical Sportsman in 2005.

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