Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., who transformed the company his father founded in 1923 into an international leader in market research, helping to make its name synonymous with television ratings, died on Monday in Winnetka, Ill., where he lived most of his life. He was 92.

He had Parkinson’s disease, family members said in announcing his death.

The son of Arthur C. Nielsen, Mr. Nielsen became president of the A. C. Nielsen Company in 1957 and its chairman in 1975. He presided over the company’s growth from a modest operation, generating less than $4 million a year in revenue, to one with revenue of more than $680 million.

He worked for the company his entire adult life, joining in 1945 after serving four years in World War II as a major in the Corps of Engineers. One part of his wartime experience gave him insight into the potential importance of computers. He was assigned to construct a building to house a machine that would create elaborate tables to calculate the metrics for firing big artillery guns accurately.

Mr. Nielsen recognized the potential to use such calculations in the family business, which at that point had gained most of its profit from an index that measured and tracked sales of items in food and drug stores. The company, one of the first ever to offer market research, also began to measure radio stations’ audience size in 1936. But even after expanding to a national service in 1942, the radio arm of the business was not profitable.

In 1948, at Mr. Nielsen’s urging, the company invested $150,000 in building the first general-purpose computer, the Univac.

His father remained the entrepreneur of the company and led the way to creation of the first television audience measurement system in 1950. The younger Mr. Nielsen, who was known more for institutionalizing his father’s innovations, moved the company into new areas, like the creation of a clearinghouse for coupons, a service that had become a business generating more than $90 million in sales by the time the younger Mr. Nielsen retired.

He also led the company into tracking subscription data for magazines and even tracking oil and gas wells in the United States and Canada. And as chairman he presided over the development of scanning technology in its early days, allowing the company to collect information on consumer purchases of all kinds. The most visible expansion of the Nielsen business took place in the media measurement division. Nielsen fought to retain its place — critics have long labeled it a monopoly — over the measurement of television ratings, beating back the challenges of several potential rivals. As cable television began vastly expanding the number of networks needing national measurement, Nielsen was positioned to provide the numbers each of those channels needed to sell time to advertisers.

Arthur Charles Nielsen Jr. was born in Winnetka on April 8, 1919, the oldest of five children of Arthur C. and Gertrude Nielsen. While an Army engineer he met Patricia McKnew and soon married her. He was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

An avid athlete, Mr. Nielsen played competitive tennis until he was in his 80s and had the distinction of winning the United States Father-Son Doubles Championships with his father in 1946 and 1948. He later represented the United States in senior tennis tournaments. He also won Midwest-based father-son doubles championships with two sons, Arthur III and Chris.

Patricia Nielsen died in 2005. Mr. Nielsen is survived by his sons as well as a daughter, Elizabeth Cocciarelli; a brother, Philip; two sisters, Margaret Stiegele and the Rev. Barbara Nielsen; and seven grandchildren. His father died in 1980.

Mr. Nielsen served on the boards of more than 20 companies, including Dun & Bradstreet, Walgreen, Marsh & McLennan and Motorola, and advised three presidents.

He also appeared as a mystery guest on the postwar TV show “What’s My Line?” and was questioned about his line of work by the panelists Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and others.

Accepting the company’s strict retirement policy, Mr. Nielsen stepped down from active leadership in 1983 and became chairman emeritus. The following year he engineered the sale of A. C. Nielsen to the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation for $1.3 billion in stock.

The company has since been acquired by the Dutch publishing company VNU. But it has retained the name Nielsen, largely based on brand recognition. In many circles of the television business, ratings are still frequently referred to simply as “the Nielsens.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/business/ac-nielsen-jr-who-transformed-research-firm-dies-at-92.html

Maricela Ochoa

AUSTIN — Maricela Ochoa, 48, of Austin, Texas went home to be with the Lord on October 10, 2011. Mari was “born on the island” of Galveston, Texas on April 9, 1963. A graduate of Ball High School and New York University, Mari was an artist and an actress in numerous theater, film and TV productions across the country. She was a founding member of and associate director at Teatro Vista, in Chicago. She was also a Big Mountain Sun Dancer, dancing on the Navajo and Denae Indian Land.

Mari, you will be sadly missed by your family and friends across the country and in Mexico but always and forever remembered by your parents, Alicia and Enrique Ochoa; her husband, Mark Henderson; brothers, Dr. Reynaldo Ochoa, Dr. Alfonso Ochoa (Yolanda), and sisters, Juanita Ochoa Rodriguez (Jacinto), Elizabeth Ochoa, ChaCha Ochoa Guerrero (Jose) and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

Mari, you will be sadly missed by your family and friends across the country. Mari’s family extends their special thanks to Fr. Bill Wack, C.S.C., Fr. Michael Couhig, C.S.C. and Fr. James Martin, C.S.C. of St. Ignatius, Martyr Catholic Church for their spiritual guidance and support to Mari and her family; also a very special gratitude to Hospice Austin staff, doctors and nurses at M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital and Mari’s “CRHP” sisters and brothers at St. Ignatius.

Family will receive visitors from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 South Congress Avenue with Rosary to follow at 7:00 p.m. A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Ignatius, Martyr Catholic Church, 126 W. Oltorf, Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. with Fr. Bill Wack, C.S.C. officiating. Interment will be on Monday, October 17, 2011 at Cordi Marian Sisters Resurrection Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78759; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486 Houston, TX 77210; St. Ignatius, Martyr Catholic Church Building Fund, 2309 Euclid Avenue, Austin, TX 78704; or Big Mountain Sun Dancers c/o Sara Katenay P.O. Box 31 Mesa, Arizona 86043.

Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 S. Congress, Austin, TX 512/442-1446 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 512/442-1446 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. You may view memorials at www.wcfish.com.
Published October 12, 2011


http://galvestondailynews.com/story/264106

Mojo Buford, Former Muddy Waters Harmonica Player

http://www.ameriblues.com/2011/10/11/mojo-buford-former-muddy-waters-harmonica-player-has-passed/

(Reuters) - Roger Williams, known as "the Pianist to the Presidents" for his White House performances, died on Saturday in his California home after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, his former publicist said. He was 87.

Williams scored his first hit in 1955 with a chart-topping "Autumn Leaves," the best-selling piano record of all time.

He would go on to earn 18 gold and platinum records and albums throughout his six-decade career, making him the top charting pianist in the history of Billboard magazine.

Born Louis Weertz on October 1, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, Williams learned to play piano at age three in his father's church.

In 1942, at the age of 18, Williams enlisted and served in the Navy throughout World War Two. After the war he graduated with a Masters degree in music from Drake University.

Williams moved to New York City to pursue a career as a pianist. He was signed to his first recording label after being spotted by a record producer while playing at the ritzy Forest Hill Inn.

While on a U.S. tour, Williams was spotted by President Harry Truman, who asked him to play at his Missouri office. Later President Dwight Eisenhower would invite him to the White House, and he would eventually perform for nine presidents, earning him his nickname.

Williams, the first pianist to be honored with a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame," performed for the last time a few days after announcing on his website in March he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He is survived by his daughters Laura Fisher and Alice Jung, as well as five grandchildren.