Alfred A. Knopf Jr. (90) only child of publishing giants Alfred A. and Blanche Wolf Knopf who left the noted publishing house run by his parents to become a cofounder of Atheneum Publishers in 1959. Among other best-sellers, Atheneum published Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962), which sold more than 70,000 copies; on the other hand, having published Mario Puzo's second novel, The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965), the house turned down The Godfather (published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1969) because a partner thought it was "junk." Alfred A. Knopf Jr. died of complications from a fall, in New York City on February 14, 2009.

Marvin Rand (84) photographer whose images captured more than 50 years of Los Angeles's architectural history, including landmark works like the Watts Towers, the Bradbury Building (seen in many films and TV series), and the circular Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. Rand died of heart disease in Marina del Rey, California on February 14, 2009.

Edward Upward (105) oldest British author, whose Marxist-themed works had considerable influence, both literary and political, on his friends and contemporaries, poets W. H. Auden (d. 1973) and Stephen Spender (d. 1995) and novelist Christopher Isherwood (d. 1986). Upward helped to convert Spender to communism. He died in Pontefract, England on February 13, 2009.

Sir Bernard Ashley (82) Briton who teamed up with his wife to build the Laura Ashley fashion and home furnishing brand into a global business. Inspired by a trip to Italy in 1953, Laura Ashley designed some headscarves; the couple made the scarves in their London apartment and found a ready market. By the time Laura Ashley died in 1985, the company had 220 shops in 12 countries, but in '90 it reported its first loss and struggled for years after that with management clashes and changing fashion tastes. Sir Bernard Ashley died in the Elan Valley in Wales on February 14, 2009.

Helmut Gutmann (97) retired cancer research scientist and violinist who suffered massive hip and leg injuries after reportedly being pushed onto the floor by a fellow Bloomington (Minn.) nursing home resident, wrestling legend Verne Gagne (82), after an altercation on January 26. Investigators said both men were living in the facility's memory loss unit and suffered from Alzheimer's-related dementia, but Gagne had no recollection of the incident. Reportedly suffering from pulmonary disease, Gutmann was twice hospitalized and later died of complications from a broken hip in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 14, 2009.

Sigurdur Helgason (87) Icelander whose pioneering "hippie airline," then called Icelandic (now Icelandair), made low-cost air travel to Europe possible for a generation of Americans. Long before Freddie Laker and People Express began no-frills flights across the Atlantic, Icelandic sharply cut prices. Helgason died on the Caribbean island of Mustique on February 8, 2009.

Dr. Willem Johan Kolff (97) pioneer in the fields of kidney dialysis and artificial organs. Kolff was part of a team of surgeons who made worldwide headlines in 1982 by implanting an artificial heart into Seattle dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived for four months, then died with the heart still functioning. Kolff died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 11, 2009.

Domenica Niehoff (63) Germany's best-known former prostitute. Known to customers and an adoring nation as "Hamburg Domenica," Niehoff was familiar across Germany for the unabashed pride she took in her profession and her advocacy for the legalization and regulation of prostitution. She died of complications from a lung condition, in Hamburg, Germany on February 12, 2009.

Peer Portner (68) inventor of an implanted electrical pump for heart-failure patients. Originally trained as a nuclear physicist, Portner became a consulting professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. He died of cancer in the San Francisco Bay area on February 9, 2009.

Jean Srnecz (59) senior vice president of merchandising for Charlotte, NC-based Baker & Taylor, one of the nation's top wholesale book suppliers and distributors of entertainment products. In her most recent position, Srnecz was responsible for all buying and inventory management activities. She was among 50 people aboard Continental Connection Flight 3407 killed when the commuter plane crashed into a residence and burst into flames, outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Anna Fábián (55) respected, hard-working Hungarian high school teacher of education and psychology who in the '80s-'90s started a local program to train teachers in early childhood education. Fábián, who had a troubled life, was found two days after she froze to death in the backyard of her home in Csenger, Hungary on February 12, 2009.

Alfred J. Kahn (90) social-policy scholar and educator who criticized failures of local and state governments in child development and family support and later argued for a European-style social-welfare system available to all citizens. Kahn died in Hackensack, New Jersey on February 13, 2009.

Gerald E. Myers (85) professor of philosophy, an expert on philosopher William James and a modern dance enthusiast who combined both interests as philosopher-in-residence at the American Dance Festival. Myers wrote books on both subjects. He died of multiple myeloma in New London, Connecticut on February 11, 2009.

