The Blog of Death

Gardner Botsford

During his 37 years as a senior editor at The New Yorker, Gardner Botsford blue-penciled nonfiction articles by some of the best writers in the country: Roger Angell, Janet Flanner, Wolcott Gibbs, A.J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, Mollie Panter-Downes and Janet Malcolm, who later became his wife.

The son of heiress Ruth Gardner and journalist Alfred Miller Botsford, Gardner was raised in Manhattan's high society. When his parents divorced and his mother remarried, she wed yeast heir Raoul Fleishmann, whose family financed The New Yorker.

Botsford attended Yale University then landed a job at the magazine as a reporter. He was soon fired by editor Harold Ross and encouraged to obtain more journalism experience elsewhere. Botsford took this advice and acquired a reporting position with The Jacksonville Journal in Florida. He returned to The New Yorker in 1942 as a Talk of the Town reporter.

Later that same year, Botsford was drafted into the U.S. Army. He landed with the First Infantry Division at Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. During his service in the military, Botsford received two war wounds and the Croix de Guerre medal. He returned to The New Yorker after World War II ended and retired in 1982.

Botsford was married twice, first to Katharine Chittendon, who died in 1974, and then to author Janet Malcolm. During his later years, he collected books with unusual titles and penned his memoirs, "A Life of Privilege, Mostly."

Botsford died on Sept. 27 of bone marrow disease. He was 87.

Dee Bickley

Donietta "Dee" Bickley believed in keeping her mind active and exercising regularly. She didn't own a car so she walked everywhere -- to the grocery store, to her sister's house and to classes she audited through the Golden Identification program at the University of Maryland.

In 1982, Bickley participated in a 25-mile walk to raise money for the March of Dimes. But when the organizers of the event reduced the distance from 25 miles to six, Bickley decided to train for a marathon. With coaching from her son Jack, the 4-foot-10-inch athlete walked and/or ran four to 12 miles a day.

Bickley was 72 years old when she ran her first Marine Corps marathon. Until an illness slowed her down in 1998, she ran eight more and was a nationally ranked runner in her age group. Her best time was 5 hours, 43 minutes.

Born in Pietracamela, Italy, Bickley immigrated to America with her mother when she was 3 months old. She attended Thompson's Business College and worked as a secretary to the president of the Woodward & Lothrop department store in Washington D.C.

Her husband, James I. Bickley, was a mechanical engineer in the U.S. Air Force. When he was posted in Libya, she traveled overseas with him and served as a secretary with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Tripoli. Bickley also spent three years at the International School of Milan and 18 months in Rome before returning to the states. In her spare time, she volunteered at the University of Maryland and the Kennedy Center.

Bickley died on Sept. 2 of septicemia. She was 89.

Skeeter Davis

Skeeter Davis, a Grammy-nominated singer and veteran of the Grand Ole Opry, died on Sept. 19 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 73.

Born Mary Frances Penick in Dry Ridge, Ky., she adopted the name Skeeter Davis in high school after a fateful meeting with Betty Jack Davis. The girls formed an act called "The Davis Sisters" and signed a recording contract with RCA Records. The duo topped the charts in 1953 with the song "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know." Their taste of fame was short-lived, however; in August of that year, Betty was killed in a car accident. Skeeter was also injured in the crash, but continued the act with Betty's sister Georgie until 1956.

Davis then moved to Nashville and hooked up with producer Chet Atkins. She came into her own as a solo artist in 1958 when her song "Lost to a Geisha Girl" reached No. 15 on Billboard's country singles chart. The next year, Davis joined the Grand Ole Opry and earned the first of five Grammy nominations she would receive during her four-decade performing career.

Although she recorded the popular pop/country songs "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too" and "Gonna Get Along Without You Now," Davis' biggest crossover hit was the 1962 ballad "The End of the World." The track reached No. 2 on the country chart, No. 1 on Billboard's adult contemporary chart, No. 2 on the Hot 100 and No. 4 on the R&B list. In 1973, she was temporarily suspended from the Opry for publicly criticizing the Nashville police for arresting a group of religious zealots at a local mall.

Davis married and divorced three times, first to Kenneth Depew, then to Ralph Emery (a disk jockey and host of the TV show "Nashville Now") and finally to bassist Joey Spampinato. She penned her autobiography, "Bus Fare to Kentucky," in 1993, and co-wrote the children's book, "The Christmas Note," with Cathie Pelletier in 1997.

Download "The End of the World"

Download "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know"

Tamas Szechy

Tamas Szechy, Hungary's most successful swim coach, died on Sept. 13. Cause of death was not released. He was 73.

Szechy coached a competitive program at the Central Sports Club in Budapest. He worked with the country's best swimmers, such as Tamas Darnyi, Krisztina Egerszeg, Norbert Rozsa and Attila Czene. Between 1972 and 1998, athletes he trained won 15 Olympic medals (eight gold, four silver and three bronze) and 21 world championship medals.

