Sports
Paal Arne Fagernes - One of Norway's most famous athletes, who competed in the Olympics as a javelin thrower at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney (setting a Norwegian throwing record in his qualifying), who became a boxer in 2001 (a sport outlawed in Norway) and competed around the world, but whose career was marred by repeated substance abuse and violence problems, was killed in a car on August 4 south of Oslo, Norway in a head on collision with at truck (suicide?). He was 29 years old.
Max Marolt - Member of the U.S. Ski Team that competed in the 1960 Olympics, who with his brother Bill were among the U.S.'s top skiers in the late 40's and 50's, and who was inducted into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame in 2003, died July 27 of a massive heart attack while skiing in Argentina (reportedly found buckled into his skis and smiling). He was 69 years old.
Mickey McDermott - Major league left-handed pitcher who pitched 12 seasons for the Red Sox, Senators, Yankees, A's and Cardinals compiling a career 69-69 record, who was a highly-touted young pitcher when he began pitching for the Red Sox in 1948 but whose promise went mostly unfulfilled, and who published his memoir, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cooperstown" earlier in 2003, died August 7 of colon cancer in Phoenix at age 74.
Guy Thys - Coach of Belgium's national soccer team from 1972 to 1991, who led them to the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup where they lost to Argentina, and who was elevated to national hero status because of his long success, died August 1 after a long illness in Brussels at age 80.
Brian Wright - U.S. Figure Skating Association's Choreographer of the Year in 1994, considered by the figure-skating profession as a star-maker, who choreographed the most popular skaters in recent memory like Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Williams, Michael Weiss, Scott Davis and Michelle Kwan, died July 29 in Seattle of AIDS-related complications (He had lived 17 years with HIV and 8 with full blown AIDS). He was 42 years old.

Art and Literature
Robert J. Donovan - Washington journalist and author of the best-selling book "PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II", which was made into the movie starring Cliff Robertson, and who was a longtime Kennedy family friend, died August 8 in St. Petersburg, FL after a stroke at age 90.
Warren Kremer - Cartoonist for Harvey Comics in New York City for 35 years, who was the company's primary cover illustrator and the artist for comics like Richie Rich (named for his own son Richard) and Casper the Friendly Ghost, died July 24 in Glen Ridge, NJ at age 82.
F. T. Prince - South African-born poet who penned the famous World War II poem "Soldiers Bathing", whose work critics found difficult to classify, and who published numerous volumes of poetry beginning in 1938, including "Poems", "More Poems from the Forces", and "Collected Poems" (in 1993)", died August 7 in England at age 90.
Herman Schneider - Author of more than 80 educational books, who specialized in science books for children and teenagers, and whose books featured such titles as "Let's Look under the City: Water, Gas, Waste, Electricity, Telephone", "Science Fun with a Flashlight" and "Science Fun with Milk Cartons", died July 31 in Boston at age 98.
Peter Schwed - Author who was editorial-chairman and trade-books publisher at Simon & Schuster, who nurtured into publication works by such authors as P. G. Wodehouse, Irving Wallace, David McCullough and Cornelius Ryan, and who wrote several books of his own including "God Bless Pawnbrokers", died July 31 in New York City at age 92.
Herbert Siebner - German-born, Canadian expressionist painter, who was a founding member of The Limners, a group of artists formed in 1972 devoted to the human figure (painting nudes?), and whose own paintings were recognizable from his use of shifting shapes like circles, semi-circles and domes and dramatic colours such as bright orange, died August 3 in Victoria, British Columbia of heart failure at age 78.
James Welch - American-Indian novelist who wrote about being an Indian in modern American society, who wrote internationally acclaimed books like "Fools Crow", "The Indian Lawyer" and "Winter in the Blood", and who had a huge following in Europe, especially France, died August 4 in Missoula, MT of lung cancer at age 62.
Kenneth Whyld - Chess historian and author who produced the standard "Oxford Companion to Chess", an encyclopedia to the game's history and rules, and who wrote other books like "The Guinnness Book of Chess Records" and "The Collected Games of Emanuel Lasker" as well as publishing the quarterly magazine The Chess Reader, died on July 11 in London at age 77.

