National Clothesline

Terrorism claimed a victim from among the ranks of drycleaners during the Moscow theater hostage crisis in October. Sergei Baranovski, a managing partner with the Diana drycleaning chain, was attending an Oct. 23 performance of Nord-Ost with his wife and son when Chechen terrorists took over the theater and held 800 people hostage. After Russian special forces freed the hostages 57 hours later, Baranovski and his son were among 128 hostages who had perished.

Baranovski had been associated with the Diana chain since 1997, and since January 2001 he had been director general of one of the larger Diana plants which had 20 pick up points around Moscow.

A spokesperson for the company, Natalia Komissarova, said he “was known as an excellent manager and was deeply respected by colleagues and subordinates. We are grieving over the hard loss. All the employees will remember him as a good specialist and a wonderful person.”