Richard Seaver (82) founder and owner of Arcade Publishing, an editor, translator, and publisher who defied censorship, societal prudishness, and conventional literary standards to bring works by rabble-rousing authors like Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, and the Marquis de Sade to American readers. Seaver died of a heart attack in New York City on January 6, 2009.

Coosje van Bruggen (66) critic, art historian, and artist known for the colorful public sculptures she created around the world with her husband, Pop artist Claes Oldenburg. Over 30 years, Van Bruggen and Oldenburg created more than 40 public sculptures for parks, urban centers, and museums. Each piece depicts a monumentally sized object, like Trowel I, a 1971 sculpture of an oversized garden tool, on the grounds of the Kröller-Müller museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. Van Bruggen died of metastatic breast cancer in Los Angeles, California on January 10, 2009.

Ray Yoshida (78) artist whose comical, semiabstract paintings and collages and 40 years of teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago influenced generations of prominent artists. Yoshida was among the most admired contributors to a tradition known as Chicago Imagism and sometimes as the Chicago School. In 2006, he moved to Hawaii from Chicago. He died of cancer in Kauai, Hawaii on January 10, 2009.

Don Callender (81) entrepreneur who sold the pies his mother baked, helping to make Marie Callender (d. 1995) a household name. Marie and her husband, Cal (d. 1984), sold the family car for $700 in 1948 to set up a wholesale bakery in a converted Quonset hut in Long Beach, and Marie worked there at all hours producing pies that Cal and Don sold to restaurants; 16 years later when they were baking several thousand fruit and cream pies a day, Don Callender persuaded his parents to open their own restaurant, and the rest is history. Don Callender died from injuries he suffered in a fall in 2007, in Newport Beach, California on January 7, 2009.

Mario Della Grotta (40) Rhode Island man who in 2001 became the first American to undergo a rare brain surgery, known as deep brain stimulation, for obsessive-compulsive disorder (a mental disorder that causes people to have irrational fears and/or repetitive thoughts). The surgery implants electrodes in the brain to control the disorder. Della Grotta suffered with OCD for many years and worked hard to educate the public by telling his story at many conferences, in magazines and journals, and even on Good Morning America in an effort to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. He died unexpectedly in Providence, Rhode Island on January 5, 2008.

Harold A. ("Hal") Ellis Jr. (77) cofounder of the real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis Co. and one of the best-known figures in US real estate. Ellis died of metastatic melanoma in Piedmont, California on January 5, 2009.

Alan S. Geisler (78) man behind the tasty red onion sauce many New Yorkers love on their hot dogs. The red onion sauce Geisler created in 1964 is a New York culinary icon, commonly used by street-side hot dog vendors. It contains onions, tomato paste, and olive oil and is marketed nationwide as Sabrett's Prepared Onions. Geisler died after a battle with a protein disorder, in Hernando, Florida on January 6, 2009.

Edward Gotschall (53) one of the founders of subprime mortgage giant New Century Financial. Gotschall started New Century in 1995 with two colleagues; they took the company public in 1997 and quickly developed it into one of the largest subprime lenders in the US, making $60 billion in loans annually, mostly to people who could not qualify for conventional loans. The company went bankrupt in April 2007. Gotschall was watching a replay of the Fiesta Bowl when he died in Cota de Caza, California on January 8, 2009.

Gedalio Grinberg (77) Cuban-born distributor of high-end watches who amassed a fortune in the US by helping to turn expensive wristwatches like Piaget into widely advertised portable status symbols with mass appeal. Buying Movado in 1983, Grinberg acquired the rights to a famous modernistic watch face with a black dial, no numbers, and a gold dot at 12 o'clock, designed by Nathan George, which has sold in the millions, in dozens of versions. Sales of Grinberg's company, which had several names over the years, grew to more than $500 million in 2008. He died in New York City on January 4, 2009.

Gaston Lenôtre (88) considered one of France's best-ever pastry-makers. Lenôtre opened his first Paris pastry shop in 1957; in 1960 he expanded into catering. Today, the Lenôtre company is represented around the globe with 35 shops in 12 countries stretching from Japan to Kuwait and Dubai to the US. Gaston Lenôtre died of cancer in Sologne, south of Paris, France, on January 8, 2009.

John F. McGillicuddy (78) former chairman and chief executive of Manufacturers Hanover who became a chief architect of banking consolidation. McGillicuddy put together one of the first big bank mergers in the economic slump of the early '90s, between Manufacturers Hanover and Chemical Bank, absorbed 10 years later by JPMorgan Chase in another landmark deal. He died of prostate cancer in Harrison, New York on January 4, 2009.