Szechy also developed a three-macrocycle training program that is used by swim coaches all over the world. The first macrocycle (September to December) involves enhancing the physical capabilities of the athlete. This usually requires various cross-training exercises. Macrocycle No. 2 (January to April) targets quickness and endurance; during this time, the swimmer works on his/her primary stroke. In the final macrocycle (May to August), the athlete prepares for competition with the ultimate goal of breaking old swim records.

Fred Ebb

Fred Ebb, a Tony Award-winning lyricist, died on Sept. 11 of a heart attack. He was believed to be 76.

A native New Yorker, Ebb attended New York University and Columbia University then broke into show business as a writer for nightclub acts and revues. Music publisher Tommy Valando paired him with composer John Kander in 1962 -- an introduction that would spark a four-decade collaboration.

In 1965, producer Harold Prince and veteran director George Abbott hired Ebb and Kander to write the score for "Flora, the Red Menace." The show was not a success, but it led to another gig -- writing the lyrics and music for a musical called "Cabaret." After opening in 1966, "Cabaret" ran for 1,165 performances. The songwriting duo won a Tony Award for the score; the original cast recording nabbed a Grammy; and the 1972 movie version netted eight Oscars.

Their work on "Chicago" received moderate acclaim when the show first ran on Broadway in 1975, but its revival 20 years later was a hit. "Chicago" is still running at the Ambassador Theatre and recently passed 3,250 performances. In 2003, the film adaptation won six Academy Awards, including best picture.

Ebb and Kander collaborated on nine other Broadway musicals, and scored Tonys for "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Woman of the Year." They also composed the song, "New York, New York" for the 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name. The song became a standard after both Frank Sinatra and Liza Minelli recorded it.

Over the course of their careers, Ebb and Kander received numerous honors, including the Laurence Oliver Theatre Award and the Kennedy Center Honors. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983. On Sept. 14, the lights on Broadway dimmed in Ebb's honor.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Download "All That Jazz" (From "Chicago")

Download "New York, New York"

Download "Cabaret" (From "Cabaret")

Alva Temple

Col. Alva Temple, a Mississippi veteran who flew 120 missions during World War II, died on Aug. 28. Cause of death was not released. He was 86.

A member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, Temple was one of the first black combat pilots in U.S. military history. He served in Italy, France and the Balkans with the 99th Pursuit Squadron during World War II. Only 992 black pilots graduated from the experimental training program at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Ala. These airmen were known as "Red Tails" for the color painted on the rear section of their planes.

Born in Carrollton, Ala., Temple studied agricultural education at Alabama A&M University. After the war, he enjoyed a two-decade career in the U.S. Air Force. Temple retired from the service in 1962, and ran a gas station in Columbus, Miss.

Russ Meyer

Russell Albion Meyer, a filmmaker who pioneered the sexploitation genre, died on Sept. 18 from complications of pneumonia. He was 82.

Known as ''Breastman Extraordinaire'' and ''King Leer," Meyer wrote, produced, edited and directed nearly two-dozen soft-core classics. These violent, X-rated skinflicks featured large-breasted women and very little sex, but were frequently censored for being pornographic or obscene. At the same time, his work was honored at film festivals around the world and discussed in university film classes. It also inspired a wide variety of filmmakers, from Quentin Tarantino and John Waters to John Landis and Jonathan Demme.

Over the course of his four-decade career, Meyer released movies with titles like "Heavenly Bodies," "The Immoral Mr. Teas," "Mudhoney," "Supervixens" and "Wild Gals of the Naked West." In 1970, he directed the mainstream film, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," which was co-written by Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert. But Meyer will be remembered most for "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" a 1965 picture one San Francisco Chronicle critic labeled "the worst film ever made." Despite this review, and poor box office returns, "Faster Pussycat" became a cult classic on the art-house circuit, and the name of a 1980s metal band.

The California native started making 8mm films when he was a teenager. During World War II, Meyer served as a combat newsreel cameraman in France and Germany with the Army Signal Corps. He became a freelance photographer when he returned to the states, and shot six centerfolds for Playboy magazine before becoming an independent filmmaker in the 1950s.

Meyer married three times, and spent his remaining years living with a series of actresses, models and strippers. His life story was chronicled in the self-published, 1,210-page autobiography, "A Clean Breast."

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Eddie Adams

Through the lens of Edward Thomas Adams' camera, the world existed in stark contrasts -- black and white, young and old, life and death.

In a career spanning four decades, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist covered 13 wars and published his enduring images in newspapers and magazines around the world. Adams shot pictures of presidents, dictators, religious figures and soldiers, but he was best known for a photograph taken in Saigon on Feb. 1, 1968.

On the second day of the Tet Offensive, Adams and an NBC news crew heard gunfire. They followed the noise to a street corner where South Vietnamese soldiers were leading a handcuffed Viet Cong captive to Lt. Col. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the South Vietnamese National Police. Assuming the prisoner was about to be interrogated, Adams raised his camera to capture the moment. Instead, he took a picture of Lung shooting the prisoner in the head. (Adams later learned that the prisoner was a Viet Cong officer responsible for slaughtering an entire family.)

