wpostServer: http://css.washingtonpost.com/wpost
Notable deaths of 2012 Images of well-known people who died in 2012.
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, a four-star Army general who led allied forces to a quick, decisive victory over Saddam Hussein's Iraqi military in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, died Dec. 27 in Tampa. He was 78. At left, Gen. Schwarzkopf during Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia.READ: Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf obituary
Bob Daugherty
/
AP
Related Content
Fontella Bass
Fontella Bass, a St. Louis-born soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with “Rescue Me” in 1965, died Dec. 26. She was 72.READ: Fontella Bass obituary
Jerry Naunheim Jr.
/
AP
Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman, left, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy, was loved by millions as the messy one in TV’s “The Odd Couple” and the crime-fighting coroner in “Quincy, M.E.” He died Dec. 24 at age 90.READ: Jack Klugman obituary
Craig Fujii
/
AP
Larry L. King
Longtime Washington resident and pioneering journalist Larry L. King died Dec. 20 at age 83. King, playwright of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” often wrote about his native state.READ: Larry L. King obituary
/
AP Laserphoto
Robert Bork
Robert H. Bork, the conservative jurist who fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973, failed to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987, sparking an enduring political schism over judicial nominations. He died Dec. 19 at age 85.READ: Robert Bork obituary
John Duricka
/
AP
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, one of the longest-serving and most powerful Democrats in Washington, died Dec. 17 at 88 of respiratory complications. His last words were "Aloha," his staff reported. READ: Sen. Daniel Inouye obituary
Marco Garcia
/
AP
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar became an icon after introducing traditional Indian music to the West and mentored the Beatles. George Harrison called the sitar virtuoso "the godfather of world music." He died Dec. 11 at age 92.READ: Ravi Shankar obituary
PHOTOS: World musical icon dies
David McNew
/
Reuters
Galina Vishnevskaya
Galina Vishnevskaya, the soaringly talented Russian soprano who spent years in exile in Washington with her husband, cellist-conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, after they stood up for art in defiance of the Soviets, died Dec. 11 in Moscow. She was 86. At left, in 1976, sharing a joke with composer Benjamin Britten.READ: Galina Vishnevskaya obituary
Erich Auerbach
/
Getty Images
Mickey Baker
Mickey “Guitar” Baker, who died Nov. 27 at age 87, forged a link between rhythm-and-blues and early rock music. The guitarist’s 1956 recording of “Love Is Strange” with singer Sylvia Robinson became a pop classic brimming with Latin rhythms and flirtatious banter.READ: Mickey Baker obituary
Gilles Petard
/
Redferns
Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller, the union leader who created free agency for baseball players and revolutionized professional sports with multimillion dollar contracts, died Nov. 27. He was 95.READ: Marvin Miller obituary
/
AP
Larry Hagman
Actor Larry Hagman, who thrilled and repelled millions in the 1970s and '80s as the deceitful J.R. Ewing on TV's "Dallas," died at Medical City Dallas Hospital on Nov. 24 of complications from cancer. He was 81.
READ: Larry Hagman obituary
/
EPA
Warren B. Rudman
Warren B. Rudman, who died Nov. 19 at age 82, warned against soaring federal deficits as a pugnacious two-term senator from New Hampshire, He was the Reagan administration’s strongest Republican critic during the Iran-contra affair of the 1980s.READ: Warren B. Rudman obituary
Lana Harris
/
AP
Han Suyin
Han Suyin, a prolific Eurasian author who generated controversy with her hagiographic view of China’s Cultural Revolution and who may be most remembered for her best-selling semi-autobiographical novel that inspired the Hollywood melodrama “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," died Nov. 2 at 95.READ: Han Suyin obituary
/
AFP/Getty Images
Letitia Baldrige
Letitia Baldrige was the White House social secretary during the Kennedy administration who came to be regarded as an authority on etiquette. She died Oct. 29 at 86.
