This week: a princess and humanitarian, an astronaut and a Great Britain full-back
THE aristocrat and humanitarian Marina Sturdza, who has died aged 73, was a former Romanian princess who returned from exile after communism ended to become one of the country's leading charitable patrons.
Children's charity Hope and Homes for Children, of which Sturdza was patron, said she died at her New York home.
Descended from two aristocratic families, she left Romania when she was three years old in the early years after the Second World War when communists began ruling the country, finding exile in Canada. She returned in 1997.
Princess Marina, as she was known in Romania, was associated with charities working to move children from state orphanages to family homes. She also dedicated her efforts to palliative care.
Earlier in her life, she was a journalist who covered fashion and the arts.
Mark Waddington, the chief executive officer of Hope and Homes for Children, said Sturdza had improved the lives of thousands of children, praising her deep well of kindness and her determination to leave the world in a better place than she found.
THE former NASA astronaut Paul Weitz, who has died aged 85, commanded the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger and also piloted Skylab in the early 1970s.
Weitz was among the class of 19 astronauts chosen in April 1966, and served as command module pilot on the first crew of the orbiting space laboratory known as Skylab during a 28-day mission in 1973. He also commanded the first launch of the ill-fated Challenger in April 1983. The five-day mission took off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Challenger was destroyed and seven crew members killed during its 10th launch on January 28 1986.
In all, Mr Weitz logged 793 hours in space and retired as deputy director of Johnson Space Centre in May 1994.
He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 25 1932, and graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1954.
He then joined the navy, serving on a destroyer before being chosen for flight training and earning his wings as a naval aviator in September 1956.
He served in various naval squadrons, including service in Vietnam, before joining the Astronaut Corps.
According to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, Weitz returned to the navy after his mission on Skylab and retired as a captain in July 1976 after serving 22 years. He then came out of retirement to rejoin Nasa.
"Paul Weitz's name will always be synonymous with the space shuttle Challenger. But he also will be remembered for defying the laws of gravity - and age," said Curtis Brown, board chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and an astronaut and veteran of six space flights.
"Before it became commonplace to come out of retirement, Paul was a pioneer. He proved 51 was just a number."
THE rugby player Ken Gowers, who has died aged 81, was a former Great Britain full-back and a record-breaking player with Swinton Lions.
Gowers was Swinton's all-time record holder for goals and appearances, kicking 970 in his 601 games for the club over 19 seasons from 1954-73. He helped them win back-to-back championships in 1963 and 1964. He was critical to the Lions’ successes of the 1960s.
He won the first of his 14 Great Britain caps against France in 1962 and was vice-captain on the 1966 Ashes Tour. An excellent goal-kicker, his 970 club goals is a record unlikely ever to be beaten.
In a statement, his club described Gowers as a lovely man, a gentleman, and a great ambassador for the club.
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