The Blog of Death

Pascual Olivera Jr.

Pascual Olivera Jr., a world-renowned flamenco dancer and choreographer, died on Sept. 19 of lymphoma. He was 59.

Olivera's passion for Spanish dancing began in childhood. At 14, he moved to Spain to study with Enrique El Cojo. He attended high school on the U.S. military base in Seville during the day, and at night he was the premiere Spanish dancer in the Jose Greco Spanish Ballet.

As an adult, Olivera became a professional classical, regional and flamenco dancer who performed with more than 50 symphony orchestras, including the DuPage Opera Company and the Midwest Opera Company.

He married dancer Angela del Moral in 1976, and the couple spent the next 27 years dancing together. In the late 1990s, they founded their own company and took the show, "A Romantic Celebration of Spanish Dances," on tour through the U.S. and Japan.

Yukichi Chuganji

Yukichi Chuganji, the world's oldest man, died on Sept. 28 of natural causes. He was 114.

Chuganji was born on March 23, 1889, on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. After graduating from technical school, he worked as a silkworm breeder, a bank employee and a community welfare officer. He attributed his longevity to healthy eating and an optimistic personality.

The world's oldest woman, 116-year-old Kamato Hongo, also lives on Kyushu.

Robert Lochner

Robert H. Lochner, a journalist and interpreter, died on Sept. 21 from a lung embolism. He was 84.

Although he was born in New York, Lochner grew up in Berlin. His father, Louis P. Lochner, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent and The Associated Press bureau chief in Germany.

Lochner served in the U.S. Army during World War II. When the Nazis surrendered, he became the chief interpreter for U.S. occupation forces. From 1949 to 1952, he also worked as the chief editor of the Neue Zeitung newspaper in Frankfurt. In this position, he helped revive the free media in West Germany.

During the 1960s, Lochner ran the Radio in the American Sector station. When President John F. Kennedy arrived in the non-Communist half of the divided capital in 1963, Lochner helped him practice his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.

Althea Gibson

Althea Gibson, a tennis champion and golfer who broke the color barrier in both sports, died on Sept. 29 from respiratory failure. She was 76.

A born athlete, Gibson began playing tennis as a child by hitting rubber balls off a brick wall and taking lessons at the Harlem Cosmopolitan Club. She attended Florida A&M University on a tennis and basketball scholarship, then transferred to the pro league.

In 1950, Gibson was the first black player to compete at the national tennis championship. She became the first black entrant at Wimbledon in 1951 and won the tournament six years later. That triumph earned her the title of Female Athlete of the Year by The Associated Press and a parade in New York City. She continued to dominate women's tennis in the 1950s, winning 11 Grand Slam titles.

Gibson next integrated women's golf as the first black player on the LPGA tour. After 171 tournaments, she was hired to be the commissioner of athletics in New Jersey, and serve on the governor's council on physical fitness.

With the aid of her longtime friend, Frances Clayton-Gray, Gibson co-founded the Althea Gibson Foundation, an organization that helps inner city kids learn to play tennis and golf. They also wrote her memoirs, ''Born to Win: The Althea Gibson Story,'' which will be published next year.

Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame and the International Sports Hall of Fame. An elementary school in East Orange, N.J., bears her name.

Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan, an Oscar-winning director who angered Hollywood for turning on his colleagues during the McCarthy era, died on Sept. 28. Cause of death was not released. He was 94.

Born Elia Kazanjoglous in Constantinople, Kazan and his family immigrated to New York when he was four years old. He attended Williams College and Yale University Drama School, then joined the Group Theatre in New York in 1933.

Although he first worked as a stage actor, Kazan's passion was directing. His version of "The Skin of Our Teeth'' won a New York Drama Critics Award in 1942. He teamed up with playwright Arthur Miller to direct "All My Sons" and "Death of a Salesman,'' both of which became theatrical classics. In 1947, he also collaborated with Tennessee Williams to direct the Broadway productions of "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Camino Real" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.'' Kazan won three Tony Awards for his stage direction.

His efforts in Hollywood were no less successful. After signing a contract with 20th Century Fox, Kazan directed 23 films, including "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "East of Eden" and the film version of "Streetcar.'' He won Best Directing Oscars for the movies, "Gentleman's Agreement'' and "On the Waterfront."

Despite his success, Kazan fell out of favor in the 1950s when he became one of the most prominent entertainers to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. At the hearings, he admitted to being a member of the Communist Party and named eight people he said were also Communists. All of the people he named were eventually blacklisted by Hollywood; most never worked in theater or film again.

Kazan later defended his actions by saying the people he named were already known to the committee. When he received a special Oscar in 1999 for lifetime achievement, few in the audience applauded. Five hundred protesters also gathered outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion carrying signs that read: "Elia Kazan: Nominated for Benedict Arnold Award" and "Kazan-the Linda Tripp of the '50s."

Kazan spent his later years working as an author. He wrote seven novels, two of which were adapted into movies, and the autobiography, "Elia Kazan: A Life." His son, Nicholas Kazan, received an Oscar nomination for writing the 1990 film, "Reversal of Fortune."

Donald O'Connor

Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor, an acrobatic dancer and Emmy award-winning actor who was best known for his role in "Singin' in the Rain," died on Sept. 27 from heart failure. He was 78.

Born in Chicago to a vaudeville family, O'Connor first appeared in movies as a child, starring as Huckleberry Finn in "Tom Sawyer -- Detective." At 18, he was drafted into the Army, and spent World War II performing in 3,000 shows for the troops.

Once the war ended, O'Connor became one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1940s and 1950s. He made a name for himself in musical comedies like "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Anything Goes" and "Walking My Baby Back Home." His dance routine in the 1952 hit, "Singin' in the Rain," had him tumbling on the floor, running up walls and doing back flips while singing the song, "Make 'em Laugh." O'Connor won a Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance.

In 1949, he starred in "Francis, The Talking Mule," a film about an Army private who speaks, Dr. Doolittle-fashion, with a mule. It was such a hit that five sequels followed. As one of the rotating hosts of "The Colgate Comedy Hour," O'Connor won an Emmy in 1952 for Outstanding Personality. That same year, he hosted the Academy Awards.

O'Connor continued acting well into his 70s, making memorable appearances in the films, "Toys" and "Out to Sea." His family, who was by his side when he died, said his last words were: "I'd like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get."

Arthur Kinoy

Arthur Kinoy, a law professor and veteran civil rights lawyer, died on Sept. 19 of a heart attack. He was 82.

Kinoy graduated from Harvard University and served in the U.S. Army in north Africa and Italy during World War II. When he returned to the states, he received his law degree from Columbia University and set out to establish voting privileges, integration and civil rights for African-Americans.

In 1965, Kinoy was investigated by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee for representing the International Workers Order and the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers Union of America, both of which the government considered to be fronts for the Communist Party. When he was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Kinoy caused such a ruckus that he was ejected from the hearing room and convicted of disorderly conduct. Three years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the conviction.

Known as "The People's Lawyer," Kinoy worked on the appeal of the 1950s espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and on the trial of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-war activists who were charged with conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. He also co-founded the Center for Constitutional Rights, an organization dedicated to using the law to advance human rights and fight oppression.

In 1972, Kinoy argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that President Richard Nixon's use of wiretaps was a violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. He won that case and four others before the highest court in the land.

For more than a quarter of a century, Kinoy taught at Rutgers University Law School. An autographed copy of his memoirs, "Rights on Trial: The Odyssey of a People's Lawyer," is available in the Rutgers Law Library.

Gordon Mitchell

Gordon Mitchell, a bodybuilder who appeared in more than 200 B-movies, died on Sept. 20 from a heart attack. He was 80.

Born Charles Pendleton, Mitchell served in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II, taking part in the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Buchenwald. After he returned to the states, he became a high school teacher and bodybuilder.

His handsome physique caught the eye of actress Mae West, who hired him to work on her all-male chorus line, the Mae West Revue. That job opened the doors to roles in films like "Man With the Golden Arm" and "The Ten Commandments."

In 1961, Mitchell moved to Italy to star in "Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops." Because of his muscular form, he spent the next 30 years appearing in Italian and American sword-and-sandal films, mythic features, spaghetti westerns and martial arts movies.

Mark Fineman

Mark Fineman, a veteran reporter for the Los Angeles Times, died on Sept. 23 of a heart attack. He was 51.

Fineman graduated with a journalism and philosophy degree from Syracuse University, and wrote for Suburban Week, a supplement to the Chicago Sun-Times and the former Chicago Daily News. After spending a year covering the metro beat for The Philadelphia Inquirer, the paper sent him to its New Delhi bureau to work as a foreign correspondent. The Los Angeles Times then hired him in 1986 to cover international news.

During his 17 years with The Times, Fineman served as the Middle East bureau chief, the Mexico City bureau chief and Caribbean bureau chief. He received the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting for his coverage of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination and the Bhopal chemical accident that killed more than 2,000 people. He also shared an Overseas Press Club award for his reporting in India and the Philippines.

"If you think of foreign correspondents as a type, he was Exhibit A. He couldn't bear to be away from the action. He just had an intrepid spirit. He wasn't afraid to go where he needed to go to cover a story," said John S. Carroll, editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Fineman was waiting at a Baghdad checkpoint to interview a member of the Iraqi governing council when he collapsed. His final story appeared on the front page of the Times the same day he died.

Aqila al-Hashimi

Aqila al-Hashimi, who was one of three women appointed by the U.S. to Iraq's interim governing council, was assassinated at the age of 50. She was shot during an ambush in Baghdad on Sept. 20 and died of her wounds five days later.

al-Hashimi was born into a prominent Shi'ite family in the holy city of Najaf. She obtained a bachelor's degree in law in Iraq and studied for her doctorate in French literature at the Sorbonne.

