DIED. Karl Wallenda, 73, spectacular circus aerialist who lost a high-wire gamble after more than 50 years in the business (see NATION).

DIED. Malvina Reynolds, 77, spirited folk singer and protest songwriter whose gently satirical tune Little Boxes brought "ticky tacky" into the language in the early 1960s ("Little boxes on the hillside, / Little boxes made of ticky tacky"); of kidney disease; in Berkeley. Calif. A self-described "working-class woman" with a Ph.D. in philology and folklore, Reynolds found callings in journalism, socialism and teaching before writing songs for folkie friends Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, who recorded her eloquent ban-the-bomb elegy What Have They Done to the Rain ?

DIED. Faith Baldwin, 84, prolific and perdurable author of nearly 100 books with an audience of millions; in Norwalk, Conn. An unabashed old pro who could write a chapter a day, Baldwin usually combined the surefire elements of romantic love and great wealth in scores of novels (Office Wife, Private Duty, Manhattan Nights) and countless magazine stories that always stopped at the bedroom door. She seldom wrote about her own life, which took a bittersweet turn when she was reunited with her husband. Gas Company Executive Hugh Cuthrell, in 1953 after 25 years of separation, only to have him die two months later.

DIED. Peggy Wood, 86, versatile singing actress who starred in half a century of Broadway plays but was best remembered as the warmhearted Norwegian matriarch in television's I Remember Mama series (1949-1957); of a stroke; in Stamford, Conn. Beginning as a chorus girl in Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta in 1910, she later moved on to the dramatic stage in both New York and London. Among her notable roles: Portia in The Merchant of Venice, George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ruth, the jealous wife, in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit.

DIED. John Hall Wheelock, 91, lifelong poet and former chief editor at Charles Scribner's Sons; in Manhattan. At Scribner's, Wheelock worked with Novelist Thomas Wolfe, Philosopher George Santayana and, in a distinguished series of anthologies, launched a number of American poets, including James Dickey and Louis Simpson. His own first book of poetry was published when he was 25, but much of his serene, stately, affirmative verse "poured out," he said, after he had retired as an editor nearly 50 years later.

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