The Blog of Death

Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson, the bespectacled architect who dared to change the face of American cities with his post-modernist designs, died on Jan. 25. Cause of death was not released. He was 98.

The Cleveland native developed a passion for architecture when he was 13 years old after viewing an image of Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. Johnson earned a degree in philosophy from Harvard University in 1927 and toured Europe to study building design and craftsmanship. Five years later, he returned to the United States to chair the department of architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His first major exhibit, "The International Style: Architecture 1922-1932," inspired countless architects to design towering structures of glass and metal.

Johnson went back to school in 1940 to study under Marcel Breuer at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. He served with the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, then created the sculpture garden and west wing of the Museum of Modern Art. From 1967 to 1987, Johnson and his long-time business partner, John Burgee, designed numerous retail and office buildings in American cities. When their partnership ended in the mid-1980s, he went into business for himself.

Some of Johnson's most memorable projects include the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., the Transco Tower (now the Williams Tower) and RepublicBank Tower (now NCNB Center) in Houston, the United Bank Center Tower in Denver, Tisch Hall at New York University, a Nieman-Marcus store in San Francisco, the Cleveland Playhouse, a Water Garden in Fort Worth, Texas, the Dade County Cultural Center in Miami and the National Center for Performing Arts in Bombay, India. His design of the Chippendale-topped AT&T Building (now the Sony Building) in New York City landed Johnson on the cover of Time magazine.

Johnson was best known for designing his boxy New Canaan, Conn., home. The Glass House won the Silver Medal from the Architectural League of New York in 1950. He also received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1978, and was the first recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Privately, Johnson was an author, philanthropist and art collector. He admitted to supporting a Hitler-style of fascism in his youth, but later expressed embarrassment for such beliefs. "I have no excuse (for) such utter, unbelievable stupidity. I don't know how you expiate guilt," he once said. To atone for his brief involvement in right-wing politics, Johnson designed a synagogue in Port Chester, N.Y., at no charge.

After years of stressing over how his sexual identify would affect his professional prospects, Johnson came out of the closet in a 1993 interview with Vogue magazine. He is survived by David Whitney, his companion of 45 years.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

• Complete Coverage From The New York Times

Ernie Pepion

An automobile accident in 1971 cost Ernie Pepion the use of his arms and legs. While recuperating in a veterans' hospital, however, he learned the skills he needed to rebuild his life and launch a successful career as an artist.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital showed Pepion how to feed himself, how to maneuver in and out of his wheelchair and how to rehabilitate his body. A fellow patient taught him how to paint with oils. Using a motorized easel and a brace for his hand and forearm, Pepion covered canvases with colorful depictions of American Indians and people with disabilities.

"Painting allows me to be a person beyond the limitations of racial prejudice and disability," Pepion once said.

Pepion was a member of the Blackfeet Nation, a Native-American tribe in the northwestern part of Montana. Prior to his accident, he worked as a rancher and rodeo rider, and served with the military during the Vietnam War. After years of rehabilitation, Pepion attended Montana State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree and a master of fine arts degree.

The Native Voices Public Television Workshop profiled Pepion in the half-hour documentary, "Ernie Pepion: The Art of Healing." In 2003, his show "The Red Man Series" was featured at the Yellowstone Art Museum. He also won the 2005 Montana Governor's Award for the Arts.

Pepion died on Jan. 12 of natural causes. He was 61.

Virginia Mayo

Virginia Mayo, a glamorous Hollywood actress who appeared in nearly 50 movies, died on Jan. 17 of pneumonia and heart failure. She was 84.

Born Virginia Clara Jones, she spent much of her childhood studying dance, drama and elocution. The Missouri native got her big break when vaudevillian Andy Mayo gave her a job as a "ring mistress" in his popular act. Virginia adopted his surname and traveled on the vaudeville circuit for several years before landing a part in the 1941 Broadway musical, "Banjo Eyes."

After viewing her New York debut, film producer Samuel Goldwyn signed Mayo to a studio contract and moved her to Hollywood. Over the next decade, she appeared in numerous films, such as "The Princess and the Pirate" with Bob Hope, "The Best Years of Our Lives" with Dana Andrews, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" with Danny Kaye, "White Heat" with James Cagney, "The Girl From Jones Beach" with Ronald Reagan and "Captain Horatio Hornblower" with Gregory Peck.

Her stunning appearance appealed to millions of moviegoers, including the sultan of Morocco who once penned a fan letter to Mayo and described her as "tangible proof of the existence of God." Mayo's beauty also led to typecasting and kept her from landing any substantial, dramatic parts during the 1960s. Instead, she was given eye candy roles in B-movies.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mayo guest starred on the TV shows "Night Gallery," "Police Story," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Remington Steele." Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1751 Vine Street. She was also inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame.

On the set of her 1943 debut film, "Jack London," Mayo met actor Michael O'Shea. "He just sat there watching me, and then he walked right up and kissed me," Mayo once said. The couple wed in 1947 and had a daughter, Catherine Mary. O'Shea died in 1973.

In recent years, Mayo lived a quiet existence. She refused to watch her old films and eventually donated her entire collection of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks Library in southern California.

A Short Break

The Blog of Death will be on hiatus until Jan. 29th. Feel free to post tributes and e-mail submissions in my absence. --Jade Walker

Johnny Carson

John William Carson, the veteran comedian and talk show host who ruled late night TV for 30 years, died on Jan. 23 of emphysema. He was 79.

Born in Corning, Iowa, and raised in Norfolk, Neb., Carson was an above-average student who made his mark as the class clown. He performed magic tricks for local Rotary groups, impersonated Jack Benny for classmates and wrote a humor column for his high school newspaper. Shortly after graduation, Carson enlisted in the Navy and served as an ensign aboard the U.S.S. Pennsylvania during World War II.