The Saigon execution picture earned Adams the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. He'd eventually receive more than 500 honors, including the Robert Capa Award and three George Polk Memorial Awards.

Born in New Kensington, Pa., Adams first worked as a photographer for his high school newspaper. After graduation, he served for three years as a Marine Corps combat photographer during the Korean War. Adams joined The Associated Press in 1962 and worked on and off at the wire service for 14 years. He also shot pictures for Time magazine and Parade. In the final chapter of his life, he took pictures of celebrities and launched Barnstorm: The Eddie Adams Photojournalism Workshop.

Adams died on Sept. 19 from complications of Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 71.

• Watch an Interview With Adams

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Jim Doyon

One of the longest-serving members of the Green River Task Force, Det. James Henry Doyon Jr. was determined to find the man responsible for killing 48 women in and around the Green River in Washington state.

It took 19 years of investigating leads and hunting for evidence, but in 2001, Doyon and his fellow officers arrested Gary L. Ridgway (a.k.a. the Green River Killer). As part of a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder and gave investigators additional information on the whereabouts of his victims. In 2003, he was sentenced to 48 consecutive life terms in prison.

Born in Everett, Wash., Doyon always wanted to be a police officer. He spent six years in the U.S. Naval Air Reserve before joining the King County Sheriff's Office in 1972 as a road deputy. Over the years, he served as a criminal warrants investigator, an arson investigator, a field training officer and finally, a homicide detective.

A skilled interviewer with a keen eye for details, Doyon closed dozens of tough cases. He was called "Columbo" by his colleagues, and often attended the funerals of homicide victims. After 32 years in law enforcement, he retired from the major-crimes detective unit earlier this year.

Doyon died on Sept. 3 of Lou Gehrig's disease at the age of 59. He was predeceased by his sister Cynthia Doyon, a popular Seattle radio host who committed suicide in Aug. 2003.

Line Øestvold

Line Øestvold, the first Norwegian snowboarder to win a World Cup event, died on Sept. 19 from injuries she sustained in a fall. She was 25.

The Haugsbygd, Norway native won three major titles in 2001 -- the world snowboardcross championship, the Norwegian championship and a gold medal at the X-Games. Øestvold retired after that season, but decided to make a comeback last year. In February, she earned the World Cup title in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Øestvold, who was known for always wearing a helmet, landed on her head and neck during a practice run on Sept. 14 in Valle Nevado, Chile. After being treated at the scene, she was airlifted to a clinic in Santiago for further care. She never regained consciousness.

Frank Thomas

During his four decades with Walt Disney Studios, Franklin Rosborough Thomas helped create dozens of memorable animation moments. He drew the dancing penguins in "Mary Poppins," Thumper's ice skating lesson in "Bambi," and the romantic scene of two dogs sharing a single strand of spaghetti in "Lady and the Tramp."

Born in Santa Monica, Calif., Thomas attended Fresno State College and Stanford University. At Stanford, he met Ollie Johnston, a fellow artist who would become his life-long friend and collaborator. After graduation, they moved to Los Angeles to study with illustrator Pruett Carter at the Chouinard Art Institute.

Thomas and Johnston started working at Disney in 1934, and were part of the team that created "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the company's first full-length animated feature. After taking a three-year break to serve in the U.S. Air Force during the World War II, Thomas returned to Disney to supervise and/or direct the animation of the title character in "Pinocchio," the wicked stepmother in "Cinderella," Ichabod Crane in "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" and Captain Hook in "Peter Pan."

Known within the company as members of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men," Thomas and Johnston retired from the studio in 1978. They penned four books together, and were named Disney Legends in 1989. They were also the subject of the 1995 documentary, "Frank and Ollie," which was written and directed by Thomas's son, Theodore.

Thomas died on Sept. 8. Cause of death was not released. He was 92.

Marvin M. Mitchelson

Marvin Morris Mitchelson, a divorce lawyer for the rich and famous, died on Sept. 18 of cancer. He was 76.

The Detroit native was the only son of immigrant parents. Mitchelson served in the Navy as a medical corpsman, then earned degrees from UCLA and Southwestern University School of Law. He opened his own Los Angeles law practice in 1957.

After handling a wide variety of cases, Mitchelson earned national attention in 1963 for winning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Douglas v. California, which guaranteed legal representation for indigent defendants appealing their sentences. However, it was his skill at deftly negotiating divorces that earned him a place among the Hollywood elite.

In his first celebrity divorce case, Mitchelson represented Pamela Mason, actor James Mason's wife. She won a $1.5 million settlement, which was an unheard of amount in 1964. Over the next four decades, Mitchelson worked on cases involving Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hugh Hefner, Robert De Niro, Mick Jagger, Joan Collins and Mike Tyson.

