Milestones, Feb. 24, 1975

Engaged. Princess Maria Christina, 27, fourth and youngest daughter of The Netherlands’ Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard and ninth in line to the Dutch throne; and Jorge Guillermo, 28, a Cuban refugee and a teacher of preschool youngsters in Harlem. Classical music buffs who met in 1973, the couple, after a June wedding in The Netherlands, will live in New York City, where Christina teaches French and music at a Montessori school.

Died. Richard Ratsimandrava, 43, head of state, for less than one week, of the Malagasy Republic (formerly the French colony of Madagascar); following a machine-gun ambush of his official limousine; in Tananarive. Lieut. Colonel Ratsimandrava served as Interior Minister under General Gabriel Ramanantsoa, leader of the military junta that took control of the republic in May 1972. After months of unrest among dissident tribesmen, Ramanantsoa resigned on Feb. 5 and the honest, plodding Ratsimandrava took office. His death was announced by a new ruling military committee. It claimed that the short-termed President had been slain by members of the Republican Security Forces, a counterinsurgency outfit dissolved by Ramanantsoa.

Died. Henry Pitney (“Pit”) Van Dusen, 77, venerable Protestant theologian and president of Manhattan’s Union Theological Seminary from 1945 to 1963; of heart disease; in Belle Meade, N.J. Van Dusen combined a profound faith with skepticism over excessive dogmatism and clerical parochialism. His ordination was held up for two years while Presbyterian leaders agonized over his right to question the literal biblical rendition of the Virgin birth. During Van Dusen’s tenure as president, Union’s enrollment doubled and such studies as psychiatry and religious drama joined the curriculum. A prime organizer of the World Council of Churches, Van Dusen frequently trekked about the globe promoting Protestant ecumenism.

Died. Sir Julian Huxley, 87, British biologist, older brother of the late novelist Aldous Huxley and grandson of Victorian Scientist-Sage Thomas Huxley; in London. Educated at Eton and Oxford, Sir Julian was an atheist and self-styled “humanist” and an astonishingly prolific writer; his 48 major books range from candid autobiography (Memories) to probing studies of evolution. As UNESCO’s first director-general (1946-48), he gained widespread attention as a doomsday prophet, warning against such dangers as the population explosion and man’s neglect of his environment.