Upon his return to the states, Carson attended the University of Nebraska. He performed in the school's theatrical productions and worked part-time for the KFAB radio station in Lincoln, Neb. Carson earned a bachelor's degree in only three years, then took a job conducting interviews at WOW-590 AM in Omaha.

In 1951, he moved to Los Angeles and broke into television as an announcer for KNXT, the local CBS affiliate. Carson persuaded the station to give him a 15-minute, Sunday afternoon comedy show ("Carson's Cellar"), which led to a writing stint with "The Red Skelton Show." When Skelton injured himself two hours before show time, CBS allowed Carson to fill in. The comedian was so popular that the network eventually gave him his own program. "The Johnny Carson Show" went through several writers and directors, but couldn't capitalize on his talents and was soon canceled.

Carson moved to New York in the mid-1950s and made guest appearances on various television programs, including "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar. He hosted the ABC game show "Who Do You Trust?," which featured Ed McMahon as its announcer, until 1962. That same year, he took over for Paar in the late night timeslot. For three decades, Carson appeared on millions of television sets following McMahon's classic intro "Heeeeere's Johnny!" The dapper host also became a household name and one of the highest-paid performers in television history.

With a polite demeanor, Carson skewered presidents and other politicos in his fast-paced opening monologue. With impeccable comedic timing, he starred in a variety of skits and often played second fiddle to a monkey (wildcat or marmoset). With charm and wit, he interviewed more than 22,000 guests and introduced America to entertainers such as Bill Cosby, Barbra Streisand, David Letterman, Joan Rivers, Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Roseanne Barr, George Carlin, Garry Shandling, Steve Martin and his successor, Jay Leno.

Carson's biggest audience tuned in on Dec. 17, 1969, to watch ukulele player Tiny Tim marry his 17-year-old bride, Miss Vicki. Although the couple later divorced, an estimated 58 million viewers watched their nuptials on "The Tonight Show." Married four times himself, Carson frequently mocked his past relationships and expensive alimony payments.

America's late night king of comedy hosted the Academy Awards five times and occasionally headlined at top hotels in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J. He won six Emmy Awards, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governors' Award and a George Foster Peabody Award. Carson was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987, and received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, in 1992. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1751 Vine Street.

Carson retired in 1992 and kept a low profile during the final years of his life. In his last show, he told the audience: "I'm one of the lucky people in the world. I found something I always wanted to do and have enjoyed every minute of it."

Charlotte MacLeod

Charlotte Matilda Hughes MacLeod, a popular and prolific mystery novelist, died on Jan. 14. Cause of death was not released. She was 82.

A native of New Brunswick, Canada, MacLeod always wanted to be a writer. But she didn't sell her first book until she was in her 40s. Up until then, she lived and worked in Boston as a copywriter and ad executive. Years of writing on deadline helped MacLeod acquire the discipline she needed to become a best-selling novelist.

Each day at 6 a.m., MacLeod would putter over to her electric typewriter and begin the creative process. She wrote all morning and spent afternoons rewriting her recently completed chapters. MacLeod liked to work in her bathrobe and fuzzy slippers; she said it kept her from running out of the house to do errands. She penned more than 30 novels this way and developed a devoted fan base all over the world.

Known as the "queen of the screwball mystery," MacLeod specialized in writing cozies -- soft-boiled mysteries featuring amateur sleuths. Although her books rarely featured sex or vulgar language, MacLeod reveled in killing off characters in unique and intriguing ways. She off'd one character by goring him with an ancient spear. Another met his demise by swallowing a cyanide capsule (then falling face first into his chicken pot pie).

MacLeod's Peter Shandy series described the sleuthing adventures of a botany professor at a fictitious agricultural college. Her Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn series featured the humorous exploits of a Boston landlady and a local P.I. Under the penname Alisa Craig, MacLeod wrote the Canada-based Grub-and-Stakers series and the Madoc/Rhys mysteries. She also penned a biography of mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart and edited the bestselling anthologies "Mistletoe Mysteries" and "Christmas Stalkings."

The past president of the American Crime Writers League, MacLeod was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1988 and an Agatha Award in 1991. In 1997, the Maine resident received a lifetime achievement award from Malice Domestic, an annual convention that salutes mysteries in the classic tradition.

Lamont Bentley

Artimus Lamont Bentley, an up-and-coming actor who was best known for playing Hakeem Campbell on the UPN comedy "Moesha," died on Jan. 19 in a car accident. He was 31.

The Milwaukee native was in his teens when he moved to Los Angeles with his mother, Loyce, an aspiring singer. Bentley's knack for making people laugh during his mother's auditions inspired him to build a show business career of his own.

Bentley first worked in commercials, hawking Starburst candies in television ads and encouraging teen fathers to take responsibility for their offspring in a public service announcement. He then made numerous guest appearances on TV shows, such as "The Client," "The Sentinel," "Soul Food," "Clueless" and "NYPD Blue." Bentley got his big break in 1996 when he was hired to star opposite R&B singer Brandy on the sitcom "Moesha." His latest project was the short independent film "Shards."

Outside of acting, Bentley had an interest in rap music. In recent years, he and his partner Tyson formed the unsigned hip-hop duo, Uprise. Sisters in Style magazine once named Bentley one of the top 20 African-American "hunks" in the entertainment industry. The mayor of Milwaukee also honored him with a "Lamont Bentley Day."

