Obituaries in the News

Roux-Neville was first diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and at that time was given three months to live. She died at the couple's home south of Nashville surrounded by family members, said her husband's spokesman Jerry Digney.

The high school sweethearts would have celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, Digney said.

Aaron Neville had returned home shortly before Christmas to be with his wife following a nationwide concert tour.

The couple moved to the Nashville area in 2005 shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated their hometown of New Orleans.

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Marais Viljoen

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) _ Marais Viljoen, who in the 1980s held what was then South Africa's largely ceremonial post of president in the apartheid state, died Thursday, a news agency reported. He was 91.

Viljoen's daughter, Elna Meyer, told the South African Press Association that her father had died of heart failure after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital more than a week ago.

Viljoen was president between 1979 and 1984. Under a new constitution in 1984, the presidency became more powerful, and P.W. Botha was elected to the post that year. Botha, South Africa's last hard-line white president, died last year at the age of 90.

Viljoen also held several Cabinet posts under Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd, who was regarded as the architect of apartheid.