DECEMBER 20, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 24

Milestones
By HANNAH BEECH

RESIGNED. NORM STAMPER, 55, besieged chief of Seattle's police who drew widespread criticism for his handling of the violence that convulsed the city during the World Trade Organization talks two weeks ago; in Seattle. Practically everyone condemned the police response to the WTO conflagration: protesters decried the tear gas and rubber bullets as brutal, shopkeepers complained that little was done to prevent vandalism and some police officers argued that Stamper underestimated the effect that the presence of 35,000 protesters would have on the city.

RETIRED. CHARLES BARKLEY, 36, mouthy American basketball icon who in 16 NBA seasons matured from the sport's brash outcast to its venerated--if still incorrigible--statesman, after rupturing a knee tendon during a game; in Philadelphia. At 1.95 m, the indomitable Houston Rockets forward stood relatively short compared to his towering colleagues, but his aggressive on-court moves propelled him past lesser opponents, and he averaged an outstanding 22 points and almost 12 rebounds a game.

MISSING. JAVED IQBAL, 38, self-confessed Pakistani serial killer who allegedly lured 100 runaway boys to his home, sexually assaulted them and then dissolved their bodies in acid; from his hometown of Lahore. An intensive manhunt is under way to determine if Iqbal committed suicide, as a note found among his belongings indicated he would, or whether he is on the run. A police search of Iqbal's home also turned up barrels of acid with partly dissolved bodies, photos of the missing youngsters and bags of children's clothing.

DIED. FRANJO TUDJMAN, 77, quixotic Croatian President who engineered his country's breakaway from Yugoslavia in 1991; in Zagreb. The ex-communist general won praise as the architect of Croatia's independence but alarmed many in the Balkans by openly coveting large chunks of Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of a Greater Croatia. A modified version of Tudjman's nationalist dream eventually came true after years of skirmishes with Serb and Bosnian forces, but at the cost of thousands of Croat lives, the repression of minority ethnic Serbs living in Croatia and the suppression of democracy.

DIED. MASARU SATO, 71, Japanese music director whose haunting scores heightened the poignancy of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's epics; in Tokyo. Sato began his musical movie career with the 1955 Godzilla Raids Again--hardly an arthouse staple--but his collaboration with Kurosawa started just two years later and included such classics as Red Beard, Yojinbo and Sanjuro.

DIED. ROBERT SWANSON, 52, American biotech pioneer whose genetic-engineering company revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry; in Hillsborough, California. As a 29-year-old venture capitalist, he called on gene-splicing expert Herbert Boyer in 1976 and persuaded him to transfer his academic knowledge to more practical--and lucrative--pursuits. Their company, Genentech, churned out most of biotech's first products, including an insulin substitute, growth hormones and a drug that restores blood flow after heart attacks.

DEATH ANNOUNCED. Of KEITH WYLIE, 54, patrician English sportsman who elevated croquet from a lazy backyard pastime into a cerebral pursuit requiring the finesse and foresight of chess; near Southampton, England. An innovative player who jazzed up the understated white croquet outfit with a pith helmet and an ascot scarf, Wylie dazzled during the 1971 Open by sending a ball through an unprecedented six consecutive hoops.