Monday, January 9, 2006
David Neill SummersPublic Relations Specialist
David Neill Summers, 45, a public relations specialist with federal agencies and later in the private sector, died Dec. 10 at Johns Hopkins Hospital from complications of AIDS. He lived in Washington.
Mr. Summers came to Washington in 1988 as a media specialist with a production company. Three years later, he joined the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a public relations specialist. He later worked at the Education Department as a special assistant in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services before becoming the office's director of communications and media support services.
In 1999, he became vice president of Widmeyer Communications in Washington. He managed a team that worked with federal agencies and Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Summers joined the communications firm of MDB Inc. as managing director in 2002. He moved briefly to Atlanta in 2005 to start his own company but returned to Washington when his illness worsened.
He was born in Denver and grew up in Round Rock, Tex. In his youth, he played several woodwind instruments and piano. He attended Texas A&M University and worked in banking and office management in Texas before moving to Washington.
His interests included biking, tennis, bowling and cooking.
Survivors include his companion, Karl Maxwell of Washington; his father and stepmother, Donald Summers and Sylvia Summers of Coupland, Tex.; and three brothers.
Jane Knight DommelStudent AdviserJane Knight Dommel, 85, a native Washingtonian who advised students taking correspondence courses, died Dec. 15 of kidney failure at her home in Gaithersburg.
She was born at her family's home in Georgetown and was a 1938 graduate of the Western High School (now Duke Ellington School of the Arts).
During World War II, Mrs. Dommel was a telephone operator at the British Embassy. After several years as a homemaker, she joined the McGraw-Hill publishing company in 1964 as an adviser of students taking correspondence courses with the company's materials. She retired in 1984.
She lived in the District until she moved to Gaithersburg in 1985. She was a member of Christ Church, an Episcopal church in Georgetown, and the Western-Ellington Alumni Association.
She was known in her Georgetown neighborhood for her fudge, which she sold in small packets during Lent to raise funds for her church.
Her husband of 44 years, Fred W. Dommel, died in 1985.
Survivors include three children, F. William Dommel Jr. of Hollywood, Fla., Thomas S. Dommel of Damascus and Winnie J. Harrigan of Gaithersburg; one sister; two brothers; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Mike SmithJazz DrummerMike Smith, 59, a drummer who for 40 years accompanied many leading jazz and pop musicians in Washington and around the world, died of prostate cancer Jan. 2 at his home in Silver Spring.
Mr. Smith settled in Washington in the mid-1960s and soon worked with pianist Bobby Timmons at the city's then-premier jazz venue, the Bohemian Caverns.
"Smitty is just amazing," the club's owner, Tony Taylor, said later in an interview with Washingtonian magazine. "I never heard a young cat with that kind of maturity and swing."
Mr. Smith's inventive approach to drumming allowed him to depart from strict time-keeping without losing the music's basic form. In 1967, less than two years after his arrival here, he was hired by Roberta Flack, with whom he toured for four years as the singer rose to stardom.
Mr. Smith described himself as "the ultimate sideman." His musical rsum included such well-known figures as Randy Brecker, John Abercrombie, Billy Eckstein, Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Herb Ellis, Leni Stern, Bobby Scott and Milt Jackson.
He performed with the Eddie Henderson Quintet and accompanied singer-pianist Mose Allison from 1984 to 1990. Mr. Smith frequently toured Europe and appeared with Adam Mackowicz at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1985 and 1987. He also recorded and toured with pianist Steve Kuhn and saxophonist Dave Liebman.
Locally, he performed with dozens of musicians, including the late Keter Betts. He recorded extensively in a variety of settings and continued to perform until weeks before his death.
Mr. Smith was born in Meadville, Pa., and was introduced to jazz by his father, who had a large record collection.
He studied with a local drummer, Cootie Harris, and was visiting jam sessions with his older brother, a guitarist, when he was 12. He was performing professionally by age 14. He studied music at Youngstown State University in Ohio and at Howard University.
His marriage to Sharon Hoefler ended in divorce.
Survivors include three brothers, John M. Smith of Franklin, Pa., Thomas P. Smith of Hyattsville and Timothy Smith of Silver Spring.
Glen C. LeachPhotographerGlen C. Leach, 88, a photographer who got his start with the Washington Evening Star, died Dec. 15 at his home in Rockville of progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative brain disease.
Mr. Leach was born in the District and graduated from Central High School in 1935. He joined the Evening Star two years later and then enlisted in the Marine Corps at the start of World War II. He was assigned to a B-25 bomber squadron in the Pacific, where he did aerial reconnaissance and mapping, as well as low-altitude skip bombing.
He returned to the Star in 1945 and stayed with the newspaper until its demise in 1981. He held numerous positions over the years, including chief of the Star's color section, photo journalist in the editorial department and a member of the production staff of the Star's Home-Life magazine. He also taught night classes in photography at Southeastern University and designed the color studio and color lab for the Washington's Star's new building in 1957.
After the Star closed, he set up his own studio and went into business for himself. He worked mainly with decorators and real estate developers, photographing model homes. He gradually stopped working in the mid-1990s.
Mr. Leach was an avid skier, having learned in his mid-40s. He preferred the mountains of New England and enjoyed skiing until a few years before his death.
Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Lillian Leach of Rockville.
Jane Krell RosenbloomNewsletter PublisherJane Krell Rosenbloom, 65, editor and publisher of a monthly newsletter, died Jan. 4 of heart disease at her home in Washington.
Mrs. Rosenbloom was born in New York City. She moved to rural Fluvanna County, Va., as a girl and came to Washington, where she graduated from McKinley Technical High School. She received a bachelor's degree in music from American University.
A talented singer, she was a founding member of the Choral Arts Society of Washington and sang in the choir of the Washington National Cathedral.
She established a company to publish Early American choral music and operas. For the past seven years, until her death, Mrs. Rosenbloom was editor and publisher of "Making Impressions," a free newsletter listing cultural events of interest to Washington's African American community.
She had compiled an oral history with her sister about their experiences in Washington's earliest days of racially integrated schools and other institutions.
She was a member of Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase.
Her marriage to Norman van der Sluys ended in divorce.
Survivors include her husband of 31 years, Joel Rosenbloom of Washington; a son from her first marriage, Norman van der Sluys Jr. of Washington; a son from her second marriage, Joshua Lev Rosenbloom of Washington; and a sister, Patricia Yates of Washington.