Sports
John Patrick Conroy - One of the original "Seven Blocks of Granite" on the Fordham University football team during 1929-30, during a time when Fordham went 15-1-2, and who was nicknamed "Giant", died Oct. 31 in Portland, ME at age 95. Note: Since it seems one of these fellows is dying every other week, there had to be more than "seven" blocks of granite. A little research showed that the "seven blocks" are actually 14 players, the linesmen from both the 1929-30 team and the 1936-37 team that included Vince Lombardi.
Crash Holly (real name Michael Lockwood) - Heavyweight wrestler best known as part of tag team duo with his "cousin" Hardwood Holly, who won several tag team titles over the last few years including the "Hardcore" title on several occasions, but who was released from the WWE earlier this year due to his partying reputation and self-destructive lifestyle, died of an apparent drug overdose on Nov. 6 at the home of wrestler Steve Richards in Florida at age 34.
John "Spider" Jorgensen - Major league third baseman who batted .266 over five major league seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants from 1947 to 1951, and who has been a scout for the Chicago Cubs for the last 22 years, died Nov. 6 after a brief illness in Rancho Cucamonga, CA at age 84.
Rie Mastenbroek - Dutch swimmer who as a 17-year-old at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, won three gold medals and one silver, who set seven world records during her career and in 1997 was awarded the Olympic Order, the International Olympic Committee's highest honor, died Nov. 6 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after a stroke at age 84.
Jim Purnell - College and pro football player who starred at Wisconsin and was the Badgers MVP for their 1963 Rose Bowl team, who played in the NFL for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, and who was known as one of the leagues hardest hitting linebackers, died Nov. 4 in Evansville, IL after a long illness at age 61.
J. Eugene Ringsdorf - U.S. soccer player who served as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1961 to 1963, and who was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1979, died Oct. 31 in Chicago at age 91.
Dernell Stenson - Outfield prospect with the Cincinnati Reds who batted .247 with 3 home runs and 13 RBIs in 37 games with the Reds in 2003, and who was playing in the instructional Arizona Fall league, was shot to death, run over and dragged by his own vehicle on Nov. 5 in Chandler, AZ. He was 25 years old. Reginald Riddle is being held on charges of killing Stenson execution-style and stealing his SUV.
Cliff Young - Australian marathon legend who came to fame in 1983 when he shocked everyone by winning the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne marathon at the age of 61, who came out of nowhere to defeat the nation's best long distance runners, and who was known for his trademark shuffle running style and for wearing gumboots and long trousers while training, died Nov. 2 in Queensland after a long illness at age 81.

Art and Literature
Christabel Bielenberg - English-born author of "The Past is Myself", an internationally acclaimed memoir of her struggle to survive Nazi Germany as the wife of a German civil servant, which was turned into the television drama "Christabel" starring Elizabeth Hurley in the mid-1980's, died Nov. 3 at her estate near Tullow, Ireland at age 94.
Charles Causley - Prize-winning British poet, playwright and children's author, considered to be among the most important British poets of his generation, whose collections included tales of his military service in "Farewell, Aggie Weston" and "Survivor's Leave", and who later became a noteworthy storywriter and children's author, died Nov. 4 in England at age 76.
Richard Dodge - Author and teacher of English at Santa Monica College, who taught several notable celebrities how to speak English, including actor/politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who was a ghost-writer for best-selling books including the basketball manuals "The Wooden-Sharman Method", "Players Handbook" and "Coaches Handbook", as well as the Star Trek book "I Am Not Spock" by actor Leonard Nimoy, died Oct. 31 of melanoma in Pacific Palisades, CA at age 77.
William F. Draper - American artist known as the "Dean of American Portraiture" for his dozens of portraits of presidents, royalty and celebrities, whose portraits of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon hang in the National Portrait Gallery, died Oct 26 in New York City at age 90.
Katsuzo Entsuba - Japanese sculptor best known for his works featuring the theme of peace, such as the World War II memorial "Goddess of Peace" in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, died Oct. 31 in Tokyo of congestive heart failure at age 97.
