Nancy Topf died in the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Nova Scotia, Canada. She was 55 and lived in Manhattan. She was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and received her primary training from Merce Cunningham and Barbara Clark but also studied with Robert Joffrey, Anna Halprin, Steven Paxton and the H.B. Studio.

Ms. Topf was a choreographer, dancer and teacher and performed with many choreographers during the 1960s. She began her career as an independent choreographer and performer in 1969. As the innovator of Topf Technique, she created a natural developmental approach to movement using kinetic imaging and release and alignment principles. Nancy's technique of neuromuscular education re-patterns inhibited movement, develops creative freedom and heals chronic injuries. Working with professional dancers and many students, she strove to center each person's emotional, spiritual and physical body. She also wrote about contact improvisation, reviewed dance for publications and taught throughout the US and internationally.

Nancy is survived by her husband, composer/musician Joe Gibson of NYC; her son Jeremey Gibson, a college student; her mother Celia Topf Straus of Lauderhill, FL; by her sisters and their husbands Bobbi and Robert H. Straus, Peggy and Murray Schwartz, Margie J.Topf and Stuart Rose; and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial concert is being planned for early December in NYC. Contributions may be made to a fund established in support of her surviving family and sent to: Nancy Topf Memorial Fund, c/o Lynne Linehan, vice president, Cambridge Trust Company, 494 Boston Post Rd., Weston, MA 02493.

The Honorable William J. Feaster Sr., of Great Neck, died on Sept. 17. 1998. A WWII US Navy veteran serving in the Pacific Campaign, he was the commissioner of the Belgrave Water Pollution Control District, past president and ex-captain of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Dept. Co. #4 and a member of VFW Gilliar Nowill Post #372 Great Neck. Husband of Bettilouise (nee Crossan). Father of William J. Jr. Feaster, James A., George D., Thomas C., Elizabeth A. Feaster and Catherine Honauer. Brother of Betty Neverman. Grandfather of nine. Arrangements were made by the Doyle B. Shaffer Funeral Home, Little Neck. Firematic services and Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anastasia RC Church. Interment St. John's Cemetery.