David Ireland (78) conceptual artist in the Bay Area, best known for transforming a decrepit 1886 Victorian house in San Francisco’s Mission District into a home that was also a work of art. Ireland died of pneumonia in San Francisco, California on May 25, 2009.

Marcus Alexis (77) former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a Northwestern University professor. Alexis died of complications from surgery in Stanford, California on May 27, 2009.

Dr. Nathan Friedman (97) periodontist and University of Southern California professor of dentistry who developed a groundbreaking curriculum in the ‘60s aimed at helping apprehensive patients to overcome their fear of dental work. Friedman died in Los Angeles, California on May 27, 2009.

Paul Haney (80) known as the “voice of NASA’s Mission Control” for his live televised reports during the early years of the space program. Haney became NASA’s information officer in 1958, three months after the space agency was formed, and later managed information from the Gemini and Apollo flight programs. He pioneered a real-time system of reporting events as they happened in the first manned flight program, Project Mercury. He died of melanoma that spread to his brain and was untreatable, in Alamogordo, New Mexico on May 28, 2009.

Amos Elon (82) Israeli writer, one of the country’s leading chroniclers and critics. The author of nine books, Elon rose to international fame in the early ‘70s after the publication of The Israelis: Founders & Sons, a critical examination of early Zionists. Israel’s founders, he argued, had failed to acknowledge the people already living on the land the Zionists had come to reclaim. He died of leukemia in his adopted home, Tuscany, Italy, on May 25, 2009.

Sir Clive W. J. Granger (74) Welsh-born economist and Nobel laureate whose work revolutionized the way stocks and other fluctuating series of data are analyzed and forecast. For their work, Granger and Robert F. Engle were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 2003. Knighted in 2004, Granger taught for 30 years at the University of California/San Diego. He died in La Jolla, California on May 27, 2009.

Thomas P. Nickell Jr. (88) former vice president at the University of Southern Caifornia who directed fund-raising, public affairs, and press relations there for more than 30 years. Nickell died in San Diego, California on May 25, 2009.

Carl Spencer (37) British diver, part of a 17-member National Geographic crew taking part in an underwater film project exploring the wreck of the HMHS Britannic, a British World War I hospital ship and sister ship of the Titanic. Thirty people died when the Britannic hit a mine and sank off the Greek Aegean island of Kea in 1916. The wreck is owned by British businessman Simon Mills, who intends to transform it into an underwater tourist attraction. Spencer was believed to have died from decompression sickness, commonly known as the "bends," caused by surfacing too quickly from a dive, while filming the sunken ship outside Athens, Greece on May 24, 2009.

Ronald T. Takaki (70) scholar who helped to pioneer the field of ethnic studies and wrote animated histories about blacks, Asians, Latinos, and other marginalized Americans during 40 years on the University of California/Berkeley faculty. The author and editor of more than 20 books, Takaki established UC Berkeley’s PhD program in ethnic studies, the first of its kind in the nation. He had struggled for nearly 20 years with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disease for which there is no cure, and committed suicide in Berkeley, California on May 26, 2009.

Dr. Daniel C. Tosteson (84) dean of Harvard medical school (1977-97) who spent 20 years reconfiguring the curriculum there and thus influencing the education of doctors around the country and the world. Tosteson died of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Boston, Massachusetts on May 27, 2009.

Jay Bennett (45) former member of the band Wilco. Bennett worked as a sound engineer and played instruments for Wilco (1994-2001). Earlier this month he sued the band’s lead singer Jeff Tweedy, claiming he was owed royalties for songs during his seven years and five albums with the group. In the breach-of-contract lawsuit, Bennett also claimed that he deserved money from the band’s 2002 documentary, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which traces the making of Wilco’s album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Bennett died in his sleep in Urbana, Illinois on May 24, 2009.

Barry Comden (74) businessman and restaurateur, fourth husband (1976-81) of singer-actress Doris Day. Comden died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 2009.

Kenneth Kahn (66) Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who had a side career as a briefcase-toting comic in a double-breasted suit who irreverently poked fun at the legal system. Kahn died after suffering massive internal injuries in a fall while climbing the mountain above the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu alone, in Cuzco, Peru on May 27, 2009.

Joshua A. Lecce (23) drummer for the southeastern Connecticut-based modern rock band Gone for Good. The band had recently released a demo, or short collection of songs, called The Drawing Board, and their independent CD, tentatively entitled The Bright Lights, is being mastered in New York and expected to be released later this month. Lecce was one of two persons killed in a two-car accident caused by a drunk driver in Norwich, Connecticut on May 24, 2009.

