Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State, dies

Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State, dies

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan, Ap National Security Writer – 2 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, a four-star general who served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own, died Saturday of complications from an infection, his family said. He was 85.

Haig's long and decorated military career launched the Washington career for which he is better known, including top posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. He never lived down his televised response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Hours after the shooting, then Secretary of State Haig went before the cameras intending, he said later, to reassure Americans that the White House was functioning.

"As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending the return of the vice president," Haig said.

Some saw the comment as an inappropriate power grab in the absence of Vice President Bush, who was flying back to Washington from Texas.

Haig died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he was surrounded by his family, according to two of his children, Alexander and Barbara. A hospital spokesman, Gary Stephenson, said Haig died at about 1:30 a.m.

In his book, "Caveat," Haig later wrote that he had been "guilty of a poor choice of words and optimistic if I had imagined I would be forgiven the imprecision out of respect for the tragedy of the occasion."

Haig ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Haig "served his country in many capacities for many years, earning honor on the battlefield, the confidence of presidents and prime ministers, and the thanks of a grateful nation."

"I think of him as a patriot's patriot," said George P. Shultz, who succeeded Haig as the country's top diplomat in 1982.

"No matter how you sliced him it came out red, white and blue. He was always willing to serve."

Born Dec. 2, 1924, in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, Alexander Meigs Haig spent his boyhood days dreaming about a career in the military. With the help of an uncle who had congressional contacts, he secured an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943.

After seeing combat in Korea and Vietnam, Haig — an Army colonel at the time — was tapped by Henry Kissinger to be his military adviser on the National Security Council under Nixon. Haig "soon became indispensable," Kissinger later said of his protege.

Nixon promoted Haig in 1972 from a two-star general to a four-star rank, passing over 240 high-ranking officers with greater seniority.

The next year, as the Watergate scandal deepened, Nixon turned to Haig and appointed him to succeed H.R. Haldeman as White House chief of staff. He helped the president prepare his impeachment defense — and as Nixon was preoccupied with Watergate, Haig handled many of the day-to-day decisions normally made by the chief executive.

On Nixon's behalf, Haig also helped arrange the wiretaps of government officials and reporters, as the president tried to plug the sources of news leaks.

About a year after assuming his new post as Nixon's right-hand man, Haig was said to have played a key role in persuading the president to resign. He also suggested to Gerald Ford that he pardon his predecessor for any crimes committed while in office — a pardon that is widely believed to have cost Ford the presidency in 1976.

Years after serving as one of Nixon's closest aides, Haig would be dogged by speculation that he was "Deep Throat" — the shadowy source who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break the Watergate story. Haig denied it, repeatedly, and the FBI's Mark Felt was eventually revealed as the secret source.

Following Nixon's resignation, Haig stayed with the new Ford administration for about six weeks, but then returned to the military as commander in chief of U.S. forces in Europe and supreme allied commander of NATO forces — a post he held for more than four years. He quit during the Carter administration over the handling of the Iran hostage crisis.

Haig briefly explored a run for presidency in 1979, but decided he didn't have enough support and instead took a job as president of United Technologies — his first job in the private sector since high school.

When Ronald Reagan became the 40th president of the United States, Haig returned to public service as Reagan's secretary of state, and declared himself the "vicar of American foreign policy."

His 17-month tenure was marked by turf wars with other top administration officials — including Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and national security adviser William Clark.

Two months into the new administration, Haig was portrayed as pounding a table in frustration when the chairmanship of a crisis management team went to Bush. Despite the clashes, Haig received high praise from professional diplomats for trying to achieve a stable relationship with the Soviet Union.

In his book, Haig said he had concluded during a 1982 trip to Europe with the president that the "effort to write my character out of the script was under way with a vengeance." He resigned days later.

Describing himself as a "dark horse," Haig sought the Republican presidential nomination for the 1988 elections. On the campaign trail, he told supporters about his desire to "keep the Reagan revolution alive," but he also railed against the administration's bulging federal deficit — calling it an embarrassment to the GOP.

