Bruce Vorhauer; Invented Contraceptive Sponge

Bruce Vorhauer, inventor of the Today contraceptive sponge. Vorhauer was founder and chief executive officer of VLI Corp. of Irvine, which developed and sold the innovative method of birth control. The self-made millionaire left the company in 1987. Moving to Montana, he founded and served as director of Basic Biosystems research laboratory, founded the First Valley Bank of Seeley Lake and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1990. He had recently filed for bankruptcy, and last month a Seattle federal judge ruled that Vorhauer set fire to his 85-foot yacht and boathouse in 1991 in a thwarted attempt to collect $1.3 million in insurance. On Thursday in Missoula, Mont., of apparent suicide.