Simon Michael Bessie (92) publisher who in 1959 left a top editorial position at Harper's to help found Atheneum Publishers, perhaps the last major literary house started from scratch in the 20th century. Bessie was Atheneum's president (1963-75). Although successful with best-sellers like Theodore H. White's The Making of the President, 1960 (1961), Atheneum made some mistakes, like turning down Mario Puzo's The Godfather (later published by Putnam) and—Bessie's biggest regret—Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Bessie died in Lyme, Connecticut on April 7, 2008.

Joan Hunter Dunn (92) muse of Britain's Poet Laureate John Betjeman (d. 1984) and the inspiration for one of his best-known poems, “A Subaltern’s Love Song.” Betjeman, who famously complained in old age that his one regret was not having had enough sex, worshipped Dunn in verse—but his love was always unrequited. She married civil servant Wycliffe Jackson. She died in London, England on April 11, 2008.

J. Leon Altemose (68) Pennsylvania building contractor known for clashing with unions over the use of nonunion labor. Altemose gained national attention in 1972 when unionists attacked his building site in Valley Forge, destroying $400,000 worth of equipment and materials in a coordinated attack that the handful of police officers on site were helpless to stop. He died of multiple sclerosis in Malvern, Pennsylvania on April 11, 2008.

Dr. M. Lois Murphy (91) pediatric oncologist whose leadership advanced early work on chemotherapy, especially for childhood cancer, and led to markedly higher survival rates. Murphy died in New York City on April 8, 2008.

Dr. John P. Stein (45) professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and an internationally known specialist in urologic cancers and bladder reconstruction. A research scientist and unusually skillful surgeon beloved for his compassionate bedside manner, Stein was a star in his field. He died of a massive infection, possibly toxic shock syndrome, while attending a medical conference in Naples, Florida on April 11, 2008.

Marvin Sylvor (75) merry-go-round man who filled parks in New York City with fanciful painted ponies and later helped to supply the rest of the world with more than 60 carousels. Sylvor died of kidney failure in Miami, Florida on April 9, 2008.

Jerry Zucker (58) self-made billionaire who turned a small holding company into an empire that in 2006 bought one of Canada's most historic companies, the Hudson's Bay Co., created as a fur-trading venture under a royal charter in 1670. The acquisition moved Zucker onto Forbes magazine's list of billionaires with a net worth of $1.2 billion. He died of cancer in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, 2008.

Robert O. Collins (75) historian who studied Africa's Upper Nile Valley. Collins and a colleague, J. Millard Burr, were the authors of a controversial book, Alms for Jihad: Charity & Terrorism in the Islamic World (2006). To avoid a defamation lawsuit in British courts—where the burden of proof is on the defendant—the publisher of Alms, Cambridge University Press, apologized to a wealthy Saudi mentioned in the book, Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, and paid a settlement, then destroyed all unsold copies of Alms, an act of heresy to Collins and other scholars. Collins died of cancer in Santa Barbara, California on April 11, 2008.

Clyde Cook (72) former president of Biola University for 25 years who oversaw huge growth at the Christian college before he retired in 2007. During Cook's tenure, enrollment at the university in La Mirada, Calif. nearly doubled, to about 5,750 students. The campus grew by 20 acres, and the school's endowment went from almost zero to $43.5 million. Cook died of a heart attack in Fullerton, California on April 11, 2008.

John Gilbert Williams (92) founder of the University of Arkansas's architecture program who later hired renowned architect Fay Jones. Williams was professor emeritus of architecture at the university's Fayetteville campus, where he led the architecture program for 20 years. His best-known hire for the school's faculty, Jones later became one of the most acclaimed residential and small-project architects in the nation. Williams had suffered from a bone marrow disease for the past year and died in Fayetteville, Arkansas on April 11, 2008.

Nona Beamer (84) noted authority on Hawaiian culture and matriarch of the musical Beamer family. Nona Beamer was a songwriter, performer, hula teacher, and author. She died in her sleep on Maui, Hawaii on April 10, 2008.

Rolf Berntsen (75) stepfather of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit and second husband of her mother, Marit Tjessem. In recent years Berntsen had been involved in a trust that helped drug addicts through job training. A heart transplant recipient in 1991, he died of heart failure in Kristiansand, Norway on April 10, 2008.

Cedella Booker (81) mother of Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley (d. 1981). Booker was 18 when she married Norval Marley, a British man 32 years her senior. Their son brought Jamaican reggae music to international prominence, becoming its international image. Booker died in her sleep in Miami, Florida on April 8, 2008.