Haig dropped out of the race just days before the New Hampshire primary.

During his career in public service, Haig became known for some of his more colorful or long-winded language. When asked by a judge to explain an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the Nixon tapes, Haig responded: "Perhaps some sinister force had come in."

And later, when he criticized Reagan's "fiscal flabbiness," Haig asserted that the "ideological religiosity" of the administration's economic policies were to blame for doubling the national debt to $2 trillion in 1987.

Haig is survived by his wife of 60 years, Patricia; his children Alexander, Brian and Barbara; eight grandchildren; and his brother, the Rev. Francis R. Haig.

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer C. Kerr contributed to this report.

Discovery Channel: 'Deadliest Catch' captain dies

Discovery Channel: 'Deadliest Catch' captain dies

Wed Feb 10, 9:24 AM PST

Phil Harris, the fishing boat captain whose adventures off the Alaska coast were captured on the television show "Deadliest Catch", has died, the Discovery Channel said Tuesday night. He was 53.

Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the fishing vessel he captained, Cornelia Marie, was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The fisherman was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

The reality show, which has filmed five seasons, has been one of the Discovery Channel's most popular and depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end," sons Josh and Jake Harris said in a statement released by the network. "For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down."

In a statement, Discovery Channel senior vice president Elizabeth Hillman says, "Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him."

"We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart," she said.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, she said no additional information was immediately available Tuesday night.

Harris had seemed to be improving, and in a posting last Saturday on the ship's Web site, he was described as "talking to friends and family today; showing his greatest progress" since the stroke.

His sons wrote in a Feb. 3 posting that "No one ever said Captain Phil Harris wasn't tough. Today, dad showed some good signs of improvement, squeezing our hands and even summoning his trademark Captain's bluntness ... We are encouraged but still very cautious."

According to the ship's Web site, Harris started working on fishing boats at age 7 and started work 10 years later on a crab boat. When Harris turned 21, he ran a fishing vessel out of Seattle, making him one of the youngest to captain a vessel in the Bering Sea.

When Harris suffered the stroke, the family said a friend, Derek Ray, had flown to St. Paul to take over the role of relief skipper for the rest of the opilio crab season.

Harris' fishing vessel was based in Seattle.

___

On The Net:

http://www.corneliamarie.com

Former Eagle Great Tom Brookshier Dies

Former Eagle Great Tom Brookshier Dies

Posted: Saturday, 30 January 2010 11:51AM

by KYW's Peter Jaroff and Pat Toddy

One of the most popular players ever to wear a Philadelphia Eagles uniform -- Tom Brookshier -- has died.

According to a spokesperson for the Eagles, Brookshier died Friday night at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer.

The former football star was a defensive back for the Eagles from 1953 to 1961 and made the Pro Bowl twice. The Eagles retired his number "40" in 1962.

After his football career, Brookshier became an award-winning broadcaster, doing color for CBS football broadcasts and teaming up with Pat Summerall for the telecasts of three Super Bowl games. Veteran broadcaster Bill Campbell says both men made the transition with ease:

"As far as players who made the jump, they were as good as anybody, no doubt about it. They made the accession into our business as seamlessly and as easy going as possible. They were backed up by the firm knowledge they had and they did a really good job."

Brookshier also worked for KYW Newsradio's sister station, WIP. Broadcaster Angelo Cataldi remembers his friend and colleague:

"I learned a lot of his methods in the two years I worked with him. This is a guy who already had his number retired with the Eagles. He’d come in an hour, an hour and a half before a show, do tons and tons of prep work, help to set up guests. His work ethic was phenomenal.""

Cataldi says there were two sides to 'Brookie' - a very warm, gregarious public personality and a quiet reserved private side.

No word on funeral arrangements.

Keep The Cuts

Source: http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=519047

01/25/2010

Taxes: On the eve of President Obama's first State of the Union address, two Democratic congressmen are advising him to extend the Bush tax cuts instead of letting them expire. Now that's a stimulus.

