The Blog of Death

Gerry Thomas

In an effort to rid his company of surplus turkey, Gerald Ehrmann Thomas tied together entertainment and food in a manner that would inadvertently affect the way Americans ate for the next 50 years. He created and named the "TV Dinner."

A marketing executive for C.A. Swanson and Sons, Thomas was visiting a distributor when he saw a single-compartment metal tray that was being developed to serve hot meals on airplanes. Recalling his five years in the Army Signal Corps during World War II, and the way his mess kit used to mix food together, Thomas created his own tray, one that divided foods into three compartments. He then devised a marketing plan for the meal and pitched it to his bosses.

They loved the idea.

The first Swanson TV Dinner contained turkey with cornbread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and buttered peas. Sold for $1.29, each dinner could be baked in the oven in less than 30 minutes. Ten million TV dinners were sold the first year of national distribution.

Although there is some debate over who truly invented the TV dinner, Thomas' version hit the U.S. market at just the right time. Women who were entering the work force or becoming less interested in domestic activities appreciated its quick cooking time. Singles and lower-income workers liked getting an entire meal for one low price. And children enjoyed having the ability to choose what they ate for dinner, especially after 1960 when Swanson added a small dessert to each tray. The original TV dinner tray resides in the Smithsonian Institute next to the leather jacket worn by the Fonz in the TV show "Happy Days."

Thomas received a $100 raise and a $1,000 bonus for his invention, and was inducted into the Frozen Food Hall of Fame. In 1999, his handprints were stamped in cement next to the classic three-compartment tray and placed on display at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Maxim magazine even named him one of the "50 Greatest Guys of the Century."

"He was very proud of the TV Dinner, but it never crossed his mind that he would ever get any notoriety out of it. He just ate up the publicity. He was a real ham," said Thomas' wife, Susan.

As a young man, Thomas earned a Bronze Star for helping to break a Japanese code during the Battle of Okinawa. The Nebraska native remained with Swanson after the Campbell Soup Co. took over in 1955, and worked his way up the corporate ladder to director of marketing and sales. After retiring in 1970, he spent his final years running an art gallery in New York City's Grand Central Terminal and doing consulting work.

Thomas died on July 18 of liver cancer. He was 83.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Eddie Bunker

Edward Bunker Jr., a career criminal and author, died on July 19 from complications of surgery. He was 71.

The Hollywood, Calif., native was the son of stagehand Edward Bunker Sr., and dancer/chorus girl Sarah Bunker. A born troublemaker, Eddie was only three years old when he destroyed a neighbor's incinerator with a claw hammer. The following year, he set fire to his family's garage.

Bunker spent the rest of his childhood attending reform schools and running away from foster homes. By the time he reached his teens, Bunker had become an accomplished thief, drug dealer and thug. He would eventually serve up to 18 years behind bars for various crimes, such as extortion, assault, forgery and armed robbery.

Using his experiences as the backdrop for fiction, Bunker began writing hard-boiled crime novels in prison. He sold his blood to pay for postage and submitted his manuscripts to dozens of magazines and publishers. When his first novel, "No Beast So Fierce," was released in 1973, Bunker decided to reenter mainstream society as a professional writer. He was paroled two years later.

Over the next three decades, Bunker wrote screenplays ("Straight Time," "Animal Factory") and books ("Little Boy Blue," "Dog Eat Dog" and "Education of a Felon"), and befriended authors William Styron and James Ellroy. He received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay "Runaway Train," which was based on a story by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and won a Macallan Dagger Prize for his autobiography, "Mr. Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade."

Bunker also acted in more than 20 movies, including "The Running Man," "Tango and Cash" and "The Longest Yard." In Quentin Tarantino's violent debut, "Reservoir Dogs," he played the character Mr. Blue.

Mira

Mira, the blind elephant seal who was a popular attraction at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, died on July 24. She was approximately three-and-a-half years old.

Mira was only six months old when she was found stranded on a northern California beach in 2002. Veterinarians at the North Coast Marine Mammal Center in Crescent City, Calif., took in the female seal and soon discovered that her retinas were underdeveloped. Due to this condition, the center decided Mira should not be returned to the wild, and asked the Oregon Zoo to care for her.

