Milestones

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Autumn De Leon, Michelle Derrow, Aisha Durham, Tam Gray, David Spitz and Chris Taylor

DIED. DONALD ENGEN, 75, head of the National Air and Space Museum and a much decorated Navy pilot; when the glider in which he was a passenger crashed near Minden, Nev., while he was on vacation with his wife. A gliding enthusiast who headed the FAA in the 1980s, Engen oversaw the exhibition of such gems as the Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927.

DIED. ERNST WYNDER, 77, pioneering physician and researcher who co-authored a landmark 1950 study linking cigarettes with lung cancer; of thyroid cancer; in New York City. Founder of the American Health Foundation based in New York City, Wynder most recently served on a federal panel created to evaluate alternative therapies to treat and prevent cancer.

DIED. STAN DURWOOD, 78, ebullient creator of the now ubiquitous multiplex movie theater; of esophageal cancer; in Kansas City, Mo. Durwood opened his first fully planned multiplex in 1962--with The Great Escape playing on both screens. Now the company he ran, AMC Entertainment, operates 218 theaters (and 2,729 screens) in 23 states and several countries including Spain and Japan. "Our goal is to say to the customer, 'We love ya,' " he said in 1996. "We want to make your stay pleasant and fun."

DIED. AARON LAPIN, 85, inventor of Reddi-wip; in Los Angeles. Lapin--nicknamed Bunny (his last name means rabbit in French)--introduced his aerosol canister of cream in 1946. Within five years, the former clothing salesman was a millionaire.

DIED. CLARENCE L. HARRIS, 94, lunch manager who in 1960 let four black students remain seated at Woolworth's whites-only counter; in Greensboro, N.C. Harris did not serve the protesters, but his insistence that police not be called helped energize the sit-in, which after six months (and hundreds of demonstrators) succeeded in integrating the counter. The action sparked similar tests across the South.