William Auld (81) Scottish poet and writer and the first person to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for work in Esperanto, in 1999. Auld was regarded as the world's finest living translator of Esperanto. He died near Dollar, Scotland on September 11, 2006.

Joachim Fest (79) German historian and publisher, author of a landmark 1973 biography of Adolf Hitler. Fest was seen as one of Germany's leading authorities on National Socialism (Nazism). He died in Kronbert, near Frankfurt, Germany on September 11, 2006.

Charles L. Grant (64) author of tales of horror and suspense that he termed "quiet horror" for what they left to the imagination. Grant focused on moods and human emotions rather than constructing complicated plot lines. Shying away from gore, he instead sought to create an atmosphere where the readers' imaginations took over. He died in Newton, New Jersey on September 15, 2006.

Esther Martinez (94) American Indian Tewa storyteller and linguist. Martinez was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts, along with 11 other folk and traditional artists, as a 2006 National Heritage Fellow, the nation's highest honor for folk artists. She was killed in a traffic accident on her way home from accepting the honor. The car carrying Martinez, of Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico, was hit by another vehicle in Espanola, NM, on its way from Santa Fe, where she had flown after attending the NEA celebration in Washington, DC, on September 16, 2006.

Richard D. Caleal (94) self-taught automotive designer who, working at his kitchen table, helped to create the 1949 Ford, the compact, streamlined, and hugely popular car credited with lifting the company out of its postwar financial slump. Caleal died two weeks after his 94th birthday, in West Bloomfield, Michigan on September 16, 2006.

Sir Alan Dalton (82) former British chairman (1984-89) of English China Clays and a much-loved figure in the business and public life of his adopted county of Cornwall, England. English China Clays is the world's largest producer of kaolin, a fine white clay used principally in paper-making but also in ceramics, paints, and polymers. Dalton oversaw a 20-fold increase in the group's exports of clay and the complete modernization of its production processes. He died in England on September 15, 2006.

Rob Levin (51) founder of the Freenode IRC network and owner of Peer-Directed Projects Center (PDPC), also known for using the screen name "lilo." Levin died of head injuries after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle, reportedly without a helmet, in Houston, Texas on September 16, 2006.

Ivan Luini (46) founder and president of the New York City-based Kartell US Inc. who helped to bring plastic furniture out of the garden and into the American living room. Luini and furniture designer Sergio Savarese, avid pilots and good friends, were killed in the crash of a Cirrus SR20, a four-seat, single-engine aircraft they co-owned and were flying cross-country on a business trip, in Moffat County, Colorado, near the Wyoming border, on September 15, 2006.

David T. Lykken (78) psychologist whose studies of criminal behavior, polygraph testing, and the genetics of personality in twins helped to undermine some of the most cherished notions of social science. Lykken died of heart failure in his sleep in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 15, 2006.

Patricia Mann (68) British executive of J. Walter Thompson, the advertising agency, who took a leading role in debate on advertising standards. Having joined JWT as a secretary in 1959, Mann swiftly evolved into a successful copywriter for clients such as Kelloggs and Schweppes. She died 11 days short of her 69th birthday, in England on September 15, 2006.

Chris Moyes (57) pioneering British figure in the privatization of both Britain's bus industry in the '80s and its railways in the '90s. Moyes was chief executive of Go Ahead, formerly a state-owned bus company and now one of the country's top five private transport businesses. He died of a brain tumor on September 12, 2006.

Abe Saffron (86) nightclub owner credited with bringing Las Vegas-style entertainment to Australia. Saffron rose to national prominence in the '50s and '60s as an entrepreneur who built a nightclub empire in Sydney's King's Cross, an inner-city district near a wharf where US Navy and other ships stop. He died in Darlinghurst, a neighboring suburb of King's Cross, in Sydney, Australia on September 15, 2006.

Sergio Savarese (48) Italian furniture designer known for lyrical shapes and a founder of the furniture store Dialogica. Savarese was killed in a small-plane crash in Moffat County, Colorado that also took the life of his flying companion, Ivan Luini. The two men co-owned a plane and often traveled cross-country, visiting their respective stores. They died on September 15, 2006.

