WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010
KLMNO OBITUARIES
HUGUESCUENOD, 108 For more than 60 years, a concert and opera mainstay Suchobscurework,
Mr.Cuenod BY EMMA BROWN Hugues Cuenod,who diedDec.
3 at age 108, was a Swiss-born tenor who won favorable reviews overmore than six decades for his performances in concerts and op- eras. At age 84, he became the oldest singer to debut at New York’sMetropolitanOpera,where his performance as a crotchety emperor in Puccini’s “Turandot” wonacclaim. He insisted that he never lost
his voice — a light tenor critics called “reedy and penetrating” and “high, dry and white” — be- cause there hadn’t been much of one to beginwith. “It’s important not to take one-
self too seriously,” he said, “partic- ularly when you are around peo- plewhodo just that.” Mr. Cuenod first gained atten-
tion in the 1930s while working with the noted French conductor andteacherNadiaBoulanger. He was a featured singer on
Boulanger’s renowned 1937 re- cordings of madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, which reintroduced the 16th-century composer to the world.
OF NOTE Maria Esther
Gatti de Islas HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST Maria Esther Gatti de Islas,
92, a human rights activist who helped found Uruguay’s organi- zation of relatives of people who disappeared during South Amer- ica’s “dirty wars,” died Dec. 5 in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, of undisclosed causes. A photograph of the eyes of
hermissing 18-month-old grand- daughter became a symbol of the struggle of Uruguayan families to find out what happened to loved ones who were taken away by amilitary dictatorship. The girl disappeared at the
same time Mrs. Gatti’s leftist activist daughter, Maria Emilia Islas, and son-in-law, Jorge Zaf- faroni, were abducted in 1976 in Argentina as part of a crackdown coordinated by the dictatorships then ruling the nations of south- ern South America. Mrs. Gatti became a militant
in denouncing political disap- pearances. Working with an Ar- gentine activist group, the Orga- nization of the Grandmothers of Plaza deMayo,Mrs. Gatti helped start the Uruguayan Association of Relatives of the Disappeared. After a long investigation fol-
lowing the restoration of democ- racy, Mrs. Gatti’s granddaughter, Mariana Zaffaroni, was found in 1992 living with the family of a former official of Argentina’s re- pressive regime.Her identitywas restored and her kidnappers were punished. The fate ofMrs. Gatti’s daugh-
ter and son-in-law are still un- known. They are among nearly 30 Uruguayans unaccounted for and about 300 peoplemissing in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, rights groups say.
Hank Raymonds BASKETBALL COACH
Hank Raymonds, 86, a Mar-
quette University athletic official who was head basketball coach from 1977 to 1983, died Dec. 6 of cancer. He compiled a record of
126-50 as coach of theMilwaukee college. Mr.Raymonds, a former assis-
tant coach under Al McGuire, took over as head coach after McGuire’s departure. After his own coaching career,
Mr. Raymonds continued work- ing as the school’s athletic direc- tor until 1987 and played a leading role in elevating Mar- quette’s women’s athletic teams to Division I status in 1985. Mr. Raymonds joined Mar-
quette’s coaching staff in 1961 under head coach Eddie Hickey, who had coached Mr. Raymonds at St. Louis University. Mr. Ray- monds, a St. Louis native, was a 1949 graduate of St. Louis Uni- versity. Mr. Raymonds stayed on
whenMcGuire took over as head coach in 1964.He became known as the sharp basketball tactician behind McGuire’s charismatic personality. Marquette won the NCAA na-
tional championship in 1977. All six ofMr. Raymonds’sMarquette teams advanced to postseason play, including five trips to the NCAA Tournament. Five of his players were All-America honor- ees, and 16 were selected in the NBA draft. Rick Majerus succeeded Mr.
