APRIL:
Anja Niedringhaus, 48. Courageous, Pulitzer prize-winning Associated Press photographer who covered everything from sports to war. April 4. Shot to death in Afghanistan.
Otis McDonald, 80. Lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that prompted the U.S. Supreme Court decision that forced Chicago to abandon its 28-year ban on handguns. April 4.
Peter Matthiessen, 86. Rich man’s son who spurned a life of leisure and embarked on extraordinary quests while producing such acclaimed books as “The Snow Leopard” and “At Play in the Fields of the Lord.” April 5.
Mickey Rooney, 93. Pint-size actor and all-around talent whose more than 80-year career spanned silent comedies, Shakespeare, Judy Garland musicals, Andy Hardy stardom, television and the Broadway theater. April 6.
Peaches Geldof, 25. Model and media personality who was a daughter of Irish singer Bob Geldof and member of a talented, troubled family who grew up in the glare of Britain’s tabloid press. April 7. Heroin overdose.
Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, 87. Former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister who was held hostage for days and shot during a bloody 1990 coup attempt. April 9.
Phyllis Frelich, 70. Tony Award-winning deaf actress who starred in the Broadway version of “Children of a Lesser God.” April 10.
Kevin Sharp, 43. Country music singer who recorded multiple chart-topping songs and survived cancer. April 19. Complications from stomach surgeries and digestive issues.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, 76. Boxer whose wrongful murder conviction became an international symbol of racial injustice. April 20.
Win Tin, 85. Journalist who became Myanmar’s longest-serving political prisoner after challenging military rule by co-founding the National League for Democracy. April 21.
Conrado Marrero, 102. Diminutive Cuban right-hander who pitched for the Washington Senators in the 1950s and in 2011 became the oldest living former Major League Baseball player. April 23.
Herbert Hyman, 82. He founded The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in the 1960s and saw the coffee chain grow to hundreds of stores around the world. April 28.
Bob Hoskins, 71. British actor whose varied career ranged from noir drama “Mona Lisa” to animated fantasy “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” April 29.
Al Feldstein, 88. His 28 years at the helm of Mad magazine transformed the satirical publication into a pop culture institution. April 29.
Walter R. Walsh, 106. He captured gangsters as an FBI agent in the 1930s and went on to train Marine Corps snipers and become the longest-lived Olympian. April 29.
MAY:
Billy Frank Jr., 83. Tribal fisherman who led the “fish wars” that restored fishing rights and helped preserve a way of life for American Indians in the Northwest. May 5.
Cornelius Gurlitt, 81. Reclusive German collector whose long-secret hoard of well over 1,000 artworks triggered an international uproar over the fate of art looted by the Nazis. May 6.
Jeb Stuart Magruder, 79. Watergate conspirator-turned-minister who claimed in later years to have heard President Richard Nixon order the infamous break-in. May 11.
H.R. Giger, 74. Swiss artist who designed the creature in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic “Alien.” May 12.
Jerry Vale, 83. Beloved crooner known for his high-tenor voice and romantic songs in the 1950s and early ’60s. May 18.
Don Meyer, 69. One of the winningest coaches in college basketball who came back from a near-fatal car accident and liver cancer before closing out his career. May 18.
Gordon Willis, 82. One of Hollywood’s most celebrated and influential cinematographers, nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness” for his subtle but indelible touch on such releases as “The Godfather,” ”Annie Hall” and “All the President’s Men.” May 18.
Jack Brabham, 88. Three-time Formula One champion who famously pushed his car to the finish line to claim his first season title. May 19.
Sante Kimes, 79. She and her son made up a notorious grifter team convicted of the murders of a wealthy widow in New York and a businessman in Los Angeles. May 19.
Ruth Ziolkowski, 87. She carried on her late husband’s dream of honoring Native Americans by carving the massive likeness of warrior Crazy Horse into the Black Hills in South Dakota. May 21.