/
AP
Russell Means
Oglala Sioux Tribe spokeswoman Donna Salomon says Means died Oct. 22 at his ranch in Porcupine, S.D. Means, who was 72, helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, reveled in stirring up attention and appeared in Hollywood films including "The Last of the Mohicans."READ: Russell Means obituary
Kevin Winter
/
Getty Images
George S. McGovern
George S. McGovern, the three-term senator from South Dakota who ran for president, died at 90. Here, with pictures of former presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as a backdrop, McGovern introduces Sargent Shriver as his new vice presidential running mate to the Democratic National Committee in Washington. READ: George McGovern obituary
PHOTOS: George McGovern’s life
/
AP
Arlen Specter
Former senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most durable political figures, who during three decades in the Senate became known for his command of constitutional law, died of cancer Oct. 14 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 82.READ: Arlen Specter obituary
PHOTOS: Arlen Specter’s life
Melina Mara
/
The Washington Post
Alex Karras
Alex Karras, one of the National Football League’s most feared defensive tackles throughout the 1960s, died Oct. 10 at age 77. He was a player who hounded quarterbacks and bulled past opposing linemen. He also played the lovable dad from the 1980s sitcom “Webster.”
PHOTOS: Alex Karras’ life
/
NFL via AP
Louise Johnson
Biochemist Louise Johnson helped discover the first enzyme using X-ray crystallography.
Courtesy of University of Oxford
U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens
John Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was killed in a Sept. 11 assault on an American diplomatic post in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Three other Americans also died in the attack, which sparked a political furor in Washington over conflicting accounts of how it occurred and whether security concerns were ignored.READ: U.S. ambassador to Libya, 3 other Americans killed in Benghazi
Ben Curtis
/
AP
Michael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan, star of the film “The Green Mile,” died at age 54. Tom Hanks, his co-star in the 1999 film, said Duncan, who turned to acting his his 30s, “was the treasure we all discovered.” PHOTOS: Michael Duncan’s life
Ralph Nelson
/
CR Films
Neil Armstrong
Neil A. Armstrong, the astronaut who marked an epochal achievement in exploration with "one small step" from the Apollo 11 lunar module on July 20, 1969, becoming the first person to walk on the moon, died on Aug. 25. He was 82.READ: Neil Armstrong obituary
PHOTOS: Neil Armstrong’s life
/
NASA via Getty Images
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch, who composed, conducted and arranged music for Broadway shows and Hollywood movies, died Aug. 6. He was 68. He composed the scores for dozens of movies, including the Academy Award-winning scores for “The Sting” and “The Way We Were,” and he won a Tony for “A Chorus Line.” PHOTOS: Marvin Hamlisch’s life
Jason Cohn
/
AP
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal, a prolific and graceful writer hailed for his brazen wit, succumbed to pneumonia July 31 in his Hollywood Hills home after a long illness. He was 86.PHOTOS: Gore Vidal’s life
READ: Gore Vidal obituary
Charley Gallay
/
Getty Images
Maeve Binchy
Maeve Binchy, the best-selling Irish author, saw several of her works, such "Circle of Friends," adapted for film. She died July 30 at age 72.READ: Maeve Binchy obituary
Myung Jung Kim
/
AP
Sherman Hemsley
Sherman Hemsley, an actor best known for his overbearing sitcom roles, notably the upwardly mobile and bigoted African American George Jefferson on the long-running show “The Jeffersons” and the egotistical minister on “Amen,” died July 24 at his home in El Paso, Tex. He was 74.PHOTOS: Sherman Hemsley’s life
READ: Sherman Hemsley obituary
/
AP
Thelma Glass
Almost a decade before the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955 sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and helped catapult civil rights to the political forefront, a group of teachers at the historically black Alabama State College in Montgomery formed the Women’s Political Council to campaign against the abuses and indignities of segregation. Thelma Glass, who died July 24 at age 96, was secretary for the group.READ: Thelma Glass obituary
/
Alabama State University Media Relations
Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells was the first female superstar of country music. Her recording of “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts. Other hits included “Making Believe” and a version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”PHOTOS: Kitty Wells’ life
READ: Kitty Wells obituary
/
AP
Stephen R. Covey
Stephen R. Covey, the motivational speaker who was author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” as well as three other best-selling books, died July 16 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was 79.
Ric Feld
/
AP
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm, a Broadway musical comedy star who also showed a flair for dramatic work and won an Academy Award for her sympathetic role in “Gentleman’s Agreement,” died July 15 at her home in New York City. She was 95.