Raymonds as coach in 1983. — FromNews Services
said,washis favorite. “I leave Beethoven alone,” he
told the New York Times in 1987. “It always seemed such unneces- sarymusic.” Six-foot-five and irrepressible
in comic opera roles, Mr. Cuenod performed on both sides of the Atlantic. He was known for regu- lar appearances at the British Glyndebourne Festival Opera, in- cludingwhat theNew York Times described as “a delightful drag part as a bad-temperednymph” in Cavalli’s “LaCalisto.” Mr. Cuenod’s recording of lam-
entationsbyFrenchBaroquecom- poser Francois Couperin had im- pressed composer Igor Stravin- sksy, who enlisted Mr. Cuenod to sing the role of the auctioneer Sellemin the 1951world premiere of Stravinsksy’s “The Rake’s Prog- ress.” Several years later,Mr. Cuenod
was lauded for his interpretation of the music teacher in Mozart’s “LenozzediFigaro.” “Towering over everyone else
on the stage is the supremacy of Hugues Cuenod’s Basilio,” Wash- ington Post critic Paul Hume wrote in 1964. “Here is a vibrant
JAMEST.LYNN,83 Lawyer, budget-cutter and executive displayed keen intellect BY T. REES SHAPIRO James T. Lynn, aHarvard-edu-
cated lawyer who used his scal- pel-sharp intellect to cut layers of redundancy and wasteful federal spending as director of the Office of Management and Budget be- fore training his eye on the Aetna insurance company’s bottomline as its president and chief execu- tive, died Dec. 6 at an assisted living facility in Bethesda. He was 83 and died of compli-
cations from a stroke, said his daughter,MarjorieWilson. In a 17-year career in the feder-
al government, Mr. Lynn served as undersecretary in the Com- merce Department and secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Richard M. Nixon. He also was director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Gerald R. Ford. His success in government ser-
vice was widely attributed to his voracious appetite for work, a gregarious charm, an easy smile and and impressive intelligence that earned him the nickname Mr.Ultra-Bright. Mr. Lynn was completely un-
sympathetic to government bu- reaucracy. To illustrate his pen- chant for simplification, Mr. Lynn created “mess charts” con- necting federal overlap. Referencing the noted abstract
artist, he said the charts were so vivid they “might remind one of theworks of Jackson Pollock.” Mr. Lynn, a Republican, was
the Washington managing part- ner of the Cleveland-based Jones Day law firm when he met with officials fromthe Nixon adminis- tration to offer his services. He became general counsel at
the Commerce Department in 1970 and moved up to undersec- retary a year later. AsHUDsecretary from1973 to 1975, Mr. Lynn helped formulate
Victor A. Courie AIR FORCE EMPLOYEE
Victor A. Courie, 84, who
worked for the Department of the Air Force for more than 40 years, died Nov. 20 at Shady Grove Ad- ventist Hospital in Rockville. He was a Potomac resident. Mr. Courie joined the newly
formed Department of the Air Force in the late 1940s. He spent his career working in the publica- tions office, where he oversawthe printing and production of Air Force manuals and bulletins. Victor Alexander Courie was a
nativeWashingtonian and a 1943 graduate of the old Central High School. He served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II and then attended GeorgeWash- ingtonUniversity. In retirement, Mr. Courie vol-
unteered as a Sunday school lead- er at St. George Antiochian Or- thodox Christian Church in Washington.He enjoyed bowling. Survivors include a brother,
Dr.George A. Courie of Potomac. —T. Rees Shapiro
Laura Homer
FEDERAL RESERVE OFFICIAL Laura Homer, 87, who worked
for the Federal Reserve Board for nearly 25 years and became chief
1976 PHOTO BY JAMES K.W. ATHERTON/WASHINGTON POST As head of OMB, James T. Lynn holds a “mess chart” reflecting his distaste for bureaucracy.
