Icelandic airline executive Sigurdur Helgason, who pioneered cheap flights that carried legions of backpackers between Europe and the United States in the 1960s and '70s, died Feb. 8 on Mustique, a tiny private island in the Caribbean. He was 87. Helgason was CEO of Icelandair from 1974 to 1984 and then chairman of the board until 1991. He previously ran Icelandic Airlines' U.S. operation in New York when it gained a big following among 20-somethings for its cheap flights to Luxembourg via Iceland, said spokesman Gudjon Arngrimsson. Icelandic merged with another airline in 1973 to become Icelandair, the country's flagship carrier.
Deaths elsewhere
Susan Hibbert, who typed the English version of the German surrender document and then messaged London when World War II ended in Europe in 1945, died Feb. 2. She was 84. As a staff sergeant in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Hibbert -- then Susan Heald -- was assigned to type the English version of the surrender document and retyped it several times as it was amended. She was present on May 7, 1945, when Gen. Alfred Jodl formally surrendered, and she was given the task of sending a cable to London confirming that the mission had been accomplished, the Daily Telegraph said in an obituary published Wednesday. Hibbert also was given the assignment of typing a message informing the War Office in London that the war was over: "The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945."
Al-Tayeb Saleh, one of the Arab world's top novelists who excelled at portraying characters torn between East and West, died last Wednesday in London, Sudan's official news agency said. He was 80. Saleh's works reflected the Arab and African quest for identity, especially in the period of the 1960s, which were marked by the end of colonialism and the rise of nationalism across the region.
His 1966 masterpiece, "The Season of Migration to the North," can be described as one of the earlier writings about the idea of a clash of civilizations. The novel was ranked among the 100 best works of fiction in 2002, according to a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countries organized by the Norwegian Book Clubs. Saleh also wrote "The Cypriot Man" and the "The Wedding of Zein," which was turned into a film that won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976. He also contributed to a monthly London-based Arabic publication, Al-Majalla.
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He effectively lobbied some of Minnesota’s wealthiest citizens to contribute to his projects: “You were just compelled to step up and do whatever Joe wanted to do.”