Richard Horne (46) British political cartoonist who turned to writing and illustrating best-selling books for children under the pen name Harry Horse. Horne's books were inspired by his mongrel dog, Roo (d. 2006). Horne and his wife, who was confined to a wheelchair by multiple sclerosis, were found dead at their home in an apparent suicide pact, on the Shetland Islands, Scotland on January 10, 2007.

Robert Anton Wilson (74) author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy, a mind-twisting science fiction series about a secret global society that has been a cult classic for more than 30 years. A former editor at Playboy magazine, Wilson was the author of 35 books on subjects like extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs, and what he called quantum psychology. He died one week before his 75th birthday, in Capitola, California on January 11, 2007.

John Crean (81) RV tycoon and one of Orange County, Calif.'s most generous philanthropists. Founder of Riverside, California-based Fleetwood Enterprises, once the largest manufacturer of mobile homes and trailers in the world, Crean spent many of his later years raising money for children's programs through his Crean Foundation. He died of congestive heart failure in Newport Beach, California on January 11, 2007.

Rex Farrance (59) senior technical editor at the San Francisco-based magazine PC World. Farrance was fatally shot in the chest at his home in what authorities said was a drug-related attack, when four masked men broke in. The assailants also pistol-whipped Farrance's wife, Lenore Vantosh-Farrance (56), a registered nurse. Farrance was killed in Pittsburg, California on January 9, 2007.

Florence Zacks Melton (95) businesswoman who took a material invented as a helmet liner for World War II tank crewmen and turned it into cushy foam-rubber slippers, called Dearfoams, that have soothed billions of tired feet and have been a familiar gift for 40 years. Melton died near Boca Raton, Florida on January 8, 2007.

Donald E. Osterbrock (82) one of the leading astronomers of the late 20th century who helped to pioneer the use of basic physics to understand processes of the sun and the shape of the Milky Way galaxy. Among other things, Osterbrock was renowned for discovering internal processes that explained how the sun kept its size and shape. He collapsed and died while strolling across the University of California at Santa Cruz campus on January 11, 2007.

Bradford Washburn (96) renowned mountain photographer, explorer, and cartographer who founded the Boston Museum of Science and directed a 1999 effort that revised the official elevation of Mount Everest. Washburn climbed some of the world's most challenging mountains and was particularly known for his photography of Alaska's Mount McKinley and his exploration of the mountain. He died in Boston, Massachusetts on January 10, 2007.

Ralph the Whale Shark (??) prized whale shark at the world’s largest aquarium. One of four whale sharks named after characters on The Honeymooners TV show (Norton, Alice, and Trixie are the other 3) in the only such exhibit outside Asia, Ralph arrived at the Georgia Aquarium in June 2005 from Taiwan, where he had been destined to become seafood. He was moved to another part of the tank after he stopped swimming, and died eight hours later. Results of an autopsy showed that Ralph died of peritonitis, in Atlanta, Georgia on January 11, 2007.

Michael Brecker (57) versatile and influential tenor saxophonist who won 11 Grammys over a career that spanned more than 30 years. Throughout his career, Brecker recorded and performed with numerous jazz and pop music leaders, including Herbie Hancock, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Joni Mitchell. He died of leukemia in New York City on January 13, 2007.

Jimmy Cheatham (82) trombonist who formerly headed the jazz program at the University of California at San Diego. Also an arranger, composer, and veteran jazzman, Cheatham performed locally with his wife and their group, the Sweet Baby Blues Band. In December, Cheatham underwent a noninvasive procedure to clear blocked arteries. He died in La Jolla, California on January 12, 2007.

Harvey Cohen (55) Emmy-winning composer and orchestrator who created music for films and TV shows including Dallas and Sex & the City. Cohen won Emmys for his musical direction and composition work in two animated shows, The Adventures of Batman & Robin: A Bullet for Bullock and Disney’s Aladdin. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on January 13, 2007.

Alice Coltrane (69) jazz performer and composer inextricably linked with the adventurous musical improvisations of her late husband, legendary saxophonist John Coltrane (d. 1967). A pianist and organist, Alice was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. She had been in frail health for some time and died of respiratory failure in West Hills, California on January 12, 2007.

