Obituaries in the news

Herbert G. Klein

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Herbert G. Klein, Richard Nixon's ex-White House director of communications and a former editor for Copley Newspapers, has died. He was 91.

Klein died Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, family members told the Union-Tribune.

Klein became a special correspondent for Copley after serving with the Navy in World War II. He covered Nixon's 1946 congressional campaign for Copley, starting an association that would eventually lead him to the White House.

Klein accompanied Vice President Nixon to Moscow in 1959 for historic meetings with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The next year, he represented Nixon in setting the terms for his debate with John F. Kennedy - the first televised debates between presidential candidates.

Klein resigned as Nixon's communications director in 1973, one year before the Watergate scandal forced the president to step down.

He later joined Metromedia Inc., a national non-network broadcasting group. In 1980, he went back to Copley Newspapers as editor in chief. He helped guide the chain's editorial positions, while maintaining contacts in politics and sports. He served a combined 52 years with Copley.

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Anna Karen Morrow

ENCINO, Calif. (AP) - Anna Karen Morrow, an actress who had a regular role on the prime-time soap opera "Peyton Place" and also appeared on Broadway, in films and on numerous other television shows, has died. She was 94.

Morrow died Wednesday, said her son-in-law, Darrell Christian.

Her film credits included "The Price of Fear," which starred Merle Oberon, "The Wrong Man" alongside Henry Fonda and "It Happened in Athens" with Jayne Mansfield.

On "Peyton Place," she played Mrs. Chernak, the Harrington family housekeeper. Morrow also appeared in the TV series "Star Trek," ''Gunsmoke," ''Hazel" and "The Perry Como Show," and on Broadway in the play "Red Gloves." Before acting, she was a model in New York.

She was the widow of Jeff Morrow, who also acted on stage and screen and was perhaps best known for his performances in several science fiction films that achieved cult status. He died in 1993.

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John Henry Moss

John Henry Moss, one of the most influential figures in minor league baseball during his 50-year reign as president of the South Atlantic League, died of complications from a stroke. He was 90.

The Class A league announced its founder died Wednesday in his hometown of Kings Mountain, N.C. He had been hospitalized since June 7.

Moss helped form the Western Carolina League for textile workers in 1947. A decade later he worked a deal with Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey to stock the league with professionals.

It later became the South Atlantic League, which Moss ran for 50 seasons before his retirement in 2007. Under Moss, 43 cities fielded teams. The league currently has 16 clubs in eight states. The No. 50 is retired throughout the league to honor Moss' service.

A good fielding but light-hitting second baseman, Moss washed out of the Washington Senators minor league system in the 1930s.

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Andree Layton Roaf

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Judge Andree Layton Roaf, the first black woman to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court, has died after losing consciousness in her Little Rock office. She was 68.

Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper says Roaf died Wednesday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The cause of her death wasn't immediately known.

Then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker appointed Roaf to the Arkansas Supreme Court in January 1995 to serve out a vacancy. A year later, she was appointed to the state appeals court by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee when it was expanded from six to 12 judges. She was elected to the court in 2000 and served until 2006.

U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. appointed Roaf to her most recent position in 2007 as head of the federal Office of Desegregation Monitoring, responsible for overseeing compliance with long-standing desegregation plans for the North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts.

Roaf had given up a career in science to pursue law, a field she said allowed her more time to care for her children. She worked as a biologist for the National Center for Toxicological Research and the federal Food and Drug Administration before entering law school at age 34. She earned her law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1978.