Francisco Ayala (103) novelist, sociologist, and one of Spain’s leading scholars. Ayala won many prestigious prizes in Spanish letters, from the Cervantes award in 1991 to the Prince of Asturias in ’98. The Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 forced him into exile, and he worked and lived in Argentina and the US before returning to Spain. He died in Madrid, Spain on November 3, 2009.

Nien Cheng (94) widow of Kangchi Cheng (d. 1957), a Chinese diplomat, businessman, and adviser to Shell Oil Co. In 1966 Nien Cheng was arrested by Red Guards and charged with espionage. She spent more than six years in solitary confinement in Shanghai, harshly interrogated and beaten by her jailers. Once outside, she learned that her only child, Meiping, an actress, was dead; the official explanation was suicide, but Cheng learned that her daughter had been murdered by the Red Guards for refusing to denounce her mother as a class enemy. In 1987, after emigrating to Canada, then the US, Cheng published her memoir. She died of cardiovascular and renal disease in Washington, DC on November 2, 2009.

Sheldon Dorf (76) founder of the world-famous Comic-Con International comic book convention. A free-lance artist and comic strip letterer, Dorf founded Comic-Con in San Diego in 1970; today, the convention draws 125,000 fans a year and is a major gathering for comic book fans, artists, writers, and movie stars. He had diabetes and had been hospitalized for about a year when he died of kidney failure in San Diego, California on November 3, 2009.

Donald Harington (73) novelist who created a strange rural miniworld in more than a dozen novels set in the fictional Ozark hamlet of Stay More, Arkansas. Calling his fictitious residents Stay Morons, Harington attracted a cult following, blending myth, dreamscape, and Ozark speech and manners to depict a rural society that drew comparisons to William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County. Harington died of pneumonia in Springdale, Arkansas on November 7, 2009.

Esther Hautzig (79) author of children’s books whose true life story of surviving World War II in Siberia’s labor camps became a classic of young people’s literature. Hautzig’s book, The Endless Steppe, tells of Esther Rudomin, a young girl living in her native Vilna, then part of Poland and now in Lithuania, until the city was bombed by the Germans and occupied by the Soviet Red Army in 1941. The wife of classical pianist Walter Hautzig, Esther Hautzig died of congestive heart failure and complications of Alzheimer’s disease, two weeks after her 79th birthday, in New York City on November 1, 2009.

Evelyn Hofer (87) photographer who collaborated on a series of travel books with eminent writers, including Mary McCarthy and V. S. Pritchett, in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Hofer died of a stroke in Mexico City, Mexico on November 2, 2009.

Dr. Donald Baim (60) cardiologist and medical device executive. A former Harvard Medical School professor, Baim most recently was chief medical officer at Boston Scientific Corp., a leading manufacturer of pacemakers, defibrillators, and other implants. He died after recent surgery to remove diseased tissue caused by adrenal cancer, a rare form of the disease that attacks the adrenal glands, in Natick, Massachusetts on November 6, 2009.

Dr. Gene D. Cohen (65) pioneer in the field of geriatric psychiatry who helped to shift the emphasis in gerontological research from the problems of people as they age to their creative potential. At his death, Cohen was founding director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University and had held leadership positions at the National institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health. He died of metastatic prostate cancer in Kensington, Maryland on November 7, 2009.

Sir John Crofton (97) pioneering Scottish clinician who demonstrated that antibiotics could be safely combined to cure tuberculosis, a dreaded disease that once killed half the people who contracted it. Sir John’s multidrug approach remains the standard for treating TB and has provided the template for combination therapies to combat other grave diseases like cancer and AIDS. He died in Edinburgh, Scotland on November 3, 2009.

Bernardo Garza Sada (79) former president of the Mexican industrial conglomerate Grupo Alfa. Garza Sada was credited with helping to build Grupo Alfa into a diversified petrochemicals, food, auto parts, and telecom conglomerate with revenues of $10.6 billion in 2008. He died in Mexico City, Mexico on November 7, 2009.

Thomas J. O'Malley (94) aviation engineer who pushed the button that launched the rocket that carried John Glenn into orbit in 1962, and in ‘67 played a major role in reviving the Apollo moon program after a launching-pad fire killed three astronauts. O’Malley died of pneumonia in Cocoa Beach, Florida on November 6, 2009.

Amir Pnueli (68) New York University professor of computer science who turned a philosopher’s explorations of time, logic, and free will into a critical technique for verifying the reliability of computers. Pnueli died of a brain hemorrhage in New York City on November 2, 2009.