We hear that the administration is considering taking a more populist tack as it sails the choppy political waters of 2010. Some of President Obama's plans reportedly include several tax tidbits for the "middle class," including a doubling of the child care tax credit for families below $85,000 in income, and $1.6 billion for child care and a cap on student loan payments.

Such transparent populism aside, if the recent bank-bashing is any sign, the ship of state is still being steered into the iceberg ahead.

This time, we sincerely hope the State of the Union will be distinguished by a cessation of Bush-bashing. We're glad to see two Democratic congressmen have said enough of this, and rather than bash Bush, urge the administration to copy him.

Reps. Bobby Bright, D-Ala., and Mike McMahon, D-N.Y., sent a "Dear Colleague" letter on Thursday asking their fellow congressmen to support extending the Bush tax cuts, passed in 2001 and 2003, at least for two years.

"Allowing these tax rates to expire during this recession runs the risk of curtailing economic expansion just when it begins to pick up and could lead to a 'double-dip' recession," says the letter.

We agree and suggest that keeping them might put jobs back into this jobless recovery. Businesses need certainty for long-term planning and risk-taking, not one-year, one-time tax credit gimmicks.

President Obama did propose during the 2008 campaign and in last year's budget plan extending the Bush tax cuts affecting the poor and middle class.

His plans also included, however, letting the top two tax rates of 33% and 35% rise to 36% and 39.6%, respectively, in 2011. The 15% rate on capital gains and dividends would also rise to 20%, for individuals with incomes above $200,000 and $250,000 for couples.

This would hit the class of entrepreneurs and professionals who are most productive in our society.

Apparently the administration is still worried more about the distribution of the golden eggs than the health of the goose. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire is a tax increase for everybody. Much of the burden will be borne by small businesses, which create most of the new jobs. No one has ever gotten a job from a poor person.

It is not surprising that in releasing the letter, Bright's office included this statement from the National Federation of Independent Businesses: "Small businesses are the engine of our economy, generating seven out of 10 new jobs and leading our economy out of past recessions. The NFIB thanks Rep. Bright for standing up for small-business owners, our job creators." So do we.

Scott Brown's stunning Senate victory in Massachusetts was driven by health care, but there was a strong undercurrent of a tax revolt as he reminded voters in an ad that a different Kennedy than Ted, his brother John, as president pushed his across-the-board tax cuts to get America moving again.

President Kennedy believed that the rising tide would raise all boats. Just a brief look at the economic successes of the mid-1960s shows that's true.

Other Democrats are hearing the patter of tea party footsteps. Rep. Henry Mitchell, D-Ariz., a second-term congressman who won reelection with just 53% of the vote in 2008, also wrote President Obama last week asking him to extend the lower capital gains, dividend and estate tax rates.

"Given the unique economic difficulties we face as a nation, this is the wrong time to raise these taxes. We need to retain these tax cuts that encourage investment that stimulates growth and job creation," Mitchell wrote.

There's rarely a good time to raise taxes. We like the Bright idea and would go even further. Let's make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and watch what America's businesses and workers do.

Climate Flimflam Flaming Out

Source: http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=519049

01/25/2010

Environment: The United Nations makes a claim that can't be supported by science, and U.S. researchers ignore temperature data from frigid regions. The crack-up of the global warming fraud is picking up speed.

With so much of the science behind climate change coming under attack, especially among scientists, it's been a harsh winter for the global warming crowd:

• In late November, thousands of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia were leaked to the public. The evidence strongly suggests that researchers colluded to prove the global warming scientific "consensus" by rigging, burying and destroying data that ran counter to their political agenda.

• Last week, the public learned that claims made by the U.N.'s International Panel on Climate Change were not based on science, but on speculation. Specifically, the IPCC's 2007 report said the Himalayan glaciers will be gone by 2035 due to man-made global warming.

