Sunday, December 13, 2009

Robert P. Horak Violinist

Robert P. Horak, 88, a violinist and a concertmaster of the U.S. Air Force Orchestra, died of pneumonia Nov. 23 at Southern Maryland Hospital in Clinton. He lived in White Plains.

Mr. Horak played for six presidents, many members of royalty and heads of state. He was also concertmaster of the combined services orchestra during the outdoor concerts at the Watergate on the Potomac. When the Apollo astronauts returned from their moon landing in 1969, Mr. Horak was concertmaster at the nationally televised reception in San Francisco.

Robert Phillip Horak was born in Detroit. He attended the Juilliard Graduate School in New York. He joined the Marine Corps in 1942. After seven years of playing with the Marine Band, he joined the Air Force in 1949 and became a member of its band. He traveled worldwide with the USO and became concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Air Force Orchestra, concertmaster of the Serenade in Blue Orchestra and first violin in the string ensemble.

After his military retirement in 1973, he joined the Orlando Symphony Orchestra and played there until he retired a second time in 1986. He split his time between Florida and Maryland.

His marriage to Verna "Bonnie" Horak ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 39 years, Bertha "Bertie" Horak of White Plains; two children from his first marriage, Ronald Horak of Conway, S.C., and Judy Malatras of Maryland's Eastern Shore; four stepchildren, Lewis Dillon of Waldorf, Laurie Burns of Pittsburgh, Lisa Latimer of White Plains and Lita Froelicher of Amelia, Ohio; 19 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Inalee "Lee" Koonin, a former chief executive of a Bethesda flooring company, who established a foundation and was a nationally recognized authority on administering nutrients through tubes or intravenous methods, died of multiple organ failure Nov. 19 at her home in St. Augustine, Fla. She died on her 74th birthday.

Mrs. Koonin developed Crohn's disease, a digestive-tract disorder that often inhibits the absorption of nutrients from food, in the 1960s. By 1977, she weighed only 68 pounds. Through an experimental procedure called total parenteral nutrition, she was eventually able to inject nutrients intravenously at home, which allowed her to lead a more comfortable life.

She and her husband formed the Lifeline Foundation, which merged in 1986 with the Oley Foundation, to provide information and educational programs about enteral nutrition (delivering nutrients through tubes leading to the stomach) and parenteral nutrition (administering nutrients through a vein) in home settings. Mrs. Koonin became an advocate for such people and often gave interviews to the media and testified before Congress.

Inalee Rotbart was born in Washington and was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School. She lived in Massachusetts and Illinois before returning to the Washington area in 1984. She was chief executive of JA-Mar Flooring, a family-run flooring business in Bethesda, for almost 20 years. She lived in the Howard County community of Highland before moving to Florida in 2004.

In February 2010, Mrs. Koonin is scheduled to be the posthumous recipient of the national Lyn Howard Nutrition Support Consumer Advocacy Award from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

Survivors include her husband of 55 years, Marshall Koonin of St. Augustine; and a daughter, Susan Koonin of Potomac.

-- Matt Schudel