Muriel Castanis (80) sculptor whose fluidly draped figures are displayed in public places and galleries around the US. A self-taught artist, Castanis was known in particular for her method of laying an epoxy-soaked cloth over a mannequin built of plastic foam. She would then remove the foam, leaving empty, faceless figures reminiscent of Greek sculpture. She died of lung failure in New York City on November 22, 2006.

William Diehl (81) best-selling author of Primal Fear and other novels. Diehl started on his first novel, Sharky's Machine (1978), while serving as a juror in a Fulton County (Ga.) courtroom. The book became a best-seller and later a movie starring Burt Reynolds. Diehl was writing his 10th novel when he died of an aortic embolism in Atlanta, Georgia on November 24, 2006.

Donald Hamilton (90) Swedish-born US writer of novels, short stories, and nonfiction about the outdoors. Hamilton was best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-93), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counteragent/assassin working for a secret American government agency. General audiences may be more familiar with Matt Helm through a series of popular action-comedy films produced in the late Ō60s starring Dean Martin in the title role, but those films were only very loosely based upon HamiltonÕs writings. He died in his sleep in Ipswich, Massachusetts on November 20, 2006.

Roy Newell (92) painter of geometric abstracts and one of the original members of the American Abstract Expressionists. Newell was a vivid colorist, creating closely wrought, irregular geometrical pattern paintings that resemble quilted fields of color. He often reworked his paintings over decades, slowly building up the geometric shapes and surfaces in countless layers, using great densities of paint; some of his paintings are an inch thick. He died of cancer in New York City on November 22, 2006.

David Hermance (59) Toyota engineer and executive who promoted fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles and was dubbed the "American father of the Prius." Hermance also was a dedicated pilot. He was killed when his aerobatic single-engine Interavia E-3—after performing loops and dives—plunged straight down into the sea off Los Angeles, California on November 25, 2006.

David Kritchevsky (86) biochemist and expert in human nutrition who made ground-breaking studies of cholesterol and dietary fats and pushed for balanced approaches to assessing health risks from foods. Kritchevsky was interested in the benefits of eating dietary fiber, the effects of saturated and unsaturated fats, and the role of fats in promoting cancers and heart disease. He died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on November 20, 2006.

Robert Kupperman (71) government scientist who started warning of terrorist attacks against the US more than 30 years ago. From 1975 onward, as an author of top-secret studies, a chairman of task forces, and a lonely voice of warning, Kupperman consistently predicted that the US would someday be the target of a major terrorist attack. He died of Parkinson's disease in Washington, DC on November 24, 2006.

Bernard Rimland (78) San Diego research psychologist widely considered the father of modern autism research. Rimland concluded that the disorder, characterized by poor language skills and an inability to handle social relations, was the result of a fundamental biochemical defect but ultimately triggered by environmental assaults, such as the mercury contained in childhood vaccines. He died of prostate cancer in El Cajon, California on November 21, 2006.

Zdenek Veselovsky (78) leading Czech zoologist who headed Prague's zoo for 30 years. Veselovsky was in charge of the zoo (1959-88) when he was fired by Communist authorities for political reasons. He published many books on animals that were translated into several languages. He died of heart failure two weeks after he was hospitalized with a heart attack in Prague, Czech Republic on November 24, 2006.

Melvin M. Webber (86) city planner and mass transit specialist who worked on the early phases of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system but later became a critic of BART because it failed to meet early expectations. For some years Webber was director of the University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Urban & Regional Development and of the UC Transportation Center. He died of cancer in Berkeley, California on November 25, 2006.

Robert Altman (81) film director whose satirical wit and staggering ensemble casts helped to make him one of the most distinctive voices in American cinema. Altman was a five-time Oscar nominee for best director whose vast, eclectic filmography ranged from the dark war comedy M*A*S*H to the Hollywood farce The Player to the British murder mystery Gosford Park. When he won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed that he'd had a heart transplant in 1996. He died of cancer in Los Angeles, California on November 20, 2006.

Warren A. Bell Sr. (77) alto saxophonist who toured with Dave Bartholomew's big band in the '50s and '60s and later played with other musical greats. Bell was born in New Orleans and was one of the first black musicians to be invited to play with all-white bands in the city. He died of complications while undergoing kidney dialysis treatment in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 22, 2006.

Jesus Blancornelas (70) crusading Mexican investigative journalist who relentlessly investigated drug cartels and government corruption despite an attempt on his life and the killing of colleagues. Blancornelas was severely wounded and his bodyguard killed in a 1997 shooting attack linked to the Tijuana drug cartel. He died of a chronic illness in Tijuana, Mexico on November 23, 2006.

Walter Booker (72) double bass player who performed with jazzmen Cannonball and Nat Adderley and mentored young musicians at his Boogie Woogie Studio in New York City. Booker's playing was marked by voicelike inflections, glissandos, and techniques such as tremolo. He died after suffering cardiac arrest in New York City on November 24, 2006.