Mitchelson also represented Michelle Triola, Lee Marvin's former live-in girlfriend, when she sued for half of the actor's $3.6 million income. Although the couple never wed, Triola felt she was entitled to these assets. In 1976, the California Supreme Court ruled that unmarried, cohabitating partners could legally seek property and assets upon separation if a written or oral contract existed, and that judges could determine whether cohabitating conduct equaled an implied contract. The Marvin v. Marvin case led to the coining of the phrase "palimony." Triola eventually won a judgment for $104,000, but the state appeals court later overturned it.

Mitchelson's high-class hobnobbing and jet-set lifestyle ended in 1988 when the State Bar of California charged him with six incidents of misconduct. Sotheby's sued him for more than $1 million, then the Internal Revenue Service went after him for back taxes. He was convicted in 1993 of four felony counts of tax fraud for hiding nearly $2 million in income. After exhausting all of his appeals and declaring bankruptcy, Mitchelson served two years in federal prison, where he ran the law library and wrote appeals for inmates. The California State Bar allowed him to resume his law practice in 2000.

Mitchelson was married to the same woman for 45 years.

Eva Schicke

Eva Schicke, the first female firefighter with the California Department of Forestry to die in the line of duty, was killed on Sept. 12 at the age of 23.

A member of an elite helicopter firefighting crew, Schicke and her colleagues were building a firebreak ahead of the wildfire raging through the Tuolumne River Canyon in the Stanislaus National Forest in Northern California when she was overcome by flames. Six other firefighters also suffered injuries in the blaze.

Schicke studied criminal justice and played Division II college basketball at California State University at Stanislaus. She spent the past four-and-a-half seasons working as a firefighter.

"Eva's death is a tremendous loss for the California Department of Forestry not only because she was the first female firefighter to lose her life in the line of duty, but because she bravely risked her life to protect our homes and ensure our safety. In the face of danger, Eva acted with courage and commitment, giving her life for the protection of her fellow Californians," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. Flags at the Capitol in Sacramento were lowered to half-staff in her honor.

Brian Chambers, 34, is in custody on an arson charge; he's accused of purposely starting the 800-acre forest fire with a match that was inserted inside a cigarette.

Ernie Ball

When Ernie Ball opened his small music store in 1958, he only sold guitars. Buyers would come into the Tarzana, Calif., shop and encourage him to branch out -- maybe sell a clarinet or two -- but Ball always refused. Over the next four decades, he transformed that business into a $40 million corporation with a worldwide reputation for excellence.

In 1962, customers began to complain about playing on tough, inflexible strings. So Ball created "Slinkys," lighter-gauge strings that better suited rock 'n' roll instruments. Word of mouth spread and these custom-gauge single strings became a favorite of many artists, including B.B. King, the Beach Boys, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones and Metallica.

It wasn't until the 1980s that Ball decided to diversify his wares and offer other instruments and accessories. His brand name items are now sold in more than 5,000 U.S. music stores and exported to more than 70 countries. Ball also purchased the Music Man electric guitar company in 1984.

Raised in Santa Monica, Calif., Ball learned to play the steel guitar as a child. He quickly bored with the instrument and put it aside until his teens. After a year of practicing for several hours a day, Ball joined the Musicians' Union and landed a job playing at an L.A. bar. At 19, he became a pedal guitarist in the Tommy Duncan band.

Ball served in the U.S. Air Force Band during the Korean War. For three years, he performed in ceremonies and marched in parades. After the service, Ball returned to L.A. and became a guitarist in the staff band for the weekly TV show "Western Varieties." In his spare time, he tutored dozens of students.

Ball died on Sept. 9. Cause of death was not released. He was 74.

Johnny Ramone

Johnny Ramone, the guitarist and co-founder of the punk rock band the Ramones, died on Sept. 15 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 55.

Born John Cummings, the New York native formed the Ramones in 1974 with singer Joey Ramone, bassist DeeDee Ramone and drummer Tommy Ramone, who is the only surviving member of the original band. Joey (Jeff Hyman) died in 2001 and DeeDee (Douglas Colvin) died in 2002.

Wearing tattered jeans, T-shirts, black leather jackets and disaffected expressions, the Ramones created a raw, energetic style of music that emanated out of New York's underground and affected millions of fans all over the world. The band recorded its eponymous album in 1976, spending 17 days and $6,400 on the debut effort. Although the Ramones never achieved commercial success, they did appear in the 1979 film "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and released the hit songs "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "Blitzkrieg Bop."

Considered by many to be one of the most influential rock bands in America, the Ramones produced 21 albums and played more than 2,200 shows. Over the years, the group's line-up also changed to include bassist C.J. Ramone, drummer Marky Ramone and drummer Richie Ramone. In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Back in a high school, Johnny and Tommy played in a band called the Tangerine Puppets. Johnny later worked in construction, but on the day he was laid off, he passed a guitar in a store window and decided to make music his career. A year later, the Ramones played its first set at the New York nightclub CBGB.

A tribute concert hosted by Rob Zombie and featuring performances by Henry Rollins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and many others, was held last Sunday in Los Angeles to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Research Center. The Strokes and Blondie will perform at a second fundraiser on Oct. 8 at Spirit in New York City.