Yvonne de Carlo (84) beautiful star who played Moses’ wife in The Ten Commandments but achieved her greatest popularity on TV’s The Munsters. De Carlo launched her career in ’40s B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, then rose to more important roles in the ’50s. In 1971 she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, in which she sang the show-stopper “I’m Still Here.’’ But for TV viewers, she would always be known as Lily Munster in the 1964-66 slapstick horror-movie spoof The Munsters. She died in Woodland Hills, California on January 8, 2007.

Solveig Dommartin (45) French film actress who made her feature film debut as the lonely circus trapeze artist in Wings of Desire (1987), German director Wim Wenders’ haunting fantasy-drama about angels who invisibly roam through Berlin listening to the thoughts of the then-divided city's inhabitants. Dommartin died of a heart attack in Paris, France on January 11, 2007.

Ward Grant (75) longtime publicist of Bob Hope who pushed to have Burbank Airport renamed after his late boss. Grant was director of media and public relations for Hope and Hope Enterprises for 33 years and managed the entertainer's whirlwind schedule of appearances, TV specials, and books during his later life. He died of congestive heart failure in Burbank, California on January 11, 2007.

Doyle Holly (70) bass guitarist for Buck Owens' band the Buckaroos during its hit-making heyday in the '60s. Holly took over the bassist's spot in the Buckaroos after Merle Haggard left to start a career of his own. Holly spent 1963-71 in the Buckaroos' rhythm section. He died of prostate cancer in Nashville, Tennessee on January 13, 2007.

Magnus Magnusson (77) industrious Scottish journalist, writer, broadcaster, and public servant destined to have his other achievements overshadowed by his masterly stewardship (1972-97) of the BBC's TV quiz show Mastermind. Magnusson also wrote several history books. He died of cancer near Glasgow, Scotland on January 7, 2007.

Carlo Ponti (94) Italian film producer who discovered a teenage Sophia Loren, launched her film career, and later married her despite threats of bigamy charges and ex-communication. Ponti produced more than 100 films. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, where he had been hospitalized about 10 days earlier for pulmonary complications, on January 10, 2007.

Iwao Takamoto (81) animator who created the beloved "Scooby-Doo" and directed the cartoon classic Charlotte's Web (1973). In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Takamoto assisted in the designs of some of the biggest animated features and TV shows for Disney and the Hanna-Barbera animation team, but his creation of Scooby-Doo, the cowardly dog with an adventurous heart, captivated audiences. Takamoto died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California on January 8, 2007.

James C. Weeks (64) former publisher of the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat who later became president and chief operations officer of the New York Times Regional Media Group. Weeks died unexpectedly while on a trip to New York City on January 8, 2007.

David Ervine (53) one-time Protestant militant who became one of Northern Ireland’s most articulate and forward-thinking politicians. Imprisoned for six years in the '70s for his activities in the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force, Ervine was the leading figure in the UVF's legal Progressive Unionist Party. He died of a heart attack in Belfast, Ireland on January 8, 2007.

Fazul Mohammed (32 or 36) suspected member of Al-Qaeda, believed to have been one of the conspirators in the 1998 US embassy bombings that killed at least 257 people and wounded 4,000 others, for which Mohammed was indicted in a US District Court. He was listed on the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists in October 2001. He was thought to have been killed by a US military air strike in Ras Kamboni, Somalia on January 8, 2007.

Dale E. Noyd (73) decorated US Air Force captain and fighter pilot who attracted worldwide attention in the '60s as a conscientious objector who objected to only one war, the one in Vietnam. After 11 years in the Air Force, Noyd became deeply disturbed by the Vietnam War, which he regarded as immoral and illegal. He was dishonorably discharged and stripped of his pension and benefits. He died of emphysema in Seattle, Washington on January 11, 2007.

Monica Pretelini (44) wife of Mexico state governor Enrique Peńa Nieto, a former president of the mexiquense state DIF. Pretelini died of epilepsy in Santa Fe, New Mexico on January 11, 2007.

