Obituaries in the News

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Effi Barry

WASHINGTON (AP) - Effi Barry, the District of Columbia's stoic former first lady who endured her husband's drug abuse and unfaithfulness during his years as the city's mayor, died Thursday. She was 63.

Barry died of leukemia at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., said Justin Paquette, a spokesman for the hospital.

Effi Barry separated from Marion Barry in 1990, shortly after he was caught on videotape at a downtown hotel smoking crack cocaine with an ex-model and asking her to have sex with him.

Throughout her husband's three-month trial - during which federal prosecutors played the grainy 83-minute tape of the FBI sting - Barry sat in the front row of the courtroom with a hook and yarn.

Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison.

Shortly after the trial, Effi Barry moved to Virginia to teach health and sex education at Hampton University, her alma mater. The Barrys divorced in 1993, but she returned to Washington and supported him in his successful bid for a city council seat in 2004.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, she met Marion Barry in 1976 when he was still married to his second wife and married him two years later, a few months before he was elected to his first term as mayor. She was divorced from jazz pianist Stanley Cowell.

A former model and school teacher, she actively supported various causes and was arrested during an anti-apartheid protest outside the South African Embassy in 1985.

She acknowledged over the years that she knew of her husband's problems with substance abuse and philandering from the start of their marriage.

Barry learned she had leukemia last year and soon started campaigning for more black Americans to join the registry for bone marrow transplants.

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Luciano Pavarotti

ROME (AP) - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C notes and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, has died. He was 71.

His manager, Terri Robson, said in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time Thursday. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.

The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Modena, Italy.

In 1961, Pavarotti won a local voice competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."

He became a true media star in the mid-1970s, appearing in television commercials and mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.

Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.

Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti teamed with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras and they toured as the "Three Tenors."

He starred in a film called "Yes, Giorgio" (though its failure scuttled his hopes for a Hollywood career) and appeared in a filmed version of "Rigoletto." He wrote an autobiography, "I, Luciano Pavarotti," and made more than 90 recordings.

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