Milestones

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Clayton Neuman

RESIGNED. Bob Nardelli, 58, as chairman and CEO of Home Depot, the world's largest home-improvement chain; in the wake of investor anger over his $200 million--plus pay package during the past six years while Home Depot's stock price sank; in Atlanta. Nardelli had refused to discuss his salary, even at the company's contentious annual meeting last year, at which he was the only board member in attendance. Although Home Depot's market capitalization fell $5.6 billion in 2006, Nardelli received a $210 million severance deal.

KILLED. Darrent Williams, 24, rising NFL star and defensive back for the Denver Broncos; in a drive-by shooting that wounded two others in the limo in which he was riding, following a dispute at a nightclub on New Year's Eve; in Denver. Police said they had no reason to believe that Williams, who finished the season with four interceptions, was a target.

DIED. Anne Rogers Clark, 77, storied dog-show judge known as the Big Lady; in Wilmington, Del. A fixture at every Westminster Dog Show since 1941, she was the first female handler to win Best in Show and was the only judge to have evaluated all the American Kennel Club's 165 breeds. The 6-ft. 2-in. Clark, who learned the business at her mother's dog-grooming shop (she rejected a veterinarian scholarship), confessed to a special fondness for poodles, which she called "Labradors with a college education."

DIED. Frank Tremaine, 92, Honolulu-based journalist for the United Press who filed the first account of the Pearl Harbor attack; in Savannah, Ga. On Dec. 7, 1941, the young reporter was awakened in his bungalow by the falling bombs. After confirming with sources over the phone, he filed this sentence, which the White House scooped by minutes in its official statement: "Flash--Pearl Harbor under aerial attack. Tremaine."

DIED. Robert Stafford, 93, former Republican Senator from Vermont who bucked his party as a staunch environmentalist and championed education; in Rutland, Vt. In 2000 Stafford, for whom Congress renamed its Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program in 1988, spoke on his state's debate over gay marriage: "I consider that love is one of the great forces in our society ... what harm does [it] do anybody or any society?"

DIED. Tillie Olsen, 94, political, feminist writer and advocate for the working class who gave life to characters seldom before celebrated in fiction: ordinary women struggling to survive amid the demands of jobs and motherhood; in Oakland, Calif. For many years a working mom with little time to write, she produced a small body of hugely influential work. Among her books: the nonfiction Silences, which explored women's obstacles to creativity, and the 1961 collection Tell Me a Riddle, whose title novella detailed an unhappily married couple's road trip and won an O. Henry Award for exceptional short fiction.

DIED. Teddy Kollek, 95, who, as Jerusalem's breezy, liberal, secular mayor for 28 years, delicately balanced the needs of its fractious citizens, building museums, gardens and a sports arena that transformed the battered city into one of the most culturally vibrant in the Middle East; in Jerusalem. He took over in 1965, when the city was divided between Israeli and Jordanian rule. After the 1967 war, when Jerusalem was reunified under Israeli sovereignty, he earned grudging respect from Palestinians for bridge-building efforts that included fending off zealous Jews who wanted to move into the Old City's Arab quarter.

DIED. Frank Stanton, 98, pioneering, professorial president of CBS who was credited with turning the company into the prestigious Tiffany Network; in Boston. Over his 26 years at the side of CBS founder William Paley, Stanton (below, with ex-boxer Rocky Graziano, promoting a 1953 special) oversaw construction of Black Rock, CBS's New York City headquarters, and helped develop its famous eye logo. Excited by the prospect of TV--a medium Paley viewed with suspicion--Stanton made stars of giants like Edward R. Murrow and Jackie Gleason and trumped NBC by securing the acquisition of a promising new sitcom, I Love Lucy.