Leo Young (80) retired director of research for the US Department of Defense. An expert on microwave technology, Young held 20 patents, published numerous scholarly papers, and was author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books. He died of cancer in Baltimore, Maryland on September 14, 2006.

Ira F. Brilliant (84) real estate developer whose passion for Beethoven led him to found one of the world's major centers for the study of the composer's work, which contains first editions, musical instruments, and a storied lock of his wild hair. Housed at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies is the only research collection in North America devoted exclusively to Beethoven. Brilliant died of congestive heart failure two days after his 84th birthday, in San Jose on September 10, 2006.

Robert Swanson (91) former Alma (Mich.) College president who led the private liberal arts school for 24 years (1956-80). During Swanson's presidency, the value of the college's endowment grew from $375,000 to about $12 million. He died in Alma, Michigan on September 15, 2006.

Frederic E. Wakeman Jr. (68) eminent scholar of Chinese history who wrote richly detailed books spanning seven centuries—from bloody dynastic struggles starting in the 1300s into the Communist era. Wakeman died of cancer in Lake Oswego, Oregon on September 14, 2006.

Raymond Baxter (84) wartime Spitfire pilot who became one of the BBC-TV's best-known outside broadcasters and the first host of the popular but now defunct BBC1 science program, Tomorrow’s World. Baxter died in England on September 15, 2006.

Roy M. Brewer (97) ardent anti-Communist who headed the Hollywood branch of the movie industry's leading union of stagehands during the blacklist era. Brewer maintained that the film industry had been infiltrated by Communists and cooperated with the US government in a campaign to root them out. He died of pneumonia in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hills, California on September 16, 2006.

Dionisio Choperena (51) Spanish immigrant who rose from lowly shepherd to fame when he was cast in AT&T television commercials making cell phone calls among his remote flock. Choperena was cast in 2000 when an agent arrived in rural Marin County, California looking for a "rancher type" who looked comfortable with a flock of sheep. He died in Petaluma, California on September 12, 2006.

Pat Corley (76) Dallas-born character actor best remembered for serving sage advice along with drinks as Phil the barkeep on the TV sitcom Murphy Brown. Corley died of congestive heart failure after undergoing surgery for the placement of coronary stents, in Los Angeles, California on September 11, 2006.

Gabe Dalmath (60) longtime Rochester, New York TV news anchor. Dalmath was born in Hungary, escaping with his family to the US during the revolution in 1956. He arrived at Rochester's WHEC, channel 10, in 1976 and was on the air for 29 years until he retired in December 2004. He had also been local host of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon since 1976. Dalmath died of kidney cancer on September 15, 2006.

Oriana Fallaci (76) Italian writer and journalist best known for her abrasive interviews and provocative stances. Fallaci goaded the world's great and issued a vitriolic assault on Islam after the 9/11 attacks on the US. She died of cancer in Florence, Italy on September 15, 2006.

John Goodspeed (86) former Baltimore Evening Sun columnist who collected examples of the city's linguistic disasters and christened the mispronunciations Baltimorese. In 1960, Goodspeed published the pamphlet A Fairly Compleat Lexicon of Baltimorese, which included among its 130 entries such classics as fahr/fire, arhn/iron, arnjoos/orange juice, authoritis/arthritis, Druidl/Druid Hill, Murlin/Maryland, paramour/power mower, tarred/tired, warn/wiring, and the classic zinc/sink. He died of pulmonary fibrosis in Easton, Maryland on September 10, 2006.

Mickey Hargitay (80) Hungarian-born actor and world champion bodybuilder once married to '50s sex siren Jayne Mansfield and father of Emmy-winning actress Mariska Hargitay, star of the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Mickey Hargitay died in Los Angeles, California on September 14, 2006.

Joseph Hayes (88) author of the novel The Desperate Hours (1954), a fact-based, suspenseful story about a suburban family taken hostage in their own home by three escaped convicts, which Hayes later turned into a 1955 Tony-winning play (starring a young Paul Newman) and a '56 movie with Humphrey Bogart. Hayes died of Alzheimer's disease in St. Augustine, Florida on September 11, 2006.

Kwan Hoi-shan (82) veteran Hong Kong actor and Cantonese Opera performer whose credits include Jackie Chan's film Project A (1983), about a naval officer assigned to police duty after pirates destroy his fleet, and its sequel, Project A II (1987). Kwan suffered a stroke in 2001 that left him partially paralyzed. His wife found his body in their Hong Kong home on September 11, 2006.

