Milestones

FOUND. Natascha Kampusch, 18, an Austrian girl who vanished at age 10 while walking to school in Vienna in 1998; by an elderly resident of nearby Strasshof, who called police after finding her roaming the neighborhood. Police said Kampusch’s alleged captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, 44, who killed himself by jumping in front of a train the day she escaped, had held her in the basement of his home. RECOVERING. Albert Ho, 55, Hong Kong lawyer and Democratic Party vice chairman, after being severely injured by three baton-wielding men who attacked him in a McDonald’s on Aug. 19; in Hong Kong. Although no suspects have been named, Ho, a member of the Legislative Council and one of the city’s best-known public figures, said the assault was likely related to his recent legal work involving land disputes, loan-sharking and debt collection. STEPPING DOWN. N.R. Narayana Murthy, 60, Chairman of Infosys Technologies, after 25 years at the helm of the company he helped found; in Bangalore. In 1981, Murthy and six other software engineers borrowed $250 from family members to start Infosys, today a $23 billion outsourcing giant and India’s second-largest software company. Murthy, whose personal fortune is estimated at $1.2 billion, is leaving after reaching the firm’s mandatory retirement age but will continue to serve as nonexecutive chairman.DIED. Joseph Hill, 57, socially conscious reggae guru who became one of the genre’s first prominent voices; after falling ill while on a European tour; in Berlin. In the 1970s his foreboding, heavily percussive “roots-reggae” won fans, among them British punk rockers and Virgin chief Richard Branson, who in 1978 signed Culturethe band Hill fronted for 30 years until his deathto Virgin’s new reggae label, Front Line.DIED. Ed Thrasher, 74, influential Warner Bros. Records designer who conceived some of rock’s most definitive LP covers, including Jimi Hendrix’s visually trippy Are You Experienced and Joni Mitchell’s Clouds; of cancer; in Big Bear Lake, California. Among his fans, the easygoing art director counted high-profile artists, including Frank Sinatra, who let Thrasher title his 1973 comeback LP, Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back.DIED. Bismillah Khan, 90, ascetic Indian musician whose name became synonymous with the shehnai, the oboe-like instrument he played for audiences worldwide over a seven-decade career; in Varanasi. A Muslim who performed at countless Hindu ceremonies, Khan was seen as a symbol of Indian inter-religious unity and secularism. He played at the young country’s first Independence Day celebration in 1948 and received its highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India), in 2001.DIED. Joe Rosenthal, 94, combat photographer for AP who in 1945 captured what became the iconic image of World War IIU.S. soldiers raising the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, site of some of the war’s bloodiest battles; in Novato, California. Rosenthal arranged a subsequent shot of the soldiers waving, leading critics to allegewrongly, experts generally agreethat the famous photo was a setup. In fact, Rosenthal barely got the picture that boosted the morale of war-weary Americans and won him a Pulitzer. After missing the first flag raising on Iwo Jima, the diminutive photojournalist heard that a grander flag was being hoisted. Clambering onto a pile of rocks to get his angle, he snapped just in time. Later, mortified by the hoopla over the image, he said, “I took it, but the Marines took Iwo Jima.”