Tony Blankley (The Washington Times)
**FILE** Singer Etta James arrives Nov. 24, 2008, at the premiere of the movie "Cadillac Records" in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Penn State coach Joe Paterno smiles as he walks the field before an NCAA college football game against Minnesota in State College, Pa., on Oct. 17, 2009. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Don Cornelius poses March 6, 2006, at his office in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)
Trainer Angelo Dundee, shown in 2010, helped mold Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard into world champions. He died Feb. 1 at age 90 in Hollywood, Fla. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Whitney Houston accepts an award at the Warner Theatre during the 2010 BET Hip Hop Honors in Washington on Jan. 16, 2010. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Hall of Famer New York Mets catcher Gary Carter is greeted after hitting a three-run homer during the All Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on July 9, 2006. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Davy Jones of the Monkees is seen at a July 6, 1967, press conference at Warwick Hotel in New York City. (Associated Press)
Andrew Breitbart (Associated Press)
Boxing writer and historian Bert Sugar, known for his fedora and cigar, died March 25, 2012, from cardiac arrest and lung cancer. He was 75. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Mike Wallace, the longtime correspondent for CBS' "60 Minutes," is interviewed at his office in New York in 2006. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Dick Clark, host of the American Bandstand television show, introduces entertainer Michael Jackson on stage April 20, 2002, during taping of the show's 50th anniversary special in Pasadena, Calif. (Associated Press)
**FILE** New England Patriots linebacker Junior Seau reacts after the first of his two interceptions against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter of New England's 34-17 home win on Oct. 7, 2007. (Associated Press)
Adam Yauch (Associated Press)
Children's book author Maurice Sendak gives an interview at his home in Ridgefield, Conn., on Sept. 6, 2011. Mr. Sendak died May 8, 2012, in Danbury, Conn., at age 83. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Famed hairstylist Vidal Sassoon poses April 23, 2003, in his Beverly Hills, Calif., home. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Chuck Brown arrives at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2011. Brown, who styled a unique brand of funk music as a singer, guitarist and songwriter known as the "godfather of go-go," died May 16, 2012, after suffering from pneumonia. He was 75. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Donna Summer performs Dec. 11, 2009, at the conclusion of the Nobel Peace concert in Oslo. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Former Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb talks with journalists at the European Parliament in Brussels in April 2007. (Associated Press
**FILE** Master flatpicker Doc Watson performs April 28, 2001, at the annual Merlefest at Wilkes Comunity College in Wilkesboro, N.C. Watson, the Grammy-award winning folk musician whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world for more than a half-century, died May 29, 2012, at a hospital in Winston-Salem. He was 89. (Associated Press)
Kathryn Joosten
Richard Dawson (foreground) hosts the TV game show "Family Feud" in May 1978 as the casts of ABC comedy series "Eight Is Enough,""The Love Boat," "Soap" and "Three's Company" compete to benefit charity. (Associated Press)
Author Ray Bradbury appears at a signing for his book "Quicker Than the Eye" in Cupertino, Calif., in 1997. (Associated Press)
Rodney King poses on April 13, 2012, for a portrait in Los Angeles. The 1992 acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of Mr. King sparked rioting that spread across Los Angeles and into neighboring suburbs. (Associated Press)
Don Grady
Andy Griffith (Associated Press)
**FILE** Actor Ernest Borgnine displays his Golden Globe (right) and Academy awards he received in 1956 for the movie "Marty" in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 13, 2008. (Associated Press
**FILE** Stephen R. Covey, the motivational speaker best known for the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," attends a training session at Georgia State University in Atlanta on Feb. 25, 2003. (Associated Press)
Jon Lord, longtime keyboard player for Deep Purple, died July 16, 2012, at age 71. (Associated Press)
Country music superstar Kitty Wells is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the Country Music Association (CMA) awards in 1976 in Nashville, Tenn. (Associated Press)
**FILE** This undated photo released by NASA shows astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. (Associated Press/NASA)
**FILE** Actor Sherman Hemsley poses for a photo in Los Angeles in 1986. Mr. Hemsley, who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of "The Jeffersons" one of television's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility, was found dead July 24, 2012, at his El Paso, Texas, home. He was 74. (Associated Press)
Chad Everett (Associated Press)
**FILE** Author Gore Vidal tosses barbs in all directions as he discusses Hollywood unions, politics, lecturing and publicizing books during an interview in Los Angeles on Dec. 9, 1974. Vidal died July 31, 2012, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86. (Associated Press)
**FILE** NBC critic Judith Crist attends the Front Page Awards presented by the Newspaper Women's Club of New York in New York on Oct. 20, 1967. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Boston Red Sox great Johnny Pesky lifts his cap Aug. 31, 2006, during a television interview before a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Boston. Pesky, who spent most of his 60-plus years in pro baseball with the Red Sox and was beloved by the team's fans, died Aug. 13, 2012, in Danvers, Mass. He was 92. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Director Tony Scott arrives Oct. 26, 2010, at the premiere of "Unstoppable" in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Comedian Phyllis Diller gets a lift from emcee Buddy Hackett prior to the celebrity stag luncheon roast at the New York Friars Club in New York City on Oct. 9, 1985. (Associated Press)
Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Aug. 25, 2012. (Associated Press)
Lyricist Hal David arrives at the 42nd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards in New York in June 2011. (Associated Press)
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon speaks during the Common Legacy Breakfast Summit in Washington on Dec. 13, 2004. (The Washington Times )
