Milestones: May 31, 1982

SEEKING DIVORCE. Gilda Radner, 35, onetime Roseanne Roseannadanna and Ba-ba Wawa of Saturday Night Live; from G.E. Smith, 30, rock guitarist; after two years of marriage; in Hollywood. Radner and her husband split a month ago, after she and Actor-Comedian Gene Wilder teamed up both on and off the set of the film Hanky Panky, due out next month.

DIED. Fred (“Dixie”) Walker, 71, hard-hitting Brooklyn Dodger outfielder whose nickname came from his Alabama childhood, but whose moniker with cheering Ebbets Field fans was “the Peepul’s Cherce”; of cancer; in Birmingham. After stumbling around the majors for eight years, Walker caught fire with the Dodgers in 1939, helping “da bums” to win pennants in 1941 and 1947. He hit .357 to take the National League batting crown, in 1944, led the league with 124 RBl’s a year later and had a lifetime .306 average over 18 seasons. His Dodger playing years ended on a bitter note in 1947, however, after he expressed his reluctance to play with his new teammate, Jackie Robinson, the first black major leaguer.

DIED. Hugh Beaumont, 73, journeyman Hollywood actor whose name was etched into the public consciousness through the longevity of a TV hit series, when for 234 half-hour performances in the 1950s and ’60s he was Ward Cleaver, the All-American suburban father on the still repeated Leave It to Beaver; of an apparent heart attack; during a visit to Munich, West Germany.

DIED. Merle Tuve, 80, physicist whose discoveries opened the way to radar and nuclear energy; in Bethesda, Md. More than 50 years ago, Tuve noted that short-pulse radio waves reflected off the ionosphere, which provided the theoretical underpinning for radar. In 1933 he confirmed the existence of the neutron and was also able to measure the bonding forces in atomic nuclei. During World War II, he organized development of the proximity fuse for antiaircraft shells, enabling defenders to increase greatly their accuracy in combating German V-1 buzz bombs and Japanese kamikaze plane attacks.

DIED. Max Stern, 83, founder and board chairman of Hartz Mountain Corp., which he made into the world’s largest manufacturer of pet foods and supplies; in New York City. Stern, a German immigrant, arrived in the U.S. in 1926 with 2,100 singing canaries. He quickly sold the birds, but decided that greater profits lay in marketing birdseed. The company, founded in 1932, grew under his leadership until it had annual sales of $150 million and offered more than 1,200 pet-related products. A deeply religious man, Stern gave away millions in philanthropy to Jewish American education projects.