Gerald M. Boyd (56) first black managing editor of the New York Times, forced to resign amid a reporter's plagiarism scandal. Boyd and executive editor Howell Raines were brought down by the scandal caused by Jayson Blair, a journalist they had groomed, and criticism of their management style. Boyd died of lung cancer in New York City on November 23, 2006.

John Allan Cameron (67) Canadian folk singer, known as the "Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada and noted for performing traditional music on his 12-string guitar. Besides numerous TV and concert appearances, Cameron performed at the Grand Ole Opry in 1970. He died of leukemia in Toronto, Canada on November 22, 2006.

Curtis Carroll (??) professional magician, hypnotist, and husband of US Trade Rep. Susan Schwab, former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Carroll died of kidney and liver failure in Washington, DC on November 20, 2006.

Nick Clarke (58) one of BBC Radio's most distinctive broadcasters who had presented The World at One on Radio 4 for the past 12 years. In 2005 Clarke was diagnosed with a life-threatening soft-tissue sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that forced doctors to amputate his left leg. Despite an encouraging prognosis, the cancer returned and he died in London, England on November 23, 2006.

Shelly Cohen (17) teen actress honored with an ariZoni Theatre Award this fall. Cohen had recently starred in the Fountain Hills Community Youth Theater’s Jellybean Conspiracy, in which she played a teenager coping with a brother who had Down syndrome. She was killed in a car accident just days before her 18th birthday, in Fountain Hills, Arizona on November 25, 2006.

Betty Comden (89) stage and film lyricist and librettist whose more than 60-year collaboration with Adolph Green (d. 2002) produced the classic Broadway stage musical On the Town (1944) and the movie Singin' in the Rain (1952; "everybody's favorite musical"). Also among their Broadway hits was Bells Are Ringing (1956; film '60), written especially for comedienne Judy Holliday. Comden died of heart failure in New York City on November 23, 2006.

Thomas Fleming (98) pioneering journalistic voice for the San Francisco Bay Area's black community. In 1944, Fleming became founding editor of The Reporter, San Francisco's only black newspaper at the time. When he won a competing weekly black newspaper in a poker game, the papers merged and became known as The Sun-Reporter. He retired in 1997 and died of congestive heart failure in San Leandro, California on November 21, 2006.

Francis Girod (62) French director and screenwriter whose films featured actresses such as Catherine Deneuve and Romy Schneider. Girod's latest movie, Un Ami Parfait (2006; A Perfect Friend), about a journalist struck by amnesia, came out last spring. He was making a TV movie in the southwestern wine capital of Bordeaux, France when he died of a heart attack at his hotel on November 19, 2006.

Walid Hassan (47) popular Iraqi actor who gave hard-pressed Iraqis comic relief by poking fun at everything from politicians to long lines at gas stations. Hassan was the Shiite star of Caricature, a weekend satire on Al-Sharqiyah TV known for its dark humor about the country's many problems. He was shot to death while driving through Baghdad, Iraq on November 20, 2006.

Chris Hayward (81) Emmy-winning TV comedy writer, for many years a writer for Jay Ward Productions, creators of The Bullwinkle Show (1959-73), the subversive animated cartoons starring Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose. Hayward was also a creator of The Munsters (1964-66), a horror sitcom starring Fred Gwynne. Hayward died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California on November 20, 2006.

Robert Lockwood Jr. (91) pioneering Mississippi Delta blues guitarist and singer who forged a career in Cleveland. Lockwood was born in Arkansas. At 11, he started guitar lessons with legendary bluesman Robert Johnson and later became a musical mentor to B. B. King, who listened to Lockwood in the '40s on the King Biscuit Time radio show. Lockwood suffered a stroke on November 3 and died of respiratory failure in Cleveland, Ohio on November 21, 2006.

Robert McFerrin Sr. (85) first black male to sing solo at the New York Metropolitan Opera and father of Grammy-winning conductor and vocalist Bobby McFerrin Jr. The elder McFerrin's 1955 debut with the Met as Amonasro in Aļda made him the first black male member of the company. He was also known for providing the vocals for Sidney Poitier in the movie Porgy & Bess (1959). McFerrin suffered from Alzheimer's disease but died of a heart attack in St. Louis, Missouri on November 24, 2006.

Mostafa Mesbahzadeh (98) exiled Iranian newspaper publisher, founder of one of the Middle East's largest newspaper groups, and a critic of the Islamic regime. Mesbahzadeh founded the Kayhan newspaper in 1942. The paper became the pillar of the Kayhan Publishing Group, which included national dailies published in Farsi and English and a women's magazine, a sports magazine, and a children's weekly, eventually taken over by the new Islamic government. Mesbahzadeh died of pneumonia in La Jolla, California on November 24, 2006.

