Ronald Reagan changed history with his tough-minded stance on the Soviets and his insistence on the importance of tax cuts.
Reagan's influence rings throughout the White House, Congress and the nation's state capitals, and seemed to sound even louder this election year.
Yasser Arafat was a hero to the Palestinian people, bringing their cause to the world stage, but was a terrorist to many. It could be years before history determines whether Arafat's long-term influence was for the good or ill.
They are two notables who died in 2004 who profoundly influenced world history.
San Diegan Francis Crick helped alter the history of science as co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. The world of business saw the passing of cosmetics queen Estee Lauder and the men who built the Eckerd drugstore chain and helped found H&R Block. Archibald Cox and Sam Dash, who died the same day, helped steer the Watergate investigation. Tug McGraw taught baseball fans that "You gotta believe," while swimming coach extraordinaire Doc Counsilman watched his athletes win medal after medal, including 26 Olympic golds.
Through her seminars and best-selling books, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross taught the medical profession – and many others – to treat the dying with compassion and understanding.
In the arts, we mourned Ray Charles, the giant of soul whose music touched our hearts even as our feet were pounding along with his rhythms. We said farewell to Marlon Brando, whose realistic, macho acting style redefined Hollywood stardom, and Fay Wray, who forever thrilled film fans as the girl who captivated King Kong.
Photographers Richard Avedon and Henri Cartier-Bresson captured a world of humanity with their lenses. Robert Merrill thrilled opera lovers and baseball fans with his rich baritone voice. Czeslaw Milosz won a Nobel Prize in literature for his poetry.
Christopher Reeve made us gasp – and chuckle – as the movies' Superman, then showed real-life courage by fighting his paralyzing injury and lobbying for funds to do more for others like him. Bob Keeshan helped raise baby boomers and generations to follow as television's Captain Kangaroo. Alistair Cooke and Julia Child were superstars of public television.
The following is a roll call of those who passed away in 2004, with the cause of death for some notables listed.
January
Brian Gibson, 59. Director of acclaimed films, including "What's Love Got To Do with It?" Cancer.
James E. "Doc" Counsilman, 83. Innovative swimming coach; led Indiana University to six NCAA championships and coached 48 Olympians, including Mark Spitz.
Michael Straight, 87. Former New Republic publisher; onetime spy recruit who helped unmask Anthony Blunt, a Soviet agent.
John Toland, 91. Won 1971 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for "The Rising Sun," on the Japanese empire during World War II.
Tug McGraw, 59. Relief pitcher with New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies; known for the slogan "You Gotta Believe." Father of country music star Tim McGraw. Brain cancer.
Norman Heatley, 92. British scientist whose work on penicillin production helped save countless lives.
Francesco Scavullo, 82. Fashion photographer who made beautiful women even more so; shot Cosmopolitan covers for decades.
Ingrid Thulin, 77. Swedish actress acclaimed for work with Ingmar Bergman ("Wild Strawberries," "Brink of Life").
Alfred Pugh, 108. Last known combat-wounded U.S. veteran of World War I.
Thomas Kindness, 74. Six-term Ohio congressman.
Philip Geyelin, 80. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, credited with turning The Washington Post editorial page against the Vietnam War.
Spalding Gray, 62. Actor-writer who laid bare his life in acclaimed monologues such as "Swimming to Cambodia." Apparent suicide.
Harold Shipman, 57. British doctor blamed for killing at least 215 elderly patients. Hanged himself in prison.
David N. Henderson, 82. Eight-term North Carolina congressman; helped create Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Uta Hagen, 84. Actress who dazzled Broadway audiences for more than 50 years, particularly as brutal Martha in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Ray Stark, 88. Hollywood power broker; produced "Funny Girl," "The Way We Were."
Harry
"The Cat" Brecheen, 89. St. Louis Cardinals pitcher; won three games in the 1946 World Series.
Harry Claiborne, 86. Federal judge; was impeached and removed after conviction for filing false tax returns.
Jerry Nachman, 57. Colorful journalist; editor of the New York Post; later vice president and host on MSNBC.
Bernard Punsly, 80. Last surviving member of the movies' "Dead End Kids."