The claim, used at the U.N. Copenhagen climate change conference in cold and snowy December to rush through a restrictive greenhouse-gas-emissions treaty, was not based on a scientific study. It was based on a telephone call that a reporter had with a scientist who was speculating.

The IPCC has withdrawn the claim. Murari Lal, the scientist who included the contention in the U.N. report, admitted that he knew it wasn't based on peer-reviewed scientific research.

• Also in the last week, it was revealed that U.S. researchers working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are excluding temperature data from cold regions for a database used by the U.N. in its global warming scare campaign.

Canwest News Service, a Canadian agency that also owns a chain of newspapers, reported Friday, "In the 1970s, nearly 600 Canadian weather stations fed surface temperature readings into a global database assembled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Today, NOAA only collects data from 35 stations across Canada.

"Worse, only one station — at Eureka on Ellesmere Island — is now used by NOAA as a temperature gauge for all Canadian territory above the Arctic Circle.

"The Canadian government, meanwhile, operates 1,400 surface weather stations across the country, and more than 100 above the Arctic Circle, according to Environment Canada."

Canwest also reports that Americans Joseph D'Aleo, a meteorologist, and E. Michael Smith, a computer programmer, say that the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies has "reduced the total number of Canadian weather stations in the database" and has "cherry-picked" the stations.

The NASA agency uses data from "sites in relatively warmer places, including more southerly locations, or sites closer to airports, cities or the sea — which has a warming effect on winter weather."

In a paper published on the Science and Public Policy Institute Web site, D'Aleo and Smith say the "NOAA ... systematically eliminated 75% of the world's stations with a clear bias toward removing higher-latitude, high-altitude and rural locations, all of which had a tendency to be cooler.

"The thermometers, in a sense, marched toward the tropics, the sea and to airport tarmacs."

• Then, just last weekend, we find that same 2007 IPCC report included another phony claim: that "the rapidly rising costs" of natural disasters since the 1970s is linked to global warming.

British newspapers reported Sunday that that assertion was neither peer-reviewed nor published in a scientific paper when the IPCC report was issued. When the paper that the claim was based on was published in 2008, its authors said:

"We find insufficient evidence to claim a statistical relationship between global temperature increase and catastrophe losses."

Now the IPCC says it is "reassessing the evidence."

All threads of fiction unravel eventually, and the deterioration flies out of control as the end nears.

Is this what we are seeing with the contention that man-made greenhouse-gas emissions are causing the planet to overheat?

We can't see into the future, but this myth has taken so many hits from the truth that its survival is in doubt.

Arlen Specter to Michele Bachmann: "Act Like a Lady" By Brian Montopoli

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/21/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6126494.shtml

January 21, 2010

(CBS)

In a joint interview on a Pittsburgh radio station, Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania told conservative Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota that she should "act Like a lady."



You can listen to the exchange at Real Clear Politics.


As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, Specter's comments came amid a contentious exchange on 1210 AM's Dom Giordano Show. After Bachmann spoke at length, Specter started to respond and Bachmann interjected. Specter then asked Bachmann to "stop interrupting," stating, "I didn't interrupt you."


"Now, wait a minute, I'll stop and you can talk," he said. "I'll treat you like a lady. Now act like one."

(AP)

"Well, I am a lady," Bachmann replied.


After the two bicker further, Specter again says Bachmann should "act like a lady." When Bachmann again states that she is a lady, Specter replies, "I think you are too, that's why I'm treating you like one. But just don't interrupt me."



Specter later complains that Bachmann, who insisted she voted for "prosperity" when Specter asked her about a specific vote, is "talking from talking points."


Writes Glenn Thrush: "Bachmann is hardly a beloved figure in Democratic circles. But how many liberal women, whom Specter badly needs to defeat front-running Pat Toomey, would appreciate being told to 'act like a lady' by a male debate partner?"


