Sports
Earl Battey - Four-time All Star catcher who played 13 years in the major leagues with the White Sox, Senators and Twins, who played on the Twins' 1965 American League championship team, and who in 2000 was chosen the catcher on the Twins' all-time 40th anniversary team, died Nov. 15 of cancer in Ocala, FL at age 68.
Grace Benson - Wife of New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, who was known for her philanthropy, died Nov. 18 in New Orleans of Parkinson's disease at age 76.
Ken Brett - Major league pitcher from 1967 until 1981, who set an unusually high number of major league records for a non-HOF player, including being the youngest pitcher ever to appear in a World Series (19 years old for Boston in 1967), playing for the most baseball teams over a career (10) and hitting home runs in the most consecutive games as a pitcher (4 with Philadelphia in 1973), and who is the older brother of Hall of Fame baseball player George Brett, died Nov. 18 in Spokane, WA of brain cancer at age 55.
Bob Carmichael - Colorful Australian tennis player who was among the world's top 10 in 1970, who advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in singles, doubles and mixed doubles in 1970, and who later became a coach to Australian tennis stars Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt, Darren Cahill and Leander Paes, died suddenly on Nov. 18 at his home in Melbourne, Australia at age 63.
Howie Gershberg - Baseball pitching coach in the California Angels system, who helped develop future major leaguers like Troy Percival, Jarrod Washburn, Chuck Finley, John Franco and Frank Viola, who as baseball coach at St. John's University led the team to the postseason in 10 of the 12 years he coached there, died Nov. 19 of cancer in New York at age 67.
Raymond Gray Lewis - Canada's oldest Olympic competitor who won a bronze medal in the 1600-meter relay in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, where he became the first Canadian-born black athlete to win any Olympic medal, died Nov. 14 in Hamilton, Ontario at age 94.
Eloise Pohlad - Wife of Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, who was called the "Minnesota Twins greatest fan", and who was largely responsible for Kirby Puckett spending his entire career with the Twins, died Nov. 20 in Edina, MN at age 86.
Sir Roland Smith - British industrialist who helped build Manchester United into one of the world's most powerful sports franchises, who took over as chairman of the football (soccer) club in 1991, and whose term coincided with the club's rise to one of the richest and most successful sports properties on earth (the George Steinbrenner of England?), died Nov. 20 of undisclosed causes in Manchester, England at age 75.

Art and Literature
Loris Azzaro - French fashion designer best known for his line of perfumes, who specialized in "fun party clothes" and designed outfits for numerous celebrities including Sophia Loren, Rachel Welch, Marisa Berenson, Claudia Cardinale, Isabelle Adjani and Nicole Kidman, died Nov. 20 of cancer in Paris at age 70.
Patricia Broderick - Painter and screenwriter whose paintings have been shown in galleries in New York and across the country, who wrote and produced the 1996 film "Infinity" starring her son actor Matthew Broderick, and who was the wife of later actor James Broderick (died 1982), died Nov. 18 in Greenwich Village, New York of cancer at age 78.
Bruce Alexander Cook - Writer (as Bruce Alexander) best known for his series about Sir John Fielding, founder of London's first police force, who worked with the National Observer (Washington); USA Today, Detroit News and Los Angeles Daily News, and whose last book "The Price of Murder" was published only last month, died Nov. 9, in Los Angeles, of a stroke at the age of 71.
Clyde Hoyte - Veteran Jamaican journalist, author and broadcaster, who is credited as having read the first radio newscast heard on Jamaica's first radio station, ZQI on June 3, 1940, and who wrote several biographies of notable Jamaicans including hero Norman Manley, agriculturalist Willie Henry, and tenor Jimmy Tucker, died Nov. 14 in Kingston, Jamaica at age 88.
Dola de Jong - Acclaimed Dutch American novelist whose fiction books were mostly based on the World War II era, who wrote books for both juvenile readers including "The Level Land" and "Return to the Level Land" and for adult readers like the award-winning mystery "The Whirligig of Time", but who is best known for her 1951 lesbian novel "The Tree and the Vine", died Nov. 19 in Laguna Woods, CA at age 92.
Dr. John McAleer - American author who penned a large variety of books, from biographies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rex Stout and Henry David Thoreau, to the highly regarded Korean War novel "Unit Pride", to the mystery "Coign of Vantage: The Boston Athenaeum Murders", died Nov. 19 of cancer in Lexington, MA at age 80.
Robert McMichael - Art collector and co-owner of The McMichael Gallery of Canadian Art in Toronto, which houses one of the world's largest collections of distinctively Canadian works and includes works of the "Group of Seven" from the early 20th century, considered one of the first uniquely Canadian art movements, died Nov. 18 in Toronto at age 82.
