The Blog of Death

Harry Claiborne

Harry Eugene Claiborne, the first federal judge to be sent to prison, committed suicide on Jan. 19.

Claiborne received his law degree from Cumberland University and was admitted to the Arkansas and Nevada bars. He spent two years as a deputy district attorney in Las Vegas before going into private practice as one of Nevada's top defense lawyers. Whenever a celebrity needed legal advice in Las Vegas, the masterful litigator was the person to call. He handled a divorce for Judy Garland and settled casino licensing cases for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

He lost his bid for the Senate in 1964, but his opponent, Senator Howard Cannon, later recommended Claiborne for a federal district court judgeship. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the bench in 1978.

He was serving as the chief U.S. district judge for Nevada in 1984 when he was indicted on bribery, fraud and tax evasion charges. His first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was eventually convicted of fraud for failing to report more than $107,000 on his 1979 and 1980 federal income tax returns. In 1986, he was removed from the bench by the Senate and served 17 months in prison. He was one of only seven federal officials in U.S. history to be removed from office through impeachment.

After his prison term ended, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated him to the bar and he returned to private practice. Claiborne, who had cancer and Alzheimer's disease, died of a self-inflicted gunshot. He was 86.

Travis Hoover

Retired Air Force Col. Travis Hoover, one of the famous Doolittle Raiders who led the first U.S. retaliatory raid on Japan after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, died on Jan. 17. Cause of death was not released. He was 86.

Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's 79-member crew flew 16 Army Air Corps bombers off the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet on April 18, 1942. They brought the United States into World War II by flying to Japan and bombing industrial targets in Tokyo -- without enough fuel to safely reach landing strips in China. The raid inflicted little damage, but roused American spirits and proved that Japan was vulnerable to U.S. bombers.

Hoover flew the second B-25 bomber behind Doolittle. When his plane ran out of fuel, he crash-landed the aircraft into a Japanese rice paddy. Hoover and his four crewmen survived the rough landing, and were met by Tung Sheng Liu, a Chinese aeronautical engineer who helped them evade Japanese troops and reach China. For his service in the historic raid, Hoover received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The New Mexico-native earned an associate of arts degree from Riverside City College before enlisting in the National Guard in 1938. Hoover joined the Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant after completing his pilot training. He later received a bachelor's degree from the University of California-Berkley.

After the raid, Hoover remained in the military to fly B-24s, B-25s and P-38s in England, North Africa and Italy. He retired as commander of Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi in 1969.

Mary-Ellis Bunim

Mary-Ellis Bunim, the co-creator of MTV's "The Real World," died on Jan. 29 from breast cancer. She was 57.

Bunim began her TV career in soap operas. She produced more than 2,500 hours of daytime television on shows like "As the World Turns," "Loving," "Santa Barbara" and "Search for Tomorrow."

In 1990, she and Jonathan Murray formed the Los Angeles-based Bunim-Murray Productions, a company that combined his background in TV news and documentaries with her more dramatic experience. Their first project was the 1992 reality series, "The Real World." The MTV show about seven strangers who move in together and spend a season under constant video surveillance sparked the modern reality TV craze.

Bunim and Murray spent the next decade producing other reality shows geared toward young adults, including "Road Rules," an MTV show where total strangers are sent on traveling adventures, and the Fox hit, "The Simple Life," starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. The company tried branching out into "reality" feature films in 2003 with the release of "The Real Cancun," but it was a critical and box office bomb.

Pete Bucher

Lloyd Mark "Pete" Bucher was captain of the U.S.S. Pueblo when it was captured by North Korea.

On Jan. 23, 1968, the lightly armed reconnaissance ship was monitoring Communist movements and intercepting messages near the North Korean coast when it was attacked by torpedo boats. One soldier was killed during the shelling, and 82 members of the crew were taken prisoner.

During their 11 months in captivity, the prisoners were battered with wood, burned on radiators and starved. According to reports from his crew, Bucher bore the brunt of the punishment. He was beaten and tortured by his captors, then forced to sign a confession. Although a carrier task force was in the region, no help was sent to rescue the Pueblo sailors.

The Americans were released on Dec. 23, 1968. North Korea kept the 177-foot vessel and turned it into a tourist attraction. Bucher, however, faced a general court martial for surrendering the ship and all its intelligence information without firing a shot. Navy Secretary John H. Chafee turned down the court martial because Bucher had "suffered enough," but it would be another 20 years before any of the Pueblo crew would receive their prisoner of war medals from the Pentagon because the U.S. government classified them as "detainees."

Bucher was reared at Boys Town and attended the University of Nebraska. After retiring in 1973, he spent his remaining years painting, lecturing at colleges and publishing his memoirs.

Former Navy Cmdr. Bucher died on Jan. 28. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

Janet Frame

Janet Paterson Frame, a New Zealand author who was reportedly short-listed for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, died on Jan. 29 from cancer. She was 79.

Frame studied at Dunedin Teachers' Training College and Otago University, then taught for a year before quitting academia to pursue a career in writing. "University Entrance," her first published short story, appeared in The Listener in 1946.

A year later, she suffered a breakdown and signed herself into the Seacliff Mental Hospital near Dunedin. The doctors wrongly diagnosed her as schizophrenic, and Frame spent the next eight years living in and out of psychiatric institutions and receiving more than 200 electric shock treatments to "cure" her. In 1952, Frame was saved from a scheduled lobotomy when a hospital superintendent learned that her short story collection, "The Lagoon and Other Stories," had won the Hubert Church Memorial Award, New Zealand's leading prize for fiction.

For the next three decades, Frame became a prolific writer. Her early work was heavily influenced by her experiences in mental hospitals, and led to the publication of the autobiographical trilogy: "To the Island," "An Angel at My Table" and "The Envoy From Mirror City." Her memoirs were also adapted into a 1990 feature film directed by Jane Campion.

Frame's later work included novels, poetry and a children's book. She won the 1989 Commonwealth Writers Prize for her book, "The Carpathians," and was made an additional member of the Order of New Zealand in 1990.

• Bibliography

Leonidas

Leonidas da Silva, Brazil's first superstar of professional soccer, died on Jan. 24 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 90.

Credited with inventing the bicycle kick, which requires a player to flip over to kick the ball from an upside down position, the acrobatic Leonidas played 26 games with Brazil's national team. In the 1934 World Cup, the star forward scored the only goal before the team was eliminated by Spain in the first round. He scored eight goals at the 1938 World Cup, where Brazil came in third.

Leonidas developed a "bad boy" image during his illustrious soccer career. In 1941, it was discovered that he had falsified a certificate to avoid military service. He spent eight months in prison then returned to the game. During a match against the American team, Leonidas showed his disdain for his opponents by revealing his genitalia. The game was halted for 20 minutes and police escorted him off the field.

Prior to joining the Brazil team, Leonidas played for Flamengo, Vasco Da Gama, Sao Paulo, Botafogo and Uruguay's Penarol. "The Black Diamond" retired in 1949 and became a well-known radio commentator until Alzheimer's disease started to affect his memory. The final 30 years of his life were spent in a rest home near Sao Paulo, completely unaware of his past athletic achievements.

Elroy Hirsch

"Crazy Legs" Hirsch earned his nickname in 1942 when Chicago Daily New sports writer Francis Power described his unique running style as a "demented duck" whose "crazy legs were gyrating in six different directions all at the same time."

The legendary 6-foot-2, 190-pound halfback and receiver became a key part of the Los Angeles Rams' revolutionary "three-end" offense from 1949 to 1957. He led the NFL in 1951 with 66 catches, 1,495 yards receiving and 17 touchdowns.

Before that, Hirsch played three seasons with the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference and starred at Wisconsin for one season before completing his collegiate career at Michigan. There he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and became the only Wolverine in Michigan history to win letters in four majors sports -- football, basketball, baseball and track -- in the same year.

After he retired from the game, Hirsch joined the Rams front office, serving as general manager and assistant to the president. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968, and spent the next 18 years as Wisconsin's athletic director.

Hirsch died on Jan. 28 of natural causes. He was 80.

• Career Statistics From Pro-Football-Reference.com

Billy May

Edward William May Jr., the Grammy Award-winning jazz bandleader, trumpeter and composer, died on Jan. 22 from a heart attack. He was 87.

To counter his childhood asthma, a doctor advised May to play the tuba. The treatment worked. May joined his school band and soon taught himself to play the trumpet and trombone.

May's first professional gig was playing the trumpet with the Charlie Barnet Band in 1938. His arrangements for Barnet included the hit recording "Cherokee," a Ray Noble song that became a standard of the swing era and the band's signature song. A year later, May joined the Glenn Miller Band and arranged the classic tunes, "Take the 'A' Train" and "Serenade in Blue."

In the 1940s and '50s, May became one of the most popular and prolific big-band music arrangers. He created arrangements for the Woody Herman and Alvino Rey orchestras and formed his own band, scoring successes with "All of Me," "Charmaine," "Lean Baby" and "Fat Man Boogie." His album, "Billy May's Big Fat Brass," won a Grammy in 1958 for Best Performance by an Orchestra. The following year, he won a Grammy for Best Arranging for "Come Dance With Me!"

May worked as an arranger-conductor with many of the greatest singers of that era, including Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee. He spent three decades collaborating with Frank Sinatra after meeting the singer in a New York bar in 1939. Their first effort was the 1957 album "Come Fly With Me," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. On television, May composed the theme songs for the police dramas "Naked City" and "The Mod Squad." He also wrote the music for the Red Skelton and Ozzie and Harriet Nelson shows.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Robert Stanfield

Robert Lorne Stanfield, the conservative leader who was known among colleagues as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had," died on Dec. 16. Cause of death was not released. He was 89.

Born in Nova Scotia, Stanfield graduated from Dalhousie University and Harvard Law School. Admired for his intelligence and wit, the Red Tory entered Nova Scotia politics at a time when the Conservatives did not hold a single seat in the legislature.

Stanfield was elected leader of the party in 1948 and began working to increase its participation in the political process. In 1956, he became the country's youngest premier at the age of 41, was reelected several times, then led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1967 to 1976. Although Stanfield was eager to become Canada's 15th prime minister, his slow speaking manner and awkward style fared poorly against Liberal leader Pierre Trudeau.

Stanfield achieved an international reputation in 1979 when he relinquished his Commons seat to serve as Canada's representative to the Middle East and North Africa. He later spent four years as chairman of The Commonwealth Foundation.

