When Linda Joy Blue joined the Metro Miami-Dade Police Department in 1970, female cops were still called “police women” rather than “police officers.”
But Blue never let her gender become a hindering factor in her law enforcement career. Instead, she rose through the ranks to become one of the first female detectives in the homicide unit and an original member of the sexual battery unit. She also spearheaded a campaign to launch the department’s domestic crimes bureau, which handles child exploitation, domestic violence, elderly abuse, Internet pornography and missing persons cases.
In the mid-1990s, Blue earned a promotion to the rank of major. She retired from the force in 2000 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. In her spare time, the Miami native founded a Reading Is Fundamental program, and donated quilts she created to shelters housing homeless children.
Blue lost her battle against cancer on June 17. She was 58.
Categotry Archives: Education
Keith MacDonald
Keith MacDonald was 55 years old when he got his first big break in show business.
The jazz and classical pianist was performing at a memorial service for his lifelong friend, jazz artist Bill Evans, when Evans’ manager Helen Keane recognized MacDonald’s talent. Five years later, he recorded his debut album, “This Is Keith MacDonald.” His second, and final record, “Waiting,” was released in 1986. Both received positive reviews in major newspapers.
Born in Plainfield, N.J., MacDonald studied music at The Juilliard School in New York. Unable to make a living as a musician, however, he spent the majority of his life struggling financially. In later years, he moved to Boulder, Colo., and gave jazz piano lessons to area students.
MacDonald died on June 1. Cause of death was not released. He was 79.
Rabbi Bill
Categories: Actors, Education, Hollywood, Religious Leaders, Writers/Editors
William Mordecai Kramer, a theologian and scholar who was featured in the documentary “Beyond the Pulpit: Facets of a Rabbi,” died on June 8 of complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure. He was 84.
The Cleveland native was ordained in 1944. A lover of knowledge, he earned seven university degrees, including two doctorates from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
During his 63 years in the rabbinate, Kramer serviced temples in Pittsfield, Mass., Cleveland, St. Louis and Los Angeles, then dedicated more than three decades to the Temple Beth Emet in Burbank, Calif. Although the Reform Jewish leader did bar mitzvahs and funerals, his specialty was weddings; it was reported that he lost count after officiating at his 10,000th one.
Kramer was a licensed family therapist, the editor of the Western States Jewish History magazine and a lecturer at Hebrew Union College, the University of Judaism, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Los Angeles City College and California State, Northridge. He occasionally worked as an actor, playing rabbi roles in TV episodes of “Sisters” and “L.A. Law,” and in the 1988 film “The Seventh Sign.”
In his “spare” time, the renaissance rabbi wrote for a variety of journals and hosted numerous radio and TV programs. His final project was a book on Albert Einstein’s life in Southern California during the early 1930s.
Arnold Beckman
Categories: Education, Extraordinary People, Scientists
Arnold Orville Beckman, an educator, inventor and philanthropist, died on May 18. Cause of death was not released. He was 104.
Beckman’s interest in science was sparked by the discovery of a chemistry book in his family’s attic. He was only 10 years old when he built his first chemistry lab. As a teen, Beckman played the piano in silent theaters to help save money for college. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois. After receiving a doctorate in photochemistry from the California Institute of Technology, Beckman joined Caltech’s faculty.
At a friend’s request, Beckman devised a way to measure the acidity in lemons. Known as the acidimeter, or pH meter, the invention earned him a place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He patented 13 other inventions, including the potentiometer, a variable resistor used to alter voltage, and the spectrophotometer, an instrument that measures the intensity of radiation absorbed at different wavelengths.
In 1935, Beckman founded National Technical Laboratories, which later became the multi-billion dollar enterprise Beckman Instruments Inc. Even before it acquired the Miami-based Coulter Corp. in 1997 and changed its name to Beckman Coulter, Inc., the company was the leading manufacturer of instruments to the clinical diagnostics and life sciences markets. Its success made Beckman incredibly wealthy, and provided him with the means to become one of the greatest philanthropists of the last century.
Through the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Beckman contributed more than $400 million to the advancement of scientific research and education. He provided the funding for Caltech’s Beckman Institute and the Beckman Auditorium, and for the interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Illinois. At least $24 million has been awarded to young scientists conducting research programs at prominent universities; another $14.5 million pays for science education programs in elementary schools.
Beckman co-founded the Instrument Society of America, which established the Arnold O. Beckman Founder Award for outstanding technological contribution to instrument design. He received the society’s first Life Achievement Award, the Presidential Citizens Medal and the National Medal of Technology.
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy, a prolific soprano saxophone player and educator, died on June 4 from cancer. He was 69.
Born Steven Lackritz, the New York native originally played the piano and clarinet. He switched to the soprano saxophone in the early 1940s after hearing Sidney Bechet play the straight instrument in the song, “The Mooche.” In his 20s, Lacy performed at the Central Plaza in New York and the Newport Jazz Festival. He later played with Cecil Taylor, Mal Waldron and Thelonious Monk.
For the majority of his five-decade career, Lacy lived abroad. He traveled first to Argentina, then moved to Rome where his and his wife — Swiss singer and violinist Irene Aebi — worked with the Musica Elettronica Viva quartet. In 1970, the expatriate sax player known for his inventive brand of Dixieland, bebop and avant guard melodies, relocated to Paris and began his “post-free” period. This time of organic experimentation featured the addition of artistic and literary dimensions to his work.
Lacy recorded more than 20 solo saxophone albums, and played on 200 other records. After receiving the MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant) in 1992, he published the book, “Findings: My Experience With the Soprano Saxophone.” He was also appointed the Chevalier and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government’s ministry of culture.
Lacy returned to America in 2002 and spent his final years teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music.
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