The Rev. Nico Smith, 81, a white minister who defied his racist upbringing in South Africa by living in a black township and leading a congregation there while organizing protests against apartheid, died of a heart attack Saturday in Pretoria. Smith "sacrificed his well-being and forsook his privileged white status to join hands and lead the struggle for the emancipation of black people," said a statement by the National African Congress, with which he worked closely.
Fred Anderson, 81, a tenor saxophonist who tied the bebop innovations of Charlie Parker to the explorations of later avant-garde musicians and who owned the Velvet Lounge, a South Side Chicago club known for fostering the careers of emerging players, died Thursday. Though largely uncelebrated outside Chicago and the inner circles of the jazz world, Anderson was an accomplished musician with a robust and opulent sound.
Walter H. Shorenstein, 95, a titan of San Francisco real estate development and a highly influential Democratic Party fundraiser, died of natural causes Thursday in San Francisco. "He was a man of extraordinary vision, leadership and wisdom," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. A World War II veteran who said he arrived in San Francisco after the war with "no job, a pregnant wife and less than $1,000 to my name," Shorenstein went on to head one of the country's largest privately owned real estate companies, with holdings across the nation.
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