Adolf Merckle (74) German billionaire whose business interests ranged from pharmaceuticals to cement. Merckle's financial troubles had recently been compounded by losses on shares in automaker Volkswagen AG. His holding company, VEM Vermoegensverwaltung, recently had been in talks with banks to secure credit after its business interests ran up high levels of debt and lost value amid the global financial crisis. He committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train near his home in Blaubeuren, southwestern Germany, on January 5, 2009.

Jackie Rebora (77) longtime Los Angeles nightclub owner, hotel executive, and restaurateur. Rebora died of complications from pneumonia and heart failure in Los Angeles, California on January 5, 2009.

Alan Stiles (54) former publisher of Men's Fitness and Esquire magazines. Stiles had a long career in magazines. He helped to relaunch Men's Fitness, where he was publisher (2003-04). He also helped to launch ESPN the Magazine and was a top executive at Vanity Fair and GQ. He parked his car along the Massachusetts Turnpike, then apparently walked into the path of an oncoming commuter train after it left Boston's South Station, on January 9, 2009.

James Thorpe (93) former director (1966-83) of the Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens who helped to raise the public profile of the institution, turning it into one of southern California's leading educational and cultural centers. Thorpe died of cerebral vascular disease in Bloomfield, Connecticut on January 4, 2009.

Ron Asheton (60) guitarist for the Stooges whose sound helped to inspire the first generation of punk musicians. As a founding member of the band, formed in 1967, Asheton's distorted guitar on songs like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "T. V. Eye" was a hallmark of the group's sound. He was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 6, 2009.

Robert F. Brunner (70) staff composer for Walt Disney Studios who scored such films as That Darn Cat! and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. Brunner died in his sleep five days short of his 71st birthday, in Moorpark, California on January 5, 2009.

Irving Bush (78) trumpeter with a broad range of musical interests, including jazz and classical, who later in life was personnel manager for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Bush died of multiple myeloma in Los Angeles, California on January 8, 2009.

Eric de Boer (57) New Hampshire man who had several people convinced he was actually legendary guitarist Rich Williams from the rock band Kansas. De Boer even claimed to have written the popular song "Carry on Wayward Son" (later proved to have been written by Kerry Livgren). An obituary database said he used the stage name Rich Williams "when he played for Kansas for 22 years." It was later discovered that De Boer was not the rocker he claimed to be because the "real" Rich Williams is alive and well, living in Atlanta, and still performing. De Boer died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on January 9, 2009.

Harry Endo (87) actor who played a forensic scientist, Che Fong, on the long-running TV show Hawaii Five-O. Endo was one of the original cast members on the crime drama that began in 1968. After the show ended in 1980, he played a couple of small parts on Magnum PI, then retired from show business in the late '80s. He suffered a stroke and died in Brooklyn, New York on January 9, 2009.

Don Galloway (71) actor whose career was launched in the early days of TV soap operas and later included the big screen. Galloway's TV career began in the '50s on the soap opera The Secret Storm. In the early '60s, he was a regular on ABC's General Hospital and later played Officer Ed Brown on the prime-time show Ironside, starring Raymond Burr. Galloway starred in the 1983 movie The Big Chill. He died of a stroke in Reno, Nevada on January 8, 2009.

Jon Hager (67) remaining Hager twin who performed in the musical comedy duo The Hager Twins on Hee-Haw. The twins were in the original cast of the syndicated TV show, which debuted in 1969 satirizing country life with a mixture of music and comedy. Both were guitarists and drummers. Jon Hager had been in poor health and was depressed since his identical twin brother, Jim, died in May 2008. Jon Hager apparently died in his sleep and was found dead in his Nashville, Tennessee home on January 9, 2009.

Cheryl Holdridge (64) popular Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club TV show in the '50s. Holdridge later played Wally Cleaver's girlfriend for two seasons on Leave It to Beaver and had guest roles on shows such as Bewitched and The Dick van Dyke Show. She died after a two-year battle with lung cancer, in Santa Monica, California on January 6, 2009.

Frank and Eileen Kemp (79, 77) parents of British entertainers Gary and Martin Kemp, founding members of the popular '80s British pop rock band Spandau Ballet and stars of The Krays (1990), a film about the notorious British crime twins. The elder Kemps had been married for 55 years. Frank Kemp suffered a fatal heart attack on January 7, and his wife Eileen, who had just undergone a heart bypass, died within 48 hours in Bournemouth, England on January 9, 2009.