Lawrence Lloyd Brown Sr. (63) original member of the rhythm-and-blues group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, known for songs including "I Miss You," "If You Don't Know Me by Now," "The Love I Lost," "Bad Luck," and "Wake up Everybody." Despite frequent changes in personnel—including Teddy Pendergrass becoming the group's lead singer in the '70s—Brown remained second tenor. He was still performing with the Blue Notes until January, when he became ill while singing at a show in Chester, Pennsylvania. He died of a respiratory condition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6, 2008.

George Butler (76) jazz record executive for the Columbia, Blue Note, and United Artists labels from the late '60s to the late '90s. Butler was best known for helping to encourage the Young Lions movement that began in the '80s, when Wynton Marsalis and other neotraditionalists became stars. Butler died from complications of Alzheimer's disease, in Castro Valley, California on April 9, 2008.

Oscar ("Ozzie") Cadena (83) former producer for famed Savoy Records who played a key role in recording a long list of jazz luminaries and later led an effort to commemorate the role of Hermosa Beach, California in the history of West Coast jazz. Cadena later owned record stores and booked acts for several clubs in southern California. He suffered a stroke in 2007 and died of pneumonia in Torrance, California on April 9, 2008.

Burt Glinn (82) photojournalist, commercial photographer, and a former president of the Magnum photo agency, the international cooperative founded by a group of photographers that included Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson. In 1959, Glinn took his best-known photograph, an offbeat portrait of Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev at the Lincoln Memorial. He died of kidney failure in Southampton, New York on April 9, 2008.

John Bradford Goodman (36) film producer and TV writer who produced and directed the award-winning independent film Angels of Light (2005). Goodman wrote episodes for the TV series Malcolm in the Middle. He died of complicaitions from spinal muscular atrophy in Austin, Texas on April 9, 2008.

Sonny Graham (69) heart transplant recipient who made national headlines in 1995 when he was on the verge of congestive heart failure but received a call that a donor heart was available in South Carolina. The heart was from Terry Cottle (33), who had committed suicide by shooting himself. Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. He later met and married his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle (now 39). Graham was found dead in his backyard from a single shotgun wound to the throat in an apparent suicide in Vidalia, Georgia on April 8, 2008.

Robert W. Greene (78) investigative journalist who led reporters from across the country in an effort to uncover corruption in Arizona and twice helped Newsday, the voice of Long Island, New York, to win the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Greene spent 37 years as a reporter and editor at Newsday. He died of complications including congestive heart failure, in Smithtown, New York on April 10, 2008.

Seaman Jacobs (96) veteran comedy writer who worked for legendary Hollywood entertainers like Bob Hope, George Burns, Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas, and Johnny Carson. Over a career of more than 50 years, Jacobs also wrote or collaborated on scripts for the TV series The Addams Family, My Three Sons, Bachelor Father, The Jeffersons, Family Affair, and Maude. He died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California on April 8, 2008.

Stanley Kamel (65) actor who played Adrian Monk’s long-suffering psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger, on the USA Network TV detective series Monk. As Kroger, Kamel dispensed advice during weekly therapy sessions with Monk (Tony Shalhoub), a brilliant but neurotic private detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Kamel had a nearly 40-year acting career, much of it on TV. He had played more than 100 supporting guest roles on many other shows, including The Golden Girls, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Days of Our Lives. He was found dead of a heart attack in his Hollywood Hills, California home on April 8, 2008.

Gopal Raju (80) publishing pioneer in the Indian ethnic press who founded the India Abroad newspaper and the Indo-Asian News Service. Raju was publisher of the weekly newspapers News India-Times (the oldest Indian newspaper published in North America), Desi Talk, and Gujarat Times. In the '70s, he founded the Indian-American Foundation, which raised millions of dollars for education, health, development, and disaster relief projects in India; in 1993, he founded the Indian-American Center for Political Action, which placed Indian-American interns with Congressional and Senate lawmakers in Washington, DC. He died in New York City on April 10, 2008.

Nadezhda Rumyantseva (77) Russian stage and film actress best known for her highly acclaimed role as Tosya Kislitsinia in the romantic comedy cult film Devchata (1961). Rumyantseva died of brain cancer in Moscow, Russia on April 8, 2008.

