Deborah Digges (59) poet and memoirist whose work often sprang from her own personal problems. The author of four poetry collections and two memoirs, Digges was a professor of English at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., outside Boston, where she had taught since 1986. She committed suicide by jumping from an upper level of the Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst on April 10, 2009.

Judith Krug (69) director of the Chicago-based American Library Association and a founder of its Banned Books Week. Krug had headed the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom since 1967. Banned Books Weeks has been observed since 1982 during the last week of September. ALA officials say the event celebrates intellectual freedom. Krug died of stomach cancer in Evanston, Illinois on April 11, 2009.

Corin Tellado (81) well-known Spanish author of more than 4,000 romance novels, a popular novelist throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Despite ill health that forced her to have blood dialysis three times a week since 1995, Tellado continued writing to the end. She collapsed and died of heart failure in the northern seaside city of Gijon, Spain on April 11, 2009.

Dwight R. ("Rocky") Crandell (86) US Geological Survey volcanologist and author of several books and research papers whose tracking of deep layers of mud led to a pioneering reassessment of volcano hazards in the Pacific Northwest. Crandell died of a heart attack in Wheat Ridge, Colorado on April 6, 2009.

Richard D. Stanley (48) chief executive of Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd. Stanley joined DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, in May 2008 and was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia in January ’09. A US citizen, he died in Singapore on April 11, 2009.

Michael Wise (64) key figure in the ‘80s savings and loan scandal. Wise had been chairman of Denver-based Silverado Savings & Loan Association, whose 1988 collapse attracted attention for its $1-billion cost to taxpayers and its board of directors, which included Neil Bush, son of then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. Although acquitted of criminal charges, Wise was banned from banking for life and later served over 3 years in prison for stealing nearly $9 million from investors in an Aspen, Colorado mortgage business. He jumped to his death from the ninth level of a parking garage at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport on April 8, 2009.

Samuel H. Beer (97) leading American expert on British government and politics and a longtime professor of government at Harvard who led the liberal organization Americans for Democratic Action (1959-62). Beer died in Washington, DC on April 7, 2009.

Irving John ("Jack") Good (92) retired Virginia Tech statistician who helped to break the Nazi Enigma code for his native England during World War II. Good had been a professor of statistics at Tech since 1967. A citizen of the United Kingdom, he had worked for British military intelligence on a code-breaking team at Bletchley Park, England. He died in Radford, Virginia on April 5, 2009.

Constantine Papadakis (63) Drexel University president since 1995, credited with raising the endowment, enrollment, and profile of the one-time commuter school in Philadelphia. Under Papadakis's leadership, the university acquired schools of medicine, nursing, and public health and established an extensive online degree program. In 2006, Drexel started its own law school and recently had begun laying the groundwork for a possible second campus in northern California. Papadakis suffered from lung cancer and died of pulmonary complications on April 5, 2009.

Barbara A. Ringer (83) lawyer and a former register of copyrights (1973-80), the US's top copyright position, at the Library of Congress, where she had worked since 1949. Ringer spent 21 years drafting new legislation, finally passed in 1976, to update the nation's archaic copyright laws, unchanged since 1909—before the invention of TV or commercial radio, before copying machines and the modern recording industry, let alone cable TV, home computers, and the Internet. She died of complications from dementia in Lexington, Virginia on April 9, 2009.

Walter Schneir (81) writer whose fascination with the '50s Rosenberg espionage case began with his 1965 book, Invitation to an Inquest, arguing that the couple had been framed, and ended with his acceptance that Julius, if not Ethel, Rosenberg had indeed been a Soviet spy. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953. Schneir died of thyroid cancer in Pleasantville, New York on April 11, 2009.

Dave Arneson (61) one of the cocreators of the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons. Arneson and Gary Gygax (d. 2008) developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. Known for its oddly shaped dice, the game became a hit, especially with teenage boys. It eventually was adapted into video games, books, and movies. Arneson died of cancer in St. Paul, Minnesota on April 7, 2009.

