Died. Leonard Lyons, 70, Broadway columnist who chronicled the mots and mores of New York celebrities for four decades; after a long illness; in Manhattan. Born on the Lower East Side and trained as a lawyer, he began his column, "The Lyons Den," in 1934; during the '50s he was syndicated in more than 100 papers. From early afternoon to dawn six days a week, he would prowl New York nightclubs, theater openings, restaurants and bars to gather anecdotes. Though his renditions were often flatfooted, Lyons was trusted by movie stars, moguls, authors and athletes to get their stories straight.

Died. Lars Onsager, 72, longtime Yale chemistry professor whose work on heat transfer, now known as the fourth law of thermodynamics, won him the 1968 Nobel Prize; of a heart attack; in Coral Gables, Fla. Before World War II, Onsager proposed a gaseous diffusion process to produce the rare uranium isotope needed to construct the atomic bomb; it js now the standard method used to manufacture uranium 235.

Died. Gilbert Ryle, 76, British philosopher and editor of the journal Mind (1948-71); after a stroke; in Whitby, England. Ryle, who taught at Oxford for 44 years, was a prolific writer with a fresh, piquant style. A linguistic analyst in the tradition of Wittgenstein and A. J. Ayer, he maintained that the true role of philosophy was to clarify, by closely examining the ways in which words were used. In his best-known work, The Concept of Mind (1949), Ryle held that the mind should not be viewed as operating separately from the body, like a "ghost in the machine." Rather, Ryle said, thoughts and emotions are directly expressed in physical activity.

Died. Leonid, 80, Russian-born neoromantic painter; in Manhattan, where he had lived since World War II. While painting on the Mediterranean coast in the 1920s, Leonid became fascinated by the mysterious beauty of the shore, and pale, silent seascapes became his hallmark.

Died. Howard W. Smith, 93, courtly, conservative former chairman of the House Rules Committee; in Alexandria, Va. During his 36 years on the Hill, Smith helped lead Southern Democratic opposition to liberal legislation, from the New Deal to the Great Society. In an attempt to defeat the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, Smith added "sex" to the provision that banned job discrimination; when the bill passed anyway, it paved the way for thousands of lawsuits brought by women for equal employment opportunity.

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