Monday, Jan. 25, 1999
Milestones
By Harriet Barovick, Elizabeth Bland, Tam Gray, Lina Lofaro, Michele Orecklin, Flora Tartakovsky and Chris Taylor
INDICTED. GARTH DRABINSKY, 48, and mYRON GOTTLIEB, 55, founders of the Toronto-based theatrical production company Livent, Inc.; by a federal grand jury; on 16 counts of criminal fraud and conspiracy; in New York City. The U.S. alleged that the partners, who produced such Broadway extravaganzas as Showboat and Ragtime, led an eight-year scheme to fake earnings or hide financial losses and siphon off some $4.6 million. In a separate civil complaint, the SEC charged the two with securities fraud. Drabinsky denied the charges and blamed the company's "new management" for the imbroglio.
FILED FOR DIVORCE. JERRY HALL, 42, leggy Texan model; from MICK JAGGER, 55, of the Rolling Stones; in London. After a long string of well-publicized marital crises, Hall is reportedly asking for $50 million.
DIED. MYLES TIERNEY, 34, enterprising Nairobi-based television producer for the Associated Press; after being shot by a Sierra Leone rebel while covering West Africa's civil wars; in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
DIED. BRIAN MOORE, 77, Belfast-born author; in Malibu, Calif. In his 20 novels, Moore used sparse prose to tackle giant themes including faith, morality and the bigotry of denizens of his native city. An expatriot whose first novel, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, detailed the life of an unmarried Belfast woman, Moore particularly floored critics with his empathically crafted female characters.
DIED. WILLIAM H. WHYTE, 81, optimistic social thinker and urban planner; in New York City. Whyte's opus on corporate America, The Organization Man (1956), warned against conformity and its accompanying spiritlessness. After leaving his longtime post as an editor of FORTUNE magazine, Whyte studied how humans and cities could best complement each other. One of his ideas--to beautify crime-friendly urban spots in order to attract law-abiding citizens--helped inspire the makeover of New York City's Bryant Park.