Ann Miller, 81. Fast-tapped her way to movie stardom in musicals such as "On the Town," "Easter Parade" and "Kiss Me Kate"; dazzled Broadway in "Sugar Babies."
Bob Keeshan, 76. Gently entertained generations of youngsters as TV's walrus-mustachioed Captain Kangaroo and became an outspoken opponent of violence in children's television.
Helmut Newton, 83. Acclaimed fashion photographer who was a trailblazer in exploring power, gender roles and an icy sexuality in his pictures.
Adella Wotherspoon, 100. Believed to be the last survivor of 1904 sinking of the excursion ferry General Slocum that killed more than 1,000 in New York.
Jack Paar, 85. Made the "The Tonight Show" the talk show everybody talked about, setting the stage for Johnny Carson and many others.
Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, 80. NFL Hall of Famer; earned his nickname for an erratic running style.
Former Navy Cmdr. Lloyd "Pete" Bucher, 76. Helped his USS Pueblo crew survive 11 months of brutal captivity in North Korea, then faced criticism back home.
Louie B. Nunn, 79. As Kentucky governor, he oversaw revamping of the state's mental-health system.
February
Warren Zimmermann, 69. Last U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia before its breakup.
Frances Partridge, 103. British diarist; part of the literary Bloomsbury Group.
Retired Adm. Thomas Moorer, 91. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; headed Navy during Vietnam War.
Jose Lopez Portillo, 83. President of Mexico from 1976 to 1982 through oil-driven boom to debt-induced bust.
Daniel J. Boorstin, 89. Former Librarian of Congress; social critic and best-selling historian.
Jozef Lenart, 80. Former Czechoslovakian prime minister; cleared of treason over role in 1968 Soviet-led invasion.
Frank del Olmo, 55. Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist and a voice for Hispanics. Apparent heart attack.
Jerome F. Lederer, 101. Aviation safety expert; aided in Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo
trans-Atlantic flight and on NASA missions.
Fred Benninger, 86. Gambling executive; helped build some of Las Vegas' best-known properties.
March
Marge Schott, 75. Tough-talking former owner of the Cincinnati Reds; repeatedly suspended for offensive remarks.
Paul Winfield, 62. Oscar-nominated actor ("Sounder") known for versatility on stage and screen.
Mike O'Callaghan, 74. Nevada governor in 1970s.
Mercedes McCambridge, 87. Oscar-winning actress; provided demon-possessed girl's voice in "The Exorcist."
Abul Abbas, 56. Palestinian who planned the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship. He died of natural causes while in U.S. custody.
Robert D. Orr, 86. Championed educational reform as Indiana's governor in the 1980s.
Sidney L. James, 97. Founding editor of Sports Illustrated.
William H. Pickering, 93. Former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; oversaw launch of the first U.S. satellite in 1958.
John "J.J." Jackson, 62. Disc jockey who helped usher in the music video era as one of the first hosts on MTV.
Former Queen Juliana, 94. Reigned 32 years in the Netherlands.
John C. West, 81. Former South Carolina governor; helped smooth racial tensions after patrolmen in 1968 killed three black protesters.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, about 70. Founder of Islamic militant group Hamas; killed by Israelis.
Joshua Eilberg, 83. Six-term Pennsylvania congressman who was on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings in 1974.
J. Edward Roush, 83. Indiana congressman for 16 years who was ousted by Dan Quayle in 1976.
Sir Peter Ustinov, 82. Won two Oscars in an acting career that ranged from the evil emperor Nero in "Quo Vadis" to Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot.
Jan Berry, 62. Half of surf music duo Jan & Dean ("Dead Man's Curve").
Alistair Cooke, 95. Urbane host of television's "Masterpiece Theatre"; interpreter of U.S. culture for decades on the BBC's "Letter from America."
April
Carrie Snodgress, 57. Oscar-nominated actress ("Diary of a Mad Housewife"). Heart failure.
Fred Olivi, 82. Co-pilot of the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
Phil Sokolof, 82. Nebraska multimillionaire who used his wealth to press for better nutrition.
Jim Cantalupo, 60. McDonald's CEO who helped engineer the company's turnaround by focusing on service and healthier food. Apparent heart attack.