Early Wednesday morning, Bentley was traveling by himself on the 118 Freeway near Simi Valley, Calif. His Mercedes-Benz exited the highway, ran a stop sign, blew through a chain link fence and rolled down an embankment. Bentley was ejected from the vehicle and into traffic where five cars struck him. Test results showed no drugs or alcohol in his system.

Lee Abrams

When a man raped her 15-year-old foster daughter in the stairwell of her high school, Oleta "Lee" Kirk Abrams was horrified. When the authorities treated her daughter like a piece of meat, Abrams became infuriated.

No one offered compassion to the teen after she was assaulted. The police kept her from her family and refused to let her call home. At the hospital, the girl was kept waiting for an hour before a doctor examined her. And once the physician entered her room, he made jokes. The hospital never gave her a pregnancy test or checked her for venereal diseases.

In 1971, Abrams and two other women co-founded Bay Area Women Against Rape (BAWAR), the nation's first rape crisis center. Based in Oakland, Calif., the center runs a 24-hour rape crisis hot line (510-845-7273), and provides counseling, educational programs and survivor advocacy services to hundreds of women each year. BAWAR also sends rape survivors to prisons to talk to sexual predators about the long-lasting impact of their crimes.

Abrams was the first person to accompany rape survivors to court when they testified against their attackers, and the first victim-witness advocate for the Alameda County district attorney's office. In this position, she taught police investigators, hospital workers and prosecutors how to deal with special victims.

The Montana native earned a bachelor's degree in drama from Emerson College in Boston. She was accepted into the master's program at the University of Pittsburg, but left school to get married. After moving to Berkeley, Calif., in 1959, she became a stay-at-home mom and gardener. Abrams planted 250 rose bushes in her yard, and when they bloomed crowds gathered to admire her handiwork. From 1984 to 1999, she taught at Hintil Kuu Ca, a preschool for Native American children in the Oakland public school system.

Abrams died on Jan. 8. Cause of death was not released. She was 77. Services will be held in her garden next May or June, once the roses are in bloom.

Ruth Warrick

Ruth Warrick, the veteran actress known for playing Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on the ABC soap opera "All My Children," died on Jan. 15 of complications from pneumonia. She was 88.

Born in St. Joseph, Mo., Warrick studied drama at the University of Kansas City. She traveled to New York in 1937 after winning a local beauty contest. As Kansas City's paid ambassador, Warrick presented a live turkey to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia on the steps of City Hall. Once in the Big Apple, however, Warrick decided to stay and pursue a career in acting. She worked a few modeling jobs, then joined the Mercury Theater of the Air, a radio acting company headed by actor/director Orson Welles.

In 1941, Welles brought Warrick to the west coast to appear in his film, "Citizen Kane." Welles handpicked her for the role of Emily, the wife of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, because no "ladies in Hollywood" were as suitable for the part. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film's opening, the famous New York restaurant Sardi's posted a caricature of Warrick on its wall of fame.

Although it wasn't a financial success, "Citizen Kane" opened numerous doors for Warrick. She appeared in 30 other movies, including "The Corsican Brothers," "Song of the South" and "Journey Into Fear," and on Broadway with Jackie Gleason in "Take Me Along" and Debbie Reynolds in "Irene." But it was television that turned Warrick into a star.

She acted in two soap operas -- "The Guiding Light'' (1953-54) and "As the World Turns" (1956-60) -- then played the starring role of Ellie Banks in the 1960s TV series "Father of the Bride." Warrick received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Hannah Cord on the long-running primetime soap "Peyton Place," and later reprised the role in the 1985 made-for-TV movie "Peyton Place: The Next Generation."

When the soap opera "All My Children" debuted in 1970, Warrick originated the role of Phoebe Tyler Wallingford. She was so convincing as the meddlesome, grande dame of Pine Valley that fans often had trouble separating the actress from the character. The role earned Warrick two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. She made her final appearance on "All My Children" two weeks ago to commemorate the show's 35th anniversary.

The author of the 1980 autobiography, "The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler," Warrick also taught at Julia Richman High School in New York and worked with several charities. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2004. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6689 Hollywood Blvd.

Zhao Ziyang

Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese Communist Party leader who was ousted from power in 1989 after publicly sympathizing with pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, died on Jan. 17. Cause of death was not released. He was 85.

Born in the central Chinese province of Henan, Zhao was only 13 when he joined the Communist Youth League. He became a full-fledged party member six years later and devoted the rest of his life to public service. Zhao worked underground as a Communist official during World War II. He was named secretary of the Guangdong province after the Communists came to power in 1949. In the 1950s, he helped purged the province of corrupt government officials or those tied to the Nationalists.

During the country's Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong's "Red Guards" dragged Zhao from his home and forced him to walk through the streets wearing a dunce cap. Four years after this disgraceful exhibition, he resurfaced as a party secretary in Inner Mongolia.

Zhao became the governor of Sichuan in 1975. He launched an agricultural movement that dismantled the commune system, restored private ownership and raised farm prices. His efforts, which were approved by the late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, invigorated the economy, but also brought inflation and income gaps between the rich and the poor.

Zhao moved to Beijing in 1980 and spent seven years as premier. He took over as general secretary of the Communist Party, the most powerful post in China, in 1987 after Hu Yaobang was ousted for failing to quell the pro-democracy movement. Zhao also fell out of favor when he argued against the use of force to crush pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing. Accused of "splitting the party," he lost an internal power struggle and was stripped of his titles.

Following his expulsion, Zhao visited the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square and tearfully apologized to them. Martial law was declared the next day. On June 4, 1989, the army killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed protesters and citizens. Zhao spent his final years under house arrest.

In response to Zhao's death, the Chinese government banned news agencies from reporting his passing. Popular Chinese Websites were also ordered to restrict any discussion of the former leader and CNN broadcasts to hotels and apartment complexes were blacked out whenever Zhao was mentioned.

