Obituaries

Mark Klein, a whistleblower who revealed domestic spying, dies at 79. The AT&T technician predated Edward Snowden by seven years, but his allegations were never able to achieve traction.

Clint Hill, 93, remembered as the devoted agent who ran to JFK’s car in Dallas and who shielded Jacqueline Kennedy passed on 21 February at his home in Belveder, CA, with a deep guilt that haunted him late into his life.

Charlotte Webb, who as a young woman helped code breakers decipher enemy signals at Britain’s top-secret Bletchley Park, died on Monday. She was 101.

Gene Richard Schaefer of Bradenton and formerly of Anna Maria Island died Sept. 6, 2024. He was born in Chicago, grew up in Springfield Ohio, graduated from Wittenberg University and served in the U.S. Navy as a naval lieutenant aviator.

James Donald Blessing, 82, of Atlanta, died Oct. 26, 2024, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Jim was born in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Retired Secret Service Assistant Director Robert 'Bob' Snow of Ashburn, Virginia, 93, passed away peacefully on March 22, 2025. Bob was born in Rochester, New York.

John B. Bestic, Jr., a two-decade resident of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, died on March 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was a retired senior Central Intelligence Agency officer and a Vietnam veteran.

Lois Critchfield of Williamsburg, VA died in late March 2025. She attended Miami Edison Highschool and Brenau College in Gainesville, GA, and she held BS and MA degrees in economics from the University of Florida.

Dick Carlson, a former journalist who led the Voice of America under Republican administrations decades before the GOP was shaped by hard-right commentators — including his son Tucker Carlson — and President Donald Trump began a push to effectively silence the U.S.-funded broadcaster, died March 24 at his home in Boca Grande, Florida.