Sean F. Scott (39) self-educated neurodegenerative disease activist and researcher who became active with ALS Therapy Development Institute, the world's largest amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease) research center, when his mother Vanna was diagnosed with ALS in 2001. Four more of Vanna's seven siblings succumbed to the familial form of the disease by 2007, and Scott eventually was diagnosed with the disease himself at age 38 in '08. He quickly became a leader and president of the field organization's research and development team, teaching himself neurobiology and reading an anthology of publications on potential therapeutics before he developed an information management system used by researchers for greater collaboration among research groups and the streamlining of experiments and processes. Scott died in San Francisco, California on February 9, 2009.

Boris ("Bob") Yavitz (85) former dean of the business school at Columbia University who restored stability to its faculty and its overall standing as a top-flight graduate institution after a period of leadership turmoil. Yavitz died of prostate cancer in Hampton Bays, New York on February 14, 2009.

José Luis ("Chavito") Marrero (82) versatile Puerto Rican character actor who appeared for decades in local movies and on TV and stage. Marrero appeared in films including My Little Angel and My Lucky Day in the late '90s and was a well-known TV pitchman. Most recently he was cast in Lovesickness, a 2007 Puerto Rican film starring Luis Guzman. Marrero died of pulmonary fibrosis in Santurce, Puerto Rico on February 8, 2009.

Abdul-Khaliq al-Mukhtar (49) popular Iraqi actor well known for his 2008 TV portrayal of Nouri al-Said, a controversial prime minister considered one of the founders of modern Iraq. Al-Mukhtar died of kidney failure in Damascus, Syria, where he had moved after the US-led invasion of Iraq, on February 8, 2009.

Robert Anderson (91) playwright who wrote such Broadway hits as Tea & Sympathy and You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. Anderson also wrote Hollywood screenplays and several novels, but it was his stage work that brought him the most fame. He had Alzheimer's disease for the last few years but died of pneumonia in New York City on February 9, 2009.

Louie Bellson (84) big-band and jazz drummer, a master musician who performed with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and his late wife, singer/comedienne Pearl Bailey (d. 1990). The youngest and last of the "great three" showman-drummers in jazz (the others were Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich), Bellson died of complications from Parkinson's disease after breaking his hip in November 2008, in Los Angeles, California on February 14, 2009.

Estelle Bennett (67) eldest member of the Ronettes, the singing trio (Bennett, her younger sister Ronnie, and their cousin Nedra Talley) whose 1963 hit "Be My Baby" epitomized the famed "wall of sound" technique of its producer, Phil Spector. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Bennett was found dead by police in her apartment after relatives had been unable to contact her, in Englewood, New Jersey on February 11, 2009.

Carolyn George d'Amboise (81) photographer and former ballet and Broadway dancer married to New York City Ballet star Jacques d'Amboise and mother of Broadway actress and dancer Charlotte d'Amboise. In 1976, Carolyn and Jacques d'Amboise formed the National Dance Institute, a group that introduces schoolchildren to the arts, using dance as a catalyst. Carolyn d'Amboise died of primary lateral sclerosis, a rare neuromuscular disease, in New York City on February 10, 2009.

Aasiya Zubair Hassan (37) businesswoman, cofounder in 2004, and co-owner of the pioneering Islamic cable TV station Bridges TV, the first American Muslim TV network to broadcast in the English language, with her estranged husband Muzzammil Hassan (44). The Buffalo, New York-based cable channel was designed to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The marriage had a history of domestic violence. Six days after she filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order against her husband, Aasiya Hassan was found beheaded at her TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York on February 12, 2009. Muzzammil Hassan was later charged with second-degree murder.

Hugh Leonard (82) prolific Irish playwright, memoirist, travel writer, and newspaper columnist whose autobiographical play Da won four Tonys in 1978, including one for best play. Leonard had been hospitalized for more than a year battling various illnesses and died in Dublin, Ireland on February 12, 2009.

Orlando ("Cachaito") Lopez (76) Buena Vista Social Club bassist. Born in Havana in 1933, Lopez became an international sensation as part of the original Buena Vista group of elderly musicians that American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder brought together in the '90s. Lopez died of complications after surgery, in Havana, Cuba on February 9, 2009.

John McGlinn (55) conductor and musical theater historian who delved deep into neglected archives to recreate musicals like Show Boat, Anything Goes, and No, No, Nanette in their original forms. McGlinn died of an apparent heart attack in New York City on February 14, 2009.

