2008 Year In Review
Tributes to the 33 most notable deaths in 2008
Week 1
Edmund Hillary »
First man to top Mount Everest
DIED: January 11, 2008
The unassuming beekeeper conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers.
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Edmund Hillary - First man to top Mount Everest
July 20, 1919 - January 11, 2008 Week 1The unassuming beekeeper conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers.
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Bobby Fischer - Former World Chess Champion
March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008 Week 2The reclusive chess genius became a Cold War icon by dethroning the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972.
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Heath Ledger - Academy Award-nominated Actor
April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008 Week 3The star of both critical and box-office successes died of an accidental drug overdose.
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Archbishop Christodoulos - Head of Greek Orthodox Church
January 17, 1939 - January 28, 2008 Week 4Greece's Orthodox Church leader, eased centuries of tension with the Vatican but angered liberal critics who viewed him as an attention-seeking reactionary.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Founder of Transcendental Meditation
January 12, 1917 - February 5, 2008 Week 5A guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop.
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Roy Scheider - Academy Award-nominated actor
November 10, 1932 - February 10, 2008 Week 6The two-time Oscar nominee was best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie "Jaws".
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Douglas Fraser - President of United Auto Workers
December 18, 1916 - February 23, 2008 Week 7The leader of the United Auto Workers union through its decline in the 1970s and 1980s. He was instrumental in saving Chrysler from bankruptcy.
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William F. Buckley, Jr. - Author, journalist, political commentator
November 24, 1925 - February 27, 2008 Week 8The erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right's post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House.
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Gary Gygax - Co-creator of "Dungeons and Dragons"
July 27, 1938 - March 4, 2008 Week 9The co-creator of the fantasy game "Dungeons and Dragons", who is widely seen as the father of role-playing games, died at his home in Wisconsin.
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Howard Metzenbaum - Former Democratic Ohio Senator
June 4, 1917 - March 12, 2008 Week 10Former U.S. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum, an Ohio Democrat who was a feisty self-made millionaire before he began a long career fighting big business in Washington.
