Deaths Elsewhere

Music executive
LAFAYETTE – Services for music industry executive George Berry will be Dec. 1. He died Nov. 27 at age 89.
He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II’s Pacific theater. He helped form Lafayette Drug Co.’s record merchandising business, Modern Record Service, which later became known as Musical Isle of America. He and six others founded the National Association of Record Merchandisers, now known as the Music Business Association and was a former president of the premiere organization for music business professionals. He founded Raccoon Records in Lafayette and operated it for more than 30 years.
Survivors include his wife Marion and three children.

Higher ed expert
NATCHITOCHES – Services for higher education administration specialist Dr. Virgus Ray Cardozier were Nov. 29 in Austin, Texas. He died Nov. 2 at age 91.
He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II’s Pacific theater. In 1957 he moved to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as associate professor in its College of Education where he remained three years, except for six months when he was on leave to direct a project for the U.S. Office of Education in Washington, DC.
In 1960 he moved to the University of Maryland, in the Washington suburbs, where he served as professor and department chairman for ten years.
In 1970 he was appointed vice president for academic affairs for the newly authorized University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa. Four years later he was named president, a position he held for almost eight years. He moved to the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 to become director of the fledgling doctoral program in higher education administration, where he taught “History of Higher Education” and “International and Comparative Higher Education.” After retiring, he lectured and led seminars for continuing education groups in Austin, where his sessions on international affairs attracted a considerable following.
Professor Cardozier was author or co-author of ten books, most of them about higher education but also included “Mobilization of the United States for World War II”.
Survivors include his wife Nancy.

Retail exec
PINEVILLE – Services for former retail executive and Senior Olympics Hall of Fame member Don North will be Dec. 1. He died Nov. 28 at age 77.
He was a former manager of JC Penney in Alexandria and of Bealls Dept. Store in Alexandria Mall. A track letterman at UL-Lafayette, he rekindled his passion for track and field with Senior Olympics. He medaled in Javelin, Discus, and Shot Put.
In 1993 he traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to the International Masters Championship where he won 2 Gold, 1 Silver, and 4 Bronze medals. In 1994, he won medals in the Southwest Regional Masters Track and Field for all age groups. In 1995, Don medaled in theWorld Senior Olympics in Buffalo, New York. Also in 1995 he was inducted into the Louisiana Senior Olympics Sports Hall of Fame. Other outstanding meets included the North and Central American and Caribbean World Championship in 1998 in Barbados and 2nd place in the Javelin in the National Senior Games in Orlando. He was involved with Senior Olympics for 22 years and served on our local district and state boards.
Survivors include his wife Alice and three children.

Banker
BATON ROUGE – Services for banker Milford “Butch” Blum, Jr. are Dec. 1. He died Nov. 27 at age 71.
He was in banking for more than 40 years and retired as senior vice president of the Western Region for Whitney Bank.
Survivors include three children.

Teacher, court employee
MARKSVILLE – Services are Dec. 1 for long-time educator Elise Shivor. She died Nov. 28 at age 73.
She taught history at Marksville Senior High for 32 years. She also retired from the Louisiana Supreme Court, having served as secretary to Justice Jeanette Knoll for 16 years.
Survivors include her husband Cecil and three children.