Georgi Vladimov - Dissident Russian writer whose dark, allegorical novels of life under the Soviet regime forced him into exile, whose best-known book, "Faithful Ruslan", has been translated into several languages, and who became a supporter of both writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and physist/human rights advocate Andrei Sakharov, died Oct. 19 in Germany at age 72.
Shi Zhecun - Famous Chinese novelist, academic and translator, whose major works include "Head of the General" and "Evening in the Rainy Season", and who as an academic was known for his literature research, died Nov. 19 in Shanghai, China at age 99.

Politics and Military
David Dacko - President of the Central African Republic (a former French colony rich in diamonds and government corruption), who took over the nation after independence leader Barthélemy Boganda was killed in a plane crash in 1959, who was overthrown by ruthless dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa in 1966, but who was reinstated in 1979 after French troops overthrew Bokassa, died Nov. 20 of respiratory failure in Bangui, Central African Republic at age 73.
Jim Graham - Longtime North Carolina agricultural commissioner known as the "Sodfather", who was one of the biggest advocates for the state's tobacco farmers, who is credited with turning the state fair into the huge success it is today, whose crusade to eliminate boll weevils in the state was declared a success in 1987, and who was considered a superstar among agricultural commissioners (well, he was), died Nov. 20 of pneumonia in Raleigh, NC at age 82.
William Macomber - U.S. government official and diplomat who held positions in the administrations of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford and served as U.S. ambassador to Jordan and Turkey, who wrote the 1975 book "The Angels' Game: A Handbook of Modern Diplomacy ", and who in 1978 left government work to become the first full-time president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, died Nov. 19 in Nantucket, MA of Parkinson's disease at age 82.
Mitchell Paige - Medal of Honor recipient who as a Marine on Oct. 26, 1942 was leading a platoon of 33 men against the Japanese on Guadalcanal, who lost most of his men but charged forward anyway, eventually driving back the enemy's line after reinforcements arrived, and who later wrote a book "A Marine Named Mitch", and served as the model for a GI Joe Marine Doll, died Nov. 15 in LaQuinta, CA of heart problems at age 85.
Gen. Zivota Panic - Head of the Yugoslav army during the Balkan wars in the early 1990's, when the former Yugoslavia broke up in a series of bloody wars between the Serbs and the Croats, eventually becoming Serbia-Montenegro, who served as army chief of staff but was removed from the post following a corruption investigation, died Nov. 19 in Belgrade at age 70.
Arnim Smith - Trinidad politician who was a appointed senator in October as member of the opposition party, who championed the rights of the poor and often spoke out against crime and poverty in Trinidad's downtrodden neighborhoods, who grew up poor himself and was an epitome of the person who moves from very humble beginnings to a senator in the country's highest decision-making body, died Nov. 17 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad of heart failure at age 56.
Douglas Weatherston - World War I veteran who was born in Mexico, but served with the British army during the war, who enlisted with the British Latin American Volunteers and was sent to Canada, where he rose to sergeant, and who later became a U.S. citizen, died Nov. 14 in San Antonio at age 106.
James D. Weaver - Physician and Air Force colonel who served as a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania as a Republican from 1963 to 1965, who during his tenure organized a bipartisan congressional study group on the Cold War and was a medical consultant to the Warren Commission in its investigation of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, died Nov. 15 in Sterling, PA of cancer at age 83.

Social and Religion
Roberto Arguelles - Utah killer who was convicted of the 1992 murders of a woman and three teenage girls, who had volunteered for execution at the hands of a firing squad, and even had a June 2003 execution date set that was later halted by a judge, died suddenly on Nov. 15 at the state penitentiary in Draper, UT of undetermined causes at the age of 41.
The Auditor - Mysterious, solitary mongrel dog who for unknown reasons chose to live alone in the hostile environment of Berkeley Pit, a contaminated, barren waste dump on the rim of a former copper mine near Butte, Montana, who was first spotted in 1986 by miners who adopted him as their official mascot, and who named him The Auditor because he would show up when least expected, died peacefully on Nov. 19 in the dog house the miners had built for him. He was believed to be 17 years old.
Eugene DeDominicis - New York man who gained fame in 2002 when he was recognized as New York state's oldest practicing barber at age 98, who cut Franklin Roosevelt's hair in the 1920's when he was governor of New York, died Nov. 18 in Montour Falls, NY at age 99.
John Donahue - Homeless advocate and Chicago icon, who directed the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless since 1990, who worked for many years with the poor in Panama and Central America, and who was a campaigner to end homelessness across the world, died Nov. 17 in Chicago of lung cancer at age 64.
Irene Dotson - One of the last survivors of the 1914 Ludlow massacre in southern Colorado, who was 2 years old when on April 20, 1914, the state militia fired on the striking miners at the Ludlow mine killing 20 men, women and children, died Nov. 13 in Colorado Springs at age 91.
