Richard Eckersley (65) award-winning graphic designer who introduced unconventional typography to staid-looking university press books. Eckersley had been senior designer at the University of Nebraska Press since 1981, producing hundreds of covers, jackets, interior layouts, and promotional posters for scholarly, often abstract books on modernist and postmodernist theory and criticism, including Louis Aragon's Treatise on Style. He died in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 16, 2006.

Morton Freedgood (93) best-selling author who wrote The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and many other detective and mystery novels under the pen name John Godey. Freedgood died in West New York, New Jersey on April 16, 2006.

Dimitri Hadzi (85) internationally known sculptor whose most famous work is at once mythic and modernist. Hadzi was emeritus professor of visual and environmental studies at Harvard University. He died of kidney failure in Boston, Massachusetts on April 16, 2006.

Jean Bernard (98) leading French hematologist who fought in the underground Resistance movement in World War II before being taken prisoner by the Nazis. Bernard's research on diseases of the blood helped to found the discipline of hematology. He died in Paris on April 17, 2006.

Peter Cadbury (88) founder of Westward Television in Britain. Cadbury died in Upton Grey, Hampshire, England on April 17, 2006.

Darwin N. Davis (74) among the first blacks to hold a top corporate position after rising through the ranks of an insurance company. In 2005, Davis was named one of "the bravest generation" by Fortune magazine for being among the first black executives to fight their way to the top of corporate America. He died of cardiac arrest in Stamford, Connecticut on April 16, 2006.

Stanley Hiller Jr. (81) helicopter designer whose childhood passion for vehicles led him to design new technology for helicopters while still a teenager and helped him to later become a leader in the industry. Hiller died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in Atherton, California on April 20, 2006.

Robert Wegman (87) chairman of Wegman's Food Markets and a pioneer of one-stop shopping who transformed his family's business into one of the nation's largest private companies. Wegman introduced private-label products and laser scanning at the checkout. He died in Rochester, New York on April 20, 2006.

Elaine Young (71) real estate agent to the stars who bought and sold so many celebrity properties that she became a celebrity herself. Some of Young's star clients were Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, Burt Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and Stevie Wonder. She died after a month's battle with cancer in Los Angeles, California on April 20, 2006.

Henriette Avram (86) systems analyst who in 1966 transformed millions of dog-eared catalogue cards in the Library of Congress into a searchable electronic database. Avram died of cancer in Miami, Florida on April 22, 2006.

Gerhard O. W. Mueller (82) expert in international law who held posts with the United Nations and was a professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey (1974-2005). Mueller also had roles with the UN Social Development Division and the UN Social Affairs Division. He died in Sonoma Beach, California on April 20, 2006.

Francisco Adam (22) Portuguese actor and model best known for his humorous role as Dino in the Portuguese youth telenovela Morangos com Acucar. Adam was killed in a car accident near Alcochete, Portugal on April 16, 2006.

Scott Brazil (50) Emmy-winning producer and director whose TV shows included The Shield and Hill Street Blues. Brazil died of Lou Gehrig's and Lyme diseases in Los Angeles, California on April 17, 2006.

Dennis Duggan (78) writer who chronicled life in New York City over 60 years for five newspapers, started a column about the subways that inspired other papers to run features on commuting, and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of a fatal subway derailment in 1991. Duggan died in New York City on April 20, 2006.

Kay Finegan (95) former singer and music arranger of the big band era who later reinvented herself as one of New York City's top caterers. Finegan worked with such greats as Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers, and Ted Fiorito. As a caterer, she helped to popularize gourmet takeout. She died in Lincroft, New Jersey on April 22, 2006.

Henderson Forsythe (88) accomplished character actor who demonstrated his versatility in plays by dramatists like O'Neill, Beckett, and Pinter and in rollicking musicals, movies, and TV including 31 years on the soap opera As the World Turns. Forsythe died in Williamsburg Landing, Virginia on April 17, 2006.

June Knox-Mawer (75) British broadcaster who became familiar to Radio 4 listeners as the voice of Woman's Hour in the early '80s and won acclaim as a writer of travelers' tales and romantic novels that drew on the exotic locations she had visited as the wife of a colonial magistrate. Knox-Mawer died of cancer on April 19, 2006.

Gracie Ridgeway (48) soul singer, one of the Ridgeway Sisters along with her sisters Esther (d. 2003) and Gloria in the '80s. The trio had worked as background vocalists for many soul/rhyhm-and-blues artists such as Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Dionne Warwick, Anita Baker, Gene Dunlap, Jerry Butler, and Wendy Moten. They had also starred in the film Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). Gracie Ridgeway died of scleroderma in Detroit, Michigan on April 19, 2006.

