http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_re_us/deaths_1 Obituaries in the news By The Associated Press Tue May 20, 11:11 PM ET Crispin Beltran MANILA, Philippines (AP) ‹ Rep. Crispin Beltran, a left-wing Philippine lawmaker and veteran labor leader, died Tuesday. He was 75. Cherry Clemente, secretary general of Beltran's party, Anakpawis, said Beltran slipped while climbing a ladder to fix his roof. Beltran led the country's largest left-wing labor federation, the May One Movement, and was arrested in 1982 under late dictator Ferdinand Marcos but escaped two years later and joined the underground anti-Marcos movement. He resurfaced after Marcos was ousted in 1986. Beltran had served as a congressman since 2001 and was a sharp critic of current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He joined three opposition attempts to impeach Arroyo for alleged election cheating and corruption. Beltran was again arrested in February 2006 and detained in a hospital for more than a year in connection with a failed coup. The Supreme Court dismissed the charges against him in July 2007 and ordered his release. ___ Walter R. Davis CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ‹ Walter R. Davis, a Texas oil tycoon and philanthropist, died Monday. He was 88. Davis died after a period of declining health, said his son-in-law, Bob Eubanks. He left his job at a five-and-dime store in North Carolina to start a career in the trucking industry that ultimately led to the oil business in Texas. He started as a long haul driver of textile products, moved into management, and then to the West Coast to join a trucking company whose owner became his mentor and later his business partner. Davis moved to Midland, Texas, in spring 1952 with financial help from his mentor and began his career as an oil company executive and benefactor. He grew his business from one that began with a single truck hauling oil from wildcat drilling wells to refineries. He developed Permian Oil Company, which merged with Occidental Petroleum, one of the nation's largest oil related businesses. As Occidental CEO, Davis was a participant in oil marketing projects in half a dozen foreign countries. He left Occidental and started over, creating Basin Inc., providing services to the oil industry. ___ Herbert H. Hash CULPEPER, Va. (AP) ‹ Herbert H. Hash, the oldest living former Red Sox pitcher, died Tuesday, according to the University of Richmond, where he played several college sports. He was 97. Hash died of a stroke in his hometown of Culpeper, the university's sports department said. He played two major league seasons, both with Boston, and compiled an 8-7 record with a 4.98 ERA in 38 appearances, including 12 starts. He was 7-7 with a 4.95 ERA in 1940 and 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in four games, all in relief, in 1941. The oldest living former Red Sox p_layer_ is third _base_man Billy Werber, who turned 99 last June 20. At Richmond, Hash was a three-year letterman in basketball and _base_ball and he also was a high jumper on the track team. He was a member of Richmond's 20-0 basketball team in 1935, and he finished with a 13-4 record as a pitcher. Hash was inducted into the university's 1985-86 Hall of Fame class. ___ Hamilton Jordan ATLANTA (AP) ‹ Hamilton Jordan, a political strategist from south Georgia who helped propel Jimmy Carter to the White House and served as his chief of staff, died Tuesday. He was 63. Jordan died at his home in Atlanta after a long battle with cancer, said Gerald Rafshoon, a former Carter spokesman. Jordan graduated from the University of Georgia with a political science degree in 1967 and became a key adviser to Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign. After Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jordan ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 1986. He lost to Wyche Fowler, who won the general election. Jordan worked for H. Ross Perot's presidential bid in 1992. Later he worked with Unity08, an independent political group founded by independent Angus King, the former governor of Maine, along with Rafshoon and Doug Bailey, a former staffer on President Ford's 1976 campaign. ___ Willis E. Lamb Jr. TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ‹ Willis E. Lamb Jr., a physicist whose work on the electron structure of the hydrogen atom revolutionized the quantum theory of matter and who won the Nobel prize for physics in 1955, died Thursday. He was 94. Lamb died in a Tucson hospital from complications of a gallstone disorder, said the University of Arizona, where he was professor emeritus of physics and optical sciences. The research that led to the Nobel prize was conducted while working at Columbia University's Columbia Radiation Laboratory. He was working on defense-related research into microwave