INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Former Indianapolis Colts wide receivers coach Milt Jackson died of a heart attack Aug. 23, the team said Tuesday. He was 61.

Jackson spent 10 years as an assistant coach in the NFL, including 1989-91 with the Colts.

“Milt was an outstanding coach with the club for three seasons, and his contributions were evident in the players he coached,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said. “Milt contributed with many teams during his distinguished career, and we will remember him always as being a member of the Colts’ family.”



Jaan Kiivit

MOSCOW (AP) – Jaan Kiivit, a former archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church for more than a decade, died Wednesday. He was 65.

Kiivit died during a visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, possibly from heart failure, said Kiit Salumae, his friend and an assessor in the Estonian church.

Kiivit stepped down as Estonian Lutheran archbishop in February after serving in the post since 1994. He has since held the title of archbishop emeritus. Kiivit’s father, Jaan Kiivit Sr., served as archbishop of the church from 1949-67.

The younger Kiivit was ordained in 1966 and served as pastor of the Holy Ghost Church in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, until he was elected archbishop in 1994.

From 1978-94, Kiivit lectured in practical theology at the Theological Institute and served at times as its curator and rector.

He translated theological and religious books and articles from Greek, German and Finnish. A collection of his sermons, “Truth Makes Free,” was published in 2000.



Antonie Plamadeala

CLUJ, Romania (AP) – Archbishop Antonie Plamadeala, a Romanian orthodox cleric and former political prisoner who invited the Rev. Billy Graham to preach in Romania during the darkest years of Communism, died Monday. He was 78.

Plamadeala, who headed the Orthodox Church in the northwest Transylvania region, died in the central city of Sibiu, several years after suffering a debilitating stroke.

He was considered one of Romania’s top theologians, publishing books in Romania and abroad. In 1985, when he chaired the church’s foreign relations department, he invited Graham to preach in Romania on behalf of a group of 14 religious denominations. Graham accepted and went on an 11-day preaching tour in Communist Romania.

Plamadeala became an Orthodox monk in 1949. That year, he was tried in absentia for anti-communist activity and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was arrested in 1954 and incarcerated near Bucharest as a political prisoner until 1956.

After his release, he worked in factories for years until he was allowed to rejoin the church. He later rose rapidly through the church ranks.

Plamadeala was known as an ecumenical figure, and was a member on a dialogue committee between the Orthodox and the Catholic churches. He also represented the Romanian Orthodox Church at international meetings and conventions.

Actor Michael Sheard dies

LONDON (AP) – Michael Sheard, who played Adm. Ozzel in “The Empire Strikes Back” and Adolf Hitler five times, including in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” died Wednesday. He was 65.

Sheard, who had cancer, died at his home on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, agent Liz Hobbs said.

Sheard appeared in more than 40 feature films, working with Lawrence Olivier, David Niven, Roger Moore and Sean Connery.

He is best known in Britain for his role as Maurice Bronson, the teacher who terrorized his pupils in the long-running teenage soap opera, “Grange Hill.”



James Scheuer

WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Rep. James Scheuer, who represented parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County during a decades-long political career, died Monday. He was 85.

Scheuer died of coronary disease and kidney failure, said his wife, Emily Scheuer.

He was elected to Congress in 1964 and served until 1992, except for a two-year term in the mid-1970s when he lost an election.

In 26 years in Congress, Scheuer saw his district morph several times due to redrawing of its borders as he trumpeted causes like the Head Start early development program, auto safety, environmental protection and family planning.

After retiring from Congress, he was appointed by former President Clinton as the U.S. director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, where he worked until 1995.

Scheuer was born in New York and became the city’s harmonica champion at the age of 13. He met his future wife when she was 17.



Jude Wanniski

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) – Jude Wanniski, a journalist and economist whose advocacy of huge tax cuts as an economic stimulus was embraced by Ronald Reagan, died Monday. He was 69.

The cause of death was a heart attack, according to a statement by his consulting firm, Polyconomics of Parsippany.

Wanniski coined the phrase “supply-side economics,” referring to a theory that cutting personal income tax rates would lead to increased investment and create economic growth.

A former editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal, Wanniski and several other conservative thinkers pushed their theory in the face of other conservatives’ strong resistance to deficit spending.

He wrote his book “The Way the World Works” in 1978, and it became a favorite of some economic conservatives for its condemnation of taxes. The National Review cited the book as one of the 100 most influential of the 20th century.

Wanniski briefly advised Reagan’s presidential campaign and later served in a similar capacity for the presidential bids of Bob Dole and Steve Forbes.


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