Milestones

By Kathleen Adams, Melissa August, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Alex Smith, Sora Song, Heather Tesoriero and Josh Tyrangiel

RETIRING. LOUIS J. FREEH, 51, as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; two years short of his full 10-year term; in Washington. With college tuition for his six sons in mind, the former judge plans to pursue higher-paying employment in the private sector.

RECOVERING. GEORGE HARRISON, 58, former Beatle; from lung-cancer surgery at the Mayo Clinic; in Tuscany, Italy.

AILING. RYAN O'NEAL, 60, actor who starred in such films as Barry Lyndon and What's Up, Doc?; with leukemia; in Los Angeles. Ryan got an Oscar nomination in 1970 for Love Story, in which his character's wife dies of leukemia.

INJURED. NIKI TAYLOR, 26, supermodel and Cover Girl spokeswoman; in a car accident; in Atlanta. The driver of the car in which she was a passenger swerved off the road when he reached to answer a cell phone. Taylor suffered severe liver damage and was in critical condition.

INDICTED. A. ALFRED TAUBMAN, 76, and SIR ANTHONY TENNANT, 71, former chairmen of auction houses Sotheby's Holdings Inc. and Christie's International, respectively; for colluding to fix auction commission rates charged to sellers, totaling $400 million over six years; in New York City.

CONVICTED. THOMAS BLANTON JR., 62, former Ku Klux Klansman; of first-degree murder; for the 1963 bombing of a Baptist church that killed four black girls; in Birmingham, Ala. After listening to secretly recorded FBI audiotapes of Blanton telling his wife about "the bomb" and attending Klan meetings "to make the bomb," it took a jury about two hours to convict him.

DIED. CLIFF HILLEGASS, 83, creator of Cliffs Notes, the series of brief study guides to literature cherished by students; in Lincoln, Neb. His first was a summary of Hamlet in 1958.

DIED. BABU CHHIRI, 35, former yak herder turned legendary Sherpa guide; after slipping into a crevasse while taking photos at 20,400 ft.; on Mount Everest. Last year Chhiri set the record for the fastest ascent of Everest, summiting the 29,035-ft. peak from the base camp at 17,552 ft. in 16 hr. 56 min. Most people make the trek in two to four days.

DIED. ANDY PHILLIP, 79, University of Illinois Whiz Kid who graduated to five-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame guard; of heart failure; in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Hailed as one of the greatest passers of his time, Phillip was the first to make 500 assists in a season.

DIED. JOHN P. SCANLON, 66, crisis manager and p.r. spinmeister whose clients included Jesse Jackson, former Sotheby's chairman A. Alfred Taubman and former Senator Bob Kerrey; in New York City. Scanlon also represented CBS in the Westmoreland libel suit and Brown & Williamson Tobacco in its attempt to discredit whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand.

DIED. MEYER FRIEDMAN, 90, cardiologist who helped coin the term Type A behavior in the 1950s and posited that uptight, high-stress people were more prone than mellow types to heart attacks; in San Francisco. Friedman's writings included three scholarly books on coronary-artery disease, as well as the widely read Type A Behavior and Your Heart (1974) and more than 500 articles.