Danton Burroughs (63) grandson of "Tarzan" creator Edgar Rice Burroughs who spent his life marketing and protecting the work of his grandfather. Danton Burroughs, who had been battling Parkinson's disease, died of heart failure a day after a fire at his home destroyed a room filled with family memorabilia, in Tarzana, California, the San Fernando Valley community named after his ancestor's most famous fictional character, on May 1, 2008.

Elaine Dundy (86) US-born novelist, biographer, journalist, and memoirist who wrote about her turbulent marriage (1951-64) to legendary British critic Kenneth Tynan (d. 1980) and their life among the rich and famous. Dundy died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on May 1, 2008.

Ted Key (95) cartoonist whose comic strip "Hazel," about a bossy maid, went from magazine page to TV screen. "Hazel" was a popular feature in the Saturday Evening Post from the time it debuted in 1943. It evolved into a prime-time TV series in 1961 that starred Shirley Booth and ran for four years on NBC and one year on CBS. Key also created the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman for producer Jay Ward. The time-traveling dog/scientist and his boy made their TV debuts in 1959 in segments on the animated show Rocky & His Friends. Key died of cancer in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, on May 3, 2008.

Albert Hofmann (102) Swiss chemist who discovered LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known. Hofmann first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938 but did not discover its psychopharmacological effects until April 19, 1943, when he accidentally ingested the substance later known as acid in the '60s counterculture. He died of a heart attack near Basel, Switzerland on April 29, 2008.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey (52) so-called “DC Madam” who vowed she would never go to prison for running a high-end Washington prostitution ring, not even for a day. A federal jury convicted Palfrey on Apr. 15 of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and racketeering; she was free while awaiting sentencing on July 24. She hanged herself in a shed outside her mother's mobile home in Tarpon Springs, Florida on May 1, 2008.

Claude Rosenberg (80) financial consultant who made a fortune managing other people's money, then began persuading the rich that they could increase their charitable giving considerably while also reducing their tax bills. Rosenberg retired as chairman of RCM, a corporation that managed billions in institutional pension funds, in 1995, then in '98 founded the New Tithing Group, a nonprofit organization that showed the wealthy how to maximize giving and tax benefits. He died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in San Francisco, California on May 3, 2008.

Morgan Sparks (91) scientist who led Sandia National Laboratories for nearly 10 years and invented a semiconductor device that has revolutionized almost every aspect of modern life. Sparks worked for 30 years at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey before taking over as director of Sandia in 1972. He invented the first practical transistor, a semiconductor device that led to personal computers, cell phones, and DVD players, among other ubiquitous modern gadgets. He died in Fullerton, California on May 3, 2008.

Vincent Malham (73) president of Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee since 2005. Malham was killed in a car crash when he collided head-on with a pickup truck near Clayton, Louisiana on May 2, 2008.

Charles Tilly (78) Columbia University social scientist who combined historical interpretation and quantitative analysis to produce novel intellectual interpretations—like comparing nation states to gangsters' protection rackets. In one of his many books, Tilly wrote that governments create and provoke external threats of war, then ask their citizens to pay for defense against those threats. He died of lymphoma in the Bronx, New York on April 29, 2008.

Tarka Cordell (40) up-and-coming musician and son of the late music producer Denny Cordell (died 1995) who had recently released his first debut album Wide Awake in a Dream on the Room 609 record label. He committed suicide by hanging at his flat in London, England on April 28, 2008.

Julie Ege (64) Norwegian actress and model who made her film debut in a recurring role as Helen, the "Scandinavian girl," in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Ege later starred in several Hammer Film Productions' big-budget films, including The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) and The Legend of the 7th Golden Vampires (1974). She died of breast cancer in Oslo, Norway on April 29, 2008.

Jim Hager (66) country musician who gained fame performing (1969-88) with his twin, Jon, on the nationally syndicated comedy and music TV show Hee Haw. Jim Hager collapsed at a coffee house and died of a heart attack in Nashville, Tennessee on May 1, 2008.

Lynne Harvey (92) wife of longtime broadcaster Paul Harvey. Lynne Harvey was the first producer inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, in 1997, and was credited with developing some of her husband's best-known broadcast features, including "The Rest of the Story." She died of leukemia in River Forest, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, on May 3, 2008.

Charles Hillinger (82) retired feature writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Times who traveled California, America, and the world looking for colorful characters and human-interest stories. Hillinger fought melanoma for 18 months and was hospitalized early in April. He died in his sleep in Rancho Palos Verdes, California on April 28, 2008.

Tripp Joye (25) drummer for the Southern hard rock band Anything on Fire, which recently released a split EP with post-hardcore North Carolina group Dead Eyes and was said to be inspired by industrial bands like Skinny Puppy and KMDFM, with heavy influence from post-hardcore legends like Botch. Joye was killed in a car accident in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on May 2, 2008.