Robert H. Rines (87) lawyer, composer, inventor, and physicist whose discoveries led to sharper resolution in radar, sonar, and ultrasound imaging and who claimed to have seen the Loch Ness Monster in 1971. Rines invented prototype radar and sonar technology later also incorporated into ultrasound imaging of internal organs. He died of heart failure in Boston, Massachusetts on November 1, 2009.

Dr. Jan Vandersloot (64) dermatologist and a leading Orange County (Calif.) environmental activist whose causes included the preservation of the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Vandersloot was found dead of apparent cardiac arrest in his home office in Newport Beach, California on November 4, 2009.

Park Yong-oh (72) ousted chairman of South Korea’s oldest conglomerate, the Doosan Group, one of the country’s largest conglomerates, with 15 subsidiaries operating businesses that sell everything from food to clothes and real estate. Park had been chief executive until a family feud prompted his ouster in 2005. In 2006, he was convicted of embezzling company funds. He was found dead at his home, an apparent suicide in Seoul, South Korea on November 4, 2009.

Valerie Oppenheimer (77) UCLA sociologist whose pioneering research documented the post-World War II surge of married women into the US workforce and the ramifications of work on marriage. Oppenheimer died two weeks after suffering a stroke and heart attack, in Holmby Hills, California on November 2, 2009.

Alice S. Rossi (87) sociologist and feminist scholar, a cofounder of the National Organization for Women. A professor of sociology emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, where she taught from 1974-91, Rossi explored the status of women in work, family, and sexual life. She died of pneumonia in Northampton, Massachusetts on November 3, 2009.

Carl Ballantine (92) comedy magician and character actor, part of the World War II PT boat crew on the ‘60s sitcom McHale’s Navy. As an actor, Ballantine was best known for playing the supporting role of crew member Lester Gruber on the popular 1962-66 series that starred Ernest Borgnine.

 But it was as a comically inept magician, often billed as “Ballantine: The World’s Greatest Magician,” that he made his biggest impact as a performer. Most memorable gag: onstage, Ballantine would throw a rubber chicken into the wings, shouting, "Get dressed!" He died in his sleep in the Hollywood Hills, California on November 3, 2009.

Nick Counter (69) longtime negotiator for Hollywood producers who led the studios through two grueling writers’ strikes in 2008 and 1988. Counter was president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers for 27 years and negotiated more than 300 collective bargaining agreements with entertainment industry guilds and unions on behalf of movie studios, TV networks, and independent producers. He died after collapsing at his home, in Los Angeles, California on November 6, 2009.

Art D'Lugoff (85) unofficial dean of New York nightclub impresarios whose historic spot, the Village Gate, for more than 30 years showcased performers as famous and diverse as composer Duke Ellington, poet Allen Ginsberg, and comedian John Belushi. Opened in 1958, the Village Gate was on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Streets in Greenwich Village; it closed in ‘94 amid rising rents and a changing market for live music. D’Lugoff died in a New York City hospital, where he had been taken after experiencing shortness of breath, on November 4, 2009.

Otomar Krejca (87) theater director in the Czech Republic. In 1965 Krejca cofounded the theater Za Branou in Prague. After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he was banned and allowed to work only abroad, where he directed more than 40 productions in theaters in Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, France, Finland, and Sweden. He died in Prague, Czech Republic on November 6, 2009.

Joe Maross (86) character actor whose film and TV career spanned the ‘50s to the ‘80s. Maross appeared in several movies, including Run Silent, Run Deep, Elmer Gantry, and Sometimes a Great Notion but was best known for his work on TV. Beginning on live TV in New York in 1952, he had roles on dramatic anthology series such as Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, and Armstrong Circle Theatre. He moved to Hollywood in 1957 and appeared in scores of series, including Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, The Rockford Files, Dallas, and Murder, She Wrote. He died of cardiac arrest in Glendale, California on November 7, 2009.

John W. Mashek (77) reporter and columnist who covered national politics for nearly 50 years for US News & World Report, the Boston Globe, and other publications. Mashek died of a heart attack in Rockville, Maryland on November 3, 2009.

George Zoritch (92) Russian-born star in the rival Ballet Russe companies, famed for his matinee-idol looks and bold stage presence who later became one of American ballet’s respected teachers. Zoritch taught at the University of Arizona (1973-87) and more recently served on the jury at the Perm ballet competitions in Russia. He was hospitalized after a fall at home and died in Tucson, Arizona on November 1, 2009.

Win Aung (65) former foreign minister in Myanmar’s military government (1998-2004). Win was dismissed from his post in 2004 with no reason publicly given. In 2006 he was convicted of misuse of authority in connection with the sale of an imported car. He died in Insein Prison while serving a seven-year term for corruption, in Yangon, Myanmar on November 4, 2009.

