Merv Corning (80) southern California artist best known for his realistic paintings of vintage airplanes and football players. Corning, who had no formal art education, began his career doing commercial illustration. He died of lung cancer in Solvang, California on September 24, 2006.

Maureen Daly (85) writer whose coming-of-age novel 17th Summer (1942)—written before her 20th birthday—was credited with launching modern young adult literature. The novel became a best-seller and had sold more than 1.5 million hardcover copies and millions of paperbacks. Daly died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Palm Desert, California on September 25, 2006.

Andras Suto (79) writer and human rights advocate for his fellow ethnic Hungarians in Romania, persecuted by Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. Western Romania, including Transylvania, was part of Hungary until World War I and still has a large ethnic Hungarian population. In his works, Suto called for peaceful coexistence between ethnic groups. He died of cancer in Budapest, Hungary on September 30, 2006.

Luther Blount (90) philanthropist and founder of a small-ship cruise line. Blount founded American Canadian Caribbean Line in 1966. The family-owned business offers no-frills cruises to offbeat places and caters to a niche market of travelers who want a down-to-earth real-life experience of the regions they visit. Blount died of colon cancer in Warren, Rhode Island on September 24, 2006.

Ernest ("Tex") Boullioun (87) longtime Boeing Company executive. Boullioun joined Boeing in 1940, initially working on the B-17 and B-29 bomber programs. In 1967, he became vice president and general manager of the commercial airplanes division and in ’72 was promoted to president, holding that position until he retired in ’84. He died in Seattle, Washington on September 24, 2006.

Cecil Brooks (93) gun maker whose rifles had been presented to keynote speakers at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting since 1955. Brooks was known for creating flintlock and percussion rifles. Actor Charlton Heston once told an NRA convention that the only way he would give up his Cecil Brooks Presentation Rifle was to have it pried.."from my cold, dead hands." Brooks died of heart failure in Marietta, Ohio on September 24, 2006.

Jeff Cooper (86) renowned firearms expert and founder of a firearms training center in northern Arizona. In 1976, Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute—or Gunsite—at Paulden, Arizona to teach pistol techniques and later added a full curriculum on pistols, rifles, and shotguns. He had been battling several health problems in recent years and died in Paulden, near Prescott, Arizona on September 25, 2006.

Yutaka Egashira (98) Japanese Crown Princess Masako's grandfather. Egashira was a former chairman of the Japanese chemical company Chisso Corporation, which caused Minamata disease, one of Japan's worst industrial pollution cases. Egashira died in Fuji, Japan, where he had been treated for an unspecified illness, on September 24, 2006.

Derek Jacobs (18) teen engineering prodigy who gained national attention in 2002 when he and his family received identification chip implants on live TV. Jacobs was set to get his engineering degree in 2006 after only two years at Florida International University. He wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Although he was wearing a helmet, Jacobs was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a guardrail and a pole in Boca Raton, Florida on September 30, 2006.

Alan Maclean (81) successful British publisher of the old school and younger brother of Donald Maclean, the Soviet agent who decamped to Moscow in 1951 along with Guy Burgess. As editorial director of Macmillan, Alan MacLean helped to advance the literary careers of Muriel Spark, C. P. Snow, Rebecca West, Lillian Hellman, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Alistair Horne, and Joyce Grenfell. He died in Dorset, England on September 26, 2006.

Dr. Robert G. Petersdorf (80) internationally known infectious diseases expert and educator, one of the most powerful figures in American medicine for many years. Petersdorf became famous in medicine for a classic study of prolonged fevers of unknown origin. He died after suffering several strokes, in Seattle, Washington on September 29, 2006.

Clayton Scott (101) Bill Boeing's personal pilot who later become a top Boeing Company test pilot. The municipal airfield in Renton, south of Seattle, was renamed Clayton Scott Field in 2005 to celebrate Scott's 100th birthday. He died in Seattle, Washington on September 28, 2006.

Joseph Kauffman (84) one of the architects of the Peace Corps. Kauffman was the program's first director of training (1961-63), responsible for the preparation of all volunteers for overseas assignments, and developed training programs at more than 60 colleges and universities, including the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which consistently leads the nation in the number of Peace Corps volunteers. He later became president of Rhode Island College in Providence. He died of cancer in Madison, Wisconsin on September 29, 2006.

Arthur Marwick (70) one of the pioneering British academics who joined the Open University on its foundation in 1969. Marwick set up its history department and published prolifically on topics ranging from war and class to beauty and the historian's craft. He died in Exeter, England on September 27, 2006.

Prentiss Barnes (81) former bass singer with the Moonglows and a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Barnes was killed when his car wrecked on Mississippi 48, east of Magnolia. He was thrown from the car and died of massive trauma on September 30, 2006.

Isabel Bigley (80) Tony-winner who created the role of feisty Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown in the classic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls (1950). After marrying Music Corporation of America executive Lawrence Barnett, Bigley retired from show business in 1958. She died of pulmonary disease in Los Angeles, California on September 30, 2006.