Philippe Noiret (76) beloved French actor whose face was among the most familiar on the silver screen in France. Noiret made more than 100 movies in his 55 years entertaining on stage and in the cinema. He died of cancer in Paris, France on November 23, 2006.

Anita O'Day (87) singer whose sassy renditions of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Sweet Georgia Brown," and other song standards made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the '40s and '50s. O'Day began her career in her teens and later recorded hits with Stan Kenton and Gene Krupa. She suffered from a 16-year heroin addiction and an even longer alcohol problem. She died in her sleep in West Hollywood, California, where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia, on November 23, 2006.

Jeremy Slate (80) versatile actor who cowrote and starred in the cult film Hell's Angels '69 and later was a regular on the daytime drama One Life to Live for eight years. Slate gained fame in the early '60s on the TV series The Aquanauts and a few years later appeared alongside Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! He died after surgery for esophageal cancer in Los Angeles, California on November 19, 2006.

Max Soliven (77) veteran Filipino publisher and journalist. Soliven was one of the Philippines' most active journalists and publishers. He was preparing to return home from a visit to Japan when he checked himself into a hospital because he wasn't feeling well. He died overnight near Tokyo, Japan on November 24, 2006.

Beau Tucker (79) retired construction worker and father of country music singer Tanya Tucker who was successful in landing his daughter a small role in Robert Redford's film Jeremiah Johnson (1972). Beau Tucker died of lung cancer in Nashville, Tennessee on November 23, 2006.

Zoia Ceausescu (56) daughter of Romania's late Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who was taken into custody and investigated for allegedly undermining the national economy and had several assets confiscated, then was later released after the execution of her parents in 1989. Zoia Ceausescu died of colon cancer in Bucharest, Romania on November 21, 2006.

Gris Davies-Scourfield (88) British brigadier who won a Military Cross for his part in the Allied defense of Calais during World War II and later escaped from the Nazis holding him prisoner in the notorious Colditz Castle. Davies-Scourfield was a platoon commander in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in May 1940 when Allied forces clashed with the Germans at Calais in northern France. He died in Medstead, England on November 20, 2006.

Pierre Gemayel (34) Lebanese cabinet minister and strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon. Gemayel was the scion of a prominent Maronite Christian family, and his killing inflamed tensions between the anti-Syria coalition trying to hold its government together and the Syrian-allied opposition, led by Hezbollah. Gemayel was gunned down in his car in Beirut, Lebanon on November 21, 2006.

Hassan Gouled Aptidon (90) first president of Djibouti, in office for 22 years after independence from France in 1977. When he entered politics in 1947, Gouled wanted Djibouti to remain part of France, but after his political party was banned in ’67 he began a peaceful campaign for independence, which succeeded in June ’77. He died in Djibouti on November 21, 2006.

Smith Hempstone (77) journalist who became US ambassador to Kenya and pushed so forcefully for democracy in that country that its one-party government denounced him as a racist and demanded his recall. Hempstone died of diabetes in Bethesda, Maryland on November 19, 2006.

Alexander Litvinenko (43) former Russian spy unbowed in his pursuit of information about the death of an investigative journalist who challenged the Russian regime of President Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko publicly accused Putin of being behind the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, gunned down on October 7 outside her Moscow apartment building. Litvinenko fell ill on November 21 and claimed that the Russian government had ordered his poisoning. Doctors found the toxic radioactive element polonium-210 in his urine. After two days of battling the poison that had attacked his bone marrow and destroyed his immune system, he died of heart failure in London, England on November 23, 2006.

Frank Madla (69) former Texas legislator (D-San Antonio) who served 20 years in the Texas House and another 13 in the Senate. Madla represented the state's largest Senate district, which stretches from El Paso to San Antonio and includes two-thirds of the Texas-Mexico border. Although his wife Helen and 5-year-old granddaughter, Aleena Jimenez, were initially saved, Madla and his mother-in-law, Mary Cruz, died when his house went up in flames after a holiday celebration that included a large candle display, in San Antonio, Texas on November 24, 2006. The child died in the hospital the next day.

Fatima Omar Mahmud al-Najar (57 or 64?) Palestinian grandmother who blew herself up in the first suicide bombing claimed by Hamas in nearly two years, near Israeli soldiers operating inside Gaza, near the town of Beit Lahiya. The soldiers threw a stun grenade toward the woman, who the Israeli authorities said had been acting in a suspicious manner, and she detonated her explosive belt, killing herself on November 23, 2006.

Francisco Quiros (72) Mexican general imprisoned for the last six years for drug trafficking and implicated in the disappearance of leftists during Mexico's "dirty war." Quiros was convicted of protecting the now-deceased leader of the Juarez cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. He died of cancer in Mexico City, Mexico on November 19, 2006.