For the past three years, Mira has resided in the zoo's Steller Cove exhibit with her two sea lion companions, Julius and Gus. To work around her visual impairment, marine life keepers learned how to feed and train her using tactile and audio cues, rather than visual ones. They placed noise-making beads on a target-training pole and blew a whistle to call Mira for feedings.

Since the Stellar Cove exhibit was not designed to be used by visually-impaired animals, Mira had trouble getting in and out of her tank for feedings and physical examinations. To fix this problem, the zoo asked the Mechanical Engineering Department at Portland State University to design a system that would allow her to get in and out of the pool unharmed without having to raise the water level in the habitat. In May 2004, the student design team produced a lightweight, aluminum and plastic seal ramp. When the ramp was placed at the edge of Mira's tank, two zookeepers could easily pull the 325-pound seal out of the water.

"Mira was an awesome animal to work with. We learned a lot not only about elephant seals, but also about working with an animal with special needs. She was more responsibility because of her special needs, but it was a pleasure," said marine life keeper Karen Rifenbury.

Although Mira was undergoing treatment for an eye infection, her condition was not considered life-threatening. A necropsy will be performed to determine the cause of her death.

Antonio Núñez Montoya

Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Núñez Montoya, a legendary flamenco singer known as "el Chocolate," died on July 19 of cancer. He was 75.

Born in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and raised in Seville, Montoya grew up with two passions -- soccer and music. He began studying flamenco singing when he was only nine years old, and ultimately decided to forgo athletics in order to pursue a career in show business.

Montoya trained under flamenco greats Tomás Pavón, Manolo Caracol and Manuel Vallejo, and played his first gigs singing fandangos at the "Puerta la Carne." For the next seven decades, he practiced and mastered various flamenco styles, including the seguiriya, soleá and taranto. Montoya made a name for himself as a soloist in the 1960s, released nearly a dozen albums and performed in festivals all over the world. Called "el Chocolate" for his dark skin, Montoya is considered a master of the "cante jondo" (deep singing), one of the most solemn forms of flamenco music.

In 2002, Montoya won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Flamenco Album for "Mis 70 años con el cante" (My 70 Years of Flamenco Singing). He also received the Andalusia medal in 2003 for "his contribution to the most traditional form of flamenco," and the Premio Ondas award from Radio Barcelona for career achievement in flamenco.

When asked how he'd like to be remembered, Montoya said: "As an honorable man and an artist who was always true to his art."

• Listen to Songs From "Mis 70 años con el cante"

James Doohan

James Montgomery Doohan, the veteran actor who spent several decades saving the U.S.S. Enterprise from disaster, died on July 20 of pneumonia. He was 85.

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Doohan attended the Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School. His father, William Doohan, was an abusive alcoholic who made life miserable for his wife Sarah and their four children. To escape the old man's wrath, James left home at 19 and enlisted in the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War II. He attained the rank of captain in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and on June 6, 1944, landed with Allied forces on Juno Beach, Normandy. Doohan was struck by seven bullets in the D-Day battle, and doctors later amputated the middle finger of his right hand.

Upon his return to Canada, Doohan enrolled in a drama class. His commanding presence and ear for dialogue earned him a two-year scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he studied the craft alongside Leslie Nielsen and Tony Randall. For the next decade, Doohan found steady work as a character actor in films and television, but his big break came in 1966 when he adopted a Scottish accent and landed the role of Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the classic science fiction series, "Star Trek."

As the chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise, Doohan kept the crew from getting blown up, captured by aliens or trapped on uncharted planets. His frazzled demeanor in the midst of crisis never stopped him from efficiently working the ship's particle beam transporter whenever Capt. Kirk or one of the other crew members demanded (in some variation): "Beam me up, Scotty."

Doohan remained on the show for its three-season run, provided dozens of voices to characters on "Star Trek: The Animated Series" and appeared in seven "Star Trek" movies. His dramatic exploits made him a popular speaker on the science fiction/fantasy convention circuit and inspired the Milwaukee School of Engineering to award him an honorary degree in 1993. Doohan's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Married three times, Doohan was also the father of nine children. In his spare time, he collaborated with author S.M. Stirling on three science fiction novels ("The Rising," "The Privateer," "The Independent Command"), and wrote his 1996 autobiography, "Beam Me Up, Scotty." He retired from public life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2004. Per his request, Doohan's ashes will be blasted into outer space later this year.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Deborah Hutton

Deborah Helen Hutton, the first health editor of British Vogue, died on July 15 of cancer. She was 49.