Coleman Mellett (34) jazz guitarist in trumpeter Chuck Mangione's award-winning jazz band, a touring member with the troupe since 1999 who later released his first solo album Natural High (2007). Mellett was married to Latin jazz singer Jeanie Bryson, daughter of the late jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Mellett was among 50 people killed in a fiery commuter plane crash along with saxophonist Gerry Niewood on their way to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert gig with Mangione, outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Gerry Niewood (64) saxophonist and flutist who worked closely with trumpeter Chuck Mangione's award-winning jazz band for numerous years and had been heard on the Concert in Central Park album by Simon & Garfunkel in 1981. Niewood backed singers as diverse as Peggy Lee, Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra, and Sinead O'Connor, among others, and had played on the soundtracks of movies including A Bronx Tale, When Harry Met Sally, and King of Comedy. He was among 50 people killed in a fiery commuter plane crash, along with jazz guitarist Coleman Mellett, on their way to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert gig with Mangione, outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Claude Nollier (89) French actress and comedienne perhaps best known internationally for her memorable role as Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec, wife of famed French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (played by José Ferrer), in the original Moulin Rouge (1952). Nollier died in Paris, France on February 12, 2009.

Penny Ramsey (??) Australian actress and daughter of veteran character actress Lois Ramsey who starred in several classic '60s and '80s Australian TV series in over 30 years, including Prisoner: Cell Block H, The Bush Gang, Matlock Police, Homicide, Division 4, Mrs. Finnegan, Riptide, and Anything Goes. Penny Ramsey died of cancer in Victoria, Australia on February 11, 2009.

Marina Svetlova (86) ballerina who played an important role in American dance education after a performing career in international ballet ('30s-'60s). A soloist with the Original Ballet Russe and a ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Svetlova later earned a reputation as a major teacher, a professor of ballet and chairwoman of the ballet department at Indiana University (1969-92). She had been in failing health since a stroke several years ago and died in Bloomington, Indiana on February 11, 2009.

Alison L. Des Forges (66) among the first human rights activists to highlight the ethnic tensions that exploded into the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Des Forges was a senior adviser to the Africa division of Human Rights Watch for nearly 20 years. She was killed in a fiery commuter plane crash as she returned home from Europe, where she had briefed diplomats on the situation in Rwanda and Africa's Great Lakes region, outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Beverly Eckert (57) founder and cochairperson of the victims' advocacy group Voices of September 11th who carried her grief into action as she lobbied for better antiterror efforts after her husband Sean Rooney was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while at work on the 98th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center. Eckert became one of the several members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission, where she helped push presidents, lawmakers, and even herself for another commission to investigate 9/11, to make the country safer, and to establish a memorial for the victims. She was among 49 people aboard Continental Airlines Flight 3407 killed when the commuter plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Steve Emerine (73) former newspaper editor and owner active in Democrat politics. Emerine, who also worked in public relations and was Pima County Assessor for eight years (1973-80), had been an Arizona state Democrat committeeman and remained active in Pima County politics. Recently, he had been writing a weekly business column for Inside Tucson Business. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks when he died of complications from surgery in Tucson, Arizona on February 13, 2009.

Adm. Wesley L. McDonald (84) four-star Navy admiral who commanded the 1983 invasion of Grenada for the US military and as a pilot led the first air strike against North Vietnam in '64 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. McDonald died of normal pressure hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder, in Arlington, Virginia on February 8, 2009.

Danny Joe Bradley (49) Alabama man condemned to death for the 1983 rape and strangulation of his 12-year-old stepdaughter Rhonda Hardin while he was caring for the girl and her younger brother at their home in Piedmont, Alabama while their mother was hospitalized. Bradley was executed by lethal injection in Atmore, Alabama on February 12, 2009.

Virginia Call (115 or 111?) Chicago woman who in 2007 told the Chicago Sun-Times that she was born on Jan. 4, 1894 and claimed to be 115 (which would have made her one of the oldest verified people in the world) at her death. Records said she was about 111 but may have been the oldest registered voter in the city, although her exact age was in dispute. The Gerontology Research Group, which keeps records on the oldest people in the world, found a Yazoo County, Mississippi census record from 1910 with Call's maiden name, Virginia Green, which indicated she was 12 at that time and would have put her final age at 111. She died in Chicago, Illinois on February 10, 2009.