Jack Lewis (84) decorated US Marine Corps officer, screenwriter (A Yank in Vietnam [1963]), pulp novelist, occasional movie stuntman, and cofounder of Gun World magazine. Lewis died of lung cancer a week after marrying his longtime companion, Stephanie Gonsalves, in Hawaii on May 24, 2009.

Richard Lewis (89) TV producer who brought to the small screen such ‘50s series as Wagon Train and M Squad. Lewis died of melanoma in Somers, New York on May 25, 2009.

Heaven McBride (16) daughter of West Coast hip-hop and rap artist King Tee (born Roger McBride), best known for his instrumental collaboration with rap stars Dr. Dre and Xzbitz on three platinum albums. Heaven McBride was killed in a car accident in Palmdale, California on May 26, 2009.

Pat O’Brien (24) guitarist for the post-hardcore thrash metal band Cobra Clutch. The band had recently completed its debut CD and was currently touring on the East Coast. O’Brien apparently died in his sleep in Fredrock, Maryland on May 29, 2009.

Jack Reilly (84) TV producer best known for his work with Good Morning America and Entertainment Tonight. Reilly died of a heart attack in New York City on May 27, 2009.

Mickey Ross (89) comedy writer and producer, an Emmy winner who worked on All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Three’s Company. Ross died of a stroke and heart attack in Los Angeles, California on May 26, 2009.

John Tolos (78) Canadian-born pro wrestler who spent more than 30 years in the ring. Tolos gained fame as Los Angeles's top wrestling villain in the early ‘70s, attracting crowds to the Olympic Auditorium and one record-setting match at the Memorial Coliseum in 1971. Nicknamed the Golden Greek, he followed his older brother Chris (d. 2005) into the World Wide Wrestling Federation in 1949; they became a tag team and toured as the Canadian Wrecking Crew before going solo. John Tolos died of kidney failure in Woodland Hills, California on May 28, 2009.

Gaafar al-Nimeiry (79) former Sudanese president known for imposing Islamic law in the country. al-Nimeiry became Sudan’s president in 1969 and held the post for 16 years despite a coup attempt by the Communist left in the early ‘70s. He died in Khartoum, Sudan on May 30, 2009.

Thomas Claw (87) one of an elite group of Navajo Marines who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language. Claw freely spoke to groups about his role in the war until his health began to decline in recent years. He died of cancer in Prescott, Arizona on May 26, 2009.

Leo Jackson (83) former mayor of New London, Conn., credited with being the first black mayor in New England. Jackson’s election by fellow city councilors in 1979 drew national media coverage. He served only a single one-year term as mayor but stayed on the City Council until 1993. He died in New London, Connecticut on May 24, 2009.

William Johnson (78) former New Hampshire state supreme court justice, involved in public life for 40 years. Johnson spent four years in the state Legislature in the ‘60s. A Republican, he ran for the US Senate in 1966 and played key roles in the state Presidential campaigns of George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller. Named a superior court judge in 1969, he joined the state Supreme Court in ’85 and retired in '99. Hoping to attend his granddaughter’s high school graduation, he collapsed and died while walking to a hotel room in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina on May 30, 2009.

Ephraim Katzir (93) Israel’s fourth president and an internationally recognized biophysicist. Katzir’s 1973-78 tenure spanned two seminal events in Israeli history: the ‘73 Mideast war and the visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem in ’77. Katzir left the presidency after one term to return to scientific research. He died several weeks after his 93rd birthday, in Jerusalem, Israel on May 30, 2009.

Haakon Lie (103) pioneer of Norway’s welfare state and one of the country’s most influential politicians. A longtime secretary of the Labor Party, Lie was credited with helping to build it into the Nordic country’s largest party during the ‘30s. He died in Oslo, Norway on May 25, 2009.

Kerry Martin (34) wife of current Arizona State treasurer Dean Martin, first elected in 2006 as a sitting Republican state senator by defeating Democrat candidate Rano Singh. The couple had been married for 13 years and were expecting their first child. Kerry Martin died from childbirth complications after giving birth to their son, Austin Michael Martin, in Phoenix, Arizona on May 25, 2009.

Oleg S. Shenin (71) Communist Party official who took part in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in 1991. Then chief of Gorbachev’s Communist Party staff, Shenin was part of a group of party hard-liners disillusioned by the breakdown of Communist institutions. They were imprisoned but given amnesty in 1994. Shenin died in Moscow, Russia on May 28, 2009.