"His legacy was one of quiet conservatism, that gentle, patrician attitude that individuals and parts of the country that were successful had an obligation to put something back into the community," said political scientist Leonard Preyra.

Alexandra Ripley

Alexandra Braid Ripley, the author who wrote the official sequel to "Gone With the Wind," died on Jan. 10 of natural causes. She was 70.

Ripley graduated from Vassar College with a major in Russian. She worked at several publishing houses, writing catalog and flap copy for books until she got up the nerve to become an author in her own right.

In 1972, Ripley published her first book, "Who's That Lady in the President's Bed?" under the pseudonym B.K. Ripley, and followed it up with half a dozen historical novels, including "Charleston," "The Time Returns" and "A Love Divine." But she was best known for writing the 1991 novel, "Scarlett." Ripley was selected by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write the book, which sold 8 million copies despite receiving lackluster reviews. It was also adapted into an eight-hour miniseries that aired on CBS in 1994.

Max Barnes

Max Duane Barnes, a Grammy-nominated songwriter who penned classic country ballads, died on Jan. 11 of complications from pneumonia. He was 67.

Born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska, Barnes formed his first country music band as a teenager. He worked as a carpenter, construction worker, bartender and truck driver until 1973 when he moved to Nashville to try his hand at songwriting. His first hits, "Don't Take It Away" and "Redneckin' Love Makin' Night," were recorded by Conway Twitty. He followed them up by writing songs for Randy Travis, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Vince Gill.

When his teenaged son Butch died in a car accident in 1975, Barnes wrote "Chiseled in Stone." Recorded by Vern Gosdin, the song included the heart-breaking lyric, "I didn't know how bad I could hurt until I saw my son's name on his tombstone." It won a Song of the Year Award from the Country Music Association, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Country & Western Song.

In 1992, Barnes was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association International Hall of Fame.

Jack Paar

Jack Harold Paar, a pioneer of the late-night talk show format, died on Jan. 27. Cause of death was not released. He was 85.

The Ohio-native dropped out of high school at 16 and cured himself of a stutter by becoming a radio announcer. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army with the 28th Special Service Company, entertaining troops in the South Pacific as a standup comedian. Upon his return to the states, a magazine declared that Paar was "the most promising star of tomorrow." But he spent another decade appearing in minor movie roles and short-lived TV programs before America welcomed him into their homes each night.

On July 29, 1957, Paar took over NBC's "The Tonight Show" and turned it into an interview program. For five years, the emotional and comedic host shared TV time with a variety of guests, from a young boxer named Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) to pianist-composer Oscar Levant to Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Paar championed the comedic talents of Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett, Woody Allen and Bill Cosby, and in 1960, gabbed with presidential candidate John F. Kennedy.

When Johnny Carson took over "The Tonight Show" in 1962, the legendary entertainer launched "The Jack Paar Program," a prime-time talk show on Friday nights. He headlined the show for three seasons, then retired from TV. Parr spent the remaining years of his life out of the public eye, mostly traveling, painting and writing books.

• Listen to an NPR Interview With Parr

Fanny Blankers-Koen

Francina Elsje Blankers-Koen, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field for the Netherlands, died on Jan. 25 of complications from Alzheimer's Disease. She was 85.

Blankers-Koen was only 17 when she set a national record in the 800 meter race in 1935. Coached by her husband, former triple jump champion Jan Blankers, she spent the next 20 years raising two children and setting 16 world records in short-distance running, the pole vault, hurdles, the long jump and pentathlon.

The cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics kept Blankers-Koen from competing during World War II, but at the 1948 Olympics in London, "the Flying Housewife" won a record four gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter sprints, the 80 meter hurdles and the 400 meter relay. The only other athletes to win four gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics were Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis.

In 1999, the International Association of Athletics Federations selected Blanker-Koen as the best female athlete of the 20th century. The FBK Games, the most prestigious track and field event in the Netherlands, were named for her.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Don Lawrence

Don Southam Lawrence, one of Europe's most famous comic book illustrators, died on Dec. 29 from pneumonia and emphysema. He was 75.

Lawrence, who influenced an entire generation of European artists, served two years in the Army then studied art at Borough Polytechnic in London. He made his comics debut drawing "Marvelman," the first British superhero, for £1 per page.

Lawrence spent the 1960s drawing black and white strips for Amalgamated Press, working on titles such as "Olac the Gladiator," "Erik the Viking" and "Karl the Viking." But he was best known for his full-color artwork in the science fiction series, "Fall of the Trigan Empire." The comic, written by Mike Butterworth, ran for 11 years in Look and Learn Magazine.

Unfortunately, "Trigan" was also published in graphic novel form in Britain. When he learned about the unauthorized usage in 1976, Lawrence confronted his publisher and asked for back wages to compensate for using his drawings. The publisher, IPC, severed ties with him instead.

Lawrence spent the last 25 years of his life working on the best-selling, 23-volume series, "Storm." An English edition of the series will be published in May.

• Bibliography

Maxwell Starkman

Maxwell Starkman, the architect who designed the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, died on Jan. 5 from natural causes. He was 82.

The Toronto-native joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and spent World War II serving in England, France, Belgium and Germany before returning to Canada to earn his architecture degree at the University of Manitoba. After graduation, Starkman moved to Los Angeles and worked for Richard J. Neutra, the grandfather of contemporary architecture in California.

In 1953, Starkman and architect Fritz Reichl formed their own firm, Reichl and Starkman Architects. When Riechl died a few years later, the company changed its name to Maxwell Starkman & Associates and began designing tract homes during Southern California's post-war housing boom. Over the next three decades, Starkman built thousands of single-family homes and apartment complexes, shopping centers, office buildings, luxury condominiums and hotels.

His firm, which was ranked in the Top 100 in Engineering News Record, also designed Sony Pictures Plaza in Culver City, Calif., and the 36,000-square-foot Holocaust museum.

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton, the internationally renowned photographer whose work appeared in Playboy, Elle and Vogue, died on Jan. 23 in a car accident at the age of 83. He had just left the famed Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood when he had a heart attack, lost control of his Cadillac and crashed into a wall across the street.

Born Helmut Neustaedter, he fled Germany in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. He moved to Singapore, then Australia where he became a citizen and served in the Army for five years. Once he returned to the private sector, Helmut changed his last name and opened a small photography studio in Melbourne.

Newton's first fashion assignment was for Australian Vogue magazine. In 1961, he returned to Europe to work for the French, English and American editions of Vogue. He spent the next four decades honing his craft and becoming one of the masters of 20th-century fashion photography.

Although he photographed many celebrities (Paloma Picasso, Elizabeth Taylor, Daryl Hannah), Newton preferred shooting his sexy, black and white "Big Nudes" -- large, toned women who wore very little. He published his "Autobiography" and nine photo collections, including "Sumo," a massive volume of images that weighs more than 65 pounds and costs $3,000.

Newton is survived by his wife June, an actress and photographer who works under the name Alice Springs. She was one of his favorite subjects, and appeared in numerous photos.

Beatrice Winde

Beatrice Winde, a Tony Award-nominated actress, died on Jan. 3 from cancer. She was 79.

Born Beatrice Lucille Williams, Winde always planned on becoming a professional singer. She graduated from the Chicago Music Conservatory, attended the Yale School of Music, toured with its "Colored Choir" and studied voice at Juilliard. Although she was a soloist in her church choir, Winde's talent for acting eventually became the driving force of her career as a performer.

She acted in numerous plays, including "A Lesson Before Dying" and "In White America." In 1972, she won a Theatre World Award and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death." She received a Living Legend Award from the National Black Theater in 1997, and an Audelco Award for Excellence in Black Theater in 2001.

The actress, who took the name Beatrice Winde because Actors Equity already had a Beatrice Williams on its rolls, also had a successful career on television and in film. She appeared in the TV movie, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," and followed that up with several memorable guest appearances on "Guiding Light" and "Law & Order." Her film credits include small roles in "Malcolm X," "It Could Happen to You," "Dangerous Minds," "Simon Birch" and "The Hurricane."

Abdul Rahman Munif

Abdul Rahman Munif's critically praised books were so controversial that several Arab governments banned them. Saudi Arabia even revoked his citizenship in 1963.

What kind of books did he write? Fictionalized stories of political oppression in the Middle East.

Born in Jordan to a Saudi father and an Iraqi mother, Munif studied law at Baghdad University but was expelled in 1955. He finished his studies in Cairo then moved to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in oil economics. Munif spent many years working in the oil industry until 1973, when he moved to Lebanon and became a writer. After civil war broke out, he traveled to Iraq and France before settling in Syria in 1986.

Of his 15 novels, Munif was best known for the epic "Cities of Salt" series, which dealt with the psychological and sociological impact the exploitation of oil had on the Saudi Bedouin society. He won the Sultan al-Uways Award, the Arab equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1992, and received the Cairo Award for Creative Narration six years later.

Munif died on Jan. 24 from kidney failure and heart problems. He was 71.

Bob Keeshan

Robert James Keeshan, television's award-winning, walrus-mustachioed Captain Kangaroo, died on Jan. 23. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

"Captain Kangaroo," which debuted on Oct. 3, 1955, remained on the air for more than three decades. Wearing a distinctive coat with kangaroo pouch-like pockets, the Captain wandered through the Treasure House, interacting with Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, Dancing Bear and Mr. Moose. The program won six Emmy Awards, three Gabriels, three Peabody Awards and entertained generations of children.

The New York-native was still in high school when he started out in television, working as a page at NBC. He attended Fordham University and served two years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve before taking on the role of the horn-honking Clarabell the Clown on the ''Howdy Doody Show.'' In 1952, he played several other clownish characters, such as Corny, the host of WABC-TV's "Time For Fun," and the Alpine toymaker on "Tinker's Workshop."

After he retired, Keeshan moved to Vermont to work as a children's advocate. He wrote a regular column for McCall's, where he criticized television shows aimed at children for being too violent, and published the "Itty Bitty Kitty" children's book series.

Keeshan was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame in 1990, and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ann Miller

Ann Miller, the dazzling tap dancer and actress, died on Jan. 22 from lung cancer. She was 80.

Born Johnnie Lucille Collier, she was a childhood dance prodigy whose "machine gun" feet were once clocked at 500 taps a minute. The Texas native changed her name to Annie and moved to California when her parents divorced. There she decided to dance professionally in order to support her mother and herself.

