Paula Gunn Allen (68) former UCLA professor who helped to define the canon of Native American literature, encouraged its development by anthologizing new American Indian writers, and nurtured a broader audience for the work. Allen was a leading scholar and feminist who advocated the inclusion of Native American voices in the mainstream of American literature. She died of lung cancer in Fort Bragg, California on May 29, 2008.

Ed Arno (92) Austrian-born cartoonist whose sketchy cartoons on topics domestic and cosmic appeared regularly in the New Yorker for more than 30 years. Arno dealt in whimsy and deadpan surrealism. He died in Forest Hills, Queens, New York on May 27, 2008.

Beryl Cook (81) British artist who enjoyed popular success with her comic paintings of often obese and sometimes naked people who almost always appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely. Cook's paintings (shown above is The Landlady) graced everything from stamps to school books, greetings cards, and ads. Produced at a rate of about two a month, they commanded up to £20,000 apiece across the world. Yet the critics hated them, and many art galleries refused to display them. Cook died in London, England on May 28, 2008.

David Gahr (85) trained economist who turned his back on a promising career as a scholar to take pictures and listen to music and as a result landed among the preeminent photographers of American folk, blues, jazz, and rock musicians of the '60s and beyond. Gahr's portraits of performers like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and many others graced album covers and coffee-table books. He died in Brooklyn, New York on May 25, 2008.

George Garrett (78) Southern novelist who never received the wide literary fame that his decades of glowing reviews would suggest. The author of dozens of books, Garrett was best known for a trilogy of novels set in Elizabethan England: Death of the Fox (1971), about the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh; The Succession (1983), about the intrigue surrounding the succession of Queen Elizabeth I; and Entered from the Sun (1990), about the murder of Christopher Marlowe. Garrett died of cancer in Charlottesville, Virginia on May 26, 2008.

John S. Zinsser Jr. (84) editor of Reader's Digest Condensed Books in the '60s-'80s who produced nearly 800 shortened versions of popular books available to millions of readers. Zinsser died of a heart attack in West Cornwall, Connecticut on May 27, 2008.

Neal T. Baker (84) fast-food pioneer, founder and owner of Baker's Drive-Thru, a southern California regional chain of restaurants. Baker and Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell, were best friends in high school and, inspired by the success of the McDonald brothers, helped each other to become fast-food millionaires. Baker died in Redlands, California on May 31, 2008.

Mandy Falk (58) daughter of Variety gossip columnist Army Archerd and the late opera singer Joan Archerd. An avid athlete, Falk competed in 18 marathons and sang with the Annapolis Chorale before starting her career in real estate. She died of a heart attack in Dover, Delaware on May 27, 2008.

Alvin M. Marks (97) inventor who held 122 patents on, among other things, polarized film for sunglasses, a 3-D moviemaking process, a generator the size of a grapefruit that could produce enough electricity for a house, a windmill with no moving parts, and a trillion-dollar "space train." Marks died of liver and pancreatic cancer in Gardner, Massachusetts on May 25, 2008.

Betsy McDaniel (72) owner and namesake of the New Orleans restaurant Betsy's Pancake House, which became a local favorite. President George W. Bush dined there when McDaniel reopened her business after Hurricane Katrina. She was found brutally beaten at her home after an apparent robbery on May 26 and later died of her injuries, in New Orleans, Lousiana on May 28, 2008.

Dianne Odell (61) Tennessee woman who contracted bulbospinal polio at age 3 in 1950, just a few years before a polio vaccine was developed, but defied medical odds and had been confined within the 7-foot-long, 750-pound tubular iron lung for the rest of her life. Owing to a spinal deformity caused by the polio, Odell was unable to convert to a portable breathing device introduced in the late '50s. This made her one of the longest users of an iron lung, encased in the machine for nearly 60 years. She died shortly after a power failure shut off electricity to the metal tube and stopped the pump drawing air into her lungs, in Jackson, Tennessee on May 28, 2008.

Lorenzo Odone (30) man whose parents’ battle to save him from a nerve disease was the subject of the movie Lorenzo’s Oil (1992), starring Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte. At age 5, Odone was found to have adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare hereditary children’s disease, and was given only a few years to live. His parents formulated a blend of erucic and oleic acids found in cooking oils that they said helped their son to fight the disease. A study published in 2005 said that the oil might delay the disease in boys who did not yet show symptoms. Lorenzo Odone died of pneumonia in Fairfax, Virginia on May 30, 2008.

