Milestones

By Melissa August, Anthee Carassava, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Joseph Pierro, Sora Song, Heather Tesoriero and Josh Tyrangiel

EVACUATED. RONALD SHEMENSKI, 59, physician at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station; stricken with gallstones and pancreatitis; to Punta Arenas, Chile. In the second such mission in a year and a half--Dr. Jerri Nielsen, suffering from breast cancer, was rescued from the same station in October 1999--a team flying a twin-engine prop plane braved -90[Degrees]F winter weather and complete darkness.

RESIGNED. SCOTT WADDLE, 41, skipper of the submarine Greeneville, which sank the Japanese trawler Ehime Maru, killing nine; from the U.S. Navy, with full rank and pension; in Honolulu. A court of inquiry ruled that Waddle had breached proper procedure in the hours preceding the accident, but officials decided against a court-martial.

DIED. RICHARD SCAMMON, 85, presidential pollster, elections expert and former head of the U.S. Census Bureau; of pneumonia; in Gaithersburg, Md. In 1964, Scammon chaired a presidential commission on voter registration that found election laws "unreasonable, unfair and outmoded."

DIED. THE REV. LEON SULLIVAN, 78, forceful civil rights leader and Baptist pastor credited with helping end apartheid in South Africa; of leukemia; in Scottsdale, Ariz. In 1977, after becoming the first black director on the General Motors board, he framed the Sullivan Principles, a code for U.S. companies operating in South Africa outlining how they could desegregate workplaces and promote fair treatment of black employees. At age 10, Sullivan was booted from a Charleston, W.Va., drugstore counter while drinking a soda, an incident that inspired him as an adult to organize boycotts of racist companies. In 1964, he founded an international chain of schools to prepare people for the workforce, regardless of race, age and gender.

DIED. JACK HALEY JR., 67, Emmy Award-winning director as well as producer and prolific documentarian who directed the 1974 star-studded That's Entertainment; in Santa Monica, Calif. Haley, whose father played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, was married five years to Liza Minnelli.