Randy Cain (63) founding member of the soul group the Delfonics, which had such hits as “La La Means I Love You." Brothers William and Wilbert Hart and Cain formed the group while attending Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School in the ‘60s. One of the earliest to define the smooth, soulful “Philadelphia sound,” the group won an R&B Grammy in 1970 for their song “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time." Cain ldied in Maple Shade, New Jersey on April 9, 2009.

Steve Cannon (81) radio personality whose voices and colorful characters were a fixture on the Minneapolis airwaves for nearly 40 years. Cannon's show—from “the basement studio” at WCCO-AM, where he had worked (1971–97) until his retirement, featured Cannon bantering with his characters Ma Linger, Morgan Mundane, and Backlash LaRue. Before joining WCCO, he worked for 13 years as a morning show host at rival KSTP-AM. He died of cancer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 6, 2009.

Simon Channing Williams (63) British film producer who made a string of acclaimed movies with director Mike Leigh, with whom he formed Thin Man Films in 1988. Together they produced 11 movies, including Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake, and Happy-Go-Lucky, all four of which earned Oscar nominations. Channing Williams had battled cancer for several years; he died in the county of Cornwall in southwest England on April 11, 2009.

Howard Clark (70) veteran broadcaster who settled in Shreveport during a career that lasted more than 40 years at radio stations around the nation. Clark, who retired in 2006, worked at stations including WKY in Oklahoma City, WTIX in New Orleans, KFRC and KYA in San Francisco, WWDJ in Hackensack, New Jersey, and numerous Shreveport stations. He was diagnosed with lung cancer about a week earlier and died in Shreveport, Louisiana on April 5, 2009.

Jane O'Brien Dart (90) former actress, arts patron, and philanthropist who gave up her screen career to marry Justin Dart (d. 1984), the kingmaker who helped to persuade actor Ronald Reagan to enter politics. After signing Jane O'Brien to a contract around 1936, Warner Brothers renamed her Jane Bryan and often cast her as an ingenue in nearly 20 films. The Darts married on New Year's Eve 1939 and by the mid-'40s were part of Reagan's circle, even after his divorce from Jane Wyman and remarriage to Nancy Davis. Jane Dart died in Pebble Beach, California on April 8, 2009.

Carmelita Durio (60s) sister of retired professional football star and acquitted murder suspect O. J. Simpson. Durio had appeared at her brother's recent sentencing hearing after a Las Vegas jury convicted him in a 2007 robbery and kidnapping, more than 13 years after Simpson was acquitted in Los Angeles of the double murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman in a sensational 1995 trial. Durio reportedly suffered from kidney failure and died in Sacramento, California on April 6, 2009.

Jerry Gillam (77) longtime (1960-95) California state government reporter, primarily for the Los Angeles Times. Gillam covered the Assembly and saw the formerly part-time Legislature become a full-time body with the passage of Proposition 1-A in 1966. A diabetic whose left leg was amputated in 2006, he was recently diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. He was taking a nap and was found unresponsive by his wife. Paramedics were unable to revive him, and he died in his sleep in Sacramento, California on April 11, 2009.

Dan Miller (67) longtime anchor on WSMV-TV in Nashville who was briefly (1989-90) Pat Sajak’s sidekick on a short-lived CBS late-night talk show in Los Angeles. Miller had anchored evening newscasts for the Nashville station since the ‘70s. He had gone to his Georgia hometown with two coworkers to watch practice rounds of the Masters golf tournament. He died of a heart attack in Augusta, Georgia on April 8, 2009.

Rocco Morabito (88) news photographer whose shot of a utility worker saving the life of a fellow lineman who had been shocked by a high-voltage wire won a Pulitzer Prize in 1968. In 1958, Life magazine devoted a full page to another Morabito photograph that showed children in an elementary school reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag; standing with the children, head erect, eyes forward, paws over heart, was a pet rabbit. Morabito worked for the Jacksonville Journal for 42 years, retiring in 1982. He died in Jacksonville, Florida on April 5, 2009.

