Vasily Aksyonov (76) Russian writer, one of the last dissidents to be exiled from the Soviet Union. Aksyonov wrote more than 20 novels during a career that included his forced exile from the Soviet Union in 1980 after he was branded “anti-Soviet." He lived in the US until 2004, although he was reinstated as a Soviet citizen in 1990. He suffered a stroke in 2008 and died in Moscow, Russia on July 6, 2009.

George Haig, 2nd Earl (91) British artist who developed his gift for painting as a prisoner of war in World War II. Haig was the son of the late Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl (d. 1928), whose command of British troops in the 1916 Battle of the Somme cost 420,000 British casualties in four months of stalemate. The elder Haig’s determination to take on the German army in the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 produced more enormous casualties. The second Earl Haig died in Melrose, Scotland on July 10, 2009.

Paul Hemphill (73) former Atlanta Journal columnist who described the blue-collar South in his memoir Leaving Birmingham and wrote a biography of country singer Hank Williams. Hemphill also wrote The Nashville Sound, which sold 75,000 copies in hardcover as a look at country music and the Grand Ole Opry. He died of throat cancer in Atlanta, Georgia on July 11, 2009.

Bernard (Bernie) Goldstein (80) chairman of Isle of Capri Casinos who helped to start the modern riverboat casino industry. Goldstein founded Isle of Capri Casinos and opened the first riverboat in the South, the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi, Miss. on Aug. 1, 1992. The company owns and operates casinos in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and the Bahamas. Goldstein retired as chief executive in 2008, when he learned he had cancer. He died in Bettendorf, Iowa on July 5, 2009.

Harry J. Gray (89) retired United Technologies Corp. chief executive credited with transforming the company into an industrial conglomerate. Gray, who became president of what was then United Aircraft Corp. in 1971, was chairman and CEO (1972-86). Hartford-based United Technologies, parent of jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, Otis elevator, Sikorsky Aircraft, and other businesses, credits Gray for leading it from a $2 billion defense company to a $17 billion diversified conglomerate; it posted revenue of $58.68 billion in 2008. Gray died in Hartford, Connecticut on July 8, 2009.

Harold J. (Bill) Haynes (83) civil engineer from Texas who rose to chairman and chief executive of Standard Oil Co. of California before it became Chevron. Haynes led Standard Oil’s efforts to increase domestic oil production and explore alternative forms of energy by drilling geothermal wells. When he retired in 1981 after 34 years, Standard Oil was the fourth-largest oil company in the US. It became Chevron Corp. in 1984 when it merged with Gulf Oil. Haynes died of cancer in San Francisco, California on July 8, 2009.

Catherine Hickman (31) fashion designer whose list of clients included Kyle Minogue, Paris Hilton, and Claudia Schiffer. Hickman made headlines in 2001 when she escaped death in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center, where she had been scheduled to stage a fashion show on that fateful day. She was one of six people killed in a fire that broke out in a block of flats in south London, England on July 9, 2009.

Robert Isabell (57) floral designer and events planner whose lavish visions helped to create the excitement around Studio 54 and made Kennedy weddings and a White House Christmas, not to mention museum galas, corporate celebrations, and charity balls, into glorious occasions. Isabell was found dead of a heart attack in his Greenwich Village, New York townhouse on July 8, 2009.

Oscar G. Mayer Jr. (95) retired chairman of the Wisconsin-based meat processing company that bears his name. Mayer was the third Oscar Mayer in the family that founded Oscar Mayer Foods, once the largest private employer in Madison, Wis.; it was later sold to General Foods and is now a business unit of Kraft. Mayer died in Fitchburg, Wisconsin on July 6, 2009.

William Reedy (72) bar owner convicted of drunken driving in a crash that killed ex-New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers manager Billy Martin in 1989. Reedy first said he’d been driving, then said he lied to protect Martin’s reputation; a jury found him guilty despite his claim. He died of pancreatic cancer in Milford, Michigan on July 5, 2009.

Ray Watt (90) Los Angeles builder who continually created new products to meet the tastes of southern California as the region grew after World War II. Watt was widely credited as the first in the West to popularize condominiums, strip shopping centers, time-share vacation homes, and residential communities with shared amenities such as golf courses, tennis courts, swimming pools, and lakes. He died in Rancho Mirage, California on July 7, 2009.