Raised near Langley, Norfolk, England, Hutton graduated from York University with a degree in English. She worked for the British Council until 1979 when she won a talent contest and landed a job at Vogue magazine. At the time, the publication had no "Health" section, so Hutton launched one. She spent the next two decades writing hundreds of articles on a variety of health issues -- from female ejaculation and incontinence to weight gain and loss.

When she wasn't writing articles for Vogue or freelancing for other newspapers and magazines, Hutton penned the books "Vogue Complete Beauty," "Vogue Essential Beauty" and "Vogue Beauty for Life: Health, Fitness, Looks and Style for Women in Their 30s, 40s, 50s." She co-authored "The Parents Book: Getting on Well With Our Children" with Ivan Sokolov, and edited the "Vogue Exercise Book" and "Vogue Complete Diet and Exercise."

Due to the nature of her job, Hutton was supremely "health aware." She ran half-marathons, became a yoga enthusiast, drank in moderation, watched what she ate and rarely became ill. Last November, however, Hutton sought treatment for a persistent cough and was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. She would later quip: "There is no Stage V."

Determined to face her fate with grace and dignity, Hutton spent the last eight months of her life chronicling her battle with the disease and campaigning to help others. Even though she was a non-smoker for 24 years, Hutton fought to remove the societal stigma that people with lung cancer "bring it upon themselves." She also appeared on television and urged young girls and women to avoid smoking.

Hutton's latest book, "What Can I Do to Help?" was released on July 14. The guide offers practical information on cancer, and gives family and friends useful tips on how to make the patient's life a little bit easier. As a final gesture of compassion, she donated her royalties to Macmillan Cancer Relief, a British charity that helps people living with the disease.

To keep her friends and fans abreast of her progress, Hutton wrote nearly every day in her Weblog. She maintained the journal until last week when it was updated by her husband, photographer Charlie Stebbings, and her twin sister Paris. Hutton is also survived by her four children, her dog Scallywag, her cat Rogan Josh and a very large goldfish.

Jacques Roche

Jacques Roche, a well-known Haitian journalist, was found shot to death on July 14 on a Port-au-Prince street. He was in his early 40s.

The print/broadcast reporter and poet was kidnapped at gunpoint on July 10 while driving in the capital city. The abductors requested ransom money from his family, but they were unable to comply.

"They demanded $250,000, but after a lot of negotiation, they revised the amount downwards to $10,000. His relatives and friends had collected $10,000 that was sent to the kidnappers. Then they said they were waiting for the $240,000 remaining," said journalist Chenald Augustin.

Roche edited the arts and culture section of Le Matin newspaper, and worked as a sports commentator for Radio IBO. He also hosted a local TV program on civil society issues, including one show about Groupe des 184, a coalition of 13 prominent business, religious and civic groups. Groupe des 184 played a role in the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year.

Roche's body, which was found handcuffed and chained to a chair, showed signs of torture. His arms had been broken and burned, and his body was covered in blood.

[Update - July 19, 2005: Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue plans to schedule a national day of mourning for Roche. The government is also considering renaming the street where Roche's body was found after him.]

W. Pauline Nicholson

W. Pauline Nicholson, one of the cooks that prepared Elvis Presley's favorite meals, died on July 7 of cancer. She was 76.

Nicholson met the King of Rock 'n Roll in the mid-1960s after his neighbor praised her cooking skills. The legendary singer hired Nicholson to work at Graceland and soon became an ardent admirer of her peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, meatloaf and banana pudding. When he learned her husband, Ossie Nicholson Sr., had lost his job in 1974, Presley hired him as a guard.

Nicholson also worked as the Presley's housekeeper and occasionally babysat for their daughter, Lisa Marie. She remained on staff at Graceland until her retirement in 1990. In later years, Nicholson cooked for Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, whenever they requested her services. In fact, she prepared a home-cooked meal for them last Christmas. In 1981, Nicholson was featured in the documentary, "This is Elvis."

