Berkeley

Ernest Gallo, who parlayed  900 and a wine recipe from a public library into the world’s largest winemaking empire, died on March 6 at his home in Modesto. He was 97. ”He passed away peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family,” said Susan Hensley, vice-president of public relations for E&J Gallo Winery.

Hamza El Din, a musician and composer who helped popularise ancient traditional songs from North Africa, has died. He was 76. El Din died on Monday at Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley, said hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp. His wife, Nadra, told The New York Times the cause of death was complications after surgery.

Modernist poet Barbara Guest, the best-known woman in the influential New York School of avant-garde poets and a winner of the prestigious Robert Frost Medal, has died. She was 85. Guest, who wrote more than 20 books of poetry, essays, plays, fiction and biography, died on February 15 in a Berkeley hospital.

Hal O Anger, a pioneer of nuclear medicine who is credited with inventing the gamma camera, has died. He was 85. Anger died at his Berkeley home on October 31. He developed his most noted invention in 1957, employing gamma radiation to depict metabolic processes within a living body.