Sgt. James Travis (86) one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the country’s first black military pilots and ground crew during World War II. Travis trained at Tuskegee, Ala. as an aerial engineer, gunner, and crew chief. He was assigned to the 477th Bombardment Group and served at several US bases. He died in Cleveland, Ohio on May 26, 2009.

Cmdr. Duane G. Wolfe (54) US Naval Reserve commander from Los Osos, Calif., a former Seabee, who chose a tour of duty in Iraq over retirement. Wolfe was officer-in-charge of the US Army Corps of Engineers office in the Anbar province and oversaw a group of 59 service members, Iraqi civilians, and others involved in $300 million worth of economic development and security reconstruction projects. He was killed in the blast of a roadside bomb as he traveled with a convoy to inspect a new wastewater treatment plant, in the Fallouja area west of Baghdad, Iraq on May 25, 2009.

Thomas M. Franck (77) Berlin-born expert on international law, committed to promoting justice in developing countries and helping to draft constitutions for several of them. Franck, who taught at New York University (1957-2002), was a legal adviser to many foreign governments, an ad hoc judge and advocate before the International Court of Justice, author of many books on international law, and founding director of the Center for International Studies at NYU. He died of prostate cancer in New York City on May 27, 2009.

Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste (62) influential Haitian Roman Catholic priest, once jailed in Haiti for his political activities, who fought for his countrymen’s rights in the US. Jean-Juste came to the US as a young man and founded the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami in the late ‘70s. When the US government began to systematically deport Haitian immigrants, he fought to ensure they received due process for asylum consideration. Jean-Juste died of complications from a stroke and a lung problem, in Miami, Florida on May 27, 2009.

Susan B. Jordan (67) activist lawyer who represented high-profile clients such as Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson. Jordan was the passenger in a two-seater plane that crashed in Utah after clipping a power line; both Jordan and pilot John Austin (64) were killed on May 29, 2009.

David Lowe (52) husband of Prince Charles’s personal florist Sarah Champier-Lowe, described as “wild at heart” during a 2008 interview about her $30,000-a-year floral work for the Prince of Wales. The couple had been married for more than five years, but the marriage was reportedly under strain in recent weeks. David Lowe was found dead in a river estuary, an apparent suicide by drowning, in Somerset, England on May 25, 2009.

Marcella M. Meyer (84) advocate for the deaf who fought to expand civil rights and establish social services through the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, an advocacy group she helped to found in 1969 and ran for almost 30 years. Meyer died of an abdominal aneurysm in Anaheim, California on May 26, 2009.

Terry Barr (73) defensive back and All-Pro receiver who played nine seasons with the Detroit Lions, including on their last championship team, in 1957. Barr was a third-round draft pick for the Lions that year and initially played defensive back for them. In his rookie season he returned an interception for a touchdown in the team’s 59-14 NFL title game victory over the Cleveland Browns. He later switched to receiver and made two Pro Bowl appearances (1963-64). He died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on May 28, 2009.

Emmanuel Baba Dawud (74) former Iraqi national football (soccer) coach, one of Iraq’s most revered sports figures. Dawud shot to football fame in Iraq after scoring the country’s first goal in an international game in the 1957 Pan Arab games. He was named coach of the Iraqi national team in 1978 and later led Iraq to two Olympic Games (1984, ’88). He died of cancer in Dahuk, 260 miles (430 km) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on May 27, 2009.

Dannie Farber Jr. (18) standout high school football player, a wide receiver on the Los Angeles City cochampion Gauchos football team. Farber was shot and killed by an unknown assailant while on a date at a restaurant in Compton, California on May 24, 2009.

Karine Ruby (31) former French Olympic snowboarder who won a gold medal in the giant slalom at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and a silver medal in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Ruby was a six-time world champion with 65 snowboard World Cup victories but retired after the 2006 Turin Olympics, where she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the snowboardcross event. She was killed in a mountain climbing accident with another climber on France's famed Mont Blanc Massif when she fell into a 70-foot crevasse outside Chamonix, France on May 29, 2009.

Exodus Tyson (4) younger daughter of former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, considered the youngest man ever to win several WBA world heavyweight titles in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Exodus Tyson was killed in a freak accident after she accidentally hanged herself with a power cord attached to a treadmill at the family's home in Phoenix, Arizona on May 26, 2009.

Peter Zezel (44) center who played 15 National Hockey League seasons after breaking into the league with the Philadelphia Flyers as a teenager. Zezel had suffered from the rare blood disease hemolytic anemia for the past 10 years. He was hospitalized last week for scheduled surgery, but complications developed and his conditioned worsened. He died in Toronto, Canada on May 26, 2009.