sources for radar when he became interested in the properties of the hydrogen atom. He designed and built a device in 1947 with Columbia graduate student R.C. Retherford to study the effect of microwave radiation on the hydrogen atom, according to a University of Arizona biography. That led to measurements that showed a change in the amount of energy emitted from the hydrogen atom in different states that became known as the Lamb shift. The discovery led to changes in the basic concepts behind the application of quantum theory to electromagnetism. His work became one of the foundations of quantum electrodynamics, a key aspect of modern elementary particle physics. ___ Lloyd Moore FREWSBURG, N.Y. (AP) ‹ Lloyd Moore, a NASCAR winner in 1950 and the oldest former driver, died Sunday. He was 95. Moore died in his sleep in Frewsburg, N.Y., said James Bailey, Moore's son-in-law. He won his lone NASCAR _title_ in Winchester, Ind., and finished fourth in the 1950 standings. He drove from 1949-55 in the Grand National series against Lee Petty, Glenn Fireball Roberts and other contemporaries. He made his NASCAR debut on Oct. 2, 1949, at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pa., finishing sixth behind Lee Petty. His final start came on Sept. 5, 1955, at Darlington. He finished 24th in a 69-car field that included winner Herb Thomas, Everett Cotton Owens, Roberts and Petty. ___ Billy Joe Rish PORT ST. JOE, Fla. (AP) ‹ Former state Rep. Billy Joe Rish, who led impeachment investigations of three Florida Supreme Court justices in the 1970s, died Saturday. He was 75. Rish died of cancer, his daughter Cathy Womack said. He was elected to the Florida House as a Democrat from this Panhandle town in 1970. He served four terms and led the House Judiciary Committee during its investigation of the justices. They were suspected of having a corrupt relationship with a utility company lawyer-lobbyist. Two of the justices resigned during the investigation and the third was cleared. Rish also is the namesake of nearby Billy Joe Rish State Park, the first such facility in Florida designed for the disabled. He worked for its establishment while in the Legislature. ___ Barbara Sears Rockefeller LITTLE ROCK (AP) ‹ Barbara Sears Rockefeller, married to Winthrop Rockefeller before he was governor of Arkansas in the 1960s and '70s and the mother of the late, former Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, died Monday. She was 91. Her death was confirmed by the Ruebel Funeral Home. A cause of death was not given. Winthrop Rockefeller married Barbara Sears, the Pennsylvania-born daughter of Lithuanian immigrants, on Valentine's Day in 1948. They had one child, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, but the marriage dissolved in a high-profile divorce in 1954. Known as Bobo, Barbara Rockefeller walked away with a settlement worth more than $5.5 million, but while the agreement was pending she complained to Time magazine that a merchant was threatening to repossess her vacuum cleaner. Winthrop Rockefeller moved from New York to Arkansas while the divorce was pending, and his son would spend summers there. Rockefeller was elected to the first of two terms as Arkansas governor in 1966. Their son was elected to two terms as lieutenant governor and dropped out of a 2006 race for governor because of a blood disorder. He died in 2006 at age 57. ___ John Rutsey TORONTO (AP) ‹ John Rutsey, a founding member of Canadian rock band Rush, died May 11 of complications from diabetes. He was 55. Rutsey, who left the group after recording their first album in 1974, died in Toronto, his family said. Rutsey co-founded Rush with lead singer Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson in 1968 in Toronto but left the group for health reasons. He was replaced by drummer and lyricist Neil Peart just before the group's first U.S. tour. ___ Richard Towne Dick Sutcliffe DALLAS (AP) ‹ Richard Towne Dick Sutcliffe, creator of the popular religious children's television show Davey and Goliath, died May 11. He was 90. He died in Dallas of complications from a stroke, according to the St. Mark's School of Texas, where the memorial service will be held. Sutcliffe created Davey and Goliath, a Christian-themed children's show about a boy and his talking dog that used stop-action animation. Along with Gumby creators Art Clokey and Ruth Clokey Goodell, Sutcliffe created the Sunday-morning series to spread a religious message without losing younger viewers with overly complicated concepts, his daughter, J.T. Sutcliffe, told The Dallas Morning News. Church leaders approached Sutcliffe about using television to reach young people when he was director of Lutheran radio and television ministry in New York. He chose a format that would offer sound theology while being entertaining, his daughter told the newspaper.