Guy Chichester (73) environmental activist and founding member of the Clamshell Alliance who helped to lead protests against the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire. Chichester died of a heart ailment in Rye, New Hampshire on February 8, 2009.

Augusto Moreira de Oliveira (112) Portuguese supercentenarian, believed to be the oldest documented man ever in Portugal and the fifth-oldest verified person in the country. Moreira de Oliveira became the sixth-oldest man in the world and was among the oldest European men ranked in the top 25 longest-lived validated men ever in the world since 2006. He died in Vola Nova de Gaia, Portugal on February 13, 2009.

Thomas Francis Edwards (65) California man who had been sentenced to death at the hands of a gas chamber in 1986 for a first-degree murder charge in the 1981 shooting death of 12-year-old Vanessa Iberri and the attempted murder of her friend Kelly Cartier as the two girls were walking inside the Blue Jay campground near San Juan Capistrano. Edwards was on death row at San Quentin State Prison for more than 22 years after the Orange County Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence in 1991. He died in Vacaville, California on February 14, 2009.

Eluana Englaro (38) comatose woman who ignited a fierce right-to-die debate that convulsed Italy and dragged in the Vatican. Englaro had been in a persistent vegetative state since a car accident in 1992; her doctors said her condition was irreversible. Late in 2008, her father won a 10-year court battle to allow her feeding tube to be removed, saying that was her wish. But Italy’s government, backed by the Vatican, tried to keep her alive, racing against time to pass legislation prohibiting food and water from being suspended for all such patients. Englaro died three days after her feeding tube was removed, in Udine, Italy on February 9, 2009.

Virgil Griffin (64) man who led a Ku Klux Klan chapter in North Carolina involved in a deadly 1979 clash with members of the Communist Workers Party. As Imperial wizard of the Cleveland Knights of the KKK, Griffin became known nationally when five Communist marchers were killed in a clash with members of the Klan in Greensboro. He was cleared of state murder and federal civil rights conspiracy charges; several Klan members also were acquitted. In a civil trial, the Klan, the American Nazi Party, and the Greensboro Police Department were found jointly liable for the wrongful deaths of the five people killed during the Communist-sponsored "Death to the Klan" rally on Nov. 3, 1979. Griffin died in Gastonia, North Carolina on February 11, 2009.

Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen (85) leading Tibetan lama, human rights activist, and founder of the Thubten Dhargye Ling Buddhist Center in Long Beach. A member of the same Buddhist sect as the Dalai Lama, Gyeltsen was known for his traditional approach to Buddhist teaching and was one of a dwindling number of Tibetan-born teachers who followed the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959. He died in Long Beach, California on February 13, 2009.

Johnny Ray Johnson (51) Texas man condemned to death for the 1995 rape and capital murder of Leah Joette Smith (41), described in court records as a cocaine addict to whom Johnson offered drugs in exchange for sex. But after she got high on crack cocaine, Smith reneged and they fought as he repeatedly raped and beat her head against a concrete curb before leaving her to die on a Houston street. Johnson was believed to have been linked to numerous rapes and murders of several other women beginning in the late '70s while he worked as a cab driver in the Houston-Austin area. He was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on February 12, 2009.

Leila Hadley Luce (83) socialite beauty with a long list of prominent friends and lovers on her résumé whose impulsive trip around the world in her 20s led to a career writing travel books like Give Me the World and A Journey with Elsa Cloud. The widow of Henry Luce 3rd (d. 2005), eldest son of the founder of Time magazine, Leila Hadley Luce had suffered from emphysema for several years. She died in New York City on February 10, 2009.

Marvin Renslow (47) pilot at the controls of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed into a house under icy conditions, killing everyone aboard and a man in the house. A National Transportation Safety Board member said the pilot appeared to have ignored recommendations from the NTSB and his employer that the autopilot be turned off under icy conditions; investigators also raised the possibility that the pilot overreacted by yanking the yoke back, further destabilizing the plane. Renslow was among 50 people killed in the crash, in Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Gary Rosenfeldt (67) longtime victims' rights advocate who helped to change the way the criminal justice systems treats those touched by violent crimes. Rosenfeldt spent the last 30 years fighting for the rights of victims after he and his family were left reeling by their 16-year-old son Daryn's horrific rape and murder at the hands of notorious child killer Clifford Olson in 1981. Through their organization Victims of Violence, the Rosenfeldts lobbied successfully for police protocols for notifying next of kin, victim impact statements in court proceedings, financial assistance programs for victims, and tougher parole legislation, even though there were few other organizations for missing children at the time. Gary Rosenfeldt died of lung cancer in Ottawa, Canada on February 9, 2009.

