DIED. William A. Steiger, 40, genial, dynamic, six-term Republican Congressman from Wisconsin; of a heart attack; in Washington, D.C. A native of Oshkosh, Steiger served for six years as a state assemblyman before winning election to the U.S. Congress at age 28. A self-described moderate Republican, he co-sponsored the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, helped launch the volunteer Army, and this year proposed cutting the maximum capital gains tax from 49% to 25%. Despite opposition from President Carter, Steiger's colleagues eventually set the maximum tax rate at 28%.

DIED. George S. Brown, 60, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1974-78); of cancer; at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. A 1941 graduate of West Point, Brown became a pilot in the Army Air Corps and, among other missions, helped lead the celebrated low-level B-24 bombing raid on the oil fields of Ploesti, Rumania, in 1943. He was director of operations for the Fifth Air Force during the Korean War, served as military assistant to the Secretary of Defense (1959-63), and in 1968 became responsible for the U.S. air war in Southeast Asia. In 1973 President Nixon made him chief of staff of the Air Force and one year later appointed him to his last post. A blunt man with a compulsion to speak his mind, Brown caused a storm of protest when in 1974 he criticized Jewish influence on U.S. foreign policy.

DIED. Samuel A. Goudsmit, 76, Dutch-born atomic physicist and amateur Egyptologist; of a heart attack; in Reno. In 1925, while enrolled in the University of Leiden, Goudsmit and Fellow Student George E. Uhlenbeck determined that an electron spins as it orbits the nucleus of an atom, a discovery that helped explain how atoms have magnetic properties. Two years later, he emigrated to the U.S., and during World War II served on a secret European mission to investigate German progress toward the atomic bomb.

DIED. Golda Meir, 80, Premier of Israel from 1969 to 1974; from complications of lymphoma; in Jerusalem (see WORLD).

DIED. Harry Winston, 82, showy Fifth Avenue gem merchant who sold $175 million worth of precious stones annually; of a heart attack; in New York City. A jewelry salesman from age 15, Winston became one of the world's largest diamond dealers by outbidding competitors for famous stones like the Jonker and Hope as well as by producing cheap engagement rings wholesale for Montgomery Ward. His refusal to be photographed, ostensibly to avoid being recognized and possibly robbed, only increased his visibility in business.

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