DEBORAH HOWELL, 68
Former Washington Post ombudsman
Former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell, a veteran editor who helped lead two news organizations to three Pulitzer Prizes, died Friday. She was 68.
Ms. Howell sustained fatal injuries when she was struck by a car while vacationing in New Zealand. Raised in Texas, Ms. Howell worked for newspapers there before moving to Minnesota to work as a reporter and editor for the Minneapolis Star. She later was top editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, leading it to two Pulitzers.
She joined The Post in 2005 as ombudsman, a job she held until 2008.
She was vacationing in New Zealand with her husband, former University of Minnesota president C. Peter Magrath.
FREYA VON MOLTKE, 98
Former Nazi resister
Freya von Moltke, a former Nazi resister who had lived in Vermont since the 1960s, has died after having a viral infection at age 98.
Mrs. von Moltke and her husband were prominent members of the German resistance during World War II, and she chronicled the work of the German resistance after his death.
JEANETTE SCOLA TRAPANI, 107
Elder survivor of 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Jeanette Scola Trapani, one of the oldest survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, has died at age 107.
Dolores Legge told the San Francisco Chronicle that her mother had had pneumonia and died at her home in El Dorado Hills, Calif., on Monday.
Although she was only 4 years old at the time, Ms. Legge said, her mother had clear memories of the April 18 quake, which was followed by days of fire that left much of San Francisco in ruin.
"She vividly remembered the terrible smell of the smoke from the burning city and how she and her family had to live in a tent in the Presidio," Ms. Legge said.
MARGARET G. DEVRIES, 87
IMF economist, historian
Margaret Garritsen deVries, an economist and historian at the International Monetary Fund, died of pneumonia Dec. 18. She was 87. Ms. DeVries was among the first employees hired by the IMF, joining it as an economist in 1946. She represented the agency on missions to Mexico, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Turkey, Israel, Yugoslavia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
She was appointed assistant chief of the multiple exchange rate division in 1953 and chief of the Far East division in 1957. In 1973, she was appointed IMF's official historian, a post she held until retiring in 1987.
- From Sun news services