Peter Ellenshaw (93) visual effects pioneer who shared an Oscar for his evocative paintings of London that served as the backdrop for the classic film Mary Poppins (1964). Ellenshaw was perhaps best known for the hand-painted mattes, or virtual movie sets, he created for such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, and Darby O’Gill & the Little People. He died in Santa Barbara, California on February 12, 2007.

Marianne Fredriksson (79) one of Sweden’s best-known and most translated authors. Fredriksson’s work had been translated into more than 40 languages, and her books had sold more than 17 million copies around the world. She died of a heart attack in Osterskar, Sweden on February 11, 2007.

Mai Ghoussoub (54) Lebanese publisher, author, sculptor, journalist, and playwright who wove together elements of her Arab heritage and an avant-garde sensibility to make bold, provocative statements with her writing and art. Ghoussoub died in London, England on February 17, 2007.

Elizabeth Jolley (83) Australian writer who came to wide public attention only late in life, but whose distinctive literary voice and eccentric literary preoccupations eventually made her one of her country’s most acclaimed novelists. Jolley had suffered from dementia in recent years. She died in Perth, Australia on February 13, 2007.

Joseph Low (95) illustrator who did absurdist covers for the New Yorker and won Caldecott honors for the children’s book Mice Twice. Low died in his sleep in Edgartown, Massachusetts (on Martha’s Vineyard) on February 12, 2007.

Richard S. Prather (85) writer whose mystery stories about Shell Scott, a former Marine turned private investigator, were set in southern California. Prather died of pulmonary disease in Sedona, Arizona on February 14, 2007.

Emmett Williams (81) American poet whose transposition of words into visual art and performances made him one of the founding artists of Fluxus, a performance-oriented avant-garde art movement of the ’60s. Williams died in Berlin, Germany on February 14, 2007.

Robert Adler (93) Emmy winner, along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley, for inventing the TV remote control. In his 60-year career with Zenith, Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 US patents. He was best known for the 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped to make TV a truly sedentary pastime. He died of heart failure in Boise, Idaho on February 15, 2007.

Joseph Edward Gallo (87) builder of a dairy empire apart from his older wine baron brothers, Ernest and Julio Gallo, despite losing an acrimonious legal battle with them over the right to use the family name on the cheese he produced. Joseph Gallo had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for more than 10 years and had been in declining health for several years after a stroke. He died in the San Joaquin Valley city of Livingston, California on February 17, 2007.

Jay D. Haley (83) early theorist of family therapy who in the ’60s advocated hypnosis and deeper social involvement for patients to cure emotional problems more rapidly. Haley died in San Diego, California on February 13, 2007.

John E. Heyning (50) marine biologist with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (Calif.) County who dramatically furthered research on marine mammals, especially the study of beaked whales. Many southern Californians knew Heyning as the “Whale Man,’’ a nickname earned from decades of carting away stranded whales and other cetaceans from area beaches. He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in Torrance, California on February 17, 2007.

Walter Sondheim Jr. (98) civic and business leader who championed Baltimore’s downtown renaissance and guided the city through the desegregation of its schools. Sondheim (no relation to Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim) was considered one of the architects of downtown development. He died of pneumonia in Baltimore, Maryland on February 15, 2007.

John W. Lederle (94) former president of the University of Massachusetts who oversaw the largest period of growth there during his tenure (1960-70). The university’s flagship campus increased its faculty from 366 to more than 1,100; 50 major buildings were erected, and student enrollment tripled. Lederle also presided over the creation of the university’s medical school in Worcester in 1962 and a Boston campus in ’64. He died in Naples, Florida on February 13, 2007.

Mordkhe Schaechter (79) leading Yiddish linguist who spent a lifetime studying, standardizing, and teaching the language. Schaechter dedicated his life to reclaiming Yiddish as a living language for the descendants of its first speakers, the Ashkenazic Jewry of central and eastern Europe. He died in the Bronx, New York on February 15, 2007.

Ann Barzel (101) dance writer and historian whose tenacity and passion for the art form were legendary. Although Barzel reviewed dance performances in the ’40s for newspapers and magazines, her films of touring ballet performances—shot from the wings in the ’40s and ’50s, often with a windup camera—proved to be her most important contribution to the field. She died in Chicago, Illinois on February 12, 2007.

