MILESTONES

APPOINTED. MARJORIE SCARDINO, 49, head of the firm that publishes the Economist; as CEO of the media conglomerate Pearson; in London. She is American and the first woman to lead a major British public company. STEPPING DOWN. DAVID BRINKLEY, 76, acerbic network-news fixture; as host of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley; on Nov. 10; in Washington.

CONVICTED. JUAN GARCIA ABREGO, 52, reputed head of Mexico's Gulf cartel; on federal drug-trafficking charges; in Houston. He could get a life sentence.

AILING. MERV GRIFFIN, 71, show-biz magnate and ex-talk show host; from prostate cancer; in Los Angeles.

RECOVERING. EARL SCRUGGS, 72, bluegrass banjo master; from a bypass operation; in Nashville, Tennessee.

RECOVERING. SIR DIRK BOGARDE, 75, veteran British actor; from a stroke following an operation; in London.

DIED. PIERRE FRANEY, 75, renowned chef whose books, columns and TV shows made French haute cuisine appetizingly accessible to ordinary palates; in Southampton, England.

DIED. BERYL REID, 76, British actress who won acclaim in the 1960s role of the lesbian soap-opera star in both the stage and film versions of The Killing of Sister George; in Slough, England.

DIED. HENRI NANNEN, 82, distinguished founder, editor and publisher of the popular German news magazine Stern; in Hanover, Germany. Nannen and Stern suffered a stunning embarrassment in 1983, when the magazine was duped into publishing a hoax, Hitler's "lost diaries."

DIED. RENE LACOSTE, 92, French 1920s tennis champion and founder of the sportswear firm that bears his name; in St.-Jean-de-Luz, France. Called "le crocodile" for his tenacity on the court, he turned the reptilian nickname into a yuppie icon.