Frank Morrison, 98. Governor of Nebraska during tumultuous 1960s.
John Maynard Smith, 84. Leading British evolutionary biologist.
Norris McWhirter, 78. Co-founder of Guinness Book of Records.
Mary McGrory, 85. Columnist for The Washington Post who won a Pulitzer Prize for her Watergate writings.
Pat Tillman, 27. Safety for the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals who traded in a multimillion-dollar contract to serve as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan. Killed in action.
Estee Lauder, 97. Built multimillion-dollar cosmetics empire.
Hubert Selby Jr., 75. Wrote acclaimed 1964 novel "Last Exit to Brooklyn."
Gaetano Badalamenti, 80. Once described as "boss of all bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia.
May
Marvin Runyon, 79. Postmaster general in the 1990s who stressed customer service and tight budgeting.
Darrell Johnson, 75. Managed Boston Red Sox to the 1975 World Series.
Retired Army Gen. Robert F. Seedlock, 91. Led the arduous construction of the Burma Road during World War II.
Elizabeth Ann Swift Cronin, 63. One of those held hostage at U.S. Embassy in Iran.
Akhmad Kadyrov, 52. Kremlin-backed leader of Russia's troubled Chechnya province. Assassinated in bombing.
Paul F. Wehrle, 82. Disease expert; helped battle smallpox and polio.
Arnold Beckman, 104. Prolific inventor of scientific instruments and a philanthropist.
Col. Robert Morgan, 85. Commander of famed Memphis Belle B-17 bomber during World War II.
Alan King, 76. Witty comedian known for tirades against everyday suburban life.
Tony Randall, 84. Comic actor; the fastidious Felix Unger in "The Odd Couple" and fussbudget pal in several Rock Hudson-Doris Day movies.
Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, 97. In 1938, she discovered a live coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct.
Elvin Ray Jones, 76. Renowned jazz drummer in John Coltrane's quartet.
Jack Eckerd, 91. Formed drugstore empire that bears his name; philanthropist.
Samuel Johnson, 76. Built family's SC Johnson wax company into a consumer products giant.
David Dellinger, 88. Peace activist; one of Chicago Seven tried for protests during 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Roger W. Straus Jr., 87. Co-founded publishing house Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Sam Dash, 79. Attorney whose questions during Senate Watergate hearings made him a household name.
Archibald Cox, 92. The special prosecutor fired in 1973 in the "Saturday Night Massacre" by President Nixon for refusing to curtail his Watergate investigation.
Ramona Trinidad Iglesias
Jordan, 114. Puerto Rican woman recognized as world's oldest living person.
Alberta Martin, 97. One of the last widows of a Civil War veteran; belle of Confederate history buffs.
June
William Manchester, 82. Historian who brought a novelist's flair to biographies of such giants as Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy.
Dr. Charles Kelman, 74. Developed outpatient cataract operation that has helped millions.
Frances Shand Kydd, 67. Princess Diana's mother.
Ronald Reagan, 93. The cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was "morning again in America."
James M. Roche, 97. As chief executive of General Motors, he helped promote equal opportunity.
Ray Charles, 73. Transcendent talent who erased musical boundaries with hits such as "What'd I Say," "Georgia on My Mind" and "I Can't Stop Loving You."
Robert Teeter, 65. Influential Republican pollster who worked in several presidential races.
Al Lapin Jr., 76. Co-founded International House of Pancakes in 1958.
Clayton Kirkpatrick, 89. Oversaw vast changes as editor of the Chicago Tribune.
Mattie Stepanek, 13. Child poet whose inspirational verse made him a best-selling writer ("Heartsongs") and a prominent voice for those stricken with muscular dystrophy.
Bob Bemer, 84. Computer pioneer who published early warnings of the Y2K problem.
July
Marlon Brando, 80. Revolutionized American acting as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire"; created the iconic character of Vito Corleone in "The Godfather."
Isabel Sanford, 86. Starred as Weezie on "The Jeffersons."
Laurance Rockefeller, 94. Conservationist, philanthropist; one of six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Carlos Kleiber, 74. Celebrated German-born conductor.
Charles W. Sweeney, 84. Piloted the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
George Busbee, 76. Georgia governor from 1975-83; campaigned as "a workhorse, not a showhorse."
