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Sports
Arnie Boehm - Boxing coach who began training Lennox Lewis as a 12-year-old and guided him to a brilliant amateur career before Lewis moved to his native England and eventually knocked out Mike Tyson for the heavyweight champion title, died of a heart attack on Oct 9 at age 69.
Mario Brown - Star basketball player and first African American to play on the varsity team at Texas A&M University in 1971, died of cancer on Oct. 5 at age 51.
Ben Eastman - Called “Blazin’ Ben”, one of the worlds fastest runners at Stanford in the 1930’s who set world records in several categories, and is remembered for his fierce rivalry with Penn’s Bill Carr, died Oct. 5 at age 91.
Duncan Gilchrist - Outdoorsman and authority on wild sheep and bears who wrote several books on outdoor subjects and produced two dozen videos on big game hunting, died of a heart attack on Oct. 5 while filming a hunt in Montana at age 66.
Gray Griffin - A soccer player for Furman University who was the captain the U.S. under-17 national team last year, was killed in a car accident on Oct. 11 at age 18.
Eric Martin - ARCA racecar driver who drove for his stepfather Wayne Hixson, and had 40 career ARCA Series starts since 2001 and was ranked 20th, was killed during practice for the EasyCare 150 in Concord, NC, in a crash with a car driven by Deborah Renshaw. He was 33 years old.
Jim “Jughead” Martin - All-American football player at Notre Dame whose team was undefeated during his tenure there, who went on to a 14-year NFL career with Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, and who was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, died Oct. 9 of throat cancer at age 78.
Tara Patterson - Former standout basketball player at Southwestern College and current assistant basketball coach at Cowley Community College in Kansas, was killed in a car accident Oct. 10 at age 23.
Chuck Rayner - Hall of Fame goaltender who played for the New York Americans and New York Rangers in a 10 year career from 1941 to 1950, and who received the Hart trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1950, died of a heart attack on Oct. 6 at age 82.
Jacques Richard - National Hockey League player with Quebec, Atlanta and Buffalo who spent seven years in prison for smuggling cocaine from Columbia, was killed in an automobile accident Oct. 8 at age 50.
Mike York (aka Mike Riker) - Pro wrestler who was best known as half of “The Alaskans” tag team with both Jay York and Frank Monte, who toured throughout the 60’s and 70’s, died of complications of diabetes on Sept. 29 at age 62.
Art and Literature
D.J. Cline - South Dakota author, teacher and former president of the National Federation of Presswomen, who was best known for writing “Perfection, Never Less”, a biography of entrepreneur Vera Way Marghab, died Oct. 6 at age 84.
Ivan Jelinek - Czech poet, journalist and broadcaster who fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 after Nazi occupation and became a major external force in keeping Czech culture alive while under Nazi rule, died Sept. 27 at age 93.
Susan Macfarlane - Painter known best for the exhibition “A Picture of Health”, 23 oil paintings and drawings showing the clinical treatment of breast cancer, died in an accidental fall on August 14 at age 64.
Frederick Machetanz - “Alaska’s artist”, whose paintings of wildlife, dog teams, native peoples and vast landscapes were commissioned for six figures in a career spanning seven decades, died Oct. 6 at age 94.
Ewart Oakeshott - Leading authority of European arms and armor, especially the medieval sword, and who published 17 books on weapons and medieval battles, died Sept. 29 at age 86.
Marcus Palliser - American-born former computer company director who left it all to pursue a career as an author, writing the British best-sellers “To the Bitter End” and “Matthew’s Prize”, died of a heart attack on Oct. 4 at age 53.
Jim Seymour - Influential technical writer for computer magazines like PC Week and PC Magazine, who penned the books "Jim Seymour's PC Productivity Bible" and "Jim Seymour's On the Road", died Oct. 8 after gall bladder surgery at age 60.
Douglas R. Warren - Hollywood biographer who wrote the authorized biography of Jimmy Cagney released in 1986, as well as biographies of Yvonne DeCarlo and Betty Grable, died Sept. 28 after heart surgery at age 77.
Wynne Whiteford - Highly popular Australian-born science fiction author who published his first novel at age 65 and penned 6 more books including “Breathing Space Only”, “Thor’s Hammer” and “The Specialist”, died Sept. 20 at age 87.
Politics and Military
Prince Claus von Amsberg - Dutch prince and husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who had been a member of the Hitler Youth in Germany as a teen , but who eventually won over the suspicious Netherlanders to become one of the most popular royal figures in that country, died of pneumonia related to Parkinson’s disease on Oct 6 at age 76.