Katja Pichler (45) journalist and media executive of the pan-European broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1, the group's spokesperson since 2003 after holding a similar position with the marketing company SevenOne Media. Pichler was killed when she fell from a 300-foot precipice in Austria's Dachstein mountains near Berlin, Germany on May 31, 2008.

J. R. Simplot (99) Idaho farmer who dominated the state's business and political landscape for 70 years. At his death, Simplot was spud king of America and one of the nation's richest men; he all but invented the first commercially viable frozen french fries in the world, which his company sells to the McDonald's Corp. The Simplot family was ranked at No. 80 on Forbes magazine's 2006 list of richest Americans, with an estimated wealth of $3.2 billion. Simplot died in Boise, Idaho on May 25, 2008.

Ernst Stuhlinger (94) one of the most prominent of the Germans who brought their skills in rocket science to the US after World War II and a close associate of Wernher von Braun (d. 1977). As one of the 118 engineers and scientists of the German V-2 missile program who surrendered to Americans toward the end of the war, Stuhlinger was director of science at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, which led the development of several generations of rockets, culminating in the most powerful of all, the Saturn 5s that propelled astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo program. A naturalized American citizen, he died in Huntsville, Alabama on May 25, 2008.

Harlan Cleveland (90) former US ambassador to NATO who led the University of Hawaii for five years (1969-74). During his tenure, the University of Hawaii-Hilo was created, the William S. Richardson School of Law opened, and the medical school expanded to a four-year program. Cleveland then led the international affairs program at the Aspen Institute before becoming founding dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He died in Sterling, Virginia on May 30, 2008.

Detlef Gromoll (70) mathematician at the State University of New York who helped to lay the foundations for studying the abstract distortions of shapes in three or more dimensions. Gromoll died of a brain hemorrhage in Stony Brook, New York on May 31, 2008.

Richard J. Koke (91) curator of the New York Historical Society for nearly 40 years who organized much of that institution's transformation from a repository of documents and artworks into a space where visitors come face to face with relics of New York City and its place in American history. Koke died in Plattsburgh, New York on May 28, 2008.

Manas Ucar (58) consulting engineer and former assistant professor at Syracuse University who taught there for about five years in the early '80s at the L. C. Smith College of Mechanical Engineering & Computer Science. Ucar immigrated to the US from Turkey in the '70s and became an expert on accident reconstruction, specializing in fires, explosions, and seat belts. He was found dead with his wife, Margrit (49), their twin daughters Grace and Margo (21), and his mother-in-law, Fransuhi Kesisoglu (72), at the family's upscale home in San Clemente, California on May 25, 2008.

Jerry Cole (68) guitarist and songwriter who released several surf music albums in the '60s and recorded with prominent bands such as the Beach Boys and the Byrds. With his own group, the Spacemen, Cole released four albums of "space-age surf music" in just over two years, beginning with Outer Limits (1963). He died of a heart attack in Corona, California on May 28, 2008.

Bob Dale (83) one of San Diego's best-known TV personalities who maintained a folksy presence during more than 40 years on the air. Dale was host of Zoorama, a series filmed in the early '60s at the San Diego Zoo and aired nationally. He also had a daily talk show, was host of various late-afternoon movie shows and children's programs, and was a longtime weatherman. He died in San Diego, California on May 26, 2008.

Katherine Derwald (39) actress, screenwriter, and independent filmmaker who won an award for her comedy short Potroast at the 2005 Miami International Film Festival. Derwald was also heard on south Florida radio talk shows and had appeared nationally on the Montel Williams Show. She was once considered one of the top 10 candidates to replace Kathy Lee Gifford on The Regis & Kathy Show. Derwald died unexpectedly in Vero Beach, Florida on May 29, 2008.

Earle H. Hagen (88) cocomposer of the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" who also wrote memorable themes for The Andy Griffith Show, I Spy, The Mod Squad, and other TV shows. During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and TV, and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing. For TV, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots, and TV movies, including theme songs for That Girl, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Gomer Pyle, USMC. He died in Rancho Mirage, California on May 26, 2008.

Hugh Jarrett (78) one of Elvis Presley's backup singers. Jarrett provided vocal backing to Presley as bass singer in The Jordanaires (1954-58). He also sang on Presley's first tour after his military service ended in 1960. The Nashville native appeared in several Presley movies and with The Jordanaires as late as 1997 in Memphis He died of injuries from an auto accident in Atlanta, Georgia on May 31, 2008.

