McDonald's widow dies

Joan B. Kroc, the billionaire widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc known for her philanthropy, died yesterday of brain cancer. She was 75.

Kroc was known in recent years as a major donor to organisations working to promote world peace, including namesake think tanks at the University of Notre Dame and the University of San Diego.

She inherited the San Diego Padres after her husband died in 1984 and sold the baseball club in 1990.

With an estimated net worth of US$1.7 billion ($2.8 billion), Kroc ranked No 121 on the Forbes list of the United States' wealthiest people.