Obituaries
Monday, February 12, 2007; Page B07
Fred J. RussellBusinessman, Nixon Official
Fred J. Russell, 90, a businessman who transformed a bankrupt foundry into a leading seller of residential locks and who later served in the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, died Jan. 9 in Los Angeles from complications of Parkinson's disease.
In 1946, he and his brother Frank bought Weiser Lock in a bankruptcy sale. During the next 21 years, the company grew from eight employees to 1,600 employees and, according to a Weiser biography, "it was selling more than 30 percent of all residential locks in the U.S., over 50 percent of those in Canada."
During the 1968 presidential campaign, Mr. Russell backed Nixon, making major contributions to his campaign and fundraising effort. The following year, Nixon appointed him deputy director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness. In 1970, Nixon named Mr. Russell undersecretary of Interior.
During his stint at the Interior Department, Mr. Russell came under fire for decisions that some said were too pro-business. A congressman said Mr. Russell had stacked the Coal Mine Advisory Committee with Republican Party officials with no expertise in the field; he urged Nixon to fire Mr. Russell. In 1971, Nixon accepted Mr. Russell's resignation, but he later appointed him U.S. ambassador to Denmark.
Charles Walgreen Jr.Drugstore Chain Executive
Charles Walgreen Jr., 100, who helped build his father's drugstore chain into America's biggest, died Feb. 10 at his home in Northfield, Ill. No cause of death was reported.
Mr. Walgreen became president of Walgreen Co. in 1939 following his father's death and held that office until 1963. He was chairman until 1976, when he retired to focus on sailing, a hobby that took him as far as Antarctica. During his tenure, sales grew from $72 million to $817 million.
Mr. Walgreen revolutionized the retail drug business in the 1950s when he converted stores from clerk-assisted shopping to self-service. He also helped improve the working conditions of pharmacists, reducing their weekly hours from about 66 in 1939 to a standard 40.
A Chicago native, Mr. Walgreen grew up in the drugstore business. He worked as a delivery boy at his father's second drugstore and by age 11 was carrying his mother's homemade soup to its new lunch counter.
Willye WhiteOlympian
Willye White, 67, a two-time Olympic medalist in track and field and the first woman to compete for the United States in five Olympics, died Feb. 6 of pancreatic cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Ms. White competed in five Olympic Games from 1956 to 1972 and remains the only American to have competed on five Olympic track-and-field teams.
She was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school when she won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee . It marked the first time an American woman won a medal in that event, the committee said. She won another silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 400-meter relay team in Tokyo.
After her athletic career ended, Ms. White coached, lectured and served as president of the Midwest chapter of the U.S. Olympians for 12 years. She also helped raise money for the underprivileged, founding the Willye White Foundation in Chicago to help children.
Alfred L. ConteArmy Colonel
Army Col. Alfred L. Conte, 85 a World War II veteran who in later years helped compile an analytical study of Soviet industrial capabilities, died of cardiac arrest at Frederick Memorial Hospital. He was a Frederick resident.
Col. Conte's study, completed in 1971, was made available to President Richard M. Nixon's national security staff and was used as background material for discussions during the president's historic trip to China in 1972. At the time, Col. Conte was commander of the 487th Military Intelligence Detachment, a Cleveland-based Army Reserve unit that did "real world studies" in support of the Army's Foreign Science and Technology Center at Charlottesville.
Col. Conte was born in Freeport, Pa., and received an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1941. He also received a master's degree from Clemson University in 1951.
During World War II, he was assigned to the 1871st Engineer Aviation Battalion, which was composed of black troops and white officers.
Col. Conte's wife, Josie Naomi Hendricks, died in 1998.
Survivors include five children, Robert D. Conte of Sterling, Karen Conte Call of Gaithersburg, Richard L. Conte of Bellevue, Wash., Tina Conte Issette of Sterling and John C. Conte of Londonderry, N.H.; a brother and sister; and five grandchildren.
