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I'm catching up on some locally prominent deaths I've missed during the holiday slowdown.
Catherine O'Neill, 70, was co-founder of the the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and before that a California political activist who ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for Secretary of State and twice for the state Senate. She also had been director of the United Nations Information Center in Washington and editorial director at KFWB here. O'Neill died at UCLA of complications from cancer, her husband, the journalist Richard Reeves, said. "She ran for office because she wanted to get things done," said Kathleen Brown, the former California state treasurer. "It wasn't about the power. Something would tick her off." LAT, NYT, Women's Refugee Commission
Mark Hundahl, 61, was co-owner of the gay-oriented magazine Frontiers and a prominent straight voice in the LA gay community. He too died of cancer. “Those who knew us well and experienced how we worked together called us ‘the odd couple,’” said David Stern, the publisher of Frontiers. “I’m the eternal optimist, always seeing the glass half-full. Mark, on the other hand, was more like, ‘Where’s the glass? There’s water everywhere.’" Frontiers, Advocate.com, WeHo News (Hundahl, left, and Stern with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at Frontiers' 30th anniversary party this year.)
Lee Dorman, 70, was the bass player for Iron Butterfly when the Southern California band recorded its biggest hit, the 17-minute psychedelic era anthem, "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," released in 1968. He was found dead in a car outside his home in Laguna Niguel. The Orange County Coroner called it natural causes. Dorman was reportedly on the waiting list for a heart transplant. NYT, Iron Butterfly.com