Nina Schulman (??) film producer and editor best known for editing indie animator Bill Plympton's short film Drawing Lesson 2 (1987), which won First Prizes for Story + Concept at ASIFA New York. Schulman's career included works on numerous seminal documentary and feature films, including editing several episodes of the Emmy-winning TV documentary series New York: A Documentary Film. She died of metastatic breast cancer in New York City on April 10, 2008.

Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson (91) only child of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (d. 1932), producer of the famous stage spectaculars, the Ziegfeld Follies, and actress Billie Burke (d. 1970), best remembered for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the 1939 movie classic The Wizard of Oz. Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, California on April 11, 2008.

Jacqueline Voltaire (59) British-born actress and singer who had appeared in a handful of well-known Mexican films and TV series, including El Rey de Acapulco (1989) and Men with Guns (1996). Voltaire had also lived in Africa, France, Germany, and the US for several years. She died of skin cancer in Mexico City, Mexico on April 8, 2008.

Abu Ubaida al-Masri (mid-40s) senior operative of the terror network Al Qaeda, implicated in masterminding the 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot and closely linked to orchestrating the July 7 London subway bombings. US officials said Masri had probably had been dead for several months, with no explanation why news of his death was not released sooner. His death, possibly caused by hepatitis C, was reportedly comfirmed, outside Pakistan on April 9, 2008.

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle (55) Sri Lankan politician who had served as a cabinet minister during his five consecutive terms (1983-2004) after being elected to Sri Lanka's parliament. In 2005, Fernandopulle was appointed minister of Highways & Road Development and was chief government whip. He was one of 12 people killed in a suicide bomb attack during the Tamil New Year celebration in Weliveriya, Sri Lanka on April 6, 2008.

Merlin German (22) Marine sergeant who became a symbol of resilience as he strove to recover from severe burns suffered in a Feb. 22, 2005 roadside bombing blast while stationed in Iraq. German was dubbed the Miracle Man for his determination in facing combat wounds that blanketed 97 percent of his body with burns. He had endured more than 40 operations, spent 17 months in a hospital, and had learned to walk again. He died of burns in San Antonio, Texas on April 11, 2008.

Barry H. Gottehrer (73) journalist whose award-winning newspaper series "City in Crisis" helped to elect John V. Lindsay (d. 2000) mayor of New York in 1965. An author and former sportswriter and editor at Newsweek and other magazines, Gottehrer was recruited to lead a team of reporters at the now-defunct New York Herald Tribune in a damning examination of an ailing New York in the mid-'60s. They documented budget deficits, rising crime, racial turmoil, and growing demands for greater community control. Gottehrer later joined Lindsay's administration as a mayoral assistant. He died of pancreatic cancer in Wilmington, North Carolina on April 11, 2008.

Robert T. Hartmann (91) close aide to Gerald R. Ford who drafted many of the President's speeches, including his first address to the nation after President Richard M. Nixon left office. Hartmann died of cardiac arrest three days after his 91st birthday, in Washington, DC on April 11, 2008.

Patrick Hillery (84) former president of Ireland. Hillery was a lawmaker (1951-73) for the major Irish political party Fianna Fail. As foreign minister, he was instrumental in negotiating Ireland's entry into the European Economic Community in 1973. In 1976, he accepted a Fianna Fail appointment to become Ireland's symbolic head of state and served two full seven-year terms. He died in Dublin, Ireland on April 12, 2008.

Abe Osheroff (92) social activist, one of 3,000 Americans who fought against Gen. Francisco Franco's regime in the Spanish Civil War in the '30s as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Osheroff died of a heart attack in Seattle, Washington on April 6, 2008.

Joe Shell (89) former California assemblyman from Los Angeles who unsuccessfully challenged Richard Nixon for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1962. Shell was captain of the 1939 University of Southern California football team. He had been in declining health since breaking some ribs in January and died in Bakersfield, California on April 7, 2008.

Helen B. Aaron (96) pioneering organizer of the Jewish community in Orange County, California who moved to Anaheim in 1948 and, shocked by the near absence of Jewish organizations, spent decades helping to create them. Aaron died of lung disease in Laguna Woods, California on April 10, 2008.

Pippa Bacca (33) one of two female Italian performance artists on a mission: Wearing white wedding dresses, Bacca and Silvia Moro (37) planned to hitchhike from Italy to the Balkans to the Middle East to send a message of peace and "marriage between different peoples and nations." But after just three weeks on the road, Bacca was raped and strangled by Murat Karatas (38), a driver who picked her up. Her naked body was found in some bushes near a Turkish village after Karatas led investigators to the site, on April 11, 2008.

