Obituaries

John A. Keel 'Mothman Prophecies' Author

John A. Keel, 79, who wrote the book "The Mothman Prophecies," an account of his 1966-67 investigation into sightings in West Virginia of a winged creature known as the Mothman, died July 3 at a hospital in Manhattan. He had congestive heart failure.

"The Mothman Prophecies," published in 1975, was loosely adapted into a 2002 movie about paranormal phenomena starring Richard Gere and Alan Bates, who played two parts of Mr. Keel's personality.

Mr. Keel, a magician's son, was born Alva John Kiehle in Hornell, N.Y. He worked for the Armed Forces Network in the 1950s and left to travel in Asia, where he compiled his observations of snake charmers and illusionists in his book "Jadoo" (1957).

He was best known for his writings about unidentified flying objects and the paranormal. In his 1973 book "Operation Trojan Horse," he linked UFO reports to mysterious phenomena over the centuries.

Robert E. Lee Taylor Jr. Philadelphia Publisher

Robert E. Lee Taylor Jr., 96, a former publisher of the Philadelphia Bulletin who was sentenced to jail for protecting a source, died July 2 at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa. No cause of death was reported.

Mr. Taylor was born in Norfolk and grew up in Baltimore. He graduated from Princeton University in 1935 and began working at the Bulletin, where his uncle Robert McLean was publisher.

Mr. Taylor became president of the Bulletin in 1959 and was publisher from 1964 to 1975. The paper was the largest-circulation evening paper in the United States for many years.

In 1963, Mr. Taylor and the city editor were sentenced to jail for refusing to divulge sources on corruption stories. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the ruling, citing state law

Oscar G. Mayer Company Executive

Oscar G. Mayer, 95, grandson of the founder of the Wisconsin-based meat company that bears his name, died July 6 at a hospice center in Fitchburg, Wis. No cause of death was reported.

Mr. Mayer started working for the family business in 1936 as a production trainee after graduating from Cornell University and doing post-graduate work at Harvard Business School. He was named president in 1955 and chairman in 1966. He retired from the company in 1977 after 41 years.

Mr. Mayer's grandfather, Oscar F. Mayer, entered the retail meat business in 1873 at age 14 when he answered a "Help Wanted" sign in the window of a Detroit butcher shop, according to a history of the company on the Kraft Web site. He soon moved to Chicago, where he was joined by his brother Gottfried, a sausage maker from Germany.

By 1900, the Mayer brothers were delivering their products across Chicago by horse-drawn wagon. In 1924, they added the first packaged, sliced bacon, and in 1936, the Wienermobile, which today travels 50,000 miles a year promoting the brand.