William Avery (98) former Kansas governor (1965-67) who served for 10 years as a US congressman (R-Kan., 1955-65) before running for governor. Avery died in Topeka, Kansas on November 4, 2009.

Bernerd Harding (90) World War II pilot from New Hampshire who went back to Germany in September 2009 to find the pilot’s wings he had buried in a cellar in 1944 after his B-24 bomber was shot down. Harding never found his wings, but a German citizen gave him a silver bracelet recovered from another US pilot shot down the same day, to whose family he returned it. Harding died of prostate cancer in Milford, New Hampshire on November 3, 2009.

Stewart Ledbetter (76) former US Senate candidate, once Vermont’s banking and insurance commissioner. Ledbetter served in the administration of Gov. Richard Snelling and won the Republican nomination to challenge US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in 1980 but lost in a close race. His son, Stewart, is a longtime anchorman and reporter for WPTZ-TV in Burlington. The elder Ledbetter died in Burlington, Vermont on November 5, 2009.

Manuel Solis (91) briefly president of Panama during Manuel Noriega’s military regime. Solis was education minister, then was named acting president in February 1988, after Eric Arturo Del Valle was fired, and ruled until September ‘89. In the ‘40s he had fought for Panama’s sovereignty and led the movement against US military presence in the Central American country, where the US built and ran the Panama Canal for generations. His brief term as president ended with the US invasion that ousted Noriega. Solis died of respiratory failure in Panama City, Panama on November 6, 2009.

Barbara J. Miller (58) Alameda County (Calif.) Superior Court judge who ruled in favor of UC Berkeley in a dispute over a proposed athletic facility that was the focus of a tree-sitting protest. Miller ruled in June 2008 that the university had satisfied environmental and seismic issues over the project, part of a plan to renovate Memorial Stadium, home of the school’s football team and built on an earthquake fault. Building the athletic facility next to the stadium required cutting down an old oak grove, prompting activists in late 2006 to take up perches in the treetops and refuse to budge. The standoff finally ended in September 2008. Miller was found dead in her Oakland, California home on November 6, 2009.

Rev. Thomas P. O'Malley (79) former president of two Jesuit universities, Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles (1991-99) and John Carroll University in Cleveland (1980-88). For the past 10 years O’Malley had taught at Boston College. He died suddenly of a suspected heart attack in Boston, Massachusetts on November 4, 2009.

Lou Filippo (83) boxing hall of famer who became a referee and ring judge, memorably counting out Sylvester Stallone’s champion rival Apollo Creed in the film Rocky II. Filippo fought more than 250 bouts before turning pro; his fighting career ended in 1957 with a no-contest outcome and a technical knockout loss against Hall of Famer Carlos Ortiz, a bout stopped because of Filippo’s cuts—bleeding plagued his 23-9-3 pro career. He died of a stroke in Downey, California on November 2, 2009.

Michael Goldsmith (58) Brigham Young University law professor who battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—Lou Gehrig’s disease—and was honored at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 2009 on the 70th anniversary of Gehrig’s classic farewell speech. In November 2008, Goldsmith wrote a guest column in Newsweek, urging Major League Baseball to do more to fight the disease that killed Gehrig on June 2, 1941. Goldsmith died of respiratory failure caused by ALS, in Albany, New York on November 1, 2009.

Alan Ogg (42) 7-foot-2 shotblocker who played for the University of Alabama at Birmingham and spent parts of three seasons in the NBA. Ogg played 80 NBA games over three seasons beginning in 1990 with the Miami Heat. He also played for Milwaukee and Washington and averaged 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds during his career. He died of complications from a staph infection in Birmingham, Alabama on November 1, 2009.

Glenn Remick (58) former construction worker who played a leading role in transforming the barroom game of darts into a national sport. Remick died of amyloidosis, a disease in which abnormal proteins affect the body’s tissues and internal organs, in St. Louis, Missouri on November 2, 2009.

John Scolinos (91) former baseball coach at California Polytechnic State University at Pomona who won three Division II national championships. 

Scolinos became head coach at Pomona in 1962 and turned the program into a powerhouse, winning Division II national championships in ‘76, ’80, and ’83. He died in Upland, California on November 7, 2009.

Rod van Hook (61) veteran sports broadcaster for Los Angeles radio stations KFWB, KMPC, and KSPN. Van Hook had worked as a studio host for NFL and college football games on Sports USA Radio network from 2007 until earlier this year. He had battled pancreatic cancer but died of heart failure in Santa Monica, California on November 7, 2009

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