Milestones

By Aryn Baker, Andrea Ford, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Betwa Sharma, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver, Kate Stinchfield

DIED When a rumor spread that lynching was likely for civil rights activist James Orange--confined in an Alabama jail after his 1965 arrest during a voter-registration drive--it set in motion the protests and marches that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. An aide and friend to Martin Luther King Jr., Orange was with him the day that King was assassinated. Orange worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the AFL-CIO and, most recently, the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee. He was 65.

Convicted of the 1994 kidnapping and murder of three backpackers in Cambodia, the former Khmer Rouge commander Sam Bith was sentenced to life in prison in 2002. David Wilson of Australia, Mark Slater of the U.K. and Jean-Michel Braquet of France were on a train when it was ambushed by Khmer Rouge fighters. The rebels had been waging a guerrilla war in the jungle after the violent four-year reign of their leader, Pol Pot, ended in 1979. Several Cambodians were killed in the 1994 attack. The three travelers were held for three months, then executed when ransom negotiations failed. Bith died in jail from health issues linked to diabetes and high blood pressure, according to his wife. He was 74.

Alain Robbe-Grillet's nouveau roman, a novel without coherent plot, characters, chapters or, at times, punctuation, began a literary movement in the 1950s that influenced a generation of French writers. Author of 10 novels, he also made several films that bordered on the pornographic. Although he was named one of the 40 "immortals" of the Academie Franc,aise--custodians of the French language and cultural patrimony--Robbe-Grillet perplexed and scandalized readers with his avant-garde storytelling. His last work, Un Roman Sentimental, was derided by some critics as obscene when it came out last year, but Robbe-Grillet described it as a "fairy tale for adults." He was 85.

The 5-ft. 2-in. golfer with the two-step swing, Torakichi Nakamura, introduced an enduring craze for golf to postwar Japan with his 1957 victory in the Canada Cup. Nakamura, also known as Pete, first worked on a golf course as a caddie at 14 and compensated for his height with an innovative game. By 20, he was a pro, and in 1958 he became one of the first two Japanese golfers to play in the U.S. Masters after World War II. Later in life, he coached champions such as Hisako Higuchi, the first Asian to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Nakamura was 92.

Author of more than 75 mysteries, children's books and textbooks, Phyllis Whitney confessed two decades ago, at 85, that she was starting to slow down. "I only write one book a year," she told the Associated Press. Born in Japan to American parents, she spent much of her early life abroad, an experience that informed her stories. Imperiled-but-wily female protagonists and the men they loved featured prominently in her work, but Whitney considered herself more mystery writer than romance novelist. She was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1988, its highest honor. She was 104.

DECLARED DEAD Missing since last September, adventurer and multimillionaire Steve Fossett was declared legally dead on Feb. 15. Fossett was 63 when his single-engine plane disappeared after taking off in Nevada. Billionaire and fellow adventure-buff Richard Branson intends to honor his close friend with a new vessel meant to carry people into space. It will be called Spirit of Steve Fossett.

RESIGNED The man so omnipresent that Cubans often refer to him by gesture instead of name--drawing their fingers along their jawlines to indicate his iconic beard--announced that he will be stepping down after 49 years.

Fidel Castro, 81, had been Cuba's leader since 1959, when his socialist movement overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista. (See story, page 34.)