Milestones

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daren Fonda, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Julie Rawe, Eric Roston and Josh Tyrangiel

RECOVERING. GERMAINE GREER, 61, Australian-born feminist author, after being attacked, bound and held captive in her home by a young female stalker; in Great Chesterford, England.

RESIGNED. LENNY WILKINS, 62, winningest coach in NBA history, with a record of 1,179 victories in 27 seasons; from the Atlanta Hawks; in Atlanta.

DIED. RAPHAEL DE ROTHSCHILD, 23, scion of the famous banking family; of an apparent drug overdose; in New York City. The Ivy-educated heir was found dead a week ago on a Manhattan sidewalk after a reported night of partying.

DIED. VICKI SUE ROBINSON, 46, disco diva whose Turn the Beat Around is a dance classic; of cancer; in Wilton, Conn.

DIED. WILLIAM MEHOJAH, 82, the Kaw Indian Nation's last pure-blooded member; in Omaha, Neb. Also known as the Kansa, the Kaw tribe gave Kansas its name.

DIED. DAVID MERRICK, 88, ruthless Broadway producer of nearly 90 plays and musicals; in London. (See Eulogy.)

DIED. HERBERT WECHSLER, 90, Columbia University law school professor who helped shape the U.S. legal system, toiling 10 years to create a model penal code and defending the New York Times in the landmark 1964 First Amendment case New York Times v. Sullivan, which found that public officials had to prove libelous statements were printed with "actual malice" or "reckless disregard" for the truth; in New York City.

DIED. ELMER GERTZ, 93, crusading Chicago civil rights attorney who helped Nathan Leopold, accused with Richard Loeb of young Bobby Franks' murder in 1924's "Crime of the Century," win parole in 1958; defended Henry Miller's explicit novel Tropic of Cancer against censorship; and overturned the murder conviction of Lee Harvey Oswald's killer, Jack Ruby; of pneumonia; in Chicago.