DEATH NOTICE
Special to The
New York Times –
August 26, 1949
Mrs. Van Lear
Black of Baltimore
Baltimore, Aug. 25
– Mrs. Jessie Gary Black, widow of Van Lear Black and a leader in Baltimore
society for many years, died yesterday afternoon in Union Memorial Hospital
after an illness of five days. She was 73 years old. Her husband, who was
chairman of the board of the A. S. Abell company, publisher of the Sun
Newspapers, died in 1930.
Mrs. Black was
the daughter of the late James A. Gary, Postmaster General under President
McKinley. In November, 1899, she was married to Mr. Black, with President
McKinley and his Cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps and leaders in
Congress among the guests at the ceremony.
During the first
World War, Mrs. Black took part in various phases of war-relief work.
Her mother was
Miss Lavinia W. Corrie, daughter of James Corrie. Mrs. Black’s father was
descended from John Gary, who came to this country from Lancashire, England in
1712.
Survivors are
five children, Mrs. Thomas Buchanan Blakiston and Mrs. Alexzander Bullock of
Los Angeles; Mrs. Frederick Bindy and Van Lear Black Jr. of Baltimore and Gary
Black of Baltimore Country.
She leaves also
five sisters, Mrs. Robert C. Taylor of New York; Mrs. George Brown Jr., Mrs.
Frances E. Pegram, Mrs. Harold Randolph, Mrs. Henry Pratt Janes, all of
Baltimore, and one brother, E. Stanley Gary, also of Baltimore.
Public Relations
Executive
Former Lutheran Pastor
Aided Polio
Fight
Author
St. Louis, July 5
— Edward F. Stegen, New York City public relations executive, died yesterday at
Barnes Hospital. Mr. Stegen, who was 59 years old, had come here about a month
ago to undergo surgery.
He resided at
301 East 47th Street, New York City, and had been active in
executive and public relations work for many years.
He had been
director of public relations for the National Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis before he retired from that organization in 1961.
Mr. Stegen, born
in Washington, Mo., was graduated from St. John’s College in Winfield, Kansas.
He then studied at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis. At the age of 23
he accepted a pastorate at Indiana University, where he raised funds to
construct a church on the campus.
Later, he served
for several years as a chaplain with the Army, but he gave up this career to
enter the business world in 1935, when he became an executive with the
Interstate Finance Company in Evansville, Ind.
Mr. Stegen was
named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to set up a special Social Security
office for Indiana when that legislation was adopted in 1938.
During World War
II he served as director of the Federal rationing board for the north central
United States, with headquarters in Chicago. He later was named to work out a
program for civil defense in nine Middle West states and eventually was named
director of this system, with an office in St. Louis.
Part of Mr.
Stegen’s early business experienced led him to accept a post in 1950 with the
National Physicians Committee, a group set up to oppose socialized medicine.
This resulted in his writing a book, Compulsion: The Key to Collectivism.
In 1951, Mr.
Stegen became assistant director of public relations for the National
Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, serving primarily in a liaison role between
the foundation and the medical and allied professions.
After he left
the foundation 10 years later, he became executive director of the Empire State
Medical-Political Action Committee, an organization set up in New York to fight
the Medicare program.
Mr. Stegen also
held the position of vice president of MFO Employment Services, Inc., of New
York City
Surviving are
his widow, the former Helen Frampton Black, a daughter, Mrs. Jerome F.
Katterjohn, a stepson, Van Lear Black III; his parents, Mr. And Mrs. John C.
Stegen of East St. Louis, Ill.; and four grandchildren.