Former LA coroner dies at 74

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Dr. Ronald Kornblum, who served eight years as Los Angeles County coroner, has died. He was 74.

Kornblum was considered an expert on choke-hold deaths. He resigned as coroner in 1990 amid charges of poor management and an escalating caseload, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

He died Tuesday at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of La Canada-Flintridge, after a long illness, his family said.

During his time at the coroner's office, the newspaper reported, Kornblum handled such high-profile autopsies as those of actors William Holden, John Belushi and Natalie Wood, singer Karen Carpenter and writer Truman Capote.

When Kornblum left the coroner's office, he said he had performed the job "as responsibly as possible, in a climate of continual turmoil and upheaval."

Kornblum, who was born in Chicago, was a graduate of UCLA and earned a medical degree at the University of California-San Francisco.

Kornblum is survived by a sister and two brothers.