Pamela Parmelee (64) artist whose still-life paintings and portraits of contemperorary artists are displayed in many art galleries around the world. Parmelee's influence was widespread as well, believed to have been the inspiration for film director François Truffaut's masterpiece Day for Night (1973). Parmelee died of cancer in Studio City, California on March 12, 2008.

Phillip Lloyd Powell (88) self-taught furniture designer who, working largely out of the public eye, produced elegant, sculptural pieces highly prized by collectors. Powell died after a fall, in Langhorne, Pennsylvania on March 9, 2008.

Dave Stevens (52) artist best known for creating The Rocketeer comic book in 1981, which reflected his fascination with Bettie Page that brought the '50s pin-up queen renewed attention. The comic—in which a stunt pilot battles evil after finding a rocket-powered backpack—became a cult success. It was made into the live-action Disney movie The Rocketeer (1991) with Billy Campbell as the title character. Stevens died of complications related to treatment for leukemia, in Turlock, California on March 10, 2008.

Rafael Tufiño (85) painter and printmaker considered one of Puerto Rico's most prominent cultural figures. An artist known as the "Painter of the People" for his canvases and posters depicting traditional life on the island, Tufiño was born in Brooklyn, New York and frequently returned to that city. One of his most famous paintings is Goyita, a portrait of his mother, shown above.* He died of lung cancer in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 13, 2008.

*Courtesy of PuertoRicanPainter.com

Richard ("Dick") Burke (73) founder of Trek Bicycles, maker of the bikes that Lance Armstrong rode in his Tour de France victories. Burke founded the company—known for brands including Trek, Gary Fisher, Klein, and Greg LeMond—in a red barn in 1976 in Waterloo, Wis., about 30 miles east of Madison. It currently sells 1.5 million bikes a year and does $700 million in sales. Burke died of complications from heart surgery, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 10, 2008.

Roy G. Johnston (94) structural engineer and seismic expert whose firm, Brandow & Johnston Associates, helped to design such landmarks as the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Transamerica Tower, and much of the University of Southern California campus. Johnston died in Santa Barbara, California on March 13, 2008.

Alex M. Parker (87) real estate developer whose vision of Times Square as a landmark attraction for "nice people" was about 20 years too early. In the '70s, Parker owned the former Times Tower at the heart of Times Square, which by that time had become a sleazy center of sex, violence, and crime. His vision did not begin to materialize until the '90s, long after he had sold his building. Parker died of cancer in The Bronx, New York on March 13, 2008.

Armando Torres Morales (75) UCLA professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences who researched issues of concern to the Latino community and used his findings to advocate for change, including increased mental health services and an end to abusive police practices. Torres Morales died of cancer in Stevenson Ranch, California on March 12, 2008.

Frank W. Clark Jr. (90) lawyer, a former chairman of the University of California Board of Regents and a major donor to UCLA Medical Center. Two UCLA health-care facilities bear his name: the Frank Clark Urology Center in Santa Monica and the Clark-Morrison Children's Urological Center near the medical center. He died in Los Angeles, California on March 14, 2008.

Dr. Harry P. Ward (75) physician who as chancellor (1979-2000) led the transformation of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences from a medical school with a charity hospital to a major national research center. Ward died in Little Rock, Arkansas on March 11, 2008.

Peri Alcaide (84) widow of character actor Chris Alcaide (d. 2004) who came to the Memphis Film Festival with her husband in the early '90s. Peri Alcaide also appeared in a small role in the film Istanbul (1957) under the name Peri Hartman. She died in Palm Springs, California on March 15, 2008.

Byron D. Bishop (29) actor whose one and only film credit was as one of the leading featured performers in the high school fraternity hazing drama In the Name of the Brotherhood (1996). Bishop died in Fort Worth, Texas on March 11, 2008.

Vincent Ciabattoni (26) grandson of '60s pop singer and vocalist Joey Dee (real name Joseph DiNicola), best known for his hit record "Peppermint Twist" (1961). Ciabattoni was killed in a motorcycle accident in Clearwater, Florida on March 15, 2008.

Scarlet Garcia (27) model who graced a cover of the popular men's magazine FHM. Garcia was also a contract artist with Viva Hot Babes, a popular sexy song-and-dance group. She was found dead along with three other people at her apartment in Olongapo City, Philippines on March 12, 2008.