Alfred Desio (74) dancer and choreographer, a Broadway veteran who in the ’80s invented a form of electronically enhanced tap dancing called Tap-Tronics, a concept that allows tap dancers to make their own music by means of microphones in their shoes. Electronic tap was featured in the movie Tap (1989) starring Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis Jr., and Savion Glover. Desio died of bladder cancer in Los Angeles, California on February 14, 2007.

Walker Edmiston (81) early Los Angeles TV kiddie-show host and puppeteer who had a long career as a versatile voice-over artist and whose credits include several of Sid and Marty Krofft’s live-action children’s TV series in the ’60s and ’70s. Edmiston voiced Ernie the Keebler Elf in recent years. He died of cancer in Woodland Hills, California on February 15, 2007.

Ray Evans (92) three-time Oscar-winning pop lyricist whose more than 60-year collaboration with partner Jay Livingston (d. 2001) produced such enduring standards as “Mona Lisa,’’ “Buttons & Bows,’’ “Silver Bells,’’ and “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).’’ They also wrote the themes for the TV series Bonanza and Mr. Ed. Evans died of heart failure 11 days after his 92nd birthday, in Los Angeles, California on February 15, 2007.

Peggy Gilbert (102) pioneer female saxophonist who led a string of all-female jazz bands throughout the ’20s-’40s, an era when female musicians were commonly considered inferior to males. Gilbert led her most recent all-female band—Peggy Gilbert & the Dixie Belles—into her 90s. She died of complications from hip surgery in Burbank, California on February 12, 2007.

John Griffin (90) retired electronics store manager and father of comedienne Kathy Griffin who appeared several times on his daughter’s TV show, My Life on the D List. John Griffin died in Miami, Florida on February 17, 2007.

Ellen Hanley (80) musical-theater performer best known for playing Fiorello LaGuardia’s first wife in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Fiorello! (1959). Hanley died of a stroke after a long battle with cancer, in Norwalk, Connecticut on February 12, 2007.

Mary Kaye (83) Hawaiian guitarist and singer who headed the Mary Kaye Trio and kicked off Las Vegas’s 24-hour lounge scene. Kaye and her trio, made up of her older brother Norman Kaye and Frank Ross, began playing deep into the night at Las Vegas’s Frontier casino-hotel in the ’50s before such performances were hip. She died of respiratory and heart failure in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 17, 2007.

Earl Mazo (87) biographer of Richard Nixon and former political correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times. Mazo wrote Richard Nixon: A Political & Personal Portrait (1959; reissued and updated with Stephen Hess in ’68). When John F. Kennedy won the 1960 Presidential race against Nixon, Mazo felt strongly that the Democrats had stolen the election and wrote a series of newspaper articles on it until Nixon told him to stop. Mazo died in a Bethesda hospital after a fall at his Chevy Chase, Maryland home, on February 17, 2007.

Daniel McDonald (46) actor nominated for a Tony for his debut performance in the Broadway production of Steel Pier (1997), a musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, etc.). McDonald was the younger brother of actor Christopher McDonald. Daniel McDonald died of brain cancer in New York City on February 15, 2007.

Sheridan Morley (65) British author, critic, and broadcaster, son of actor Robert Morley (d. 1992) and grandson of Dame Gladys Cooper (d. 1971), who thus grew up intimately acquainted with the theater. The younger Morley wrote or edited more than 30 books, including biographies of Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Mason, and the first authorized biographies of David Niven, John Gielgud, and Noël Coward. Morley died in his sleep in London, England on February 16, 2007.

Ralph Penza (74) veteran New York City broadcaster whose reporting helped authorities to locate a convicted killer hiding in Cuba. In February 1998, while covering Pope John Paul II’s trip to Cuba, Penza located Joanne Chesimard, convicted of killing New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster in ’74. Despite a Congressional resolution asking Cuba for her extradition, Chesimard remains at large today. Penza died in New York City on February 16, 2007.

Steven Pimlott (52) one of the most original and sought-after opera and theater directors in Britain whose credits ranged from Shakespeare to Bombay Dreams. Pimlott recognized no cultural barriers and was as happy directing Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gilbert & Sullivan as grand opera and Shakespeare. He died of lung cancer east of London, England on February 14, 2007.

Eliana Ramos (18) Uruguayan model who worked regularly in the larger fashion industry in Argentina. Eliana’s elder sister, model Luisel Ramos (22), died of heart failure in August 2006 while perfoming in a catwalk show at a Montevideo hotel. Eliana Ramos was found dead of apparent malnutrition in Montevideo, Uruguay on February 13, 2007.

