DIED. Danny Thomas, 79, comedian and philanthropist; in Los Angeles. In the 1950s and '60s he starred in the television series Make Room for Daddy and The Danny Thomas Show as the family's cranky but kind patriarch. Born Muzyad Yakhoob to Lebanese immigrants in Deerfield, Mich., Thomas made a name for himself more as a storyteller than as a jokester in nightclubs, radio and films. In 1962 he founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis to treat cancer-stricken youngsters. The Saturday before he died he appeared in his son's TV show Empty Nest.