Milestones

By Kathleen Adams, Melissa August, Amanda Bower, Val Castronovo, Randy Hartwell, Ellin Martens, Sora Song and Josh Tyrangiel Sunday, Mar. 04, 2001
    • CHECKED IN. Friends co-star MATTHEW PERRY, 31; to an undisclosed drug-and-alcohol rehab center; at his doctors' behest. Perry, who had been pulling double duty on the sets of Friends and a new film, Servicing Sarah, did time in rehab in 1997 for addiction to the painkiller Vicodin.

    DIVORCING. Triple Grammy winner EMINEM, 28, and on-again, off-again wife KIM MATHERS, 26; in Macomb County, Mich. The couple have a 5-year-old daughter, Hailie Jade.

    CHARGED. U.S. Fulbright scholar JOHN EDWARD TOBIN, 24; with possession of marijuana; in Voronezh, Russia, where he was studying. In a bizarre chain of events, the Russian security service arrested Tobin on drug charges, then accused him of being a spy, an allegation denied by the State Department. The spy insinuations were later dropped, but officials may now charge him with drug dealing.

    DIED. A.R. AMMONS, 75, gregarious, self-effacing poet whose deceptively simple riffs on the relationship between Man and Nature have been likened to those of the 19th century transcendentalists Whitman and Emerson; of cancer; in Ithaca, N.Y. Ammons began dabbling in poetry aboard a Navy destroyer during World War II. In the following decades, he wrote nearly 30 books and won virtually every American prize awarded for poetry.

    DIED. SIR DONALD BRADMAN, 92, self-taught cricket player and courtly Australian icon considered by many to be the pre-eminent sportsman of all time; in Adelaide, South Australia. His perch atop batting stats was said to be "as changeless as alphabetic order"; over his 20-year career, he racked up an average of 99.94 runs per innings, 30 runs more than the next best in the game. A recent book comparing the relative statistical achievements in a variety of sports put Bradman ahead of Michael Jordan, Ty Cobb and Pele. One of Australia's most beloved heroes, he was revered abroad as well. When Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, his first question to an Australian visitor was, "Is Sir Donald Bradman still alive?"

    DIED. CLAUDE SHANNON, 84, visionary mathematician who pioneered the use of binary code and employed his brilliant theories as practically as a rower would an oar; in Medford, Mass. Initially geared to help the telephone industry use automatically switching circuits, Shannon's work with binary code became the basis for all modern digital communications networks. His later work with chess-playing machines helped create the field of artificial intelligence.

    DIED. HENRY WADE, 86, Dallas district attorney who in 36 years never lost a case he personally prosecuted, including the 1964 conviction of Jack Ruby; in Dallas. He was the Wade of Roe v. Wade. His office defended the Texas law against abortion but was finally defeated in the water- shed Supreme Court decision that nullified that law and legalized the procedure.

    DIED. JOHN PAINTER, 112, Tennessee farmer, blacksmith and reputedly the nation's oldest male veteran, having served on Army front lines in France during World World I; in Hermitage Springs, Tenn.