David Smith
/
AP
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine, a beefy star known for villainous roles, won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type in “Marty” in 1955. Here he stars as the sadistic Army sergeant “Fatso” Judson in the 1953 film "From Here to Eternity." He was 95.PHOTOS: Ernest Borgnine’s life
Photofest
/
AFI
Andy Griffith
Television icon Andy Griffith, everyone’s favorite small-town sheriff in “The Andy Griffith Show” and a wily defense attorney in “Matlock,” died July 3 at his home in Manteo, N.C. He was 86.PHOTOS: Andy Griffith’s life
Nick Ut
/
AP
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron, who gained a devoted following for her perceptive, deeply personal essays and parlayed that renown into a screenwriting career of wistful romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail,” the marital exposé “Heartburn” and the whistleblower drama “Silkwood,” died June 26 at a hospital in New York. She was 71.PHOTOS: Nora Ephron’s life
READ: Nora Ephron obituary
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
Rodney King
The videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King in 1991 by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation’s history.
Kevork Djansezian
/
AP
Anna Schwartz
Paul Krugman called Anna Schwartz one of the world's best monetary scholars. Schwartz is best known for "A Monetary History of the United States: 1867-1996," co-written with Milton Friedman.
Teresa Zabala
/
The New York Times
Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz
For the second time in less than a year, Saudi Arabia was thrown into the process of naming a new heir to the country’s 88-year-old king following the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz.
Hasan Jamali
/
AP
Elinor Ostrom
Co-winner of 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics for her analysis of economic governance, Ostrom emphasized systems to use more efficiently forests, fisheries and grazing lands. She taught at Indiana University and Arizona State University. Ostrom was 78 when she died June 12.READ: Elinor Ostrom obituary
AJ Mast
/
AP
Yvette Wilson
The actress and comedian was in "House Party 2," "Friday," and "Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam" but might be best known for her role in the TV series "Moesha." She died June 14 of cervical cancer at age 48.
Frederick M. Brown
/
Getty Images
Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer, was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud.”
/
AP
Doc Watson
Doc Watson, the blind folk singer and guitarist, was known for his dazzling string work and homespun stage manner that transported concert audiences to his rural home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.PHOTOS: Doc Watson’s life
READ: Doc Watson obituary
Karen Tam
/
AP
Robin Gibb
One of the three Gibb brothers who formed the Bee Gees — one of the most successful pop groups of all time — Robin Gibb helped define the disco subculture of the 1970s. His signature song was “I Started a Joke.”PHOTOS: Robin Gibb’s life
Olivier Douliery
/
For The Washington Post
Bob Boozer
Bob Boozer of the Chicago Bulls is seen in October 1968. A star basketball player in college who became an Olympic gold medalist and finished his playing career with an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, died of a brain aneurysm May 19 at a hospital in Omaha. He was 75.
/
AP
Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy, pictured with husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a 2010 fundraiser in Salt Lake City, was found dead on May 16 at her New York home. She was 52. Reports suggested that her death was an apparent suicide.
Michael Buckner
/
Getty Images
Vidal Sassoon
Vidal Sassoon used his hairstyling shears to free women from beehives and hot rollers and give them wash-and-wear cuts that made him an international name in hair care. Sassoon died May 9 at age 84 at his home on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles.PHOTOS: Hairstyling giant Vidal Sassoon dies
/
AP
Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas Katzenbach, an unflappable lawyer who served as the Kennedy brothers’ emissary to the South during the violent confrontations over racial segregation in the early 1960s, and who later was an architect of landmark civil-rights laws and Vietnam War policy under President Lyndon Johnson, died May 8 at his home in Skillman, N.J. He was 90.READ: Nicholas Katzenbach
PHOTOS: Nicholas Katzenbach dies
/
AP
Adam Yauch
Adam Yauch, the gravelly-voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, died at age 47. Yauch, who also went by the stage name MCA, announced in 2009 that he had been diagnosed with a tumor in his salivary gland and that he'd been using Eastern medicine and a vegan diet in hopes of slowing or reversing it.PHOTOS: Adam Yauch’s life
Bryan Bedder
/
Getty Images
Junior Seau
Junior Seau, a legendary NFL linebacker, was found dead in his Oceanside, Calif., home on May 2. Police, who were called to Seau’s beachfront home at 10 a.m. PDT after a 911 call reported a shooting, found Seau dead of a gunshot wound, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Seau played for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots during a 20-year NFL career.PHOTOS: Junior Seau’s life
READ: Junior Seau dies, reportedly of gunshot wound — The Early Lead
Bob Levey
/
Getty Images
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche
Car designer Ferdinand Alexander Porsche is photographed in 1968 with a model of the Porsche 911. Porsche, the Porsche AG design chief credited with the classic 911 sports car and grandson of the automaker's founder, died April 5 in Salzburg, Austria. He was 76.