Martin Balin (62) one of six Vietnam War protesters whose plot to set fire to six buildings in Manhattan in 1970 was thwarted at the last minute by undercover police officers. Known at the time as Martin Lewis, Balin was arrested with his coconspirators before dawn on Dec. 4, 1970, just after they had placed four one-gallon containers filled with gasoline and benzene beside the First National City Bank branch at Madison Avenue and 91st Street. Balin was sentenced to four years in prison but served only 18 months. He died of heart failure in New York City on April 6, 2008.

Paw Paw the Chow (12) Martha Stewart's dog, a familiar face on her TV show and in her magazine. The 60-pound chow's full name was Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow. Paw Paw was a willing model for the camera, appearing in TV commercials and national print ads. In his final days, he stopped eating and drifted off into deep sleeps. He died of renal failure in Bedford, New York on April 12, 2008.

Ernesto, Cardinal Corripio Ahumada (88) Mexican prelate who helped to establish renewed Vatican relations with Mexico's government. Known for his skill at balancing relations between church and state, Corripio was the country's most visible cardinal when Mexico reestablished formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1992 after decades of conflict. He died from complications of heart problems, thrombosis, and diabetes, in Mexico City, Mexico on April 10, 2008.

Donald Forbes (73) double murderer once branded "Scotland's most dangerous man." Forbes was found guilty in 1958 of the murder of Edinburgh night watchman Allan Fisher during a robbery at a fish factory and was sentenced to death by hanging but later had his death sentence reduced to life imprisonment. Despite his long criminal record, including several drug offenses, he was freed in 1970 but weeks later stabbed a man to death in a pub brawl and was imprisoned again. He died in Greenock, Scotland on April 12, 2008.

David Noel Freedman (85) Bible scholar, general editor of the Anchor Bible Commentary series, a standard reference in seminary and university libraries that includes updated translations with explanatory notes for each book of the Bible. Freedman died of a heart ailment in Petaluma, California on April 8, 2008.

Leonard Goldstein (76) retired Orange County Superior Court judge who presided over the '70s Ford Pinto product liability case that resulted in a then-record jury award of nearly $128.5 million in damages. Goldstein died of congestive heart failure in Newport Beach, California on April 12, 2008.

Ruth Greenglass (84) woman whose testimony in the Rosenberg atomic-bomb spy case of the early '50s helped to lead to the execution of her sister-in-law, Ethel Rosenberg. Greenglass died in New York City on April 7, 2008.

Christopher Nicholas Jones (17) bored and depressed Arizona teen who, according to his brother and friends, researched suicide techniques on the Internet and found a "painless" way to kill himself by inhaling helium. Chris was found dead in his bedroom by his father, in Gilbert, Arizona on April 6, 2008.

Nellie Jones (111) one of the world's oldest people. Jones was Michigan's second-oldest resident—by four days—and the 43rd-oldest person in the world. She died in her sleep in Zeeland, Michigan on April 9, 2008.

Marjorie Macgown (110) oldest documented person in Scotland, believed to be one of the 75 oldest verified supercentenarians in the world. Macgown was named the country's oldest driver at age 102 when she used to deliver meals on wheels well into her 90s. She died in Bowmore, Islay, Scotland on April 11, 2008.

Barbara Anderson McDermott (95) second-to-last remaining survivor of the sunken ocean liner RMS Lusitania. McDermott was only 2 years old when the steamship was hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-20 during World War I on May 7, 1915. The ship sank in just 18 minutes and claimed 1,198 of the 1,959 people on board but was often considered by historians the second-most famous civilian passenger liner casualty after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. McDermott died in Wallingford, Connecticut on April 12, 2008.

Samantha Padilla (19) California woman fatally wounded in an apparent gang-related car-to-car shooting near a South Los Angeles freeway off-ramp. Major roadway shootings are not uncommon in the area, but violence is often gang-affiliated. Padilla did not appear to be connected to any gangs. She was killed in Los Angeles, California on April 10, 2008.

Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein (58) known as a leading voice for modern Orthodox Judaism, Rubenstein founded the Young Israel of Scarsdale (NY) synagogue congregation with five families in the late '60s and over time saw it grow to about 400 families. He was president (1997-99) of the Rabbinical Council of America, the nation's largest group of Orthodox rabbis, and of the Westchester Board of Rabbis. Rubenstein died with his wife, Deborah, in a house fire that might have been started by a lightning strike, in New Rochelle, New York on April 12, 2008.

