NOTEWORTHY DEATHS

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Two-time failed doomsday prophesier

OAKLAND, Calif. - Harold Camping, the California preacher who used his evangelical radio ministry and thousands of billboards to broadcast the end of the world and then gave up public prophecy when his date-specific doomsdays did not come to pass, has died at age 92.

Family Radio Network marketing manager Nina Romero said Camping, a retired civil engineer who built a worldwide following for the nonprofit, Oakland-based ministry he founded in 1958, died at his home on Sunday. She said he had been hospitalized after falling.

Camping’s most widely spread prediction was that the Rapture would happen on May 21, 2011. His independent Christian media empire spent millions of dollars - some of it from donations made by followers who quit their jobs and sold all their possessions - to spread the word on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

When the Judgment Day he foresaw did not materialize, the preacher revised his prophecy, saying he had been off by five months.

But after the cataclysmic event did not occur in October either, Camping acknowledged his apocalyptic prophecy had been wrong and posted a letter on his ministry’s site telling his followers he had no evidence the world would end anytime soon, and wasn’t interested in considering future dates.

Best-selling writer of romantic fiction

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRANSON - Romance writer Janet Dailey, whose books have sold more than 325 million copies worldwide, has died at her southwest Missouri home. She was 69.

Snapp-Bearden Funeral Home in Branson said Dailey died Saturday in the music resort town. A coroner had not released the cause of death as of Monday, and the funeral home reported that the family said only that Dailey died “peacefully.”

Born and raised in Iowa, Dailey moved to Branson in 1978 with her husband, Bill Dailey, who was credited with helping build the town into an entertainment mecca.

Dailey’s novels included the popular Calder series and her Americana series - 50 books, one set in each state. Her website lists 155 works, including single novels and short-story collections as well as the two series.

A perennial fixture on best-seller lists, Dailey saw her books translated into 19 languages. Her latest, Merry Christmas, Cowboy, ranked 13th on Publishers Weekly’s adult mass market best-seller list in early October.

Dailey’s career hit a rough spot in 1997 when she was sued for copyright infringement by another best-selling author, Nora Roberts. Dailey admitted that two of her novels - 1991’s Aspen Gold and 1996’s Notorious - contained ideas and passages borrowed from Roberts’ works.

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 12/18/2013