Charlie Bell

Charlie Bell was only 15 when he took a part-time job at a McDonald's restaurant in Sydney. At 19, he was the youngest store manager in Australia.

Over the next 25 years, Bell rose through the ranks of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based fast food chain. He was the managing director of McDonald's Australia, the president of McDonald's Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa Group and president of McDonald's Europe. Bell was promoted to president and chief operating officer of the $46 billion chain in 2002. He became the chief executive officer when the former chief James Cantalupo, died of a heart attack in April 2004. Bell was the first non-American to lead McDonald's.

Under Cantalupo and Bell, McDonald's closed hundreds of restaurants, slowed the pace of new openings and released several new products. These efforts, along with the debut of healthier menu options, helped sales rebound. Bell was also responsible for introducing the McCafe, a coffeehouse franchise that serves gourmet coffee, cakes and pastries and premium teas. More than 300 McCafes have opened in Australia; the concept is slowing expanding to the U.S. market.

Bell was diagnosed with cancer a month after he ascended to the top job. He stepped down six months later, due to his deteriorating health, and Jim Skinner replaced him as CEO. In December, McDonald's spent $300,000 to fly Bell and his family back to Australia on a private medically equipped jet. The company also bought the Bells' Illinois home, agreed to pay any tax bills and amended its stock options agreement to allow Bell to transfer 1.44 million options to his wife.

Bell died on Jan. 17 of colorectal cancer. He was 44.

Arnold Denker

Arnold Sheldon Denker, a U.S. chess champion, author and philanthropist, died on Jan. 2 of brain cancer. He was 90.

The native New Yorker began playing chess in high school. He was only 15 when he won his first citywide championship and his first of six championships at the Manhattan Chess Club. After graduating from New York University, Denker gave exhibitions on military bases and aboard aircraft carriers during World War II. He won the 1944 U.S. Championship with a score of 15½ to 1½. Only chess prodigy Bobby Fischer ever surpassed it with an 11-0 victory in the 1963-64 championship tournament.

Known as the "Dean of American Chess," Denker set a world record in 1946 by playing 100 opponents in 7.33 hours. He was the first grandmaster to lose to a computer programmed to play the game. Following the 1988 match with HITECH, Denker noted that his electronic opponent had played "brilliantly."

Denker published three books on the subject of chess: "If You Must Play Chess," "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories," and the autobiography, "My Chess Games, 1929-1976." He actually played Fischer to a draw in a national tournament in 1958; Fischer was 15 at the time.

In 1984, Denker founded the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, which awards college scholarships to five players each year. He also donated thousands of dollars to pay for the competitors' travel expenses.

The president of the North American Zone of the World Chess Federation Internationale des Echecs, Denker also served on the board of the American Chess Foundation, the U.S. Chess Federation and the U.S. Chess Trust. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1992.

• Watch 20 of Denker's Most Famous Matches

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

S. Paul Ehrlich

Dr. Saul Paul Ehrlich Jr., an epidemiologist and the acting Surgeon General under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, died on Jan. 6 of pneumonia. He was 72.

Ehrlich always wanted to become a doctor. The son of a physician, he earned two bachelor's degrees and his medical degree at the University of Minnesota. Ehrlich served as a medical officer in the Coast Guard, interned at the Public Health Service Hospital in Staten Island, then did his residency in epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a master's degree in 1961.

For the next two decades, Ehrlich devoted his life to public service. He researched the relationship of cholesterol to heart disease with the National Heart Institute and represented the United States at the World Health Organization as the director of the Office of International Health.

When Dr. Jesse L. Steinfeld quit the Surgeon General's post in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Ehrlich to fill in. For the next four years, he worked hard to make the office relevant and useful to the public. Ehrlich saved the Public Health Service's Commissioned Corps from budget cuts and developed a hotline for Iron Curtain countries to communicate with the United States.

In 1994, Ehrlich was one of six Surgeons General who urged Congress to ban smoking in public buildings and to enact stricter controls on secondhand smoke. He also protested a proposed federal policy that would have responded to the spread of AIDS by requiring minors to obtain written parental consent before gaining access to contraceptives and information on birth control.

After leaving public office, Ehrlich served as the vice president of the American Institutes for Research and as the deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. He taught at Georgetown University's School of Medicine, the University of Texas School of Public Health and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. The recipient of the Public Health Service's Outstanding Service Medal, Ehrlich retired in 1984 after learning that he had multiple sclerosis.

Jimmy Griffin

James Arthur Griffin, an Academy Award-winning singer/songwriter and guitarist who was also a founding member of several soft rock and country bands, died on Jan. 11 from complications of cancer. He was 61.

Born in Cincinnati and reared in Memphis, Griffin moved to Hollywood, Calif., in 1962, with hopes of breaking into the music business. He released a solo debut ("Summer Holiday") and several pop singles, then joined forces with keyboardist/vocalist David Gates and guitarist/vocalist Robb Royer to form the soft rock group Bread.

Bread released a self-titled debut in 1968, but it failed to attract much attention. The band's sophomore release, "On the Waters," went gold and featured the chart-topper "Make It With You." Several hits followed, including "If," "Mother Freedom," "Baby I'm-a Want You" and "Everything I Own." In 1973, Griffin left the band due to creative differences with Gates. He rejoined three years later, but more fighting ensued, and Bread soon disbanded amidst rancor and lawsuits.

Although Gates penned most of Bread's hit songs, Griffin was a talented songwriter in his own right. He wrote the county song "Who's Gonna Know," which became a hit for Conway Twitty, and shared a 1970 Oscar for best original song with Royer and Fred Karlin. The trio co-wrote "For All We Know" for the film, "Lovers and Other Strangers." The song was also a Top 5 hit for The Carpenters.

