National Obituaries

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida state Sen. Geraldine Thompson died Thursday following complications from knee replacement surgery, her family said. She was 76. The Orlando-area Democrat had served in the Florida Legislature since 2006.

TORONTO (AP) — Jerome Drayton, who finished sixth at the Montreal Olympics, won the 1977 Boston Marathon and held the Canadian men’s marathon record for 43 years, has died. He was 80.

TORONTO (AP) — Jerome Drayton, who finished sixth at the Montreal Olympics, won the 1977 Boston Marathon and held the Canadian men’s marathon record for 43 years, has died. He was 80.

TORONTO — Legendary long-distance runner Jerome Drayton, who won the Boston Marathon in 1977 and held the Canadian men's marathon record for 43 years, has died. He was 80.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jeanette Wallace Hyde, a longtime activist and fundraiser in North Carolina and national Democratic politics who served in the 1990s as the U.S. ambassador to several Caribbean countries, has died at age 86.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jeanette Wallace Hyde, a longtime activist and fundraiser in North Carolina and national Democratic politics who served in the 1990s as the U.S. ambassador to several Caribbean countries, has died at age 86.

Boxer Mark Weinman, who returned from a nearly 21-year layoff to win a professional bout at age 50, has died. He was 62. Weinman, from the borough of Queens in New York City, died Feb.

TORONTO — Paul Morris, who served as the Toronto Maple Leafs PA announcer for 38 years, has died. He was 86. Morris died Thursday in Oshawa, Ont., after a lengthy illness, according to the Mount Lawn Funeral Home and Cemetery in Whitby, Ont.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Robbins, the novelist and prankster-philosopher who charmed and addled millions of readers with such screwball adventures as "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume," has died. He was 92.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Robbins, the novelist and prankster-philosopher who charmed and addled millions of readers with such screwball adventures as "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume," has died. He was 92.