At the time of his death, Johnny Ramone was working with Washington Times reporter Steve Miller to complete his memoirs.

Download "I Wanna Be Sedated"

Download "Blitzkrieg Bop"

Al Baldwin

Al Baldwin was a man with a mission: to protect the tourists and residents of Australia's Gold Coast from skin cancer and sunburns.

Known as the "Suntan Man," Baldwin spent three decades walking along the area's sandy beaches and spraying people with a machine filled with protective lotion. Some say he sprayed nearly 3 million beachgoers. This philanthropic effort made Baldwin an unofficial ambassador for Australia and a tourism icon. It also earned him the Commonwealth Seniors Medal.

Raised in a New Zealand orphanage, Baldwin moved to Sydney in the early 1950s and opened his own restaurant. In 1968, he relocated to the Gold Coast in Queensland to manage the Broadbeach Hotel and to run a company that rents out beach equipment to patrons of Surfers Paradise.

Baldwin died on Aug. 31 of lymphatic cancer. He was 74. Hundreds of mourners in bathing suits gathered at the beach to honor his memory. They set up a beach chair bearing his sunglasses, cap and suntan-spraying machine, then scattered his ashes in the surf.

Tiny Doll

Elly Annie Schneider made her screen debut in the 1927 silent film "Special Delivery." But her claim to fame came 12 years later when she and three of her siblings -- Harry Doll, Daisy Doll and Grace Doll -- appeared in the family classic "The Wizard of Oz."

Born in Stolpen, Germany, Schneider was the youngest of seven children. When she moved to the Sarasota, Fla., in 1925, the diminutive actress wanted to work in show business. But at 39 inches tall, her options in Hollywood were fairly limited. So she performed in the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus and in the Christiana Bros. Circus with her brother and sisters in an act known as "The Doll Family." Under the screen names Tiny Earles and Tiny Doll, Schneider also took bit parts in the films "Sailors Beware," "Three-Ring Marriage," "Be Big" and the 1932 cult classic "Freaks."

The Doll Family traveled to California in 1939 to work on "The Wizard of Oz." All four played members of the Munchkin cast that sang and welcomed Dorothy (Judy Garland) to Munchkinland. Schneider and her siblings then returned to Florida, and to circus life. They continued performing until the late-1950s. Grace died in 1970, Daisy in 1980 and Harry in 1985.

Schneider, 90, died on Sept. 6 of heart failure. With her passing, only nine members of the original 124 Munchkins cast remain.

Lex Peterson

Lex Peterson, a member of the first New Zealand bobsled team to compete in the Winter Olympics, died on Aug. 31 of cancer. He was 46.

Peterson loved speed and he dug the adrenaline rush bobsledding gave him. To make it to the Olympics, he and he teammates sold sweatshirts before and during the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. On the final day of competition, he held up a sign for the TV cameras that read: "Happy birthday, Dad. Send money."

Owen Pinnell, Rhys Dacre, Peter Henry, Bruce Sandford, Blair Telford and Peterson represented New Zealand at the Olympics that year. Peterson was the pilot on the No. 1 two-man sled; he and Henry finished 20th. They didn't win a medal, but still took home the "Caribbean Cup," an award given to the best team hailing from a small, warm country not normally recognized for the sport. Peterson drove the sled in the four-man event as well. His team finished 21st -- ahead of the popular Jamaican team that inspired the film "Cool Runnings."

Peterson ran his own contracting business in Calgary for several years before moving to Vancouver. He also founded and served as the president of the New Zealand Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association.

Derek Ali

Derek Ali, a veteran reporter for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News and a part-time disc jockey, was murdered on Sept. 5. He was 47.

After DJ'ing for a private party at the Lakeridge Community Center, Ali unplugged his equipment and began to pack it into his car. At the same time, a group of teens who had been denied entry to the event became unruly. In anger, one opened fire on the building.

Ali heard the shooting and pushed a female bystander out of harm's way. He was shot in the chest, however, and died at the scene. On Friday, a 16-year-old boy was charged with Ali's murder.

The Philadelphia native graduated from Glassboro State College in New Jersey. He moved to Dayton, Ohio, in 1984 after landing a job as an Action Line Reporter with the Dayton Daily News. Ali later worked as a regional reporter and as an adjunct adviser to the Tiger Times, a student newspaper at the Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton.

A past president of the Dayton Association of Black Journalists, Ali was named a YMCA Black Achiever in 1999. At the time of his death, he was planning a trip for area youths to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

• Complete Coverage From the Dayton Daily News

[Update - Aug. 27, 2005: A judge denied a 17-year-old boy's last-minute bid to withdraw a guilty plea and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the fatal shooting of Dayton Daily News reporter Derek Ali. Elijah Griffin, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was among a group of youths turned away from a party at the Lakeridge Community Center, where Ali was moonlighting as a DJ. Griffin later returned with a gun and started shooting. The teen had previously pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter with a firearm and single counts of having a weapon under restriction from a previous juvenile case and shooting into a habitation, both charges also with firearm specifications.]