"Elvis was like a son to her, to hear her talk about it," said her daughter, Roslyn Guest.

Nicholson is survived by her husband of 55 years, nine children, 24 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Meimei

Meimei, the world's oldest panda held in captivity, died on July 12. Cause of death was not released. She was 36 -- or the equivalent of 108 in human years. The average life expectancy of a panda is 20 to 30 years.

Up until 1985, Meimei lived in the Wolong Natural Conservation Area in the Sichuan province of southwest China. The Wolong Park is the country's main center for the study and breeding of pandas. Meimei was taken into captivity out of fears she would starve because of a shortage of bamboo.

For the past two decades, she was a popular resident at the Guilin Zoo in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region. Due to her advanced age, however, Meimei suffered from eating difficulties, respiratory tract and lung infection and organ failure.

Giant pandas are threatened by a loss of habitat and poaching. Birth rates among pandas are also notoriously low because they mate for only three or four days a year. In 1989, experts attempted to impregnate Meimei through artificial fertilization, but failed.

Charles R. Thomson

Charles Renfrew Thomson, a federal firearms and explosives investigator, died on July 3 of cardiovascular collapse. He was 61.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Amesbury, Mass., Thomson was a descendant of Josiah Bartlett, a founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Thomson earned a bachelor's degree in history from Dartmouth College, then served in the U.S. Army for three years. He attained the rank of captain and was put in charge of a helicopter gunship platoon in Vietnam. After the war, Thomson worked surveillance along the border between East and West Germany to monitor for the possible deployment of nuclear warheads.

In 1971, Thomson joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as an undercover field agent in Boston. He worked his way up to a supervisory position in Philadelphia, led the A.T.F.'s first arson task force, solved a string of bombing attacks on 10 abortion clinics and handled money laundering, tax fraud and financial security cases as the bureau's liaison to Assistant Deputy Treasury Secretary for Law Enforcement William Nickerson.

From 1989 to 1993, Thomson ran the A.T.F.'s New York field office, which was located right across the street from the World Trade Center complex. Just as he was leaving work on Feb. 26, 1993, Thomson heard a massive explosion. Needless to say, he was one of the first investigators on the scene when a bomb planted inside a van exploded in the underground parking garage below Tower One. Six people died in that attack.

Thomson's A.T.F. team in New York joined forces with local, state and federal law enforcement personnel to search the debris for clues to the bombers' identities. Their dogged investigation led to the 1994 convictions of Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj. All four men received life sentences. In 1995, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a cleric who preached at mosques in Brooklyn and Jersey City, was sentenced to life in prison for masterminding the bombing.

After the World Trade Center attack, Thomson was promoted to associate director for law enforcement at A.T.F. headquarters in Washington D.C., a position that gave him purview over all field officers in five headquarters divisions. Two years later, he assumed oversight of the bureau's investigation into the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, for which he earned the Presidential Rank Award.

Thomson returned to Massachusetts as director and special agent in charge of the Boston division in 1998, and retired in 1999. His final years were spent working as an antiterrorism, security and crisis management consultant.

Frances Langford

Frances Langford Evinrude Stuart, the radio, stage and screen star who entertained the troops on Bob Hope's USO tours, died on July 11. Cause of death was not released. She was 91.

Born in Lakeland, Fla., Langford was just a teenager when bandleader Rudy Vallee heard her sing. Vallee offered her a guest spot on his radio program and helped her get a start in New York. At 18, she made her Broadway debut in the 1931 musical "Here Goes the Bride."

Langford's beauty and talent soon took her to Hollywood, where she launched a successful radio, TV and film career. She became a household name playing Blanche, Don Ameche's insufferable wife, on the popular radio comedy "The Bickersons," and appeared in more than 30 movies, including "Broadway Melody," "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Born to Dance." Langford played herself in her final film, "The Glenn Miller Story," starring Jimmy Stewart. On television, she starred in the variety programs "Frances Langford Presents" (1959) and "The Frances Langford Show" (1960).

