Obituaries in the news

Eds: AMs. Separate for Whitley moved on sports lines.

By The Associated Press

Bernardin Gantin

PARIS (AP) -- Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of Benin, whose influence in the Catholic Church was felt in Europe as well as West Africa, has died. He was 86.

Gantin died Tuesday at a Paris hospital of complications caused by dehydration, said Jean-Yves Riocreux, the bishop of Pontoise.

Gantin, the son of a railway worker, was archbishop of Cotonou in Benin before going to Rome. He worked closely with Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

One of the last cardinals to be named by Pope Paul VI, Gantin spent more than 30 years in the Roman Curia. He served as head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace Commission and head of the Congregation for Bishops. That office is responsible for the world's bishops and is one of the top Vatican positions.

While at the Vatican, Gantin was known for maintaining close ties to the people of Benin, returning often to visit his native country.

Gantin's high church function also made him a symbol of success in Benin.

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Oakley Hall

NEVADA CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Oakley Hall, a novelist and writing teacher who helped define California literature in the generation after John Steinbeck, has died. He was 87.

Hall died Monday of cancer and kidney disease, said his daughter, Brett Hall Jones.

His body of work includes more than 20 works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel "Warlock," a finalist for the 1958 Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote the libretto for an opera based on Wallace Stegner's "Angle of Repose."

Hall worked to foster the talent of younger writers through the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, an annual writers' conference in the Sierra Nevada.

As the director of the creative writing program at the University of California, Irvine, Hall helped to begin the careers of writers such as Richard Ford and Michael Chabon.

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Curtis Whitley

FORT STOCKTON, Texas (AP) -- Former NFL center Curtis Whitley, who played for three teams in the 1990s and had a history of substance use, has been found dead. He was 39.

Whitley was found face down Sunday in the bathroom of his West Texas home, officials said. The death remains under investigation.

Whitley played for San Diego, Carolina and Oakland from 1992-97 and had two suspensions for violating the league's drug policy.

He admitted snorting meth while with the Panthers in a book chronicling Carolina's 1996 season called "Year of the Cat."