Griffin later released a second solo album ("James Griffin") and formed the country band Black Tie with former Eagles' bassist Randy Meisner and singer Billy Swan. He and the country band, the Remingtons, scored a Top 10 single in 1992 with "A Long Time Ago."

Download MP3s by Bread

Spencer Dryden

Spencer Dryden, a former drummer for the rock band Jefferson Airplane, died on Jan. 10 of cancer. He was 66.

Although he was born in New York, Dryden was raised in Los Angeles. The son of Broadway actor Wheeler Dryden and ballet dancer Alice Dryden, Spencer was also Charlie Chaplin's nephew. He picked up the drums as a teenager and eventually sat in with bands at southern California jazz clubs.

After Dryden graduated from the Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, Calif., he switched from jazz to rock n' roll. To make a living, Dryden offered rim shots to comedians in L.A. nightclubs and gave the exotic dancers at Hollywood strip clubs a rhythm to follow. Session drummer Earl Palmer heard Dryden's performance at the Pink Pussycat and recommended him to the manager of Jefferson Airplane.

Dryden joined the band in 1966, replacing Skip Spence, who later formed the rock group, Moby Grape. As Airplane's drummer, Dryden performed at Woodstock, Monterey and Altamont, and recorded "Surrealistic Pillow," the band's most famous album, which included the hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." He also dated Airplane's lead singer Grace Slick. A year after they broke up, Dryden married groupie Sally Mann, and Slick served as the matron of honor. Dryden was fired from the band a few weeks after the 1970 wedding. He and Mann divorced three years later.

Dryden spent the 1970s in the country rock band New Riders of the Purple Sage before becoming the group's manager. From 1982 to 1995, he played with the Dinosaurs, a Bay Area group of psychedelic rock veterans. For his work with Jefferson Airplane, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

In recent years, Dryden fell on hard times. He lost all of his personal belongings in 2003 when his home burned down. He underwent two hip replacements and heart surgery, then was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. To help with his medical bills and living expenses, friends put together an eBay auction and a benefit concert, featuring performances by Grateful Dead vocalist Bob Weir and singer Warren Haynes of The Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule. These events raised nearly $36,000.

Download "Surrealistic Pillow"

George Wackenhut

Former FBI agent George Russell Wackenhut turned a small, South Florida detective agency into a global leader in security.

In 1954, Wackenhut co-founded a private investigation firm in Coral Gables, Fla., with three FBI agents. Four years later, he bought out his partners, renamed the company after himself and expanded into the security guard field. Today, Wackenhut Corp. is a multibillion-dollar company, providing uniformed officers and investigative services to business and government agencies in 54 countries.

In the 1960s, Wackenhut was appointed by Florida Gov. Claude R. Kirk Jr. to conduct a private "war on crime." He won security contracts for the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and the Atomic Energy Commission's test site in Nevada. Wackenhut dressed his guards like soldiers, and even recruited former members of the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the military to join the company's management and board of directors.

Wackenhut began offering its services to the corrections sector in 1984. One of the first private security firms hired by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to manage penitentiaries and detention centers, Wackenhut later received federal contracts from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Although the corrections branch of Wackenhut was financially successful, critics claimed the company's guards abused inmates in Florida, Texas and Louisiana. In 1999, Wackenhut lost a $12 million contract to run a Texas jail when several guards were indicted for having sex with female inmates. The company also came under fire in the early 1990s when a Congressional inquiry determined that a Wackenhut executive had spied on an environmental whistle-blower and stolen documents from his home. Wackenhut sold the company in 2002 to the Danish company Group 4 Falck for $570 million.

A Philadelphia native, Wackenhut earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii and a master's degree in education from Johns Hopkins University. He served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II and actually saw the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. As an FBI agent in Atlanta and Indianapolis, Wackenhut handled counterfeit money and bad-check cases and tracked down Army deserters.

Wackenhut died on Dec. 31 of heart failure. He was 85.

Ed Earnest

Edward Earnest believed in giving people second chances. Forty years ago, a prison warden and a mental health specialist gave him one that changed his life.

Earnest began breaking into stores and stealing food when he was only 11. Several years at a reform school didn't provide the discipline and direction he needed. At 16, Earnest was sentenced to state prison for robbery.

While serving his time at the Draper Correctional Center in Elmore, Ala., warden John Watkins and Dr. John McKee, Alabama's director of Community Mental Health, decided to rehabilitate him. Earnest earned a GED in prison and vowed to help other troubled youths avoid making the same mistakes he had.

After his release in 1966, Earnest attended the University of Alabama and graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work. In 1970, he founded C.I.T.Y., a skills training program in Tuscaloosa, Ala., that helps at-risk youths obtain their GEDs. The mission of C.I.T.Y., which stands for Community Intensive Treatment for Youth, is to prevent troubled teens from participating in criminal activities. Participants are usually referred by juvenile court judges when parenting and regular school programs fail to turn the kids around.

Ten C.I.T.Y. programs currently operate in Alabama, and serve 600 to 700 kids a year. Each center is staffed by teachers and counselors that help the youths develop the social, behavioral, academic, technical and family skills they need to become productive members of society. In 1995, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency recognized C.I.T.Y. as a "promising and effective program."

Earnest died on Jan. 5 from cancer. He was in his early 60s.

Bobby Brooks Kramer

Bobby Brooks Kramer spent her entire life riding and training horses.