Lloyd Arthur Eshbach - Illustrious science fiction author and founder of Fantasy Press who published 32 books from 1946 to 1952, many of which are collector's items in original hardback, and later published the "Scroll of Lucifer" series of novels as well as his memoirs "Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era", died Oct. 29 in Myerstown, PA at age 93.
Dorothy Farnan - The high school English teacher who befriended poet W.H. Auden, the flamboyant and revered Greenwich Village poet, and his longtime companion Chester Kallman, and who later wrote "Auden In Love", a book about their life together, died Oct. 23 in New York City at age 84.
Rasul Gamzatov - Acclaimed Russian poet who wrote dozens of books in poetry and prose and articles in the Avar and Russian languages, including "My Heart Belongs to the Mountains", "Cranes", "Tales" and "The Wheel of Life", whose poetry was often set to music by notable Soviet composers, and who was decorated as a People's Poet of Dagestan, died Nov. 3 in Moscow at age 80.
Mary McMurtrie - Britain's oldest active artist, who was widely recognized as one of Scotland's finest flower painters, who published several books of flower illustrations including 2003's "Scottish Wild Flowers", died Nov. 4 in Aberdeen, Scotland at age 101.
Rachel de Queiroz - Pioneering Brazilian novelist who published 31 books, many dealing with the poverty and violence in Brazil's northeastern dust bowl, who in 1957 won Brazil's most coveted literary award, the Machado de Assis Prize, and who was the first woman to be elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, died Nov. 4 in Rio De Janeiro of a heart ailment at age 92.
Yehiel Shemi - Israeli sculptor renowned for his abstract works in iron and metal, who constructed major monumental sculptures, including works at the Jerusalem Theater and the city's International Conference Center, died Oct. 31 in Cabri, Israel at age 81.

Politics and Military
David Bar-Illan - Chief spokesman for the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was equally well-known as a concert pianist winning international acclaim as a soloist with orchestras all over the world and on several of his own recordings, and who became editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post newspaper in 1992, died Nov. 4 in Jerusalem from complications of a heart attack he suffered in February 2000. He was 73 years old.
Hugh H. Bownes - Federal appeals court judge known for his opinions for upholding free speech and individual rights, whose judgments in support of the individual rights of prisoners, war protesters, Jehovah's Witnesses and gays often put him at odds with conservative New Englanders, died Nov. 5 of pneumonia after a stroke in New Haven, CT at age 83.
Sharon Capeling-Alakija - Canadian-born U.N. official who headed the U.N. Volunteers program since 1998 after serving as director for the U.N. Development Fund for Women for five years, and who was known for her humanitarian work in Africa for many years, died Nov. 4 of unspecified causes in Bonn, Germany at age 59.
Gen. Dewan Prem Chand - Highly-regarded Indian general who served for decades as a U.N. peacekeeper in places like Congo, Cyprus, Namibia and Zimbabwe, died Nov. 3 in New Delhi at age 87.
Roy Lucas - Attorney who filed the main brief in Roe vs. Wade before the Supreme Court in 1972, whose "right to privacy" legal argument was used to win the case, legalizing abortion in the U.S. (though he was never given the opportunity to actually argue the case before the Supreme Court - Sarah Weddington was chosen instead), and who continued to argue abortion rights cases after Roe, died Nov. 3 of a heart attack while doing research in Prague, Czech Republic at age 57.
Thomas McBride - Associate Watergate prosecutor who led the task force on campaign contributions and the selling of ambassadorships, who accepted guilty pleas from some high-level officials, such as Maurice Stans, Nixon's chief fund-raiser for his re-election campaign, and who later became associate dean at Stanford University Law School, died Oct. 31 in Portland, OR after a fall at age 74.
Frank McCloskey - U.S. Congressman from Indiana who served as a Democrat from 1983 to 1995, who was one of Washington's most outspoken champions of Bosnia, who warned that the Serbs were committing genocide in Bosnia and called for selective air strikes against Serb forces there, died Nov. 2 in Bloomington, IN of bladder cancer at age 64.
