Ousmane Sembčne (84) father of Senegalese cinema and one of the pioneers of the art in Africa. Sembčne’s short story collection, Voltaiques (1962), included the story “The Black Girl from ...’’ which he adapted into a film in 1966 that is credited with being sub-Saharan Africa’s first feature film. He died in Dakar, Senegal on June 10, 2007.

Sir Wally Herbert (72) first man to cross the entire frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot. The data collected by Herbert’s expedition during his 1968-69 trip across the Arctic are still used by scientists seeking to measure the melting of the North Pole’s ice cap and the effects of climate change. Suffering from diabetes, Herbert died in Inverness, Scotland on June 12, 2007.

William J. LeMessurier (81) structural engineer who became a hero to his peers when in 1978 he detected and repaired a potentially catastrophic flaw in the then-newly constructed Citicorp building in Manhattan. LeMessurier died two days after his 81st birthday of complications from surgery he underwent on June 1 after a fall the day before, in Casco, Maine on June 14, 2007.

Jay Monroe (80) engineer whose wifeŐs discontent over the strong light he needed for bedtime reading provoked him to invent a high-intensity, low-voltage minilamp whose use spread to desks, jewelersŐ worktables, limousines, and far beyond. Monroe created the Tensor lamp, then manufactured and sold it. The small, skinny lamp focused a narrow cone of high-intensity white light, making shapes, colors, and objects appear sharper to the eye. He shot himself at his home after he and his doctor had discussed the possibility that he had cancer, in Sands Point, New York on June 12, 2007

Baron Guy de Rothschild (98) banker who managed his family’s French banking empire and saw it taken over first during the Nazi occupation, then by a Socialist government 40 years later. Rothschild died in Paris, France on June 12, 2007.

Julie Thoma Wright (49) founder and co-owner of Wright, the Chicago auction house that helped to create the market for 20th-century modern design. An interior designer, Thoma Wright founded Wright in 2000 with her husband, Richard Wright, at the time a private dealer in collectible 20th-century postwar design. Thoma Wright died of colorectal cancer in Chicago, Illinois on June 11, 2007.

Brian Walton (55) scientific researcher who helped to lead efforts to restore the once-endangered peregrine falcon to West Coast habitats. Walton was the longtime coordinator of the University of California at Santa Cruz’s Predatory Bird Research Group. He had received pancreas and kidney transplants in 1994 and was awaiting a second kidney transplant when he died of a stroke in Santa Cruz, California on June 15, 2007.

Norton the Whale Shark (??) for the second time in five months, the Georgia Aquarium was mourning one of its stars, a young whale shark named Norton, euthanized by veterinarians after he stopped swimming and slipped to the bottom of his tank. The shark had been swimming and eating poorly for months, a change in his health that seemed to coincide with the use of a chemical pesticide to treat his tank for an infestation of parasitic leeches. Another young whale shark named Ralph, also exposed to the treatments, died in January after he stopped swimming and could not be revived. Norton died in Atlanta, Georgia on June 13, 2007.

Ramchandra Gandhi (70) grandson of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, who led India to independence from British colonialists in August 1947. Ramchandra Gandhi was a former professor at Princeton University. On June 10, he checked in at an elite private club after frequent power outages left him without air conditioning, in blistering heat, at his New Delhi home. He was found dead of natural causes in a bedroom at the club, in New Delhi, India on June 13, 2007.

Norman Hackerman (95) chemist, a former president of both the University of Texas (1967-70) and Rice University (1970-85). A winner of the National Medal of Science, Hackerman developed equipment to homogenize milk and was a known expert on metal corrosion. He died in Austin, Texas on June 16, 2007.

Don Herbert (89) TV’s “Mr. Wizard,’’ who introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science. On Watch Mr. Wizard (1951-64), Herbert turned TV into an entertaining classroom. On a simple, workshoplike set, he demonstrated experiments using household items and encouraged children to duplicate experiments at home. He died of bone cancer in Bell Canyon, California on June 12, 2007.

Frank A. Taylor (104) founding director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Taylor helped to launch the museum, the permanent home of such popular treasures as the ruby slippers from the film The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Abraham Lincoln's top hat. He died of respiratory failure in Washington, DC on June 14, 2007.

Richard Bell (61) songwriter and keyboardist who played with some of rock ’n’ roll’s most legendary performers, including the late singer Janis Joplin. Bell began playing with Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band in 1970 and appeared on Pearl, her posthumously released album. As a studio musician Bell played with artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Joe Walsh, Paul Butterfield, The Cowboy Junkies, Bruce Cockburn, and Bonnie Raitt. He died of multiple myeloma in Toronto, Canada on June 15, 2007.

Stack Bundles (24) up-and-coming rapper, born Rayquon Elliot, who had recently recorded several mixed-tape albums for ByrdGang Records alongside other rap artists such as Jim Jones and Joe Budden. Bundles was shot to death outside his apartment in Queens, New York on June 11, 2007.

