Milestones

By Harriet Barovick, Gilbert Cruz, Jackson Dykman, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver

DIED

He became an astronaut at the young age of 28, and over the course of his 12-year career, G. David Low made more than 540 laps around Earth. Low held degrees in physics, mechanical engineering, aeronautics and astronautics, but much of his fascination for outer space was inherited: in 1960 his father George Low was a member of the NASA team that first suggested to then President John F. Kennedy the possibility of putting a man on the moon within 10 years. Low died of colon cancer. He was 52.

Spicy chicken and wildly extravagant living are what Louisiana native Al Copeland will be best remembered for. The founder of the fast-food chain Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Copeland stumbled at first with a bland recipe but found success in 1972 when he used local Cajun flavors. His business ideas didn't always produce results, particularly in the case of his 1989 purchase of Church's Chicken, which ended in bankruptcy. Yet whatever his success, he wasn't shy about public displays of wealth, indulging in over-the-top Christmas-light displays and Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces--though he generated less fanfare about his local philanthropy. He died of a rare form of salivary-gland cancer. He was 64.

Called the Fifth Beatle by members of the band, Neil Aspinall used to shuttle the foursome to nighttime gigs in Liverpool while holding down an accounting job by day. Devoted friend, roadie and unofficial manager, he came to run the Beatles' music empire, Apple Corps, deftly negotiating with all four members--and the wives of the deceased--even when communication was most strained, and producing the popular Beatles Anthology retrospective albums, among others. Unwavering in his loyalty, Aspinall, unlike many other Beatles insiders, never told his--or their--story. He was 66.

In nearly five decades of reporting, broadcast journalist Bob Dyk covered everything from earthquakes and riots to the death of Winston Churchill and, most notably, the Iran hostage crisis. He started as an editorial assistant for CBS News at the 1960 Democratic Convention, when J.F.K. became the presidential nominee. Later, while working for ABC News, he was the first journalist reporting from Tehran after the U.S. embassy was overrun and 52 Americans were taken hostage in 1979. Nightly broadcasts featuring his reporting on the two-year crisis later became the show Nightline. Dyk was 71.

He preferred the stage to the screen, but many will remember actor Paul Scofield best for his Academy Award--winning performance as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film version of A Man for All Seasons. Born in the south of England and trained in theater from an early age, Scofield led an intensely private life offstage but onstage captivated audiences with his precision and fervor. A master of Shakespearean roles, he played everyone from Henry VIII to Hamlet, also delivering memorable performances in parts ranging from Don Quixote to Salieri in a 1979 production of Amadeus. He was 86.

Before he turned 13, Cuban Jazz musician Israel (Cachao) Lopez was playing professionally--though he had to stand on a wooden crate to reach the neck of his bass. In 1937 he and his brother Orestes composed a tune called El Danzon Mambo, which later rocketed to popularity simply as the mambo when the pace was slowed for dancing. His freestyle jam sessions paved the way for groups like the Buena Vista Social Club, with whom his nephew now plays bass. Throughout his career, Lopez was revered by fellow musicians, but he was launched to international fame when Cuban-American actor Andy Garcia featured him in documentaries and produced his albums, including the 2004 Grammy-winning Ahora Si. He was 89.

With her 20-lb. (9 kg) camera braced in the window of a tiny airplane, Mary Meader captured images of the Nazca Lines of Peru, the white summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and the massive pyramids of Egypt. Her aerial photographs were some of the first taken of parts of Africa and South America. She was 91.