Langford was singing on Hope's "Pepsodent Show" in 1941 when he produced his first military program at March Field in Riverside, Calif. Once Hope decided to take the show overseas to boost wartime morale, Langford joined his troupe. She sang in military bases and hospitals in Great Britain, Italy, North Africa, the South Pacific, Korea and Vietnam. Known as the "Sweetheart of the Fighting Fronts," Langford wooed thousands of servicemen with songs like "Embraceable You" and "I'm in the Mood for Love." She also wrote about her war experiences in the newspaper column, "Purple Heart Diary."

Langford's first husband was Jon Hall, an actor who appeared in the films "The Hurricane" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"; they divorced in 1954. A year later, she married her second husband, outboard motor heir Ralph Evinrude. The couple donated more than a million dollars to the Martin Memorial Medical Center and built a Polynesian-themed restaurant and marina in South Florida. Their union lasted until Evinrude's death in 1986.

Langford wed her third husband, Harold Cutliff Stuart, an attorney and former assistant secretary of the Air Force under Harry Truman, in 1994. The Stuarts spent the past 10 years traveling aboard her 110-foot yacht, fishing and supporting various medical and environmental causes. In 2002, Langford was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame.

When asked by Larry King how she'd like to be remembered, Langford said: "Please remember me as a simple person, who loved this country, its people and especially its military servicemen and women. Our servicemen needed us and we were there. I will always consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to have entertained the troops during the war years with Bob Hope and the USO."

• Listen to Langford on "The Bickersons"

• Listen to a Tribute From WQCS

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Louis H. Wilson Jr.

Gen. Louis Hugh Wilson Jr., the 26th commandant of the Marine Corps and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, died on June 21. Cause of death was not released. He was 85.

The Mississippi native studied economics at Millsaps College, where he played football and ran track. In 1941, a Marine Corps recruiter persuaded him to enlist in the service after graduation. This decision would forever alter the course of his life.

During World War II, Wilson served with the 9th Marines in the Pacific theatre. He was the commanding officer of Company F, 2d Battalion, in 1944 when he helped launch the two-day incursion on Fonte Ridge, Guam. In a daylight attack against Japanese machine gunners and riflemen, Wilson led his men across 300 yards of open terrain and captured a heavily defended hill containing an opposition command post. That night, he ordered the troops to fortify the post's defenses and spent 10 hours under enemy fire.

Wilson was wounded three times during the battle; he briefly received medical treatment then returned to the front to help his men fight the Japanese counterattacks. At one point, he even ran through flying shrapnel and bullets to save a wounded Marine beyond front lines. For taking and holding a key position, and for "exceptionally distinguished service," Wilson received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for heroism in combat, from President Harry S. Truman on Oct. 5, 1945.

After the war, Wilson took on recruiting and command assignments on both coasts and in Korea, and continued to rise through the ranks. He taught at the Marine Corps Schools in Quantico, graduated from the National War College and served as assistant chief of staff to the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. There he earned the Legion of Merit and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with a Gold Star.

As a lieutenant general, Wilson assumed command of the Fleet Marine Force in the Pacific. For his service, he earned a second Legion of Merit, the Korean Order of National Security Merit, a GUK-SEON Medal, 2d Class and the Philippine Legion of Honor. Wilson received his third Legion of Merit for commanding the I Marine Amphibious Force, 3d Marine Division on Okinawa.

In 1975, Wilson was promoted to a full general and became the 26th commandant of the Marine Corps. In this position, he renewed emphasis on combat readiness, increased academic enlistment standards, addressed disciplinary problems within the ranks and toughened weight requirements. Today, 98 percent of enlistees are high school graduates.

Wilson's achievements caught the eye of Sen. John Stennis (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Stennis successfully campaigned on his behalf, and in 1978, Wilson was given full membership on the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Wilson retired in 1979 and spent his later years serving on the corporate boards of Merrill Lynch and Fluor Corp. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter, a bestselling author who sold more than 100 million books under his own name and the pseudonym Ed McBain, died on July 6 of cancer of the larynx. He was 78.

Born Salvatore Lombino, the native New Yorker was studying at the Cooper Union Art School when World War II interrupted his education. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and began to write while serving on a destroyer in the Pacific. Upon his return to the states, Lombino majored in English at Hunter College in New York. In 1952, he legally changed his name to Evan Hunter because he thought publishers would be less likely to accept books from an author with an Italian moniker.