Specter, a Republican-turned-Democrat, is trailing Republican Pat Toomey 49 percent to 40 percent in the Pennsylvania Senate fight, according to a new Rassmussen

The Republican Lodges Of Massachusetts

Source: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000393

LODGE, Henry Cabot, (1850 - 1924)

Senate Years of Service: 1893-1924
Party: Republican

LODGE, Henry Cabot, (great-grandson of George Cabot, grandfather of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and John Davis Lodge),
a Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1850; attended a private school and graduated from Harvard University in 1871; editor of the North American Review 1873-1876; graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1874 and admitted to the bar in 1875; earned one of the first Ph.D. degrees in history and government granted by Harvard University in 1876; lecturer on American history at Harvard University 1876-1879; member, State house of representatives 1880-1881; author of many historical, biographical, and
political works; unsuccessful Republican candidate in 1882 for election to the Forty-eighth Congress and in 1884 to the Forty-ninth Congress; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth, Fifty-first, and Fifty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1887, until March 3, 1893, when he resigned; had been reelected to the Fifty-third Congress, but was later elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1893; reelected to the Senate in 1899, 1905, 1911, 1916, and 1922 and served from March 4, 1893, until his death; Republican Conference chairman (1918-24); president pro tempore (1911-13); chairman, Committee on Immigration (Fifty-fourth through Sixty-second Congresses), Committee on Printing (Fifty-fifth Congress), Committee on the Philippines (Fifty-sixth through Sixty-first Congresses), Committee on Private Land Claims (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Foreign Relations (Sixty-sixth through Sixty-eighth Congresses), Republican Conference (1918-24); appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt a member of the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903; member of the United States Immigration Commission 1907-1910; overseer of Harvard University from 1911 until his death; represented the United States as a member of the Conference on Limitation of Armament in 1921; died in Cambridge, Mass., on November 9, 1924; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Garraty, John A. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953; Lodge, Henry Cabot. The Senate of the United States, and Other Essays and Addresses Historical and Literary. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.



Source: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000394

LODGE, Henry Cabot, Jr., (1902 - 1985)

Senate Years of Service: 1937-1944; 1947-1953
Party: Republican; Republican

LODGE, Henry Cabot, Jr., (great-great-great grandson of George Cabot, great-great grandson of John Davis of Massachusetts, great-great grandson of Elijah Hunt Mills, grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge, brother of John Davis Lodge, and nephew of Augustus P. Gardner), a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Nahant, Essex County, Mass., on July 5, 1902; graduated from Middlesex School, Concord, Mass., in 1920 and from Harvard University in 1924; engaged in newspaper work 1924-1931; member, Massachusetts State legislature 1933-1936; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1936; reelected in 1942, and served from January 3, 1937, until his resignation on February 3, 1944, to go on active duty during the Second World War in the United States Army; the first United States Senator since the Civil War to leave the Senate in order to go to war; served in the Mediterranean and European Theaters, rising to lieutenant colonel; again elected to the United States Senate in 1946 and served from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1953; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1952; United States representative to the United Nations from February 1953 until his resignation September 3, 1960; unsuccessful Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1960; Ambassador to Republic of Vietnam 1963-1964; again appointed Ambassador to Vietnam 1965-1967; United States Ambassador at Large 1967-1968; Ambassador to Germany 1968-1969; appointed by President Richard Nixon to serve as head of the American delegation to the Vietnam peace negotiations in Paris, France, and served until December 1969; appointed by President Nixon to serve as special envoy to the Vatican 1970-1977; died in Beverly, Mass., February 27, 1985; interment in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Lodge, Henry C., Jr., The Storm Has Many Eyes, A Personal Narrative. New York: Norton, 1973; Miller, William J., Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography. New York: Heinman, 1967.

Donald Goerke, 83, creator of Campbell's SpaghettiOs By Sally A. Downey

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/81300547.html

Jan. 13, 2010

Donald E. Goerke, 83, dubbed the "Daddy-O of SpaghettiOs" for creating the pasta product while a Campbell Soup Co. executive, died of heart failure Sunday at his Delran home.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Goerke was marketing research director for the Franco-American division of Campbell. Hoping to boost sales, his group considered different pasta shapes that would appeal to children, including baseballs and stars. He decided to go with O's.