Richard Butler

Richard Girnt Butler, the former head and founder of the Aryan Nations, died on Sept. 8. Cause of death was not released. He was 86.

Born in Colorado and raised in Los Angeles, Butler served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific theater during World War II. An admirer of Adolf Hitler, he returned to the states after the war and became a follower of Wesley Swift, a white-supremacist pastor. Butler also worked at Lockheed as an aerospace engineer. When the company began to hire more minorities, in compliance with federal loan regulations, Butler retired and moved to Idaho.

In 1973, Butler formed the Aryan Nations, the political arm of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian. The organization's doctrine combined a warped view of Christianity with Nazism. A self-proclaimed "Reverend," Butler called the Jews "Satan's children" and described African-Americans as "mud people." He espoused the belief that "white" blood should remain "pure," and that any woman who slept with a minority should be killed. The Aryan Nations' 20-acre, barbed-wire-rimmed estate was decorated with stained-glass swastikas, Third Reich memorabilia and signs that read: "Whites only."

Beginning in the mid-1980s, members of the Aryan Nations formed splinter groups and launched a campaign of violence against homosexuals, minorities and Jews. Such actions ultimately led to the group's downfall. Over the last two decades, the Aryan Nations saw its members convicted of murder, racketeering, assault and robbery. The organization also inspired the formation of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, one of the strongest human rights groups in the United States.

In 1998, Aryan Nations security guards shot at Victoria Keenan, a local resident, as she drove near the Idaho compound. They also ran her off the road and assaulted her and her teenaged son. With the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Keenan filed a civil suit and won a $6.3 million judgment. The suit essentially bankrupted the Aryan Nations and forced Butler to auction off the compound. Without a central headquarters, the group downsized to about 200 members across the country.

Last year, Butler ran for mayor of Hayden, Idaho, in order to "keep it white." While the bid failed, he did receive 50 votes.

Michael Louden

Michael Keena Louden, an actor best known for his work on daytime soap operas, died on Sept. 4. Cause of death was not released. He was 40.

The Marblehead, Mass., native always wanted to be an actor. As a child, he would perform his own renditions of "Saturday Night Live" sketches for family and friends. Louden studied theater at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at The Juilliard School. He made his professional debut playing the Dauphin in "King John" at the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park.

In 1988, Louden moved from stage to the small screen when he landed the role of Ian "Duke" Kramer on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns." His performance earned him a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination in 1991 for Outstanding Male Newcomer. He also played Kenny Reed on NBC's "Another World," and walk-on roles on ABC's "One Life to Live."

Louden appeared in several films ("The Langoliers," "Space Cowboys"), but returned to the theatre in the mid-1990s. He played Lucio in "Measure for Measure," starred as the title character in "Timon of Athens" and tackled Lenny in Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming." Louden's final performance was in "Three Feet Under," a play produced by Lily Tomlin in Los Angeles last month.

Larry McCormick

Larry McCormick, a veteran journalist who broke color barriers in Southern California media circles, died on Aug. 27. Cause of death was not released. He was 71.

The Kansas City, Mo., native studied theater arts and broadcasting at what is now the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He worked a short stint as a disc jockey and community relations director at KPRS-FM before relocating to Los Angeles in 1958.

McCormick's smooth voice earned high ratings on several local radio stations, but it was his handsome face and professional demeanor that made him a charismatic presence in front of the camera. When he joined KCOP-TV in 1969, McCormick was one of the city's first black newscasters.

He moved to KTLA-TV in 1971 and spent the next 30 years steadily working his way up the ranks from weathercaster and health/fitness reporter to news anchor. Until he took ill, McCormick co-anchored the station's "News at Ten: Weekend Edition" and hosted the public affairs series "Making It: Minority Success Stories." He also played a TV anchorman in dozens of movies and TV shows, including "Throw Mama From the Train," "Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear," "S.W.A.T.," "Beverly Hills 90210," "Angel" and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

A former president of the Radio & Television Association of Southern California, McCormick won a local Emmy Award and the 1994 Governor's Award. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6420 Hollywood Blvd.

Nick Venetucci

In Colorado Springs, Colo., Dominic T. "Nick" Venetucci was known as the Pumpkin Man. For more than 50 years, the humble farmer invited area children to visit his ranch and pick out a free pumpkin. School buses filled with kids would arrive at the Venetucci pumpkin patch every October to celebrate the annual harvest and select the perfect jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

As a boy, Venetucci dreamed of being a professional baseball player. He even landed a spot as a catcher in the New York Yankee's farm system, but returned home in the 1930s to work on his family's ranch. Over the next seven decades, Venetucci made a living selling sweet corn, alfalfa and asparagus, but he grew hundreds of pumpkins each year just for the kids.