To make ends meet, Hunter taught English classes at inner city high schools, sold lobsters to restaurants and worked as an editor for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, but he never stopped honing his writing skills. Under the names Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins and Richard Marsten, he wrote dozens of magazine stories. Once he had enough credits to his, well, many names, Hunter published his first novel, "The Blackboard Jungle." The harrowing tale of big city school violence became a 1955 film starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier. Hunter later penned the second revision of the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, "The Birds."

Starting in 1956, Hunter began writing as Ed McBain. Under this pen name, he pioneered the gritty, police procedural genre with his bestselling "87th Precinct" series. Over the course of 55 books ("Cop Hater," "Jigsaw," "Widows," "Mischief," "Money, Money, Money," "Hark!"), McBain chronicled the cases of the station's detective squad. His fast-paced novels were driven by dialogue and his realistic plotlines combined modern investigative techniques with sardonic humor. The final "Precinct" book, "Fiddlers," will be released in September.

Up until he suffered a heart attack in the 1980s, Hunter wrote for eight hours a day in his Connecticut home. His talent and prolific nature earned him scores of fans and numerous writing awards. Hunter received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986, and was the first American to win the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association in 1998.

In the essay, "Nature of the Beast," his alter ego, McBain, made a contract with readers. "I know all the rules of mystery writing and I promise that I will observe them so long as they provide a novel that will keep you fascinated, intrigued and entertained. If they get in the way of that basic need, I'll either bend the rules or break them, but I will never cheat the reader. Never," he wrote. The author made several other declarations about his writing, but he ended the essay with a simple guarantee: "I promise to keep you awake all night. I promise to keep writing till the day I die. I will sign this contract in blood if you like."

• Listen to an Interview With Hunter

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Jack Kilby

Jack St. Clair Kilby, a Nobel laureate who revolutionized how the world communicates, died on June 20 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 81.

Born in Missouri and raised in Kansas, Kilby grew up with a fascination of electronics. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in the same major at the University of Wisconsin.

After developing ceramic-based silk screen circuits for radios, televisions and hearing aids at the Centralab Division of Globe Union in Milwaukee, Kilby moved to Dallas to work for Texas Instruments. The electrical engineer hadn't labored enough hours to earn a vacation, so while the rest of the TI staff was away from the office, he spent the summer of 1958 inventing the monolithic integrated circuit -- the predecessor of the microchip.

Patented in 1959, the "Solid Circuit Made of Germanium" was the first to be fabricated on a single piece of semiconductor material. Unfortunately, germanium was too fragile for the chip to be mass-produced. Five months later, scientists at Fairchild Semiconductor, led by Intel co-founder Robert Noyce, figured out how to embed a transistor onto silicon, which was more durable.

The fingernail-size "circuit-on-a-chip," replaced the bulky switches and tubes used in the first computing machines. Today, microchips run thousands of electrical devices, including cell phones, computers, video games and microwave ovens. Sales of integrated circuits totaled $179 billion in 2004.

Kilby registered more than 60 U.S. patents during his lifetime. He invented the first computer using integrated circuits, the hand-held calculator and the first thermal printer. A recipient of the National Medal of Science, Kilby taught electrical engineering at Texas A&M University from 1978 to 1984, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1982.

In 1990, the Kilby International Awards were created to honor "unsung heroes and heroines who make significant contributions to society through science, technology, innovation, invention and education." Kilby won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for laying "the foundation of modern information technology."

• Listen to a Tribute From PBS

• Watch Kilby's Nobel Interview

Dana Elcar

Ibson Dana Elcar, the veteran actor best known for his work on the TV show "MacGyver," died on June 6 of complications from pneumonia. He was 77.

The Ferndale, Mich., native had drama in his soul. He used to recreate radio plays with his siblings, and decided to become an actor after spending all night in a movie theatre watching numerous showings of the Orson Welles classic, "Citizen Kane." Elcar enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 18 and served a tour of duty in Newfoundland, then attended the University of Michigan, where he founded the Ann Arbor Theater. He would later form the L.A. Actors' Theater and the Santa Paula Theater Center in California.