Just before Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein declared war on Iran in 1979, al-Hashimi joined the Foreign Ministry as a French translator. She refused to marry or wear the veil and became an advocate for women's rights. A self-described technocrat, al-Hashimi worked as an aide to the former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz and ran the country's oil-for-food program.

The only member of Hussein's government to be tapped for the new governing council, al-Hashimi changed her allegiance when the coalition forces took over Iraq in April. She was planning to travel to New York to serve as the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations when gunmen shot up her two-car convoy.

"She was an indefatigable fighter for the people of Iraq, and especially for the women of Iraq. She gave her life so that they could have a better future," said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Bill Hargate

Bill Hargate, an Emmy-winning costume designer, died on Sept. 12 from leukemia. He was 68.

Hargate studied costume and set design at the Goodman School of Theater in Chicago. He designed the costumes used by the St. Louis Municipal Opera and worked on several Broadway revivals before moving to Hollywood. There he designed clothes for variety shows and for Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.

Hargate founded Bill Hargate Costumes in 1985, but his true passion was dressing elegant women. He clothed Candice Bergen for the TV show, "Murphy Brown," Geena Davis for several Academy Award ceremonies and the contestants in three Miss America Pageants.

The past president of the Costume Designers Guild Local 892, Hargate won four Emmy awards, and the Career Achievement in Television Award from the Costume Designers Guild.

Herb Gardner

Herb Gardner, a Tony-winning playwright, died on Sept. 24 from lung cancer. He was 68.

Born in Brooklyn, Gardner attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and Antioch College. Although he wanted to be a sculptor, he spent the late 1950s drawing "The Nebbishes," a comic strip that was syndicated in 60 newspapers.

His first Broadway success was the 1962 play, "A Thousand Clowns," which starred Jason Robards and Sandy Dennis. It was later made into a movie of the same name starring Robards and Barbara Harris.

Several more plays followed, including "The Goodbye People" and "Thieves." Then in 1986, Gardner achieved his greatest commercial success with "I'm Not Rappaport," starring Judd Hirsch and Cleavon Little. The show won the Tony Award that year for Best Play. Gardner scored another hit in 1992 when his play, "Conversations With My Father," earned Hirsch a Tony for Best Actor.

• Play List From IBDb

George Plimpton

George Ames Plimpton, the actor, author and editor of the Paris Review, died on Sept. 25. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

Plimpton graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. The son of wealthy New Yorkers, he ran in high society circles filled with literary scions and powerful politicians. He was a friend of the Kennedys and aided Robert Kennedy in his bid for the presidency. When the senator was assassinated in Los Angeles, Plimpton wrestled the gun out of Sirhan Sirhan's hand.

He spent three years in the U.S. Army, then moved to Britain to study at King's College in Cambridge. In 1953, Plimpton and his writer friends, H.L. Humes and Peter Matthiessen, launched the Paris Review, a quarterly literary magazine that publishes prestigious and talented writers like Philip Roth, Jack Kerouac, Jay McInerney and Henry Miller. Plimpton had just put the publication's 50th anniversary issue to bed when he died.

After he returned to America in the mid-1950s, Plimpton made a name for himself by writing sports articles and then inserting himself into the tales. He took on Archie Moore, the light heavyweight boxing champion, for three rounds. For a baseball story, he pitched to eight star batters in the American baseball leagues. And in 1963, he joined the Detroit Lions as a quarterback in an exhibition game. He turned that event into the best-selling book, "Paper Lions," which was adapted into a film starring Alan Alda.

Plimpton also wrote or edited more than 50 books and appeared in almost two dozen movies including, "Good Will Hunting," "Nixon" and "L.A. Story."

• An Interview With Plimpton on NPR

Robert Palmer

Robert Alan Palmer, the rock singer known for his sharp suits and stylish videos, died on Sept. 26 of a heart attack. He was 54.

Palmer was a graphic designer by trade, but his true passion was music. He launched his career in his 20s, when he worked with several small bands like Dada and the Alan Brown Band. He opened for The Who and Jimi Hendrix with the band, Vinegar Joe, but when they broke up, Palmer moved to the U.S. and released his first hit record, "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley."

Although the excesses of rock 'n' roll didn't appeal to him, Palmer did enjoy dressing in a sophisticated manner. That pleasure proved to be his ticket to stardom in the 1980s when he released the songs, "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible." Both videos featured Palmer surrounded by a back-up band of gorgeous women identically attired in black dresses. Palmer was named best dressed male artist by Rolling Stone in 1990. "Addicted to Love" won a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal in 1986, and was voted into the Top 10 of the "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" list created by MTV and TV Guide.

Palmer also scored three top 10 hits in the U.S. with a side project. Power Station, which formed in 1985, featured John and Andy Taylor from the band, Duran Duran.

His latest album, "Drive," was well received by critics in May for its melding of R&B and Caribbean music. Palmer was on a two-day break in Paris after completing a television recording session in Britain when he died.

• Watch 3 Robert Palmer Videos

Errol Hill

Errol Gaston Hill, an actor, playwright and director who became the first African American to earn tenure at Dartmouth College, died on Sept. 15 of cancer. He was 82.

A native of Trinidad, Hill received his early theater training in England and obtained degrees from the University of London, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Yale University. In the early 1960s, he worked as an announcer for the BBC, and as an actor and creative arts teacher in the West Indies before moving to the U.S.

In 1968, he joined the Dartmouth faculty. During his 35 years with the school, Hill taught a portfolio of 13 different theatre courses, and ran the Summer Repertory Program for six seasons. Through his scholarly writings, Hill developed an international reputation as an expert in African American Caribbean theatre. He also wrote 11 plays and produced/directed 120 performances in the U.S., England and Nigeria.

Hill was honored in 1991 with the Presidential Medal from Dartmouth for outstanding leadership and achievement. Five years later, he received the Robert Lewis Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Theater Research from Kent State University.

Dr. Chris Gillin

Dr. J. Christian Gillin, a psychiatrist with a specialty in sleep and mood disorders, died on Sept. 13 from esophageal cancer. He was 65.

Gillin was only 18 years old when he accompanied his anthropologist father to a mental hospital. There he observed a catatonic patient who inspired him to study psychiatric medicine.

He graduated cum laude from Harvard University and earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. From 1971 to 1982, Gillin conducted sleep research at the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. He then became a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, where he continued his study of how sleep abnormalities were associated with depression, recovery and abstinence in patients with alcoholism.

He was the former president of the Sleep Research Society, the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms and the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry. The founding editor of Neuropsychopharmacology, the journal of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Gillin wrote more than 500 scientific articles and co-authored the book, "Human Sleep and Its Disorders."

In 2001, Gillin was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Sleep Research Society, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Louis Goodman

Louis Goodman, a World War I veteran, died on Sept. 16 of cancer. He was 106.

Born in Ukraine, Goodman's family immigrated to the United States to escape poverty and religious persecution. He became a citizen after he was drafted into the Army to serve as a medic in France during World War I.

When he returned to America, Goodman became a linotype operator for the Philadelphia Ledger. He remained there until the paper folded during World War II, then moved to Atlanta to run a variety store until his retirement in 1967.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less than 200 World War I veterans are still living.

Sister Daniel Stefani

Sister Daniel Stefani, a Roman Catholic nun who aided thousands of homeless children, died on Sept. 8 from complications of the West Nile virus, bacterial influenza and meningitis. She was 80.

Helen Stefani joined the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., in 1942, and took the name Sister Daniel. She worked as a teacher and a principal then joined the Mount St. Vincent Children's Home, one of Denver's three Catholic orphanages. Determined to stay at the forefront of child care issues, Stefani earned a degree in social work from the University of Denver.

She spent 32 years at Mount St. Vincent, educating the homeless and troubled youths left in her care. In 1996, she received the Civis Princeps, or "first citizen" award, from Regis University.

Hal Hayes

Robert H. "Hal" Hayes, an award-winning sportswriter, died on Sept. 8 from cancer. He was 64.

After graduating from Jacksonville State University in 1962, Hayes worked as a sports writer for several newspapers in Georgia and Alabama. During his eight years with The Atlanta Constitution, he won six Associated Press awards. In 1969, Hayes was named Georgia Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.

Hayes spent five years doing public relations for the Atlanta Falcons and three years promoting the Birmingham Stallions, then focused his talents on writing nonfiction books. He penned "From the Goal to the Final Glory," a history of the Jackson State University football team, and was just finishing up a book on the history of the Marching Southerners, the school's marching band, when he died.

CC Brown

Cecilia "CC" Brown spent her life on a one-woman crusade against child abuse.

Brown studied psychology at Beaver College, Hahnemann Medical College and Temple University, then launched into a career of fighting child abuse and neglect. She spoke to parent groups, organized hundreds of workshops, appeared on local TV and radio programs and spent 28 years volunteering as a counselor and lecturer with the Child Abuse Prevention Effort in Philadelphia.

Brown died on Sept. 1 from breast cancer. She was 60.

Simon V. Muzenda

Simon Vengayi Muzenda, a vice president of Zimbabwe, died on Sept. 20 from a kidney ailment. He was 80.

The former teacher and carpenter rose to power in 1980 when he and other rebel leaders won Zimbabwe's independence from Britain. Although he was often mocked for his lack of political savvy, Muzenda became a loyal aide and adviser to President Robert G. Mugabe.

A co-founder of the ZANU-PF party, Muzenda served as foreign minister and deputy vice president before becoming one of the nation's two vice presidents in the mid-1980s. The remaining vice president, Joseph Msika, remains in power.

Muzenda's plan to seize the last of the white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and redistribute the farmland to black citizens was placed on hold when he took ill last year. He was further stymied by the European Union's decision to place him on a list of Zimbabwean officials banned from foreign travel. His overseas assets were also frozen.