Robert H. Justman (81) TV producer, one of the creative forces behind the original Star Trek TV series of the '60s and the '80s-era Star Trek: The Next Generation. Justman's death came within days of those of his Star Trek friends and colleagues Joseph Pevney, who directed some of the original series' most popular episodes, and Alexander ("Sandy") Courage, who composed the series theme. Justman died of complications from Parkinson's disease, in Los Angeles, California on May 28, 2008.

Ako Kawada (29) Japanese TV presenter who joned TBS in 2002 but went free-lance at the end of March '07. Kawada had worked at several jobs since, including on TV Asahi's Saturday Scramble. She was found dead in her car, an apparent suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in Tokyo, Japan on May 26, 2008.

Harvey Korman (81) tall, versatile comic actor who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny antics in 10 years (1967-77) of skits on The Carol Burnett Show and played a conniving politician in Mel Brooks's satirical western, Blazing Saddles (1974). Besides doing comedy skits with Burnett, Korman also was known on the show for working with frequent guest star and eventual cast member Tim Conway, whose comic bits often had Korman breaking from character and laughing in the middle of their act. Korman died after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in January, for which he had undergone several major operations, in Los Angeles, California on May 29, 2008.

Mitch Mullany (39) stand-up comic who starred in the '90s sitcom Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher as a hip, young educator. Mullany died from a diabetic-related stroke in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 2008.

Sydney Pollack (73) Oscar-winning director and producer, a Hollywood stalwart who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with the gender-bending comedy Tootsie (1982; in which he also played Dustin Hoffman's agent) and the period drama Out of Africa (1985; which won seven Oscars, including best director and best picture), while often dabbling as a TV and movie actor. Pollack was diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago. He died in Pacific Palisades, California on May 26, 2008.

Kermit Scott (71) man believed to be the inspiration for Jim Henson's proto-Muppet, Kermit the Frog. Henson and Scott grew up as friends in Leland, a small Mississippi Delta town now home to a Muppets museum. Scott shared his namesake's whimsical smile. The Henson family moved away from Leland and the two lost touch. Scott later became a philosophy professor at Yale, Purdue, and Millsaps College and was an advocate for the poor. He died in Monroe, Virginia on May 26, 2008.

Tero Smith (30) rapper and record producer also known as Camu Tao, signed to the Definitive Jux label and part of the hip-hop duo S. A. Smash with fellow Weatherman rap star Metro. Smith was also a stint member of the Ohio solo rap group MHz crew with hip-hop artists Copywrite, RJD2, Jakki Tha MotaMouth & Tage Proto, and with former The Nighthawks rapper Cage. They made one album during a single three-day creative session. Smith died of lung cancer in Columbus, Ohio on May 25, 2008.

Jhamu Sugandh (57) film producer who had produced top Bollywood blockbusters, including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Chachi 420, and Rangeela. Sugandh's company, Jhamu Sugandh Productions, also produced noncommercial movies like Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Kaalpurush and Earth. He died of heart failure in Juhu, India on May 26, 2008.

Jason F. Dene (37) son of character actress Tisa Farrow and nephew of award-winning stage and film actress Mia Farrow. Dene enlisted in the US Army in 1988, serving as a sergeant and infantry paratrooper based at Fort Stewart, Georgia and deployed on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was scheduled to return home after his 15-month combat tour ended in June. He died of injuries suffered in a noncombat-related incident in Baghdad, Iraq on May 25, 2008.

Franz Künstler (107) last surviving World War I veteran from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Künstler was born in a German-speaking area of what is now Romania in July 1900, joined the army in '18, and served in the artillery in Italy until the end of the war. He also fought in World War II and in later life became known as "the emperor's last soldier," receiving requests for autographs from England, Germany, and the US. He died of complications from intestinal surgery, in Niederstetten, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where he had lived since 1946, on May 27, 2008.

Charles Moskos (74) sociologist, an expert on the attitudes of servicemen and women who helped to formulate the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the military. Moskos died of cancer in Santa Monica, California on May 31, 2008.

William E. Odom (75) director of the National Security Agency in the Reagan administration who became an early and outspoken opponent of the Iraq war. Odom was a soldier and thinker once described as a "blue-ribbon hawk" for his fierce opposition to détente with the Soviet Union. He died of a heart attack in Lincoln, Vermont on May 30, 2008.

Valmae Beck (64) convicted Australian child killer who changed her name to Fay Cramb after being sentenced to life in prison along with her then-husband, Barrie Watts, for the much-publicized 1987 rape and murder of Noosa schoolgirl Sian Kingi (12). Detectives believed the notorious criminal couple may have known the fate of several unsolved cases involving young girls and women across Australia, including student Helen Mary Feeney (31), last seen alive one month before the murder of Kingi. Beck died from complications of heart surgery in Townsville, Queensland, Australia on May 27, 2008.

