Obituaries

Robert P. Bazile Statistician

Robert P. Bazile, 92, a Haitian military leader who sought exile in the United States after the rise of the Duvalier regime in the late 1950s and became a statistician with the Organization of American States, died Oct. 25 at his home in Washington. He had congestive heart failure.

Mr. Bazile settled in the Washington in the early 1960s after spending many months as a refugee inside the Brazilian Embassy in the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince.

He had risen to commander of the Haitian coast guard, and his success in handling major U.S. development aid projects was said to have been viewed as a threat to President François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. As Duvalier purged the military ranks, Mr. Bazile was forced into exile to save his life.

He spent the rest of his career at the OAS before retiring in 1983. He was parish council president of Shrine of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Washington, a founder of the first Haitian liturgy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and a volunteer on behalf of Haitian refugees.

Robert Pierre Bazile was a native of Arcahaie, Haiti, and a graduate of an elite high school and military academy in Haiti.

A son, Robert Bazile, died in 1977.

Survivors include his wife, Rolande Blain Bazile of Washington, whom he married in 1948; five children, Jocelline Bazile-Finley, a United Nations official in Luanda, Angola, Jessye Bazile of Port-au-Prince, Ronald Bazile of Hercules, Calif., and Jozianne Bazile and Reginald Bazile, both of Washington; and five grandchildren.

-- Adam Bernstein

Estelle S. Gelman Executive, Philanthropist

Estelle S. Gelman, 83, president of the Gelman Cos., a real estate development and management company in Washington, and a local philanthropist, died Oct. 23 at her home in Washington. She had Alzheimer's disease.

She started working for the Gelman Cos. as a member of the board of directors during the 1960s. She had been president since 1978.