Robert Smylie, 89. Three-term Idaho governor; got sales tax passed.
David A. Wallace, 87. Urban planner who revived Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
Anne McGill Gorsuch Burford, 62. Reagan's Environmental Protection Agency chief; quit under fire from environmentalists.
Richard Bloch, 78. Co-founded H&R Block, world's largest tax preparer.
Ed Lewis, 86. Won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1995 for studies into how genes regulate body development.
Illinois Jacquet, 81. Saxophonist who played with nearly every jazz luminary of his time.
Wilton Mkwayi, 81. Apartheid foe who was imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela.
Fred LaRue, 75. Special assistant to John Mitchell, Nixon's attorney general; served a prison term for Watergate.
Francis Crick, 88. Nobel Prize-winning scientist who with James Watson discovered the structure of DNA in 1953; longtime faculty member at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.
August
Alexandra Scott, 8. Cancer patient who started Alex's Lemonade Stand charity.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 95. Acclaimed French photographer whose pictures defined the mid-20th century and inspired generations that have followed.
Rick James, 56. Funk legend known for the 1981 hit "Super Freak."
"Red" Adair, 89. Celebrated oil field firefighter; inspired John Wayne film "Hellfighters."
Fay Wray, 96. The damsel held atop the Empire State Building by the ape in "King Kong."
Julia Child, 91. Brought the intricacies of French cuisine to Americans through her television series and books.
Czeslaw Milosz, 93. Polish poet and Nobel laureate known for his intellectual and emotional works about some of the worst cruelties of the 20th century.
William D. Ford, 77. Fifteen-term Michigan congressman helped to expand educational opportunities.
Paul Ngei, 81. Hero of Kenya's independence movement revolt against British colonial rule.
Sune Bergstroem, 88. Swedish scientist; shared 1982 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Hiram L. Fong, 97. First Asian-American elected to the U.S. Senate represented Hawaii for three terms.
Elmer Bernstein, 82. Oscar-winning composer scored such classics as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Great Escape."
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, 78. Psychiatrist who revolutionized the way the world looks at the terminally ill with "On Death and Dying."
Laura Branigan, 47. Grammy-nominated singer had a platinum hit in 1982 with "Gloria." Brain aneurysm.
Fred L. Whipple, 97. Harvard astronomer who proposed the "dirty snowball" theory that revolutionized the study of comets.
September
Herbert H. Haft, 84. Multimillionaire retailer offered goods from books to prescription drugs at a discount.
Kirk Fordice, 70. Hard-nosed businessman who in 1992 became Mississippi's first Republican governor in more than 100 years.
Richard G. Butler, 86. Notorious white supremacist; dubbed "elder statesman of American hate."
Brock Adams, 77. Transportation secretary under President Carter; represented Washington state in the House and Senate.
Fred Ebb, about 76. Wrote lyrics for hit musicals "Chicago" and "Cabaret" as well as the song "New York, New York."
James David Barber, 74. Political scientist; wrote influential book "The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House."
Reynaldo Garza, 89. First Hispanic federal judge, appointed in 1961.
Johnny Ramone, 55. Born John Cummings, co-founded supremely influential punk band The Ramones. Prostate cancer.
Marvin Mitchelson, 76. Hollywood divorce lawyer who pioneered the "palimony" concept.
Russ Meyer, 82. Producer-director who helped spawn the "skin flick," and later gained a measure of critical respect for such films as "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"
Eddie Adams, 71. Photojournalist who took the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photo of a guerrilla being executed in a Saigon street in 1968.
Francoise Sagan, 69. French author; famous among teenagers for the best-selling "Bonjour Tristesse."
Marvin Davis, 79. Billionaire oilman, philanthropist and, in the 1980s, owner of 20th Century Fox.
Geoffrey Beene, 77. Designer whose classic styles put him at the forefront of American fashion.
October
Rodney Dangerfield, 82. The bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating "I don't get no respect" brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies.
Richard Avedon, 81. Redefined fashion photography as an art form while achieving acclaim through his stark portraits of the powerful.
Janet Leigh, 77. Wholesome beauty whose character's shocking murder in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho" is a landmark of film.
