Obituaries in the news

Associated Press

Last update: November 12, 2009 - 10:41 PM

William Ganz

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dr. William Ganz, a pioneering cardiologist and one of the inventors of a specialized catheter, has died. He was 90.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center released a statement Wednesday saying Ganz died of natural causes Tuesday in Los Angeles.

In 1970, Ganz and Dr. H.J.C. Swan invented a balloon-tipped catheter which measures heart function and blood flow in critically ill patients. The Swan-Ganz Catheter is still used by physicians across the world.

The hospital says Ganz also experimented with treating heart attacks by dissolving coronary artery blood clots in the early 1980s

He was born in Slovakia, educated in Prague and escaped Communist Hungary to move to Los Angeles with his family in 1966. He is survived by his two sons who are both doctors.

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Elijah Joshua "E.J." Williams

BLUFFTON, S.C. (AP) — The father of former NBA star Jayson Williams has died.

The Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home said Elijah Joshua "E.J." Williams died Tuesday. He was 76.

Christopher Adams, an attorney for Jayson Williams, said E.J. Williams died at his son's home in Bluffton, S.C., of complications from several strokes.

E.J. Williams was a longtime resident of Ritter, S.C., and owned a construction company with his son.

Jayson Williams played nine seasons in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, retiring in 2000. He faces a retrial in January on reckless manslaughter charges stemming from the fatal shooting of a hired driver at his New Jersey estate in 2002.

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