In Hollywood, Miller danced in vaudeville and appeared as a chorus girl in minor musicals. Her breakthrough role was in the Frank Capra film, "You Can't Take It With You," which won the 1938 Academy Award for Best Picture.

For the next three decades, Miller appeared in more than 40 movies, including "Room Service," "Two Tickets to Broadway," "Deep in My Heart," "The Opposite Sex" and a musical version of "The Women." When Cyd Charisse suffered an injury, Miller replaced her in "Easter Parade," and landed an MGM contract. She later teamed up with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in "On the Town," and with Bob Fosse in "Kiss Me Kate." Like Betty Grable, her stunning legs were once insured by RKO for $1 million.

Miller later moved to New York to earn millions singing and dancing in the Broadway productions of "Hello, Dolly" and "Mame." She also toured with Mickey Rooney in the national production of "Sugar Babies," served as a Good Will Ambassador, entertained the troops with Bob Hope and the USO and published two books. Her star on the Walk of Fame is located at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.

• Miller's Filmography

John Toland

John Willard Toland, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian, died on Jan. 4 from pneumonia. He was 91.

Toland received a bachelor's degree from Williams College in Massachusetts then attended the Yale Drama School. He served in the Army Air Corps and worked for many years as a struggling writer before becoming one of the most widely read military historians of the 20th century.

In 1971, Toland won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for his book, "The Rising Sun," which described the rise and fall of the Japanese empire during World War II from the Japanese perspective. Five years later, his biography of German dictator, Adolf Hitler, became a best-seller. Toland's 1982 book, "Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath," generated a great deal of controversy because it claimed President Franklin D. Roosevelt had prior knowledge of the attack.

"I don't violate history. I just try to follow the mainstream of history, viewing it as it happened rather than showing you something that happened and start criticizing what people did," Toland once said.

Jerry Nachman

Jerome A. Nachman was a brash, award-winning newshound who lived to scoop the competition.

Nachman attended Youngstown State University before becoming a newspaper reporter in Ohio and Pittsburgh. In the early 1970s, he worked as an on-air reporter for WCBS Radio and WCBS-TV in New York. He spent much of the 1980s as the news director of WNBC-TV, where his newscasts earned top ratings for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. time slots.

The siren song of print journalism called him back in 1988, and Nachman answered it by writing a column for the New York Post. The following year, the tough and witty journalist became the editor-in-chief of the racy tabloid, a position he held until 1992.

Nachman moved to Santa Fe, N.M. with the intention of living a quiet life as an author and consultant. But within a few years, WCBS-TV asked him to return to New York. As the vice president of news, he won the George Foster Peabody Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievements in electronic journalism from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.

Nachman tried his hand at screenwriting in 2001, penning scripts for the NBC drama, "UC: Undercover." As a writer and executive producer of "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher," he won two Emmy Awards. His final assignment in journalism was as vice president and editor-in-chief of MSNBC, where he also hosted his own interview show.

Nachman died on Jan. 20. Cause of death was not released. He was 57.

Ray Rayner

Ray Rayner, the legendary television personality who hosted children's shows in Chicago during the 1960s and '70s, died on Jan. 21 from complications of pneumonia. He was 84.

The New York native served as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II. When his B-17 was shot down, Reyner was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war for two years. After he returned to the states, Rayner attended Holy Cross College for a year, then transferred to Fordham University, where he graduated with a degree in philosophy. He later earned a master's in humanities from the University of Chicago.

Rayner started his broadcasting career in radio, working as a disc jockey and a news director before taking a job as a staff announcer for the CBS affiliate in Chicago. When he moved to WGN-TV Channel 9 in 1961, Rayner became a popular presence in the lives of Baby Boomers and Generation X'ers who would watch him on "Bozo's Circus," "The Dick Tracy Show," "Breakfast With Bugs Bunny" and his own series, "Ray Rayner and Friends."

Wearing a jumpsuit covered in "to do" notes, Reyner would entertain kids with music, crafts, games and unique side-kicks, including Cuddly Dudley, the giant orange dog; Dr. Lester Fisher, director of the Lincoln Park Zoo; and Chelveston the Duck, who thrived on nipping at Rayner's legs and attacking heads of lettuce.

When he wasn't on television, Reyner acted in numerous stage productions at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse and the Forum Theatre. He moved to Arizona in the 1980s and delivered weather reports for the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. In 2000, he was inducted into the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Silver Circle.

• Watch a Retrospective of Rayner's Career

Don Shinnick

To date, Don Shinnick holds the National Football League record for career interceptions by a linebacker. From 1958 to 1969, he snagged the ball from his opponents 37 times.

The Kansas City, Mo., native grew up in Los Angeles and was an All-American linebacker at UCLA before joining the Baltimore Colts in 1957 as a second-round draft pick. He was the first UCLA athlete to make it to the Super Bowl.

After leaving the field as a player, Shinnick returned as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bears, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Oakland Raiders, the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Valley College Monarchs. He retired from coaching at the end of the 1990 season and was inducted into the California Community College Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Shinnick died on Jan. 20 from degenerative brain disease. He was 68.

Richard A. Ausley

Richard Alvin Ausley, the convicted child molester who inspired the passage of a Virginia sexual predator law, was killed in prison on Jan. 13. He was 64.

Ausley was discovered in his cell by a prison worker at Sussex I State Prison in Waverly, Va. He was strangled and suffered blunt trauma to the torso, the autopsy report said.

In 1973, Ausley kidnapped a teenage boy, sexually molested him for eight days and buried him in a wooden box; the 13-year-old was later rescued by a group of hunters. Ausley was sentenced to more than 47 years in prison. He was scheduled for early release last November when he received another five-year sentence for sodomizing a different teenager in 1972.

Even with the second conviction, Ausley could have been released from prison as early as March 2007. This event prompted state legislators to approve funding for a civil commitment program for sexual predators. Under the new law, which became effective on Jan. 1, authorities may hold sex offenders indefinitely in a secure treatment center after their prison terms end.

Ausley was previously convicted in 1961 of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy and leaving him hogtied in the woods. For that crime, he was sentenced to 26 years and paroled in 1971.

Noble Willingham

Noble Willingham may not have been a matinee idol, but he was a hardworking actor who appeared in dozens of feature films.

The Texas-native used his "distinctive voice and warmly gruff manner" to land supporting roles in movies like "Paper Moon," "Chinatown," "Good Morning, Vietnam," "City Slickers" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." During his four decades in Hollywood, he also made guest appearances on a variety of TV shows, from "The Rockford Files" and "Alice," to "Highway to Heaven" and "Home Improvement."

In 1999, Willingham left a steady gig as C.D. Parker, the saloon owner in the show "Walker, Texas Ranger," to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for the congressional seat in eastern Texas, but lost to Democrat Max Sandlin in 2000.

Willingham earned a bachelor's degree from North Texas State College and a master's degree in educational psychology from Baylor University. He taught high school economics and government in Houston before auditioning for a part in the Peter Bogdanovich movie, "The Last Picture Show."

Willingham died on Jan. 17 from natural causes at the age of 72. His final film, "Blind Horizon," starring Val Kilmer, will be released later this year.

• Filmography From IMDb

Tas Jones

Tas Jones, the father of the chrysanthemum in Australia, died on Jan. 15. Cause of death was not released. He was 99.

For more than 76 years, Jones grew prizewinning chrysanthemums in his Lenah Valley garden. The secret to his mums? Changing the soil every season and using a coin in the dirt. The horticultural legend also grew vegetables and roses.

Jones exhibited more than 1,000 champion blooms all over the world. A purple pink variety of chrysanthemum is even named in his honor.

• Listen to an Interview With Jones

Arthur R. von Hippel

Arthur R. von Hippel, an educator and scientist who contributed to the development of radar, died on Dec. 31 from complications of the flu. He was 105.

Born in Germany, von Hippel studied physics at the University of Göttingen. After doing a fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley, and teaching for four years at the Physikalische Institute in Göttingen, he worked with Nobel Prize laureate James Franck. He married Franck's daughter, Dagmar, in 1930.

When Adolf Hitler came into power three years later, von Hippel and his wife fled from Germany. He joined 30 other European academics in establishing a Laboratory of Electrophysics in an Istanbul palace then moved to Copenhagen to work at the Niels Bohr Institute. There he was recruited by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and offered a faculty position in its department of electrical engineering. Von Hippel accepted the job, moved to America and founded the school's Laboratory for Insulation Research.

For the next three decades, von Hippel directed the laboratory's development, measurement, commercial manufacture and technical applications of radar, and its study of molecular structure of materials. He also published numerous books, including "Dielectrics and Waves," "Molecular Science and Molecular Engineering" and "The Molecular Designing of Materials and Devices."

His efforts were rewarded by President Harry Truman, who gave him a certificate of merit. In 1976, the Materials Research Society established an award in his name as its highest honor, and made von Hippel its first recipient.

David Hookes

David William Hookes, the former Australian Test cricketer and Victoria state coach, died on Jan. 19 from major head injuries he sustained during an assault. He was 48.

Police said Hookes had just finished celebrating the Bushrangers' ING Cup win over South Australia at the Beaconsfield Hotel in St. Kilda on Jan. 18 when he was attacked. Paramedics performed CPR at the scene before rushing him to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness. Zdravco Micevic, a 21-year-old bouncer, was charged with assaulting Hookes and released on conditional bail.

A popular figure in the cricket world, "Hookesy" made his international debut in the 1977 Melbourne Centenary Test. The left-hand batter became a star attraction on the World Series Cricket circuit as a fast scoring batsman who played 23 Tests between 1977 and 1986, scoring 1,306 runs at 34.36 and playing 39 one-day Internationals for 826 runs. He left the sport in 1992 after suffering several injuries, then became an outspoken TV and radio commentator and the coach of Victoria state.

• Statistics From CricInfo.com

Charles Berlitz

Charles Berlitz, a linguist with a fascination for the paranormal, died on Dec. 18. Cause of death was not released. He was 90.

Berlitz graduated from Yale University, then spent 26 years in the U.S. Army. Working as an intelligence officer, he served in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

For the next three decades, Berlitz worked for the Berlitz Co., a provider of language instruction, translation and publishing that was founded by his grandfather, Maximilian D. Berlitz, in 1878. Charles Berlitz ran its New York publishing house and developed the company's record and tape courses. He spoke numerous languages and wrote curriculum for schools all over the world.