Ricky Grigg, 77. Former top-ranked big-wave surfer and oceanographer whose work confirmed one of Charles Darwin’s theories about the origin of tropical islands. May 21.
Jaime Lusinchi, 89. Former Venezuelan president who struggled to tame an economic crisis sparked by plunging oil prices in the late 1980s and then saw his reputation tarnished by allegations of corruption after leaving office. May 21.
Wojciech Jaruzelski, 90. Communist leader who imposed harsh military rule on Poland in 1981 in an attempt to crush the pro-democracy Solidarity movement but later allowed reforms that ended up dismantling the regime. May 25.
Bunny Yeager, 85. Model turned pin-up photographer who helped jump-start the career of then-unknown Bettie Page. May 25.
Manuel Uribe, 48. Mexican man once listed as the world’s heaviest human at 1,230 pounds (560 kilograms). May 26.
Maya Angelou, 86. Author and poet who rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page. May 28.
Lewis Katz, 72. He built his fortune in New York parking lots, billboards and cable TV, and went on to buy the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, NHL’s New Jersey Devils and The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 31. Plane crash.
Martha Hyer, 89. Oscar-nominated actress who starred alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart, and later gained notoriety for her extravagant lifestyle. May 31.
JUNE:
Ann B. Davis, 88. Emmy-winning actress who became America’s best-known housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson of TV’s “Brady Bunch.” June 1.
Alexander Shulgin, 88. Respected chemist famed for dusting off a decades-old recipe for the psychedelic drug ecstasy. June 2.
Chester Nez, 93. Last of the original group of Navajo Code Talkers who stumped the Japanese during World War II. June 4.
Eric Hill, 86. His effort to entertain his son with a simple drawing of a mischievous dog named Spot blossomed into a series of children’s books that have sold more than 60 million copies. June 6.
Bob Welch, 57. 1990 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Oakland Athletics and the last major leaguer to win at least 25 games in a season. June 9.
Ruby Dee, 91. Acclaimed actress and civil rights activist whose versatile career spanned stage, radio television and film. June 11.
Chuck Noll, 82. Hall of Fame coach who won a record four Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers. June 13.
Casey Kasem, 82. Radio broadcaster with a cheerful manner and gentle voice who became the king of the top 40 countdown with a syndicated show that ran for decades. June 15.
Daniel Keyes, 86. Author whose novel “Flowers for Algernon” became a classroom staple that explored the treatment of the mentally disabled and the ethics of manipulating human intelligence. June 15.
Tony Gwynn, 54. Hall of Famer whose sweet left-handed swing made him one of San Diego’s best-loved athletes and earned him the nickname “Mr. Padre.” June 16. Cancer.
Stanley Marsh 3, 76. Texas businessman, artist and eccentric (he used 3 rather than the conventional III after his name) whose partially buried row of Cadillacs became a roadside tourist attraction. June 17.
Stephanie Kwolek, 90. Pioneering female chemist at DuPont who invented the exceedingly tough fibers widely used in Kevlar body armor. June 18.
Avraham Shalom, 86. Former director of Israel’s Shin Bet security service who led the agency through some of its greatest achievements before resigning in disgrace. June 19.
Steve Rossi, 82. Half of the comedy duo Allen & Rossi, which became a favorite on TV variety shows. June 22.
Eli Wallach, 98. Raspy-voiced character actor who starred in dozens of movies and Broadway plays and earned film immortality as a quick-on-the-draw bandit in the classic Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” June 24.
Howard H. Baker Jr., 88. Moderate Republican ex-senator who, during the 1973 Watergate hearings, sought to learn Richard Nixon’s role by asking what the president knew and when he knew it. June 26.
Meshach Taylor, 67. He played a lovable ex-convict surrounded by Southern belles on the sitcom “Designing Women” and appeared in numerous other TV and film roles. June 28.
Philip Lutzenkirchen, 23. Former Auburn tight end and a fan favorite who played on the 2010 national championship team. June 29. Car crash.
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