Milestones

DIED

HE DID HOLD A DEGREE in architecture, but Gianfranco Ferre's nickname, "the Architect of Fashion," was more a comment on his bold lines and structured, sophisticated designs. With his pronounced seams and modern white dress shirts, the influential Italian designer famously broke through the doors of French couture in 1989 when he became the rare foreign stylistic director for Christian Dior. (Of the flap he caused among traditionalists, he said, "Luckily my French wasn't that bad.") Ferre died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage a week before his 2008 spring-summer collection was to be unveiled in Milan. He was 62.

BRITISH ADVENTURER Sir Wally Herbert--a "phenomenon" to Lord Shackleton, a "hero" to Prince Charles--was widely hailed as one of the greatest polar explorers in history. The first to cross the Arctic Ocean on foot, Herbert trekked from Alaska to a remote Norwegian island on a 16-month trip. By the time he reached Norway, in April 1969, he had covered 3,720 miles, camped through temperatures of --50DEGF and wandered for three months in total darkness. Along the way Herbert, who likened the journey to "conquering a horizontal Everest," oversaw the drilling of more than 250 ice-core samples, which that are now the benchmark against which scientists measure the impact of climate change in the Arctic. He was 72 and had diabetes.

BORN TO WEALTHY PARENTS, Vilma Espin, Cuba's unofficial First Lady, could have chosen a quiet life of opulence. Instead, the MIT-educated chemical engineer shouldered rifles, donned combat fatigues and joined Cuba's 1950s revolution alongside her husband Raul. A powerful member of Cuba's Communist Party, she accom-panied her divorced brother-in-law Fidel Castro to events and, as longtime president of the Federation of Cuban Women, became a respected voice for women's rights. She was 77.

MANY KNEW HER AS the elegant wife and ministry partner of preacher Billy Graham, but Ruth Graham originally planned never to marry --the better to be able to follow in her father's footsteps as a missionary in Asia. At Wheaton College in Illinois, she fell in love with Graham. As her Southern Baptist husband's most trusted adviser, Ruth charmed world leaders and celebrities, grounded Billy when politics tempted him (once kicking him under the table after Lyndon Johnson asked his advice on a running mate), remained a steadfast Presbyterian despite pressure from Billy's powerful friends and wrote more than a dozen books. She was 87.

FOR DECADES HE SUCCEEDED brilliantly in the role of the charming, erudite diplomat. But in 1986, when former Secretary-General of the U.N. Kurt Waldheim was running for President of his native Austria, reporters released documents proving that the former German army lieutenant had, contrary to his claims, been aware of and perhaps involved in war crimes, including the deportation of thousands of Jews to death camps during World War II. Waldheim first denied any knowledge of the atrocities and then said he was protecting his family. He maintained that a conspiracy to defame Austria was at the heart of the scandal. Though he garnered sympathy at first and won the presidency, in 1987 he became the first leader of a friendly nation to make the U.S.'s watch list of those not allowed to enter. As he faded from the world stage a pariah, Austria was pushed toward a late reckoning with its own wartime complicity with the Nazis. Waldheim was 88.

HIS FAMILY HAD A RICH HIStory: owners of banks, economic advisers to royalty, Popes and political VIPs. But during the Nazi occupation of France, the Jewish family saw its business all but ruined. As head of the powerful Paris office after World War II, Baron Guy de Rothschild built shiny new headquarters, diversified investments (IBM, oil digs in the Sahara), nurtured political connections and modernized and revived the empire. He was 98.

With reporting by Camille Agon, David Bjerklie, Harriet Barovick, Joe Lertola, Laura Fitzpatrick, Brendan Lowe, Meg Massey, Maximilian Moehlmann, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Kate Stinchfield, Lon Tweeten