Robert Richenburg (89) Abstract Expressionist painter (pictured in self-portrait) whose early works were shown alongside those of Jackson Pollock and Willem deKooning. Richenburg was a member of The Club, the influential group of abstract painters that included Barnett Newman, Joan Mitchell, and Robert Motherwell. He died in East Hampton, New York on October 10, 2006.

Dr. Mason Andrews (87) obstetrician and gynecologist who delivered the nation’s first "test-tube" baby in 1981. The former mayor of Norfolk, Virginia was a cofounder of the Eastern Virginia Medical School and helped the school’s Jones Institute to become a leader in reproductive medicine. Andrews was estimated to have delivered approximately 5,000 babies in Norfolk, including Elizabeth Jordan Carr on December 28, 1981, the country’s first baby conceived outside the mother’s body. Andrews died in Norfolk, Virginia on October 13, 2006.

Petra Cabot (99) designer whose most famous work was an insulated pail covered with plaid, the ubiquitous Skotch Kooler of the '50s. Copyrighted in 1952, the Skotch Kooler was made by the Hamilton Metal Products Co. of Hamilton, Ohio. It could keep ice cream firm for two to three hours without ice and was handy for a fishing trip: it kept groceries cold on the way to the lake and fish cold on the way back. Cabot died in Woodstock, New York on October 13, 2006.

Harold Farb (83) Houston, Texas developer who built more than 30,000 apartments in a career that spanned more than 50 years. Farb became the leader in Houston's apartment complex business by the '70s and was landlord to more than 1 million people over his career. He died of a heart attack in River Oaks, Texas on October 10, 2006.

Dr. Saul Farber (88) former dean of New York University's medical school who led prestigious medical organizations, did ground-breaking research on kidneys, and won many professional honors but was happiest making rounds with generations of interns and residents. In particular, Farber devoted himself to Bellevue Hospital, long a teaching affiliate of NYU. He died of circulatory disease in New York City on October 12, 2006.

Howard ("Butch") Kerzner (42) hotel tycoon, chief executive of Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., a Bahamas-based casino and resort operator. Kerzner was among four people killed when a helicopter they were traveling in crashed into a building on the Dominican Republic's north coast, in the tourist resort of Sosua, on October 11, 2006.

Nelson J. Leonard (90) University of Illinois organic chemist who went from developing antimalarial drugs during World War II to decades of postwar research into the fundamentals of life itself. Leonard published more than 400 scientific papers and directed the research of more than 200 graduate students and postdoctoral associates during his more than 40 years at the university. He died of cancer in Pasadena, California on October 9, 2006.

Ray Noorda (82) Novell Inc. founder who battled Microsoft Corp. in the early years of network computers. Noorda became chief executive of Novell in 1983 and made it a software powerhouse, dominating the market for products that manage corporate networks and let individual computers share files and printers; but Microsoft caught up by the mid-'90s. Noorda had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for years and died at his home in Orem, Utah, 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, on October 9, 2006.

S. Peter Rosen (73) British-born US physicist who combined pioneering studies of the subatomic particles called neutrinos with an administrative role in helping to guide federal research in high-energy physics. As a senior science adviser at the Office of Science at the Energy Department, Rosen helped to negotiate an agreement for American participation in an international consortium building the Large Hadron Collider, a high-energy particle accelerator project under way near Geneva, Switzerland. Rosen died of pancreatic cancer in Rockville, Maryland on October 13, 2006.

Sheldon Meyer (80) distinguished editor of nonfiction books almost single-handedly responsible for the Americanization of Oxford University Press in his more than 40 years there. Meyer made Oxford a major publisher of books about American popular culture—notably jazz and musical theater—and in so doing helped to democratize scholarly publishing in the US. He died in New York City on October 9, 2006.

Eve Adamson (68) founder of the Jean Cocteau Repertory who built it into a respected classical theater company. Adamson was the daughter of Hollywood lyricist Harold Adamson (d. 1980), who wrote the lyrics to many old standards, such as “Time on My Hands.’’ Eve Adamson died in New York City on October 8, 2006.