Yale Joel (87) photographer whose technical skill with a camera and willingness to stretch the boundaries of his craft won him a reputation in the '50s and '60s as the "photographer of the impossible." Joel was an original staff member of Life magazine. He died of cardiac arrest in New York City on September 13, 2006.

Peter Ling (80) one of Britain's busiest TV scriptwriters. With his professional partner Hazel Adair, Ling created the ITV soap opera Crossroads, which ran for nearly 25 years to popular acclaim from millions of fans and almost universal critical derision. Although notorious for its shaky sets and even shakier acting, and mocked for its "shoddy" storylines, Crossroads was enjoyed by an estimated 20 million viewers. Ling died in Hastings, East Sussex, England on September 14, 2006.

Terry O'Sullivan (91) former radio announcer and actor who spent 12 years playing Arthur Tate on the now-defunct daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. O'Sullivan moved to Minnesota in the early '70s, where he continued to work in local theater. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just eight days before he died in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 14, 2006.

Pablo Santos (19) Mexican teenage actor best known for playing David Tiant in the TV series Greetings from Tuscon. Santos had also recently appeared in several films including Cojones (2002), Party Animalz (2004), Sea of Dreams (2005), and Walkout (2006). He was killed in a plane crash near Toluca, Mexico on September 15, 2006.

Bennie Smith (72) guitarist and St. Louis blues legend who played with stars like Chuck Berry and Ike and Tina Turner. Smith was credited with teaching Ike Turner how to play "Okie Dokie Stomp" on guitar, which Turner turned into his own hit called "Prancin'." Smith died of a heart attack in St. Louis, Missouri on September 10, 2006.

Daniel Smith (20) son of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith who had appeared frequently on his mother's E! network reality series The Anna Nicole Show. Known to be on antidepressants, Daniel Smith died while visiting his mother in the Bahamas after she gave birth to a baby girl, on September 10, 2006. A second autopsy more than two weeks later revealed that Smith died from a lethal combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs.

Sten Andersson (83) leading figure in Sweden's governing Social Democratic Party and one-time mediator in the Middle East peace process. As foreign minister (1985-91), Andersson helped to start a dialogue between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the US. He died on the eve of national elections, in Stockholm, Sweden on September 16, 2006.

Silviu Brucan (90) Romania's ambassador to the US in the '50s who later opposed the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Brucan died of a heart attack 10 days after undergoing stomach surgery, in Bucharest, Romania on September 13, 2006.

Jang Keum-song (29) niece of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il who had been studying in France and had been told to cut short her studies and return to the reclusive state because her parents objected to her choice of boyfriend. Jang was found dead of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills taken with alcohol (suicide) in Paris, France in August, but her death was not reported until September 15, 2006.

Adm. John William Kime (72) retired US admiral, a former commandant of the Coast Guard who helped to develop the government's response to oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989. During his 41-year service career, Kime commanded the Coast Guard district in Long Beach, California, directed operations for the Coast Guard district in Miami, Florida, and was captain of the port in Baltimore, Maryland, where he died of cancer on September 14, 2006.

Raymond Mikesell (93) believed to be the last known surviving member of the Bretton Woods conference at the end of World War II. Mikesell was an aide to Harry Dexter White, an economist and US Treasury official who led the formation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank during the historic July 1944 conference at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. He died in Eugene, Oregon on September 12, 2006.

Ann W. Richards (73) former Texas governor, a witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity. Richards was governor for one term, losing her reelection bid to Republican George W. Bush in 1994. She died of esophageal cancer in Austin, Texas on September 13, 2006.

Peggie Phipps Boegner (99) founder and former chairwoman of Old Westbury Gardens on her family's vast Long Island, New York estate, which she opened to the public. Seventy acres of her parents' estate were set aside for precisely sculptured and varied gardens. Boegner died in Old Westbury, New York on September 16, 2006.

