James Hoyt

DES MOINES, Iowa—James Hoyt, one of four U.S. soldiers who discovered the Buchenwald concentration camp as World War II neared its end, died Monday. He was 83.

Hoyt’s wife, Doris, said he died in his sleep at home in rural Oxford.

Hoyt served in the Army’s 6th Armored Division during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Buchenwald, one of the largest concentration camps established by Nazi Germany, was liberated in April 1945. It is estimated that 56,000 prisoners died at there between 1937 and 1945.

“There were thousands of bodies piled high,” Hoyt said in a 2005 interview. “I saw hearts that had been taken from live people in medical experiments. ... Seeing these things, it changes you.”

He said he had “horrific dreams” and received therapy at a Veterans Affairs hospital.

Hoyt returned to Oxford after the war and later worked more than 30 years with the U.S. Postal Service there. He retired in 1992.

—The Associated Press



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Jerry Krupnick

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)—Jerry Krupnick, a longtime editor and television writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, died Thursday. He was 82.

Krupnick died of complications from congestive heart failure, the newspaper reported in a story posted on its Web site.

Krupnick started working for the Star-Ledger in 1950, covering television as the medium was in its infancy. He created TV Time of the Week, one of the nation’s first Sunday TV magazines, and wrote about television up to, and even after, his retirement from the newspaper in 1998.

Krupnick also served as the Star-Ledger’s Sunday editor for almost 15 years.

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Jacob “Jack” Landau

WASHINGTON (AP)—Jacob “Jack” Landau, a reporter who dubbed himself a “First Amendment guerrilla” and helped organize a journalism advocacy group, died Sunday. He was 74.

Landau died at an Arlington, Va., hospital after a long illness, said his daughter Ariel Landau of Greenbelt, Md. He had been living in Falls Church, Va.

The journalist began his career with newspapers in New York and went on to work for The Associated Press and The Washington Post in the 1960s before establishing himself as a U.S. Supreme Court reporter for Newhouse Newspapers.

He served as a spokesman for Attorney General John Mitchell early in the Nixon administration, helping to come up with new rules requiring the attorney general’s approval for a media subpoena.

He returned to Newhouse in 1970. In the same year he helped launch the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, later serving as its executive director from 1974 to 1985.

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Jerry Wexler

NEW YORK (AP)—Jerry Wexler, who not only coined the phrase rhythm and blues, but was also one of the key architects of the genre, died Friday. He was 91.

His son Paul said the record producer died at home Friday of heart disease.

He revolutionized popular music with seminal, superstar-making recordings of acts such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and others.

Over his decades-long career, Wexler created varied soundscapes that touched just about every kind of listener, from his work with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, to his masterful recording of Dusty Springfield, to his work with pop and rock acts like George Michael and Dire Straits.

He also helped build one of the most influential labels in pop, Atlantic Records, which was the home of Franklin, Charles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. He was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.