John M. Lee Jr. (78) reporter and editor at the New York Times who later oversaw the expansion of its business coverage, including the creating of its "Business Day" section, during a tumultuous era in the financial world. Lee died of complications during heart valve replacement surgery, in New Haven, Connecticut on January 6, 2009.

Deborah Riedel (50) Australian operatic soprano generally regarded as one of the greatest voices ever produced in that country at the peak of her career. Riedel sang many of the great parts in the repertoire at leading opera companies throughout Europe and the US. She died of cancer in Sydney, Australia on January 8, 2009.

Joseph Michael Ryan (aka 29-E) (24) up-and-coming rapper who had recently made his debut promotion at a local concert at Seattle's renowned Chop Suey venue, featuring diverse fusion of hip-hop, R&B, rock, electonic, and indie music. Ryan was shot and fatally wounded during a brief shootout after a dispute at the nightclub in Seattle, Washington on January 4, 2009.

Doris Ann Scharfenberg (91) early TV producer who paved the way for women behind the scenes when she began working at NBC in the '50s. Scharfenberg died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in Fort Worth, Texas on January 4, 2009.

Ray Dennis Steckler (70) cult film director whose surrealistically impossible plots went beyond zombies to display superheroes, rockers, bikini-clad beach girls—and flashes of what some saw as inspired moviemaking. Steckler's tour de force was The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living & Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964). He died of heart failure in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7, 2009.

Ned Tanen (77) former president of Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures in the '70s and '80s who presided over hits such as E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Top Gun. Tanen died in Santa Monica, California on January 5, 2009.

Jackie Roe Williams (90) accomplished musician and widow of former El Paso Mayor Judson F. Williams (d. 1997). Jackie Williams was a professor of vocal music at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she met and married then-professor of journalism Judson Williams. She quit teaching at the college but stayed busy giving private music lessons and directing several church groups around El Paso during her husband's tenure (1963-69). She died of a heart attack in El Paso, Texas on January 10, 2009.

Griffin B. Bell (90) Southern lawyer who grew up with Jimmy Carter and later became US attorney general for 30 months after Carter was elected President in 1976. Bell died of kidney failure in Atlanta, Georgia on January 5, 2009.

Lt. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard 2nd (93) US military officer who inspired Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe's (d. 1975) storied retort "nuts" to a German surrender ultimatum during the Battle of the Bulge. The remark was McAuliffe's first off-hand reaction to the enemy's ultimatum, but Kinnard encouraged him to make it official. Kinnard died in Arlington, Virginia on January 5, 2009.

Paula Loyd (36) anthropologist embedded with the US Army's Human Terrain Team cultural research program in Afghanistan who suffered from second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body after she was doused with a flammable fuel and set on fire by a local civilian while on patrol in an Afghan village on Nov. 4, 2008. Shortly after Loyd was suddenly attacked and severely burned, her assailant, Abdul Salam, was allegedly shot dead execution-style by one of her colleagues, Don Ayala, currently charged with second-degree murder in US District Court in Virginia. Loyd died from the burns in San Antonio, Texas on January 7, 2009.

Robert T. Monagan (88) former California Assembly Speaker. Monagan was a moderate Republican who also served in the Nixon administration. He spent 12 years in the California Assembly, becoming speaker after Republicans gained a narrow majority in 1968. He was replaced by a Democrat, Bob Moretti, after Democrats regained control of the house in 1970. Monagan left the Legislature in 1973 to become assistant secretary of transportation under President Richard M. Nixon. He died in Sacramento, California on January 7, 2009.

Mike Peters (60) former Hartford mayor who served four terms in office (1993-2001) and had said he was considering another run for mayor in 2011 when his health improved. Peters also owned a namesake restaurant, Mayor Mike's, in downtown Hartford. He had been a city firefighter, Democrat Town Committee member, and Redevelopment Agency member before he was elected mayor. He died of liver failure in Hartford, Connecticut on January 4, 2009.

Bill Stone (108) one of Britain's last surviving World War I veterans. Stone was the last known veteran in Britain to have fought in both World Wars and one of just three World War I survivors who took part in 2008 services to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War. He died from a chest infection in London, England on January 10, 2009.