Claudia Cohen (56) high-profile gossip reporter for TV and newspapers, a frequent subject of the gossip columns herself, partly because of her marriage to, and remunerative divorce from, billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman. Cohen died of ovarian cancer in New York City on June 15, 2007.

Ann Colone (77) host of a daily Fort Wayne TV interview show for 17 years. Colone was host of the show on WANE-TV (1958~75), interviewing celebrities ranging from Bob Hope to the Rolling Stones. She died in Fort Wayne, Indiana on June 12, 2007.

Tito Gomez (59) veteran vocalist who fronted some of the top salsa bands of New York City, Colombia, and his native Puerto Rico. During a reunion tour with the popular dance band Grupo Niche, Gomez fell ill at his hotel and later died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Cali, Colombia on June 12, 2007.

Sherri Martel (49) former lady wrestler and manager known to a generation of pro wrestling fans as “Sensational Sherri.’’ Regarded as one of the greatest female heel managers in the business, Martel was the only woman ever to win the Manager of the Year award. She competed in most of the major wrestling organizations during her career and was enshrined in the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2006. She died of unknown causes in Birmingham, Alabama on June 15, 2007.

Mala Powers (76) actress who played Roxanne to José Ferrer’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and starred in other films of the ’40s and ’50s. Also in 1950, Powers starred as a rape victim in Outrage, directed by Ida Lupino; the film created a minor sensation because rape had never before been treated frankly on the screen owing to the industry’s self-censorship. Powers’ movie career dwindled in the late ’50s, but she remained active on radio, stage, and TV. She died of leukemia in Burbank, California on June 11, 2007.

Amy Sullivan (54) former executive director (2003-07) of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut who restored the finances of an institution long known for discovering significant playwrights early in their careers. The center opened in 1964 to commemorate O’Neill and to find new playwriting talent; it brought significant early notice to playwrights like August Wilson and Wendy Wasserstein. Sullivan died of cancer in Old Lyme, Connecticut on June 10, 2007.

John Tracy (82) deaf son of actor Spencer Tracy who inspired his parents to establish the pioneering John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles to help young hearing-impaired children and their families. John Tracy died in Acton, California on June 15, 2007.

Thommie Walsh (57) Tony-winning choreographer best known for creating the role of Bobby (“I can do that’’) in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line (1975), Michael Bennett’s backstage look at dancers’ auditions for a big Broadway musical. Walsh later teamed with dancer/choreographer/director Tommy Tune on several Broadway musicals, including their Tony-winning choreography for A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (1980). Walsh died of lymphoma in Auburn, New York on June 16, 2007.

Lola Wasserstein (89) mother of the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein (d. 2006) whose larger-than-life personality provided inspiration for sprightly maternal characters in her daughter’s plays. Lola Wasserstein died in New York City on June 16, 2007.

Robin Leo Beard Jr. (67) five-term US congressman (R-Tenn. 1972-83) from Tennessee who retired to South Carolina. Beard also was NATO’s assistant secretary general for defense and made an unsuccessful bid for the US Senate in 1982. He died of a malignant brain tumor in Isle of Palms, South Carolina on June 16, 2007.

Tony Forster (71) former mayor of San Juan Capistrano (1971-72) whose pioneering great-great-grandfather, Don Juan Forster, a major California landholder, bought Mission San Juan Capistrano from the Mexican government for $710 in 1845 and lived on the grounds with his family until the US government returned all the missions to the Catholic Church in 1865. Tony Forster suffered a brain aneurysm in May and died in San Juan Capistrano, California on June 12, 2007.

Brig. Gen. Robin Olds (84) retired US Air Force World War II ace fighter pilot who later commanded an Air Force wing that shot down seven Communist MIGs over North Vietnam in the biggest air battle of the Vietnam War (“Operation Bolo,’’ 1967). His ex-wife was '40s film actress Ella Raines. Olds died of congestive heart failure in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on June 14, 2007.

Kurt Waldheim (88) former United Nations secretary-general, later elected Austrian president despite an international scandal about his secretive World War II military service for the Nazis. Waldheim’s political career was overshadowed by revelations that he belonged to a German army unit that committed atrocities in the Balkans during World War II. While Waldheim himself was not implicated in wrongdoing, his initial denial of such service—then assertions that he and fellow Austrians were only doing their duty—led to international censure. Hospitalized in late May with a fever-causing infection, he died of heart failure in Vienna, Austria on June 14, 2007.

Randolph Dial (62) Oklahoma man serving time at the Oklahoma State Reformatory when he disappeared in 1994 with Bobbi Parker, wife of the prison’s deputy warden. The pair remained on the run until they were both captured in 2005. Dial had been convicted in 1986 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the ’81 slaying of a karate instructor. He was found dead in his prison cell in McAlester, Oklahoma on June 13, 2007.