In 1974, Berlitz published the best-selling book, "The Bermuda Triangle," which popularized the stories of plane and ship disappearances between Florida and Bermuda. He explained the occurrences with outlandish theories of alien encounters, connections to the lost city of Atlantis and a magnetic vortex that would allow vessels to slip into a different point in space and time. He also published "The Mystery of Atlantis," "Mysteries From Forgotten Worlds," "The Roswell Incident" and "The Philadelphia Experiment -- Project Invisibility," which was adapted into a feature film in 1984.

Helen Gustafson

A champion of fine teas, Helen Gustafson spent 20 years developing the exquisite tea service for Chez Panisse. The trendy restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., features a selection of organically grown teas that are meticulously prepared using the guidelines she created.

Known as Lady Teas-dale, Gustafson would gasp at the mere mention of tea bags. To her, they were an abomination that prevented tea leaves from releasing their full flavor. She taught the art of the afternoon tea by giving parties that required its participants to wear gloves and hats, and served as a consultant on tea services to several hotels and restaurants.

Gustafson graduated from Syracuse University and earned a master's degree in drama from the University of Minnesota. She first became interested in tea as a child, taking afternoon tea with her mother and grandmother in the family's sunroom. This ritual would later inspire her to write the books, "The Agony of the Leaves: The Ecstasy of My Life With Tea" and "The Green Tea User's Manual."

Gustafson died on Dec. 14 from cancer. She was 74.

Ernest Hendon

Ernest Hendon, the last living survivor of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, died on Jan. 16. Cause of death was not released. He was 96.

From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service and the Tuskegee Institute offered free medical care to sharecroppers in Macon County, Ala. When the 623 disadvantaged, rural black men arrived, the doctors told them they were being treated for "bad blood." In actuality, the men had syphilis, and were being used to study how the disease spreads and kills. Although penicillin became the standard of care in 1947, the study's subjects were not given treatment or told about the study's parameters.

The project finally ended after Jean Heller, an Associated Press reporter, revealed the truth. A public outcry led to the appointment of a federal Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, which concluded the Tuskegee Study was "ethically unjustified."

In 1972, the study's victims and their families filed a $1.8 billion class action lawsuit. The government settled the case, and promised to provide free health care to the plaintiffs. They also received $9 million in damages. President Bill Clinton officially apologized to the study's participants in 1997.

• Full Coverage From NPR

Chaquetón

José Antonio Díaz Fernández, one of the most popular flamenco singers in Madrid, died on Dec. 29 from cancer. He was 58.

Born to a family of flamenco singers, Fernández began his musical career when he was still a child. Known as Chaquetón (''Big Jacket"), his first performance took place in a bar owned by his father, singer El Flecha de Cádiz. Later, he recorded several albums and toured the world with flamenco companies. Chaquetón is survived by his wife, flamenco dancer Lina Fonteboa.

• Hear Chaquetón Perform "Cosas de Caí"

Jack Cady

Jack Cady, an award-winning author of speculative fiction, died on Jan. 14 from complications of bladder cancer. He was 71.

The Columbus, Ohio, native served with the Coast Guard in Maine, then earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Cady spent much of his life working as a truck driver, auctioneer, college professor and landscaper, but he always found time to pull out his Royal manual typewriter and create stories.

In 1965, he won the Atlantic Monthly's Atlantic First Award for his short story, "The Burning." Although Cady claimed the award was a fluke, he continued to hone his craft and win prizes for his fiction. His novella, "The Night We Buried Road Dog," won a Nebula and a Bram Stoker Award, and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award and a Hugo. He took home the World Fantasy Award in 1993 for his collection, "The Sons of Noah: And Other Stories."

Cady published nine novels, including "The Off Season," "Ghosts of Yesterday" and "The Hauntings of Hood Canal." He wrote the nonfiction book, "The American Writer: Shaping a Nation's Mind," in 1999, and published fantasy, horror and science fiction stories in literary and genre magazines.

Cady, who also wrote under the pseudonym Pat Franklin, was married to author Carol Orlock.

• Read an Excerpt From "Lady With a Blind Dog"

Harold Henning

South African golfer Harold Henning won more than 50 professional tournaments during his five-decade career.

Known as "The Horse," Henning turned professional in 1953. Before joining the PGA Tour in 1966, he traveled the world, winning championship titles in Italy and Switzerland. In 1965, he and Gary Player won the World Cup.

Henning won two PGA tournaments -- the 1966 Texas Open Invitational and the 1970 Tallahassee Open Invitational -- before retiring in 1972. He returned to the game six years later, and joined the PGA Seniors Tour (now known as the Champions Tour) in 1984. During his 18 seasons on the tour, he won three senior titles and two Liberty Mutual Legend's of Golf championships.

Henning died on Jan. 1 from pancreatic cancer. He was 69.

David W.D. Dickson

David Watson Daly Dickson, the first black president of a New Jersey state college or university, died on Dec. 10. Cause of death was not released. He was 84.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Dickson received a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College and a master's from Harvard University. During World War II, he served in the medical division of the segregated Army Air Forces unit based in Tuskegee, Ala. When the war ended, Dickson returned to Harvard to earn his doctorate in English literature.

An educational trailblazer and scholar of Renaissance and biblical literature, Dickson spent 15 years teaching at Michigan State University, where he was the institution's first black faculty member. He worked in administrative positions at Northern Michigan University, Federal City College and Stony Brook University in New York before becoming the first black president of Montclair State University in New Jersey.

From 1973 to 1984, Dickson raiseed academic standards and developed 30 new undergraduate and graduate programs. Student enrollment tripled and 11 new buildings were constructed during his tenure. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences building was named in his honor.

After stepping down from his post, Dickson became a distinguished service professor and taught at the university until his retirement in 1989. He won the Michigan State University's first Distinguished Faculty Award in 1952 and the Distinguished Bowdoin Educator Award in 1971. He also published several books, including "Memoirs of an Isolate."

Olivia Goldsmith

Olivia Goldsmith, the best-selling author of "The First Wives Club," died on Jan. 15 from complications related to anesthesia. She was 54.

Born Randy Goldfield, she attended New York University and entered the management consulting field, where she became one of the first partners at the firm Booz Allen Hamilton. She then divorced her husband, moved to London, changed her legal name to Justine Rendal and decided to try her hand at writing.

Under the pseudonym Olivia Goldsmith, she contributed articles to The New York Times and Cosmopolitan, among other publications. She also published half a dozen books, including "Flavor of the Month," "The Bestseller" and "Bad Boy." But Goldsmith was best known for her 1992 debut, "The First Wives Club," the story of first wives who seek revenge after being dumped by their husbands for younger women. It was adapted for the screen in 1996 and became a box office hit starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. Goldsmith recently completed two new novels: "Casting Off" and "Dumping Billy," the latter of which will be published in May.

On Jan. 7, Goldsmith checked into Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital for elective, plastic surgery. As the anesthesia took effect, she had a heart attack. Doctors were unable to get enough oxygen into her system and she fell into a coma. Goldsmith was then transferred to Lenox Hill Hospital, where she died.

Tom Hurndall

Tom Hurndall, a British photographer and peace activist who was shot in Gaza nine months ago, died of pneumonia on Jan. 13. He was 22.

Hurndall, a first-year student at Manchester Metropolitan University, was studying to become a war photographer. He left England in Feb. 2003, with hopes of documenting the lives of people living under conflict. After visiting Iraq and Jordan, he traveled to Israel, where he took a short training course with the International Solidarity Movement in order to gain access to the refugee camps in Gaza.

On April 11, Hurndall was wearing a bright orange jacket and helping Palestinian children cross the street in the Yibna area of Rafah when a firefight between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers began. He shepherded a boy to safety, but when he attempted to aid two young girls, an Israeli Defense Force sniper shot him in the head. The injury left Hurndall in a coma.

Last week, the alleged shooter was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Security sources told Reuters that the charge will likely be upgraded to manslaughter. A second soldier was also detained for questioning.

[Update: An Israeli soldier was indicted on charges relating to the shooting, including one for aggravated assault. "Sharp Focus," a play based on Hurndall's diaries, will air Oct. 8, 2004 on the BBC.]

Uta Hagen

Uta Hagen's life was acting.

As a child, Hagen immigrated from Germany to the United States. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the University of Wisconsin before moving to New York City to hone her craft on stage.

Hagen made her professional debut as Ophelia in the 1937 production of "Hamlet" in Dennis, Mass. Within a year, she was starring on Broadway as Nina in "The Seagull." That summer she appeared opposite José Ferrer in "The Latitude of Love." They wed and appeared in numerous plays together, including "Key Largo" and "Othello."

After she divorced Ferrer, Hagen married actor/director Herbert Berghof. They founded the Herbert Berghof Studio, a prestigious performing arts training school in New York City, where she taught for more than half a century. Some of her most famous students include Matthew Broderick, Christine Lahti, Jason Robards, Sigourney Weaver, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Her 1991 book, "A Challenge for the Actor," is required reading for drama students all over America.

Although she was dedicated to teaching aspiring actors, Hagen still obeyed the siren song of the stage. She played Blanche Du Bois with the national company of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1948, then took Jessica Tandy's place in the role on Broadway, opposite Marlon Brando. In 1950, she played the title role in "The Country Girl," a performance that won Hagen her first Tony Award for best actress.

Her brutal performance as Martha in the original production of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" stunned audiences on Broadway and on the West End stage in London. The play won five Tony Awards, including best acting honors for Hagen and her co-star, Arthur Hill. Hagen was honored with a third Tony in 1999 for lifetime achievement. She also received the 2002 National Medal of the Arts and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

The legendary actress died on Jan. 14. Cause of death was not released. She was 84.

• Play List From IBDb.com

Molly Craig Kelly

Molly Craig Kelly, the Aboriginal heroine of the 2002 movie, "Rabbit Proof Fence," died in her sleep on Jan. 13. She was believed to be 87 years old.

In 1931, the Australian government instituted a policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents' custody in order to train them as domestic servants. When Molly was 14, she and her younger sister and cousin were taken from their home in Jigalong, Western Australia, and transplanted to an internment camp on the Moore River, north of Perth. The three girls escaped and spent nine weeks walking home -- a distance of more than 990 miles.