Jerry Belson (68) Emmy-winning comedy writer for The Tracey Ullman Show whose wit graced numerous other films and TV shows, including The Odd Couple. After teaming with comedic actress Ullman, Belson won three Emmys—in 1989 and '90 for his work on her Fox comedy and in '97 for writing on the HBO show Tracey Takes On... He died of cancer in Los Angeles, California on October 10, 2006.

Todd Bolender (92) protégé of ballet master George Balanchine and former artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet. Bolender danced professionally (1936-72) and later held ballet director positions in Germany before working as a free-lance choreographer, creating 36 of his own ballets. The new home of the Kansas City Ballet, scheduled to open in 2008, will be called the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity. Bolender died of a stroke in Kansas City, Kansas on October 12, 2006.

Florence Cardona (87) mother of famed singer Vicki Carr who raised a family of high achievers by her personal example and had recently relocated from southern Californa to San Antonio to spend her remaining time with her children. She died in San Antonio, Texas on October 12, 2006.

Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy (75) aka "Coccinelle," celebrated French transsexual singer, entertainer, and Marilyn Monroe lookalike, the first Frenchman to have a sex-change operation, in 1958. Born Jacques-Charles Dufresnoy in Paris, Coccinelle feminized her name after the surgery. One of her favorite outfits, a red and black polka-dot dress, earned her the nickname Coccinelle (French for ladybug). She died in Marseilles, France on October 9, 2006.

Freddy Fender (69) "Bebop Kid" of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad "Before the Next Teardrop Falls." Fender was proud of his Mexican-American heritage and frequently sang verses or whole songs in Spanish. He died of lung cancer in Corpus Christi, Texas on October 14, 2006.

Ira B. Harkey Jr. (88) retired journalist and editor in Pascagoula, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for his editorial writing during the integration of the University of Mississippi. At the time, Harkey was vilified for his editorials and his life was threatened. He died of Parkinson's disease in Kerrville, Texas on October 8, 2006.

Peter Hepple (79) for 20 years the quirky and versatile editor of The Stage, a British weekly house organ and noticeboard of the theatrical profession. A polymath of the performing arts, Hepple was as knowledgeable about high opera as about low farce and reviewed everything with equal respect. He died in his sleep in London, England on October 9, 2006.

Daniele Huillet (70) French-born filmmaker who, in collaboration with her husband, Jean-Marie Straub, created some of the most challenging and intensely debated motion pictures of the modernist era. Among the best-known films of Straub-Huillet, as the couple was known in critical shorthand, is The Chronicle of Anna-Magdalena Bach (1967), an approach to the life and work of classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach as seen through the journals of his wife. In the '70s, Straub and Huillet moved to Rome, Italy. Huillet died of cancer in the Loire Valley in France, where she was visiting while undergoing treatment, on October 9, 2006.

Gillo Pontecorvo (86) Italian film director famous for The Battle of Algiers (1966), a starkly realistic depiction of Algeria's war of independence from France. The documentary-style black-and-white film, which Pontecorvo cowrote and directed, won the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion and was nominated for three Oscars for best director, best screenplay, and best foreign language film. Pontecorvo died in Rome, Italy on October 12, 2006.

Larissa Strickland (46) guitarist for the '80s hard-core band L-Seven and the late '80s and early '90s horror-punk band the Laughing Hyenas. Strickland had released four more albums on Touch & Go, which can still be heard in bands like Garage Goths, the Hunches, or the Horrors and numerous dark metal groups. She died of an apparent overdose of a prescription drug in North Port, Florida on October 9, 2006.

Amer al-Hashemi (58) major general in the Iraqi army and brother of Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hasehmi whose sister and another brother were killed by gunmen earlier this year. Amer al-Hashemi was also a senior adviser to the Ministry of Defense. He was shot to death at his home in Baghdad, Iraq late on October 8, 2006.

