The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 130

OBITUARIES SG B15 LOSANGELESTIMES By Paul Brownfield Times Staff Writer Mitch Hedberg, a standup comedian who channeled his shyness into an act of offbeat musings, earning him a nationwide following and repeated appearances on Late Show With David died Wednesday of apparent heart failure in a Livingston, N.J., hotel room. He was 37. occasional jokes about the drug culture suggested his own drug use (he was arrested two years ago in Texas on suspicion of heroin possession). But his mother, Mary, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in native state that the comedian was born with a heart defect, terming speculation that his death was drug-related as Hedberg had recently completed a 44-city theater tour and was between dates on the East Coast. With his wife and opening act Lynn Shawcroft, Hedberg toured constantly, most at home with an itinerant lifestyle.

The couple also took to touring by motor home, while Hedberg scribbled new jokes in his notebooks. It was his beatnik approach to the life of a standup that contributed to his popularity among younger comedy fans. His act married atimid, slacker drawl with jokes that understated the absurdities of life in a consumer culture. The jokes came one after the other, with no apparent segues. is great when hungry and want 2,000 of went one joke.

tried to walk into a Target, but I went another. escalator can never break. It can only become The style drew comparisons to Steven Wright, though look stringy hair that often covered his eyes, thrift-store clothes was his own. When he was cast in productions, such as the film in 2000, it was sometimes to take advantage of his retro-1970s look. In 1999, after Hedberg drew raves at the Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, Time magazine suggested that he could become the next Jerry Seinfeld.

Television deals followed, though Hedberg never got his own sitcom. However, he did write and direct the feature film 1999. His true place was onstage on the road, where he built a big enough following that he could headline clubs, theaters and college auditoriums and sell his CDs. His purist devotion to stand-up earned him the admiration of peers. had a unique delivery, almost Zen-like, and he was one of the most prolific writers said comic Dave Attell, who performed in a Comedy Central-sponsored tour with Hedberg two years ago.

a comic and seen Mitch live, you al- ways leave the club thinking, have to write His jokes were so simple and yet so complex, and to the heart of Born in St. Paul, Hedberg overcame his stage fright to become a comedian after high school, when he was living in Ft. Lauderdale, and working as a cook at On the road doing low- paying gigs, Hedberg would sleep in the back of a pickup. Eventually he moved to Seattle and became more established, though he still worked as a cook. In addition to his mother and his wife, he is survived by his father, Arnie, and two sisters, Wendy Brown and Angie Anderson.

Memorial services are being planned in New York and Los Angeles. had a unique delivery, almost Zen-like, and he was one of the most prolific writers jokes were so simple and yet so complex, and to the heart of Dave Attell, comic Mitch Hedberg, 37; Comedian Was Known for His Offbeat Musings Mark Matson For The Times MITCH HEDBERG His act combined a timid, slacker drawl with jokes that understated the absurdities of life in a consumer culture. From Associated Press Frank Perdue, the folksy chief executive who turned his backyard egg business into one of the biggest chicken companies by appearing in TV commercials that featured his remarkably bird-like face, has died. He was 84. Perdue died Thursday at his home in Salisbury, after a brief illness.

In was one of the first chief executives to pitch his own product on television, turning on the down-home charm as he delivered his famous line: takes atough man to make a tender Perdue remained the public face for the next two decades, helping build an empire that now employs 20,000 associates and partners, with 7,500 independent farm families. The company went from annual sales of $56million in 1970 to in 2003. Until the late 1990s, he was regularly ranked on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. In 1997, it ranked him 214th and estimated his net worth at $825million. At the time of his death, Perdue was chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of Maryland-based Perdue Farms.

He had handed over control of the company to his son, Jim, in 1991. rise was extraordinary, considering the humble beginnings. His father, Arthur W. Perdue, started the family business in 1920, raising chickens for eggs. He and his father switched the business from eggs to chickens in the 1940s, and broke into retail sales in 1968.

Perdue expansion in the 1970s was rapid, but it also sowed the seeds of worker discontent. The company opened plants in rural, often-poor areas of the South, where labor was cheap. Inevitably, union activism sprang up, which Frank Perdue sought to suppress. In 1986, Perdue admitted to a presidential commission that he had twice unsuccessfully sought help from reputed New York crime boss Paul Castellano to put down union activities actions he later said he regretted deeply. Perdue was born in Salisbury, in 1920.

His dream was to play professional baseball, but he later said he had more splinters than on the team at Salisbury State Teachers College, from which he graduated in 1939. loyalty to his hometown remained throughout his life. He was heavily involved in civic activities and gave an endowment to his alma mater, now Salisbury University, to establish the Perdue School of Business. Perdue is survived by his third wife, Mitzi Ayala Perdue; four children; two stepchildren; and 12 grandchildren. Frank Perdue, 84; Used Down-Home Charm to Pitch His Poultry Product Dan Miller Associated Press FRANK PERDUE Perdue, shown in 1984, delivered the famed TV slogan: takes a tough man to make a tender Milton Green, 91; Boycotted Olympics to Protest Nazi Germany Milton Green, 91, a former world record hurdler who boycotted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, died Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, his family announced.

death was erroneously reported last August by Associated Press and leading newspapers across the country after the news agency mistook him for another man with the same name. thought it was absolutely hysterical. He stop his daughter, Patricia Dunn, told the Boston Globe. Anative of Lowell, Green was a student at Harvard when he tied the world record of 5.8 seconds in the 45-yard high hurdles four times. He also tied the world record of 7.5 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles in 1936.

He was considered a good possibility for a gold medal in Berlin, but he boycotted the games because of the repression of Jews in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. was a very difficult decision at the Green told the Palm Beach Post not long ago. roommate and I both qualified for final tryouts. Then we got acall from the rabbi at our temple. He suggested the Green said he never regretted his decision.

He spent much of his business career developing shopping centers in the Northeast and in Florida. Grant Johannesen, 83; Pianist Known for Playing Works of French Grant Johannesen, 83, a classical pianist known for his interpretations of the works of French composers, died Sunday at a home in Germany. The cause of death was not reported. Anative of Salt Lake City, Johannesen began studying the piano at the age of 5. At 17, he moved to New York, where he studied with pianist and composer Robert Casadesus.He also studied theory and composition with Roger Sessions in New York and Nadia Boulanger in France.

He made his concert debut in New York in 1944. His fame grew in the mid-1950s when he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Dmitri Mi- tropoulos. He made a similar tour in 1968 with the Cleveland Orchestra, led by George Szell. Johannesen, who was the first pianist to record the complete piano works of French composer Gabriel Faure, taught for many years at the Aspen Music School in Colorado and taught at and later was president of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Ruth Ragland 85, the longtime chairman of department of dental hygiene, died Tuesday at a hospital in Camarillo.

Ragland, who earned her in dental hygiene at USC in 1957, became department chairwoman in 1958 and served until she retired in 1984. From Times Staff and Wire Reports PASSINGS Looking for an obituary that appeared in The Times last week? You can still find it on the Internet. Go to The web- site at latimes.com/ obits. Finding News Obituaries GOING ON VACATION? Call 1-800-252-9141 to donate your newspaper for use in local classrooms. OBITUARIES Bornin1931anda52-year U.S.Armyandwasagraduateof NorthropUniversity.Hewasa designengineerandinventor.

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