Nine years later, authorities transported Molly and her two daughters back to the Moore River Native Settlement. Molly managed to escape with 18-month-old Annabelle, but had to leave behind Doris, who was four.

The government removed Annabelle from Molly's care in 1943. She never saw her mother again.

Doris, however, was reunited with Molly in the 1960s and chronicled her mother's daring escape in the 1997 book, "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence." The story was later adapted into a film starring Kenneth Branagh and Evelyn Sampi.

"Mum's legacy is the calming influence and quiet dignity of the desert women, and the stolen generation's story. She looked you straight in the eye," Doris Pilkington Garimara said.

• Watch the Trailer for "Rabbit Proof Fence"

Steven Dorfman

Who was Steven Edward Dorfman?

He was a Detroit native, and a Wayne State University graduate. The day after he earned his communications and advertising degree, the game show aficionado moved to Los Angeles.

He became the longest-serving writer on the television game show, "Jeopardy!" For two decades, Dorfman wrote more than 50,000 answers in categories like "Crossword Clues," "Nuclear Physics" and "Stupid Answers." He won six Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding writing, and conceived of the show's special "Celebrity Jeopardy!" competitions.

Dorfman died on Jan. 4 from complications of cancer. He was 48.

Philip L. Geyelin

Philip L. Geyelin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, died on Jan. 9 from a heart attack. He was 80.

Geyelin graduated from Yale in 1943, and immediately joined the Marines to fight in World War II. He served at Iwo Jima where he watched members of his artillery unit die. The experience caused him to later describe war as "a ghastly business."

When he returned to the states, Geyelin spent a short time working for The Associated Press before moving on to The Wall Street Journal. During his 20-year tenure with the financial publication, he wrote hundreds of articles and ran its Paris and London bureaus.

In 1967, Geyelin joined the Washington Post as the deputy editor of the editorial page under J. Russell Wiggins, whose editorials supported the war in Vietnam. When Wiggins left the paper to become President Lyndon B. Johnson's ambassador to the United Nations, Geyelin took over the editorial page and altered its position on the war. He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1970.

After 11 years as editorial page editor, Geyelin became a syndicated foreign affairs columnist, specializing in civil liberties and Middle Eastern issues. He published the 1966 book, "Lyndon B. Johnson and the World," and co-wrote the 1983 text, "American Media: Adequate or Not?" with Douglass Cater. Geyelin was working on a book about King Hussein of Jordan when he died.

Francesco Scavullo

You've probably seen one of Scavullo's glamorous photographs.

The veteran fashion photographer spent 30 years shooting covers for Cosmopolitan magazine. He took portraits of beautiful celebrities and transformed images of children into photographic pieces of art.

The New York native was only a teenager when he landed a job assisting famed fashion photographer Horst P. Horst. Scavullo learned the craft of photography from his mentor, then opened his own studio. Over the next half-century, his pictures graced the pages of Vogue, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, Life, Time, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Harper's Bazaar. At one point, he charged as much as $10,000 for a single photo session.

Scavullo's images are part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. He also published six picture books.

Scavullo died on Jan. 6 from heart failure. He was 82.

John A. Gambling

John Alfred Gambling, the legendary host of the "Rambling With Gambling" radio show, died on Jan. 8 from heart failure. He was 73.

The news and talk program, which debuted in 1925 on New York radio station 710 WOR-AM, was originally hosted by his father, John Bradley Gambling. After graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in drama, John A. Gambling became the show's host in 1959. He entertained listeners during the morning drive time, six days a week, until his retirement in 1991.

"Rambling With Gambling" was listed in the Guinness World Records of 2003 as the "world's longest-running radio show." The top-rated program offered the first on-air broadcast of school closings and helicopter traffic reports. In a smooth baritone, Gambling also interviewed celebrities, politicians and other newsworthy people.

Gambling was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2000. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and his son, John R. Gambling, the host of "The John Gambling Show" on 770 WABC-AM.

• Listen to Samples From "Rambling With Gambling"

Harold Shipman

Harold Frederick Shipman, the 57-year-old serial killer known as "Dr. Death," was found hanging in his prison cell on Jan. 13. He was pronounced dead after resuscitation efforts failed.

When police first questioned Shipman about the excessive number of deaths at his practice, the northern England community of Hyde rallied around him. Many of his former patients described him as a kind, trustworthy doctor. However, when Shipman offered to give patients "something" to ease their pain, he would end their lives with a lethal injection of diamorphine.

Although he was convicted of 15 murders in 2000, a recent inquest revealed an even more horrific record. From 1975 to 1998, Shipman murdered more than 215 of his patients. Another 45 died under "suspicious" circumstances. During one execution, he used 12,000 milligrams of diamorphine; the amount was enough to kill more than 300 people. The majority of his victims were women, and the youngest was a 41-year-old man.

Shipman received 15 life sentences. He never offered a reason for committing his crimes, and until his own death, denied any role in the killings.

Shipman was found hanging from the window bars in his cell by his bed sheets. His death is currently under investigation.

• Complete Coverage of Shipman's Crime Spree

Patrick McGrady

Patrick M. McGrady Jr., the co-author of the best-selling book, "Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise," died on Dec. 12 from complications of knee replacement surgery. He was 71.

Written in 1979 with Nathan Pritikin, the book advocated eating high-carbohydrate, low-fat foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and pasta.

A Yale graduate who spoke five languages (English, Russian, German, French and Yiddish), McGrady also wrote three nonfiction books and co-authored "Life Zones" with Richard Corriere. He spent 30 years penning articles for the Chicago Sun-Times, The Associated Press and United Press International, and served as the Moscow bureau chief for Newsweek until President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

When his father, Pat McGrady Sr., died from colon cancer in 1979, McGrady founded CANHELP, a cancer treatment resource service that aids patients in finding research and therapies within and outside the boundaries of conventional medicine. He ran the organization for more than two decades, and made hundreds of appearances on radio and television.

Peter Cook

The Hooded Rapist is dead.

Peter Samuel Cook, a sexual deviant who obtained his moniker for wearing a bizarre, leather mask during the commission of his crimes, died in prison on Jan. 7 of natural causes. He was 75.

Over an eight-month period in 1974 and 1975, Cook broke into his victims' apartments, tied them up and sexually assaulted them. The attacks created an atmosphere of fear in Cambridge, and led to one of Britain's largest manhunts. He was captured when a police officer spotted him leaving the scene of an attack, riding a bicycle and wearing a long, blond wig. Inside his bag, authorities found the black leather mask, a bottle of ether, a crowbar, a torch and other burglary tools.

In 1975, Cook was convicted of raping six women, injuring two others and committing an act of gross indecency on a ninth woman. He received two life sentences.

Martin Sheridan

Martin Sheridan, a veteran war correspondent who survived one of the worst fires in American history, died on Dec. 31 from kidney failure. He was 89.

On Nov. 28, 1942, Sheridan was promoting cowboy movie star Buck Jones's appearance at the Cocoanut Grove club in Boston. Around 10 p.m., a 16-year-old bar boy working in the basement lit a match to screw in a light bulb. An artificial palm tree caught fire and within 15 minutes, the crowded nightclub was engulfed in flames.

Terror caused the crowds to rush the two exits, trampling on fellow patrons in their haste. A side door equipped with a panic lock wouldn't open, so the only available escape route was the club's main revolving door, which quickly jammed. The Cocoanut Grove fire killed 492 people, including Jones and Sheridan's wife, Constance Misslin. Sheridan was originally included in the death toll until he was found recuperating at Massachusetts General Hospital.

When the severe burns he sustained in the fire prevented him from enlisting in the Coast Guard, Sheridan became a war correspondent for the Boston Globe. His overseas reports included the aerial coverage of a deadly B-29 bombing raid on Tokyo. The only journalist embedded on a submarine patrol during World War II, Sheridan's experiences on the USS Bullhead were chronicled in the book, "Overdue and Presumed Lost." The Naval Institute Press will reissue the title in February.

When he returned to the states, Sheridan became a successful freelance writer. He interviewed numerous historical figures, such as President Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, Bob Hope, George Gershwin and Jacqueline Kennedy. The former First Lady spoke to Sheridan two days before her husband was assassinated. In 1973, Sheridan published "Comics and Their Creators: Life Stories of American Cartoonists." He also spent 20 years working in public relations for the Admiral Corp. and the New England Council.

Al Pugh

Alfred R. Pugh, the last known combat-wounded U.S. veteran of World War I, died on Jan. 7 from pneumonia. He was 108.

The Everett, Mass., native was born in 1895. He joined the Army in 1917 and served in France as an interpreter with the 77th Infantry Division. During the 1918 Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which was the final bloody battle of World War I, Pugh's lungs were seared by mustard gas. The injury knocked him unconscious, and later gave him a chronic case of laryngitis.

After the war, Pugh worked as a railroad telegraph operator and mailman and created the first Boy Scout troop in Maine. He was one of 10 veterans profiled in the book, "The Price of Their Blood: Profiles in Spirit," by Daniel Paisner, Lois Pope and Jesse Brown. In 1999, Pugh was named chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor for his service to the Republic of France.

When asked, Pugh often said that the key to a long life was to "keep breathing."

Yinka Dare

Yinka Dare, the New Jersey Nets' first-round draft pick in 1994, died on Jan. 9 from a heart attack due to an arrhythmia condition. The 32-year-old athlete was preparing breakfast after his morning workout when he collapsed.

Named Freshman of the Year by Sports Illustrated for 1992-93, the 7-foot, 265-pound Nigerian center led the George Washington Colonials to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under coach Mike Jarvis.

Dare's rookie campaign in the NBA, however, was a disappointment. He started 1994 on the injured list, played one game, and went back on the list when he underwent surgery to his knees. During his four seasons with the Nets, Dare played 110 games, and averaged only 2.1 points and 2.6 rebounds.

Brother Boniface Schnitzbauer

Brother Boniface Schnitzbauer, a Trappist monk who published a cookbook of his favorite recipes, died on Jan. 7. Cause of death was not released. He was 96.

Born William Schnitzbauer, he emigrated from Germany to America in 1929 and worked as a barber in Manhattan. During World War II, he served as a medic, then returned to New York to open a confectionary shop with his brother-in-law.

In 1952, something called Schnitzbauer to the Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, S.C. Although he had no baking experience when he arrived, he apprenticed with an older monk and became a master baker. His vegetarian dishes fed the Trappist Cistercian monks for more than 40 years. But his true passion was baking breads, cakes and pastries -- activities he treated as if they were sacraments.