Oni Faida Lampley (48) actress and award-winning playwright who had won numerous awards for her play Tough Titty (2003), which dealt with surviving breast cancer. Lampley also had many regional theater, TV, and film credits including director John Sayles's mystery thriller Lone Star (1996), NYPD Blue, Oz, and all three Law & Order shows, but most recently played Mrs. Breedlove in Hartford Stage's production of The Bluest Eye. She died of breast cancer in Brooklyn, New York on April 28, 2008.

Ilyas Malayev (72) musician and poet renowned in Uzbekistan who immigrated to Queens, New York, where he was a legend among fellow Bukharan Jews. Before emigrating from his native land in central Asia, Malayev won fame and official plaudits in the former Soviet Union for his interpretation of the shash maqam, a body of folk melodies and songs that originated as the court music of feudal Bukhara. He died of pancreatic cancer in Flushing, Queens, New York on May 2, 2008.

Beverlee McKinsey (67) stage and TV actress best known for her recurring role as Alexandra Spaulding on the CBS daytime soap opera Guiding Light (1984-92). After several appearances on episodic TV shows in the late '60s, McKinsey also made guest appearances on many other soaps, including a dramatic character role on Another World and its spinoff Texas in the '70s and '80s. She died in Santa Maria, California on May 2, 2008.

Joseph S. Miko (87) former cameraman whose extensive footage of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was smuggled out of Budapest and is considered a significant piece of the documentary record of the historic national uprising against Soviet oppression. Miko died of blood cancer in Los Angeles, California on April 28, 2008.

Claus Nissen (69) Danish actor best known for his recurring role in director Jorgen Leth's highly acclaimed film The Perfect Human (1967), featured in Leth's updated version of producer Lars von Trier's documentary The Five Obstructions (2003). Nissen also played the character Jensen in the TV miniseries The Kingdom and in numerous other films. He died in Denmark on April 29, 2008.

Hanon Reznikov (57) actor, director, and writer who, with his wife Judith Malina, helped to run the avant-garde Living Theater for 23 years. Reznikov died of pneumonia after a stroke in early April, in New York City on May 3, 2008.

Mickey Waller (66) veteran drummer who found fame as one of the most sought after session musicians on the rock and blues scene of the 1960s, performing on hit tracks with numerous artists including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones but later became a regular fixture in the British rock band Jeff Beck Group. Waller had also sang backing vocals on Rod Stewart's classic song Maggie May in 1971. He died of liver cancer in London, England on April 29, 2008.

Lew Williams Jr. (83) columnist and retired publisher of the Ketchikan Daily News, whose editorial voice commanded respect across Alaska. Williams had been involved in journalism and state affairs for nearly 60 years. Known as a "Kennedy Democrat" for his conservative beliefs, he advocated developing Alaska's resources—oil, timber, fish—to enable the state to grow and thrive. He died while vacationing in Arizona on May 3, 2008.

Sallie Wilson (76) dancer whose performances with the American Ballet Theater during the '60s and '70s established her as one of America's finest dramatic ballerinas. Wilson died of cancer nine days after her 76th birthday, in New York City on April 27, 2008.

Frances Yeend (95) internationally known soprano who appeared regularly with the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in the decades after World War II. In the late '40s Yeend toured with tenor Mario Lanza and bass-baritone George London; they were known collectively as the Bel Canto Trio. Yeend died in Morgantown, West Virginia on April 27, 2008.

Aden Hashi Ayro (??) leader of the Al-Qaida-linked insurgent group Al-Shabab, armed wing of the Somali Islamic Courts Union. Ayro was allegedly responsible for numerous terror attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people and the murder of BBC journalist Kate Peyton in 2005. Ayro was among several militants killed in a pre-dawn US military air strike in Dhusamareb, Somalia on May 1, 2008.

Robert W. Battin (78) former Democrat county supervisor during a chaotic era of Orange County politics in the '60s and '70s. When he was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 1968 after two failed campaigns for the state Senate and Assembly, Battin became the first Democrat on the county board since the Great Depression. His political career ended in 1976 when he was convicted on a single count of a seven-count indictment for misusing his county staff to run for lieutenant governor. He died of a heart attack while recovering from a stroke, in Newport Beach, California on April 29, 2008.

Charles Caccia (78) Canadian Liberal Member of Parliament for more than 30 years and a passionate crusader on environmental issues. First elected to the House of Commons in 1968, Caccia held the Toronto-Davenport riding through nine reelections and served 36 years on Parliament Hill. He was labor minister under Pierre Trudeau (1981-83) and environment minister in the short-lived government of John Turner. Caccia suffered a stroke a week ago and had appeared to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse on the weekend and died in Ottawa, Canada on May 3, 2008.

Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo (82) former prime minister who presided (1981-82) during Spain's rocky transition from the Fascist dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco to liberal democracy. Calvo Sotelo died in Madrid, Spain on May 3, 2008.