Takeo Doi (89) scholar who wrote that the Japanese psyche thrived on a love-hungry dependence on authority figures. Doi wrote the 1971 book, The Anatomy of Dependence, which introduced the idea of amae—a childlike desire for indulgence—as the key to understanding the Japanese mind. He died in Tokyo, Japan on July 5, 2009.

Werner Z. Hirsch (89) German-born UCLA economist whose work led to the first textbook on the economics of state and local governments. Hirsch died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles, California on July 10, 2009.

Simon Karlinsky (84) professor emeritus of Slavic languages and literature at the University of California at Berkeley who wrote authoritative volumes on Russian authors Gogol, Nabokov, and Chekhov and was an expert on homosexuality in pre-Soviet culture. Karlinsky died of congestive heart failure in Kensington, California on July 5, 2009.

Frank Mickens (63) no-nonsense principal who brought order and significant academic improvement to what was once one of New York’s most troubled schools, Boys & Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Mickens took over the school in 1986, when it seemed controlled more by hardened youths from the neighborhood’s streets than by the faculty. In his first seven years as principal, the graduation rate rose to 40.5% from 24.4%; in 2004, the year he retired, it was 47.5%. Mickens died in Brooklyn, New York on July 9, 2009.

Kenneth M. Stampp (96) leading Civil War historian who, through his books, changed the scholarly view of slavery in the antebellum South from a benign relationship between white plantation owners and compliant slaves to harsh servitude maintained to support the South’s economy. Stampp died of heart failure two days before his 97th birthday, in Oakland, California on July 10, 2009.

Sir Edward and Joan Downes (85, 74) British conductor and his wife. Sir Edward had long associations with the Royal Opera House—conducting every season for more than 50 years—and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, where he became principal conductor and later conductor emeritus. He had become almost blind and increasingly deaf; his wife, a former dancer, choreographer, and TV producer, had been diagnosed with cancer. The couple died together at an assisted suicide clinic in Zürich, Switzerland on July 10, 2009.

Robert Korda (68) former Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist who disappeared on July 8 on his way to a Hollywood studio gig. His family made frantic phone calls to police and hospitals with no luck. On July 12 came the news that he was dead and that his body had been at the coroner’s office all along; coroner’s officials said Korda had been found unresponsive shortly before 7 p.m. on July 8 at a home in Glendale. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead less than an hour later but had been mistakenly entered into the system as “Robert Norda." He died in Glendale, California on July 8, 2009.

Judi Ann Mason (54) award-winning playwright and a film and TV writer who launched her TV career on the ‘70s sitcom Good Times and later cowrote the 1993 movie comedy Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. While still a college student, Mason won the 1975 Norman Lear playwrighting award for the best original comedy. She died of a ruptured aorta en route to UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on July 8, 2009.

Kat McKenzie (25) former pole dancer, a runner-up in the second-season finale of Paris Hilton’s recent ITV2 reality series My New BBF, on which many contestants from across the United Kingdom competed in a series of challenges to become the hotel heiress’s best British friend, including makeovers, dress designs, a talent show, and even offering gifts for Hilton. McKenzie died unexpectedly in Guilford, Surrey, England on July 10, 2009.

Cecil Smith (92) former longtime Los Angeles Times TV critic (‘50s-‘80s). Smith died of congestive heart failure in San Luis Obispo, California on July 11, 2009.

Martin Streek (45) longtime Canadian radio disk jockey, one of the last three remaining media personalities from the “Spirit of Radio” era in the past 20 years, known for his work on Toronto’s top modern rock radio station The Edge 102.1 (CFNY-FM). Streek’s on-air duties also included hosting countless live-to-air weekend broadcasts from several local nightclubs at the Velvet Underground in Phoenix and Toronto every Saturday and Sunday nights. Nearly two months after being dismissed from the station because of company restructuring, he was found dead in his apartment, an apparent suicide in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 6, 2009.

John McDonald (65) former mayor and lifelong Iowa City resident. The eldest of 12 children, McDonald took over the family business, McDonald Optical, in 1988 and served on the Iowa City Council (1982-94), including six years as mayor. He died of pancreatic cancer in Iowa City, Iowa on July 8, 2009.

Robert S. McNamara (93) former US secretary of defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, vilified for pursuing the Vietnam War, who later devoted himself to helping the world’s poorest nations as president of the World Bank. McNamara died in Washington, DC on July 6, 2009.

Littleton Mitchell (90) Delaware civil rights activist. Mitchell, who served as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II, led the state NAACP chapter for more than 30 years and was a key figure in eliminating segregation in Delaware hospitals. He was killed in a crash near his home when his Toyota Prius crossed the centerline and collided with a GMC Savana. Mitchell was pronounced dead during surgery in Delaware City, Delaware on July 6, 2009.