Erwin Geschonneck (101) German actor who spent years in Nazi concentration camps for his Communist sympathies and later starred in scores of East German films. Geschonneck died in Berlin, Germany on March 12, 2008.

Gus Giordano (84) choreographer who popularized jazz dance around the world and won its recognition as a legitimate art form. Founder of the Evanston (Ill.)-based Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Giordano in 1990 organized the first Jazz Dance World Congress, which brings together several jazz dance companies for a week of master classes and performances. It has been held in the US, Japan, Germany, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Giordano died of pneumonia in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 2008.

Roberta ("Ro&qu Gorski (40) independent film producer who most recently sered as senior vice president of Production for Crave Flms, where she was an associate producer of David Ayer's directorial debut Harsh Times (2005). Gorski also served as director David Goyer's assistant on the television series Threshold. She died of complications following a brain aneurysm in Los Angeles, California on March 13, 2008.

Bill Hayward (66) associate producer of Easy Rider (1969). Hayward was the son of agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, all part of a Hollywood family whose talent and beauty were often overshadowed by its demons. Sullavan and her daughter Bridget Hayward both died of intentional drug overdoses in 1960. Bill Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun in a trailer where he was living, in Castaic, California on March 9, 2008.

Nigel Hewitt (48) electrician who plunged into depression after his 42-year-old wife Angie left him for Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt. Hewitt introduced his new bride to his idol at a Quo gig in 1995. Angie started an affair with Parfitt, which eventually fizzled. Hewitt recently learned that she had remarried in 2007. He was found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging at his home in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England on March 9, 2008.

Alun Hoddinott (78) composer who wrote music for the British royal family and was an influential promoter of modern music in his native Wales. Hoddinott composed more than 300 operas, symphonies, and songs, including music for Prince Charles's 16th birthday and a fanfare for the prince's marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005. He died in Swansea, Wales on March 12, 2008.

Dennis Irwin (56) New York jazz bassist who for more than 30 years was much in demand and whose recent illness became a rallying point for jazz musicians without medical insurance. Irwin played on more than 500 albums. Since the early '80s, he had performed almost every Monday night with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard. He died of liver failure caused by cancer, on the same day that a benefit concert was staged in his honor by Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City on March 10, 2008.

Wilfred Middlebrooks (74) double bassist whose elegant, understated sound was heard in the band that backed jazz great Ella Fitzgerald and in the Paul Smith Trio. Middlebrooks won a reputation with musicians as an unflappable timekeeper. He died of heart failure in Pasadena, California on March 13, 2008.

Stuart Nevitt (55) composer and drummer/percussionist, one of the early members of the Grammy-winning world beat band Shadowfax. Nevitt died of diabetes and heart disease in Rio Rancho, New Mexico on March 15, 2008.

John Roderick (93) former Associated Press correspondent who covered Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong and other Communist guerrilla leaders while living with them in their cave headquarters in the mid-'40s. Weakened by heart failure and pneumonia, Roderick died in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 11, 2008.

Phyllis Spira (64) South Africa's most eminent ballerina, who won international renown during her 30-year career with the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) Ballet and, with her husband, Phillip Boyd, founded Dance for All to spread dance classes into the townships. Spira died from complications of vascular surgery, in Cape Town, South Africa on March 11, 2008.

G. David Low (52) former NASA astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions before becoming a space industry executive. During his 12 years as an astronaut, Low logged more than 714 hours in space while circling the Earth more than 540 times. He died of colon cancer in Reston, Virginia on March 15, 2008.

Howard Metzenbaum (90) former US senator (D-Ohio), a self-made millionaire before he began a long career fighting big business in the Senate. During 18 years on Capitol Hill, until his retirement in 1995, Metzenbaum came to be known as "Senator No" and "Headline Howard" for his abilities to block legislation and get publicity for himself. He died near Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 12, 2008.

Lazare Ponticelli (110) France’s last living veteran of the war intended to end all wars, who outlived more than 8.4 million other soldiers who fought under the French flag in World War I. Fewer than two dozen WWI veterans are thought to be alive; six have died so far in 2008, including the last German veteran. Born in 1897 in Italy, Ponticelli joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914. He became a French citizen in 1939 and died in Kremlin-Bicêtre, France, a Paris suburb, on March 12, 2008.

