Milestones

By Melissa August, Elizabeth L. Bland, Victoria Rainert, Sora Song, Jyoti Thottam, Rebecca Winters.

VERDICTS OVERTURNED. In the trial of LEMRICK NELSON JR., 27, and CHARLES PRICE, 47, found guilty of civil rights violations in the stabbing death of a Hasidic Jew during the racially divisive 1991 Crown Heights riots; in New York City. A federal appeals court discarded the convictions of the two black men, ruling that the federal judge in the original trial had influenced the jury makeup to include more Jews.

FINED. MICHAEL LASSETER, 32, who bolted past security guards and down an up escalator, causing a three-hour evacuation of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport last November; $3,300, the maximum penalty for a security breach; by the FAA; in Atlanta.

DIED. IAN HAMILTON, 63, biographer, editor and poet sued by J.D. Salinger after Hamilton penned an unauthorized biography of the reclusive writer; in London. The book was banned from distribution by a court injunction in 1987, but Hamilton emerged the following year with an equally revealing book, In Search of J.D. Salinger.

DIED. DAVE THOMAS, 69, founder and playful pitchman for the Wendy's hamburger chain; of liver cancer; in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Unable to find a decent burger in Columbus, Ohio, Thomas decided to make his own. He opened his first restaurant in 1969; today there are more than 6,000. Thomas, who was adopted when he was six weeks old, became a leading national advocate for adoption and formed a foundation to support it. As a child, he forged his most intimate relationship with his grandmother, who often told him, "Don't cut corners." Thus Wendy's square hamburger patties.

DIED. CYRUS VANCE, 84, former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, after a long battle with Alzheimer's. Soft-spoken yet tough, Vance was pivotal in normalizing relations with China and in securing a peace accord between Egypt and Israel. He resigned in April 1980 over Carter's approval of a military operation to rescue hostages from Iran.

DIED. IGOR CASSINI, 86, gossip columnist who wrote for the Hearst newspapers as Cholly Knickerbocker and claimed to have coined the term jet set; in New York City. He was once literally tarred and feathered in retaliation for an unflattering column about Virginia high society. In the early 1960s, Igor (whose brother Oleg designed dresses for Jacqueline Kennedy) relayed information to J.F.K. about fears of a coup in the Dominican Republic and was sent there with the former Under Secretary of State to help ease tensions.