Johanna Sallstrom (32) Swedish actress who won the best actress award at Sweden’s most prestigious film industry awards ceremony for her portrayal of a drug addict in the movie Beneath the Surface (1997). Sallstrom had recently played the part of Linda Wallander in 13 episodes of the Wallander TV crime series. She was found dead of undetermined causes in Malmo, Sweden on February 13, 2007.

Carol Trevino (31) filmmaker working as an assistant on the upcoming Harold & Kumar sequel alongside producer Greg Shapiro and executive producer Carsten Lorenz. Trevino also had worked as a boom operator, sound mixer, assistant director, and script consultant. She was killed in a car accident in Shreveport, Louisiana on February 13, 2007.

Gordon Wright (72) longtime conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Wright was born in New York City but moved to Fairbanks in 1969 and was conductor until his retirement in ’89. He was found dead on the front porch of his remote cabin in Rainbow, south of Anchorage, Alaska, on February 14, 2007.

Eldee Young (71) onetime bassist for the Ramsey Lewis Trio. It was Young’s tenure in the trio, with Lewis on piano and Redd Holt on drums, in the ’50s and ’60s that made him a widely recognized figure. The trio disbanded in the mid-’60s. Young died of a heart attack in Thailand, where he was performing, on February 12, 2007.

Thomas E. Fairchild (94) federal appeals court judge for 40 years who tried unsuccessfully to unseat Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.) in 1952. In 1972, Fairchild wrote the main opinion reversing the convictions of the Chicago Seven, a group of protesters convicted of inciting riots at the ’68 Democrat National Convention in Chicago. Fairchild died in Madison, Wisconsin on February 12, 2007.

Michael V. Franchetti (64) finance director under former California Gov. George Deukmejian who created a plan to reduce state spending in the early ’80s. Franchetti died of a heart attack in Palm Desert, California on February 14, 2007.

Charles Langford (84) former Alabama state senator who fought in key civil rights legal battles as a lawyer for Rosa Parks and the organization that launched the historic Montgomery bus boycott. Langford also had a long career in the Alabama Legislature. He died in his sleep in Montgomery, Alabama on February 11, 2007.

Richard Lehman (83) CIA official who worked with every US President from John F. Kennedy to George H. W. Bush and was credited with creating the President’s daily intelligence briefing in June 1961, after Robert Kennedy, then US attorney general, complained that the President had been blindsided after missing pieces of intelligence. Lehman died of a stroke in Concord, New Hampshire on February 17, 2007.

Charlie Norwood Jr. (65) US congressman (R-Ga.), a former dentist who sold his practice to run for Congress at 52. A feisty conservative who railed against government bureaucracy, Norwood was part of the Republican wave that took control of Congress in 1994. He died after a battle with metastatic lung cancer and chronic lung disease, in Augusta, Georgia on February 13, 2007.

Maurice Papon (96) former French Cabinet minister convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity during World War II. Because of ill health, Papon served only three years of a 10-year sentence for ordering the arrest and deportation of 1,690 Jews, including 223 children, from the Bordeaux area to Nazi death camps. He underwent surgery on his pacemaker at a clinic east of Paris the preceding week and died in his sleep on February 17, 2007.

Marion G. ("Gene") Snyder (79) 11-term US congressman (R-Ky.). Snyder was first elected in 1962 from Kentucky’s 3rd District, covering Louisville, but lost a reelection bid. He ran again in 1966 for the 4th District seat and held it for the next 20 years. He died in Naples, Florida on February 16, 2007.

John Brandes (109) one of the oldest residents of Michigan known as “Iron Man John’’ for his longevity. Brandes, who lived in three centuries, outlived four wives. The first, Nellie Ernst, died in 1924, and the last, Ivedell Eckholtz, in ’99. Brandes died in his sleep in Monroe, Michigan on February 17, 2007.

Vincent Dortch (44) Pennsylvania man who shot and killed four men and critically wounded another during a board meeting at the offices of Zigzag Net Inc., a marketing company, apparently after concluding that he was the victim of a fraud enacted by board members. Dortch had lost money in a failed startup venture. When confronted by police, he shot himself in the head, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 12, 2007.

Frances Duffy (101) survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the most devastating quake in the nation’s history. Duffy attended the 100th anniversary memorial for the quake victims in 2006 in San Francisco. She died in Medford, Oregon on February 12, 2007.