John Orman (60) Connecticut professor who seized control of the political party that Sen. Joe Lieberman created for his successful 2006 reelection campaign as an independent after losing the Democrat primary. Orman said Lieberman’s creation of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party was only a ploy to get a better position on the ballot and that Orman himself hoped to keep the party active to endorse a Senate candidate in 2010. He died in Trumbull, Connecticut on July 5, 2009.

Sharon Sharp (69) former Illinois and California lotteries director. Sharp ran for Illinois secretary of state in the late ‘70s. She was Elk Grove Township clerk when she was slated by the GOP for secretary of state in 1978, a race she lost in a landslide to incumbent Alan Dixon. She was tapped by Gov. Jim Thompson in 1987 to head the lottery but resigned in ‘91 and was director of the California lottery for two years. She died of lung cancer in Chicago, Illinois on July 5, 2009.

Col. Bill (Sparky) Sparkman (79) retired US Air Force colonel and husband of Sara Karloff, daughter of the late actor Boris Karloff (d. 1969). Sparkman worked extensively with NASA and the Space Shuttle program during his military career and was a widower when he met and married the legendary horror film star’s only child. He died in Los Angeles, California on July 9, 2009.

Maria del Carmen Bousada (69) Spanish woman believed to have been the world’s oldest new mother when she gave birth to twin boys at age 66 in December 2006 after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. Bousada was diagnosed with a tumor shortly after giving birth and died near Cadiz, Spain on July 11, 2009.

Patrick Tracy Burris (41) confirmed serial killer responsible for at least five known murders in rural northern South Carolina’s Cherokee County over six days this past week. Most victims were shot to death, and Burris’s final known victim, Abby Tyler (15), later died of her wounds at a local hospital on July 4. Burris was known to police as a repeat offender with a long rap sheet running more than 25 pages. He had recently been paroled after serving seven years for felonies such as breaking and entering and larceny. He was shot and killed by police after an attempted burglary in Dallas, North Carolina on July 6, 2009.

Susan Clemmer (41) veteran Los Angeles Police Department gang narcotics detective, among the first witnesses to testify at the 1991 trial of four white police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King. Their acquittal led to the 1992 race riots in LA. Clemmer told jurors in the federal trial that King had laughed about the beating he suffered at the hands of several LAPD officers after a traffic stop and that he had spat blood on her uniform during the ambulance ride to a hospital. She committed suicide by shooting herself in the head in the lobby of a suburban sheriff’s station in Santa Clarita, California on July 6, 2009.

Evelyn Coke (74) Jamaican-born home-care worker who fought all the way to the US Supreme Court in 2007 in a failed attempt to reverse federal labor regulations that exempt home-care agencies from paying overtime. Coke died of heart and kidney failure in Manhasset, New York on July 9, 2009.

William C. Conner (89) veteran federal judge in New York with expertise in patent law whose rulings dictated how songwriters should be paid, shaped interpretations of the First Amendment, and even guaranteed the Marx Brothers’ posthumous property rights. Conner died in Bronxville, New York on July 9, 2009.

Michael P. DeLozier (32) Oklahoma man sentenced to death for the 1995 capital murders of two campers during an apparent drug-fueled robbery at their southern Oklahoma campsite. DeLozier and two other men were believed to have fatally shot the two victims and set their bodies on fire to steal a pickup truck, a generator, and other camping equipment. He was executed by lethal injection in McAlester, Oklahoma on July 9, 2009.

Maria Hertogh (72) Dutch woman who made worldwide headlines in 1950 when she became the central figure in a legal conflict between her biological Dutch parents and the Muslim woman who adopted her during World War II. The highly publicized custody battle sparked religious tensions between Muslims and Christians that later ignited a series of deadly ethnic riots in Singapore after the judge handed the girl back to her Dutch Catholic parents. Hertogh died of leukemia in Hujibergen, Netherlands on July 8, 2009.

Waldo McBurney (106) America’s oldest worker who gained fame in his later years as a competitive runner and beekeeper. McBurney died in Quinter, Kansas on July 8, 2009.

Eridania Rodriguez (46) elder sister of top-ranked professional bodybuilder Victor Martinez. Rodriguez had immigrated to the US from the Dominican Republic with her family decades ago and worked as a cleaning lady in a Manhattan office tower a few hundred feet from the World Trade Center reconstruction site. Her body was found inside an air-conditioning duct four days after she disappeared, on the 12th floor of the New York City skyscraper under mysterious circumstances, on July 11, 2009.

