Milestones, Apr. 29, 1974

Died. Frank McGee, 52, host of NBC’S Today program since 1971 and one of television’s most prominent newsmen; of pneumonia following treatment for cancer of the bone marrow; in Manhattan. McGee was best known for his crisp, calm reporting at times of stress, epitomized by his twelve-hour marathon as NBC’S co-anchor man the day President Kennedy was assassinated. A seemingly ubiquitous narrator of documentaries, McGee became a lay expert on rocketry while covering the U.S. space program. Although suffering severely from back pains for the past few months, he bravely continued to work; he last appeared on Today less than a week before his death. ·Died. Oliver Adams Quayle III, 52, widely respected pollster; of a heart attack; in Hanover, N.H. Most of Quayle’s surveys were commissioned by Democratic politicians for private use; his clients included Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The high-priced pulse taker never tried to equivocate when bearing bad news. “There is no point to the work,” he once said, “if you’re not telling the truth.” ·Died. Mohammed Ayub Khan, 66, imposing, soldierly former President of Pakistan; of a heart attack; in Islamabad, Pakistan. Trained at Britain’s Sandhurst Royal Military College, Ayub rose to commander in chief of the Pakistani army and became president in 1958. He helped spur Pakistan’s economic growth but did little to remedy the inequitable distribution of income among the population. In attempting to steer a neutral course in global politics, he clashed with—and later fired—Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto became a critic of Ayub’s regime and was jailed briefly in November 1968. After five months of bloody civil strife, Ayub stepped down into retirement. Bhutto became President in 1971 and today is Pakistan’s Prime Minister. · Died. Gerald Martin Loeb, 74, wise stockbroker and bestselling author (The Battle for Investment Survival); of a heart attack; in San Francisco. Loeb joined the E.F. Hutton brokerage house in 1922, retiring as vice chairman in 1965. He predicted the 1929 crash in time to unload all his holdings and those of his customers and contended throughout his career that there is no place where knowledge will pay an individual as rich a reward as Wall Street.

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Died. Marcel Pagnol, 79, Provençal schoolteacher turned playwright (Topaze) and filmmaker (The Baker’s Wife) whose tender stage-screen trilogy of life on the Marseille waterfront was the basis of the Broadway musical Fanny (1954-56); in Paris.