Richard Neustadt - Historian and adviser to Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, who was considered a consummate expert on the presidency, whose 1960 book "Presidential Power" is considered a landmark publication and has been a staple of research for several decades for students of government, died Oct. 31 in England at age 84.
Corwin Nixon - Powerful Ohio politician who served on the state legislature for 30 years as a Republican, including 14 as minority leader, who was considered a master of bi-partisan cooperation during his tenure, and for whom numerous structures are named all over southwestern Ohio, died Nov. 6 in Dayton, OH of kidney and lung failure at age 90.
Rev. Ronald Pytel - Baltimore area pastor whose recovery from congestive heart failure and valve-replacement surgery in 1999 not only surprised his doctors, who had given him a grim prognosis, but also was declared a miracle by Vatican authorities, died Nov. 3 of kidney cancer in Middle Way, WV at age 56.
Jimmy Quillen - U.S. Congressman from Tennessee who was elected to Congress 16 times, often winning with more than 90% of the vote, who served as a Republican from 1962 until retiring in 1997, who once helped pass a bill that made it a federal crime to desecrate the U.S. flag (later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court), and whose name adorns at least 10 major public facilities in Tennessee, died Nov. 2 in Kingsport, TN of congestive heart failure at age 87.
Harold Radford - The last known Nova Scotia-born veteran of the First World War, who took part in a little-known Canadian campaign in Siberia in 1918-19, died Nov. 7 in Halifax after a fall at age 106.
Horace L. Woodring - 19-year-old Army private who was driving Gen. George Patton's limousine and taking him on a hunting trip in Germany on Dec. 9, 1945, when the car crashed, causing a broken neck and other injuries that killed the four-star general 12 days later, died Nov. 3 in White Lake Township, MI of heart failure at age 77.

Social and Religion
Robert Borsodi - Coffeehouse owner and familiar New Orleans 'character', who for many years owned poetry-reading gathering places around New Orleans that brought together both black and white patrons, who was diagnosed with untreatable cancer which had recently spread to his bones, and who was in so much pain, he had asked several friends to help him kill himself, committed suicide on Oct. 25 by jumping off the Hale Boggs Bridge into the Mississippi River near Luling, LA at age 64.
James Willie Brown - Georgia man who in 1975 raped and murdered 21-year-old topless dancer Brenda Sue Watson by tying her up then suffocating her by stuffing her own underwear down her throat, was executed by lethal injection on Nov. 4 in Jackson, GA at age 55.
A. Michael DeSisto - Controversial and charismatic founder of the DeSisto Schools for troubled youth, whose schools in Massachusetts and Florida specialized in students of average to high intelligence but with serious behavioral problems, whose orthodox educational methods, including weekly Gestalt therapy sessions designed to help students take responsibility for their actions, landed him in court as both the plaintiff and defendant in dozens of lawsuits, died Nov. 1 of a stroke following a kidney transplant in Boston at age 64.
Famous Deaths - Week In Review - Website started in May of 2002 to serve as a listing of famous people whose deaths were reported that week along with their photos, but which progressed over time into something with a new and different meaning, was shut down on November 9, 2003 with the launching of www.LifeInLegacy.com.
Rev. Floyd Massey - Minister, author and national church leader, who was head of both the black National Baptist Convention USA Inc. and the predominantly white American Baptist Churches USA, and who co-authored the 1976 text "Church Administration in the Black Perspective", died Oct. 28 of natural causes in Los Angeles at age 88.
Max - Popular gorilla at the Santa Barbara Zoo who previously had lived at zoos in Topeka and Denver before coming to Santa Barbara in 1996 as part of the Forest Edge's Habitat exhibit, died Oct. 30 after being anesthetized for a medical exam at age 34.
Helen Morlok - One of the four sisters listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest identical quadruplets, who performed tap dance and comedy routines throughout the mid-east U.S. during the 1930's and 40's, died Oct. 31 in Lansing, MI at age 73.

Business and Science
Robert Bartle - Mathematician known for his authoritative texts on real analysis and other areas of advanced mathematics, who wrote two classic graduate texts "The Elements of Real Analysis" in 1964 and "Introduction to Real Analysis" in 1982, and who co-wrote the award-winning three volume "Linear Operators", died Sept. 18 of cancer in Ann Arbor, MI at age 75.