Allen Sharp (77) US District judge appointed by Pres. Richard M. Nixon in 1973 who was later chief judge (1981-96). Sharp was involved in several key court cases, including the desegregation of Fort Wayne elementary schools, the Joseph Corcoran murder case, and a public Elkhart 10 Commandments display. He was a senior judge until his death in Fort Wayne, Indiana on July 10, 2009.

Rev. Robert J. Short (76) Presbyterian minister who wrote The Gospel According to Peanuts (1965) with the blessing of the cartoon’s creator, Charles Schulz. The book was translated into 11 languages and sold more than 10 million copies. Short wrote seven other books, including two others with "Peanuts" themes. He died in Little Rock, Arkansas on July 6, 2009.

Richard Washington (116?) South Carolina man believed to be 116 years old, which would have made him one of the nation’s oldest residents and possibly the oldest person in the world, if his age could have been verified. Social Security documents list Washington’s birthdate as April 13, 1893, but no birth certificate exists. He died of an infection in Darlington, South Carolina on July 7, 2009.

John Bachar (52) legendary figure in the world of rock climbing. Bachar became famous for his exploits as a free-soloist, considered the most dangerous form of climbing because it does not involve ropes or safety equipment. He died from severe injuries after falling while climbing alone on Dike Wall outside Mammoth Lakes, California on July 5, 2009.

Rene Capo (48) two-time judo Olympian, a Cuban emigré who grew up in Hialeah, Fla. Capo competed at the 1988 and ‘96 Olympics. In 2008, he placed fifth at the USA Judo Senior National Championships. Two months later he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in Chicago, Illinois on July 6, 2009.

Lou Creekmur (82) Hall of Fame offensive lineman who starred on the Detroit Lions’ three NFL championship teams of the ‘50s. Creekmur played for the Lions (1950-59), mostly at left tackle. He made eight straight Pro Bowl teams, was picked to the All-NFL team six times, and was chosen for the Lions’ 75th Anniversary Team in 2008. He died in Tamarac, Florida on July 5, 2009.

Reggie Fleming (73) former Chicago Blackhawks player. Fleming spent four of his 12 NHL seasons with the Blackhawks. The Montreal native registered 455 penalty minutes and 47 points in 261 career regular-season games and 84 penalty minutes and five points in 37 postseason appearances (1960-64). In 1961, he helped the Blackhawks to capture the Stanley Cup. He also spent two seasons with the World Hockey Association’s Chicago Cougars (1972-74). He died in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois on July 11, 2009.

Jimi Flowers (47) US Paralympic swimming coach. Flowers was USA Swimming’s national team director (1989-93). He also worked at Auburn and with the US Olympic Committee, developing numerous Olympic and Paralympic champions. He was killed in a climbing accident on Capitol Peak near Aspen, Colorado on July 10, 2009.

Arturo Gatti (37) former boxing champion whose brutal bouts made him one of the ring’s most exciting figures of the past 10 years. Boxing professionally for 16 years, Gatti’s bouts in Atlantic City became a staple of HBO-TV. He won 40 fights, 31 by knockout, and lost 9. He held the International Boxing Federation super featherweight title and the World Boxing Council light welterweight crown. He was found dead, apparently strangled with the strap of a purse and with head injuries, in a hotel room at a Brazilian seaside resort. Police charged his wife, Amanda Rodrigues (23), with his murder, on July 11, 2009.

Jack Mitchell (85) former University of Kansas football coach and publisher of the Wellington (Kans.) Daily News. Mitchell coached the Jayhawks (1958-66) and left with an overall record of 44-42-5. His best teams were in 1960-62. After leaving coaching, he bought the newspaper and was its publisher for 20 years until he retired to Arizona. He died of cancer in Sun City, Arizona on July 5, 2009.

Mathieu Montcourt (24) French pro tennis player recently banned from the game for five weeks and fined $12,000 for betting on matches. Montcourt said he never bet more than $3 at any one time and never on his own matches. He was found dead of cardiac arrest in the stairwell of his Paris, France apartment on July 6, 2009.

Lou Pagliaro (90) ping-pong star who, at a fraction of an inch over 5 feet tall, won four national table tennis championships in the ‘40s and ’50s with nimble footwork and a rocketing forehand. Pagliaro died on Staten Island, New York on July 8, 2009.