Obituaries - Feb. 7, 1999

Erich Hartmann; Photographer Documented Nazi Death Camps

Erich Hartmann, 76, a photographer who documented 22 Nazi concentration camps and a number of Holocaust memorials throughout Europe. Hartmann learned his trade after his discharge from the U.S. Army following World War II and joined the Magnum Photo agency in the early 1950s. His record of the camps, from Auschwitz to Treblinka, took him five years to complete. It was published in book form in 1995 and titled “In the Camps.” Of the project he said: “I simply felt obliged . . . to fulfill a duty that I could not define and to pay a belated tribute with the tools of my profession.” He is survived by his wife, Ruth; a son, a daughter and two grandchildren. On Thursday at New York Hospital in Manhattan.

Norman Bluhm; Abstract Expressionist Painter

Norman Bluhm, 78, an Abstract Expressionist painter who was a prominent member of what became known as the “second generation” of that group of artists. Born in Chicago, Bluhm finished high school and studied with Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe. The experience made him decide that he would make, in his words, “the world’s worst architect.” He joined the Army Air Force at the outset of World War II and flew B-26 missions over North Africa and Europe. He later said his war experiences, in which he was wounded and his brother was killed, gave his early work a hard edge. After the war, he studied in Florence and lived in Paris before returning to New York, where he spent much of the rest of his life. Outside of New York, his work has been shown at the Corcoran Galley of Art in Washington in 1969 and 1977. He was part of a group show that came to what is now the Orange County Museum of Art in 1984. He is survived by his wife, Cary; a daughter, Nina, of New York City; and a son, David, of Paklay, Laos. On Wednesday of heart failure in East Wallingford, Vt.

Stanford Chen; Reporter, Editor, Advocate for Minority Journalists

Stanford Chen, 51, a longtime reporter and opinion page editor for the Portland Oregonian and a lifelong advocate for minority journalists. Raised in San Francisco, Chen earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. He landed a beginning reporter’s job in Bellingham, Wash., before moving on to Portland’s Daily Journal of Commerce and then the Oregonian. He was active in the Asian American Journalists Assn., helping to found the Portland chapter and serving on the national board. He wrote a history of the organization, titled “Counting on Each Other: A History of the Asian American Journalists Association from 1981-1996.” In it, he said the group’s job is to convince the public that journalism is as favorable a career choice for young Asian Americans as engineering or medicine. “He was a passionate advocate for adding a little color to the cheeks of the newsroom,” Oregonian columnist Steve Duin wrote in Friday’s editions. He is survived by his wife, Beth Erickson. On Thursday in Portland of cancer.