Gordon Cooper, 77. Youngest of the original seven Mercury astronauts; achieved many firsts, including first astronaut in space for 24 hours.
Maurice Wilkins, 88. British scientist who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for groundbreaking work on DNA.
Johnny Kelley, 97. The heart and soul of the Boston Marathon, running it a record 61 times, winning twice.
Jacques Derrida, 74. World-renowned thinker who founded the school of literary analysis known as deconstructionism.
Maxime A. Faget, 83. NASA engineer who designed the original spacecraft for Project Mercury.
Christopher Reeve, 52. "Superman" actor who became the nation's most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research after a paralyzing accident.
Ken Caminiti, 41. Former San Diego Padres infielder and Major League Baseball MVP in 1996; stirred controversy by admitting to steroid use. Drug overdose.
Martin M. Kaplan, 89. Secretary-general of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Pugwash conferences on disarmament.
Pierre Salinger, 79. President Kennedy's press secretary; later a top correspondent for ABC News.
Paul H. Nitze, 97. Arms control adviser who served under eight presidents and helped frame the Cold War policy of containment.
Robert Merrill, 87. Metropolitan Opera superstar equally at home singing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium.
Vaughn Meader, 68. Gained instant fame satirizing John F. Kennedy in the multimillion-selling album "The First Family"; his star plummeted after the assassination.
Edward Oliver Leblanc, 81. Former Dominica premier who helped the Caribbean island in its transition to independence.
November
Theo van Gogh, 47. Outspoken Dutch filmmaker; great-grandnephew of painter Vincent van Gogh. Slain, apparently by Islamic radicals.
Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 86. Longtime ruler of United Arab Emirates; built it into a high-tech crossroads.
Howard Keel, 85. Broad-shouldered baritone in glittery MGM musicals ("Kiss Me Kate," "Annie Get Your Gun"); later starred on TV's "Dallas."
Yasser Arafat, 75. Palestinian guerrilla leader turned Nobel Peace Prize winner; also was reviled as a sponsor of terrorism.
Ol' Dirty Bastard, 35. The rapper, born Russell Jones, and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan whose unique rhymes and wild lifestyle made him one of the most vivid characters in hip-hop. Drug overdose
Thomas M. Foglietta, 75. Six-term Philadelphia congressman and ambassador to Italy.
Elmer L. Andersen, 95. Liberal Republican who as governor of Minnesota pressed for human rights.
Reed Irvine, 82. Founder of the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media.
Bobby Frank Cherry, 74. Ex-Klansman convicted in 1963 Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that killed four black girls.
Cy Coleman, 75. Composer of Broadway musicals ("Sweet Charity," "City of Angels") and pop songs ("The Best Is Yet to Come").
Sir John Vane, 77. Shared 1982 Nobel Prize in medicine for work discovering how aspirin works.
Fred Hale Sr., 113. Documented as the world's oldest man.
Ancel Keys, 100. Scientist who invented the K rations eaten by soldiers in World War II and helped show how fat is linked to heart attacks.
Joseph John Sisco, 85. Diplomat whose State Department career spanned five presidential administrations; involved in Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy.
Arthur Hailey, 84. Best-selling author whose novel "Airport" inspired a run of big disaster movies.
Philippe de Broca, 71. French director whose 1960s films "The Man from Rio" and "King of Hearts" brought him wide renown.
The Rev. Billy James Hargis, 79. Leading radio and television evangelist and anti-communist crusader.
December
Prince Bernhard, 93. German-born father of the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix who earned the respect of the Dutch during the Nazi occupation.
Dame Alicia Markova, 94. One of the 20th century's greatest ballerinas and a co-founder of the English National Ballet.
Josef Schwammberger, 92. Sadistic Nazi labor-camp commander who hid for 40 years in Argentina before his capture.
Jay Van Andel, 80. Billionaire co-founder of Amway Corp., which sells household products through independent, mom-and-pop distributors.
Darrell Abbott, 38. Known as "Dimebag," acclaimed guitarist with Grammy-nominated heavy-metal band Pantera and more recently Damageplan. Shot to death during a performance.
Photo Librarian Kim Lomeli contributed to this story.
