Deaths elsewhere

Last update: June 27, 2009 - 6:03 PM

Hermien M. Lee, 92, a Beverly Hills nutritionist who taught her no-nonsense approach to eating right to celebrities such as Ann-Margret, Joan Lunden, Suzanne Somers and Robert Wagner, has died. Lee died of heart failure June 18 in Nashville, Tenn., where she had been recovering from a Christmas Eve fall in which she broke her hip and elbow. She had traveled to Nashville to spend the holidays with a daughter and remained there in rehab and at an assisted living facility after surgery.

Lee -- described as a 4-foot-11- 1/2-inch, rock-hard ball of energy -- offered 14-week courses in how to eat, suggesting small portions because most people eat more than they need to maintain fitness. If clients showed they were not prepared to follow her regimen, she would tell them not to waste her time. "I'm very rigid," said told a Los Angeles Times writer unapologetically in 2001. "I can't fix people. They have to fix themselves. If you are big, something has to absolutely change forever." A former sugar addict, Lee had gone from 170 pounds and size 20 during World War II to a wispy 104 pounds and a size 4. She did it with diet and exercise. The key, she said, is BMV: "Balance, moderation and variety."

Retired Marine Col. Kenneth L. Reusser, 89, a highly decorated aviator who was shot down in three wars, died June 20 of natural causes. He flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was shot down in all three, five times in all. His 59 medals included two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts and two Legions of Merit.

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