The nationally renowned cowgirl grew up on a Montana ranch and was one of the first women to begin riding rodeo broncs for prize money. In her 30s, Kramer completed a 140-mile, one-rider/one-horse endurance race from Billings to Miles City, Mont. At 76, she rode 50 miles in the Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive.

After World War II, she and her husband, Corwin "Bud" Kramer, formed the Hanging Diamond A horse ranch. They earned money capturing thousands of open range ponies, breaking them and selling them as riding or draft horses. Kramer attended the Billings Business College and graduated from Beauty Operators School. She received her private pilot's license in 1964 and used an airplane to "round up far flung horses." The Kramers, and their adopted son Gary Crowder, later opened the Kramer Crowder Horse Ranch. Bud died in 1979.

The photography exhibit, "Bobby Brooks Kramer: A Montana Legend," was shown at the Western Heritage Center in Billings last summer. Kramer was also featured in two documentaries ("I'll Ride That Horse" and "The Last Stronghold"). A lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse Association, the Montana Quarter Horse Association and the Montana Cutting Horse Association, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2000.

Kramer died on Jan. 5 of natural causes. She was 91.

Robert T. Matsui

Robert T. Matsui, a California Democrat who served 26 years in Congress, died on Jan. 1 of complications from myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood disorder. He was 63.

The Sacramento native was born in 1941, three months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He and his parents were forced to live in internment camps for three years during World War II. Due to poor living conditions, his pregnant mother contracted German measles and gave birth to a blind daughter, Barbara.

In the 1980s, Matsui helped pass legislation that apologized for the U.S. government's internment policy. President Ronald Reagan signed the Japanese-American Redress Act in 1988, which also established a $1.25 billion trust fund to pay reparations to the Japanese-Americans detained in the camps.

Matsui graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and Hastings College of the Law at the University of California. He decided to become an attorney after reading Clarence Darrow's autobiography. Matsui founded his own law firm and served on the Sacramento City Council. He was working as the vice mayor in 1978 when he won a seat representing the capital city's fifth district in Congress.

During his 14 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Matsui obtained financing for light rail projects and flood protection for the Sacramento region. He was one of the original authors of legislation that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Even though it put him at odds with other members of the Democratic Party, Matsui was also a strong supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Matsui was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the past two years and the third-ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. In recent weeks, he had prepared to oppose President George W. Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. Matsui believed that such a proposal would cut benefits, raise the retirement age and reduce retirees' standard of living. Instead, he proposed updating Social Security incrementally, in order to ensure its long-term solvency.

Re-elected last November with 71.4 percent of the vote, Matsui's death will trigger a special election for a new representative. His wife, Doris, a former director of public liaison in the Clinton White House, has been mentioned as a possible candidate.

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H. David Dalquist

H. David Dalquist, a metallurgy expert and baking innovator, died on Jan. 2 of heart failure. He was 86.

The Minnesota native earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. He spent two years as a metallurgical engineer for U.S. Steel before enlisting in the Navy. Dalquest served as a radar technician aboard the destroyer USS Swanson during World War II. Upon his return to the states, he and his wife, Dorothy, founded Nordic Ware, a manufacturer of kitchenware products, based in St. Louis Park, Minn.

In 1950, members of Hadassah, the Zionist women's volunteer society, asked Dalquist to design a metal pan similar to the ceramic one their European mothers used to bake a pudding called kugel. Based on their specifications, he created the Bundt pan -- a circular, cast aluminum pan with a center post and fluted sides. Originally called the bund pan, after a German word that means "a gathering," its name was later changed to avoid any association with the German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization.

A few local department stores carried the Bundt pan, but it wasn't a big seller until 1966 when a Texas woman used one in the 17th annual Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. Ella Helfrich won second place and a $5,000 prize for her rich and gooey Tunnel of Fudge Cake. After the contest, Pillsbury received more than 200,000 letters from women wanting to know where they could purchase a Bundt pan.

In response, Nordic Ware went into round-the-clock production. In the 1970s, the company signed an agreement with Pillsbury to sell Bundt pans with cake mixes, and Dorothy Dalquist published a cookbook containing 300 Bundt recipes. Although Nordic Ware now sells more than two dozen Bundt pan shapes, including heart-shaped, rose-shaped and star-shaped, the original cake mold is one of the most popular in the world. To date, more than 50 million Bundt pans have been sold.

Dalquist showed his gratitude to the Minneapolis Hadassah chapter by giving the organization his production seconds. The members sold the pans at fundraisers and used the proceeds to build schools and hospitals in Israel. Dalquist also made culinary history a second time when he developed cooking containers and gadgets for microwave ovens. He created the automated food rotator known as the Micro-Go-Round, microwave egg poachers and splatter covers, and 50 other microwave accessories. In 1987, Dalquist was inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame and the Entrepreneur's Hall of Fame in Boston.

Harvey Miller

Tech Sgt. Harvey B. Miller, a decorated World War II airman who was dubbed "The Jinx of the 15th Air Force" by The New York Times, died on Dec. 12 of a lung ailment. He was 84.

A native of Lititz, Pa., Miller enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. He soon grew tired of working as a file clerk and volunteered to fly. Miller earned his unlucky moniker while serving as a combat photographer and door gunner on Consolidated B-24 "Liberators." His first mission involved flying over Vienna on a Friday the 13th. The plane landed safely, but returned to base with 75 bullet holes. Miller was eventually shot down six times -- twice on his first four bombing missions -- and suffered two flak wounds.

Stories quickly spread about Miller's close calls. Upon learning his identity, several crew captains refused to fly with him. Planes with no brakes, no hydraulics and leaking gasoline that were forced to land on the Isle of Vis, just off the German-occupied Yugoslav coast, were called "Miller Specials."

