Some Lives in the Times

In an annual tradition, the Magazine Section in the Sunday New York Times gives obits for people who died during the year. Here's the lead-in to this year's reconing:

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VAUGHN MEADER, B. 1936
The Temporary Kennedy
By ELIZABETH McCRACKEN
He sounded more like J.F.K. than J.F.K. did, until an assassin's bullet ended both their careers.

KATHERINA DALTON, B. 1916
The Prophet of PMS
By LAUREN SLATER
By naming an affliction, she helped liberate women from its pain.

KOOSE MUNISWAMY VEERAPPAN, C. 1949
Outback Outlaw
By SUKETU MEHTA
A life of crime in the jungles of India.

CARMINE DE SAPIO, B. 1908
The Last Boss
By JONATHAN MAHLER
He reformed Tammany Hall, but he couldn't outrun it.

MARY MCGRORY, B. 1918
A Star Columnist
By MAUREEN DOWD
Expose Joe McCarthy. Enrage Richard Nixon. Then go shopping.

YINKA DARE, B. 1972
Blocked Shot
By JASON ZENGERLE
Being seven feet tall sometimes isn't enough.

SIDNEY MORGENBESSER, B. 1921
Sidewalk Socrates
By JAMES RYERSON
He could parse, kibitz and analyze with the best of them. He just couldn't get it down on paper.

RICHARD AVEDON, B. 1923
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, B. 1908
HELMUT NEWTON, B. 1920
Camera Men
By LUC SANTE
They weren't just taking pictures. They were making art.
• Multimedia: Avedon's Portraits | Cartier-Bresson's Work

RICK JAMES, B. 1948
Funk Master
By JONATHAN LETHEM
Super, yes. But more than a freak.

MARGARET HASSAN, B.1945
Death Betrayed Her
By ELIZABETH RUBIN
An extraordinary life, ended in an act of terror.

PAUL KLEBNIKOV, B. 1963
Back to Russia, With Love
By PETER LANDESMAN
An American journalist dreamed of reforming his fatherland.

LACY VAN-ZANT, B. 1915
Southern Man
By SHAILA K. DEWAN
The truck driver who taught his sons Ronnie, Donnie and Johnny how to rock.

KEN CAMINITI, B. 1963
Souped-Up Slugger
By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE
What he was willing to do to his body to get the baseball to go a little farther.

JOE GOLD, B. 1922
Body by Joe
By PAT JORDAN
For a certain kind of man, when you got to Gold's Gym, you were home.

MARLON BRANDO, B. 1924
Wild One
By DAPHNE MERKIN
He turned us on in a hundred different ways. But in the end he was trapped by his own beauty.
• Complete Coverage: Marlon Brando

RED ADAIR, B. 1915
The Big Heat
By SEAN FLYNN
It was him against the flames, and he always won.

MARGARET KELLY, B. 1910
The Hidden Life of Miss Bluebell
By SUSAN DOMINUS
She used glamour to ward off tragedy.

TONY RANDALL, B. 1920
Mr. Irony
By ANTHONY GIARDINA
Suddenly, neurosis seemed kind of fun.

HERBERT HAFT, B. 1920
Dad's Empire
By WALTER KIRN
He fought to build a drugstore chain. Then he brought the fight home.

ALEXANDER YAKOB LERNER, B. 1913
Refusenik
By DAVID BEZMOZGIS
By asking to leave, he helped start a movement.

JAMES CHACE, B. 1931
Seeing the World
By MARK DANNER
To understand foreign affairs, you have to get out of town.

MARGE SCHOTT, B. 1928
Big Mouth
By CHARLES McGRATH
For a few strange years, running a baseball team became a spectator sport.

MARY-ELLIS BUNIM, B. 1946
SPALDING GRAY, B. 1941
To Tell the Truth
By CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
He did reality before she did reality TV.

RUSS MEYER, B. 1922
The Man Who Really, Really Loved Women
By CHRIS GORE
He couldn't take his eyes off his actresses' breasts. But deep down, they say, he was a true feminist.