Cornelia Wallace (69) former Alabama first lady who threw herself over Gov. George C. Wallace (d. 1998) when he was shot in a 1972 assassination attempt. The Wallaces divorced in 1978, amid claims she had bugged his phone in the Governor's Mansion. Cornelia Wallace died of cancer in Sebring, Florida on January 8, 2009.

Elzbieta Zawacka (99) former Polish resistance fighter who crisscrossed Nazi-occupied Europe to carry messages between Poland's exiled government and its resistance forces during World War II. Zawacka repeatedly risked her life crossing the borders of Nazi-occupied Poland on false documents to carry reports about Nazi atrocities and the resistance to Poland's government-in-exile in London. She later became a professor of mathematics at the Institute of Pedagogy at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, where she died on January 10, 2009.

Nicole Buckner (24) mother of Alyssa Buckner, the first baby born in Henderson County, South Carolina on New Year's Day 2009. The baby girl weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces. Nicole Buckner died unexpectedly after massive blood clots began forming in her body, in Hendersonville, North Carolina on January 8, 2009.

Clyde Charles (55) first inmate to use a federal civil rights law to sue for DNA testing that not only cleared him of a Louisiana rape conviction but also sent his brother to prison for the same crime. Charles's health problems included diabetes that required dialysis. He died on Shrimper's Row in Houma, Louisiana on January 7, 2009.

Manuela Fernandez-Fojaco (113) Spanish supercentenarian, believed to be the third-oldest verified person ever in Spain and the fifth-oldest living person in the world at her death. Fernandez-Fojaco became the last living oldest validated European born in 1895 after the January 2 death of 115-year-old Maria de Jesus in Portugal. She died in Spain on January 6, 2009.

Rev. Claude Jeter (94) founder of the gospel group the Swan Silvertones whose falsetto had a wide influence on both pop and religious singers in the '50s and '60s. Jeter died in the Bronx, New York on January 6, 2009.

Msgr. John Kucingis (100) Roman Catholic priest who fled the Communist regime in his native Lithuania and was pastor at St. Casimir's Church in Los Feliz for nearly 40 years (1947-84). Ordained in 1937, Kucingis was arrested four times by Soviet police in the '40s before escaping first to Germany, then to the US in 1946. He went to Los Angeles, where St. Casimir's parish had been founded by other Lithuanian refugees in 1941. He died in Los Feliz, California on January 6, 2009.

Pio, Cardinal Laghi (86) longtime Vatican diplomat who went to Washington to try to dissuade US President George W. Bush from launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Laghi died in Rome, Italy on January 10, 2009.

Lisa McMurray (34) adoption manager at the Cats Protection center, believed to be the first person in Northern Ireland to have contracted rabies since 1938. McMurray had traveled to Africa several times over the last couple of years, and it was thought she may have been infected with the untreated virus as far back as December 2006 after being bitten or scratched by a rabid dog while working in an animal sanctuary in South Africa. She began to feel unwell only after her last trip in March 2008 and had been hospitalized since the condition was diagnosed last December. She died in Belfast, Northern Ireland on January 6, 2009.

Charles ("Chuck") Morgan Jr. (78) civil rights-era lawyer from Alabama who represented Julian Bond and Muhammad Ali and argued for the "one man, one vote" principle. Morgan later was a prominent attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union at its offices in Atlanta and Washington. He died of Alzheimer's disease in Destin, Florida on January 8, 2009.

Rev. Richard John Neuhaus (72) leading intellectual of the Christian right who helped to build an influential coalition of conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics and informally advised President George W. Bush. Neuhaus learned that he had cancer in November 2008 and recently developed a systemic infection that doctors say led to his death in New York City on January 8, 2009.

Dr. Richard Sharpe (54) cross-dressing dermatologist serving life in prison for killing his estranged wife, Karen, whom he shot with a hunting rifle in front of witnesses in 2001 in anger over the prospect of losing $3 million in their impending divorce. Sharpe's case drew national attention when photographs of him wearing slinky dresses and fishnet stockings were widely published after his arrest. He was found hanged in his cell at Masschusetts Correctional Institution in Norfolk, Massachusetts on January 5, 2009.

Lei Clijsters (52) father of tennis player Kim Clijsters and a former Belgium soccer international. Lei Clijsters played 40 matches for Belgium's national team, participating in the 1986 and '90 World Cups. He played defense for several Belgian clubs and captained FC Mechelen when it won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1988 by beating Ajax in the final. He died of lung cancer in Brussels, Belgium on January 4, 2009.