"It was an art for him and a very sacred duty," Abbot Francis Kline said.

Schnitzbauer published the cookbook, "Baking With Brother Boniface," in 1997. It is the most popular text sold at the abbey gift shop.

• Schnitzbauer's Favorite Recipe: Pistachio Cake

Dorotha Randall Howe

When Coloradoans voted to deny Medicaid funding for abortions in 1984, Dorotha Randall Howe founded the Freedom Fund, a local program that helps poor women pay for the medical procedure. The fund, which is maintained by the First Universalist Church of Denver, aids more than 100 women a year.

As the owner of Abortion Information and Referral, Howe also spent a decade counseling thousands of women on their family planning options. For her many years of service to the community, she received the Faith and Freedom Award from the Colorado chapter of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in 1988, and the Clara Barton Award in 1997 from the Unitarian-Universalist Women's Federation.

"She did abortion counseling before abortion was legal. She wasn't a flag-waver, but she always was a feminist and was very interested in women's issues," said her daughter, Judith Howe Klopfer.

Howe died on Jan. 1. Cause of death was not released. She was 86.

Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell

Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, an education visionary who founded the first Public Broadcasting Service station in Washington D.C., died on Jan. 7. Cause of death was not released. She was 101.

Campbell graduated from Salem Academy and College in North Carolina, and earned a master's degree in education from Columbia University. She taught high school English at her alma mater for two years before being promoted to teach college level courses in English and literature. At 25, she became dean of the Moravian College for Women in Pennsylvania, then Mary Baldwin College in Virginia.

Concerned with the quality of public education, Campbell ran for Arlington County, Va.'s first elected school board. She won a seat in 1947, and spent three terms as the board's chairperson. At the time, she was the first and only woman in Virginia to serve in such a position.

As president of the Greater Washington Educational Television Association, Campbell filed the papers to the FCC requesting a license for UHF channel 26's airwaves. She testified before a Senate subcommittee in 1958 to show her support of the Magnuson bill, a piece of legislation that gave $1 million to the district and every state in the union to fund public broadcasting. She also lobbied Congress to require every television manufacturer to add a tuner that receives UHF frequencies.

On Oct. 2, 1961, WETA-TV 26, the capital's first public television station, went on the air. For the next three decades, Campbell worked relentlessly to drum up support and assistance for the station. Today, WETA has an operating budget of about $60 million and produces or co-produces a variety of public affairs shows, such as "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and "Washington Week in Review." WETA's radio station, 90.9 FM, debuted in 1970, and serves as the flagship public radio station for the district.

Campbell received numerous honors for her commitment to providing educational broadcasting to the public, including the Ralph Lowell Award, public television's highest honor. She was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian Magazine in 1978, and was the subject of the 1999 documentary, "Elizabeth Campbell: A Passion to Teach," which was nominated for a local Emmy Award. In 2002, Campbell was inducted into the Association for Women in Communication Hall of Fame.

• Campbell's Message to WETA Viewers

Joan Aiken

Joan Delano Aiken, an award-winning author who wrote more than 90 novels, died on Jan. 4. Cause of death was not released. She was 79.

The daughter of American writer Conrad Aiken, Joan was reportedly born in a haunted house in Rye, Sussex, England. As a child, she spent a great deal of time alone, taking walks and making up stories. She began writing these fanciful tales when she was five and penned a children's story for the BBC's "Children's Hour" when she was only 16. Aiken developed her writing skills with the BBC and the Information Ministry during and just after World War II. She married and bore two children, but when her husband, journalist Ronald George Brown, died, she returned to writing as a means of supporting her family.

Aiken worked as a features editor for Argosy magazine and a copywriter for an advertising agency while writing plays, poems and short stories in her spare time. In 1953, she published "All You've Ever Wanted and Other Stories," a collection that was illustrated by Pat Marriott. Aiken and Marriott would eventually work on many books together, including her most famous tale, "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase." The suspenseful story of two girls who are besieged by lupine and human predators was published in 1962, won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and spawned the "Wolves Chronicles."

Over the next 30 years, Aiken produced dozens of novels, short story collections and plays. She wrote the humorous adventure series, "Arabel's Raven," which was adapted for television by the BBC, and two Jane Austin sequels ("Mansfield Revisited," "Jane Fairfax: Jane Austen's Emma Through Another's Eyes"). In 1970, she won the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her juvenile mystery, "Night Fall." Queen Elizabeth II recognized her contributions to children's literature in 1999 by making her a member of the Order of the British Empire.

Aiken's final book, "The Witch of Clatteringshaws," is scheduled for publication next year.

• Bibliography

Tip Anderson

Whenever Arnold Palmer competed in the British Open, he used James "Tip" Anderson as his caddie.

As a child, Anderson loved to play golf. He won the St. Andrews Boys' Open Championship and the Fife Boys' championship title in 1948, then apprenticed as a clubmaker with Tom Stewart of the famous Pipe brand. After completing his national service in the army, Anderson returned to clubmaking, but in the mid-1950s decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a full-time caddie.

Palmer had already won the Masters and U.S. Open in 1960 when he was paired with Anderson for the British Open at St. Andrews in Scotland. Although he finished second, Palmer decided to use Tip as his caddie in the British Open every time he played. He won the prestigious competition in 1961 and 1962.

Anderson, who was inducted into the Professional Caddie Association's Hall of Fame in 2000, died on Jan. 2. Cause of death was not released. He was 71.

"It is so sad to know that my old friend, Tip Anderson, is gone. Tip was the epitome of the Old World caddie -- a man of few words, wry Scottish wit, loyal, punctual and, of course, very good at what he did," Palmer said.

Lewis Allen

Lewis Maitland Allen Jr., the Tony Award-winning producer of "Annie," died on Dec. 8 from pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

Allen graduated from the University of Virginia, then served as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service in Africa and Europe during World War II. While overseas, Allen met producer Robert Whitehead. He joined Whitehead's New York office in 1950 and worked his way up from being a gofer to the assistant managing director of the ANTA Play Series. By 1960, he and Dana Hodgdon had founded their own production company, Allen-Hodgdon, Inc.

For the next 30 years, Allen produced plays on- and off-Broadway. He took a regional production of "Annie," paired it with producer/director Mike Nichols and backed the Broadway musical which opened in 1977 and ran for six years. "Annie," originally starring Andrea McArdle, Reid Shelton and Dorothy Loudon, earned Allen his first Tony Award.

Numerous other successful productions followed, including a revival of "The Iceman Cometh" with Jason Robards and the Tommy Tune musical, "My One and Only." Allen also won Tonys for his productions of Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport" in 1986, and Terrence McNally's "Master Class" in 1996.

Married to playwright Jay Presson Allen, he also produced a dozen films, most notably "Fahrenheit 451" and both the 1963 and 1990 versions of "Lord of the Flies."

• Play List From IBDb

Enric Bernat Fontlladosa

Enric Bernat Fontlladosa, the Catalan creator of the world-famous Chupa Chups lollipop, died on Dec. 27. Cause of death was not released. He was 80.

A third-generation candy maker, Bernat took over an ailing Spanish confectioner, renamed it Chupa Chups and cancelled most of its 200 other products in order to focus on one item: the lollipop. The flower-shaped candy on a stick debuted in 1958 featuring a logo designed by artist Salvador Dali.

To tempt children, Chupa Chups asked shopkeepers to place the lollipops near the cash register. At the time, candy was kept in glass jars behind the counters. The new product placement worked. Within five years, Chupa Chups lollipops were sold at more than 300,000 outlets in Spain.

In the 1980s, Chupa Chups began selling the candy all over the world. Today, 90 percent of its sales are abroad. Factories in five countries produce 4 billion lollipops a year. They're available in 50 flavors.

Scott Carlson

Scott Carlson was working as a systems software engineer and training for a triathlon in 1997 when he felt an odd twinge in his right shoulder. His thumb and hand grew weak, then it became difficult for him to hold up his head. Doctors diagnosed him with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disease which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The Rhode Island man read up on ALS and learned some terrifying facts. He would no longer be able to ski or play the guitar. His body would soon be unable to eat, walk or breathe on its own. Worst of all, ALS is fatal and there is no cure. Although physicist Stephen Hawking is a notable exception, most people only live for two to five years after the symptoms first manifest.

As the disease ravaged his body, Carlson vowed to live life to the fullest. He married his girlfriend, Hillary J. Phipps, and sponsored athletic events to raise money to fight ALS. He also spoke at schools to raise awareness of the disease. He told students to set goals and to believe in themselves despite the setbacks they inevitably will face.

Carlson died on Dec. 2. He was 39.

Paul Hopkins

Paul Henry Hopkins, the oldest living major league baseball player, died on Jan. 2. Cause of death was not released. He was 99.

Four months after Hopkins graduated from Colgate University, he was called to Yankee Stadium. There he made his major league debut pitching for the Washington Senators on Sept. 29, 1927. It was the fifth inning and the bases were loaded when Hopkins took the mound. Three balls and two strikes later, Babe Ruth hit his record-tying 59th homer of the season off Hopkins' slow curve ball.

Playing for the Senators and the St. Louis Browns, Hopkins pitched only 10 more games in the major leagues. The right-hander pulled a tendon in 1929 and retired with a career record of 1-1. Hopkins then returned to his native Connecticut, and became an executive for Shawmut Bank. He also dedicated a statue of Ruth outside the Orioles' Camden Yards and appeared in an ESPN documentary.

• Statistics From Baseball-Reference.com

Hope Stout

Hope Elizabeth Stout was a 12-year-old girl who truly lived up to her name. As she lay dying of bone cancer, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Western North Carolina offered to make one of her wishes come true.

Hope wished for 155 other kids to get their wishes.

On Dec. 19, The Charlotte Observer wrote a story about the seventh-grader. It was picked up by national media outlets, and aired on ABC during last Saturday's NFL playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys. The foundation estimates it will take $1 million to honor Hope's wish. So far, more than $500,000 has been collected.

In June 2003, Hope went to the doctor complaining of persistent knee pain. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that strikes children between the ages of 10 and 20. For months, she endured aggressive forms of treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation. Then on Jan. 4, Hope died. The kind, redheaded girl loved kittens, basketball, stuffed animals and cheerleading.

