Executives

Francis Wallace Hastings, 89, of Perkasie, a longtime executive recruiter and a skilled woodworker, died Wednesday, Jan. 23, of congestive heart failure and pneumonia at his home. Mr. Hastings worked as an executive headhunter at Butterick & McGary in Philadelphia from 1952 to 1960 and went on to form his own recruitment firm, Frank W. Hastings Associates. He ran the company from 1960 to 1990 out of an office in New York City, and also worked with others out of his home, which was then in Yardley, his family said.

FORT HOOD, Texas - The Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage still faces the death penalty if convicted in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation, a judge ruled Wednesday. The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, was expected to rule later on Maj. Nidal Hasan's request to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post. However, Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea in a death-penalty case, so her earlier ruling Wednesday indicates he would not be allowed to plead guilty as long as that punishment option remains on the table.

Beverly Louise Breese, 74, of Philadelphia, a retired executive secretary and officer of Temple University, died Sunday, Jan. 13, of complications from cancer at Holy Redeemer Hospital. A Wilkes-Barre native, Miss Breese graduated from James M. Coughlin High School in 1954, then enrolled at Pennsylvania State University. After attending classes there, she was hired as a secretary in the English department at Temple University's College of Liberal Arts. When her organizational and leadership skills became known, university president Peter Liacouras asked Miss Breese to become his administrative assistant in 1982.

JARRATT, VA. - A man who strangled his prison cell mate and made good on a vow to continue killing if he wasn't executed has been put to death in Virginia's electric chair. Robert Gleason Jr. was pronounced dead by authorities at 9:08 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensville Correctional Center. The 42-year-old inmate was the first executed in the U.S. this year and the first to choose to die by electrocution since 2010. In Virginia and nine other states, inmates can choose between electrocution and lethal injection.

William H. Meyle III, 61, of Mantua Township, a shipping executive whose family was integral to the growth of the Philadelphia port from the late 19th century until nearly the end of the 20th, died from complications of leukemia on Saturday, Dec. 29, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "Billy" Meyle's surname was ubiquitous on the Delaware riverfront since 1895, when his great-grandfather founded a stevedoring enterprise, the Independent Pier Co. Its fleet of tugs shepherded cargo-heavy ships from around the globe to the docks, where they were met by generations of Emil Meyle's descendants.

Thomas C. Kempin, 94, of Mayfair, the civilian executive to the commander of the Frankford Arsenal for 20 years, died Thursday, Dec. 27, at Nazareth Hospital of complications from a stroke. Until he retired in June 1973, Mr. Kempin was the civilian executive under a dozen different commanders at the arsenal in Northeast Philadelphia. The post was the highest available to civilians there. In 34 years at the arsenal, he started as an apprentice with an education at North Catholic High School and worked his way up through the machine shop into management.

  Arthur Z. Silver loved skiing. On Friday, Mr. Silver (@azskier1 on Twitter) hit the slopes alone at Greek Peak Mountain in upstate New York, where he and his family had been going for three decades. "We were going to go skiing as a family over the weekend," said Mr. Silver's son, Sam. But overnight, Mr. Silver collapsed, and he died later Saturday, Dec. 29, of arrhythmia at Cortland (N.Y.) Regional Medical Center. Mr. Silver, who lived in Philadelphia and in Cherry Hill for many years before that, was 77. A marketing executive who never completely retired, Mr. Silver had been active in many organizations, in the Jewish community and outside it. At the National Constitution Center, Vince Stango, interim president and CEO, hailed Mr. Silver as the "consummate ambassador" for his volunteer work there.

Thomas J. Dolan, 84, of Blue Bell, a Philadelphia real estate professional whose expertise was in putting together commercial deals, died Friday, Nov. 30, of cancer at Westgate Hills Nursing Center in Havertown. For 50 years, he negotiated and helped finance many commercial projects in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Dolan was raised in Upper Darby and graduated in 1946 from Upper Darby High School. In 1950, Mr. Dolan married Lora Marcolina. The two met while summering in Beach Haven, N.J. From 1959 to 1963, he served as a commissioned first lieutenant in the Army Reserve.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The governor on Monday sidestepped a decision about whether a condemned inmate was too fat to be humanely executed by sparing the prisoner on the grounds that he had poor legal representation. Gov. John Kasich's decision to grant clemency to Ronald Post mirrored the recommendation of mercy by the state parole board, which said it didn't doubt Post's guilt but said there were too many problems with how he was represented 30 years ago. Post, who weighs 450 pounds, never raised the issue of his size with the board.

John Richard Mynar, 82, a retired vice president of Keebler Foods and a leader of youth groups in Philadelphia's Somerton section, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Elkins Crest retirement home in Elkins Park. Mr. Mynar was a vice president with Keebler from 1977 until he retired in 1995, said his son Jack. He started with the company in 1966 as a salesman. He was on the board of the Somerton Youth Organization for many years. The organization, which serves about 4,000 young people from the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia, offers sports and other activities.