MILESTONES

DIED. PIPER DAVIS, 79, the first African-American baseball player to sign with the Boston Red Sox, only to be dropped from the roster because of prejudice, not poor hitting; in Birmingham, Ala. In the 1940s he was a star slugger and infielder in the Negro leagues. As manager of the Birmingham Black Barons, he mentored the "Say-Hey Kid," Willie Mays.

DIED. MILDRED KERR BUSH, 12, a.k.a. Millie, the tell-all First Pooch, who "penned" the inside scoop on her master's presidency; after being put to sleep owing to a stomach ailment; in Kennebunkport, Maine. Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush (1990) was a best seller for more than half a year.

DIED. TROY RUTTMAN, 67, brash hot rodder who sped to short-lived glory in 1952, becoming at 22 the youngest winner of the Indianapolis 500; of lung cancer; in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

DIED. AARON HENRY, 74, redoubtable N.A.A.C.P. leader who waged a lifelong crusade against racism, from the front lines of civil rights protests (he was arrested more than 30 times) to the floor of Mississippi's state legislature; of heart failure; in Clarksdale, Miss.

DIED. VIRGILIO BARCO, 75, Colombian President whose social reforms were undercut by his unrelenting war against cocaine barons; of stomach cancer; in Bogota. A former mayor, the owlish-eyed, professorial Barco stammered his way to the presidential palace in 1986. With neither flair nor fanfare, he hunkered down to combat poverty and drugs until his administration was overrun by vengeful cartels.

DIED. ALFRED HERSHEY, 88, Nobel-prizewinning scientist who proved, by testing and stirring up viruses and bacteria in a household blender, that DNA carries genetic information; in Syosset, N.Y.

DIED. ELBRIDGE DURBROW, 93, shrewd diplomat who for all his acumen could not maneuver the U.S. out of intemperate relations; in Walnut Creek, Calif. From the Moscow embassy, Durbrow witnessed the beginning of the cold war in the late 1940s. War seemed to shadow him; in 1957 he became ambassador to South Vietnam just in time to watch that region move toward conflagration.

MARRIED. MATTHEW BRODERICK, 34, winsomely boyish actor, and current Broadway princess (in Once Upon a Mattress) SARAH JESSICA PARKER, 32; secretly, at a New York City synagogue.