Ivan Scott (78) broadcaster whose reports on the Pentagon were heard on several stations across the country including KNX-AM (1070) news radio and KABC-AM (790) in Los Angeles. Scott's distinctive baritone voice was heard for more than 20 years as a military-affairs and national-security correspondent. He died of a brain tumor in Washington, DC on March 10, 2008.

Julia Vadala Taft (65) former US assistant secretary of state who coordinated the federal government's response to earthquakes, floods, famine, and locust infestations in foreign countries in the '80s. The wife of William Howard Taft 4th, great-grandson of 27th US President William Howard Taft (1909-13), Julia Taft died of colon cancer in Washington, DC on March 15, 2008.

Rev. Jacob Daniel ("Jake") deShazer (95) one of the members of the historic Doolittle Raid on Japan during World War II, 11 of whom still survive. After spending 40 months as a prisoner of war after the raid, DeShazer returned to Japan intent on forgiving his former captors and converting them to Christianity. Over 30 years, he helped to start 23 churches in Japan. He died in his sleep in Salem, Oregon on March 15, 2008.

Xaviein Bendross (28) Florida man on probation for his role in the 1996 capital murder of Dutch tourist Tosca Dieperink (39), shot and killed at a nearby gas station in Miami's crime-ridden Liberty City neighborhood. Bendross pleaded guilty to a robbery in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors and was sentenced to 12 years' probation, starting in 1998. He was one of three men killed in a drive-by shooting at an intersection near the original crime scene in Miami, Florida on March 15, 2008.

Richard Biegenwald (67) New Jersey “Thrill Killer” who took the lives of at least six people, including his wife in 1959, but thwarted the state’s attempts to execute him. Biegenwald was twice sentenced to death for the 1982 killing of Anna Olesiewicz (18), whom he lured from the Asbury Park boardwalk with the promise of marijuana. It was among the earliest death sentences handed down after the state reinstated the death penalty in 1982. The state Supreme Court overturned the death sentences, and in 2007 the Legislature abolished capital punishment. Biegenwald died at St. Francis Medical Center, which treats inmates of New Jersey State Prison, where he was serving a life sentence, in Trenton, New Jersey on March 10, 2008.

William Bradford (61) condemned murderer sentenced to death in 1988 for the double murders in '84 of two young women, Shari Miller and Tracey Campbell, in the Los Angeles area. Bradford lured his victims by promising them jobs as models while posing as an amateur photographer. During the penalty phase of his trial, he implied that he'd killed others and asked for a death sentence, but later started a series of appeals that kept him alive on Death Row. He died of natural causes in Vacaville, California on March 10, 2008.

Charles Cross (60) Pennsylvania man convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal slayings of Denise Lucic (27) and her children, Danielle (8) and John Jeffery (4), at their Ambridge home in 1981. Cross maintained his innocence throughout his trial and never expressed remorse but continued to appeal his case. In 2005, a federal judge overturned his three death sentences. Prosecutors appealed the ruling, and the case was still pending before the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Cross became one of the state's longest-serving death-row inmates and his case one of the most notorious in Beaver County history. He died of cancer at the State Correctional Institution in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania on March 13, 2008.

Richard Fuller (55) bodyguard in charge of the security of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and current wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Fuller was head security chief at Ray Mill, the Duchess's six-bedroom country home that she bought for $850,000 after her divorce from her first husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, in 1996. The Duchess is said to be only an occasional visitor to the 27-acre property. Fuller was found shot to death in an apparent suicide at his home near Calne, Wiltshire, England on March 9, 2008.

Dennis Ray Gerwing (54) businessman who was not cooperating with authorities investigating the disappearance last week of a wealthy Hilton Head Island couple, John and Elizabeth Calvert. Gerwing left two notes that are being examined by state agents, but deputies refused to release their contents. Investigators searched Gerwing's home, office, and vehicles on March 8 but would not say what, if anything, was found. Gerwing was found dead in the bathroom of a resort condominium unit, an apparent suicide on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on March 11, 2008.

