DIED. Jory Graham, 55, newspaper columnist, author and lecturer whose weekly A Time to Live, syndicated in 50 newspapers, chronicled her spirited eight-year battle with cancer for an audience often inspired by her courage and candor; of cancer; in Chicago. Graham, who began the column to help cancer patients like herself face up to the reality of the disease, wrote last month: "Long ago, I promised I would let you know when I came to the time of my dying. That time has come."

DIED. Theodore Ward, 80, Louisiana-born, Chicago-based playwright whose critically acclaimed major works (Big White Fog, Our Lan') not only depicted racial oppression in America but also sought to create heroic black protagonists; of a heart attack; in Chicago.

DIED. John Williams, 80, tall (6 ft. 2 in.), ever-so-straight, mustachioed British-born actor who inevitably played the impeccable Englishman (with just an arched-eyebrow hint of pompousness) in a career of more than 50 years; of a ruptured blood vessel; in La Jolla, Calif. His most famous role was the somewhat distracted, tenacious police inspector in both the stage and film productions of Dial M for Murder.

DIED. Miguel Aleman, eightyish, President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952, who helped build PEMEX, his country's government-owned oil-production monopoly, and later became an energetic booster for Mexican tourism; of a heart attack; in Mexico City. The son of a revolutionary general who helped topple Dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911, Aleman ran a regime noted for widespread corruption and came away from office a multimillionaire with extensive land holdings in Acapulco.

DIED. Anna Rosenberg Hoffman, 81, strong-willed labor and manpower expert and adviser to Presidents, who from 1950 to 1953 was an Assistant Secretary of Defense, the highest Pentagon post ever held by a woman; of pneumonia; in New York City. Born in Budapest, reared in New York City, she blended toughness with soft-voiced charm and a dash of flamboyance in her many public posts. Hoffman dramatized her role as a mediator during a 1930s New York City electricians' strike by donning hip boots and descending into a subway tunnel. Awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1945, the first female recipient, she devoted her time in later years to her own public relations firm and philanthropic organizations. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.