Obituaries

Murray JarvikNicotine Patch Inventor

Dr. Murray Jarvik, 84, a pioneering researcher into smoking addiction and co-inventor of the nicotine patch, died May 8 at his home in Santa Monica of congestive heart failure.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Jarvik, a UCLA professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, and Jed Rose, then a UCLA postdoctoral fellow and now director of the Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research at Duke University, invented a transdermal patch that delivers nicotine directly into the body to help smokers fight the urge to light up.

In 1992, the patch became available in the United States by prescription for smoking cessation. It was approved for over-the-counter sales four years later.

Douglas C. WilsonNixon Resignation Reporter

Douglas C. Wilson, 67, the Providence Journal reporter who broke the story that President Richard M. Nixon would resign, died May 5 at his home in Amherst, Mass. No cause of death was reported.

Mr. Wilson was the newspaper's Washington bureau chief Aug. 7, 1974, when Nixon confidant Baruch Korff tipped him off about the resignation. He dictated the news for the Journal's afternoon edition.

Nixon announced his resignation the next day. Mr. Wilson was awarded the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for the scoop from the White House Correspondents' Association.

Wilson left the Journal in 1975 to become associate secretary of Amherst College, his alma mater. He worked there until 2003.

Leyla GencerOpera Singer

Soprano Leyla Gencer, 80, who made her career at Italy's famed La Scala opera house and was known as "the Turkish Diva," died May 9 of respiratory problems and heart failure at home in Milan.

Ms. Gencer was born in Istanbul in 1928 to a Polish mother and a Turkish father. She studied privately in Ankara, the Turkish capital, with Italian opera singer Giannina Arangi Lombardi and made her operatic debut there in 1950, cast as Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" ("Rustic Chivalry") -- a role she would later reprise on world stages.

A contemporary of opera legends Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi, Ms. Gencer made her La Scala debut in 1957, playing Madame Lidoine in the premiere of Francis Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmelites." She later moved to the Milanese opera house. Her career repertoire included more than 70 roles. At La Scala, she was cast as the first woman of Canterbury in the world premiere of Pizzeti's "L'Assasinio nella Cattedralle" ("Murder in the Cathedral"). A debut at the Royal Opera House, in London, came in 1962 when she performed Elisabetta in "Don Giovanni."

After retiring from opera in 1985, the singer devoted herself to discovering and training young talent. An annual Turkish-sponsored voice competition is named after her.

Paul HaeberlinFrench Chef

Paul Haeberlin, 84, a famous French chef who transformed his family's modest restaurant into a world-class affair that won Michelin stars, died May 10 at his home in Illhaeusern, in the Alsace region of France. He had cardiac and kidney ailments.

Mr. Haeberlin rose to fame at the helm of his L'Auberge de l'Ill with his innovative take on French classics, such as his hallmark mousseline de grenouilles, or frog mousse. Fish and seafood dishes figure prominently on the restaurant's menu, as do such delicacies as tripe salad and ash-covered truffles.

The Michelin Guide, France's bible of gastronomy, bestowed the first star on the restaurant in 1952 and a second in 1957. In 1967, the restaurant won its coveted third star, an honor it has held for more than 40 years.

Mr. Haeberlin grew up in his grandparents' restaurant, L'Arbre Vert, and as a teenager traveled to Paris, where he apprenticed under two well-known and exacting chefs, according to a family history posted on the restaurant's Web site.

L'Arbre Vert was destroyed in World War II-era bombing and rebuilt as L'Auberge de l'Ill. After the war, Mr. Haeberlin took over, along with his brother Jean-Pierre, an artist. After Mr. Haeberlin's retirement about a decade ago, one of his two sons took over.