Lucille DeView (85) award-winning playwright and a former columnist and writing coach for the Orange County (Calif.) Register. In her late 70s, DeView wrote her first play, A Summer with Hemingway's Twin, which won the 1997 National Play Award from the National Repertory Theatre Foundation. She died of heart failure in Palm Bay, Florida on September 28, 2006.

("Uncle") Josh Graves (79) musician whose bluesy Dobro adorned hundreds of bluegrass and country records. Graves was one of only a few professional Dobro players in the '50s when he joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs's Foggy Mountain Boys. In recent years he had been in ill health, which he blamed on years of smoking and drinking, and his legs had been amputated because of diabetes. He died in Nashville, Tennessee on September 30, 2006

Sally Gray (87) former British actress who bewitched filmgoers with her good looks and husky voice during the '30s and '40s before retiring to marry into the peerage. After turning down a lucrative Hollywood contract, in December 1951 Gray became the third and final wife of the 4th Lord Oranmore & Browne and at her death was known as the Dowager Lady Oranmore & Browne. She died in England on September 24, 2006.

John Ed Pearce (87) journalist who spent 25 years guiding readers of the Louisville Courier-Journal's editorial page. Pearce shared a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1967 as part of the paper's efforts to urge mining companies to adopt stronger strip-mining controls. He died in Louisville, Kentucky on September 25, 2006.

Patrick Quinn (56) newly appointed executive director of Actors' Equity Association, the stage actors' union. Quinn had been president of Equity, which represents more than 45,000 stage actors and stage managers, for six years before being named executive director in August. He was to assume the post on October 5 but died of a heart attack near Bushkill, Pennsylvania on September 24, 2006.

Padmini Ramachandran (74) star of Indian films who later started an influential school of Indian classical dance in New Jersey. Known for her beauty, acting, and dancing in many styles, Ramachandran was most famous as an exponent of the classical southern Indian dance form called Bharata Natyam. She died of a heart attack in Chennai (formerly Madras), India on September 25, 2006.

Marion Stansfield (63) mother of R&B singer Lisa Stansfield. Marion Stansfield moved to Rochdale, England and worked at the Era Ring Mill in the '50s, where she met her future husband. They married in 1963 and had three daughters. Marion died in her sleep in Tenerife, Canary Islands on September 27, 2006.

Thomas Stewart (78) American baritone renowned for his portrayals of Wotan, Amfortas, and other central Wagnerian roles, heard frequently at Bayreuth and the Metropolitan Opera. Stewart died of a heart attack while playing golf in Rockville, Maryland on September 24, 2006.

Ralph Story (86) TV and radio broadcaster for 30 years and host of the hugely popular quiz show The $64,000 Challenge in the '50s. Story died of emphysema in Santa Ynez, north of Santa Barbara, California, on September 26, 2006.

Tetsuro Tamba (84) Japanese actor best known internationally for playing dapper spymaster Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond picture You Only Live Twice (1967). Tamba died of heart failure after a bout with pneumonia, in Tokyo, Japan on September 25, 2006.

Henry Townsend (96) blues guitarist who fled Mississippi for St. Louis as a 9-year-old, then stayed for a prolific career that spanned 80 years. Townsend died of a pulmonary embolism in Grafton, Wisconsin, where he had gone to accept an honor as last surviving artist with the old Paramount Records, on September 24, 2006.

Safia Ahmed-jan (50) Afghan women's rights advocate and an outspoken critic of the Taliban for the latter's suppression of women. Ahmed-jan was provincial director of the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Kandahar province since 2001. She was shot to death outside her home in Kandahar, Afghanistan on September 25, 2006.

Omar al-Faruq (37) member of the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda who escaped from the Bagram, Afghanistan high-security detention center. Faruq had been described as a liaison between al-Qaeda and Islamic militants in the Far East and was apparently captured in Indonesia. He was shot to death by British forces in Basra, Iraq on September 25, 2006.

Joel T. Broyhill (86) former US congressman (R-Va.) who represented northern Virginia for more than 20 years after escaping from a German prison camp in World War II. Broyhill was known for his opposition to the establishment of home rule in Washington, DC. He died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia in Arlington, Virginia on September 24, 2006.

Iva Toguri D'Aquino (90) Japanese-American woman convicted and later pardoned for being World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose," a female radio broadcaster responsible for anti-American transmissions intended to demoralize US soldiers fighting in the Pacific theater. In 1949, Iva Toguri became the 7th person to be convicted of treason in American history and served six years in prison. But doubts about her possible role as Tokyo Rose later surfaced and she was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977. She died in Chicago, Illinois on September 26, 2006.

William J. Whalen 3rd (66) former director of the National Park Service (1977-80) who oversaw the doubling in size of the park system and the creation of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Whalen was best known for implementing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which led to the establishment of 10 national parks and expansion of several others in 1980. He died of a heart attack in Greenbrae, California on September 28, 2006.

Concha Ortiz y Pino de Kleven (96) Spanish culture activist and former New Mexico state legislator. Ortiz was born in Galisteo in 1910, two years before New Mexico became a state. She was elected to the Legislature for three terms (1936, '38, '40). In 1941, at age 30, she became Democrat majority whip—the first woman to hold such a position in state government. She died of pneumonia in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 30, 2006.