**FILE** Actor Michael Clarke Duncan attends the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 27, 2010. (Associated Press)
Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell is pictured with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV on Jan. 28, 2001, in Tampa, Fla. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** U.S. envoy J. Christopher Stevens attends meetings on April 11, 2011, at the Tibesty Hotel in Benghazi, Libya, where an African Union delegation was meeting with Libyan opposition leaders. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Andy Williams performs a song on a television show on May 12, 1961. (Associated Press)
All-Pro defensive lineman Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions is pictured in 1971. (AP Photo)
**FILE** Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Democrat, speaks May 17, 2010, at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, as he campaigns across the state for the Democratic nomination to run for re-election. (Associated Press)
Former Sen. George McGovern delivers remarks at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans in 2009. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Art Ginsburg, also known as Mr. Food, is shown Oct. 14, 2010, during rehearsal in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Actor Larry Hagman listens Oct. 9, 2008, to a reporter's question while visiting the Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, made famous in the television show "Dallas." (Associated Press)
**FILE** Former boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho (center) poses for photographers at his arrival to the Premio Lo Nuestro Music Awards in Miami on Feb. 16, 2012. (Associated Press)
Jack Brooks, who represented southeastern Texas in Congress for 42 years, stands at far right, behind Jacqueline Kennedy, as Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as president on Nov. 22, 1963, aboard Air Force One. Mr. Brooks, who was in the Dallas motorcade when President Kennedy was assassinated, died Dec. 4, 2012, in Beaumont, Texas, at age 89. He was a strong proponent of civil rights and government accountability. Vice President Joseph R. Biden said he was “never afraid to fight for what he believed in.” (White House via Associated Press)
Dave Brubeck is photographed in his home in Wilton, Conn., on Nov. 17, 2009. (The Washington Times)
**FILE** Mexican-American singer and reality TV star Jenni Rivera poses March 8, 2012, during an interview in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Indian musician Ravi Shankar performs during the opening day of the Paleo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland, on July 19, 2005. (Associated Press/Keystone, Sandro Campardo)
Charles Durning holds his Life Achievement Award at the 14th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2008. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Jack Klugman arrives June 15, 2008, at the 62nd annual Tony Awards in New York. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Fontella Bass performs Sept. 2, 2001, at the Big Muddy Blues Festival on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis. The St. Louis-born soul singer, who hit the top of the R&B charts with “Rescue Me” in 1965, died Dec. 26, 2012, of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks prior. She was 72. (Associated Press/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jerry Naunheim, Jr.)
**FILE** U.S. ArmyGen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, answers questions during an interview in Riyadh on Sept. 14, 1990. (Associated Press)
Andy Griffith (Associated Press) more >
Neil Armstrong would always be taking that first step onto the moon, and Dick Clark was forever “the world’s oldest teenager.” Some of the notables who died in 2012 created images in our minds that remained unchanged over decades.
Sadly, for others an established image was shattered by a fall from grace. Whitney Houston ruled as a queen of pop music, but years of hard living harmed her voice while erratic behavior and a troubled marriage took a toll on her image. And Joe Paterno, Penn State’s longtime coach, won more games than anyone in major college football, but was ultimately fired amid a molestation scandal involving an assistant coach that scarred his reputation.
Some whose deaths we noted weren’t known by image or even name but by contributions that changed our lives — like Eugene Polley, inventor of the first wireless TV remote control, and Norman Joseph Woodland, co-inventor of the bar code that labels nearly every product in stores. Other scientists who died in 2012 included Lowell Randall, Martin Fleischmann, F. Sherwood Rowland, George Cowan and Bernard Lovell.
Among the political figures who died were George McGovern, Democrat presidential nominee who lost to Richard Nixon in a historic landslide, and ex-Sen. Arlen Specter, the outspoken Pennsylvania centrist. Others from the world of politics: Bill Janklow, Norodom Sihanouk, Charles “Chuck” Colson, Warren B. Rudman, Andrew Breitbart and Miguel de la Madrid.
The year saw the deaths of a number of TV stars including Larry Hagman, who played oil baron J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” and Jack Klugman, often remembered as the messy one of the 1970s roommates in “The Odd Couple”
Others in entertainment and the arts who died included: Etta James, Andy Griffith, Ernest Borgnine, Sherman Hemsley, Maurice Sendak, Donna Summer, Robin Gibb, Doc Watson, Richard Dawson, Nora Ephron, Phyllis Diller, Michael Clarke Duncan, Don Cornelius, Jan Berenstain, Ravi Shankar and Dave Brubeck.
Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2012. (Cause of death cited for younger people if available.)
JANUARY:
Kiro Gligorov, 94. First democratically elected president of Macedonia who shepherded his nation through a bloodless secession from the former Yugoslavia and narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Jan. 1.
Bob Anderson, 89. Olympic fencer and movie sword master, he donned Darth Vader’s black helmet and fought light saber battles in two “Star Wars” films. Jan. 1.
Keith Little, 87. One of the most recognizable of the remaining Navajo Code Talkers, whose code helped confound the Japanese duirng World War II. Jan. 3.
Lowell Randall, 96. Pioneer rocket scientist who helped launch the U.S. space program and tested intercontinental ballistic missiles. Jan. 3.
Jessica Joy Rees, 12. She became a nationally recognized face of child cancer with a blog that chronicled her fight against brain tumors. Jan. 5. Brain cancer.
Don Carter, 85. Bowling great who flourished as a genuine sports celebrity during the game’s golden age on TV. Jan. 5.
Bill Janklow, 72. As South Dakota’s attorney general, governor and congressman, he dominated the state’s political landscape for more than 25 years. Jan. 12. Brain cancer.
View Entire Story
By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
13 Photos
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
18 Photos
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
11 Photos
NRA kicks off annual convention
8 Photos