Jane Bolin (98) woman whose appointment as a family court judge by New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia in 1939 made her the first black woman in the US to become a judge. Bolin was also the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the NYC Bar Association, and the first to work in the office of the NYC corporation counsel, the city’s legal department. She died in Queens, Long Island, New York on January 8, 2007.

Thomas Watson Brown (73) prominent Georgian who combined Old South roots with a wide-ranging philanthropic streak. Harvard-educated Brown lived in an antebellum home in Marietta, Georgia that flew the Confederate flag but won the Martin Luther King Jr. Center’s community service award for peace and justice. He died of diabetes in Atlanta, Georgia on January 13, 2007.

Rev. Augustin Diamacoune Senghor (78) rebel leader who fought for an independent state in Senegal's southern Casamance region for decades. The Roman Catholic priest died in Paris, France, where he had been treated for kidney problems since late October, on January 13, 2007.

Francisco Dominguez-Rivera (22) Mexican immigrant shot and killed during a confrontation with an unidentified US Border Patrol agent just north of the US-Mexico border. The agent believed his life was in danger during the argument. Dominguez-Rivera died in Phoenix, Arizona on January 12, 2007.

Connie Fasanello (109) one of Canada's oldest residents who had immigrated from Italy in 1914 and had outlived five of her seven children. Fasanello's son, Ezio, died in 2005 at age 82. She died in Sault Ste. Marie, Quebec, Canada on January 7, 2007.

Douglas Golden (70) grandfather of Andrew Golden, the then-11-year-old Jonesboro Westside Middle School student who, along with schoolmate Mitchell Johnson, stole a large cache of guns and ammunition from a locked gun cabinet in his grandfather's home before he killed four students and a teacher at their school in March 1998. Andrew Golden was set to be released later this year on his 21st birthday. Douglas Golden died in Jonesboro, Arkansas on January 8, 2007.

Carlos Granados (36) Texas man convicted of brutally stabbing to death his girlfriend's son Anthony Jiminez (3) in 1998. Granados was the first person to be executed this year in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state. He was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on January 10, 2007.

Corey Hamilton (38) Oklahoma man convicted of slaying four workers—Joseph Gooch (17), Theodore Kindley (19), Senaida Lara (27), and Steven Williams (24)—execution-style at a Tulsa restaurant in 1992. Hamilton later stole $2,200 after fatally shooting his victims inside a walk-in refrigerator. He was executed by lethal injection in McAlester, Oklahoma on January 9, 2007.

Wilson Hulme (60) energetic promoter of the stamp collecting hobby and philatelic curator of the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, which focuses on the history of mail delivery and the importance of the postal system in American history. Hulme died of a heart attack in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 10, 2007.

Linda McCathern (48) Oregon woman who drew international attention with her fight to gain the return of her twin daughters from Libya after her ex-husband kidnapped them in 1988 and took them to the Middle East. McCathern later regained custody in 2002 during a visit. She died of a sudden, unexpected illness in Portland, Oregon on January 9, 2007.

Dora E. McDonald (81) secretary to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King entrusted his family to McDonald’s care when he was in jail or traveling, and it was McDonald who told Coretta Scott King that her husband had been assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. McDonald died of cancer just two days before the national holiday that honors her former boss, in Atlanta, Georgia on January 13, 2007.

Rev. Joseph Meng Ziwen (103) Roman Catholic clergyman in China since the '30s who secretly was a bishop (1984-2003) to underground churches (which operate outside the state-sanctioned system) while working as a priest in the Communist Party-sanctioned church. Meng died of liver cancer in Nanning, China, where he was officially a priest for the state-backed Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, on January 7, 2007.

Keith Snyder (55) suspended schoolteacher currently on trial, accused of taking pictures of boys in bikini briefs and other revealing clothing while they performed chores at his house. Snyder was suspended from teaching at Southern Lehigh High School shortly after the charges were filed in 2005. He was found dead in his car with the engine idling, in his garage in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on January 10, 2007.

