• U.S.

Milestones Mar. 6, 2006

3 minute read
Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Logan Orlando and Julie Norwell

NAMED. SEAN O’MALLEY, 61, and WILLIAM LEVADA, 69, as Cardinals, along with 13 other prelates from around the world; by Pope Benedict XVI, who said he wanted to “reflect the universality of the church”; in Vatican City. O’Malley and Levada, the former bishops of Boston and San Francisco, respectively, played key roles in responding to the clergy abuse scandal.

RESIGNED. LAWRENCE SUMMERS, 51, embattled president of Harvard, following a rebellion by the influential Faculty of Arts and Sciences; in Cambridge, Mass. (see page 64).

JAILED. DAVID IRVING, 67, right-wing British historian; after pleading guilty to denying the Holocaust; by a judge in Vienna. Irving, who was sentenced to three years in prison, was arrested in November on charges relating to speeches he gave in 1989 in which he contended, among other things, that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. Convicted under an Austrian law that makes it a crime to deny or “grossly play down” the Nazi genocide, Irving said he had become a “victim of political theater.”

DIED. WILLIAM COWSILL, 58, teen heartthrob and lead singer of the Cowsills, the 1960s pop band that featured his mother and four siblings and inspired TV’s The Partridge Family; after suffering from numerous ailments, including emphysema; in Calgary, Alta. News of his death came on the day the family–famous for hits like Indian Lake and The Rain, the Park and Other Things–was holding a memorial service for his brother Barry, the Cowsills’ bass player, who drowned in the flooding following Hurricane Katrina.

DIED. BRUCE HART, 68, original lyricist for PBS’s Sesame Street who co-wrote the sweetly optimistic theme song to the Emmy Award–winning children’s show (“Can you tell me how to get/ How to get to Sesame Street?”); of lung cancer; in New York City.

DIED. DON KNOTTS, 81, rail-thin, bug-eyed comedian famous for his roles as bumbling deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show and ascot-sporting landlord Ralph Furley on Three’s Company; in Los Angeles. Barney Fife was a tiny ensemble part until Knotts turned it into something grander, winning five Emmys in the process. A bid for family-film stardom in vehicles like The Incredible Mr. Limpet fell short, but Knotts was consistently in demand for character roles on sitcoms and in films, most recently lending his voice to Disney’s Chicken Little.V

DIED. ARCHBISHOP PAUL MARCINKUS, 84, scrappy Chicago priest who rose to head the Vatican Bank and retired after being connected to one of the biggest financial scandals in Italian history; in Sun City, Ariz. Following the looting of $1.3 billion from another Italian bank, in which the Vatican held a major share, Marcinkus faced charges as an accessory to the crime. Though the Holy See would not permit his arrest–and he and the Vatican maintained his innocence–it paid $250 million as a “goodwill settlement” of the case in 1984.

DIED. CURT GOWDY, 86, folksy father of TV sportscasting whose authoritative game calling earned him 13 Emmys and fans in sports ranging from fishing to basketball; in Palm Beach, Fla. The Wyoming-born “Cowboy,” as he was known, gained renown over 15 years of calling games for the Boston Red Sox, initially incensing fans by mangling the names of players’ New England hometowns. Over five decades he created a popular TV show (The American Sportsman) and called numerous Super Bowls.

DIED. THEODORE DRAPER, 93, irascible historian known for his masterly plumbing of official documents and talent at translating them into lively works that explored the abuse of power in U.S. politics; in Princeton, N.J. Among his best-known books: A Very Thin Line, a definitive study of the Iran-contra scandal.

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