Don Cox

Don Cox, a disc jockey who reached two generations of South Florida listeners, died on Sept. 15. Cause of death was not released. He was 55.

Off the air, Cox had problems with drugs and alcohol. He served four months in jail in 1980 for cocaine trafficking, and had his driver's license suspended in 1991 when he was arrested for drunken driving.

But over the airwaves, he was known as "Cox on the Radio." His gravelly voice and bawdy on-air persona made him a star DJ on Y-100 FM, a pop station in Miami. In 1986, he aired his first live show for contemporary hit radio station, Power 96 FM, from atop the Coppertone billboard in North Miami Beach. Cox ended his broadcasting career last year at country music station, 99.9 KISS FM, in West Palm Beach.

Gordon Jump

Gordon Jump, a television actor and advertising icon, died on Sept. 22 from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 71.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jump began his acting career in Kansas playing a children's TV show host on "WIB the Clown." In 1963, he moved to Hollywood to appear in episodes of "Get Smart" and "Green Acres."

Jump's big break came in 1978 when he landed the part of Arthur Carlson, the befuddled radio station manager on TV's "WKRP in Cincinnati." The show aired on CBS until 1982, but when it wrapped, Jump found steady work making appearances on shows like "Growing Pains," "Murder She Wrote," "Baywatch" and "Seinfeld."

He was best known for spending 14 years as the Maytag repairman, "Ol' Lonely," in print and television ads.

Bernard Manischewitz

Bernard Manischewitz, the last generation to run his family's kosher foods empire, died on Sept. 20 from heart disease. He was 89.

Manischewitz was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the place where his grandfather founded the kosher foods company, B. Manischewitz, in 1888. Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz built a small bakery where he baked matzo, the unleavened bread Jews eat at Passover based on a 5,000-year-old recipe. By 1932, the business had expanded to a second plant in Jersey City, N.J., which eventually became the company's base of operations.

Bernard Manischewitz graduated from New York University and joined the family business in the 1940s. Although his father initially put him on the production line, Manischewitz worked his way up to president and chief operating officer by the time he was 29. He expanded the company's line of foods beyond basic kosher products, then sold the business in 1991 for $124 million.

C.H. Sisson

C.H. Sisson, a prolific British poet, novelist and critic, died on Sept. 5. Cause of death was not released. He was 89.

Sisson graduated from Bristol University then joined the Ministry of Labor in 1936. During World War II, he served with the British army on India's northwest frontier. He returned to civil service after the war to work as the director of occupational safety and health in the Department of Employment.

Although he published his first anthology, "The London Zoo," in 1961, Sisson did not become well-known for his poetry until 13 years later when he released, "The Trojan Ditch." He also published the novels, "Christopher Homm" and "An Asiatic Romance," as well as two books of criticism and half a dozen poetry collections.

Ron Burton

Ron Burton, the first player ever drafted by the New England Patriots, died on Sept. 13 from bone cancer. He was 67.

"Touchdown Ron" was an All-American at Northwestern when the Boston Patriots snapped him up in the 1959 American Football League draft. In his six seasons with the Patriots, the running back caught 111 passes and scored 19 touchdowns.

After retiring from football in 1965, Burton became an executive consultant for the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. In his spare time, he devoted himself to philanthropy by giving motivational speeches and founding the Ron Burton Training Village, a summer camp in Hubbardston, Mass., for inner-city kids.

Burton was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990, and received the "Heroes Among Us" community service award from the Boston Celtics in 2001. This past summer, the New England Patriots' Ron Burton Community Service Award was established to honor players who make an impact on the New England community.

Jay Morton

Jay Morton, a game designer and writer, died on Sept. 6 of a brain aneurysm. He was 92.

Morton studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York, received a master's degree from the L'Institut de Montparnasse in Paris, then moved to Miami to write and draw the animated cartoon, "Superman," for Fleischer Studios.

He was responsible for writing more than 20 episodes and describing the Man of Steel as "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." He also coined the phrase, "Look!...up in the sky!...it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a man...it's Superman!"

When Fleischer was bought out by Paramount Pictures, Morton left the studio to draw Felix the Cat, Betty Boop and Popeye. Later he co-founded the Home News in Hialeah, Fla., and developed the board games, ''Winning on Wall Street" and "Fairway Frolic."

Gisele MacKenzie

Gisele MacKenzie, a singer and actress who became a star on the TV show, "Your Hit Parade," died on Sept. 5 of colon cancer. She was 76.

Born Gisele Marie-Louise Marguerite LaFleche, she studied piano and violin at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. For appearing on her own CBC radio show, ''Meet Gisele,'' she became known as Canada's first lady of song.

In 1951, MacKenzie changed her name and moved from Winnipeg to Los Angeles. After touring with Jack Benny and recording songs for Capitol Records, MacKenzie joined ''Your Hit Parade,'' a TV show where the cast sang the seven most popular songs of the week. She was the first Hit Parader to top the charts when her own song, "Hard to Get," stayed at number one for 13 weeks.

MacKenzie headlined her own variety program, ''The Gisele MacKenzie Show," in 1957 and made regular appearances on ''The Sid Caesar Show.'' For the next 30 years, she showcased her talents on television by acting in a wide variety of shows, including ''Murder, She Wrote,'' ''MacGyver'' and ''Boy Meets World.'' Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1601 Vine St.

Steve Gould

Steve Gould, a cartoonist who used his art to deal with a cancer diagnosis, committed suicide on Sept. 7. He was 57.

After graduating with a microbiology degree from the University of Georgia, Gould moved to Miami and began exploring his creative side. In the late 1970s, Gould co-wrote two scripts for the TV show, "Barney Miller," though neither of them were filmed. So he made cartoons his favored medium.

Gould spent 20 years working as a cartoonist and teaching the art at Miami Dade Community College. His work appeared in several South Florida newspapers, including The Miami Herald and the Kendall Gazette. He also published 12 books of cartoons, but was best known for "Thank God It's Only Cancer," a collection he drew after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma eight years ago. He had been in remission for the past few years.

Marie Foster

Marie Foster, a civil rights activist, died on Sept. 6. Cause of death was not released. She was 85.

Foster was one of the "Courageous Eight," a group of black Americans who sat on the steering committee of the Dallas County Voters League and convinced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to lead voter registration drives in Alabama. At the time, blacks had to prove "fitness" to cast a vote in an election. Foster, who was rejected eight times before she was successfully registered, also taught citizenship classes to help others gain permission to vote.

On March 7, 1965, Foster was marching for voting rights in Montgomery, Ala., when she was brutally beaten by Alabama state troopers and local police officers. The incident was called "Bloody Sunday" by the national press, and inspired Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a law that removed the obstacles set up by white segregationists to deny the ballot to blacks.

The vest Foster wore during the march was autographed by many leaders of the civil rights movement and put on display at the National Voting Rights Institute and Museum in Selma, Ala. The street where Foster lived as a child was renamed in her honor.

Alan Dugan

Alan Dugan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, died on Sept. 2 from pneumonia. He was 80.

Dugan served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, then wandered around the country, experiencing life and writing poetry. He graduated from Mexico City College and became an advertising copywriter who wrote poetry on the weekends for the New Yorker and other magazines.

When he was 39, Dugan published his first collection, "Poems." In 1962, the book won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Yale Younger Poets Prize and the Prix de Rome. A prominent and influential literary voice, Dugan spent the rest of his life teaching and writing the books, "Poems 2," "Poems 3," "Poems 4," "Poems 5" and "Poems 6." The book, "Poems 7," earned him a second National Book Award in 2001.

• An Interview and Poetry Reading on NPR

Kenneth Matz

Kenneth Edward Matz Sr., a former Coast Guard officer who once rescued hundreds of people from a burning cruise ship, died on Aug. 12 of a heart attack. He was 62.

Matz spent 26 years serving in the Coast Guard, where he specialized in fire rescue. On Oct. 4, 1980, when the cruise ship, "Prinsendam" caught fire over 100 miles off the coast of Alaska, Matz was lowered from a helicopter to the stern of the boat to direct its evacuation. Once the 524 passengers and crew were shepherded onto lifeboats and inflatable rafts, Matz directed the fire-fighting efforts. The ship sank, but no one died.

Matz received many honors, including the Meritorious Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal.

Frank E. Bolden

Frank E. Bolden, who was one of two accredited black war correspondents during World War II, died on Aug. 29. Cause of death was not released. He was 90.

Bolden studied law and biology at the University of Pittsburgh. By playing his clarinet, he became the first African American in the Pittsburgh marching band, an activity that saved him $50 in tuition each year. To make extra cash, he also began stringing for The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading black newspaper.

Upon graduation, Bolden applied for medical school but was turned down because at that time, blacks were not allowed admittance. After his application to teach public school was also refused, Bolden returned to The Courier to cover the Hill District as a general assignment and features reporter.

When the U.S. entered World War II, Bolden became an overseas correspondent, covering the black troops fighting in Italy, Japan and India. During the course of his travels, Bolden interviewed a variety of historical figures, from President Franklin Roosevelt to Winston Churchill, from Joseph Stalin to Gandhi. He filed his stories with the National Negro Publishers Association, which then distributed the copy to black newspapers in the U.S.

Bolden returned to The Courier after the war, and worked for the publication until 1962. He later took on assignments with The New York Times, NBC radio and television and the "Huntley-Brinkley Report." He received numerous honors, including the George Polk Award and the Lifetime Achievement Golden Quill Award.

"I wasn't the best, but I always thought I was the right fellow to be at the right spot at the right time," Bolden once said.

Slim Dusty

David Gordon Kirkpatrick, an Australian country music legend who performed for nearly seven decades, died on Sept. 12 from cancer at age 76.