Boyd Evison - National Park Service chief whose long career in the Department of Interior included oversight of the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1985, died of cancer Oct. 4 at age 69.
L.H. Fountain - North Carolina congressman who served from 1953 to 1983 who was a champion for consumer issues but a staunch segregationalist, died Oct. 10 of pneumonia and heart disease at age 89.
Oran Gragson - Las Vegas mayor from 1975 to 1985 who worked to rid the Las Vegas government of corruption during his 4 terms as mayor, died Oct. 7 of lung cancer at age 91.
Yevgeny Gusarov - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of relations with European countries and NATO, who has been prominent in Russia’s efforts to work against NATO's eastward expansion, died of a heart attack on Oct. 7 at age 52.
Harold Hancock - White House elevator operator who took both presidents Clinton and Bush to their private quarters each evening, died Oct. 4 of bone cancer at age 72.
Hazliza Ishak - Wife of 62-year-old Malaysian sultan Raja Jaafar Raja Muda Musa, who was kidnapped out of a car she was driving last week by a group of masked men, was found dead on Oct. 11 with her hands and legs bound. She was 26.
Rep. John S. Martinez - Connecticut’s Democratic House majority leader who was known for fighting for the rights of racial minorities and who was the president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, was killed in a car accident on Oct. 11 at age 48.
Tony Mazzocchi - Career union leader as head of the OCAW in the 1970’s, who played a crucial role in the passage of OSHA legislation and was a key advisor to Karen Silkwood, and who had been working toward the establishment of the Labor Party in the U.S., died on Oct. 2 at age 76.
Mary Mxadana - Personal assistant to South African president Nelson Mandela whom he called “my boss”, and who was a prominent member of the internationally renowned choral group Imilonji kaNtu, died Oct. 10 after an extended illness at an undisclosed age.
Albert Walsh - New York housing official who became an advocate for low cost housing for the poor, bringing public and private interests together, and who served as the president of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment, died Oct 9 of lung cancer at age 74.
Henry T. Ward - Newspaperman, former gubernatorial candidate and historical figure in Kentucky who is said to have had more impact in that state than many governors, died Oct. 7 after a brief illness at age 93.
Social and Religion
Kenneth Bridges - Philadelphia man who was the co-founder of a marketing distribution company and was the father of six children was shot to death while pumping gas while in Washington DC on a business trip on Oct. 11. He was 53.
Robert Bryan (aka “Naya”) - Tree-sitter for the Earth First environmental group who had been reported missing from Salt Lake City by his family several months ago, fell to his death from a giant redwood in the Ramsey Gulch area near Santa Cruz, CA while protesting logging in the area on Oct. 8. He was 25 years old.
Tom Dawson - British tourist on an 8 month trip through Asia who was assaulted on Oct. 2 near a popular section of the Great Wall of China and brutally murdered, a rare occurrence anywhere in China which values its reputation as a safe place. He was 24.
Eunice Edgar - Head of ACLU of Wisconsin from 1976 to 1992 who specialized in fighting for the rights of black men brutalized by police and neo-Nazis being denied their freedom of speech, died of cancer Oct. 2 at age 73.
Gregory Gueths - Teenager serving a life sentence for the murder of 17-year-old Emily Fitzgerald last year, who showed no signs of remorse at the trial, was found dead in prison from an overdose of Tylenol in an apparent suicide on Oct. 6 at age 17.
Hans Holmer - The Swedish police commissioner who led the investigation into the assassination of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986, in one of the world’s highest profile unsolved murders, and who was forced to resign in 1987 because of the case, died Oct. 4 after a long illness at age 71.
Henry de Lotbinière - British barrister who gained fame by continuing to work even after his face was severely disfigured from surgery to remove cancer that begin in his salivary gland, which included removal of nearly every part of the left side of his head (including eye socket, jaw, forehead and part of his brain), died of pneumonia on Oct. 1 at age 57.
John Lukacs - Real estate lawyer who quit smoking in 1970 but was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990’s and who won a $37.5 million judgment against 3 major cigarette makers in June 2002, died Oct. 7 of the disease at age 77.
Dean Harold Meyers - Gaithersburg, MD man who was a Vietnam veteran and had worked as an engineer at the same company for 20 years, was gunned-down by the DC sniper while pumping gas on Oct 10. He was 53.
Rose Phillips - Founder, with her husband Jay, of the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation, one of Minnesota’s largest grantmakers who gives millions of dollars to causes related to health, education and anti-discrimination, and who is the mother-in-law of Pauline “Dear Abby” Phillips, died Oct. 5 at age 103.