In honor of his generosity, the Widefield School District renamed an elementary school after Venetucci in 1985. A bronze statue of the Pumpkin Man, designed by sculptor Fred Darpino, is scheduled to be unveiled in October.

Venetucci died on Sept. 7 following a stroke. He was 93.

Godfrey Hounsfield

Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield, a British electrical engineer and Nobel laureate who pioneered the development of the CAT scan, died on Aug. 12. Cause of death was not released. He was 84.

Although Hounsfield was born near Newark, England, and raised on a farm, his interest in science developed at an early age. As a teen, he built a phonograph from spare parts, several radio sets and a water-jet-propelled glider. Upon receiving his radio communications qualification certificate, Hounsfield joined the Royal Air Force in 1939. During World War II, he learned enough about radar technology to teach it to other technicians.

Hounsfield returned to the classroom after the war to earn a degree in electrical and mechanical engineering from the Faraday House Electrical Engineering College in London. He then became a project engineer at Electrical and Musical Instrument Ltd., heading the design team that created the EMIDEC 1100, the first all-transistor computer in Britain.

In 1967, Hounsfield was taking a walk through the countryside when he first dreamed of a machine that could process hundreds of X-ray beams to obtain an internal display of a box. Inside the EMI research laboratory, Hounsfield designed a prototype computerized tomography scanner and used it to view the interior of a cow's brain. A patent for the prototype CT scanner was granted to him in 1972.

Unbeknownst to Hounsfield, South African physicist Allan M. Cormack had also dreamed of a similar device. Instead of building the machine, however, Cormack wrote the first theoretical papers on the CT-scan system. The two scientists won the 1979 Nobel Prize in medicine and met at the award ceremony. Cormack died in 1998.

"CAT" scan machines, which take non-invasive, three-dimensional images of the human body, are now used in hospitals worldwide to diagnose a wide variety of medical conditions. The images produced by these machines are measured in Hounsfield units. Hounsfield also won the 1972 MacRobert award from the Council of Engineering Institutions. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1975 and knighted in 1981.

David Raksin

David Raksin, the Oscar-nominated composer who wrote the theme to the 1944 film "Laura," died on Aug. 9 of heart failure. He was 92.

The Philadelphia native was raised to have an appreciation of music. His father ran a music store, conducted an orchestra at a silent movie house and occasionally served as a substitute reed player for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Raksin learned to play several instruments as a child and later attended the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of classes, he moonlighted as a jazz clarinetist and arranger.

Raksin moved to Hollywood in 1935 and launched what would become a six-decade career composing soundtracks for the film industry. He worked with a few temperamental directors -- both Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock fired him -- and developed scores for more than 100 movies, including "The Bad and the Beautiful," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "Father of the Bride," "Force of Evil" and "Al Capone." He also received two Academy Award nominations, for "Forever Amber" and "Separate Tables."

But Raksin was best known for composing the mournful theme to "Laura." One of the most recorded songs in history, it was inspired by a letter Raksin received from his wife asking for a divorce. Cole Porter once remarked that "Laura" was a song he wished he had written.

Raksin's greatest challenge, however, came during the McCarthy era, when he was forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After admitting he was a former member of the Communist party and naming 11 Communist sympathizers (all of whom were either dead or previously identified), Raksin was blacklisted for six years.

Raksin also taught film composition at the University of Southern California from 1958 to 2003, and hosted "The Subject Is Film Music" radio show on NPR. A former president of the Composers & Lyricist Guild of America, he was the first film composer invited to establish a collection of his manuscripts in the music division of the Library of Congress. In 1992, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awarded Raksin the Golden Soundtrack Award for a lifetime of achievement in film and television music.

Download "Laura"

Russell Kelly

Russell Thomas Kelly's gregarious and free-spirited nature were perfectly suited to his wanderlust lifestyle. He made a living working seasonally for Jo-Ma-Ma's Moving Company in Telluride, Colo., but his spare time was dedicated to building an international reputation as an expert whitewater kayaker.

Born in Stamford, Conn., Kelly learned to kayak in the ninth grade while attending the prestigious Lowell Whiteman School in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Over the years, he completed Class V descents in Argentina, Chile, India, Nepal and Peru. His last adventure involved a three-week whitewater kayaking expedition in Siberia, Russia.

When he wasn't on the water, Kelly attended more than 100 Grateful Dead concerts. An avid skier and paraglider, he also sold photographs of his travels to kayak and canoe magazines.

Kelly died on Aug. 9 in a single-vehicle accident. His pickup truck left the highway between Big Sky and West Yellowstone, Mont., and rolled down a steep embankment. Kelly was trapped inside and died before rescuers could arrive. He was 29.

Indian Larry

Larry Desmedt, a legendary custom motorcycle builder and stunt rider who went by the name Indian Larry, died on Aug. 30 of severe head injuries he sustained in an accident. He was 55.

Indian Larry was performing one of his signature stunts last Saturday during the Liquid Steel Classic and Custom Bike Series in Concord, N.C. He was standing on the seat when suddenly the motorcycle began to wobble. Unable to maintain his balance, Indian Larry fell off the bike before it crashed. He was not wearing a helmet.

