Anita Cerquetti, Opera Fill-In Who Soared, Dies at 83
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Miss Cerquetti stepped in for Maria Callas in Rome in 1958, but her fame was relatively short-lived.
Librado Romero/The New York Times
William J. Ronan in 1971.
William J. Ronan, Architect of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Dies at 101
By SEWELL CHAN
Dr. Ronan, chairman of the transit authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was one of the most powerful officials in the modern history of New York State.
Elizabeth Peña, Actress on the Big and Small Screens, Dies at 55
By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK
Ms. Peña played everything from love interest to comedic sidekick in movies and on television for 35 years.
Norward Roussell, Leader of Selma Schools in Turbulent Time, Dies at 80
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
As the first black superintendent of schools in Selma, Ala., Dr. Roussell aspired to equalize educational opportunity, only to be fired amid racial animosities, protests and a school boycott.
David Greenglass, the Brother Who Doomed Ethel Rosenberg, Dies at 92
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Mr. Greenglass, whose testimony against his sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, in a 1951 spy trial helped send them to the electric chair, later admitted to lying.
Pavel Landovsky, Actor and Vocal Czech Dissident, Dies at 78
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
A colleague of Vaclav Havel who went into exile, Mr. Landovsky appeared in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”
Tommy Lewis, Who Made a Tackle That Wasn’t, Dies at 83
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lewis, a player for Alabama, came off the sideline in the 1954 Cotton Bowl to tackle Dicky Moegle of Rice, interrupting his 95-yard touchdown run.
Stanley Chase Dies at 87; Gave New York Macheath
By PAUL VITELLO
Mr. Chase went on to become a prolific producer of theater, film and television drama, with credits including a vast roster of popular series like “The Fugitive” and “Peyton Place.”
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Author of Eerie Children’s Tales, Dies at 87
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Ms. Snyder had three Newbery Honor Books in the early 1970s, but she was probably best known for the dystopian utopia in the Green Sky Trilogy.
Rita Shane, a Met Soprano Known for Range and Intensity, Dies at 78
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Ms. Shane made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1973 as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” a role she sang some 250 times in her career.
Andrea de Cesaris, Driver Known for Wrecks and Losses, Dies at 55
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Mr. Cesaris, a Formula One driver who never won a Grand Prix event in 208 tries, was known for crashes early in his career.
Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer-Winning Poet, Dies at 89
By MARGALIT FOX
Ms. Kizer was known for political and satirical works that, she said, came with “a sting in the tail.”
Ray K. Metzker, Art Photographer, Dies at 83
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Mr. Metzker, who experimented with photographic forms for six decades, is perhaps best known for his cityscapes and landscapes.
Siegfried Lenz, Novelist of Germany’s Past, Dies at 88
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Mr. Lenz, a best-selling writer whose stories examined his country’s role in the rise of Nazism, insisted that the past be recounted accurately.
Comer Cottrell, Who Got Rich on Hair Curling, Dies at 82
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Mr. Cottrell helped break color barriers in Dallas’s business community after his company found success with an inexpensive treatment that replicated the Jheri curl hairstyle.
David Jones, Florist to Hollywood, Dies at 78
By PAUL VITELLO
Mr. Jones was probably best known as the floral designer for Elizabeth Taylor’s 1991 wedding and for Michael Jackson’s funeral in 2009.
Jan Hooks of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Fame Is Dead at 57
By PETER KEEPNEWS
Ms. Hooks joined “S.N.L.” in 1986 and was part of a cast that is widely regarded as one of the best in the show’s history. Most recently, she appeared on “30 Rock.”
Peter Peyser, Legislator Who Defied the G.O.P., Dies at 93
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Mr. Peyser rose from mayor of a Westchester County village to Congress, then defied the Republican leadership by challenging Senator James L. Buckley in a 1976 primary.
Robert Mangum, a City and Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 93
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Mr. Mangum, who was New York City’s youngest deputy police commissioner, helped found One Hundred Black Men.
Iva Withers, a Standby to the Rescue on Broadway, Dies at 97
By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK
Ms. Withers made a career as a backup for actresses like Julie Harris and Carol Channing.
Sarah Goldberg, 40, TV Actress on ‘7th Heaven,’ Dies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The actress started as an film extra and was noticed by a crew member.
Vic Braden, Tennis’s Pied Piper, Dies at 85
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Through instructional television, books, camps and clinics, Mr. Braden became “the patron saint of the weekend hacker.”
Marian Seldes, a Ruler of the Broadway Stage, Dies at 86
By ROBERT BERKVIST
Ms. Seldes was seldom offstage in a career that spanned six decades, and she was especially known for her performances of Edward Albee’s work.
Benedict Groeschel, 81, Dies; Priest Aided Poor and Drew a TV Flock
By PAUL VITELLO
Father Groeschel was known in New York for his efforts on behalf of the poor, and worldwide as a television personality who denounced modernism and news reporting on sexual abuse by priests.
Geoffrey Holder, Dancer, Actor, Painter and More, Dies at 84
By JENNIFER DUNNING and WILLIAM McDONALD
Mr. Holder used his manifold talents to infuse the arts with the flavor of his native West Indies — and in television ads for “the Uncola” in the 1970s and ’80s.
Jean-Claude Duvalier Dies at 63; Ruled Haiti in Father’s Brutal Fashion
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Mr. Duvalier returned to Haiti in 2011 after a 25-year exile and continued to defend what human rights workers called one of the most oppressive governments in the Western Hemisphere.
Notable Deaths of 2014
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Joan Rivers, a Comic Stiletto Quick to Skewer, Is Dead at 81
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
From the stage and the red carpet, Ms. Rivers reveled in skewering the rich and famous with cutting remarks and a caustic wit.
Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Mr. Williams imbued a lifetime of performances with a wild inventiveness and energy. The death was later ruled a suicide.
Lauren Bacall Dies at 89; in a Bygone Hollywood, She Purred Every Word
By ENID NEMY
Ms. Bacall's provocative glamour elevated her to stardom in Hollywood’s golden age, and her lasting mystique put her on a plateau in American culture that few stars reach.
From the Archives
E. B. White, Essayist and Stylist, Dies at 86
(Oct. 1, 1985)
Alfred Smith, New York Governor, Dies at 70
(Oct. 4, 1944)
Charles E. Merrill, Founder of Merrill Lynch, Dies at 70
(Oct. 6, 1956)
Leo Durocher, Baseball Manager, Dies at 86
(Oct. 7, 1991)
Clare Boothe Luce, Playwright and Politician, Dies at 84
(Oct. 9, 1987)
Orson Welles, Innovator of Film and Stage, Dies at 70
(Oct. 10, 1985)
Robert E. Lee, Southern General, Dies at 63
(Oct. 12 , 1870)
Dean Acheson, Architect of Postwar Policy, Dies at 78
(Oct. 12, 1971)
Ed Sullivan, Television Host, Dies at 73
(Oct. 13, 1974)
Leonard Bernstein, Music's Monarch, Dies at 72
(Oct. 14, 1990)
Thomas Alva Edison, Prolific Inventor, Dies at 84
(Oct. 18, 1931)
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Poet, Dies at 58
(Oct. 19, 1950)
Anne Sullivan Macy, Aide to Helen Keller, Dies at 70
(Oct. 20, 1936)
Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies at 53
(Oct. 24, 1972)
Harry Houdini, Magician, Dies at 52
(Oct. 31, 1926)
Indira Gandhi, Who Left Imprint on India, Dies at 66
(Oct. 31, 1984)
Federico Fellini, Film Visionary, Dies at 73
(Oct. 31, 1993)
Death Notices
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