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PASSINGS: Robert Galvin, Patricia Breslin Modell

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Robert Galvin

Motorola chief transformed company

Robert Galvin, 89, who over nearly three decades as Motorola’s chief executive transformed the maker of police radios and TVs into one of the world’s leading electronics companies, died in his sleep Tuesday in Chicago, his family said.

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Galvin oversaw Motorola’s pioneering efforts in the cellular industry, including the creation of the first commercial cellphone in 1973 and the construction of the first cellphone network in the early ‘80s.

He was named chief executive in 1959 upon the death of his father, Paul Galvin, who had founded the company in 1928. Robert Galvin, known as “Bob,” remained in the post until 1986 and stayed on as chairman until 1990. He retired from the board of directors in 2001.

Galvin led the company into China with a $100-million investment in 1987. The country is still a major market for Motorola’s phones.

Motorola Inc. split into two companies in January. Motorola Solutions makes police radios, bar code scanners and other products for corporate and government customers. Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. makes cellphones and has agreed to be acquired by Google Inc.

In retirement, Galvin founded an investment firm with his sons and established two think tanks focused on energy and transportation issues.

Galvin was born Oct. 9, 1922, in Marshfield, Wis. He attended the University of Notre Dame and started working full time at Motorola in 1944, when it was still called Galvin Manufacturing.

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Patricia Breslin Modell

Actress gave up career upon wedding NFL team owner

Patricia Breslin Modell, 80, an actress who gave up her career when she married former NFL team owner Art Modell in 1969, died Wednesday in Baltimore, where she had been hospitalized for several months, the Baltimore Ravens announced. She had pancreatitis.

During a 22-year acting career as Patricia Breslin, she performed in theater, movies and television. She starred in the “People’s Choice” television sitcom with actor Jackie Cooper in the late 1950s and played nurse Meg Baldwin in the daytime drama “General Hospital” and Laura Brooks on the prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place.”

In the 1950s and ‘60s she made dozens of TV appearances on “Twilight Zone,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Perry Mason,” “Maverick” and many anthology programs.

She had a handful of movie parts, highlighted by her starring role in the 1961 suspense film “Homicidal.”

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In 1969, she married Art Modell, former owner and president of the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. He adopted her two sons from her first marriage to actor John McDearmon, which ended in divorce.

She retired from acting and immersed herself in her family and community improvement. She was active in many philanthropic efforts in Cleveland and Baltimore.

Born March 17, 1931, in New York City, she was the daughter of Edward and Marjorie Breslin. Her father was a special sessions judge in New York. After attending the College of New Rochelle, she began acting in summer stock productions before moving to Hollywood.

--Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com

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