He wrote his first song, "The Way the Cowboy Dies," when he was 10 years old, and renamed himself Slim Dusty a year later. Although the singer/songwriter signed his first recording contract in 1946, it took another 12 years before his career took off with the release of the hit single, "A Pub With No Beer." The song became an unofficial Australian anthem, and made Dusty the first Australian to receive a gold record. Some of Dusty's other hits were "I Want a Pardon for Daddy" and "I Must Have Good Terbaccy When I Smoke."

Dusty sold more than 5 million records and performed his repertoire of 1,000-plus songs on tours that traveled all over the country. One of his most memorable concerts occurred at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Dusty won more gold and platinum records, and more Golden Guitar awards than any other artist in Australia. A few weeks ago, he published his autobiography, "Another Day, Another Town." He was recording his 106th album when he died.

Mildred Thompson

Mildred Jean Thompson, an accomplished artist, teacher and blues singer, died on Sept. 1 from cancer. She was 68.

Thompson attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., then studied art at the Hamburg Art Academy in Germany. Trained in European abstract expressionism, Thompson was best known for painting in bright hues on large canvases. Her work has been showcased in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, New York's Museum of Modern Art and at the Brooklyn Museum.

"Mildred devoted her life to Abstract Expressionism, one of the few African-American female artists trained in that European tradition. She produced an awesome body of work, 5,000 pieces ranging from complex oil paintings to delightful pen-and-ink drawings," said her friend, Don Roman.

After spending many years in Europe, Thompson moved to Atlanta in 1986 to teach at Spelman, Morris Brown and Agnes Scott colleges, and at the Atlanta College of Art. She received the Distinguished Artist Award from the Atlanta Chapter of Howard University in 1982.

In the evenings and on her lunch breaks, Thompson also sang and played guitar with the band, We Do Blues, which performs in Georgia restaurants and parks.

Jack P. Eisner

Jack P. Eisner, an author and Holocaust survivor, died on Aug. 24 of colon cancer. He was 77.

Born Jacek Zlatka, Eisner studied music until he and his family were forced into the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. More than 100 members of his family were killed in the Holocaust, and he was imprisoned and tortured at three concentration camps. When he was freed by the Allies, Eisner testified against the Nazis and helped the U.S. government find war criminals.

In 1980, he published the autobiography, "The Survivor." The book was adapted into a Broadway play, written by Susan Nanus, and into the movie, "War and Love," which Eisner produced.

Eisner founded the Warsaw Resistance Organization, one of the oldest Holocaust survivors groups in the world, and the first Institute of Holocaust Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He also erected the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery in Poland. A memorial there reads: "In memory of one million Jewish children murdered by Nazi German Barbarians 1939-1945."

Iris Hensley

Iris Antley Hensley, founder of the Georgia Ballet, died on Aug. 30 of pancreatic cancer. She was 69.

Hensley graduated with a degree in dance from the University of Georgia. She studied in New York, Canada and Europe, then returned to Marietta, Ga., to open her own school.

For 41 years, the Georgia Ballet has taught hundreds of students to dance. Hensley was the choreographer and director of the company, which currently has 21 professional dancers and 275 students. She also served as the resident choreographer for the first Georgia Festival of the Arts in Italy.

Actress Joanne Woodward, a childhood friend of Hensley's, was one of the company's major benefactors. She and her husband, Paul Newman, have awarded grants to the Georgia Ballet through the Newman's Own food company charity.

For initiating the Arts in the Schools Program, which introduces school children to dance, music and theatre, Hensley received the first Lillian Bennet Sullivan Award.

Anton Barichievich

Anton Barichievich, the legendary strongman who earned two places in the "Guinness Book of Records," died on Sept. 7 from a heart attack. He was 77.

Barichievich was born in Yugoslavia on Oct. 10, 1925. He always refused to talk about what he did during World War II, but he immigrated to Montreal in 1945 to work as a wrestler and strongman.

Known as "The Great Antonio," the 6-foot-4, 465-pound Barichievich appeared in the "Guinness Book of Records" twice. The first time occurred in 1952 when he pulled a 433-tonne train down 64.95 feet of track. In 1960, he pulled four fully-loaded buses down St. Catherine Street in Montreal.

Although he appeared on numerous television shows, including "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" and "Real People," Barichievich died penniless and with no known family. Fans who learned of his death paid for his funeral, including a specially made, extra-large casket.

Sheb Wooley

Shelby F. Wooley, a veteran actor who also recorded the song, "Purple People Eater," died on Sept. 16 from leukemia. He was 82.

Growing up in Oklahoma, Wooley was a true cowboy. He did some rodeo riding and cattle rustling and formed his own country band. These skills would serve him well later in life.

During World War II, Wooley was labeled 4-F (ineligible for military service) because of injuries he'd suffered as a rodeo rider. So he moved to Nashville and made his first records for the Bullet label, but they didn't get much airtime. In 1950, he signed a recording deal with MGM Records and moved to California. There he recorded a string of popular songs, like "Don't Go Near the Eskimos" and "Talk Back Blubbering Lips." He even wrote the theme song for the TV show, "Hee Haw."

Wooley's biggest hit came in 1958 when he recorded, "The Purple People Eater," which topped the charts and sold 3 million copies. The silly tune about an unidentified flying object had people all over the U.S. singing, "It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater." When he performed under the name Ben Colder, Wooley was voted comedian of the year in 1968 by the Country Music Association.

His other forte was acting in Hollywood westerns. Since the 1950s, he appeared in dozens of them, including "High Noon," "Rio Bravo" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." He transferred his acting talents to the small screen in 1958 when he starred as Pete Nolan in the TV show, "Rawhide," a western that helped launch Clint Eastwood's career.

At his request, Wooley's funeral services will begin at high noon.

• IMDb Filmography

Susan Chilcott

Susan Chilcott, one of Britain's leading opera singers, died on Sept. 4 from breast cancer. She was 40.

Chilcott studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but her principal coach and mentor was distinguished singing teacher, Mollie Petrie. A relatively late starter in her professional stage career, Chilcott was in her 30s when she made her operatic debut with the Scottish Opera.

Since that time, the soprano has sung with the English National Opera, the Welsh National Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She also made headlines when a candle set her dress on fire in the middle of a performance. Undeterred, Chilcott continued singing as staff members put out the flames.

Her last public performance in Brussels was devoted to songs based on the writings of William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. She was accompanied by pianist Iain Burnside and actor Fiona Shaw. A solo recital will be released on CD this fall.

Kelley Green

Kelley Green, the aptly named environmentalist who was beloved by inner-city youths and the tree-hugging community for her philanthropic endeavors, died on Aug. 20 of uterine cancer. She was 57.

Green graduated from Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School. She clerked for U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson, then spent two years as a deputy associate attorney general. The money she received for her legal prowess was appealing, but Green needed more. So she moved to Boulder, Colo., and spent the next 20 years trying to save the environment.

She founded the environmental law and advocacy organization, the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies (now known as Western Resource Advocates) in 1989. When her parents died, she used her inheritance to found the Green Fund, which anonymously supports a variety of environmental and educational causes. In 1997, Green launched Earth Walk, a program that exposes fourth, fifth and sixth graders living in the inner-city to the wonders of nature.

"She went from a hard-nosed, hard-driving Carter-administration civil rights lawyer to a hard-nosed, hard-driving environmental lawyer and advocate. The natural world was her connection back to herself after her years back in Washington, D.C. She devoted herself to trying to protect it," said Maggie Fox, deputy executive director of the Sierra Club.

J. Raymond Knighton Jr.

J. Raymond Knighton Jr., the founder of MAP International, died on Aug. 30 of congestive heart failure. He was 81.

Knighton was working as the first executive director of the Christian Medical Society in 1954 when an acquaintance at a pharmaceutical company offered him a batch of extra medicine. He gave the supplies to medical missionaries and launched a branch of the society called the Medical Assistance Programs. MAP became an independent agency nine years later with Knighton serving as its president.

For the past half century, MAP International has given medicine and supplies to millions of poor people worldwide. It also provides health education and training in Africa and Latin America.

Knighton received many honors for his philanthropic service, including a knighthood in the Order of Christopher Columbus from the Dominican Republic and a Layman's Citation for Distinguished Service from the American Medical Association.

Marion Hargrove

Marion Lawton Hargrove, Jr., a screenwriter and best-selling author, died on Aug. 23 from complications of pneumonia. He was 83.

Hargrove was working as a features editor at the Charlotte News during World War II when he was drafted into the Army. The luckless private chronicled his basic training experiences at Fort Bragg, N.C., in a series of humorous columns for his hometown newspaper. His stories were then collected into the book, "See Here, Private Hargrove!" which sold more than 2.6 million copies, hit number one on the best-seller list and became a feature film, starring Robert Walker, Sr. and Donna Reed.

After his time in the service ended, Hargrove spent three years traveling through Asia as a staff writer for the GI publication, Yank. When he returned to the states, he moved to Hollywood and wrote nine screenplays and more than a dozen scripts for TV shows like "The Waltons," "I Spy," and "Fantasy Island." He also penned a film adaptation of ''The Music Man,'' which won a Writers Guild Screenplay Award.

Jason Robertson

Jason Robertson, an AIDS activist who fought his school district for the right to attend classes, died of the disease on Sept. 4. He was 23.

Robertson was diagnosed with HIV when he was 5 years old. He contracted the virus in 1986 through blood products used to treat his hemophilia. The Granite City School District in Illinois segregated the boy into a trailer classroom, but Robertson wanted to attend regular classes with the other children. The district refused, however, because parents who were ignorant and fearful of HIV refused to let their kids sit in the same room as Robertson.

In 1988, a federal judge ordered the district to allow Robertson to attend regular classes. On his first day of school, the parents protested and shouted at him to get "back to the trailer!"