Lynn Beedle - Structural engineer considered one of the world's foremost authorities in the study, design and building of skyscrapers, who in 1969 founded the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an organization that brought together architects, engineers, urban planners, sociologists and others concerned with skyscrapers and their effect on the city environment, whose research was critical reading for all tall building builders, died Oct. 30 in Hellertown, PA at age 85.
Lotte Berk - Exercise guru who invented the regime followed by millions of women, including numerous celebrities, whose technique was based on the routines used by dancers in their training, and which was one of the first systems of exercising to music to reach the public arena, died Nov. 4 in England at age 90.
Dr. Paul Calabresi - Medical researcher who was a leader in the development and testing of drugs to treat cancer, who was an early advocate of combination chemotherapy and gained a reputation for his innovative approach to identifying potential drugs, and who was appointed chairman of the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1991 by President George Bush, died Oct. 25 of tongue cancer in Providence, RI at age 73.
Kurvin C. "Casey" Fish - Co-founder of the Casey's General Store chain, which has its niche as suppliers of food, gas and groceries in small towns across the Midwest, with 1,300 stores in nine Midwestern states, who launched the first store in Boone, Iowa in 1967 and began selling franchises shortly thereafter, died Nov. 3 in Des Moines, IA at age 86.
Dr. Paul Gottlieb - Biological scientist at the University of Texas whose research on the structure and function of antibodies helped lay the groundwork for understanding the body's defensive immune system, and who is best known for his work on genetics in the immune system of the mouse, died Nov. 1 in Austin, TX of liver cancer at age 59.
Behram Kursunoglu - Physicist who founded and led the Center for Theoretical Studies, the influential research organization at the University of Miami, which trains postdoctoral fellows and provides a forum for the scientists to exchange ideas with their peers, who authored or co-authored several books including "Modern Quantum Theory", died Oct. 25 in Coral Gables, FL of a heart attack at age 81.
Edward Lanctot - Co-founder of a tiny Chicago hardware store, who introduced the idea of banding independent hardware retailers into a cooperative, with each store contributing dues, a concept that grew into the national True Value hardware chain, which at one time had 7,000 stores nationwide, died Oct. 30 in Park Ridge, IL of complications from a stroke at age 84.
Herbert Muschel - Founder of the groundbreaking media company PR Newswire in 1954, a company which was the first to offer simultaneous distribution of press releases to news outlets electronically, who also came up with the idea in 1954 for a publication of television program schedules which he called 'TeleVision Guide', which was eventually sold to Walter Annenberg who created T.V. Guide, died Nov. 1 in New York City at age 85.
Frank Pitelka - Leader in the field of behavioral ecology, the study of how environmental factors affect animal behavior, who conducted extensive research in the Alaskan tundra exploring the effects of the availability of food on the behavior of arctic birds, and who published his findings in more than 200 scholarly papers, died Oct. 10 in Altadena, CA at age 87.
Henry Wendler - Longtime executive at IBM, noted for introducing the Pentagon to the computer age during WW2, who started with IBM in 1934 when the company's biggest sellers were tabulating cotton scales and time clocks, and who has a spot in business lore for three hires he made as an IBM manager in 1957 and 1958: H. Ross Perot and brothers Sam and Charles Wyly, died Oct. 29 in Dallas of natural causes at age 91.
Reginald Murray Williams - Former cowboy in the Australian Outback who founded R.M. Williams, one of Australia's best known clothing lines, which features products like leather boots, moleskin trousers and flannel shirts, which has stores all over Australia as well as in London and New York, died Nov. 4 near Toowoomba, Australia at the age of 95.
Richard Wollheim - Philosopher who synthesized analytic philosophy, psychoanalysis and the study of painting to develop aesthetic insights that are considered among the most profound of the postwar era, whose greatest impact came in art where he coined the term "minimalism" in his 1965 essay "Minimal Art", and who developed and taught a new approach and vocabulary for experiencing art, died Nov. 4 of heart failure at his home in London at age 80.