Sheela Basrur was 51.  Her calm demeanour in the face of a terrifying crisis made her a trusted public figure during the deadly SARS outbreak in Toronto five years ago.

Bo Diddley was 79.  He was a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians.

Yves Saint-Laurent was 71.  He was the iconic French designer who revolutionized fashion by putting women in pants without sacrificing their femininity.

Luc Bourdon was 21.  He was a promising rookie defenseman with the Vancouver Canucks who played on the Canadian team that won the gold medal at the 2007 world junior hockey championship in Vancouver and made the tournament's all-star team.

Harvey Korman was 81.  He was the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to "The Carol Burnett Show" and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in "Blazing Saddles."

Sydney Pollack was 73.  He was a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like "The Way We Were," "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa" were among the most successful of the 1970s and 1980s.

Dick Martin was 86.  He was the zany half of the comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!"

Eddy Arnold was 89.  His mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history.

Albert Hofmann was 102.  He was a Swiss scientist best known for synthesizing Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

Al Wilson was 68.  He was the R&B singer best known for his 1973 hit single "Show and Tell."

Danny Federici was 58.  He was 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."

Tommy Holmes was 91.  He hit in 37 consecutive games for the Boston Braves in 1945 to set a modern National League record that stood until it was broken by Pete Rose.

Charlton Heston was 84.  He won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s.

Dith Pran was 65.  He was 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."

George Gross was 85.  He was the founding sports editor of the Toronto Sun.

Paul Scofield was 86.  He was the towering British stage actor who won international fame and an Academy Award for the film "A Man for All Seasons."

Ivan Dixon was 76.  He brought the problems and promise of contemporary blacks to life in the film "Nothing But a Man" and portrayed the levelheaded POW Kinchloe in TV's "Hogan's Heroes."

Arthur C. Clarke was 90.  He was a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future.

Anthony Minghella was 54.  He won an Oscar for directing "The English Patient," one of a series of literary adaptations that include "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain."

Ola Brunkert was 62.  He was a former session drummer with Swedish pop band Abba.

Kenny Reardon was 86.  He scored 122 points in 341 games with the Montreal Canadiens and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

J.I. Albrecht was 77.  He had front-office stints with the Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders and expansion Shreveport Pirates.

Gary Gygax was 69.  He co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon.

Jeff Healey was 41.  He was a legendary Juno-winning rock and jazz musician who taught himself to play guitar by laying the instrument across his lap. Fourteen months ago I shared a little story about Jeff Healey after I read he had major surgery to remove cancerous tissue from both