Reginald Hugh Hickling (86) British lawyer, author, and professor who drafted Malaysia’s notorious Internal Security Act used to detain scores of suspected criminals without trial. Hickling maintained in his writings and interviews that when he drafted the Internal Security Act in 1960, he did not foresee that the law could be arbitrarily used to detain suspects. He died in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 11, 2007.

Kirsten Hinckley (15) distant relative of Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kirsten Hinckley's mother, Carolyn Tuft (44), was one of the four people shot and critically injured in Salt Lake City's Trolley Square mall shooting. She became one of the five people killed in the rampage in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 12, 2007.

John MacLeod (71) 29th chief of Clan MacLeod who tried to sell his mountains to preserve his 800-year-old Scottish castle. In 2000, MacLeod tried unsuccessfully to sell the Black Cuillin mountains in the southwestern corner of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, hoping to raise £10 million (US$19.5 million; euro15 million) to fund the repair and preservation of the castle, which he inherited in 1965. MacLeod died of leukemia in London, England on February 12, 2007.

Ada Mason (111) oldest person in England who had outlived all five of her children and attributed her long life to eating bread and dripping “with lots of salt on.’’ Mason died in her sleep in West Yorkshire, England on February 13, 2007.

Bruce Manning Metzger (93) professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and an authority on Greek manuscripts of the Bible. During his time at the seminary, Metzger developed 25 courses on the English and Greek texts of books in the New Testament. He died in Princeton, New Jersey on February 13, 2007.

Rosetta Miller (73) benefactor of the World Monuments Fund and the Newark (NJ) Museum. Miller and her husband, Samuel, director emeritus of the museum, worked together to help raise $23 million for its renovation in 1989, contributing money and giving fund-raising parties. Rosetta Miller died in her sleep in Sarasota, Florida on February 17, 2007.

Sulejman Talovic (18) Muslim Bosnian immigrant who fatally shot five people and critically wounded four others at Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square shopping mall in an apparent random rampage that shocked shoppers and employees. Talovic was shot and killed by police in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 12, 2007.

Allen Anthony White (15) student at Vista Del Lago High School, shot in the head during a confrontation in an apparent gang-related shootout near his school. White died in Moreno Valley, California on February 13, 2007.

Joel Yockey (50) Ohio man who pleaded guilty to the aggravated abduction, rape, and dismemberment of Kristen Jackson (14) near the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster, Ohio on September 9, 2002. Yockey had been released from prison in March 2002 after previously kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl in 1987. He died of a massive abdominal and blood infection caused by pancreatitis, in Lucasville, Ohio on February 16, 2007.

Georg Buschner (81) German soccer coach who led East Germany to a victory over eventual champion West Germany at the 1974 World Cup. Buschner coached the national team for 115 games and guided East Germany to its biggest soccer triumph—beating West Germany 1-0 at the 1974 World Cup. He died in Jena, Germany on February 12, 2007.

Jacob Lekgetho (32) South African football player on the Russian team Lokomotiv Moscow, who had been capped for the South African national football team and was on the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. Lekgetho was killed in a car accident in Cape Town, South Africa on February 17, 2007.

Buddy McAtee (53) president and chief operations officer of IMS Productions. McAtee was responsible for the TV production of all IndyCar Series races. He died after a two-year battle with cancer, in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 12, 2007.

Trudy McCaffery (62) prominent horse owner and breeder actively involved in horse racing in various other capacities. McCaffery founded Kids to the Cup, a nonprofit, charitable organization dedicated to attracting, developing, and educating racing fans ages 8-16 through programs that provide direct access to the sport’s major events and participants, including owners, trainers, jockeys, and horses. She died after a long battle with cancer, near Rancho Santa Fe, California on February 12, 2007.

Vanessa Quinn (29) soccer player who had played on the women’s soccer team at the University of Cincinnati and moved to Salt Lake City in 2002. Quinn was one of five shoppers shot and killed at the Trolley Square shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 12, 2007.

Erich Windisch (89) skier whose adjustment to a dislocated shoulder reshaped the sport of ski jumping, bringing competitors’ arms to their sides. It was during a tournament in his native Germany in 1949 that Windisch left his slightly arched arms pointing downward and—to the surprise of his competitors and hundreds of spectators—soared farther than all the other jumpers. He died of cancer near Vail, Colorado on February 14, 2007.