Elizabeth Choy (95) Singapore woman who risked her life supplying medicine, money, and messages to British civilians interned in Singapore's Changi Jail during World War II. Choy and her husband, Choy Khun Heng (d. 1973), incurred further risk by sending in radio parts for hidden receivers on a daily ambulance run until the Japanese instituted a crackdown in September 1943. Elizabeth Choy died of pancreatic cancer in Singapore on September 14, 2006.

Helene Deschamps Adams (85) daring World War II spy and French Resistance fighter who saved American fliers from capture and Jews from execution by the Nazis and played a role in secret preparations for Allied invasions of France. Deschamps Adams died of congestive heart failure in New York City on September 16, 2006.

Anastasia deSousa (18) Canadian student at Montreal's Dawson College, the only victim killed in that school's shooting rampage, the 5th such attack in Canada's history since 1989. DeSousa died of gunshot wounds to the abdomen in Montreal, Canada on September 13, 2006.

Tyron Garner (39) one of two men whose 1998 arrests led to a US Supreme Court decision that struck down bans on sodomy. Garner and John Lawrence were arrested after police—sent by a bogus report of an armed intruder—burst into Lawrence's apartment and found the two engaged in consensual sex. They were jailed overnight and charged with breaking Texas's Homosexual Conduct Law, which banned oral and anal sex between people of the same gender. In its landmark June 2003 ruling, the Supreme Court said that what gay men and women do in the privacy of their bedrooms is their business and not the government's. The 6-3 decision invalidated laws in Texas and 12 other states. Garner had been suffering from meningitis and died in Houston, Texas on September 11, 2006.

Kimveer Gill (25) Canadian spree shooter responsible for the Dawson College shootings in which one student was killed and nearly 20 were injured in an apparent exortion plot inspired by the Columbine High School shootings. Gill was shot to death by police at the scene in Montreal, Canada on September 13, 2006.

Donald Wren Kimball (62) defrocked Roman Catholic priest in Sonoma County, California, once a nationally renowned youth minister later tried on charges of sexually abusing children. Kimball was found dead in Windsor, California, about 54 miles north of San Francisco, on September 15, 2006.

Melanie Lomax (56) Los Angeles civil rights lawyer and former Police Commission president, often seen on TV talk shows, including Fox's The O'Reilly Factor. Lomax was backing out of her Hollywood Hills driveway when her vehicle overshot the roadway and somersaulted down a deep slope. She had sustained no visible injuries but was rushed to the hospital in full cardiac arrest and died in Los Angeles, California on September 11, 2006.

Taufa'ahau Tupou IV (88) King of Tonga and son of the late Queen Salote Topou III who became the king of Tonga after the death of his mother in 1965 and for many years had wielded great political authority and influence in Tonga's essentially autocratic system of goverment. Tupou controlled 70 percent of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga along with his country's nobles and had recently been involved in an investment scandal. He died in Auckland, New Zealand on September 11, 2006.

Ernestine Bayer (97) founder of a pioneering women's rowing club in 1938 on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bayer rowed competitively into her 90s and became known as the mother of women's rowing. She died of pneumonia in Exeter, New Hampshire on September 10, 2006.

Patty Berg (88) golf pioneer who won a Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour-record 15 major titles and was one of the 13 founding members of the tour in 1950. Berg was the LPGA Tour's first president (1950-52) and the tour's money leader (1954-55, '57). She died of Alzheimer's disease in Fort Myers, Florida on September 10, 2006.

Pete Clentzos (97) former University of Southern California pole vaulter who competed for Greece in the 1932 Olympics at the Los Angeles Coliseum and in 2004 carried the Olympic torch on the way to the Athens Games. Clentzos died of complications from hip surgery, in Rancho Mirage, California on September 11, 2006.

Floyd Curry (81) former Montreal Canadiens hockey player, a four-time Stanley Cup champion. Curry spent 11 seasons with the Canadiens and scored 105 goals and 204 points in 601 National Hockey League games. He died in Montreal, Canada on September 16, 2006.

Collie Nicholson (85) Grambling State University sports information director who helped to make coach Eddie Robinson and the little school's football program internationally famous. Nicholson brought the art of promotion to Grambling State—a traditionally black school in north Louisiana—long before most colleges even thought of it. Among his innovations was the "classic" game concept, where Grambling traveled with its marching band to major American cities. Nicholson died of heart failure in Shreveport, Louisiana on September 13, 2006.