Born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., Indian Larry was a teenager when he bought his first motorbike, a 1939 Harley Knucklehead, for $200. He took it apart and spent the next nine months learning how to put it back together again. He later moved to California and apprenticed under hot rod builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

The tattoo-covered metal-sculptor and motorcycle mechanic launched the Brooklyn-based Gasoline Alley motorcycle workshop in 1991 and devoted the rest of his life to creating and riding "old school bikes." Several of his custom-built motorcycles won awards, including the "Grease Monkey," which was named Easy Rider magazine's Chopper of the Year.

Indian Larry also performed stunts in movies ("Quiz Show," "200 Cigarettes") and on television. He was a featured artist on the Discovery Channel's "Biker Build-Off" series, and once rode a motorcycle through a wall of fire on "The Late Show With David Letterman."

A memorial will be held at Gasoline Alley on Sept. 19. His autobiography, "Grease Monkey, The Life and Times of Motorcycle Artist Indian Larry," is scheduled for publication in 2006. Indian Larry is survived by his wife Bambi, the Mermaid of Coney Island.

Tom Capone

Tom Capone, the most nominated Brazilian in the history of the Latin Grammys, left the awards ceremony early Thursday morning and died in a motorcycle accident. He was 37.

Capone's real name was Luís Antônio Ferreira Gonçalves. He launched his music career in the 1980s as a guitarist for the band Peter Perfeito. Capone later opened his own studio in Rio de Janeiro and began producing other musicians. In 1998, he became the director of A&R at Warner Music Brazil.

Capone worked with numerous artists, such as Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Raimundos, Barao Vermelho, Nando Reis, Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown and Lenine. But he was best known for producing Brazilian jazz singer Maria Rita.

Capone received five Latin Grammy nominations this year: one for producer of the year, two for record of the year, one for best engineered album and one for most popular Brazilian music album. He and Rita won the Grammy in the last category for her eponymous debut, which sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide. Rita also won for best new artist.

The Sept. 2 accident is still under investigation, but the Los Angeles Police Department says Capone may have run a red light on Ventura Blvd. He crashed into a Dodge Neon driven by a 23-year-old woman, who was not harmed or ticketed. Capone was wearing a "novelty helmet" that offered him little protection in the collision. He was pronounced dead at the scene from massive head trauma.

Pete Dobrovitz

Pete Dobrovitz was diagnosed with kidney disease when he was six years old. He received his first cadaver kidney transplant in 1983, but the organ stopped functioning 18 months later. His second cadaver kidney lasted eight years before failing.

Dobrovitz spent years on dialysis while waiting for a matching living-donor. Finally, he decided to take matters into his own hands. In 2001, he placed a classified ad in the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) newspaper that read: "WANTED: Your Spare Kidney."

The ad worked.

Within a week, a dozen people came forward with offers to help. After screening out the folks who wanted money or who weren't serious about organ donation, the field was narrowed to four candidates. One of them, a man named Steve Aman was an ideal tissue match. Upon further investigation, the two strangers learned that they had attended the same Catholic high school, but never met. Dobrovitz also served as executive director of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Greater Rochester, a child-mentor program where Aman once volunteered.

After receiving Aman's kidney in 2002, Dobrovitz lived life to the fullest. He indulged in his favorite hobbies: gardening and photography. He compiled one of the largest private collections of Rochester Red Wings' baseball memorabilia in the country. And he started traveling (New Mexico was one of his favorite vacation spots).

Prior to his third transplant, the New York native graduated from Marquette University and worked as a TV reporter for WROC-TV (Channel 8), WOKR-TV (Channel 13) and WHEC-TV (Channel 10). He co-founded R News, a 24-hour TV news operation in 1990. Seven years later, he launched DobroVision, a media consulting video production business.

Dobrovitz died on Aug. 17 of complications from food poisoning that he contracted last fall. He was 51.

Robert Linn

Robert P. Linn was a dedicated statesman. In 1995, he earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-serving mayor in the United States.

Linn was sworn into office 58 years ago in the town of Beaver, Pa., a small suburb of Pittsburgh. He didn't want the job originally, but a group of Republicans encouraged him to run in order to unseat the incumbent. Linn even published a letter in the local newspaper that urged voters to elect his opponent. But the public preferred to honor his humility and gave him the job. He served for 15 consecutive terms.

During the course of his tenure, Linn converted the train station into a 9-1-1 headquarters and transformed the freight station into the Beaver Area Historical Museum. He also established Streetscape, a project that removed all of the utility poles lining the town's Main Street. The holes left behind were then filled with trees and Victorian-style street lights.

Born in Burgettstown, Pa., Linn graduated from Beaver High School and Grove City College. He taught in Beaver Falls during the Great Depression, then worked for the Duquesne Light Co. as an appliance salesman for school home economics programs.

Linn died on Aug. 21. Cause of death was not released. He was 95.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR