DIED. John Culshaw, 55, English record producer, who pioneered recordings as a distinct art form; of undisclosed causes; in London. As manager of Decca/London's classical division in the 1950s and '60s, Culshaw presided over a triumphant first complete disc version of Wagner's Ring cycle. His innovations, including echo chambers and speeding up and slowing of tapes, are standard procedures today.

DIED. Louis Kronenberger, 75, prolific man of letters and, for 23 years beginning in 1938, TIME'S brilliant and influential drama critic; in Wellesley, Mass. Kronenberger came to the theater from the world of New York book publishing. Though he subsequently spent thousands of hours in aisle seats, he sometimes seemed to find Broadway lacking in the style, elegance and wit that characterized the drama and literature of his favorite century, the 18th, about which he fashioned fascinating books such as Kings and Desperate Men, a survey of 18th century England, Marlborough 's Duchess, a biography of Sarah Churchill, and an anthology called The Portable Johnson and Boswell.

DIED. Serge Semenenko, 76, banker and corporation "doctor" whose flair as an arranger of controversial rescue loans gave his career an aura of drama and mystery; in New York City. The Russian-born financier, who rose from $25-a-week credit clerk to vice chairman of the First National Bank of Boston, was an improbable Bostonian. He traveled constantly and liked to mix business with pleasure in playgrounds like Acapulco and Cannes.

DIED. Alfred Hitchcock, 80, master of suspense, who brought to more than 50 films his visions of menace and the unexpected; in Los Angeles (see CINEMA).

DIED. Luis Munoz Marin, 82, father of Puerto Rico's industrial revolution and Governor from 1948 to 1964; in San Juan. In 1931, Munoz left a promising career in New York to work for Puerto Rican independence, but he soon became convinced that the island would be better served by economic association with the U.S. That assessment became the platform of the Popular Democratic Party he formed in 1938. Over eight years as Senate President under U.S.-appointed Governor Rexford Guy Tugwell and later as the territory's first elected Governor, Munoz effected an economic miracle with "Operation Bootstrap," a series of programs that brought electricity and schools to the countryside and offered tax exemptions to American companies opening plants on the island. His proudest moment came in 1952, when Congress granted Puerto Rico commonwealth status, giving it more autonomy and entitling it to federal grants without extracting income taxes. In the 1970s, he left retirement to defend this achievement against those who favored statehood or independence; misguided bickering, he warned, was "sapping the strength of the people."

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