Ken Taylor (86) decorated World War II fighter pilot whose heroism was depicted in the film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Taylor won the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart for his heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when he shot down two Japanese planes. He died in Tucson, Arizona on November 25, 2006.

Saul Ubaldini (69) labor boss who led 13 crippling strikes against Argentina's fledgling postdictatorship civilian government. A labor activist with the dominant Peronist party, Ubaldini rose through union ranks to command the country's largest labor organization, the General Workers' Confederation. He died of lung cancer in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 19, 2006.

Hong Xuezhi (94) retired general, a former vice commander of Chinese military forces during the Korean War. In 1989, near the end of his long career, Hong lost his post as deputy secretary-general of the party Central Military Commission—reportedly because he opposed the use of the army to crush the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. He died in Beijing, China on November 20, 2006.

Sean Bell (23) man leaving his bachelor party at a strip club that was under police surveillance for drugs and prostitution. Bell was to be married only hours after he was shot and killed by police when his car twice rammed an unmarked police minivan bearing several plainclothes officers. He died in Jamaica, Queens, New York on November 25, 2006.

Angelo D'Agostino (80) American priest who opened one of the first orphanages for HIV-positive children in Kenya and fought to make AIDS drugs affordable to the poor. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, D'Agostino opened the Nyumbani Orphanage in 1992. He had been hospitalized for a week with abdominal pain and died of a heart attack after surgery in Nairobi, Kenya on November 20, 2006.

Ernest Pusey (111) oldest living person in Florida and one of that state's last surviving World War I veterans. Pusey started working at General Motors in 1926 after serving in the US Navy, then retired in '58. He was GM's oldest pensioner, having been retired far longer than he worked. He died in Bradenton, Florida on November 19, 2006.

Msgr. John Sammon (90) Orange County, California's oldest priest and a chaplain to firefighters for more than 60 years. Sammon died in Orange, California on November 24, 2006.

Jawad Tabrizi (82) prominent Shiite cleric deported to Iran by Saddam Hussein's government in 1979 shortly after the Iranian revolution. A religious leader for many Shiites worldwide, Tabrizi died in the Iranian holy city of Qom, some 82 miles south of the capital Tehran, on November 20, 2006.

George W. S. Trow (63) writer and media critic known for his biting lamentations over what he saw as the twilight of culture and meaningful conversation in late-20th-century America. To Trow, the culprit could be named in one word: television. Associated with the New Yorker for nearly 30 years, he wrote several essays and books on the subject. He was found dead in Naples, Italy on November 24, 2006.

Phyllis Cerf Wagner (90) cousin of actress Ginger Rogers who led a whirlwind life as the socially dynamic wife of two of New York City’s most prominent men but was always proudest of collaborating with a former advertising colleague, Dr. Seuss, on a series of landmark children’s books. Wagner was the widow of humorist publisher Bennett Cerf (’50s panelist on TV’s What’s My Line?) and former NYC Mayor Robert Wagner. She died of complications from a fall, in New York City on November 24, 2006.

Pat Dobson (64) one of four pitchers to win 20 games for the Baltimore Orioles in 1971. A right-hander with a big curve ball, Dobson went 20-8 with a 2.90 ERA, rounding out a famous rotation that also included Hall of Famer Jim Palmer (20-9), Dave McNally (21-5), and Mike Cuellar (20-9). The 1920 Chicago White Sox were the only other team in major league history to have four 20-game winners in one season. Dobson died in San Diego, California on November 22, 2006.

Jack ("Blackjack") Ferrante (90) wide receiver on two Philadelphia Eagles championship teams in the '40s. Ferrante had 169 receptions for 2,884 yards and 31 touchdowns in a nine-year career with the Eagles. He played for Philadelphia (1941, '44-50) and was a member of the Eagles' title-winning teams (1948-49). He died in Yardley, Pennsylvania on November 23, 2006.

Isaac Galvez (31) world track cycling champion of Spain and runner-up in a Tour de France stage last summer. Galvez was killed in a crash against a railing during a six-day track race in Ghent, Belgium on November 25, 2006. It was the first fatality in 45 years at the track.

Willie Pep (84) hall-of-fame boxer and one of the best fighters of the 20th century. The 5-foot 6-inch Pep was 229-11 during a career that spanned 26 years. He won 53 consecutive fights before trumping Chalky Wright in 1942 for the world featherweight title, then the youngest boxer to earn that title in 40 years. Pep had suffered from Alzheimer's disease since 2001. He died in Rocky Hill, Connecticut on November 23, 2006.

Andre Waters (44) defensive back who spent most of his 12 seasons in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles. Waters was known as one of the NFL's hardest hitters and often was fined for some of his tackles. In his first year as an assistant football coach at Fort Valley State in Georgia, he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Tampa, Florida on November 20, 2006.