Tug McGraw

Frank Edwin McGraw Jr., the relief pitcher who helped the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies capture World Series championships, died on Jan. 6 from brain cancer. He was 59.

"Tug" played baseball and football at Vallejo Junior College in California before signing with the Mets in 1965. He spent 19 years pitching in the National League, except for most of the 1967 season and all of 1968, when he was in the minors.

A left-hander with a wicked screwball, McGraw saved 12 games and posted a 9-3 record in 1969, the year the Mets shocked the baseball world by winning the World Series. Four years later, he helped the team climb from last place to first in the National League East Division before reaching the World Series. McGraw coined the team's battle cry that year when he said, "You Gotta Believe!" The Mets came within one game of beating the Oakland Athletics.

Concerned about his torn shoulder muscle, the Mets traded McGraw to Philadelphia, where he pitched from 1975 to 1984. In 1980, he took the Phillies to the World Series, and in the bottom of the ninth of the final game, with bases loaded, he struck out Willie Wilson of Kansas City. The two-time All-Star had a career record of 96-92 with a 3.14 ERA and 180 saves.

After his retirement from baseball in 1984, McGraw became a public speaker and a television sports reporter. He also wrote three children's books and narrated "Casey at the Bat" with the Philadelphia Pops. In March, Tug’s memoirs, "Ya Gotta Believe!: My Roller-Coaster Ride as a Screwball Pitcher, Part-Time Father and Hope-Filled Brain Tumor Survivor," will be published by New American Library. McGraw is survived by his daughter and three sons, including country music star Tim McGraw.

• Statistics From Baseball-Reference.com

Cresson Kearny

If you wanted to know how to survive a nuclear war, all you had to do was ask Cresson H. Kearny. He wrote the book on it.

An expert on jungle warfare, Kearny penned the best-selling text, "Nuclear War Survival Skills," in 1979. The book included instructions on how to build a fallout shelter and a homemade radiation meter. In 1987, it was updated and expanded to include a foreword by Edward Teller, the father of the H-bomb.

Kearny graduated from Princeton University with a degree in civil engineering, and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He took a job with the Standard Oil Company of Venezuela after graduation, and conducted geological exploration work deep in the jungles of South America and Southeast Asia. In the 1940s, Kearny was assigned to Panama as the jungle experiment officer of the Panama Mobile Force. There he tested the military's specialized equipment for use in combat.

After he returned to the states, Kearny worked as a research analyst at the Hudson Institute. He later joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he designed do-it-yourself shelters, and edited a translation of the most comprehensive Soviet handbook on civil defense.

During the Vietnam War, Kearney again tested the military's combat equipment for jungle readiness. In 1972, he received the Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service from the U.S. Army.

Kearny died on Dec. 18. Cause of death was not released. He was 89.

Doc Counsilman

James E. "Doc" Counsilman, the Indiana University swim coach who led the team to six NCAA championships, died on Jan. 4. Cause of death was not released. He was 83.

Counsilman grew up in St. Louis and taught himself to swim in a local fish hatchery. While attending Ohio State, he swam for the Buckeyes and set world records in the 50-meter and 300-yard breaststroke events. His collegiate career was interrupted in 1943 when he was called to serve in the Army Air Corps.

During World War II, Counsilman flew B-24 bombers on 33 missions with the 15th Air Force. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery when he managed to safely land his crippled plane in Yugoslavia, saving the lives of all 10 men on board.

Upon returning to the states, Counsilman earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in physiology from the University of Iowa. He became the assistant coach of the Indiana University men's swim team in 1957, and was promoted to head coach a year later. Over the next 33 years, he guided the Hoosiers to 20 consecutive Big 10 titles and six straight national championships (1968 to 1974). He coached 48 Olympians, who went on to win 48 medals (17 gold, 18 silver and 13 bronze).

Counsilman published several books, including the 1968 text, "The Science of Swimming,'' and was the subject of a documentary. But perhaps his greatest personal accomplishment was attained in 1979 when Counsilman became the oldest man to swim the English Channel. He was 58 at the time, and made the trip in 13 hours, 7 minutes.

• Listen to Bob Costas Discuss Counsilman

Brian Gibson

Brian Gibson, an award-winning film and television director, died on Jan. 4 from Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He was 59.

Gibson graduated from Cambridge University and spent the 1960s shooting scientific documentaries for the BBC. In 1976, he directed Dennis Potter's screenplay, "Where Adam Stood,'' which was based on the autobiography of Christian fundamentalist Edmund Gosse. Gibson and Potter later collaborated on the film, "Blue Remembered Hills,'' which won the British Film and Television Arts awards for best director and best film.

In 1980, Gibson directed his first feature film, "Breaking Glass." The story of a punk rock singer was no box office hit, but it led to job offers from Hollywood. For the next two decades, he would helm several major motion pictures, including "Poltergeist II" and "The Juror."

His HBO film, "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story," was nominated in 1989 for several Golden Globe and Emmy awards. The 1991 TV movie, "The Josephine Baker Story,'' earned Gibson an Emmy for best director. And in 1993, he directed "What's Love Got to Do With It?" the biopic of singer Tina Turner, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. Both actors received Oscar nominations for their performances.

The last movie Gibson directed was the 1998 parody, "Still Crazy in London." The small budget, independent film starred Bill Nighy and Billy Connolly, and received several Golden Globe nominations. Gibson also served as executive producer of the biopic, "Frida." Salma Hayek earned an Oscar nomination in 2002 for her performance in the film as tortured artist Frida Kahlo.

Charles Dumas

At the 1956 Olympic Trials in Los Angeles, Charles Dumas took a running start, leaped into the air and hurled his body over a thin bar. Amazingly, he jumped seven feet and one half inch and became the first athlete to ever reach that height during competition.

Dumas followed the record-breaking feat by winning a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics. Four years later, he placed sixth in the high jump competition at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

An injured knee forced Dumas to retire from the sport, so he became a teacher and a high school track coach. For his high jump accomplishments, he was featured on a stamp in 1979, and inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1990.

Dumas died on Jan. 5 from cancer. He was 66.

Robert DeWitt

Rev. Robert L. DeWitt, the former bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania who was censured for ordaining women into the priesthood two years before the Episcopal Church authorized it, died on Nov. 21 of congestive heart failure. He was 87.

DeWitt graduated from Amherst College in 1937, attended the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and was ordained in 1940. He spent four years as the suffragan bishop in Michigan before being elected bishop coadjutor of the Pennsylvania diocese in 1964. Two weeks into the job, his predecessor died, making DeWitt the youngest person to be elected bishop in that diocese.

For the next decade, DeWitt was a tireless advocate of civil rights. He demonstrated for racial equality and protested against the Vietnam War. Then in 1974, he and two other bishops ordained 11 women into the priesthood at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. Done without official authorization, the Episcopal Church of the United States censured DeWitt and his colleagues, Bishop Edward Welles of Missouri and Bishop Daniel Corrigan of California. Church leaders also threatened to excommunicate the women. After two years of fierce debate, however, the ordinations of the "Philadelphia 11" were declared valid in 1976.

DeWitt retired from the church, and spent several years working as the editor of The Witness, and as president of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company. In 2001, he published "Ebb Tide," a book describing his wife's battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Renata Babak

Renata Babak was an internationally renowned mezzo-soprano with the Bolshoi Opera when she defected from the Soviet Union in 1973.

While performing with the opera company in Milan, Babak donned a wig and dark sunglasses and slipped out of the hotel lobby. She immigrated to Canada and spent two years hiding from authorities. When she returned to public life, Babak spoke out against Russia's repression of artists.

Babak moved to New York in 1975, and made her U.S. debut to a standing room-only audience at Carnegie Hall. From there, the Ukrainian-born singer traveled to Washington D.C. to work with George London, the general director of the Washington Opera.

"At her best Renata Babak is, in my opinion, one of the supreme operatic artists in the world," he once said. When London was disabled by a stroke, Babak joined the faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music as a teacher of voice, opera and diction. She became a U.S. citizen in 1993 and gave recitals for another decade. Her last opera was in 1997 when she performed in Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta" with Opera Camerata of Washington.

Babak died on Dec. 31 from pancreatic cancer. She was 69.

• Sound Clips of Babak in Concert

John Gregory Dunne

John Gregory Dunne, a best-selling author and screenwriter, died on Dec. 30 from a heart attack. He was 71.

To cope with a childhood stuttering problem, Dunne began to write. After graduating from Princeton University in 1954, and doing a short stint in the Army, he moved to New York City to become a journalist for Time Magazine. During the 1960s, Dunne followed Chicano labor leader Cesar Chavez's travels through California to write "Delano: The Story of the California Grape Strike." He then spent a year doing research at 20th Century Fox for "The Studio," his first of many books about Hollywood.

He and his wife, author Joan Didion, became screenwriters in the 1970s, and together penned "A Star Is Born," "Panic in Needle Park" and "Up Close and Personal." They also teamed up to write the screenplay for "True Confessions," which was based on Dunne's 1977 best-selling novel about a woman's brutal murder. His latest novel, "Nothing Lost," will be published in May.

Dunne followed the success of "True Confessions'' with several critically acclaimed novels, including "The Red White and Blue" and "Playland." He published "Harp" and "Vegas," two semiautobiographical books about his life, work and travels, and frequently contributed literary critiques to The New York Review of Books.

The Dunne family is rather famous in American entertainment circles. John was the uncle of actress Dominique Dunne and actor/director Griffin Dunne, and the younger brother of author Dominick Dunne.

Terry Lester

Terry Lester, an actor who was best known for his appearances on daytime soap operas, died on Nov. 28. Cause of death was not released. He was 53.

Although he broke into show business as an extra in the movie, "Airport," Lester became a star in the 1980s playing Jack Abbot on "The Young & the Restless." He received four consecutive Emmy nominations (1984-1987) for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance on the show.

Lester spent a year as Mason Capwell on "Santa Barbara," for which he earned a Soap Opera Award Nomination in 1991 for Outstanding Supercouple with actress Nancy Lee Grahn (Julia Capwell). He later played Royce Keller for one season on "As The World Turns." During his three-decade career in Hollywood, Lester also made guest appearances on numerous TV shows, including "Dallas," "Star Trek: Voyager," "JAG" and "Walker, Texas Ranger."

"He was a terrific singer, a great actor and a first-rate human being. He will be deeply missed," said actor Lane Davies.