Beverly Foster Halprin - Founder of the National Psoriasis Foundation, which was started in 1968 after her husband placed a tiny classified ad in a Portland, Oregon newspaper asking people with psoriasis to call Beverly, who had a severe case of the disease, so she would have somebody to talk to who understood what she was going through, who received over 100 calls from that ad, and who then started the organization that turned into the National Psoriasis Foundation, died Nov. 19 in Salem, OR at age 67.
Robert Henry - Texas man who was convicted of the 1993 stabbing deaths of 57-year-old Carole Lea Arnold and her mother Hazel Rumohr, apparently as a lark after smoking marijuana, was executed by lethal injection on Nov. 20 in Huntsville, TX at age 42.
Jim HiDuke - English professor at the University of Northern Iowa who received national and international attention for his website www.drgrammar.org, where he was known as "Dr. Grammar" and answered grammar-related questions for free within 24 hours, died of a heart attack on Nov. 17 in Cedar Falls, Iowa at age 60.
Mas Merah - The last remaining Sumatran rhinoceros at the Sungai Dusun conservation center in Selangor, Malaysia, died Nov. 16, becaming the fifth and last rhinoceros to die of an unknown ailment there in the last two weeks, effectively ending the breeding program (Sumatran rhinos are the hairiest and the most endangered species with an estimated 300 known to be living).
Dr. Leon Pordy - Cardiologist who became chairman of the Chock full o' Nuts coffee company after one of his patients, William Black, founder of Chock full o' Nuts, persuaded him to join the board in 1976, who retired in 1992 after holding offices of medical director, executive vice president, president and eventually chairman, died Nov. 14 in New York City at age 84.
Evan Ruderman - Activist and leader in organizations that support women in trades, who wrote a monologue about living with AIDS that became a part of a documentary shown on PBS, succumbed to the disease on Nov. 18 in New York at the age of 44.
R. Marvin Stuart - Leader of the United Methodist Church, who became the highest-ranking official in the church when he was elected president of the Council of Bishops in 1979 after serving almost 30 years as minister and bishop in San Francisco Bay area and Denver, who during World War II tended to Japanese Americans interned at the Tanforan racetrack in San Bruno, died Nov. 11 in Palo Alto, CA of heart failure at the age of 93.

Business and Science
Sidney Culbert - Psychology professor, language expert, and lifelong devotee of Esperanto (language invented in the late 19th century using 16 simple rules to promote international communication but which never became widely used), who helped design the Boeing 707 instrument panel in the mid 50s and for 30 years, wrote "Principal Languages of the World" in the World Almanac, died Oct. 29 of natural causes in Seattle, WA at the age of 90.
Dr. Allan Erslev - Researcher at Yale University who in the early 1950's isolated the hormone erythropoietin, which controls the body's ability to carry oxygen by prompting it to produce red blood cells, and which is now produced in its synthetic form to treat anemic disorders brought on by kidney disease or chemotherapy (sold as Procrit and Aranesp, it's also abused by athletes as a performance enhancer), died Nov. 12 in Haverford, PA at age 84.
Kids R Us and Imaginarium Stores - Subsidiary stores owned by Toys R Us, Inc., that sell children's clothing (Kids R Us) and educational toys (Imaginarium), that have lost money over recent years due to competition of mass-merchant discounters, are being closed (all 182 total stores in the U.S.) before year end 2003 (just in time for the Xmas holidays).
Tung-Yen Lin - Pioneering structural engineer, whose promotion of prestressed concrete (compressed concrete with steel tendons) revolutionized the design of skyscrapers and freeway overpasses, who was a noted authority on bridge design and construction, whose trademark designs have no interior support columns, like San Francisco's Moscone Center, and who was considered a superstar among structural engineers (well, he was), died Nov. 15 in El Cerrito, CA of heart failure at age 91.
Satoru Masamune - Organic chemist and professor at MIT, who was best known for formulating a method for synthesizing molecules which has facilitated modern day drug discovery, died Nov. 9 in Newton, MA of cardiac arrest at age 75.
Richard Scott - Advertising executive and creative director with the Chicago advertising firm Grant/Jacoby, best known for conceiving and drawing the original golden arches logo for McDonalds, and who later created the "modern" Aunt Jemima, died Nov. 14 in Libertyville, IL of respiratory failure at age 71.
Joseph P. Williams - Banking pioneer who as an executive with Bank of America in the 1950's, developed the BankAmericard (renamed Visa in 1976), the first nationwide bank credit card that allowed consumers to pay the full balance each month with no finance charges or pay part of the balance with charges added, that was distributed in California in 1958 and to the rest of the country beginning in 1966, which revolutionized the way Americans gain credit and spend money (one can travel the world today with nothing but a piece of plastic), died Nov. 8 in Atlantis, FL at age 88.