Obituaries in the news

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)--Augustus "Gus" Barber, a former meat cutter who built a frozen-food business that provided jobs to thousands of immigrants, died Friday. He was 87.

The founder of Barber Foods died at Maine Medical Center after going into cardiac arrest, relatives said.

The son of immigrants who fled Ottoman rule, Barber grew his business from a kitchen-based operation to a company with a work force of 800. He began by offering cut-up chicken parts and later shifted to stuffed chicken entrees.

More than 40 percent of the company's employees are immigrants, many of whom take English courses on site, the family said. More than 50 languages are spoken at Barber Foods, according to the company's Web site.

Barber retired in 2002 as chairman of the company's board of directors.

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Betty James

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP)--Betty James, who co-founded the company that made the Slinky and beat the odds as a single mother in the late 1950s to become a successful executive, died Thursday. She was 90.

She died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a hospital spokeswoman said.