Elizabeth Stefan (112) Hungarian-born supercentenarian, seventh-oldest validated person in the world and fifth-oldest verified person in the US. Stefan emigrated to the US in 1913 and was believed to be the oldest Hungarian ever. She died in Norwalk, Connecticut on April 9, 2008.

Carl Steppert (78) Wisconsin man serving a 200-year life sentence after being convicted of the murder of 7-year-old Allison Wallace and the attempted murder of her mother Cathy, her grandmother Jeannette, her uncle James, Cathy's boyfriend Thomas Dalbec, and another neighbor Stefan Schooler, at two Wausau group homes in 1994. Steppert was aquainted with some of the victims and accused them of taking money from his home before the shooting spree. He died in prison in Waupun, Wisconsin on April 11, 2008.

Gloria Taylor (57) British campaigner and mother of murdered Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor (10), stabbed and killed by two teenage brothers in an apparent racially motivated attack outside a south London estate in 2000. Gloria Taylor dedicated her life to working for underprivileged young people and had been campaigning against knife crimes throughout the UK, where she launched the Damilola Taylor Trust shortly after the death of her son. She collapsed and died unexpectedly of a heart attack while walking with her husband in Shooters Hill, South London, England on April 7, 2008.

Jonathan Taylor (24) Los Angeles man who shot and critically wounded two police officers after getting into a dispute with employees at the Pacific Beach Cities Stadium 16 theater. Taylor was shot and killed in the shootout in El Segundo, California on April 11, 2008.

Polly Lauder Tunney (100) Carnegie Steel Co. heiress whose marriage to heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney (d. 1978) made international headlines in 1928. Polly Lauder was 21 when she married Tunney in Italy a year after he successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long count" fight in Chicago. One of their sons, John V. Tunney, was a three-term Democrat congressman when he was elected to the Senate from California in 1970, defeating incumbent Republican George Murphy. Polly Tunney had had several strokes in recent years, including one about a week before her death in Stamford, Connecticut on April 12, 2008.

Estella Aaron (96) mother of baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth's career record of 714 home runs with his 715th on April 8, 1974 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Hank Aaron retired with 755, a mark surpassed by Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants in August 2007. Estella Aaron died in Atlanta, Georgia on April 7, 2008.

Cecelia Colledge (87) British figure skater, the youngest athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics (at age 11 in 1932) who later became an Olympic silver medalist (1936) and world champion (1937). Colledge was the first woman to execute a double-rotation jump in competition, a salchow at the 1936 European championships in Berlin. She invented the camel and the layback spins and the one-foot axel jump. A longtime coach at the Skating Club of Boston (1952-77), she died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 12, 2008.

Brienne Davis (28) NASCAR inspector who frequently traveled every weekend to inspect carburetors and manifolds in many circuits throughout the US, becoming one of the team's few full-time female inspectors. Davis was killed in a car accident in Huntersville, South Carolina on April 8, 2008.

Lakshman de Alwis (68) Sri Lankan athletics coach named a Junior National Champion of Athletics after winning the 100- and 200-m events in 1958. De Alwis had represented Sri Lanka in 1959 at the All-India meet and set a national record in '62 for the 400-m event. He was a member of the 4X200-m Relay Quartet. He was one of 12 people killed in a suicide bomb attack during the Tamil New Year celebration in Weliveriya, Sri Lanka on April 6, 2008.

Kuruppu Karunaratne (47) Sri Lankan long-distance runner who had competed in the marathon event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and in the '93 World Championships. Karunaratne was one of 12 people killed in a suicide bomb attack during the Tamil New Year celebration in Weliveriya, Sri Lanka on April 6, 2008.

Daniela Klemenschits (25) former Austrian doubles tennis player who with her twin sister Sandra won 20 titles on the ITF women's doubles circuit and entered the top 100 rankings of the WTA Tour events. Both twins were diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer in January 2007, forcing them to retire. Daniela had several tumors removed and required expensive medical care. She died of cancer in Salzburg, Austria on April 9, 2008.

Gib Shanley (76) broadcaster, radio voice of the Cleveland Browns (1961-84). Shanley was play-by-play announcer during the Browns' 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL title game, the last time Cleveland celebrated a championship won by one of its major sports teams. He also worked as a broadcaster at WEWS-TV in Cleveland until the mid-'90s. He died in Cleveland, Ohio on April 6, 2007.