Obituary

B.F. Coggan; Convair Executive

B.F. “Sandy” Coggan, 81, who led the Convair Division of General Dynamics during the aerospace boom of the 1950s and later was an advisor to the Defense Department and the United Nations. Born in Gary, Ind., Bernard Frederick Coggan grew up in Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University. Coggan was in his early 30s when he moved to San Diego in 1952 to become the vice president and general manager of Convair, which had a work force of 45,000 designing and manufacturing aircraft and missiles. An active civic leader, Coggan was president of San Diego’s Board of Education, chairman of the San Diego Port District and president of the San Diego Economic Development Corp. As a consultant to the Department of Defense in 1961, Coggan conducted worldwide audits of military hospitals and radar installations. A few years later, he served on a U.N. team assigned to audit the five-year economic plan of Indian President Indira Gandhi. On Aug. 22 in La Jolla of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

*

Terry Cole; JPL Chief Technologist

Terry Cole, 68, who served as chief technologist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nearly two decades. Cole was also a senior faculty associate in the division of chemistry and chemical engineering at Caltech in Pasadena. A native of Albion, N.Y., Cole received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in chemistry from Caltech. He was appointed JPL’s chief technologist in 1980, four years after he was invited to Caltech as a Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar. He was also chairman of Caltech’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships Administrative Committee. As chief technologist, Cole oversaw the start-up and development of technologies ranging from autonomous spacecraft operations to ultra-small sensors. “Terry was an enthusiastic and articulate advocate for science and technology, and a vital link between JPL and the Caltech campus,” said JPL Deputy Director Larry Dumas. Caltech manages JPL for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Cole, who retired from JPL last year, died Aug. 20 at his home in La Canada Flintridge of cancer.

*

T * Raymond Bacon: Insurance Official

Raymond G. Bacon, 75, a longtime insurance executive who served as chief deputy commissioner for the California Department of Insurance. The Indiana-born son of a Methodist minister, Bacon was appointed to the post in 1988 by Gov. George Deukmejian after his retirement from Fireman’s Fund, where he spent nearly 30 years. As chief deputy, Bacon was the chief operating officer of the department. He had started his insurance career in 1948 working as an independent insurance agent. He joined Fireman’s Fund in 1957 and stayed with the firm until 1969, when he resigned to fulfill a long-standing dream of sailing his 45-foot schooner around the world. He returned to work at Fireman’s in 1971 after finishing his voyage. On Aug. 20 at his Laguna Hills home from heart failure.

*

Constantine Nicandros; Conoco Chief

Constantine S. Nicandros, 66, a former chairman of Conoco Inc., the multinational oil and gas firm. Born in Port Said, Egypt, to Greek parents, Nicandros graduated from the University of Paris law school and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris. He also held a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. He joined Conoco in 1957 as a research associate in the coordinating and planning department in Houston. In his 39 years with the company, he rose steadily through the ranks. He was named vice president for worldwide supply and distribution in 1978. Nicandros co-chaired the merger committee when Conoco and Du Pont joined forces in 1981. He was the firm’s chief executive from 1985 to 1995, before serving as chairman of the board. He was believed to be the first foreign-born chief executive of a major American oil company. Nicandros was fluent in seven languages and a firm supporter of the arts in Houston. He served on the boards of Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Houston Symphony and the Houston Ballet Foundation. On Monday in Houston of cancer.

*

Othmar Winkler; Mussolini Sculptor

Othmar Winkler, 92, the official sculptor for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In the early 1930s, Winkler sculpted busts for Mussolini and for Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s Nazi propaganda minister, but then fled Italy and became a fierce opponent of the regime. After the war, he started working on religious themes, with a provocative and anti-clerical style. His sculptures of Christ with a hammer and sickle engraved on his face and that of a cardinal riding a pig sparked Catholic protests. Most of Winkler’s works are in private collections, although his more traditional wooden sculptures adorn many churches throughout Alto Adige, or South Tyrol, the German-speaking Italian region where he was born. On Aug. 21 in Trento, Italy.