In Memoriam -- Sept. to Dec. 2004
— -- A look at some of the notable people who passed on this week.
Dec. 26, 2004
Renata Tebaldi, 82 -- Italian soprano described as having a "voice of an angel."
Jack Newfield, 66 -- Journalist and muckraker who was a founder of "new journalism" as columnist for The Village Voice.
"Politics in New York is a contact sport. Everyone throws bean balls and there are flagrant fouls every hour."
Frank "Son" Seals, 62 -- Blues musician.
Johnny Oates, 58 -- Major League Baseball player and manager.
"I could smell Florida. I could hear the birds. I could hear the groundskeepers working on the field, getting it ready for the day's work. That's probably the only time that it's really hit me that I'm not at spring training for the first time, probably, since I was about 16 years old."
Anthony Sampson, 78 -- Investigative journalist and Nelson Mandela biographer.
"I've known Mandela since the early '50's. Time's running out and you've got to get some serious prospect for negotiation for moderate blacks while you can. Otherwise, of course, it will go right ahead to the extremists."
Dec. 19, 2004
Pauline La Fon Gore, 92 -- Wife of Sen. Albert Gore Sr. and mother of former Vice President Al Gore; she was one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt Law School.
"Public service is the position that you should aspire to and do the best you can to make this a better world."
Agnes Martin, 92 -- Artist who was awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 1998 and was known as the last of the abstract expressionists.
"I say that I paint with my back to the world. If you wake up in the morning and you feel very happy about nothing, no cause, that's what I paint about."
Harvey "Jinx" Miller, 84 -- Decorated World War II airman who was shot down in combat six times and earned the nickname "Jinx of the 15th Air Force."
Joe Beyrle, 81 -- World War II paratrooper who was the only soldier to fight for the United States and the Soviet Union in World War II.
"We were going to jump into France at some point and defeat the Germans. We were going to do it with our bare hands if we had to."
Dec. 12, 2004
Frederick Fennell, 90 -- Conductor who recorded 22 albums and founded the Eastman Wind Ensemble.
"It's kept me alive, making music, conducting."
Jay Van Andel, 80 -- Co-founder of Amway who turned cleaning products business into a $6 billion empire.
"We have to believe in ourselves. You can't predict the future, but you can follow your dreams."
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, 38 -- Heavy metal guitarist shot to death on stage.
David Brudnoy, 64 -- Boston radio talk-show host whose WBZ-AM program was heard in 38 states.
"When somebody comes up to me on the street and says, 'I've listened to you, and you've been part of my life for 25 years' or whatever, what more could I ask of a job?"
Dec. 5, 2004
Dame Alicia Markova, 94 -- Ballerina known for her groundbreaking performance of "Giselle."
Mona Van Duyn, 83 -- First female U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner.
"Daytime, sometimes, our three-legged race seems slow. Squabbling onward, we chafe at being so near. But all night long we lie like crescents of velcro turning together 'til we rid here."
Nov. 28, 2004
Arthur Hailey, 84 -- Novelist who wrote "Airport" (1970) and "Hotel" (1967).
Joseph Sisco, 85 -- Diplomat and Middle East negotiator who served five presidents.
"We adopted a so-called step-by-step diplomacy. And that's what the shuttle diplomacy was all about -- a limited, disengagement between Egypt and Israel."
Ancel Keys, 100 -- Nutritionist who invented K rations.
Jim Mollen, 48 -- U.S. Embassy officer shot in Baghdad.
Nov. 21, 2004
Cy Coleman, 75 -- Tony award-winning composer who wrote the songs "Witchcraft," "Hey, Look Me Over" and "The Best Is Yet to Come."
Dayton Allen, 85 -- Cartoon voice actor who was the voice of Deputy Dawg and Heckle & Jeckle.
Reed Irvine, 82 -- Founder of Accuracy in Media.
"Now, I think what we ought to see -- what I wish we'd see -- is a greater willingness on part of the media to give the other side of the story."
Margaret Hassan, 59 -- Director of CARE in Iraq.
Nov. 14, 2004
Yasser Arafat, 75 -- Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization; signed 1993 Oslo Accord and won 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.
"Our goal is to establish our democratic state where Jews, Christians [and] Muslims can live together in equal footing and equal steps."
Iris Chang, 36 -- Author, "The Rape of Nanking."
"My mother and father had said that the rape of Nanking had been so intense that thousands upon thousands of people were killed, and the bodies that had been thrown into the river during the carnage literally made the water turn red. And I remember as a child wanting to learn more about this."
Howard Keel, 85 -- Actor, star of MGM musicals who also starred in the hit TV series "Dallas."
Pete Jolly, 72 --Jazz musician who performed TV theme songs and on movie soundtracks.