/
AP
Adrienne Rich
Poet Adrienne Rich, whose socially conscious verse influenced a generation of feminist, gay rights and antiwar activists, died March 27. She was 82.
Charles Knoblock
/
AP
Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart, an Internet entrepreneur who helped launch the Huffington Post, died unexpectedly shortly after midnight March 1 in Los Angeles.PHOTOS: Andrew Breitbart, dies at 43
Brendan Smialowski
/
Getty Images
Davy Jones
Actor and musician Davy Jones, who gained fame with the 1960s band The Monkees, died Feb. 29 in Florida. He was 66. Jones, second from left, with Mike Nesmith, left, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz rose to fame in 1965 when he joined The Monkees, a British popular rock group formed for a television show. Jones sang lead vocals on songs like “I Wanna Be Free” and “Daydream Believer.”PHOTOS: Davy Jones’s life and career
READ: Davy Jones had died at 66
/
AP
Anthony Shadid
Anthony Shadid works on his laptop under the moonlight on a hotel rooftop in Najaf, south of Baghdad. Shadid, a New York Times journalist formerly with The Washington Post, died in Syria of an apparent asthma attack on Feb. 16 at age 43. He was a Pulitzer Prize winner and was regarded as one of the finest foreign correspondents of his generation.
READ: Anthony Shadid Obit
Bill O'Leary
/
The Washington Post
Don Cornelius
Don Cornelius, right, host of the legendary music show "Soul Train," was found dead at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 75.PHOTOS: Don Cornelius dies
Kevin Winter
/
Getty Images
Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno won 409 games (111 wins have since been vacated) in 46 years as the head football coach for Penn State University, the record for a Division I football coach. Paterno died at 85 on Sunday, Jan. 22, from his battle with lung cancer. His diagnosis was revealed shortly after he was dismissed as head coach in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky, his former assistant coach at Penn State, was convicted on 45 charges of sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year period.COMPLETE COVERAGE: Football coach Joe Paterno
Carolyn Kaster
/
AP
Etta James
Blues singer Etta James, 73, died at a hospital in Riverside, Calif., on Jan. 20. James, shown here, displays her star during a ceremony honoring her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame April 18, 2003.PHOTOS: Blues singer Etta James dies
Vince Bucci
/
Getty Images
Sarah Burke
Canadian Sarah Burke, shown with her gold medal after winning the Women's Skiing Superpipe at Winter X Games 13 on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo., died Jan. 19. She was 29.READ: Sarah Burke Obit
PHOTOS: Sarah Burke dies
Doug Pensinger
/
Getty Images
Eve Arnold
Eve Arnold, a world-traveling photojournalist whose subjects ranged from the poor and dispossessed to Marilyn Monroe, died Jan. 4 at age 99.
David Cheskin
/
AP
Robert L. Carter
Robert L. Carter, second on left, joins other attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Carter, a lawyer who was an integral member of the team led by Thurgood Marshall that turned to the courts to battle segregation, died Jan. 3 at a Manhattan hospital. He was 94.
/
AP
Gordon Hirabayashi
Gordon Hirabayashi, center, who was imprisoned for his defiance of the United States’ internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, watches the flag ceremony as the former prison camp site was renamed after him. Hirabayashi died Jan. 2. at age 93.
Sergey Shayevich
/
AP
FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES
MLB power rankings
Barry Svrluga assesses the best teams in Major League Baseball through Thursday.
Photos of the day
Cyclone Mahasen, Texas tornadoes, puffin census, melting Swiss glacier and more.
Eye on entertainment
Claire Julien, David Hasselhoff, Freida Pinto, Candice Glover, Martin Short and more.
???initialComments:false! pubdate:01/13/2012 14:16 EST! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:! currentDate:! allowComments:false! displayComments:false!
Section:/local/obituaries
