Stanislaw Lem was 84.  He was a popular science fiction writer whose novel Solaris was filmed twice.

Buck Owens was 76.  He was the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw."

Bernard Lacoste was 74.  He spent more than 40 years at the helm of the Lacoste clothing empire best known for its crocodile-embossed polo shirts.

Bill Beutel was 75.  He was a longtime television news anchor and host of the show that became ABC's "Good Morning America."

Roy Alvin "Red" Storey was 88.  He played with the Toronto Argonauts, winning the Grey Cup in 1937 and 1938, and he was the Chief Referee of the NHL from 1950 to 1959.

Peter Tomarken was 63.  He was the host of the hit 1980s game show "Press Your Luck."

Maureen Stapleton was 80.  She was an Oscar-winning character actress whose subtle vulnerability and down-to-earth toughness earned her dramatic and comedic roles on stage, screen, and television.

Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion was 75.  He scored 371 goals in 14 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s and 1960s and another 22 goals in a two-year comeback with the New York Rangers from 1966 to 1968 before being named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.

Jim "Shaky" Hunt was 79.  He was a fixture of Toronto's sports journalism scene for decades, writing for the Toronto Sun and appearing on the Fan 590 sports radio as a popular host.

Gordon Parks was 93.  He captured the struggles and triumphs of black America as a photographer for Life magazine and then became Hollywood's first major black director with "The Learning Tree" and the hit "Shaft."

Dana Reeve was 44.  She fought for better treatments and possible cures for paralysis through the Christopher Reeve Foundation, named for her late actor-husband.

Kirby Puckett was 45.  He carried the Minnesota Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  He broke into the majors in 1984, had a career batting average of .318, won six Gold Gloves and was named an All-Star ten

Johnny Jackson was 54.  He was the drummer for the Jackson 5.

Jack Wild was 53.  He was best known for playing the Artful Dodger as a teenager in the 1968 film "Oliver!."

Dennis Weaver was 81.  He was the slow-witted deputy Chester Goode in the TV classic western "Gunsmoke" and the New Mexico deputy solving New York crime in "McCloud."

Darren McGavin was 83.  He was "The Old Man," the narrator's father, in the classic Christmas movie "A Christmas Story".

Don Knotts was 81.  He was the the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show". I, like many others of my generation, first got to know Knotts as Ralph Furley, the landlord on "Three's Company".

Curt Gowdy was 86.  He was the smooth voice of sports history, a welcome companion who brought listeners Ted Williams' last home run, the first Super Bowl and dozens of other dramatic moments.

Billy Cowsill was 58.  He was the lead singer of the 1960s family band The Cowsills.

Peter Benchley was 65.  His novel Jaws terrorized millions of swimmers even as the author himself became an advocate for the conservation of sharks.

Franklin Cover was 77.  He became a familiar face as George and Louise Jefferson's white neighbor in the long-running TV sitcom "The Jeffersons."

Betty Friedan was 85.  Her manifesto "The Feminine Mystique" became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement.

Al Lewis was 82.  He was the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom.

Coretta Scott King was 78.  She turned a life shattered by her husband's assassination into one devoted to enshrining his legacy of human rights and equality.

Len Carlson was 68.  He was the narrator in the popular Canadian cartoon Rocket Robin Hood, the voice of several Marvel cartoon characters including Captain America and Spider-Man's enemy The Green Goblin, and the voice of Bert Raccoon in CBC's The Raccoons.