Greece's Orthodox Church leader, eased centuries of tension with the Vatican but angered liberal critics who viewed him as an attention-seeking reactionary.
The erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right's post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House.
Former U.S. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum, an Ohio Democrat who was a feisty self-made millionaire before he began a long career fighting big business in Washington.
The visionary science fiction writer who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future.
The writer of socially conscious scripts for movies and television and the winner of the 1961 Academy Award for adapted screenplay for "Judgment at Nuremberg".
The Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields".
The winner of the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur", who portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s.
The longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising".
A senior campaign advisor to President Carter, and his Chief of Staff for four years. He was closely involved in the Camp David talks and efforts to end the Iranian hostage crisis.
The Academy Award-winning American film director, producer and actor is remembered not only for the films he directed such as "Out of Africa," "Tootsie," and "Absence of Malice," but also for his acting talents.
A political lifer who made a TV career of his passion with unrelenting questioning of the powerful and influential, died of a heart attack in the midst of a presidential campaign he'd covered with trademark intensity.
The dean of counterculture comedians, whose biting insights on life and language were immortalized in his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine, died of heart failure.
Jesse Helms »
Former Republican North Carolina Senator
DIED: July 4, 2008
The former Senator built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress.
Conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary.
Jo Stafford, the honey-voiced band singer who starred in radio and television and sold more than 25 million records with her ballads and folks songs, died July 16, 2008.
Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, died July 24, 2008.
The actor and comedian best known for the casino heist "Ocean's" pictures and his stand-up comedy also won a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."
LeRoi Moore »
Saxophone player for The Dave Matthews Band
DIED: August 19, 2008
LeRoi Moore, the versatile saxophonist whose signature staccato fused jazz and funk overtones onto the eclectic sound of the Dave Matthews Band, died August 19, 2008.
Pioneering lesbian rights activist Del Martin, who married her longtime partner in June on the first day that California's same-sex couples gained that right, died August 27, 2008.
Don LaFontaine, the man who popularized the now loved-catch phrase, "in a world where..." and lent his voice to thousands of movie previews, died September 1, 2008.
The blonde beauty who won a Tony Award for bringing Daisy Mae to life on Broadway and who played the television foil to her husband, comedian Ernie Kovacs.
A broadcaster, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose best-selling oral histories celebrated the common people he liked to call the "non-celebrated".
The million-selling author who made scientific research terrifying and irresistible in such thrillers as "Jurassic Park," "Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain."
Writer of vaudeville one-liners for Milton Berle, Marx Brothers movies, TV and radio hit "The Life of Riley" and the Oscar-nominated musical "Meet Me in St. Louis."
Playwright whose "The Miracle Worker" thrilled audiences for nearly a half-century with the true story of the deaf-blind Helen Keller's rescue from a world of ignorance.