When Robertson's family moved to South Roxana, Ill., three years later, he faced the same kind of cruelty at his new school. Despite these obstacles, Robertson became a symbol of hope in the fight against AIDS discrimination.

Raymond Davis

Raymond Gilbert Davis, a decorated war hero and retired Marine general, died on Sept. 3 of a heart attack. He was 88.

Davis graduated from Georgia Tech in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He joined the Marine Corps during World War II and fought in Guadalcanal and in the Peleliu Islands campaign. For his service and bravery, he was awarded the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart. When he returned to the states, Davis worked as the chief of the infantry station at the Marine Air-Infantry School in Quantico.

As a lieutenant colonel in the Korean War, Davis commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines on the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. Ordered to hold a key mountain pass and relieve a rifle company, Davis led his men through eight miles of icy pathways in freezing temperatures. For accomplishing his mission, he received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman, two Silver Star Medals, a Legion of Merit with Combat V and the Bronze Star.

From 1968-1969, Davis was in the thick of the battle as the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam. His efforts brought him more honors, including a second Legion of Merit and three personal decorations from the Vietnamese government.

After 33 years in the service, Davis retired in 1972 and lead the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. In May, he was nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award recognizing exceptional meritorious service.

Claude Passeau

Claude William Passeau, a professional pitcher who could throw a 95 mph fastball, died on Aug. 30. Cause of death was not released. He was 94.

Passeau played 13 seasons in the major leagues, one with the Pittsburgh Pirates, four with the Philadelphia Phillies and eight with the Chicago Cubs. He was best known for his pitching prowess against the Detroit Tigers. In game three of the 1945 World Series, Passeau pitched a one-hitter for the Cubs.

"It was one of the easiest games I ever pitched. I only pitched to 28 batters. Every time I threw the ball, they swung at it," Passeau once said. The Cubs eventually lost the series in seven games to the Tigers.

After he retired from professional baseball, Passeau moved to Mississippi to sell farm equipment. He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1964.

• Statistics From Baseball-Reference.com

Warren Rogers

Warren Joseph Rogers Jr., an author and political reporter, died on Aug. 31 from a perforated ulcer. He was 81.

Rogers joined the U.S. Marine Corps to serve at Guadalcanal and Tulagi during World War II. When he returned to the states, he landed his first journalism job working as a copy boy for the New Orleans Morning Tribune. Within two years, he was hired to cover Louisiana politics as a correspondent for the Associated Press.

He joined the Washington bureau of the New York Herald Tribune in 1959, became bureau chief for Hearst in 1963, then was named Washington Editor for Look Magazine in 1966. During his time in the capital, Rogers covered the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil rights movement, the White House and the McCarthy hearings. His 10 trips to Vietnam earned him an Overseas Press Club of New York Citation for best reporting and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. In the 1970s, Rogers wrote the political column, "Countdown," for the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate.

A die-hard newshound, Rogers was the former president of the National Press Club and a member of the Gridiron Club. He was also the author of five historical books, including "When I Think of Bobby: A Personal Memoir of the Kennedy Years."

Yetunde Price

Yetunde Price, the oldest sister and personal assistant of tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, was murdered on Sept. 14. She was 31.

Price was sitting with a man inside an SUV in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles when they became involved in an altercation with local residents. Witnesses say between six and 20 gunshots were heard; police later found an assault rifle at the scene. Shot several times in the chest, she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Price and her four sisters grew up in Compton, a crime-ridden community known for its rampant gang activity. When Venus and Serena became professional tennis players, the family moved to Florida. Price, however, moved to Corona, Calif., about 40 miles from Compton, where she became a registered nurse and the part-owner of a beauty salon.

[Update - March 22, 2006: Edward Maxfield, 25, pleaded no contest on March 18 to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Yetunde Price. The plea was entered on the day his third trial was scheduled to begin.]

[Update - April 6, 2006: Edward Maxfield, 25, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the slaying of Yetunde Price. Prosecutors said Maxfield fired about 11 bullets from an assault rifle shortly before midnight in Sept. 2003 in order to protect a drug house; one of the bullets struck Price in the head. Maxfield pleaded no contest, which amounts to an admission of guilt under California law, to manslaughter last month. Juries deadlocked on their verdict in two previous trials. A murder charge against a second man, Aaron Hammer, was dismissed after the first trial. Hammer was accused of firing a gun during the shooting but authorities concluded that it did not cause Price's fatal wound.]

Herbert Abrams

Herbert E. Abrams, a prolific artist famous for painting the portraits of U.S. presidents, died on Aug. 29 of prostate cancer. He was 82.

Abrams studied at the Norwich Art School then became a pilot during World War II. During his time in the service, he redesigned the Army Air Force's aircraft insignia, which has appeared on every plane since 1942. Later, he taught art classes at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

After the war, Abrams studied at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students' League in New York City. While sitting on a bench in Greenwich Village, he received $35 for his first portrait commission. This sparked a four-decade career during which Abrams completed over 400 paintings.

Although he painted famous people, like astronaut Buzz Aldrin and playwright Arthur Miller, Abrams was best known for doing portraits of President George H.W. Bush and President Jimmy Carter.

Suzanne Lawrence-Forsberg

Suzanne Elizabeth Lawrence-Forsberg was a beauty queen with a passion for helping cancer patients.

Lawrence-Forsberg won the Miss Texas pageant in 1990, using the "Smiles Against Cancer" program as her platform. A cervical cancer survivor, Lawrence-Forsberg worked hard to raise the spirits of people suffering from the disease. Her efforts earned her the Quality of Life Award at the 1991 Miss America Pageant, where she was named third runner-up.

For the past seven years, Lawrence-Forsberg has worked as a broadcast journalist, most recently as a senior anchor on the Channel 9 News in Columbus, Ga. When she was diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago, she returned to Texas and started Climb for the Cure, an organization that raises money to fight the disease by having people climb and hike for donations. She even rallied 20 of her pageant pals into taking part in various events.

"Suzanne will forever be remembered in history because of her dedication and mission to saving lives, affected by cancer. Her life is a testament of pure love and determination. She never gave up. Her perseverance has touched thousands around the world and her commitment has been manifested in the beauty that surrounds the events of Taking A Step. Suzanne's legacy is a gift to her family and to the world," Angela Perez Baraquio Grey, Miss America 2001, stated.

Lawrence-Forsberg died on Aug. 23 of colon cancer. She was 34.

Bethann Thornburgh

Bethann Thornburgh, an author and artist whose drawings appeared in The Washington Post, died on Aug. 29 of lung cancer. She was 58.

Thornburgh graduated from Kent State University and spent the next three decades publishing her pen-and-ink drawings. From 1969 to 1976, she worked at The Washington Post, creating a series of how-to cartoon strips for the newspaper's Food section. She was also named assistant art director of the Washington Post Magazine.

As a freelance artist, Thornburgh published illustrations in The New York Times, National Geographic and Washingtonian Magazine. She published the book, "50 Step-by-Step Recipes in Pictures From Around the World," and illustrated several children's books, including "My Ballet Bag," which appeared on the "50 Best Books for Christmas Giving" list in the Independent newspaper in London.

Frank O'Bannon

Frank O'Bannon, the governor of Indiana, died on Sept. 13 after suffering from a stroke. He was 73.

O'Bannon earned a bachelor's degree in government from Indiana University, served two years as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, then returned to Bloomington to earn a law degree from IU in 1957. After college, he moved to Corydon, Ind., to open up his own law practice and to work at the family-owned newspaper, The Corydon Democrat.

In 1970, he was elected to his father's seat in the Indiana Senate, and served for 18 years. During his tenure, O'Bannon spent two years as Senate finance chairman and 11 years as Democratic floor leader.

He originally ran for governor in 1987, but dropped out of the race when Evan Bayh decided to place his hat in the ring. Instead, O'Bannon became Bayh's running mate, and when they won, he served as lieutenant governor for two terms. He ran unopposed when he sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1996, and eventually beat Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith in a close election. He was reelected in 2000.

When he was not governing the state of Indiana, O'Bannon was the chairman of O'Bannon Publishing Company.

T-Bone Hannon

Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, the bass player in Jewel's band, died on Sept. 4 of a brain aneurysm. He was 39.

Hannon's love of music began at an early age. He was active in the music program at Northwestern High School in Detroit, and spent the decade after graduation playing and writing songs. After a chance encounter with Christian singer Amy Grant's keyboardist, Hannon was hired to play on tour with her band, and for her 1992 performance at the Grammy Awards.

From 1993 to 2000, Hannon performed with several musicians including country singer Shania Twain, the country-pop group SheDaisy and the Boy Choir of Harlem. For the past three years, Hannon played bass in Jewel's live band.

In response to his death, Jewel canceled her forthcoming tour of North America, which was scheduled to begin on Sept. 19.

Johnny Cash

John R. Cash, an American music legend known as "The Man in Black," died on Sept. 12 from complications of diabetes and respiratory failure. He was 71.

Cash spent three years as a radio operator in the Air Force, where he learned to play guitar while stationed in Germany. After his 1954 discharge, he moved to Memphis and auditioned for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. The label, which also launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis, signed Cash to release the rockabilly single, ''Hey Porter." He followed that up with the chart topper, ''Folsom Prison Blues,'' a song that featured Cash's most famous couplet: ''I shot a man in Reno/ just to watch him die.''

A long succession of hits followed, including "I Walk the Line," a song that remained on the record charts for 43 weeks and sold over 2 million copies. In his 1971 hit, ''Man in Black,'' Cash said his decision to wear black clothing, rather than the flashy rhinstones other singers preferred, symbolized the downtrodden people in the world. He's been called by that moniker since he joined the Grand Ole Opry at 25.

