Died. Gil Hodges, 47, New York Mets manager; of a heart attack; in West Palm Beach, Fla. Fresh from the Marines, Hodges rejoined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and in the next 17 seasons established a reputation for graceful fielding at first base and timely long-ball hitting. He set a National League record for grand-slam home runs (14) that still stands. After managing the Washington Senators for five years, he returned to New York to take over the hapless, tenth-place Mets. The next season Hodges led his team to the 1969 pennant and an upset World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles. qed

Died. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., 63, once one of the nation's most powerful black leaders (see THE NATION).

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Died. Buford Ellington, 64, former Governor of Tennessee; of a heart attack; in Boca Raton, Fla. A country boy whose ambition was the Methodist ministry, Ellington became an ally of Governor Frank Clement and a power in conservative Democratic politics. After successfully managing two of Clement's campaigns, Ellington in 1959 succeeded his friend in the Governor's chair. In 1965 Lyndon Johnson appointed him Director of the Office of Emergency Planning, but Ellington served less than a year before quitting to run again, successfully, for Governor. As a favorite-son presidential candidate, he promoted Southern support for Hubert Humphrey at the 1968 convention.

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Died. Hodding Carter, 65, newspaper editor and Deep South champion of civil rights; of a heart attack; in Greenville, Miss. With only $367, Carter and his wife set up a small daily in Hammond, La., in 1932 and began doing battle with the state's powerful Senator, Huey Long. Though sometimes reduced to trading advertising space for food, Carter managed to survive Long's attempt to legislate the paper out of business. A year after Long's assassination, Carter started a new paper in Greenville, then bought out his only rival to form the Delta Democrat-Times. Carter's editorial attacks on racial injustice earned him many admirers around the nation and many foes closer to home. In 1946 he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

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Died. Brian Donlevy, 69, barrel-chested Hollywood heavy for three decades; of cancer; in Woodland Hills, Calif. The son of an Irish whisky distiller, Donlevy joined General John Pershing's Mexican border expedition as a bugler when only 13, then lied about his age again to become a pilot in World War I. A walk-on part in a 1924 Broadway play led to larger roles and his eventual move to Hollywood in the mid-'30s. There he established the tough-guy image epitomized by his portrayal of the brutal sergeant in Beau Geste.

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Died. Heinrich Luebke, 77, President of West Germany for a decade; in Bonn. Elected to the Prussian parliament in 1931, Luebke openly opposed the Nazis. This led to his dismissal from office and nearly two years' imprisonment. After the war he became Agriculture Minister and played an important role in the rehabilitation of German farming. In 1959 Luebke was elected West Germany's second President, a largely ceremonial post. His reputation as a somewhat maladroit public figure made him the target of amiable raillery from younger Germans. Accusations that he had participated in the building of death-camp barracks drew more serious attacks in 1968. Luebke appeared on television to emphatically deny the charges, but retired under pressure the following year.

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Died. Ferdinand ("Ferde") Rudolph von Grofe, 80, American composer and arranger, whose 1931 Grand Canyon Suite became a minor classic; in Santa Monica, Calif. Son of a German vaudevillian, Grofe left home at 14 to play the piano in California mining camps and bordellos. He scored many of Paul Whiteman's biggest hits of the '20s and, with Whiteman, developed the orchestral style known as symphonic jazz. In 1924 George Gershwin brought Grofe the pencil manuscript of a new piano composition, and in ten days Grofe orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue. Grofe's own, less memorable compositions (Tabloid Suite, Aviation Suite, Death Valley Suite) evoked images of Americana with a variety of audio effects that included bells, fog horns and barking dogs.

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Died. Franz Haider, 87, chief strategist of the German army in the early years of World War II; of a heart attack; in Aschau, West Germany. Scion of a military family, Haider rose steadily through Wehrmacht ranks, and by 1935 was responsible for the coordination of Germany's air, sea and land forces. As chief of the Army General Staff, he was the principal architect of Hitler's blitzkrieg in Poland, France, the Balkans and Russia. Then he and Hitler split over strategy on the Russian front; Haider dissented from the approach that led to the Stalingrad defeat and the disagreement ended in his forced retirement in 1942. Two years later he was implicated in the attempt on Hitler's life and confined to a concentration camp. Haider's anti-Hitler history saved him from prosecution at Nuernberg, and he later received the U.S. Army's highest civilian award for his work with its historical department.

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