Kaitlyn Avila (3) child fatally shot as her family arrived home after a Sunday afternoon trip to McDonalds. Police believed the little girl was intentionally targeted by a teenage gang member who first wounded her father, Cesar Avila, apparently thinking he was a rival gang member, then aimed at Kaitlyn and shot her in the chest. She died of gunshot wounds in Los Angeles, California on September 24, 2006.

Olivia Robello Breitha (90) woman who shared her story of exile as a leprosy patient on a remote peninsula of Molokai island, Hawaii, and strove to dispel myths about the disease by writing her autobiography. Breitha was taken to the Kalaupapa settlement on Molokai in 1937, three years after she contracted Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. More than 8,000 people were banished to Molokai after the disease became epidemic in the 1850s. Forced quarantine did not end until 1969 after sulfone drugs were developed to control it. Breitha stayed there voluntarily until her death on September 28, 2006.

Diamond Brownridge (5) Chicago child who never awoke from sedation during a visit to the dentist. Little Diamond Brownridge had been on life support for four days after her visit to Little Angel Dental, a storefront clinic, to have some cavities filled and other teeth capped. The girl apparently received a triple dose of sedatives—an oral agent, an intravenous drug, and nitrous oxide ("laughing") gas. Lack of oxygen to the brain because of the anesthesia was cited as the cause of her death in Chicago, Illinois on September 27, 2006.

Rosamund Carr (94) American expatriate who abandoned her life as a Manhattan socialite and moved to Central Africa with her adventurer husband. Even after their divorce, Carr remained there for more than 50 years and chronicled her experiences of the beauties and tragedies of the region in Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda (1999). She established a home for local orphans and was the best friend of zoologist Diane Fossey, gorilla authority murdered by poachers in 1985. Carr died in Rwanda on September 29, 2006.

June Bundy Csida (83) author, feminist leader, and former Hollywood publicist. In the early '70s, when discussing rape was still taboo and few victims reported the crime, feminist Csida and her husband wrote Rape: How to Avoid It & What to Do If You Can’t. Csida died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in Los Angeles on September 29, 2006.

Peter M. Grosz (80) engineer and authority on German aircraft from World War I, also the son of German Expressionist painter George Grosz. Peter Grosz wrote three books and hundreds of articles and monographs about early Central European aircraft. He died of brain cancer in Princeton, New Jersey on September 29, 2006.

Emily Keyes (16) student at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado, one of six students held hostage by drifter Duane Morrison, who later killed himself. The attack evoked memories of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado. Keyes was shot as she tried to run away. She died of gunshot wounds at a hospital in Denver, Colorado on September 27, 2006.

John Klang (49) principal of Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. Klang was shot to death by 9th-grade student Eric Hainstock (15) a day after giving the boy a disciplinary warning for having tobacco on school grounds. It was the third school shooting in two weeks, including those at Dawson College in Canada and Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado. Klang died hours later at a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin on September 29, 2006.

Duane Morrison (54) petty criminal and drifter who took six female students hostage at gunpoint in a classroom at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado. Morrison molested all six girls and sexually assaulted at least two of them. He shot Emily Keyes (16) as she tried to run away. When SWAT officers stormed the classroom, Morrison killed himself on September 27, 2006.

John W. Peterson (84) composer of more than 1,000 gospel hymns in a musical career that began before World War II. Peterson was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1986. He died of cancer in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 27, 2006.

Willie Radkay (95) former bank robber assigned a cell next to prohibition-era gangster Machine Gun Kelly while serving time at Alcatraz. Radkay began a seven-year stint in 1945 at the San Francisco island prison dubbed "The Rock." He died in Fort Scott, Kansas on September 24, 2006.

Walter Hadlee (91) cricketer who played a vital role in the development of New Zealand cricket: as captain of the team that toured England so successfully in 1949, as a highly influential administrator on the Board of Control, and as father of Sir Richard Hadlee, one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Walter Hadlee died in Christchurch, New Zealand on September 29, 2006.

Craig Kusick (57) former Minnesota Twins first baseman (1973-79). Kusick's best season came in 1977, when he hit .254 with 12 homers and 45 RBIs in 268 at-bats for Minnesota. He died after a long bout with leukemia, three days short of his 58th birthday, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 27, 2006.

Byron Nelson (94) US pro golfer who had the greatest year in the history of professional golf when he won 18 tournaments in 1945, including a record 11 in a row. Known as Lord Byron for his elegant swing and gentle manner, Nelson won 31 of 54 tournaments (1944-45). He died in Roanoke, Texas on September 26, 2006.

Shelby Walker (31) professional boxer and mixed martial arts fighter known as "Shelby Girl" who started her career in 2002 with 6 MMA fights, winning 3 and losing 3. Walker had the fastest knockout in the history of MMA: a 5-second KO against Angela Wilson in the Ring of Fury 3 in Boston, Massachusetts. She had a record of 7-6-1 with 6 KOs. Walker was found dead of an apparent overdose of pain medication on September 24, 2006.