Nancy Overton (83) singer who joined the pop group the Chordettes in 1958 and melded her low tones into their barbershop-quartetlike harmonies on some of their later hits. The Chordettes had been together for 10 years when Overton stepped in for one of the original four, Janet Ertel, who no longer wanted to go on the road. Overton died of esophageal cancer in Blairstown, New Jersey on April 5, 2009.

Michael Stern (98) foreign correspondent who filed some of the first dispatches from Rome as Allied forces entered the city during World War II and, in his later career as a philanthropist, helped to save the aircraft carrier Intrepid as a museum. Stern and builder Zachary Fisher (d. 1999) also created the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at Rockefeller University. Stern died of pancreatic cancer in Palm Beach, Florida on April 7, 2009.

John ("Buddy") Strait (58) elder brother of popular Grammy-winning country and western music singer-songwriter George Strait, considered one of the top best-selling recording artists in the US, ranked only behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Buddy Strait was found dead in his motel room of apparent natural causes in San Antonio, Texas on April 10, 2009.

Bill Tobin (81) first correspondent for the Associated Press in Juneau, Alaska. During his career at AP and later as a longtime editor of the Anchorage Times, Tobin helped to tell the state’s story of discovering North Slope oil, building the trans-Alaska pipeline, and experiencing the 1964 earthquake. He died in Anchorage, Alaska on April 5, 2009.

David ("Pops") Winans Sr. (74) Grammy-nominated patriarch of the award-winning gospel music family. In 1999, Winans was nominated for a Grammy for his solo CD Uncensored; he and his wife Delores, known as Mom Winans, were nominated for their CD Mom & Pop Winans in 1989. Pop Winans was the father of 10 children, including BeBe and CeCe Winans, known for their hits “Addictive Love” and “I’ll Take You There." He died six months after suffering a heart attack and stroke, in Nashville, Tennessee on April 8, 2009.

Jack Wrangler (62) handsome ‘70s porn star whose frankness about his homosexuality made him a role model for many gay men. After appearing in more than 80 adult films, Wrangler left the porn industry later in the '70s after meeting big-band singer Margaret Whiting, 22 years his senior. They lived together for 20 years before marrying in 1994. Wrangler died of emphysema in New York City on April 7, 2009.

Thomas Byrne (85) former St. Paul mayor who helped to make the city the first in the nation with a human rights ordinance and brought back its St. Patrick’s Day parade. Byrne was a big promoter of bringing people together during his two terms in office (1966-70). After leaving politics, he worked in St. Paul public schools until his retirement in the mid-‘80s. He had been in hospice care for the past couple of months and died in St. Paul, Minnesota on April. 5, 2009.

Russell Dunham (89) World War II Army veteran awarded the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration for valor, after he assaulted three German machine-gun emplacements, killed nine German soldiers, and took two prisoners. Dunham died of congestive heart failure in Godfrey, Illinois on April 6, 2009.

Cherif Guellal (76) Algerian resistance fighter, businessman, and diplomat who cut a glamorous figure in '60s-'70s Washington society and was the longtime companion of Miss America 1951, Alabama-born Yvonne Fox. Guellal was a veteran of the independence movement that in 1962 secured freedom for his North African country from French rule. He died of leukemia in Algiers on April 7, 2009.

René Monory (85) French auto mechanic-turned-statesman who championed mutual funds and made it easier for employees to own shares in their companies. Monory was president (1992-98) of the French Senate, the country’s second-most powerful political position, first in line for the presidency in the event of death or incapacitation. He died in Loudun, France on April 11, 2009.

Paddy O'Hanlon (64) Catholic civil rights veteran who in 1973 helped to forge Northern Ireland’s first failed effort at power-sharing. O'Hanlon died in Dublin, Ireland on April 7, 2009.