Larry Stewart (58) millionaire who became known as “Secret Santa’’ for his habit of roaming the streets each December and anonymously handing money to people. Stewart, who spent 26 years giving away a total of $1.3 million, gained international attention in November 2006 when he revealed himself as Secret Santa. He died of esophageal cancer in Kansas City, Missouri on January 12, 2007.

Jennifer Strange (28) California woman who took part in a contest at Sacramento radio station KDND 107.9 in which contestants competed to see how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. Strange was the winner of the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest that promised a Nintendo Wii video game system as a prize. She died of water intoxication in suburban Rancho Cordova, California on January 12, 2007.

Judith Vladeck (83) prominent labor lawyer and ardent advocate of women's rights in the workplace, particularly on college campuses. Vladeck took on potent opponents like major Wall Street investment firms, the Union Carbide Corporation, and the City University of New York—and usually won, or settled for millions. She died in New York City on January 8, 2007.

Jules S. Bacon (89) winner of the Amateur Athletic Union’s Mr. America body-building competition at the downtown Los Angeles YMCA in 1943. Bacon was featured on the covers of several magazines in the '40s and '50s and regularly wrote for the magazine Strength & Health. He died in York, Pennsylvania on January 13, 2007.

Gloria Connors (82) former tennis pro who coached her son Jimmy Connors to grand slam championships and a No. 1 world ranking. Gloria Connors competed in the 1942 and ’43 US Championships but was more widely known for developing her son into a world-class player. She died in Belleville, Illinois on January 8, 2007.

Bob Ehrhart (75) longtime director of the Drake Relays—one of the nation's premier track events—and former Drake University track and cross-country coach (1969-92). Ehrhart was the longest-tenured director of the Relays, serving for 31 years before retiring in 2000. He died of cancer in West Des Moines, Iowa on January 7, 2007.

Tom Feely (87) former St. Thomas basketball coach (1954-80) whose teams won seven Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference titles. Feely's teams compiled a 417-269 record and won six straight MIAC championships (1969-74) and reached the NAIA tournament six times (1966-74). He died of complications from a recent fall in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 13, 2007.

Bobby Hamilton (49) longtime NASCAR driver who won the 2001 Talladega 500 and was the ’04 Craftsman Truck Series champion. Hamilton drove in the top-level NASCAR series (1989-2005), earning $14.3 million and racing to 20 top-five finishes. He died of head and neck cancer in Nashville, Tennessee on January 7, 2007.

Bong Soo Han (73) Korean martial arts master who helped to revolutionize Hollywood's understanding of martial arts by creating fight sequences for modern American films. Han, who held a 9th-degree black belt and the title of grand master in Hapkido, dedicated his life to spreading the martial art, which combines the kicking and punching of tae kwon do and the joint locks and graceful throws of Judo. He died in Santa Monica, California on January 8, 2007.

Keba Mbaye (82) Senegalese judge who held several high-ranking positions on the International Olympic Committee (1973-2002). Mbaye was instrumental in bringing South Africa back into the Olympic fold after the apartheid era. He died in Dakar, Senegal on January 11, 2007.

Danny Oakes (95) leading West Coast midget-car race driver in the '40s and noted mechanic at the Indianapolis 500. Oakes won about 100 races around the country but was most prominent in the southern California area after World War II. He died in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 13, 2007.

Maureen Orcutt (99) one of the nation's outstanding golfers for almost 50 years and one of the first women to become a sportswriter. Starting in 1922, Orcutt won more than 65 major tournaments. In 1937 she began covering women's golf and writing a column called "Women in Sports" for the New York Times. She died in Durham, North Carolina on January 9, 2007.

Lilly Rodriguez (59) pioneering female boxer and world kickboxing champion who helped to establish kickboxing as a sport for women. Rodriguez owned the Heart of Champions gym in Sylmar, California. She died of an infection in Los Angeles, California on January 13, 2007.

Bob ("Zeke") Zawoluk (76) all-American center at St. John's University in the early '50s who became the university's longtime career scoring leader, then endured a troubled life far from the basketball spotlight. After his playing days, Zawoluk's life unraveled amid alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness. He died of a heart attack in Spring Valley, New York on January 9, 2007.