Deaths elsewhere

Ira Tucker Sr., 83, the lead singer and irrepressible showman of the Dixie Hummingbirds, an electrifying gospel group credited with inspiring such entertainers as James Brown, Jackie Wilson and the Temptations, died June 24 in Philadelphia. He had congestive heart failure. Tucker joined the Hummingbirds in 1938 and helped cement its reputation for dazzling harmonies and elaborate dance moves borrowed from spirited church services. For the Hummingbirds, a career highlight that brought national attention was backing up singer-songwriter Paul Simon on his 1973 hit "Loves Me Like a Rock." The Dixie Hummingbirds won the 1973 Grammy Award for best soul gospel performance for its own recording of the song. Leonard Pennario, 83, a pianist and best-selling recording artist who made his concert debut with the Dallas Symphony at age 12 after learning Grieg's Piano Concerto in a week so he could play it from memory, died Friday at his home in La Jolla, Calif. He had Parkinson's disease. "Playing with this musician has been one of the joys of my life," Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos once said of Pennario. "He has technique, but he has what is more important, a soul." John Foster Dulles, 95, a noted Brazilian history scholar and the eldest son of the former secretary of state, died of kidney failure Monday in San Antonio. Dulles was a professor of Latin American studies at the University of Texas, Austin for 45 years. His wife of 68 years, Eleanor Ritter Dulles, died four days before he died. NEWS SERVICES