Touted as the most recognizable voice in country music, Cash won 11 Grammys -- most recently in 2003 for ''Give My Love to Rose'' -- and six Country Music Association awards. A member of the Highwaymen, with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, Cash connected with fans of many generations. His link to the youth of today was solidified when he released a cover of the Nine Inch Nails' song, "Hurt," a move that earned him seven MTV Video Music Award nominations.

With more than 400 songs to his credit, Cash became a member of the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame when he was only 48, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. He also published several books, including two autobiographies.

His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne Cash, were successful singers. June, who co-wrote Cash's hit, ''Ring of Fire," died in May.

• Watch the Video for "Hurt"

• Listen to a Cash Interview on NPR

John Ritter

John Ritter, the Emmy award-winning actor, died on Sept. 11 of a previously undetected heart problem. He was 54.

Ritter was born into a Hollywood family, the son of country singer and actor Tex Ritter. He was the student body president at Hollywood High School, and graduated with a drama degree from the University of Southern California.

After appearing as a contestant on "The Dating Game" and in a supporting role on "The Waltons," Ritter achieved superstardom with the 1977 TV show, "Three's Company." Playing Jack Tripper, a man living with two pretty female roommates, Ritter earned Emmy, Golden Globe and People's Choice awards for the long-running comedy.

Ritter returned to series television in 1987 to star in "Hooperman," which earned him another People's Choice Award, and again in 1992 for the comedy series, "Hearts Afire." He was currently starring in the ABC prime time hit, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

Ritter appeared in more than 25 television movies and 50 plays, most notably the Broadway premiere of Neil Simon's show, "The Dinner Party." He also acted in several motion pictures, including "Noises Off," "Skin Deep" and "They All Laughed." His guest appearance on Fox's comedy, "Ally McBeal," earned him an Emmy nomination; he earned two more as the voice of "Clifford, the Big Red Dog," on PBS. In June, Ritter was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Music Center.

• IMDb Filmography

Anna Lindh

Anna Lindh, Sweden's foreign minister, died on Sept. 11 after being stabbed by an unknown assailant. She was 46.

Lindh was shopping with a friend at an upscale, Stockholm department store when a man wearing an army camouflage jacket approached and stabbed her several times. She died at the hospital from internal bleeding and liver damage.

Since her early 20s, Lindh has been an active Social Democrat. A lawyer and environmental campaigner, she joined the Swedish parliament in 1982 and became chair of the party's youth league. In 1994, she was given her first cabinet post as minister for the environment, and was named the country's foreign minister four years later.

Lindh was strongly in favor of adopting the euro, and consistently campaigned on human rights issues. Just days before her death, she spoke out against the U.S., Israel and Yassir Arafat over the crisis in the Middle East. Political analysts say Lindh could have become the country's prime minister if she had lived. Lindh was married to Bo Holmberg, a local politician.

Larry Hovis

Larry Hovis, the actor who played Sgt. Carter in the 1960s television series "Hogan's Heroes," died of cancer on Sept. 9. He was 67.

Hovis became a popular entertainer in the late 1950s when he sang and did comedy skits in Houston nightclubs. After recording a solo album and appearing in several theatre productions in Texas and New York, Hovis moved to Hollywood.

He sold his screenplay for the beach party/spy spoof, "Out of Sight," in 1964, and was cast in the TV show, "Gomer Pyle, USMC." The following year, he was tapped to play Sgt. Andrew Carter, the demolitions expert in the World War II comedy, "Hogan's Heroes." He also made guest appearances on other TV shows, including "The New Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Alice."

Hovis moved back to Texas in the 1990s and spent 12 years teaching acting and characterization at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Wilbur Snapp

Wilbur Snapp, a minor league baseball park organist who was once ousted by an umpire, died on Sept. 6 of natural causes. He was 83.

Snapp couldn't read music, but he taught himself to play the organ while running an Ohio music store. When he retired and moved to Florida in 1982, Snapp took a job as the official ballpark organist at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater.

In 1985, Snapp became annoyed by a young umpire who ruled against his team, the Clearwater Phillies. In response, he began playing "Three Blind Mice," on his instrument. The umpire was not amused and had the musician ejected.

Snapp spent the rest of the game blowing up balloons and twisting them into mice for fans. The ouster became a news event, and was mentioned on NBC's "Today" show, and by syndicated radio talk show host, Paul Harvey. Snapp continued to serve as the official ballpark organist until 1997 when the stadium switched to recorded music.

Edward Teller

Edward Teller, the father of the H-bomb, died on Sept. 9. Cause of death was not released. He was 95.

Teller studied chemical engineering and theoretical physics in Germany under Niels Bohr, then earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Leipzig. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1930 to teach physics at George Washington University and Columbia University, but left academia in 1942 to join the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico and develop the first atomic bomb. The U.S. utilized those bombs in Japan to end World War II. Over 150,000 people died in the blasts.

"I deeply regret the deaths and injuries that resulted from the atomic bombings, but my best explanation of why I do not regret working on weapons is a question: What if we hadn't?" Teller wrote in his autobiography, "Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics."

After the success of the Manhattan Project, Teller became a physics professor at the University of Chicago. But when the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949, Teller returned to Los Alamos to work on the hydrogen fusion bomb; its first megaton-scale explosion occurred at Eniwetok Island in the Pacific in 1952. Teller then spent 25 years at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a site he helped found that uses science and technology to build national defense systems.

In later years, Teller became a staunch advocate of the anti-missile shield known as "Star Wars." He also received several awards, including the Albert Einstein Award, the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl, the director of Adolf Hitler's propaganda films, died of natural causes. She was 101.

Born Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl, she began her artistic career as a dancer until a knee injury knee made her shift her focus to movies. She appeared in seven Arnold Fanck films including, "Mountain of Destiny," and was soon acting, writing and directing her own movies.

Riefenstahl heard Hitler speak for the first time at a 1932 rally and immediately wrote to him, offering her talents to his cause. She made four films for Hitler, including "Triumph of the Will," which focused on the 1934 Nuremberg rallies and "Olympia," an insider's look at the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. Although many suspected Riefenstahl of being Hitler's lover, she denied this claim. She was, however, the only woman to help shape the rise of the Third Reich.

For the next 60 years, Riefenstahl received critical acclaim for her films and photography books, but she never lived down her connection to the German dictator. In 2002, she was even investigated for Holocaust denial when she said she didn't know that the Gypsies who appeared as extras in one of her wartime films later died in concentration camps. The case against her was eventually dropped.

Much of her work after the war focused on underwater photography. Even at 100, she still strapped on her scuba gear to photograph sharks and tropical fish in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. In the early 1990s, she was the subject of the three-hour documentary, "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl," by German filmmaker Ray Müller. She responded to the film by publishing her autobiography, " Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir," in 1995.

Charlie Scaife

Charles Walter John Scaife, a chemistry professor who made learning fun, died on Aug. 24 from liver cancer. He was 65.

As a child, Scaife wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a math teacher. While attending college at Cornell, however, he was so inspired by an innovative science professor that he switched majors and received his bachelor's degree and doctorate in chemistry.

After serving a three year stint in the Navy, Scaife became a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of York in England. In 1972, he landed a teaching job at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and began teaching the wonders of science. While wearing brightly patterned lab coats, Scaife encouraged students to understand chemistry by doing experiments with balloons and Alka Selzer.

In 1986, he helped student Rich Cavoli develop an experiment that focused on growing crystals in space, and received permission from NASA to have the project placed on the Challenger space shuttle. When the shuttle exploded, Scaife toured the country, talking to elementary and middle school students about the experiment. The project later flew on the Discovery mission.

After 20 years in the classroom, Scaife applied for a sabbatical and created a traveling science show. He and his wife Priscilla drove all over the country and performed for over 40,000 students. He conducted these shows on his own dime until the National Science Foundation and the Dreyfus Foundation offered him funding.

Brianne Murphy

Brianne Murphy, the first female director of photography invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers, died on Aug. 20 of metastatic brain cancer. She was 70.

Murphy attended Pembroke College in Providence, R.I., but left in the early 1950s to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. In 1954, she and a friend dressed up as clowns and crashed the opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden. They performed in the center ring for four hours, and the stunt resulted in publicity in Look Magazine and The New York Times. The circus then hired her to assist the staff photographer.

While on tour with the circus, Murphy met and married low-budget horror film producer Jerry Warren. Their relationship brought her to Hollywood, where she took a $50-a-week job handling props, makeup and wardrobe on the 1956 film "Man Beast." The director of photography allowed her to shoot one scene in the film, and her technical career was born.

Admitted to the cinematographers guild in 1973, Murphy was the first female director of photography in the Hollywood local. Seven years later, she became the first female director of photography to work on a major studio feature, a film called "Fatso," which was written and directed by Anne Bancroft. In 1980, Murphy was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers. For over a decade, she was its only female member.

As a D.P., Murphy worked on many television shows, including "Little House on the Prairie," '"Trapper John, M.D." and "In the Heat of the Night." She won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1978 for best cinematography for the NBC film, "Five Finger Discount," and shared an Academy Award of Merit in 1982 with Donald Schisler for designing and manufacturing the MISI camera insert car and process trailer, which provides a way to protect filmmakers while shooting action sequences.

Murphy was also a founder of Women in Film and a founding member of Behind the Lens, an organization of female film technicians. She won the Women in Film Lucy Award for Innovation in Television in 1995.

• IMDb Filmography

Willa Player

Willa Beatrice Player, the first black woman to run a four-year college in the U.S., died on Aug. 27. Cause of death was not released. She was 94.

Born in Mississippi, Player earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, a master's from Oberlin College and a doctorate in education from Columbia University. When she was only 21, Player was hired to teach Latin and French at Bennett College, a private Methodist school for black women in Greensboro, N.C. After working for the school for 26 years, Player was promoted to president, a position she held for a decade.