Kevin Green (31) Virginia killer whose lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled. Green was convicted of the 1998 killing of Patricia Vaughan, a convenience store owner. The US Supreme Court, a federal judge, and the state's governor all refused to halt the execution. Green was pronounced dead in the first execution in the state in nearly two years, also the third in the US since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in April, in Jarratt, Virginia on May 27, 2008.

Cynthia Perez (14) Los Angeles girl who suffered a single gunshot wound to the head as she sat in the left rear passenger's seat of a sport-utility vehicle during an apparent gang-related crossfire at a nearby intersection. Authorities arrested an unidentified teenage suspect who had become involved in a verbal dispute with the intended victim, Fabian Aguirre (33), after driving up to a red light in his vehicle alongside the SUV the girl was riding in. The youth pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots. Perez was declared brain dead and was taken off life support in Highland Park, California on May 27, 2008.

Clementine Solignac (113) French supercentenarian, fourth-oldest of the 90 longest-living people on the planet after the recent death of 114-year-old Arbella Ewings in the US in March 2008. The oldest person on record was fellow Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at age 122. Solignac died in Vorey-sur-Arzon, France on May 25, 2008.

Joe Axelson (80) former executive and general manager of the Cincinnati Royals who stayed with the NBA team when the franchise moved to the Midwest as the Kings, then California. The team moved first to Kansas City-Omaha and became the Kings, then later shifted to Sacramento. Axelson won the NBA's first executive of the year award in 1973 as general manager of the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. He died in Coronado, California on May 31, 2008.

Luc Bourdon (21) promising rookie defenseman with the Vancouver Canucks. Bourdon was the first-round draft pick of the Canucks in 2005. He played on the Canadian team that won the gold medal at the 2006 world junior hockey championship in Vancouver and made the tournament's all-star team. He helped Canada to win another gold at the 2007 tournament in Sweden. Before turning pro, he played for Val d'Or, Moncton, and Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He was killed when his motorcycle struck a tractor-trailer near his hometown of Shippagan, New Brunswick, Canada on May 29, 2008.

Sven Davidson (79) Sweden's first Grand Slam winner and member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Davidson was Swedish singles champion (1950-60) and became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title at the 1957 French Championships, precursor to the French Open. He held Sweden's record for most Davis Cup doubles wins and was credited with initiating the first general meeting of the International Tennis Federation in 1968 in Paris, where the advent of "open" tennis was discussed. Davidson was diagnosed with an initial stage of Alzheimer's disease in 2007 but died of pneumonia, in Arcadia, California on May 28, 2008.

Earl Eaton (85) native Coloradan and lifelong skier credited with finding the location for the Vail ski resort, where construction began in 1962. Eaton died of cancer in Vail, Colorado on May 25, 2008.

Louise Firouz (74) American-born horse breeder who, while roaming a mountain range in Iran in 1965, discovered a pony-size Caspian horse from a breed that had long been thought extinct. Caspian horses were found to be a precursor of modern racehorses. Firouz died of lung and liver failure in a small Iranian town on May 25, 2008.

Geremi Gonzalez (33) right-handed pitcher for five major league teams, including Tampa Bay, the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Mets, who won 11 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1997. Gonzalez played in the majors (1997-2006) and appeared in 131 games with 83 starts, compiling a 30-35 record, but his career was marred by arm trouble. He was killed by lightning on a beach in his native Venezuela on May 25, 2008.

Thomas McHale (45) former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player. McHale played for the Bucs (1987-92), then spent two years with the Philadelphia Eagles and a year with the Miami Dolphins. He was found dead at a friend's house in Wesley Chapel, Florida, near Tampa, on May 25, 2008. Foul play was not suspected.

Vincent Scerbo (27) former high school and college soccer player who, as a freshman, survived the 2000 Seton Hall University fire that killed three classmates. Scerbo later was a popular Roxbury (NJ) High School assistant soccer coach but moved to Hawaii in 2007. He was killed in a fall from a rock wall he was trying to climb near a waterfall, Boiling Pots, also known as Pe'epe'e Falls, in Hilo, Hawaii on May 27, 2008.

Boris Shakhlin (76) winner of a record six individual Olympic gymnastics men's gold medals. Nicknamed the "Mask of Iron," Shakhlin won 13 Olympic medals overall as part of the Soviet gymnastics squads that battled Japan in the '50s and '60s in one of gymnastics' great rivalries. He was world champion in 1958. He died of cardiac arrest in Ukraine on May 30, 2008.