Milestones

By David E. Thigpen Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Elizabeth L. Bland, Sean Gregory, Janice Horowitz and Rebecca Winters

DIED. LIONEL HAMPTON, 94, jazz vibraphonist whose effervescent performance style and masterly solo technique greatly extended jazz's popularity and turned him into one of the music's few household names; in New York City. Born in Louisville, Ky., Hampton started out playing drums before Louis Armstrong persuaded him to take up the vibraphone. After playing with Armstrong, Benny Goodman and others, he headlined his own big band, making extensive tours of Europe and Asia and gaining fans worldwide with such works as his 1942 classic Flying Home. In 1997, two days before he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, Hampton's New York City apartment caught fire, and he lost most of his memorabilia. Undaunted, he still made it to Washington to pick up his medal and even played a tune on the vibes. It was a fitting grace note. --By David E. Thigpen

MARRIED. SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, 25, and FREDDIE PRINZE JR., 26; at an undisclosed location in Mexico. Gellar, the stake-wielding star of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Prinze, who co-starred with her in this summer's Scooby-Doo, met in 1997 while filming the teen slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer.

DISMISSAL SOUGHT. Of verdicts against five black and Latino youths convicted in the beating and rape of the so-called Central Park jogger in 1989; after DNA evidence reportedly linked the crime to Matias Reyes, 31, a convicted murderer and rapist who is serving a life term in prison. Lawyers for three of the men have filed a motion seeking to overturn the conviction and plan to present their case before a judge this week.

FIRED. STEVEN HATFILL, 48, former Army biodefense scientist under scrutiny by the FBI in connection with anthrax-laced letters that killed five people last fall; from his position as associate director of the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at Louisiana State University. Hatfill said L.S.U. gave no explanation for the firing, but the dismissal followed a Justice Department request that the school refrain from using Hatfill on any projects funded by Justice; his boss, Stephen L. Guillot, was fired as well. Hatfill has repeatedly maintained his innocence.

DIED. TED ROSS, 68, stage and screen actor who won a Tony Award for his 1975 portrayal of the Cowardly Lion in The Wiz; of complications from a stroke; in Dayton, Ohio.

DIED. J. LEE-THOMPSON, 88, versatile English film director of The Guns of Navarone (1961), an adventure epic that landed him in Hollywood, where he directed the suspense thriller Cape Fear (1962) and a score of films over the next 25 years; in Sooke, B.C.

DIED. MARTIN D. KAMEN, 89, blacklisted physical biochemist who helped discover radioactive carbon 14, which was crucial to understanding basic chemical processes; in Santa Barbara, Calif. After being shunned by the scientific community amid rumors that he had leaked atom-bomb secrets to the Soviets, he won belated recognition in 1996, receiving the Enrico Fermi Award for lifetime achievement.

DIED. W. CLEMENT STONE, 100, positive-thinking philanthropist who turned $100 of his savings into a multibillion-dollar insurance empire that later became the Aon Corp.; in Evanston, Ill. He used his wealth to make $275 million in charitable contributions and political donations, including millions he gave to Richard Nixon's election campaigns.