a landmark multi-billion-dollar community development and housing program that consoli- dated and improved existing fed- eral subsidies for low- and mod- erate-income families. He also helped create an anti-
bias provision in the bill that outlawed racial and sexual dis- crimination in the way the feder- al fundingwas disbursed. When the opportunity arose to
lead the Office of Management and Budget in 1975, Mr. Lynn seized at the chance despite tak- ing a significant pay cut and working with a much smaller staff. “It’s not sexy, but the sumtotal
of the decisions have a very im- portant impactonthe future,”Mr. Lynn told The Washington Post in 1976. At one point, he advised Presi- dent Ford on how to slash $28
of securities regulation before re- tiring in 1996, died of respiratory failure Nov. 13 at her home in Weems, on Virginia’s Northern Neck. In the 1940s,Mrs. Homer was
business manager for theWatch- makers Union in Waterbury, Conn. She married in 1948 and accompanied her husband for his municipal administration jobs in KansasCity,Mo.;Tucson;Roches- ter,N.Y.; and Dade County, Fla. She raised their five children
before graduating in 1968 from the University of Miami law school. Sheandherhusbandsettled in
theWashington area in 1971, and she soon began her Federal Re- serve Board career in the area of consumer protection. Laura McHale was a Water-
bury native and a 1948 graduate of the University of Connecticut. In 1979, she received a certificate from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University inNewJersey. She moved to Weems from
Washington in 1996. Her husband, Porter W. Hom-
er, died in
2002.Survivors include five children, KatherineMoore of Vienna; PeterHomer of Fort Lau- derdale, Fla.; Greg Homer of Ste- vensville, Md.; Andy Homer of Austin; and Pierce Homer of
billion from the federal budget, which pleased the commander- in-chief but earned him many enemies among heads of govern- ment agencies. Mr. Lynn said he took theOMB
position knowing the potential for generating illwill among gov- ernment colleagues. “It’s not the kind of job you would take if you want everyone to love you,” he said. When he retired from govern-
ment service in 1977, Mr. Lynn purchased a sailboat and chris- tened it “About Time.” James Thomas Lynn was born
in Cleveland on Feb. 27, 1927. He was a 1948 honors graduate of what is now Case Western Re- serve University. He was one of the top students at Harvard law, where he graduated in 1951, and then joined Jones Day. At the law firm, he helped
Richmond; and seven grandchil- dren.
—Adam Bernstein Frank W. Braden Jr.
LAWYER Frank W. Braden, a managing
partner in the Rockville law firm of Schroeder, Ryder and Braden, died Nov. 25 of cancer at Howard County GeneralHospital.He was 77.
Mr. Braden practiced law in
the District and Maryland for more than three decades. He was a member ofMaryland’s Attorney Grievance Commission, which oversees theconduct of lawyersin the state. Frank Wheeler Braden was
born in Orange, N.J. He was a MerchantMarine before graduat- ing in 1955 fromLafayette College in Easton, Pa., and he served in the Army before graduating from Georgetown University’s law school in 1963. Mr. Braden was a member of
St. John’s Lutheran Church in Columbia. Survivors include his wife of
54 years, JoanK. Ebner Braden of Elkridge; two daughters, Eliza- beth J. Braden-Bugenhagen of Rosehaven, Md., andMelindaLee Braden of Ellicott City; a brother, the Rev. Robert Braden Sr. of
Gertrude Machlin
BRIDGE TEACHER, EDITOR Gertrude “Trudy”Machlin, 91,
a director of bridge tournaments for the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Con- ference and the American Con- tract Bridge League, died Nov. 21 of liver failure at the Riderwood Village retirement community in Silver Spring. Mrs. Machlin was a longtime
bridge player who, with partner KitWoolsey, won the 1967 Mixed Pairs National Bridge Champion- ship. In addition to directing tournaments, she served as a teacher of the game and as editor of publications released by the
maneuver more than $1 billion worth of corporate mergers and, in 1961, became one of the young- est partners in Jones Day’s histo- ry.
At office parties, hewas known
to entertain his colleagues on the piano and sang in a barbershop quartet alongside a promising young lawyer named Antonin Scalia, nowa U.S. Supreme Court justice. After government service, Mr.