After completing 27 missions, Miller moved back to his hometown and put his war experiences behind him. He earned a dozen medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Purple Hearts, but gave them all away. Pictures from his time in the service were also destroyed.

Miller spent 31 years working for the Defense Department and retired as a logistical management officer. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ethel Miller, three children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Danny Sugerman

Danny Sugerman was 12 years old when he attended his first Doors concert and became the group's biggest fan.

A year later, the teenager was hired by The Doors' charismatic lead singer Jim Morrison to answer fan mail and put together a scrapbook about the rock band. Once accepted into the inner circle, Sugarman joined his idols in experiencing the rock 'n' roll lifestyle of the 1960s.

When Morrison died in 1971, Sugerman served as the manager for Doors' guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore. He co-wrote the band's biography, "No One Here Gets Out Alive," with music journalist Jerry Hopkins, and worked as a technical advisor on the 1991 Oliver Stone film, "The Doors," starring Val Kilmer.

The Los Angeles native later recounted his struggles with heroin addiction in the 1991 autobiography "Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess." He also wrote two Doors-related compilations and a book about the heavy metal band Guns N' Roses.

Known for recording the songs "Light My Fire" and "Riders on the Storm," The Doors regrouped in 2002. Featuring Manzarek, Krieger and former The Cult singer Ian Astbury, the band is now called The Doors of the 21st Century.

Sugerman died on Jan. 5 of lung cancer at the age of 50. He is survived by his wife, Fawn Hall Sugerman, who testified against her former boss Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal.

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Will Eisner

William Erwin Eisner, an innovative artist and writer who created the popular newspaper comic "The Spirit," died on Jan. 3 of complications from quadruple bypass heart surgery. He was 87.

Born to Jewish immigrants, the native New Yorker began publishing artwork in his high school newspaper. He made his first professional sale in 1936 to WOW What a Magazine! Although WOW folded after four issues, the job put him in contact with editor/artist Samuel "Jerry" Iger. Together they formed the Eisner-Iger studio, and began creating comic strips for syndication in American newspapers.

Their comic book outfit employed many artists and writers who later became legends in the comic book industry, including Bob Kane ("Batman"), Jack Kirby ("Fantastic Four," "X-Men"), Lou Fine ("Wilton of the West," "The Count of Monte Cristo") and Jack Cole ("Plastic Man"). For six years, Eisner mentored Jules Feiffer, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning.

Eisner left the outfit in 1939 to work for the Quality Comics Group. A year later, he created ''The Spirit," a comic strip produced as a newspaper supplement and designed to appeal to older audiences. The main character, Denny Colt, was a coroner until a mad scientist buried him alive. Although Colt didn't have any superpowers, he escaped from his near-death experience and became a masked detective who solved crimes in the fictional Central City. "The Spirit" also featured a young black boy named Ebony White, one of the first recurring black characters in a mainstream cartoon.

Eisner was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. While the military kept him busy drawing comics about a soldier named Joe Dope (who taught the troops how to maintain their Jeeps and weapons), other artists filled in on "The Spirit." Eisner returned to the weekly series after the war, and continued writing/illustrating The Spirit's adventures until 1952. For the next 25 years, he ran the American Visual Corporation, a publisher of educational comics for the military.

Although many considered the "funny books" to be a cheap form of entertainment, Eisner viewed comics as "sequential art." He revolutionized the industry by emphasizing characters' emotions and addressing subjects once considered taboo, such as graft, domestic abuse and poverty. Eisner was credited with producing the first modern graphic novel when he published ''A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories" in paperback format in 1978.

Eisner also wrote two influential art books ("Comics and Sequential Art," "Graphic Storytelling") and taught cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He received numerous honors during his seven-decade career, including four Best Artist awards from the National Cartoonists Society and the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1987, the comics industry named one of its most prestigious awards in his honor.

"The Spirit," which has been reprinted several times since its original run, is currently being published in multivolume collections by DC Comics. Eisner's final graphic novel, "The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," will be released in May.

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Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, died on Jan. 1. Cause of death was not released. She was 80.

Born to poor, immigrant parents, Chisholm spent the first half of her childhood living on her grandmother's farm in Barbados. There she attended a British elementary school and picked up a Caribbean accent. At 11, Chisholm moved back to her parents' home in Brooklyn and became a star student. She graduated cum laude from Brooklyn College and earned a master's degree in elementary education from Columbia University.

Chisholm taught at a nursery school, ran a day care center and served as an educational consultant with New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare, then she entered the political arena. In 1964, she campaigned on a Democratic platform and won a seat in the New York General Assembly. Four years later, Chisholm was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, the first black woman to attain such a position of power.

During her seven terms in Washington, Chisholm championed the rights of minorities, women, the poor and veterans. She added diversity and a spirited voice to the white-male dominated halls of Congress. In her first term, she was assigned to the House Agriculture Committee. Knowing such a position would be useless to her urban constituency, Chisholm defied tradition and requested a reassignment. She was eventually given seats on the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Education and Labor Committee.

Chisholm was frequently criticized for denouncing the Vietnam War and demanding equal rights for all Americans. In 1972, she angered the establishment by seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for president. Chisholm was the first African-American to conduct a large-scale campaign for the presidency within the two-party system.

Running under the slogan "Unbought and Unbossed," Chisholm sought to draw people into politics who traditionally did not participate in the process. But even her most loyal supporters balked when she visited her rival, former Alabama governor and reformed segregationist George Wallace, in the hospital after an assassin shot him on the campaign trail. Despite their ideological differences, she felt it was the humane thing to do. Wallace appreciated the gesture, and two years later he helped Chisholm get the Congressional support she needed to extend the minimum wage to domestic workers. Although George S. McGovern eventually accepted the party's nomination, Chisholm received the National Organization for Women's first presidential endorsement and won a federal court order to participate in the televised debates.

