Milestones

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Kaili McDonnough, Elisabeth Salemme

RESIGNED. Mark Foley, 52, fast- rising six-term moderate G.O.P. Congressman from Florida whose signature cause was protecting children from sexual predators; after the disclosure of e-mails and instant messages, some of them sexually suggestive, that he allegedly sent to several current and former teenage male pages in the House of Representatives; in Washington. As chairman of the House Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, Foley introduced legislation last summer to shield children from adult exploitation over the Internet. In a statement, the Congressman, who was a deputy Republican whip and until his abrupt departure had been expected to win re-election in November, apologized for "letting down my family and the people of Florida."

SENTENCED. Andrew Fastow, 44, former chief financial officer of Enron; to six years in jail; for his role in inflating profits, hiding billions of dollars in debt and enriching himself before the energy giant's 2001 collapse; in Houston. Explaining the lenient sentence--Fastow had agreed to serve up to 10 years when he pleaded guilty in 2004--Judge Kenneth Hoyt said Fastow's family had suffered enough, and cited his cooperation in the prosecution of ex-CEO Kenneth Lay. "Prosecution is necessary," Hoyt said, "but persecution is not."

DIED. Edward Albert, 55, actor best known for his sensitive, moving portrayal of a young blind man struggling to break free of his protective mother in the 1972 film Butterflies Are Free; of lung cancer; in Los Angeles. Like his father, actor Eddie Albert, the younger Albert--who appeared in more than 100 films (Guarding Tess, Midway) and TV shows (Falcon Crest)--spent much of his time working to preserve the environment and Native American culture, serving on numerous boards, including the California Coastal Commission.

DIED. Martha Holmes, 83, one of LIFE's first female photographers and the creator of historic, vivid portraits of luminaries; in New York City. Warm and engaged, Holmes captured rare, personal moments in the lives of subjects from Edward R. Murrow (on a tractor on his farm in Connecticut) to Eleanor Roosevelt (surrounded by orphans on a walk through the woods). Holmes' famous shot of Jackson Pollock, cigarette dangling, working intently on one of his trademark splattered canvases, was later reproduced on a U.S. postage stamp.

DIED. Maureen Daly, 85, author of the breathy, happy 1942 teen novel Seventeenth Summer, who is credited with launching the genre of modern young-adult literature; in Palm Desert, Calif. The best-selling book, which Daly wrote when she was a teenager, detailed a romance between two high schoolers in a Midwestern lakeside village. Of its origins, she said, "I was so wildly happy about love and life at a particular time of my existence, I wanted to get all that fleeting excitement down on paper before it passed or I forgot the true feelings."

DIED. Ralph Story, 86, TV and radio personality known for his wry on-air manner; in Santa Ynez, Calif. Born Ralph Snyder, the World War II fighter pilot became a household name as M.C. of TV's The $64,000 Challenge in the 1950s. Later he told quirky stories in a then rare casual style on Ralph Story's Los Angeles, an Emmy-winning series that examined life in the city and aired for six years.

DIED. Etta Baker, 93, influential blues matriarch whose music helped spark the folk revival of the 1960s; in Fairfax, Va. Baker worked for nearly three decades at a textile mill before taking up the guitar full-time at age 60. Her raw, soulful mix of bluegrass and Delta blues--starting with blistering renditions of Railroad Bill and One-Dime Blues on a 1956 compilation album of southern Appalachian musicians--won her a cult following and, in 1991, a folk-heritage fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

DIED. Byron Nelson, 94, gentlemanly legend of golf who in 1945 had the greatest season in the sport's history, winning 18 titles, including a still unmatched record of 11 straight tournament victories; at his ranch in Roanoke, Texas. The son of cotton farmers, Nelson learned golf after becoming a caddie to earn pocket money. In 1937 he won the Masters and gained the confidence, he said, "that I could make good decisions in difficult circumstances." His self-belief--and a swing so pure, it's still seen as the paragon--carried him to four more major titles and his historic streak. After he retired in 1946, others' careers became his priority. A natural teacher, he mentored players like Hall of Famer Tom Watson, encouraged a young Tiger Woods and was known for sending pros handwritten letters full of cheer and advice. "I have tried hard to do proper," Nelson said in 2002. "I think I've done a pretty good job."

DIED. Iva Toguri D'Aquino, 90, Japanese American jailed, amid rampant post--World War II anti-Japanese prejudice, as the traitorous radio host Tokyo Rose; in Chicago. In fact, there was no one Tokyo Rose--the name was given by U.S. troops to any English-speaking woman on the Japanese propaganda outlet Radio Japan. In 1941 D'Aquino flew to the country to care for an aunt and got stuck in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Suddenly an enemy, she was forced to work at Radio Japan. With on-air references to her audience as "our friends--I mean, our enemies" and off-air efforts to get food to starving Allied POWs, she made her loyalty to the U.S. clear. But in 1949, with testimony from witnesses who later said they had been coerced, she was convicted of treason and jailed for six years. Her pardon by President Gerald Ford in 1977 was, she said, "an act of vindication."