"We wanted to keep it simple," he told a reporter.

Campbell president W.B. Murphy was so excited about the product that the company rolled it out nationally without trying it in a test market.

In commercials, Jimmie Rodgers sang the catchy jingle, "The neat, round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon: Uh-oh, SpaghettiOs."

It was a great hit with youngsters and mothers because it was "spoonable" and didn't make a mess, Mr. Goerke later told reporters.

During his 35-year career with Campbell, Mr. Goerke introduced more than 100 products, including Campbell's Chunky Soup in the late 1960s.

"The company was built on condensed soup and had to overcome a lot of skepticism to introduce a ready-to-serve soup," he told a reporter in 1990. By then SpaghettiOs and Campbell's Chunky Soup had combined sales of more than $500 million a year.

Mr. Goerke joined Campbell in 1955 as a market analyst. After developing two blockbuster products, he was president of Champion Valley Farms, a Campbell division that produced Recipe Dog Food, sponsor of the Lassie television series.

In the 1980s, he was director of marketing for Campbell's ready-to-serve products and then was general manager of its Red and White line of condensed soups. He retired in 1990 as manager of Campbell's microwave-soups division.

Mr. Goerke continued to consult for the company, and in 1995 Campbell asked him to participate in a SpaghettiOs anniversary event. He appeared on What's My Line? and attended a celebration at a SpaghettiOs plant in Ohio.

While he was with Campbell, Mr. Goerke often represented the company at golf tournaments, the Super Bowl, Miss America contests, and other events. He got to meet President Ronald Reagan and Arnold Palmer, said his son, Brian.

Campbell made him a goodwill ambassador, his son said, because "he was very outgoing, upbeat, and easy to talk to."

A company spokesman released a statement yesterday saying, "Don made many valuable contributions to Campbell Soup Company throughout his long career. He was a great marketer, a mentor and a friend to many. He will be missed by all who knew him.

A native of Waukesha, Wis., Mr. Goerke was a member of the Waukesha High School basketball team that won the state championship in 1944. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Force in Arizona.

After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from what is now Carroll University in Wisconsin, where he met his future wife, June Marie Uthus. He earned a master's degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin. Before joining Campbell, he was a market researcher for Blatz Brewery in Wisconsin.

Mr. Goerke and his wife lived in Cinnaminson for more than 30 years. Ten years ago, they moved to Ashley Crossing, a residential development in Delran.

He was past president of the Merchantville school board and the Ashley Crossing Board of Directors. For more than 40 years, he was an active member of the Riverton Country Club and initiated modifications to make the golf course more accessible to older and handicapped players, his son said. He was also an active member of Bethany Lutheran Church.

Recently, he had been involved in efforts to increase pensions for Campbell retirees, his son said.

"He engaged people and was willing to take leadership responsibilities," his son said. "He was respected, but he was comfortable to be with."

In addition to his son Brian, Mr. Goerke is survived by a son, David; a daughter, Ann Nassoura; and seven grandchildren. His wife of 59 years died in 2008.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Bethany Lutheran Church, 617 Morgan Ave., Palmyra, N.J. 08065. Friends may call at 10 a.m.

Donations may be made to the church.

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass dies in Pa. at 59

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass dies in Pa. at 59

By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press Writer Patrick Walters, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago
PHILADELPHIA – Teddy Pendergrass, who became R&B's reigning sex symbol in the 1970s and '80s with his forceful, masculine voice and passionate love ballads and later became an inspirational figure after suffering a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, died Wednesday at age 59.

The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at Bryn Mawr Hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.

"To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music."

Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down in the 1982 car accident. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."

He returned to the stage at Live Aid in 1985, performing from his wheelchair.

___

Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report from New York