In recent years, Chisholm taught at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., and gave rousing speeches on the lecture circuit. The author of two books ("Unbought and Unbossed," "The Good Fight"), she was also the subject of a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Upon her retirement from Congress in 1982, Chisholm was asked how she'd like to be remembered. She said: "I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts."

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Frank Kelly Freas

Frank Kelly Freas, an award-winning illustrator, died on Jan. 2. Cause of death was not released. He was 82.

Freas was born in New York, but raised in Canada. He conducted photo reconnaissance for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and drew pinup girls on the noses of bombers. After the war, he worked at an advertising agency and attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

In 1950, a friend encouraged Freas to submit a class assignment to Weird Tales magazine. When the editor, Dorothy McIlwraith, used the illustration of Pan dancing in the moonlight for her November cover, his career as a science fiction/fantasy artist took off.

Each assignment involved a process of studying, dreaming, drawing and painting. Freas would read each story assignment three times -- once as a reader, once with a sketchpad and once to add specific details. A die-hard science fiction fan as well, he knew the genre well enough to incorporate background concepts and imaginative speculation within his illustrations.

For nearly half a century, Freas painted covers for Astounding Science Fiction Magazine and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. He illustrated stories by legends in the field, including Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Ursula K. LeGuin, Frederik Pohl and A.E. Van Vogt. The prolific artist painted 58 covers for Laser Books and 90 for Ace, and drew MAD Magazine covers from 1958 to 1962.

He wrote and illustrated the books "The Astounding Fifties: A Selection From Astounding Science Fiction Magazine," "Frank Kelly Freas: The Art of Science Fiction," "Frank Kelly Freas: A Separate Star" and "Frank Kelly Freas: As He Sees It."

Outside of the genre, Freas drew over 500 portraits for the "Franciscan Book of Saints," and illustrated the cover of the Queen album, "News of the World." An official NASA mission artist, Freas also designed the crew patch for the Skylab I astronauts. His inspiring space exploration posters hang in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Freas received numerous honors, including 10 Hugo Awards, three Chesley Awards, five Locus Poll Awards, a Skylark Award and a Retro Hugo. In 2000, Freas was elected a fellow of the International Association of Astronomical Artists. He is survived by his wife Laura Brodian Freas, an artist and the host of a Los Angeles classical music program, two children and six grandchildren.

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Donald L. Hollowell

Donald Lee Hollowell, the venerable civil rights attorney who once sprung the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from prison, died on Dec. 27 of heart failure. He was 87.

Born in Wichita, Kan., Hollowell earned his high school diploma while serving for six years with the U.S. Army 10th Cavalry, the regiment known as the Buffalo Soldiers in the Old West. He attended Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., but dropped out of school and reenlisted when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. During World War II, he rose to the rank of captain while fighting in Europe.

Hollowell returned to Lane after the war to complete his education, then earned a law degree from Loyola University in Chicago. After settling in Atlanta, he supported the civil rights movement through the legal system. Hollowell represented King in 1960 when the civil rights leader was sent to Georgia's Reidsville Prison on a traffic charge. He represented Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes Jr., and helped them desegregate the University of Georgia.

Hollowell's firm helped desegregate Atlanta's schools and Augusta's buses, and later won a landmark case that required Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital to admit black doctors and dentists to its staff. The firm also came to the defense of Preston Cobb, a black teen who was sentenced to die for allegedly killing a white man. Hollowell stopped the execution and got Cobb released. In his spare time, Hollowell defended hundreds of lesser-known civil rights protesters and mentored young black lawyers, including Vernon Jordan, an adviser to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and Horace Ward, a federal judge.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Hollowell to be the first director of the southeastern office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a government agency that monitors workplace discrimination. He remained at the EEOC for nearly 20 years. A former president of the Voter Education Project, Hollowell helped increase the number of African-American voters from 3 million to 5.5 million.

For his lifetime of achievement and dedication to civil rights, the Emory University law school established a professorship in his name and the city of Atlanta named a street after him. Hollowell's undergrad alma mater plans to name its library in his honor.

Son Seals

Frank "Son" Seals not only sang the blues, he lived them. A car accident in 1995 severely injured his left hand. Two years later, he was shot in the face during a domestic dispute. A lifelong diabetic, part of Seals' left leg was amputated in 1999. More recently, his motor home was destroyed by fire and his custom-made guitar was stolen.

Despite these troubles, the gravelly-voiced singer/songwriter and guitarist toured all over the country and in Europe. He shared the stage with B.B. King, Johnny Winter and the jam band, Phish. Robert Palmer, writing for The New York Times once described Seals as "the most exciting young blues guitarist and singer in years."

Seals was taught to play the guitar by his father, a former minstrel show performer and juke joint operator. However, the Arkansas native entered the music business in the late 1960s as a drummer, accompanying artists such as Earl Hooker and Albert King.

Seals moved to Chicago in 1971 and found regular work performing in South Side clubs. He released his debut album, "The Son Seals Blues Band," in 1973 with Alligator Records, a premier blues label. Rolling Stone magazine called his sophomore effort, "Midnight Son," one of the most significant blues albums of the 1970s. He recorded seven more albums for Alligator and two for other labels; his final album, "Lettin' Go," was released in 2000.

Seals won three W.C. Handy Blues Awards and received a Grammy nomination in 1980 for his work on the live compilation "Blues Deluxe." In the 1990s, he performed at the White House for President Bill Clinton.

Seals died on Dec. 20 of complications from diabetes. He was 62.

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