Bob Monkhouse

Robert Alan Monkhouse, one of Britain's best known comedians and game show hosts, died on Dec. 29 from prostate cancer. He was 75.

Monkhouse was the class clown at Dulwich College. His parents hoped he would join the family's custard business, but Bob and his friend Denis Goodwin had other plans. The duo became a crack writing team, penning jokes for comedians like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lewis. The partnership would last for more than 30 years, until Goodwin committed suicide in 1975.

Monkhouse self-published his own comic strip and spent a brief time working as an animator with the Walt Disney studios in London before doing his National Service with the Royal Air Force. After returning to civilian life, he became a full-time radio gag writer and stand-up comedian, appearing in revue with his close friend and mentor Benny Hill before breaking into television.

For nearly half a century, Monkhouse entertained viewers of the BBC and ITV as the host of popular TV game shows. He fronted more than 30 different programs, including "Celebrity Squares," "The Golden Shot," "Family Fortunes," "The $64,000 Question" and "Bob's Your Uncle."

Off-screen, Monkhouse performed in 150 cabaret and stand-up gigs each year. In 1993, he published his autobiography, "Crying With Laughter," and was honored with the Order of the British Empire. Last year, the Television and Radio Industries Club gave him a lifetime achievement award.

• Famous Monkhouse One-Liners

John Pridonoff

Based on his experiences as a grief and crisis counselor, John A. Pridonoff was convinced that people with terminal illnesses should have the right to end their own lives.

"I have been faced too many times with instances of people dying, stripped of their dignity, integrity and sense of self-respect. It's not that I feel terminally ill people should do this but that terminally ill should be able to discuss this without the intrusion of organized religion or organized government beyond the appropriate safety structures within the law," he once told the Los Angeles Times.

Pridonoff earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles, and received a doctorate in thanatology and a master's in theology from the Colgate Rochester Divinity School in New York. After he was ordained as a minister in the Congregationalist Christian Church, he became a volunteer counselor and chaplain at Grossmont Hospital in San Diego.

For a quarter of a century, Pridonoff worked as the executive director of The Counseling Center in San Diego, a nonprofit organization that provides trauma, grief and crisis counseling to medical professionals. He also edited The Forum, the Association for Death Education and Counseling's quarterly newsletter.

Then in 1992, Pridonoff was selected to be the new executive director of the Hemlock Society, an organization that lobbies for right-to-die laws for the terminally ill. During his three-year tenure, he pushed for a constitutional amendment permitting "death with dignity," and fought for the passage of Oregon's assisted suicide law. Oregon is the only state in America that allows physician-assisted suicide.

Pridonoff died on Nov. 24 from heart failure. He was 62.

[Update - Aug. 17, 2008 - Age has been corrected.]

David Bale

South African-born entrepreneur David Bale was both a commercial pilot and a skateboard importer, but he was best known as a passionate activist of human and animal rights.

Bale used his piloting skills to provide air rescue and food supplies to needy communities in Africa. He served as a board member of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, an organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of gorillas; and supported the Ark Trust, an animal rights group that recently became the Hollywood office of the Humane Society of the United States. In 2002, Bale exposed how marine scientists were cruelly branding seals for tracking purposes on the syndicated television show, "Celebrity Justice."

"David went through the world with few possessions and great empathy for all living things. He had the greatest heart of anyone I've ever known," stated his wife, feminist author Gloria Steinem.

Bale, 62, died on Dec. 30 from brain lymphoma. He leaves behind four children, including actor Christian Bale.

Phil Goldman

Phil Goldman, the CEO of Mailblocks and the co-founder of WebTV, died on Dec. 24. Cause of death was not released. He was 39.

In 1986, Goldman graduated at the top of his class with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University. An engineer who worked for Apple Computer and Microsoft Corp., Goldman held 19 U.S. patents, including #6,141,693, which involved the design of an apparatus for extracting digital data from a video stream for display on a TV.

Five years after this patent was approved, Goldman and former Apple colleagues Steve Perlman and Bruce Leak, co-founded WebTV Networks, a company that offered consumers the ability to surf the Internet using their television sets. Microsoft bought WebTV in 1997 for $425 million, and changed its name to MSN TV. Goldman then founded Mailblocks in 2002, a Web-based e-mail service touted for its spam-blocking capabilities.

When he wasn't inventing new computer technologies, Goldman served on the board of BraveKids, a charity that uses computers and the Internet to help the families of children with chronic or life threatening illnesses. He was also the youngest alumnus to create an endowed chair at Princeton.

Gerald Gutierrez

Gerald Gutierrez, a Tony Award-winning director, died at the end of December of respiratory complications from the flu. He was 53.

The New York City native graduated from the Juilliard Drama Division and became a member of The Acting Company. He appeared in numerous plays, including "Edward II,'' "Three Sisters" and "The Cradle Will Rock." In the early 1980s, Gutierrez found his true calling when he started directing plays rather than performing in them. Off-Broadway, he was best known for directing comedian Wendy Wasserstein's one-woman show, "Isn't It Romantic."

His first attempts on Broadway did not fare well. "The Curse of the Aching Heart" ran a few times in 1982. Its follow-up, "Little Johnny Jones," closed after only one performance. Gutierrez took a brief detour away from the theatre to attend law school and apprentice at a landmark Brooklyn restaurant, then returned to the stage to direct more than a dozen Broadway plays.

Gutierrez won back-to-back Tony Awards in 1995 and 1996 for his direction of revivals of "The Heiress" and "A Delicate Balance." With Phyllis, his Yorkshire terrier, by his side, he became a mainstay at the Lincoln Center Theater. Other honors Gutierrez received included two Drama Desk Awards, two Cullman Awards and the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Award.

Anita Mui

Anita Mui, the Canto-pop diva of Hong Kong, died on Dec. 30 from cervical cancer. She was 40.

Mui was only five years old when she began singing Chinese opera and pop songs. She dropped out of junior high school to spend several years performing in bars and nightclubs. Her big break came in 1982 when she defeated 3,000 contestants to win first prize in the New Talent Singing Competition. Her deep voice and soulful delivery earned her a string of Cantonese hits ("Homecoming," "Bad Girl"), but it was her flamboyant on-stage persona and frequent, trendsetting makeovers that earned her a reputation as "the Madonna of Asia."

An equally impressive actress, Mui appeared in dozens of films, including "Rumble in the Bronx," "The Heroic Trio" and "Drunken Master 2." Her portrayal of a tortured ghost in the movie, "Rouge," earned her Taiwan's Golden Horse Award and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress in 1987.

The superstar also had a philanthropic side. She established the Anita Mui Charity Foundation in the early 1990s, and organized the 1:99 Concert in Hong Kong in 2003 to help raise spirits and money for families affected by the SARS outbreak. Last month, she published the book, "The Heart of the Modern Woman (Nu Ren De Xin)," to raise funds for the Children's Cancer Foundation.

"Instant shining is not eternity. Show business is a hard life. I wonder how many people will remember me after I leave the business for good. My hope is that when they feel bored and look at the stars in the sky, people will think of my name," Mui once said.

Faye Copeland

Faye Copeland, a convicted killer who was once the oldest woman on death row in America, died of natural causes on Dec. 30 at a Missouri nursing home where she had been released on medical parole. She was 82.

In the late 1980s, Ray and Faye Copeland used drifters in a scheme to buy cattle with bad checks. The transients were then shot in the back of the head and buried in shallow graves near the Copeland farm, north of Kansas City.

At trial, Faye's defense was that her husband had committed the killings without her knowledge, claiming she was both a bystander and a victim of battered woman syndrome. As evidence of her guilt, prosecutors presented a list, written in her hand, that included at least five of the victims' names. She also stitched a quilt made from the clothing of the murdered men. In 1990, the jury found her guilty of five counts of first degree murder.

Copeland and her husband were sentenced to death by lethal injection. She was the oldest woman on death row until a federal court commuted her sentence in 1999 to life in prison. While awaiting execution, Ray Copeland died at the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri in 1993. He was 73.

• Comic Book Based on the Copeland Murders

Yoshio Shirai

Yoshio Shirai, the first Japanese boxer to be crowned a world champion, died on Dec. 26 from pneumonia. He was 80.

Shirai was 19 years old when he made his professional boxing debut at the Kendokai boxing gym in 1943. He won his first eight matches before he was drafted to serve in the Imperial Japanese Navy's air group.

After World War II ended, Shirai returned to competitive boxing. In 1949, he became the Flyweight Champion of Japan when he knocked out Yoichiro Hanada, who had held the title for 15 years. Later that year, Shirai defeated Hiroshi Horiguchi, and was named Japan's Bantamweight Champion.

At the 1952 World Flyweight Championship in Tokyo, Shirai fought American boxer Dado Marino, and won on a decision, making him the first Japanese to become the Flyweight Champion of the World. He successfully defended the title four times before losing by a huge margin to Pascual Perez, an unbeaten ex-Olympic gold medalist from Argentina.

Shirai retired from the sport in 1955 when Perez knocked him out during a rematch. His career record was 46-8-4, with 18 KOs. In 2002, he received The World Boxing Council's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Isabelle Stevenson

Isabelle Stevenson, a dancer who became one of the theatre world's most committed advocates, died on Dec. 28. Cause of death was not released. She was 90.

Described in the French press as the "blond Josephine Baker," Stevenson made her New York debut in "Earl Carroll's Vanities," a musical-theater revue that rivaled the Ziegfield Follies. She toured the United States and Europe, and studied both journalism at New York University, and fashion/costume design at the Traphegan School of Design.

In 1966, Stevenson became president of the American Theatre Wing, a not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting excellence in the American theatre. During her 33-year tenure, she initiated many educational programs, including "Introduction to Broadway," which grants high school students access to Broadway shows, and "Theatre in Schools," a program that sends professionals to high schools to talk about their craft. Stevenson also created, produced and hosted "Working in the Theatre," a long-running seminar show that airs five times a week on CUNY-TV. She was named chairman of the board in 1998.

The elegantly attired doyenne of the Tonys would appear on the award show each year to explain the workings of the American Theatre Wing to the television audience. In 1999, Stevenson received a special lifetime achievement Tony Award for her work. She also received The Elizabeth Chapin Award for Volunteers in the Arts, and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2001. To honor her memory, the marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed on Dec. 30.

• Past Episodes of "Working in the Theatre"