Bernard Allen (69) North Carolina state representative who cosponsored legislation to create the state’s lottery. then pushed for a committee to make sure the proceeds were wisely spent. Allen had been working as he recuperated from a mild stroke on September 23 and seemed to have been recovering well. He was seeking a third term; but a blood clot entered his lung, killing him instantly, in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 13, 2006.

Hermann Frederick Eilts (84) former diplomat in the Middle East who helped former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger with his shuttle diplomacy, nursed Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat through the Camp David peace talks, and dodged a Libyan hit team. A former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Eilts was in the foreign service for 32 years, almost all of them in the Middle East, where he worked in Egypt, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. He died in Wellesley, Massachusetts on October 12, 2006.

Reg Freeson (80) former British housing minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and an indomitable campaigner for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East, and against racial injustice. Freeson died in England on October 9, 2006.

Wang Guangmei (85) translator and wife of former Chinese Communist leader and president Liu Shaoqi. Wang was put under house arrest, then imprisoned and tortured. Her husband and some of her children were killed after she was released in 1979. She died in Beijing, China on October 13, 2006.

Mario Moya Palencia (73) former interior secretary of Mexico, investigated but later excused in connection with a student massacre in 1971. Moya was responsible for Mexico's internal security on June 10, 1971, when pro-government agents killed at least a dozen students at a leftist political demonstration in Mexico City. He died of a heart attack in Mexico City, Mexico on October 9, 2006.

Kanshi Ram (72) founder of India's most powerful lower-caste party, the Bahujan Samaj Party. Ram founded the party in 1984 amid growing dissent among India's low-caste Hindus that their interests had been ignored by the country's mainstream political parties. Receiving treatment for diabetes, hypertension, and several other ailments for more than two years, Ram died of a heart attack in New Delhi, India on October 9, 2006.

Gerry Studds (69) former US Congressman (D-Mass., 1973-97), first openly gay person elected to Congress. In 1983, Studds acknowledged his homosexuality after a former Congressional page revealed he'd had a sexual relationship with Studds 10 years earlier, when the page was 17. Studds was censured for sexual misconduct by the House, then went home to his constituents to answer questions and later won reelection. When Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004, Studds married his longtime partner Dean Hara (49). Studds collapsed October 3 while walking his dog and died of a blood clot in the lung 11 days later in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2006.

Jeff Getty (49) prominent AIDS activist who in 1995 received the first bone-marrow transplant from a baboon to treat the disease. Before antiviral drug combinations were used successfully by AIDS patients, Getty grabbed national attention in December 1995 for becoming the first person ever to receive a bone marrow cell transfusion from one species to another. He died of heart failure, after treatment for cancer and a long struggle with AIDS, in Joshua Tree, California on October 9, 2006.

Thich Man Giac (77) Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnamese United Buddhist Churches of America. In 1977, Thich was one of 79 Vietnamese who fled their country in a fishing boat, after he and other leaders of the Buddhist community sent government officials a list of 85 cases of rights violations against Buddhist monks, nuns, and others. He died of cancer in Los Angeles, California on October 13, 2006.

Benito Martinez (126?) Cuban man who claimed to be the world's oldest living person and was recognized as such by the Cuban government. Martinez said he came to Cuba from Haiti via steamship in the '20s at age 45, worked on the family ranch of Cuban president Fidel Castro, and eventually settled in a small farming community outside Ciego de Avila. No actual record exists of his birth, and none have been produced of his life before he reached Cuba. He died in Havana, Cuba on October 11, 2006.

Dino Cardinal Monduzzi (84) Italian prelate, a longtime aide to Pope John Paul II and three earlier pontiffs. Monduzzi had been prefect, or head, of the papal household until 1998. He greeted VIPs when they arrived at the Apostolic Palace for papal audiences. He died at Vatican City, Italy on October 13, 2006.