Lynn joined the Aetna board of directors in 1978. He was made the Hartford-based company’s president and chief executive in 1984. Many financial analysts
praised the promotion but were critical
ofMr.Lynn’s lack of insur- ance experience and noted that he had never calculated a premi- umor sold a policy. According to news stories at
Damascus; and two grandsons. —EmmaBrown
the time, Mr. Lynn helped stabi- lize Aetna’s holdings by placing added emphasis on corporate in- surance and getting out of several bad investments in the energy and technology fields that had been part of an unsuccessful di- versification strategy. To increase profit during a
period of slow growth, Mr. Lynn oversaw an internal corporate reorganizationthat slashed2,600 jobs — a total of 5 percent of the company. The decision was said to have saved Aetna $50million. He retired fromAetna in 1992. Mr. Lynn also served on the
boards of Kraft, Pfizer and TRW. In the 1980s, he helped found
the James S. Brady Presidential Foundation, which provided fi- nancial assistance and scholar- ships to victims of assassination attempts and their families. Survivors includehiswife of 56
years, JoanMillerLynnofBethes- da; three children, Marjorie Wil- son of Bethesda, J. Peter Lynn of San Diego and Sarah Hechler of North Potomac; and eight grand- children. As a ranking government offi-
cial in the 1970s, Mr. Lynn trav- eled widely. He enjoyed telling the story ofhow,while inMoscow for an official Commerce Depart- ment assignment, he tried to outwit Soviet spies who had placed himunder surveillance. Mr. Lynn feared his hotel room
had been bugged. One night, while lying in bed, he said to his empty room: “I sure wish they would putmore strawberries and fewer peaches in my fruit basket tomorrow.” The next morning, his wish
came true. The following night he said: “It
sure would be nice if we could have a car waiting for us in the morning.” The next day, a livery service
had a car idling at the hotel’s front doors.
shapirot@washpost.com
Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference. Born Gertrude Drusin in De-
troit, she grew up in New York City and graduated in 1939 from the city’s Hunter College. She worked for several years in the 1940s as a biologist at theNation- al Institutes ofHealth. Her husband of 56 years, na-
tional bridge tournament direc- tor JeromeMachlin, died in 1997. Survivors include four sons,
RichardMachlin of Peaks Island, Maine, Jack Machlin of Burtons- ville, StevenMachlin of Bingham- ton,N.Y., andKennethMachlin of Potomac; a sister; four grandchil- dren; and two great-grandchil- dren.
—EmmaBrown
object lesson in the meaning of Mozart.” Hugues Adhemar Cuenod was
born June 26, 1902, in the Swiss village of Corseaux-sur-Vevey, wherehis grandfatherwasmayor. Mr. Cuenod said he became a
singermostly out of lazinesswhile studying at a conservatory in Ba- sel. “I was crazy about singing. I found it easier than the piano,” he said. “The truth is, I never liked to work.” After graduating fromthe con-
servatory, he studied in Vienna and Paris and made his stage de- but in 1928 in a production of AustriancomposerErnstKrenek’s opera “Jonny SpieltAuf.” Mr. Cuenod then took a brief
musical comedy turninNoelCow- ard’s operetta “Bitter Sweet” be- fore findingwider famewith Bou- langer. Singingmusic fromtheMiddle
Ages tomodern times inmultiple languages, Mr. Cuenod was known for his clarity and diction. “Oneneedsnoprintedtext,”wrote a critic in the American Record Guide, “to keep up with hismedi- evalFrench.” As amember ofEurope’s aristo- craticmusical circles,Mr. Cuenod
knew some of the great artists of the early 20th century. He heard sopranoElisabethSchumannsing Richard Strauss recitals in the presence of Strauss himself and attended the 1928 German pre- miere of “Turandot.” Nearly sixdecades later, in1987,
when he made his Met debut in “Turandot,” Mr. Cuenod’s perfor- mancewashailedintheNewYork Times as “firmly and expressively sung.”
Mr.Cuenodgavehis lastperfor-
manceat92,whenhesangtherole of Triquet in Tchaikovsky’s “Eu- gene Onegin.” That final perfor- mance, according to a review in OperaNews,was “inperfect style.” He died of undisclosed causes
in Switzerland. He had lived in a centuries-oldSwiss castlewithhis partner,AlfredAugustin, a retired civil servant 41 yearshis junior. In 2007, after Swiss law was
changed to allow same-sex cou- ples most of the legal benefits of marriage, they registered their partnershipina civilunion. “Most people were happy for
us,”
Mr.Cuenodtoldtheartspubli- cation Playbill, “though a few promisedus 15,000 years inhell.”
browne@washpost.com
COURTESY METROPOLITAN OPERA ARCHIVES
Hugues Cuenod in costume for his debut atNewYork’sMetropolitan Opera, in Puccini’s “Turandot.”He was 84 at the time.
EZ RE
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