Dale Scheanette (35) Louisiana man known as the "Bathtub Killer" in Texas after he was condemned to death for the rape and capital murder of Wendie Prescott (22), found strangled and left presumably drowned inside a half-filled bathtub at her suburban Dallas apartment complex on Christmas Eve 1996. The slaying terrorized the Dallas-Forth Worth area and went unsolved for more than three years, until Scheanette was arrested for a burglary and his fingerprints were tied to the killing. He was charged with two murders, but not tried for killing Christine Vu (25) in a similar incident three months earlier, and was blamed for the rapes of at least five other women. He was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on February 10, 2009.

Wayne Tompkins (51) Florida man condemned to death for the 1983 disappearance and murder of his girlfriend's daughter Lisa DeCarr (15), whose decomposed body was found buried underneath the porch of their Tampa home a year later. Tompkins had been arrested on unrelated charges of robbery and sexual assault but was later charged with murder after he told a jailhouse informant that he strangled the teenager with her bathrobe sash when she fought off his sexual advances. He was executed by lethal injection in Starke, Florida on February 11, 2009.

Eddie Ayers (54) former running back and kick returner for UCLA (1973-75) who played on the school's 1976 Rose Bowl championship team that defeated No. 1 Ohio State. Ayers died of lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks itself and can affect various organs, in Lakewood, California on February 8, 2009.

Marc Burrows (30) British association football (soccer) player recognized as scoring the sport's fastest-ever goal after he stroked a hat trick within two seconds in a 5-3 record for the Isle of Wight's nonleague Cowes Sports reserve team match against Eastleigh in 2004. Burrows died of cancer in Bournemouth, Dorset, England on February 9, 2009.

Jim Fairchild (82) experienced mountaineer who helped to found the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit in 1961. Called "the grand old man of mountain rescue," Fairchild participated in hundreds of rescues for more than 40 years and continued to help train rescue volunteers after his retirement in 2005. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the San Jacinto Mountains, he knew the terrain so well that he could guide lost hikers out of the wilderness by phone. He remained an avid hiker and was climbing Mt. Rubidoux in the San Bernardino Mountains a few days before his death in Riverside, California on February 8, 2009.

Joe Goldstein (81) fast-talking, persistent sports publicist who promoted everything from the New York City Marathon to Evel Knievel. Goldstein died of a stroke in Boca Raton, Florida on February 13, 2009.

Lis Hartel (87) equestrian who won two Olympic silver medals for Denmark in the '50s despite being paralyzed below the knees because of polio. Hartel died in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 12, 2009.

Madeline Loftus (24) ice hockey player who had played in 47 games and finished with 10 goals with the Buffalo State women's ice hockey team in 2002-04 before she transferred to St. Mary's University in Minnesota, where she played as a forward for another two seasons. Loftus was among 50 people aboard Continental Airlines Flight 3407 killed when the commuter plane crashed into a house and erupted into flames, on her way to a reunion game, near Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Jeremy Lusk (24) San Diego-based freestyle motocross rider who won a gold medal at the 2008 X Games. Lusk was injured Feb. 7 when he failed to complete a full rotation while attempting a Hart Attack backflip and slammed head-first into the dirt, suffering severe brain damage and a possible spinal cord injury. He died three days later in San José, Costa Rica on February 10, 2009.

Lorin Maurer (30) former champion swimmer and senior captain of Rowan University's women's swimming team who later became a leading fund-raiser and managing academic director of the Athletic Friends Group of Princeton University's athletics department, where she worked to help raise money for sports programs and other community activities. Maurer was among 49 people aboard Continental Connection Flight 3407 killed when the commuter airliner crashed into a house and erupted into flames outside Buffalo, New York on February 12, 2009.

Julius ("Judy") Patching (92) Australian involved in every Summer Olympics since working as chief starter in the athletics competition at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Patching participated in the Beijing 2008 Torch Relay leg in Canberra at age 91 by carrying the torch up to the Australian War Memorial. He died near Geelong in Victoria state, Australia on February 13, 2009.

Ted Uhlaender (68) former major league outfielder whose daughter Katie races for the US skeleton team. Ted Uhlaender played in the majors (1965-72) with Minnesota, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2008, he had been hospitalized for another round of chemotherapy when doctors found a blood clot. He died of a heart attack in Atwood, Kansas on February 12, 2009.