Elcar moved to New York in the 1950s to become a professional thespian. He studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse and landed roles in several off-Broadway plays, such as "The Dumb Waiter," "The Caretaker," "Under Milk Wood" and "Waiting for Godot." Elcar appeared opposite George C. Scott in "Richard III," and served as an understudy to both Alec Guinness and Jason Robards. Although he acted in six Broadway productions, none of them lasted very long on the Great White Way.

Elcar had better luck on the small and silver screen. The character actor appeared in more than 40 films, including "Fail-Safe," "The Sting," "2010" and "All of Me." He was also a regular on the TV shows "Baretta" and "Dark Shadows."

Elcar found his niche on the ABC series "MacGyver," which aired from 1985 to 1992. He played Peter Thornton, the best friend and boss of the title character. When Elcar's glaucoma began to affect his eyesight, he told the producers of "MacGyver" about his impending blindness. Instead of replacing him with another actor or killing off the character, the writers adapted his illness into the show. Elcar's blindness was also written into stirring guest appearances on "Law & Order" and "ER."

Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross, the R&B singer whose lush voice sold more than 25 million albums, died on July 1. Cause of death was not released. He was 54.

The New York native began playing the piano when he was only three years old. In his teens, Vandross fell in love with the musical stylings of Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick because he felt they had more emotional range than their male counterparts. He attended Western Michigan University for two terms, then dropped out to become a professional singer/songwriter.

Vandross' first gigs involved writing songs for the Broadway musical "The Wiz," and working as a singer and vocal arranger for David Bowie. He sang backup for Donna Summer, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand, and made more than $500,000 a year writing advertising jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken and 7-Up.

As the lead vocalist for Change, Vandross scored his first big hit with the 1980 record "The Glow of Love." A year later, Epic Records signed him to a solo recording contract, and released "Never Too Much." The debut album sold 2 million copies.

Over the next 25 years, Vandross' smooth tenor would become a staple on R&B and love song dedication radio stations. He charted 22 R&B hits, including "Superstar," "Give Me the Reason" and "Love Won't Let Me Wait," but scored his first Top 10 pop single in 1990 with "Here and Now."

The romantic crooner won eight Grammy Awards: one for "Here and Now," two for "Power of Love / Love Power," one for "Your Secret Love," three for "Dance With My Father" and one for his duet with Beyoncé Knowles, "The Closer I Get to You." Earlier this year, he was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award.

In 2003, Vandross suffered a debilitating stroke that forced him to stop making public appearances. Although he continued recording, hospital officials say he "never really recovered" from the illness.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

Download MP3s by Vandross

Domino Harvey

Domino Harvey, a former model and bounty hunter, died on June 27 from an accidental overdose. She was 35.

Born in Belgravia, Harvey was the daughter of British actor Laurence Harvey ("The Manchurian Candidate") and Vogue model Pauline Stone. Despite her glamorous upbringing, she was a tomboy at heart who preferred playing with weapons to dressing up dolls. After being expelled from four public schools for fighting with boys, Harvey spent her teens strutting up and down the London catwalks as a model for the prestigious Ford agency.

At 19, Harvey moved to California to find her place in the world. She ran a nightclub, did some gigs as a DJ, labored as a ranch hand and even worked as a firefighter. Dangerous situations jacked her up almost as much as heroin, her drug of choice. This passion for peril also led to a new career: bounty hunter.

In 1993, Harvey became a bail recovery agent for the Celes King Bail Bonds Agency in South Central Los Angeles. Although her pickups were usually small-time drug dealers and addicts, she helped arrest the leader of one of the city's most violent gangs.

When Harvey checked into a Hawaiian rehabilitation clinic in 1997, she weighed less than 100 pounds. That same year, she sold the rights to her life story for approximately $46,000. Harvey had reportedly kicked her drug habit, but was recently arrested in Mississippi and charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs, possession, trafficking and racketeering. At the time of her death, she was under house arrest pending trial, and facing a possible life sentence in prison.

"Domino," an action-filled biopic loosely based on Harvey's life and starring Keira Knightly, is scheduled for release in theaters this fall. One of Harvey's original songs will be played during the film's opening credits.

"Domino never failed to surprise or inspire me over the last 12 years. She was a free spirit like no other I have ever known," said Tony Scott, director of "Domino."

• Watch the "Domino" trailer