Richard Hecht (77) leading figure in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, overseeing most cases for years and helping to found its organized-crime unit in the late '60s. Hecht also played a role in the 1962 arrest and trial of comedian Lenny Bruce on obscenity charges. In 1973, he headed the local investigation into the break-in at the Beverly Hills office of psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, who had made public the Pentagon Papers, a secret government study on the Vietnam War. The case became part of the Watergate scandal and was tried in federal court. Hecht died in Santa Monica, California on March 15, 2008.

Erica Jesselson (86) philanthropist and collector of Judaica who, with her late husband, Ludwig (d. 1993), founded Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan and donated hundreds of artifacts of Jewish history to it and to other institutions. Erica Jesselson died in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York on March 12, 2008.

Chiara Lubich (88) founder of the lay Catholic Focolare movement during World War II who worked to promote interreligious dialogue. Lubich was hospitalized with respiratory problems but released on Mar. 13, as she insisted. She died at her home in Rocca di Papa, a town south of Rome, Italy on March 14, 2008.

Sam C. Pointer Jr. (73) retired US District judge who received death threats because of his rulings forcing school integration in Birmingham during nearly 30 years on the bench. Pointer died in Birmingham, Alabama on March 15, 2008.

Varvara Semennikova (117) Russian woman who claimed to be the world's oldest person since August 2007, but her age was never authenticated by the Guinness Book of World Records or the Gerontology Research Group. The only agency that agreed with her documentation was the National Archive of Yakutia, Russia, where she died on March 9, 2008.

Vicki van Meter (26) pilot who made national headlines in 1993 at age 11 when she made her first cross-country flight from Augusta, Maine to San Diego over five days, accompanied only by a flight instructor, despite the fact that she had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick. Van Meter was credited at the time with being the youngest girl to fly across the US, although her record was broken in 1996 when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff became the youngest pilot ever, shortly before she was killed in a plane crash. In 1994 Van Meter made a trans-Atlantic flight from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland. She was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound (suicide) at her home in Meadville, Pennsylvania on March 15, 2008.

Dr. Brahim Baba (51) member of the medical and antidoping commission for track and field's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations. Baba became a member of the association's medical committee in 1995 and was chairman of the medical and antidoping commission for the African Athletic Confederation. He was a sports medicine specialist and had a private practice in Algeria. He died of a suspected heart attack in his hometown of Algiers, Algeria on March 11, 2008.

Gary Binfield (42) former swimmer at the University of South Carolina, a 15-time All-American letter-winner in multiple events for the Gamecocks during his four-year career in the late '80s. Binfield swam as part of the Great Britain relay finalist team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He died in Buford, Georgia on March 14, 2008.

Francis Cornejo (76) Argentine scout who recruited Diego Maradona after seeing him play at age 8 on a dusty soccer field in a working-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires decades earlier. Cornejo took Maradona under his wing and recruited him for the Argentinos Juniors youth team. Maradona later became one of soccer's greatest players and was captain of the Argentine team that won the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Cornejo died in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 13, 2008.

Lee Ho-seong (41) South Korean former baseball player and murder suspect who had played with the Haiti Tigers, currently the Kia Tigers, who won the Korean series several times in the '90s. After retiring in 2001, Lee opened a wedding business that eventually failed. Then a real estate investment venture resulted in billions in debts, which led to fraud charges against him. He was also suspected of killing his mistress and her three children after an apparent dispute over money owed to him. The family was reported missing on Feb. 19; their bodies were later found buried in a pit at the entrance to a church-owned cemetery. Lee's body was found floating in the Han River, an apparent suicide by drowning, in Seoul, South Korea on March 10, 2008.

Fred Jacoby (80) former commissioner (1982-93) of the now-defunct Southwest Conference, which dissolved in the mid-'90s when Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor bolted for the Big 12. Jacoby died of cancer in Dallas, Texas on March 15, 2008.

Ken Reardon (86) Canadian Hall of Fame defenseman noted for his rugged play. Reardon was a two-time National Hockey League first team All-Star during his seven-year career, which included a pair of Stanley Cup championships. He died in Montreal, Canada on March 15, 2008.

Otto Schnellbacher (84) former defensive back for the New York Giants football team who played a season of professional basketball. Schnellbacher was a two-sport star at the University of Kansas in the '40s and later played two seasons with the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference (1948-49) before joining the Giants in the NFL, where he was a Pro Bowl player (1950-51). He died of cancer in Topeka, Kansas on March 10, 2008.