"Baby" Vaishnavi (20) Indian TV actress known for her relationship with 34-year-old married actor Dev Anand, who costarred with her in the Tamil serial Manaivi. Vaishnavi had appeared in other series such as Anni, Muhurtham, and Malargal and made film appearances in Dharma Dorai. She committed suicide by hanging in Chennai, India on April 17, 2006.

Alida Valli (84) one of Italy's great actresses who costarred in the film The Third Man (1949) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947). Valli had a film career that spanned more than 60 years and worked with some of the greats of Italian cinema, including Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni. She died in Rome, Italy on April 22, 2006.

Martin Weinberg (81) California attorney, a major supporter of South Coast Repertory Theater. In 2000, Weinberg donated $500,000 toward the Costa Mesa theater's expansion and renovation. Over 20 years, he also helped to underwrite new plays. He died of meningitis in Newport Beach, California on April 19, 2006.

Elford Albin Cederberg (88) former US congressman (R-Mich., 1953-78) who served in Congress for 26 years after fighting in World War II. Cederberg became the highest-ranking Republican on the then-Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee. He died in The Villages, Florida on April 17, 2006.

Johnny Checketts (94) New Zealand World War II fighter pilot who crippled at least 14 enemy planes and twice survived being shot down. Checketts died in the southern city of Christchurch, New Zealand on April 21, 2006.

Scott Crossfield (84) hot-shot test pilot and aircraft designer who in 1953 became the first man to fly at twice the speed of sound. Crossfield was killed in the crash of his small plane in the mountains about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia on April 19, 2006.

Ellen Kuzwayo (91) South African author and women's rights and antiapartheid champion. Kuzwayo died of chronic diabetes in Soweto, South Africa on April 19, 2006.

Dan Schaefer (70) former US congressman (R-Colo.) who represented Colorado in Congress for 14 years until retiring in 1998. Schaefer left a legacy that includes the cleanup of Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons site and the passage of a law that requires the federal government to comply with federal environmental regulations. He died after battling cancer, in Lakewood, Colorado on April 16, 2006.

John Shrum (72) Elmore County, Idaho commissioner for 34 years. Shrum was the longest-serving public official in Idaho. He died there on April 21, 2006.

Rudolf Slansky (71) former Czech ambassador to Russia and son of a Czech Communist leader put to death during the Stalinist purges. Slansky died in Prague, Czech Republic on April 17, 2006.

Keith Bender (35) man allegedly shot in the head by rapper Proof (born DeShaun Holton) in a dispute at an after-hours club. Bender's cousin later shot and instantly killed Proof in what appeared to be self-defense. Bender was in critical condition for weeks after the incident. He died in Detroit, Michigan on April 18, 2006.

Alexis Bespaloff (71) wine columnist for New York magazine for more than 20 years, the author of six books on wine, and a frequent contributor to food, wine, and travel magazines. Bespaloff died of cancer in Las Cruces, New Mexico on April 22, 2006.

Willie Brown Jr. (61) North Carolina man convicted of the 1983 abduction and murder of 29-year-old Valerie Dixon from the Zip Mart in Williamston, North Carolina where she worked the graveyard shift. Brown was executed by lethal injection in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 21, 2006.

Ed Davis (89) tough-talking former Los Angeles police chief who led the department during its shootout with the Symbionese Liberation Army and the arrest of Charles Manson. Davis died of pneumonia in San Luis Obispo, California on April 22, 2006.

Edwin Fernandez (23) New York City telephone technician who was driving at 100 mph on a deserted Queens street favored by drag racers. Fernandez was killed after losing control of his souped-up car and crashing into a telephone pole, in Queens, New York on April 16, 2006.

Alice Fiske (88) socialite who contributed to the understanding of slave life in colonial New York by opening Sylvester Manor, her 350-year-old estate on Shelter Island, to archaeological study. Fiske died on Shelter Island, New York on April 17, 2006.

Joseph Freitas Jr. (66) former San Francisco district attorney who failed to win a murder conviction against Dan White, a former county supervisor who used the "Twinkie defense" for his 1978 killing of gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Public outrage spilled over to Freitas, accused of mishandling the case. He died of lung cancer in Paris, France on April 18, 2006.