Nov. 7, 2004
Joe Bushkin, 87 -- Pianist who performed with Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Artie Shaw and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
"I was one of the lucky guys who played with the bands I loved playing with. And it was a real break, you know, making a living doing what I enjoyed most."
Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, 86 -- President and founder of United Arab Emirates, whose net worth was $20 billion. UAE is one of the world's top oil producers.
Oct. 31, 2004
Robert Merrill, 87 -- Baritone with the Metropolitan Opera who performed on opening day at Yankee Stadium for three decades.
Lester Lanin, 97 -- Band leader who played at 11 presidential inaugurations.
"When you're on the bandstand and they're dancing, they don't dance to your age; they dance to the music and the beat. If it's good, it's good."
Vaughn Meader, 68 -- JFK satirist whose "The First Family" album sold more than 7 million copies.
George Silk, 87 -- Photographer for LIFE magazine who used the "strip camera" to capture the art of motion.
"I just instinctively work with light. I didn't know; I had no schooling. I had that already in me very strongly."
Oct. 24, 2004
Paul Nitze, 97 -- Architect of Cold War policy and veteran arms control negotiator.
Anthony Hecht, 81 -- Poet; winner of 1968 Pulitzer Prize.
Ed Seitz -- U.S. diplomatic security officer.
Oct. 17, 2004
Pierre Salinger, 79 -- former White House press secretary, U.S. senator and ABC News correspondent.
Christopher Reeve, 52 -- Actor and advocate for spinal cord research.
"I get pretty impatient with people who are able-bodied but are somehow paralyzed for other reason -- all the reasons people don't become what they could become or don't fill their potential. And they're walking around able-bodied, and I'm going, 'Come on, come on. Go for it!'"
Oct. 10, 2004
Janet Leigh, 77 -- Actress.
Rodney Dangerfield, 82 -- Comedian.
Jacques Derrida, 74 -- Philosopher, "Father of Deconstruction."
Gordon Cooper, 77 -- Mercury 7 astronaut.
Johnny Kelley, 97 -- Boston Marathon champion who completed the race 58 times, the last at age 84.
Kenneth Bigley, 62 -- British independent contractor beheaded on videotape in Iraq.
Oct. 3, 2004
Richard Avedon, 81 -- Photographer.
Geoffrey Beene, 77 -- Fashion designer.
Edmond Ralph Haggar, 88 -- Apparel executive who coined the phrase "slacks."
Sept. 26, 2004
Skeeter Davis, 72 -- Country and pop singer.
Marvin Davis, 79 -- Billionaire businessman and former owner 20th Century Fox.
Russ Meyer, 82 -- Pioneer of the "skin flick."
Françoise Sagan, 69 -- Novelist and author of Bonjour Tristesse, which has sold two million copies and been translated into more than 15 languages.
Eddie Adams, 71 -- Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer.
Eugene Armstrong, 46, and Jack Helmsley, 45 -- Construction contractors who were beheaded on videotape in Iraq.
Sept. 19, 2004
Fred Ebb, 74 -- lyricist whose credits include Cabaret, Chicago, Funny Lady and New York, New York.
Johnny Ramone, 55 -- co-founder, The Ramones.
"I see too many people linger on, and I don't believe that people should be playing rock and roll when they're approaching 50, or something like that. … It should be like a 40-year-old mandatory retirement age or something. Just get everyone out, and let's have young kids playing it."
James David Barber, 74 -- presidential scholar.
"We better watch out who we elect to be president of the United States, because a president can rearrange things to his own desires."
Sept. 12, 2004
Frank Thomas, 92 -- animator whose credits include Pinocchio, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp.
"I'd never thought of going into animation pieces, because animation is not considered a profession. Nobody's really interested in it and there aren't any studios to go to."
"You'd have trouble defining what a romantic is, but I think it has a lot to do with living with your dreams, and dreaming quite a bit about connections between the trees, the sky, the grasses, the birds, the animals, and you being part of the whole thing."
Beyers Naude, 89 -- head of the South African Council of Churches who became a leading Afrikaner voice against apartheid.
"We had a deeply divided society. And the tragedy is that as we continue on this way, this society eventually is going to destroy itself."
Richard Butler, 86 -- founder of the Aryan Nations.
Kirk Fordice, 70 -- Mississippi's first Republican governor in more than 100 years; he served from 1992-2000.
Brock Adams, 77 -- Congressman 1965-1977, secretary of transportation 1977-1979, senator 1986-1992.
Sept. 5, 2004
Raful Neal, 68 -- blues musician and member of the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.
E. Fay Jones, 83 -- architect who designed Thorncrown Chapel, which is called architecture's fourth greatest achievement of the 20th century; awarded American Institute of Architects' gold medal in 1990.