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager (90) last-known member of the inner circle that failed in a 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Von Boeselager was one of a group of officers who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, supplying the explosives for the attack. The group's leader, Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, and others were captured and executed shortly after the briefcase bomb plot failed. Von Boeselager's name was never divulged and he survived. He died in Berlin, Germany on May 1, 2008.

Diana Barnato Walker (90) heiress to a South African diamond mining fortune who took up flying in the '30s and became a celebrated aviator as one of a group of women who delivered new fighters and bombers to combat squadrons in World War II. Known as the "Atagirls," the transport auxiliary pilots—108 by war's end in 1945—joined more than 500 male pilots in delivering many of the most renowned aircraft of the war to squadrons across Britain. A granddaughter of Barney Barnato, a cofounder of the De Beers mining company in Johannesburg, Walker in 1963, at age 45, became the first British woman to fly faster than sound when she piloted a two-seat RAF Lightning fighter at a speed of 1,262 mph over the North Sea. She died of pneumonia in Surrey, England on April 28, 2008.

Bo Yang (88) Taiwanese essayist who angered both Nationalist and Communist authorities with his criticism. Born in China, Bo Yang fled to Taiwan in 1949, when the Communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists in the Chinese civil war, and became a journalist. Bo Yang served nine years in prison after blasting Chiang's government for corruption and abuse of power. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia since February and died of lung disease in Taipei, Taiwan on April 29, 2008.

Robert F. Brachtenbach (77) former longtime justice on the Washington State Supreme Court (1972-94). Brachtenbach died of cancer in Cottage Grove, Oregon on May 2, 2008.

William Coday (51) Florida death row inmate convicted of fatally beating his former girlfriend, Lisa Hullinger (19), with a hammer while living in Germany in 1978. Coday had served 15 months in prison but was sent back to the US for pyschiatric treatment after he confessed to the stabbing and beating death of his then-girlfriend, Gloria Gomez (30), in 1997. He was found dead in his cell after bleeding to death from self-inflicted wounds, an apparent suicide in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 28, 2008.

Beckett the Dog (17) trusted friend and companion to Chris Snyder, lead singer in a popular local band, Finding Stella. Sensitive and loving, Beckett died after a long and happy life, in Dublin, California on April 27, 2008.

Mildred Loving (68) black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide. Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the US Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. Richard Loving was killed in a 1975 car accident. Mildred Loving died in Milford, Virginia on May 2, 2008.

Daniel Wood (16) student at Pendelton County (Ky.) High School, the only passenger killed instantly from head trauma when a westbound dump truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road and struck the east-bound school bus he was riding on rural Kentucky's Highway 22. A dozen people were treated and released for minor injuries, including both drivers and Wood's two younger siblings. No criminal charges were filed against truck driver Francisco Yulfo (32). Wood died at the scene in Falmouth, Kentucky on May 1, 2008.

Emil J. ("Buzzie") Bavasi (93) general manager of the Dodgers during their glory years in Brooklyn and their first 10 years in Los Angeles, and a baseball executive for nearly 50 years. Bavasi died in San Diego, California on May 1, 2008.

Gordon Bradley (74) pioneering British figure in American soccer and the first to sign with the New York Cosmos as a player and coach. A major figure in the North American Soccer League, Bradley coached Brazilian superstar Pelé and Dutch star Johan Cruyff. He died of complications from Alzheimer's disease, in Manassas, Virginia on April 29, 2008.

Phil Harison (82) veteran starter on the first tee of the Masters golf tournament who introduced everyone from Ben Hogan to Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods during his 60 years in the post. Harison recovered from a car accident that badly injured his back to serve as starter one last time in 2007, mustering enough strength to announce only the first couple of groups. He died in Augusta, Georgia on April 27, 2008.

Ed Marion (81) NFL official for 28 years (1960-87). Marion was a former executive director of the NFL officials' association. He worked playoff games during 20 consecutive seasons and officiated at three Super Bowls (1971, '75, '77). He died in Paoli, Pennsylvania on April 28, 2008.

Mike Patrick (55) former New England Patriots punter (1975-78). Patrick ranked fifth on the Patriots' all-time punters list with 8,481 yards on 225 attempts in 43 career games. He died in Biloxi, Mississippi on April 27, 2008.

Will Robinson (96) first black basketball coach at a Division I school and a Detroit Pistons scout (1976-2004) who discovered Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman. Robinson broke a racial barrier in the '70s when he coached Illinois State. He also scouted part-time for the NFL for 22 years. He died in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 2008.

Alan Seiden (71) starting guard on St. John's 1959 National Invitation Tournament championship team, selected as one of the school's greatest players. Seiden died of a stroke in Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York on May 3, 2008.

Frank Whiteley Jr. (93) trainer of some of horse racing's biggest stars and a member of the sport's hall of fame for 30 years. Whiteley trained, among others, the brilliant filly Ruffian and multiple stakes winners Damascus and Forego. He died in Camden, South Carolina on May 2, 2008.