Sean Tsvangirai (2) grandson of Zimbabwe's top opposition leader and newly elected prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Sean Tsvangirai's father, Garikai, is one of the prime minister's three sons. The child drowned in a swimming pool at his family's home in Harare, Zimbabwe on April 5, 2009.

Wally Baker (111) supercentenarian, believed to be the oldest verified person ever documented in Delaware and one of the world's oldest validated people with proof of age. One of eight children, Baker's longevity runs in her family; her brother John lived to be 99, and sisters Emma and Anna lived to be 102 and 105, respectively. Baker died in Wilmington, Delaware on April 8, 2009.

John S. Broome (91) Oxnard rancher and philanthropist whose family has owned land in Ventura County since before the turn of the 20th century. Broome was a major supporter of Cal State Channel Islands. In 1999 he pledged $5 million to establish a library on the developing Cal State Channel Islands campus at the former Camarillo State Hospital. He had a stroke in January and died in Oxnard, California on April 10, 2009.

Sandra Cantu (8) California girl reported missing on March 27 when she went to visit a neighborhood friend and never returned home. Investigators released a surveillance video that showed the little girl last seen walking away from her family's home in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where she lived. Sandra Cantu was found dead inside a suitcase in an irrigation pond near her home in Tracy, California on April 6, 2009.

Update: On April 10, police arrested Melissa Huckaby (28), a local Sunday School teacher, on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in the Cantu case.

Dorothy Cullman (91) philanthropist who, with her husband, Lewis B. Cullman, donated about $250 million to a host of arts, science, and educational institutions in New York, among them the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Public Library. Dorothy Cullman died of complications from a brain injury she suffered in a fall in July 2008, in New York City on April 6, 2009.

Jenny Hanssen (109) Norwegian supercentenarian, believed to be the oldest verified person ever documented in Norway. Hanssen died just three weeks short of her 110th birthday, in Gratangen, Norway on April 9, 2009.

Rev. Stanley L. Jaki (84) physicist and theologian, a longtime professor at Seton Hall University whose writings analyzed the histories of science and religion and the intertwining of faith and reason. Jaki died of a heart attack in Madrid, Spain, where he had traveled from Rome after delivering a lecture, on April 7, 2009.

Florent Lemacon (28) French yachtsman shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire as he tried to take cover inside a cramped cabin when French navy commandos stormed his yacht, held hostage by Somali pirates for about a week, during a rescue operation off the Mediterranean coast after the captive passengers were threatened with execution. Two pirates were also killed, and three were captured; four other hostages, including Lemacon's wife and their 3-year-old son, were released. Lemacon died at the scene after an apparent crossfire near the shore off Ras Hafun in northeastern Somalia on April 10, 2009.

Johnnie McCain (102) St. Louis centenarian who along with his wife, Mary Etta, were the subject of a Post-Dispatch story in July 2008 about their lengthy marriage, believed to be the longest in the St. Louis area at the time. The couple wed in 1928 and had been remained married for more than eight decades until Mary Etta died in August at age 98. Johnnie McCain died of congestive heart failure in the St. Louis suburb of Florissant, Missouri on April 10, 2009.

Dimitris Patmanidis (19) student at Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) Vocational College in Athens, Greece who shot and seriously wounded fellow student Dimitris Kokkinis (18) and two male bystanders during a shooting rampage outside the campus. Patmanidis had apparently warned of the attack in an Internet posting that featured 17 photographs of himself holding guns on the popular social networking web site MySpace, just several hours before the shootings. The incident was the first campus shooting to occur in Greece. Patmanidis died after shooting himself in the head in Athens, Greece on April 10, 2009.

Anthony Powell (28) student at Henry Ford Community College in Detroit who shot and killed fellow student Asia McGowan (20) in a classroom in the fine arts building before killing himself in an apparent murder-suicide that prompted a temporary lockdown across the campus. Investigators said Powell had apparently suffered from chronic mental illness and began to post several graphic videos on the popular web site YouTube that detailed his hatred of atheism and black women. He was not believed to have had any known relations with his victim at the time of the shooting. Powell and McGowan both died at the scene in Dearborn, Michigan on April 10, 2009.