Two years after she was tapped to run the school, Player organized a speech with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Two thousand people attended the event and civil rights protests ensued. At one point, approximately 40 percent of Bennett's student body was placed under arrest for trying to integrate restaurants and theaters in Greensboro. In response, Player and several other professors held classes and exams in jail. She also convinced the guards to grant access to the school nurse so injured students could be treated.

After she left Bennett, Player became an education consultant for the Agency for International Development, where she worked with women educators in Kenya and Nigeria. In 1962, she became the first woman elected president of the National Association of Colleges and Universities of the Methodist Church.

Nina Fonaroff

Nina Fonaroff, a dancer in the Martha Graham company, died on Aug. 14. Cause of death was not released. She was 89.

As a child, Fonaroff played the violin and piano, acted and painted. Her first exposure to dance, however, came when she saw the Russian Vaudeville perform. She immediately signed up for ballet lessons.

After studying at the School of American Ballet and spending the summer of 1936 with Martha Graham, Fonaroff was asked to join the Martha Graham Troupe. She was a soloist in the company from 1937 to 1946, and appeared in several productions, including "American Document," "Every Soul Is a Circus" and "Appalachian Spring."

She began teaching the Graham technique at Sarah Lawrence College a year after she was accepted into the company. This experience would serve her well in 1946 when she became a teacher and choreographer. She launched Nina Fonaroff and Company, and choreographed "Mr. Puppet" for Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, which is believed to be the first work to be created for classical dancers by a contemporary dance choreographer.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Fonaroff taught choreography at the London School of Contemporary Dance.

Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon, a singer/songwriter and rock musician with a witty, politically incorrect style, died on Sept. 7 of lung cancer. He was 56.

A Chicago native, Zevon moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s to try his hand at writing commercial jingles. During this time period, he composed the song, ''She Quit Me Man," for the movie, ''Midnight Cowboy," and joined the Everly Brothers as a pianist.

His first album, ''Wanted - Dead or Alive,'' received little notice in 1969, but Zevon gained attention in the 1970s as a songwriter for Linda Ronstadt and The Turtles. His next two albums, ''Warren Zevon" and ''Excitable Boy," became cult classics. He released six albums in the '80s, and four more in the '90s, but was best known for the 1978 hit, "Werewolves of London."

A lifelong smoker, Zevon was diagnosed with lung cancer in Sept. 2002. He spent the last year of his life finishing his final album, "The Wind," which was released in August and features collaborations with Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thorton, Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Tom Petty and Jackson Browne. A documentary of the album's recording process will be aired in September on VH1.

• Warren Zevon Discography

John Gould

John Thomas Gould, an author and veteran columnist for the Christian Science Monitor, died on Sept. 1 of congestive heart failure and pneumonia. He was 94.

Gould graduated from Bowdoin College in 1931, and later received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin and the University of Maine. His professional journalism career began in 1924 when he started working as a reporter for the Brunswick Record. He stayed there for 16 years and occasionally contributed essays to the paper for old time's sake.

Freelance writing led to a position as a featured writer for the Boston Sunday Post. In 1942, Gould started writing a popular column for the Christian Science Monitor. It was published every week for over six decades.

During his lengthy journalism career, Gould published articles and syndicated columns in nearly every magazine and newspaper in America. He did a daily radio show for WLAM in Lewiston, Maine, a weekly show for WBZ in Boston, and frequently contributed to the Trans-Canada English network of CBC.

Gould lectured at colleges across the country, and in his spare time, wrote 30 books including " Tales From Rhapsody Home: Or, What They Don't Tell You About Senior Living," "Farmer Takes a Wife" and "Next Time Around: Some Things Pleasantly Remembered." In 2001, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.

• John Gould Columns

Bill Creech

Wilbur L. "Bill'' Creech, a retired four-star general, died on Aug. 26. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

Creech received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland, and a master's in international relations at George Washington University. After he earned his wings in 1949, Creech was assigned with the 51st Fighter Wing at Naha, Okinawa. As a combat pilot in Korea and Vietnam, Creech flew 280 missions and was decorated 39 times, including 22 awards for bravery in combat.

Trained to fly more than 40 types of aircraft, Creech joined the U.S. Air Force Aerial Demonstration Team, also known as the Thunderbirds, in the 1950s and flew over 100 demonstrations in the U.S. and South America. He later earned the nickname, "Father of the Thunderbirds," for his work in rescuing the team from congressional budget cuts.

In 1968, Creech was sent to Vietnam to work as the deputy commander for operations of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phu Cat Air Base. He became commander of the Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in the 1970s, where he oversaw the development of A-10s, F-15s, F-16s, the F-15E night fighter and the Stealth fighter. He received the rank of general in 1978.

After retiring from the service, Creech moved to Nevada, built a management advisory company, served as a consultant for General Electric, IBM and Johnson & Johnson, and published the book, "The Five Pillars of TQM: How to Make Total Quality Management Work for You."

"No single officer has had greater influence on the Air Force in recent times than Gen. Bill Creech. He transformed the way the Air Force conducts warfare," Gen. John P. Jumper, chief of staff of the Air Force, said.

Gregory L. Walker

Gregory L. Walker, a top sports-photography executive at Getty Images, died on Aug. 31 of an apparent suicide. He was 37.

Walker went to work on Aug. 31, sent a few e-mails to friends and colleagues, called 911, waited for police to arrive then jumped off the fifth floor of the Getty Images office building in Santa Monica, Calif. He died a short time later.

Walker founded AllSport and turned it into the world's largest sports photo media agency. He sold it to Getty Images in 1998 for $51.1 million and was hired as an executive vice president.

In his spare time, Walker served on the Los Angeles Triathalon Committee.

Albert Bland

Albert J. Bland, a World War II prisoner of war, died on the 58th anniversary of the day he was liberated. Cause of death was cancer. He was 87.

Bland was a formidable 240-pound tackle when he played football for Washington College. In 1937, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps to work as a mechanic at Nichols Field in the Philippines. He was defending the Bataan Peninsula in 1942 when American and Filipino troops were overrun by the Japanese.

Bland and 75,000 other soldiers were then marched 65 miles, in brutal heat without food or water, to a railhead for dispersal to prison camps. Thousands died en route; those who survived suffered through years of malnutrition and torture. Until they were liberated by Allied forces in 1945, the prisoners were forced to work as slave laborers in coal mines, factories and shipyards.

He survived imprisonment in the Philippines, Formosa, Japan, Korea and Manchuria, by existing solely on a daily ration of rice and pumpkin soup. When freed, he weighed only 98 lbs. and was blind from malnutrition.

Despite his experiences during World War II, Bland recuperated and served in the Air Force until 1957. He retired as a master sergeant and remained active in POW issues for the rest of his life. Bland received the Prisoner of War Medal in 1988.

John Hoerster

John E. Hoerster, the athletic director and football coach of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., died on Aug. 25 of a heart attack. He was 53.

Hoerster was an All-American offensive lineman at St. Rita and graduated with an education degree from Northwestern University. In 1983, he earned a master's degree in administration and supervision from Chicago State University. Hoerster was working as the assistant principal at Gordon Tech when Loyola offer him a position in 1986.

During his 17 years as the Ramblers' coach, Hoerster earned a 133-57 record that included a state title in 1993. The winningest football coach in Loyola history, Hoerster was inducted into the Chicago Catholic League Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1994.

Elizabeth Little

Elizabeth Alden Little, a physicist and archeologist, died on Aug. 12 from lung cancer. She was 76.

Little graduated with a degree in physics from Wellesley in 1948, and received her doctorate six years later from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was working on new techniques for depositing phosphors on color television screens at General Electric when she decided to quit her job, marry and raise a family.

Once her children had grown, Little returned to college and turned her love of local history into a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She then applied her past knowledge of physics research to archeological experiments. For example, she used radiocarbon dating to trace animal bones and establish the dietary habits of early populations.

Little published more than 70 articles on the historic and prehistoric Native Americans in the Northeast. She received the Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission for producing the first catalog of archeological sites on Nantucket. In 1988, the commission also gave her its 25th anniversary Preservation Award for her efforts to reduce damage to Nantucket archeological sites.

Chief Running Deer

Donald F. Malonson, head of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, died on Aug. 22. Cause of death was not released. He was 86.

Malonson, also known as Chief Running Deer, was born and raised in the same home where he reared his own children. He only left the area once -- to serve in the 61st United States Naval Construction Battalion in the South Pacific during World War II.

He became chief of the Wampanoag in 1952 and headed the 1,000-member tribe for over half a century. After years of lobbying Congress, the tribe officially received federal recognition in 1987. At that time, it was granted 500 acres of tribal lands on Martha's Vineyard.

D.O. Cannon

D.O. Cannon, an up-and-coming rap artist, was murdered on Sept. 4 in Queens, N.Y. Cannon, whose legal name was Gerard Fields, was shot and killed. He was 26.

Cannon was signed by Murder Inc. Records, which is currently under federal investigation for money laundering and drug trafficking. Police are looking into a possible connection of a war between Murder Inc. and rival record company, Shady Records. Shady is owned by rap artist Eminem.

Cannon was one half of a duo with an MC called Young Merc. He performed on "Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc." and "Irv Gotti Presents: The Remixes."

Burton Lewis Hutchings

Burton Lewis Hutchings, a retired officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, died on Aug. 20 of cancer. He was 67.

Hutchings graduated from the University of Michigan with a law degree, then completed an intensive course in Mandarin Chinese at the Institute of Far Eastern Languages at Yale University. With this knowledge, he got a job as a communications intelligence specialist with the Air Force Security Service and served in Korea.

In 1965, Hutchings joined the CIA. During his 24 years with the agency, Hutchings worked as chief of the legislative division in the director's office and as chief of operations of the counterterrorism component. When he retired, Hutchings handled security for Trans World Airlines in London, the Port Authority of New York and CBS.

