Obituaries in the news

By The Associated Press

Sid Craig

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Sid Craig, the co-founder of Jenny Craig Inc., who along with his wife built one of the most successful weight loss companies in the world, has died. He was 76.

Sid Craig died Monday in San Diego following a long illness, the company said.

Craig and his wife, Jenny, developed Jenny Craig Inc. in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. The company eventually grew to include 655 weight loss centers in four countries. In 2006, the Craigs sold the Carlsbad-based company to Nestle for $600 million.

Craig was born March 22, 1932, in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the mid-1950s, he worked as a part-time instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios and later purchased five franchises.

In the 1970s, he bought a stake in a women's figure control salon, Body Contour Inc., and later opened other salons. It was during this period he met Jenny Guidroz Bourcq, who worked as director of operations for the salons. The two later married.

The Craigs sold their stake in Body Contour and moved to Australia, where they opened the first Jenny Craig weight loss center.

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Estelle Getty

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing the role in 1985 of the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died Tuesday morning at her Hollywood Boulevard home, her son said.

"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.

The show, which ran from 1985 to 1992, was an immediate hit and won Getty two Emmys.

Before taking on the role of Sophie, Getty worked low-paying office jobs to help support her family while she tried to make it as a stage actress.

She also appeared in small parts in a handful of films and TV movies during that time, including "Tootsie" and "Deadly Force."

After her success in "The Golden Girls," other roles came her way. She played Cher's mother in "Mask" and Sylvester Stallone's in "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot."

Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4.

Her marriage to New York businessman Arthur Gettleman prevailed despite her long absences on the road and for "The Golden Girls."

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Gladys Nederlander

NEW YORK (AP) -- Theater and TV producer Gladys Nederlander has died. She was 83.

Nederlander died Monday of heart failure, her husband, Broadway producer and theater owner Robert Nederlander said.

Gladys Nederlander was a producer of nine Broadway shows between 1976 and 1993, most notably the 1980 revival of "West Side Story."

In 1982 she became executive producer for Nederlander Television and Film Productions, turning out movies for TV including "A Case of Libel" with Edward Asner and Daniel J. Travanti, and "Intimate Strangers" with Stacy Keach.