Thomas Sharpe (73) high-profile attorney who defended Charles Harrelson, father of actor Woody Harrelson, after he was charged with the 1979 murder of US District Judge John H. Wood. Sharpe was also involved in many other notable criminal cases during his 45-year law career in south Texas. He died unexpectedly in Brownsville, Texas on April 6, 2009.

Samuel Valdivia (18) Arizona high school student, stabbed to death during a fight with a former student, Navy sailor Sixto Balbuena (20), after he was found in a compromising situation with his mathematics teacher, Tamara Hofmann (48), Balbuena's fiancée and former teacher. Authorities said Balbuena may have attacked and stabbed Valdivia in a jealous rage but was later arrested on a second-degree murder charge when Valdivia died from his wounds in Chandler, Arizona on April 10, 2009.

Nick Adenhart (22) Los Angeles Angels pitcher, a rookie who had overcome major elbow surgery to realize his big league dreams. Adenhart hurt his pitching elbow two weeks before the June 2004 major league draft and underwent Tommy John surgery—a reconstructive operation on an elbow ligament—then spent most of the next four seasons in the minors. Hours after he made his season debut with the Angels, throwing six scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics, his car was struck by a minivan that apparently ran a red light in Fullerton, Calif. The driver of the minivan was jailed on murder, manslaughter, DUI, and other counts. Adenhart died during surgery in Orange, California on April 9, 2009.

Mike Casey (60) former Kentucky basketball player. Selected Mr. Basketball in 1966, Casey was leading scorer at Kentucky as a sophomore in the 1967-68 season. He averaged 20 points and led the team in field-goal and free-throw percentages. He was chosen to the All-NCAA Mideast Regional team in 1968 and the All-SEC team three times. He sat out the 1969-70 season after breaking a leg but returned the next year to finish his Kentucky career with 1,535 points, making him the school’s 13th all-time scorer. He died of heart complications in Nashville, Tennessee on April 9, 2009.

Rob Dickson (45) former professional football player with the Australian Rules Football League. Dickson made his debut as a midfielder for Hawthorn in 1988 and later played 17 games (kicking 12 goals) for the club in over three seasons before he moved to the Brisbane Bears, where he played out his last season in '91. In recent years, he rocketed to fame by winning the first season of the hit reality TV program Australian Survivor, taking home $500,000 in prize money, and later won acclaim as a filmmaker after producing a documentary on the AFL premiership called The Essence of the Game. He was killed in a car accident along with his 5-year-old son Byron while vacationing with their family in South Africa on April 11, 2009.

Brad Hastings (44) former star linebacker on Texas Tech University’s football team. Hastings was a three-time all-Southwest Conference player who brought hope to Texas Tech’s struggling program as a top recruit in the ‘80s. He was the school's career tackling leader for 15 years after making 480 tackles (1983-86) and was still second on that list. Knee trouble kept him from pursuing a pro career. Recently he had high blood pressure and breathing problems. He died of heart failure in Arlington, Texas on April 6, 2009.

Frank Morris (85) Canadian Football Hall of Famer, a former offensive guard and defensive tackle and part of 13 Grey Cup titles during a career that spanned more than 40 years. Morris died in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on April 11, 2009.

Casey Reese (20) son of legendary 2006 World Series of Poker inaugural champion Chip Reese (d. 2007). The younger Reese was a highly regarded baseball pitcher during his high school years and had apparently accepted a scholarship to the University of Las Vegas in 2008 but never played college baseball. He was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 7, 2009.

Marvin Webster (56) former pro basketball center who helped to lead the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1978 NBA finals. Known as "The Human Eraser," Webster spent nine seasons in the NBA. He averaged 16.1 points during the SuperSonics’ playoff run in 1978. He signed with the Knicks the next season and played for six years in New York. He was found dead, apparently of coronary artery disease, in the bathtub of his hotel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 6, 2009.