Doris Edwards (96) Texas woman believed to be among the last surviving widows of nine policemen killed during Bonnie and Clyde’s notorious crime spree in the ’30s. Edwards’ first husband, highway patrolman Edwin (“E. B.’’) Wheeler, was fatally shot while approaching the famed outlaws’ parked car near Fort Worth in 1934. The Wheelers had been married less than two years. Doris Edwards died in Dallas, Texas on June 14, 2007.

Ruth Graham (87) wife of evangelist Billy Graham. Born Ruth Bell, she surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world’s most renowned evangelist. As Mrs. Billy Graham, Ruth Graham could lay claim to being the first lady of evangelical Protestantism. She was bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks earlier. At her request, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the past few days. She died in Little Piney Cove, North Carolina on June 14, 2007.

Cole Kugel (105) oldest licensed pilot in the US. Although his license never expired, Kugel’s health certificate, required to fly a plane, lapsed in 2001. He died in Denver, Colorado on June 11, 2007.

Michael Lambert (36) man convicted of fatally shooting a Muncie (Ind.) police officer more than 16 years earlier. Lambert shot Officer Gregg Winters from the back of a police cruiser on Dec. 28, 1990, while Winters was driving him to jail on a charge of public intoxication. Another officer had patted Lambert down but did not find the gun he had in his pocket. Lambert shot Winters five times in the head, and the officer died 11 days later. Lambert was executed by lethal injection in Michigan City, Indiana on June 15, 2007.

Rev. Laurence Mancuso (72) founding abbot of the Monks of New Skete, whose hilltop monastery in upstate New York is renowned for breeding German shepherds and teaching a holistic approach to dog training. Mancuso died of complications from injuries suffered in a fall, in Framingham, Massachusetts on June 10, 2007.

Julian Rejto (18) New York teen, subject of the documentary film For Love of Julian (1999), which aimed to recognize the humanity in children with mutliple disabilities and dispel the fears and mysteries surrounding them. It was narrated by actress Susan Sarandon. Born five weeks prematurely and severely disabled, Rejto died in Valhalla, New York on June 10, 2007.

Frank Scarrabelotti (109) verified oldest man in Australia. Scarrabelotti was the son of Italian immigrants who settled in Australia in 1880. He died in Bangalow, Australia on June 12, 2007.

Lance Schilling (30) former New Orleans police officer charged in the videotaped beating of Robert Davis (64), a retired schoolteacher, after Hurricane Katrina when Davis had returned to New Orleans to check his property several weeks after the storm. Schilling was set to stand trial in July. He was found shot to death, an apparent suicide in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 10, 2007.

Colin Fletcher (85) considered the father of modern backpacking for his lyrical and practical writings on hiking, including The Complete Walker and The Man Who Walked Through Time, books that inspired generations to journey into the wilderness. Fletcher died from complications of old age and injuries suffered when he was hit by a car in 2001, in Monterey, California on June 12, 2007.

Vern Hoscheit (85) coach of four World Series championship teams, earning World Series rings in his final three seasons with the Oakland Athletics (1969-74), and with the New York Mets (1984-87) when they won the World Series in 1986. Hoscheit died in Pierce, Nebraska on June 11, 2007.

Jim Killingsworth (83) coach who took over a struggling Texas Christian University basketball team in the ’80s and led the Horned Frogs to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in 1987, where they lost to Notre Dame. Killingsworth died of a stroke in Fort Worth, Texas on June 10, 2007.

Ray Mears (80) former University of Tennessee basketball coach who presided over the “Ernie & Bernie show’’ during his 15 seasons guiding the Volunteers. In the mid-’70s, Mears coached future National Basketball Association players Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King. Under Mears, the Vols won or shared three Southeastern Conference titles (1967, ’72, ’77); the 1967 championship was the school’s first in 24 years. Mears died in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 11, 2007.

Jim Norton (68) four-time American Football League All-Star safety and an original member of the Houston Oilers. Norton retired in 1969 after playing nine seasons with the Oilers and remained the franchise leader with 45 interceptions. His No. 43 was one of six jersey numbers retired by the franchise. He died in Garland, Texas on June 12, 2007.

Larry Whiteside (69) baseball writer in Boston, Kansas City, and Milwaukee, a pioneer for blacks in journalism and a mentor for reporters. Whiteside covered the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 and ’86 World Series and memorably left in the middle of Roger Clemens’ record-setting 20-strikeout game in ’86 to cover a Celtics playoff game. When he was hired by the Boston Globe in 1973, Whiteside was the only black reporter in America covering major league baseball on a daily basis for a major newspaper. He died of Parkinson’s disease in Boston, Massachusetts on June 15, 2007.