Jimmy Crum (80) longtime Columbus TV sportscaster, known for both his loud sport coats and his charitable work. Crum joined WCMH-TV in Columbus shortly after its launch in 1949 and retired in '94. He was sports director for much of that time and helped to raise millions of dollars for charities, particularly those helping children with disabilities. He died in Columbus, Ohio on January 5, 2009.

Sonny Fai (20) professional rugby player on the National Rugby League's elite New Zealand Warriors who made his debut last year against the Parramatta Eels at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium and was previously named to one of Polynesia's top training squads for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Fai went missing off the coast of Bethells Beach in Auckland, New Zealand when he became caught in a rip tide and was washed out to sea while trying to rescue his brother. He was presumed dead by drowning on January 4, 2009.

Rob Gauntlett (21) record-setting adventurer and explorer who at age 19 became the youngest Briton ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, in 2006. Gauntlett and his close friend, James Hooper, were named National Geographic Adventurers of the Year in a ceremony in Washington, DC last November in recognition of their effort to travel from the north to the south pole using only natural and man power. Gauntlett was reportedly killed in a possible avalanche with an unidentified male companion while ice climbing in the French Alps on January 10, 2009.

Rene Herms (26) six-time German champion runner who reached the 800-meter semifinals of the 2004 Olympics. Herms reportedly had the flu over the New Year's holidays but trained as recently as Jan. 9. He was found dead in his apartment in the eastern town of Lohmen, Germany on January 10, 2009.

Joe Hirsch (80) longtime columnist for the Daily Racing Form known as the dean of American turf writers. Hirsch, whose career spanned 55 years, reported on the road to the Kentucky Derby in his "Derby Doings" column, a detailed rundown of Derby contenders as the horses competed in prep races in Florida, California, Kentucky, and New York. He had Parkinson's disease and was recovering from a broken hip suffered in a fall last spring when he died in New York City on January 9, 2009.

Carl R. Pohlad (93) billionaire banker whose Minnesota Twins won two World Series titles (1987, '91) during his nearly 25 years as owner. Pohlad's net worth of $3.6 billion was second among Minnesotans and 102nd in the nation; still, his teams often had some of the lowest payrolls in baseball. When he bought the Twins from Calvin Griffith in 1984, he was widely credited for saving baseball in the state. He died in Edina, Minnesota on January 5, 2009.

Dave Roberts (64) left-handed pitcher who played for the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates during a 13-year career in the majors. Roberts went 103-125 with a 3.78 earned run average for eight teams, beginning in 1969 with the San Diego Padres and ending in '81 with the New York Mets. He died of lung cancer in Short Gap, West Virginia on January 9, 2009.

Jisselle Salandy (21) Trinidadian boxing champion, one of the sport's rising young stars. Known for her quick feet and fast hands, Salandy easily defended her WBC, WBA, and WIBA belts against the Dominican Republic's Yahaira Hernandez on Dec. 26, which pushed Salandy's professional record to 17-0. She was killed when her car ran off a highway and smashed into a concrete column on the outskirts of the Caribbean country's capital, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on January 4, 2009.

Eric Scoggins (49) outside linebacker who helped USC to beat Alabama in their big 1978 matchup. Scoggins was a four-year letterman at USC. He recorded 164 career tackles, including 11 as a sophomore in the 24-14 win at Alabama. That performance won him the Pac-10 defensive player of the week award. He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, in Tracy, California on January 9, 2009.

Matt Sczesny (76) longtime (1971-2008) Boston Red Sox scout credited with signing players such as Mo Vaughn, John Valentin, and Bob Stanley. Sczesny died of cancer on Long Island, New York on January 4, 2009.

Jayne Soliman (41) former British international ice skater named British Free Skating champion in 1989, the same year she was ranked World No. 7 in professional free skating at the peak of her career. Soliman, who was 25 weeks pregnant, collapsed and died from a brain hemorrhage but gave birth two days later after doctors kept her heart beating long enough for her daughter Aya Jayne to be delivered by C-section, in Oxford, England on January 7, 2009.

Sidney Wood (97) in 1931 the only uncontested winner of a Wimbledon final. Wood's opponent in the final of the 1931 championship at the All-England Club was US Davis Cup teammate Frank Shields, grandfather of actress Brooke Shields, who was unable to play because of an ankle injury. Wood was ranked in the top 10 in the US 10 times (1930-45), reaching No. 2 in 1934. He died in Palm Beach, Florida on January 10, 2009.