Obituaries

Ryoichi Hattori, composer, died Tokyo 30 January, aged 85. Popular music composer known for his numerous hits before and after the Second World War. His songs included 'Farewell Blues' (1937), 'Lakeside Hotel' (1940), 'Tokyo Boogie-Woogie' (1948) and 'Blue Mountains' (1949). President of the Japan Composers Association from 1981.

Leo Lowenthal, philosopher, died 21 January, aged 92. A professor emeritus at California University, Berkeley, he helped form the Frankfurt-based Institute for Social Research in the 1920s along with the social critics Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and others. Later known as the Frankfurt school, using elements of Marxism and psychoanalysis, it challenged conventional approaches to the humanities and social sciences. The school's Utopian beliefs inspired student protests in Europe and the US in the 1960s.