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg (84) provocative scholar of Judaism whose contrarian religious and political views and dedication to civil rights found prolific expression in books, articles, and essays. Hertzberg died of heart failure en route to Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood, New Jersey on April 17, 2006.

Stephen Marshall (20) Canadian man suspected of killing two registered sex offenders at their homes in Maine. Investigators believed Marshall may have been the victim of sexual abuse and that he accessed and researched 34 online profiles of registered sex offenders before he shot and killed the men. He committed suicide by gunshot wound to the head on a bus en route to Bangor, Maine on April 16, 2006.

Grady McWhiney (77) historian who called his fellow Southerners "crackers" in influential books and articles, then explained it was a compliment to the glorious Celtic heritage he said they shared. McWhiney died of cancer and heart and Alzheimer's diseases in Abilene, Texas on April 18, 2006.

David Pacheco Jr. (2) Bronx, New York boy, safely tucked into his car seat and dressed in his Easter Sunday best. David was struck and killed by a stray bullet from street-corner gunfire while on his way to church, on April 16, 2006.

Warren Platner (86) architect and designer who created a furniture collection that proved an enduring icon of '60s Modernism. Platner also designed several prominent interiors in New York City, including offices for the Ford Foundation building and the original Windows on the World restaurant. He died of spinal meningitis in New Haven, Connecticut on April 17, 2006.

Milton Rocano (20) employee at a privately owned recycling transfer station in Brooklyn, New York. Rocano climbed into the rear of an empty open top tractor trailer and was buried alive in an avalanche of debris dumped by a coworker who did not know he was there. The truck later dumped the debris, and his body ended up in a landfill in Suffolk County, where it was found three days later after the company and the police had tracked it. He died on April 22, 2006.

Ann Webster Smith (81) historic preservationist recognized in the fall of 2005 as a world leader in the field. Smith won the Piero Gazzola prize, given once every three years by the International Council on Monuments & Sites, for her efforts to protect historic and cultural sites. She died of melanoma in Washington, DC on April 20, 2006.

Richard A. Thornburg Jr. (40) Oklahoma man convicted of killing three people in 1996 in retaliation for an earlier attack on himself. Thornburg was executed by lethal injection in McAlester, Oklahoma on April 18, 2006.

Bob Dove (85) Hall of Fame end at Notre Dame who played eight seasons in the NFL and was a longtime assistant coach at Youngstown (Ohio) State. Dove died in South Bend, Indiana on April 19, 2006.

Ken Jones (84) British winner of an Olympic medal for sprinting and one of the best and certainly fastest wing three-quarters in the history of international rugby. Jones died in Newport, England on April 18, 2006.

Bill Kirschner (87) inventor of the first commercially successful fiberglass ski and founder of K2 Corp. K2 became the nation's largest ski manufacturer, its skis used by champions. Kirschner died of pneumonia while recovering from surgery in Seattle, Washington on April 22, 2006.

John Lyall (66) British soccer coach who served West Ham United Football Club for almost 35 years, rising from office boy to team manager and twice leading the team to take the FA Cup (1975, '80). Lyall died of a heart attack in England on April 18, 2006.

Tom Mickle (55) former Atlantic Coast Conference associate commissioner instrumental in creating what would become the Bowl Championship Series. Mickle was executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, a nonprofit organization that oversees athletic events in Florida, including two college football bowl games. He died of cancer in Orlando, Florida on April 17, 2006.

Tele Santana (74) Brazilian coach at the 1982 and '86 soccer World Cups. After failing to take an all-star team past the second round in the 1982 World Cup, Santana enjoyed his greatest success when he led São Paulo to victories against European champions Barcelona and AC Milan in the Intercontinental Cup. He died of multiple organ failure in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on April 21, 2006.

Ronnie Sox (67) drag racing pioneer. Sox won five National Hot Rod Association championships and more than 50 events. In 2001, the 50th anniversary of the NHRA, he was ranked 15th on the organization's list of the top 50 drag racing drivers of all time. He died of prostate cancer in Richmond, Virginia on April 22, 2006.

Wolfgang Unzicker (80) German judge and chess grandmaster who ranked among the world's top 50 players for almost 20 years. Unzicker won West Germany's championship seven times (1948-65). He died of heart failure while on vacation in Portugal on April 20, 2006.

Fausto Vitello (59) founding publisher of the skateboarding monthly Thrasher magazine. Vitello died of an apparent heart attack while bike riding with friends in Woodside, California on April 22, 2006.