Milestones

By Melissa August; Elizabeth L. Bland; William Han; Unmesh Kher; Nadia Mustafa; Jonathan Rick

STEPPING DOWN. WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR., 78, after a round (and orotund) half-century as guiding intellect and controlling shareholder of the immensely influential conservative magazine, the National Review. Buckley used the publication as one of several mechanisms for the life support and eventual triumphant revival of an ailing political position, characterized in the first issue as standing "athwart history, yelling 'Stop!'" Citing concerns about his inevitable mortality, he passed control to a board that includes his son Christopher, the humorist.

INJURED. MANUTE BOL, 41, 7-ft. 7-in. former NBA center who in 1984 left his Sudanese tribe to play ball in the U.S. and went on to block more shots per minute than anyone else in league history during 11 seasons with four teams; when the taxi in which he was riding hit a guardrail and swerved across two lanes before hitting a rock ledge and rolling over, killing the driver and throwing Bol from the car; in Colchester, Conn. He sustained a serious head injury.

DIED. SIR RICHARD MAY, 65, British judge who adeptly steered the proceedings in former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's war-crimes tribunal; of a brain tumor; in Oxford, England. The low-key but occasionally prickly barrister resigned in February owing to grave health, after two years of regular courtroom wrangling with the defiant Serbian leader over everything from cell-phone use to the former dictator's efforts to blame the Balkan wars on Western political leaders.

DIED. KAROL KENNEDY KUCHER, 72, half of the figure-skating duo known as the Kennedy Kids, who became the first American pair to win a world championship when they captured the gold in London in 1950; of pneumonia; in Seattle. The dominant American pair skaters in the years after World War II, Karol and her elder brother Peter won five consecutive U.S. championships, from 1948 to 1952, and a silver medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics.

DIED. PETER BARNES, 73, British playwright and screenwriter best known for the 1968 black comedy The Ruling Class (turned into a 1972 film starring Peter O'Toole); after a heart attack; in London. Also known for such satirical plays as Red Noses and The Bewitched, he got an Oscar nomination for his 1992 screenplay Enchanted April.

DIED. MARLON BRANDO, 80, one of the century's most influential stage and screen actors; in Los Angeles. (See page 73)

DIED. BERNARD GRANT, 83, longtime soap-opera star who also lent his voice to foreign films dubbed into English, including Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns; in New York City. Best known for playing Dr. Paul Fletcher on The Guiding Light for 13 years and Steve Burke on One Life to Live during the 1970s, he was also the unseen film voice for such actors as Yves Montand and Marcello Mastroianni.

DIED. AGNES (SIS) CUNNINGHAM, 95, who co-founded, with her husband, the influential folk-song journal Broadside in 1962; in New Paltz, N.Y. During its 26-year run, the magazine published more than 1,000 songs, including Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind and early works by Phil Ochs, Janis Ian, Tom Paxton and Buffy Sainte-Marie. An accomplished accordion and guitar player, she performed with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in the 1940s.