Norman Murdoch (80) former planning director who led the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission (1974-88) and later developed a detailed street-tree plan for his Windsor Square neighborhood. Murdoch oversaw the cataloguing of the neighborhood's 2,490 parkway trees and compilation of a 45-page master plan that led to the planting of more than 900 new specimens. He died of myelodysplasia, a bone marrow disorder, in Los Angeles, California on October 8, 2006.

Esther Owens (108) oldest person in Berkeley, California, who had been widowed twice and at age 80 had retired from her job as a church bookkeeper in Piedmont. Owens then was a volunteer worker at Providence Hospital in Oakland for 13 years. She died in Berkeley, California on October 13, 2006.

Norman Salsitz (86) Holocaust survivor whose harrowing tale of surviving by posing as a Christian took a bizarre turn when he killed Polish partisans about to murder a group of Jews. With his wife, Amalie Petranker Salsitz (d. 2003), Salsitz wrote Against All Odds (1990), an account of how, following different paths, the couple pretended to be Christians to stay out of the death camps. Norman Salsitz died of pneumonia in Boston, Massachusetts on October 11, 2006.

Stephanie Stephens (38) former nurse and convicted killer charged in 2001 with the murder of her second husband, Dr. David Stephens, by adding a lethal dose of anesthetic drugs to his insulin pump. Dr. Stephens was diabetic and had hepatitis. The 2003 trial was one of the most sensational ever in Forrest County, Mississippi and was widely covered by the media, including CBS-TV's 48 Hours, which aired a lengthy segment on the case. Having served only 3 years of a life sentence, Stephanie Stephens died of double pneumonia at the Central Mississippi Hospital near Jackson, Mississippi on October 14, 2006.

Marja Bakker (59) Dutch-born co-organizer of the Boston Marathon and the only female president of the Boston Athletic Association Running Club, which she joined in 1978. Bakker became its president in 1982 and was the first and only female president of the running club in the organization's 119-year history. She died of cancer in Boston, Massachusetts on October 14, 2006.

Johnny Callison (67) rocket-armed right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies who hit a bottom-of-the-ninth home run that won the 1964 All-Star game. Callison made the National League All-Star team three times (1962, '64-65). He died in Abington, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, on October 12, 2006.

Frank Dolson (73) longtime Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist who later was a New York Yankees special assistant. In his columns, Dolson advocated keeping the simplicity and purity of sports, campaigned against any move toward professionalism in the Olympics, and expressed disdain for the designated hitter and exploding scoreboards. He died in his sleep in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 8, 2006.

Paul Hunter (27) three-time British Masters snooker champion dubbed "the Beckham of the baize." Besides winning titles on the professional snooker circuit, Hunter's good looks and charisma made him popular with nonsports fans and drew comparisons with former England soccer captain David Beckham. Hunter would have turned 28 on October 14. He died after an 18-month fight against a rare form of cancer. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors in his stomach lining in March 2005 and died in Huddersfield, England on October 9, 2006.

Pal Kallai (73) world-famous Hungarian jockey and the oldest active jockey in the world. Kallai's career began in 1949. In 1950 he moved to the US and raced in the Kentucky Derby. He moved back to Hungary in 1991 and won the Hungarian Derby in 2000. He won over 1,000 races in Hungary, six of them in 2006. His last race was on September 24, 2006. He planned to race on October 1, but moments before the race started he felt ill. He died in Budapest, Hungary on October 13, 2006.

Cory Lidle (34) New York Yankees pitcher who hoped to use his passion for flying to get away from a most difficult season. Lidle looked forward to piloting himself back home to California once the Yankees lost in the playoffs. He got his pilot's license during the last off-season, bought his own plane, and tried to spend every spare moment in the air. He was killed, with his flying instructor, when the plane crashed into a 50-story Manhattan skyscraper on October 11, 2006.

Glenn Myernick (51) assistant coach of the US soccer team and a former head coach of Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids (1997-2001), taking them to the Major League Soccer title game in his first year. Myernick collapsed after his regular morning jog on October 5 and never regained consciousness. He died of a heart attack in Thornton, Colorado four days later, on October 9, 2006.