Politics and Military
John Dawson - United States ambassador to Peru since 2002, who had a long history with Latin American affairs while serving in the US foreign service in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, died July 30 in New York of pancreatic cancer at age 52.
Tom Lewis - U.S. Congressman from Florida, who served as a Republican from 1983 to 1994, who was instrumental in saving the Hurricane Hunter Plane Program, which sends planes out to gather hurricane data for meteorologists, died August 2 in Palm Beach Gardens, FL of undisclosed causes at age 78.
Fred Mollwitz - Army Air Corps officer who took motion pictures on reconnaissance flights during WW2 that were shown on the national newsreels, who was among first group to photograph Hiroshima from the ground after the A-bomb, and who was among the soldiers who captured Gestapo Col. Josef Albert Meisinger (the "Butcher of Warsaw") in Japan, died July 27 in Westbend, IN at age 87.
Joseph Momoh - President of Sierra Leonne from 1985 until he was overthrown in a military coup in 1992 by Capt. Valentine Strasser, who was frustrated with Momoh's handling of rebel forces led by ruthless leader Foday Sankoh during the civil war, died August 2 in Guinea after a long illness at age 66 .
Hashim Salamat - Founder and leader of the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an organization seeking an Islamic state in the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, which has led a revolt that has claimed the lives of 120,000 people, mostly civilians, died of a heart attack on the island of Mindanao on July 13 at age 61 (his death had remained secret because of ongoing peace talks with the Philippine government).
Seymore Trammell - A top aide to Alabama governor George Wallace, who after Wallace was defeated in the 1958 election for governor, conspired with him to run a race-based campaign for governor in 1962, which succeeded, and who aided Wallace with a racist political strategy in his 1968 run for the presidency (he won 5 states), died July 31 of natural causes in Union Springs, AL at age 83.
Robert J. Ward - Federal judge appointed by Richard Nixon, who oversaw several high-profile cases in New York, including a plagiarism lawsuit filed against "Roots" author Alex Haley in the late 1970's, died August 7 in New York City of cancer at age 77.

Social and Religion
Jack Ass - Man formerly known as Bob Craft, who changed his name to Jack Ass in 1997 in order to raise awareness about the dangers of drunken driving, who began the Hearts Across America campaign that encouraged people to put up big red "healing hearts" along highways, and who in 2002 sued Viacom, the company that owns MTV, for defamation of character that he's endured as a result of the TV show "Jackass", committed suicide the week of July 28 by shooting himself with a hunting rifle near Hot Springs, MT. He was 45 years old.
Leonard Burch - Longtime chairman of the Southern Ute Tribal Council who is credited with bringing the Colorado Indian tribe from abject poverty at the time he took over in 1967 to a position as one of the nation's richest tribes before his retirement last year, who built $1.5 billion in assets from natural gas production on tribal land as well as a gambling casino, died August 1 of a heart attack in Durango, CO at age 69.
Tommy Fortenberry - Alabama man who killed four people during a gas station holdup in 1986, who shot store clerk Wilbur Nelson, 51, the store-owner's son Mike Guest, 21, and two customers who drove up to the station during the robbery, Bobby Payne, 43, and his wife Nancy Payne, 29, was executed by lethal injection on August 7 in Atmore, AL at age 39.
Andrea R. Martin - Founder of the Breast Cancer Fund who served as its director from 1992 until 2001, who built the organization to a national advocacy group with 70,000 supporters, and who suffered from and beat breast cancer on two occasions, died August 6 of a brain tumor in San Francisco at age 57.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (real name Andrei Bloom) - Highly respected bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church, who was one of the last direct heirs to Russia's spiritual revival of the early 20th century, who while living in London, was known for his religious broadcasts into the Soviet Union, died August 4 in London after a long illness at age 89.
Wang Mingcheng - Chinese man who was in the news in 1986 when he persuaded doctors to kill his ailing mother in China's first known euthanasia case (he was acquitted of murder charges in that case), and who was in the news again in 2003 when he requested euthanasia for himself after battling terminal stomach cancer (his request was refused), succumbed to the illness on August 5 in Xi'an, China at age 49.