Peter Sim - Scotland’s heaviest man who weighed 38 stones (538 lbs, 242 kg) and suffered from Cushing's Syndrome was found dead on Oct. 8 of unknown causes at age 27.
Rev. Paul M. Washington - Philadelphia-area Episcopal pastor and social crusader who fought for justice and equality for the oppressed, including fighting for acceptance of women into the ministry and partnership benefits for gay city workers, died of heart failure Oct. 7 at age 81.
Aileen Wuornos - Florida serial killer known as “The Highway Hooker” and “Damsel of Death”, who was convicted of robbing and shooting to death six men along Florida’s highways during 1989 and 1990 while working as a prostitute, and was the subject of a 1992 movie starring Jean Smart as Wournos, was executed by lethal injection Oct. 9 at age 46.
Business and Science
Dr. Michael Argyle - One of Britains best known academic psychologists who developed social psychology into a scientific enterprise at Oxford, and who wrote numerous books including the series “The Social Psychology of …(Religion, Everyday Life, Happiness, Work, etc.)”, died Sept. 6 of injuries suffered in a swimming accident at age 77.
Dr. Frank X. Barron - Psychologist and pioneer in the study of creativity and the human personality, including one of the major works in the field "Creativity and Psychological Health”, died Oct. 6 after a fall at age 80.
Sir Derek Bibby - British shipping magnate who owned the Bibby Line, a family shipping business, who while suffering from terminal leukemia, committed suicide on Oct. 9 by swallowing aluminium phosphide, an herbicide, which hours later caused his body to emit deadly fumes forcing the evacuation of the hospital where his body was being held. Sir Derek was 80.
Dr. Alphonse Chapanis - Known as the “father of ergonomics”, a research dedicated to maximizing the healthfulness and efficiency of human-machine interactions, died on Oct. 4 after knee surgery at age 85.
David Charnay - Journalist, novelist and public relations expert best known as the head of Four Star Television Productions from the late 1960’s to early 1980’s, who turned the company into a powerhouse syndicator, died Oct. 2 after surgery at age 90.
Zakaria Erzinclioglu - Forensic entymologist (or maggotologist) and author of “Maggots, Murder, and Men”, who examined bodies for “insect evidence” and testified at trials as to time, place and manner of death (grossest job ever!), died of a heart attack on Sept. 26 at age 50.
Jules Klapman - Owner of Dad’s Root Beer bottling company, who took the business that was started by his father as a local Chicago enterprise and made it a multinational firm, died Oct. 9 at age 84 .
Dr. Ronald Malt - Lead surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital who led a surgical team in the world’s first successful replantation of a human limb in 1962 when he reattached the arm of 12-year-old Red Knowles, died of Alzheimer’s disease on Oct 5 at age 70.
Nancy Nichols - Well-known executive recruiter and managing partner of Heidrick & Struggles, who headed the education/nonprofit division finding new heads for the Carnegie Foundation, Smithsonian and PBS, died of ALS on Oct. 2 at age 57.
Bernard Ridder - Former CEO of Ridder Newspapers, the family-owned company that began acquiring newspapers all over the country beginning in the early 20th century, who led the merger with Knight newspapers in 1974 to become Knight Ridder, the 2nd largest newspaper conglomerate in the U.S., and who was one of the original owners of the Minnesota Vikings football team, died Oct. 10 after a stroke at age 85.
Duncan Sharpe - CEO of JJB Sports, Britain’s largest sportswear retailer, committed suicide by hanging on Oct 7 on the eve of the release of the companies financial reports, and has plunged the sports chain into financial crisis. He was 43.
Keith Uncapher - Founder of USC’s Information Sciences Institute who conducted and supervised pioneering work on development of the Internet, including “packet-switching” technology (process of breaking down messages for sending and reassembling them at their destination) and the naming system for domain names (.com, .net and .org), died of a heart attack on Oct. at age 80.
Howard Williams - Mechanical engineer who invented the altitude-compensating fuel valve which was first used in American warplanes in WW2 and is an integral component of the modern jet engine, died of an aneurysm on Oct. 5 at age 85.
August Witt - Internationally known MIT professor and researcher who processed and categorized electronic materials and began under the tutelage of Werner von Braun, died Oct 7. of gastric cancer at age 71.
Joachim Zahn - Chairman of Daimler-Benz AG from 1971 to 1979, who led Benz thru the oil price boosts during the 70’s while turning a profit and not cutting workforce, one of the few auto company heads to do that, died Oct. 9 of undisclosed causes at age 88.