Kevin Oakley

Kevin Oakley died a hero. The animator and special effects artist drowned off the coast of Maui on Aug. 18 while trying to save his 7-year-old son, Austin, from strong currents. He was 41.

Oakley and Austin were climbing down a path next to the Pools of 'Ohe'o when the boy lost one of his flip-flops in the water. He stooped down to retrieve it and fell in.

Oakley dove in after him, and kept the child's head out of the water as the current sent them through a series of pools and waterfalls. Dean Miller, a vacationing EMT from California, managed to rescue the child, but Oakley was swept out to sea. The weight of his backpack and exhaustion eventually led to his death. His body was later found by a Maui Fire Department rescue helicopter.

Oakley always dreamed of becoming a digital effects animator. When he was younger, he spent his days building airplanes at McDonnell Douglas and his nights studying computer graphics at UCLA. Oakley eventually landed jobs with top studios, where he worked on many Hollywood movies, including "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," "The Iron Giant" and "Space Jam."

• IMDb Filmography

Arthur Helton

Arthur C. Helton, an author and activist who defended the rights of refugees, died on Aug. 19 in the car bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He was 54.

Helton was meeting with U.N. envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello when the bomb exploded. Vieira de Mello and 18 others were also killed.

Helton was a law professor at Columbia University who devoted 12 years to working with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. He defended Haitians seeking asylum in the U.S., and often testified as an expert in court and in Congress on migrants' rights.

"People now talk about how refugee rights are human rights. Arthur was in the forefront of promoting that idea. He was one of the first people, if not the first, working at a human rights organization with an exclusive focus on refugee protection and the protection of displaced people. He was a major force in building concern for refugees first in the U.S. and then he took that concern international," said Michael Posner, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Since 1999, Helton has served as the program director of peace and conflict studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was in Baghdad to assess humanitarian conditions in Iraq for a series of articles he was planning to write for openDemocracy, an online news agency.

Vivien Greene

Vivien Greene, an author and doll house restoration expert, died on Aug. 16. Cause of death was not released. She was 98.

Vivienne Dayrell-Browning was only 13 years old when she published the poetry collection, "The Little Wings." While working at Blackwell Publishing in 1925, she met a budding young novelist named Graham Greene. He was so captivated by her that he converted from atheism to Roman Catholicism to win her hand. Although they separated in 1948, the couple never divorced.

When the Greene's house in London was bombed during World War II, Vivien and her two children moved to Oxford. She bought an old dolls' house at a local auction and began a hobby of collecting, restoring and refinishing such houses. In the 1960s, Greene founded the Rotunda Museum of Antique Dolls Houses, which contained 41 fully furnished miniature castles and cottages.

Greene also published several books on the subject, including "English Dolls' Houses of the 18th and 19th Centuries" and "The Vivien Greene Dolls' House Collection."

Barbara Jarmoluk

Barbara Furlong Jarmoluk, a dog lover and judge for the American Kennel Club, died on Aug. 10 of ovarian cancer. She was 72.

She married Mike Jarmoluk, a defensive tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles, in 1949, the year the Eagles won the National Football League championship. While her husband played football, Jarmoluk built a kennel in Glenside, Penn., and raised long-haired dachshunds and Doberman pinschers.

As a professional handler, Jarmoluk trained other people's show dogs for competition. When she reached the top of her field, the American Kennel Association hired her to travel the world and preside over dog shows.

Rand Brooks

Rand Brooks, a veteran actor who appeared in over 75 movies, died on Sept. 1. Cause of death was not released. He was 84.

Brooks acted in half a dozen films during the 1930s, but his big break came when he landed the role of Charles Hamilton, Scarlett O'Hara's doomed first husband in "Gone With the Wind."

Over the next three decades, Brooks achieved some fame as Lucky Jenkins in 12 Hopalong Cassidy westerns, and as Cpl. Randy Boone in the TV show, "Rin Tin Tin." He also did guest spots on "The Lone Ranger," "Maverick" and "Perry Mason."

Brooks eventually left show business to build the largest private ambulance service in Los Angeles County. After he sold the company in 1984, Brooks retired to the Santa Ynez Valley and bred champion Andalusian horses.

• IMDb Filmography

Dick Darcey

Richard Darcey, an award-winning photographer for The Washington Post, died on Sept. 2 of pneumonia. He was 74.

Darcey landed his first job in journalism in 1948 when he was hired as a copy boy for the Washington Times-Herald. Within two years, the newspaper brought him on as a full-time staff photographer.

Darcey had to give up the job during the Korean War to serve the Air Force as a photographer in Greenland. His replacement at the paper was Jacqueline Bouvier, who interviewed Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. She later became his wife and the First Lady.

When Darcey returned to the states in 1955, he joined The Washington Post. In his three decades at the daily, Darcey shot pictures of every major sport. His images won top awards from the White House Press Photographers Association and appeared in Sports Illustrated, Look and Life magazines.

Wild Bill Whelan

William F. "Wild Bill" Whelan, a jazz singer and musician who performed in Washington D.C. for nearly 50 years, died on Aug. 21 of kidney failure and a stroke. He was 76.

Whelan first played the trumpet at Linton Hall military school and Western High School, which is now known as the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He served as an Army geodesist and cartographer in Europe during World War II, then worked for the Army Map Service from 1948 to 1984.

His after-work hours, however, were dedicated to jazz. Although he claimed he couldn't read music, Whelan and the Dixie Six played as the house band at the Bayou, a popular Washington jazz club, for almost 20 years. Whelan also fronted the Bicentennial Jazz Band and played cornet and string bass with many local groups, including Fat Cat's Festival Jazzers, the Not-So-Modern Jazz Quartet and the Washington Monumental Jazz Band.

William Orrick

William H. Orrick, the federal judge who sentenced Patty Hearst, died in his sleep on Aug. 15. He was 87.

Orrick attended Yale and the law school on the University of California, Berkeley campus. He served as a counter-intelligence officer in the Pacific and Europe during World War II, then worked for his father's law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Orrick spent the 1960s working for the Justice Department in Washington D.C., and in 1974 was appointed to the Federal District Court in San Francisco by President Richard M. Nixon.

When one of his colleagues died, Orrick inherited the Patty Hearst case. Hearst, who was convicted of robbing a bank with the people who kidnapped her, was sentenced by Orrick to seven years in prison in 1977. Her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter less than two years later; President Bill Clinton pardoned her. Orrick also presided over a 23-year school desegregation case and a civil rights suit challenging conditions at San Francisco's jail in San Bruno.

Elizabeth McKaughan

Elizabeth Honness McKaughan, author of 15 books, died on Aug. 12. Cause of death was not released. She was 99.

McKaughan earned a bachelor's degree from Skidmore College in 1929, then worked as the managing editor of American Girl Magazine, a publication of the Girl Scouts of America. During the 1930s, McKaughan published poetry in numerous journals including Scribners and Town & Country.

She moved to Philadelphia in 1942 and wrote 11 mystery novels for children under her maiden name. McKaughan also wrote two books of Bible stories for children, the nonfiction book, "The Etruscans: An Unsolved Mystery," and the adult novel, "The Spy at Tory Hole."

Frank MacDonald

Frank MacDonald, Australia's oldest decorated World War I veteran, died on Aug. 23 of pneumonia. He was 107.

MacDonald tried to enlist in the military in 1914, but was rejected for having bad teeth. He was allowed to sign up two years later, however, when the war's carnage created a need for more manpower. As a corporal in the all-Tasmanian 40th Battalion, he was sent to fight in Belgium and France where he was gassed three times. In 1917, he earned the Military Medal for Gallantry for repairing telegraph lines during the battle of Ypres.

MacDonald worked in administrative positions at Victoria Barracks in Sydney during World War II. A resident of Tasmania, he was the last survivor of his battalion.

"I'm too pig-headed to die," MacDonald once said. "I should have been killed a dozen times, but I wasn't. I had 10 times as much luck as any man is entitled to."

Chester Lindsey

Chester L. Lindsey, the architect of Seattle's tallest building, died on Aug. 16. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

Lindsey spent two years in the Army, graduated with an architecture and structural engineering degree from Washington State University, then opened the firm, Chester Lindsey & Associates.

He worked on numerous buildings in Seattle, including shopping centers, office buildings and the Fourth and Blanchard structure, which has been locally labeled the "Darth Vader" building. He was best known for designing the 76-story Columbia Seafirst Center, which is now the Bank of America Tower.

Larry Shippey

Lawrence William Shippey, a champion tennis player, died on Aug. 29 of cancer. He was 87.

Shippey was only 18 years old when he won the Waycross, Ga., singles tennis championship. He played for two years at Georgia Southern then transferred to the University of Georgia to study journalism.

He served as a flight instructor for the Naval Air Corps during World War II. When he left the service, Shippey founded the Georgia Builders construction company; he'd work there in the mornings and play tennis in the afternoons.

In the 1960s, Shippey partnered with legendary tennis player Bitsy Grant to win six national senior doubles championships. He also won doubles tournaments with former Georgia Tech football coach Bobby Dodd. He was inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.

Donald Winn

Donald Winn, a top advisor to Alan Greenspan, died on Aug. 14 of pancreatic cancer. He was 66.

Winn was a Jesuit seminarian who earned a bachelor's and master's degree in philosophy from Boston University and a bachelor's in divinity and a licentiate in philosophy at Weston College. He opted against ordination to earn a law degree at Georgetown University and work on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to Congressman Fernand J. St. Germain (D-R.I.).

In 1974, Winn joined the Federal Reserve Board and became its chief congressional liaison six years later. For almost three decades, Winn was the middleman between Congress and the Fed. He also helped enact the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which removed the barriers between commercial and investment banking.