Business and Science
Barbara Bonner - Microbiologist, veterinarian and conservationist who founded the Turtle Hospital of New England, who worked to save endangered species of turtles and to bring attention to the plight of Asian turtles, died unexpectedly on August 1 of undetermined causes in Upton, MA at age 46.
L. Stanley Crane - Board chairman and CEO of Southern Railway, the U.S.'s second largest railway, from 1976 until retiring in 1980, who then took over the failing Conrail system and led it to a remarkable recovery, and who is credited with being one of the prime architects of the global rail privatization movement, died July 15 of pneumonia in Boynton Beach, FL at age 87.
Patricia Goldman-Rakic - Noted neuroscientist at Yale University who conducted research in memory function, and who discovered among other things that the loss of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex produced memory deficits, and whose research has led to the understanding and treatment of such disorders as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and attention-deficit disorder, died on July 29 in Hamden, CT from injuries sustained when she was struck by a car. She was 66 years old.
Armand H. Gustaferro - One of America's foremost experts on concrete, including expertise in the fire resistance properties of reinforced and prestressed concrete, whose work can be found in building codes all over the country, and who consulted on hundreds of construction projects in the United States and overseas, died August 3 of a heart attack in Glenview, IL at age 79.
Fred Kroll - Toy inventor whose creations include Trouble and Hungry Hungry Hippos, both still manufactured by Hasbro, as well as items like Roto Riter (which became the Squiggle Wiggle), Crazy Faces and Colorola, died August 2 in Palm Beach County, FL at age 82.
Dr. Lou Lasagna - Expert in clinical pharmacology who helped launch it as a field of study, who helped establish many of the procedures with clinical trials which today are necessary for drug approval, and who shaped laws and government policy concerning the regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, died August 7 of lymphoma in Boston at age 80.
Josefina Magno - The first director of the National Hospice Organization of the United States, who helped introduce hospice treatment (care for the terminally ill and their families) to the U.S. in the late 1970's, who saw the number of hospice programs in the U.S. grow from less than 100 to 1,200 during her tenure, and who established the International Hospice Institute in 1984 to train doctors in the management of terminal illness, died July 27 of congestive heart failure in Manila, Philippines at age 83.
Roberto Marinho - Brazilian media mogul and billionaire, who founded Organizacoes Globo, which owns television, cable, pay television, radio and print media outlets, including ownership of 113 of Brazil's TV stations, died August 6 in Rio De Janeiro at age 98.
Chung Mong-hun - Son of late Hyundai Motors founder Chung Ju-yung, and current chairman of Hyundai Asan Co., who was being probed in connection with doctoring of company books and siphoning billions of dollars into slush funds, and for an illegal $100 million payment to the North Korean government in 1999, committed suicide on August 4 by jumping from his 12th floor office in Seoul, South Korea. He was 54 years old.
Dr. Demetre Nicoloff - Noted heart surgeon who in the 1970's developed the St. Jude artificial heart valve, a device which surgeons have implanted in more than 1.5 million patients since 1977, and who himself has performed nearly 10,000 open-heart operations, died August 5 of bone marrow disease in Minneapolis at age 69.
Dr. Frederick Robbins - Pediatrician who shared the Nobel Prize in 1954 for discovering a way to grow the polio virus in a test tube, thus and paving the way for the vaccines that have eliminated the crippling disease from much of the world, and whose laboratory technique that he developed fifty-years ago was recently used to identify the novel coronavirus that causes SARS, died August 4 in Cleveland at age 86.
Dr. Peter Safar - Researcher of emergency and critical medicine known as the father of modern day cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), who in the 1950's was the first to document the life-saving procedures of airway control, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and closed-chest cardiac massage that became the basis of CPR, which has been taught to millions of non-medical workers and saved countless lives, died August 3 in Pittsburgh, PA at age 79.
Kenneth Weisinger - Scholar of German and comparative literature and longtime professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was best known for his research on Weimar classicism and the German poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Hölderlin, and who wrote "The Classical Façade: A Non-Classical Reading of Goethe's Criticism", died July 28 of cancer in San Francisco at age 60.