Milestones

By Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daniel Levy, Andrew Purvis, Julie Rawe, Sachiko Sakamaki, Alex Taylor, Owen Thomas, Josh Tyrangiel

RETIRING. Michael J. Fox, 38, actor who is suffering from Parkinson's disease; from the TV sitcom Spin City to work toward a cure for the illness.

NEW TRIAL GRANTED. TO PATRICK NAUGHTON, 34, ex-Infoseek honcho convicted last month of possessing cyber child porn; in Los Angeles. An appeals court ruled parts of federal child-porn law unconstitutional. Retrial is set for March.

ARRESTED. DOBROSAV GAVRIC, 23, Serb policeman; for the Mob-style slaying on Jan. 15 of Serbian warlord Arkan; by Belgrade police. Gavric, on sick leave, reportedly had links to the underworld.

DIED. DEREK ANSON JONES, 38, director of the Pulitzer prizewinning play Wit; of complications from AIDS; in New York City. A longtime friend of playwright Margaret Edson, he championed Wit and brought it to off-Broadway.

DIED. BETTINO CRAXI, 65, Italy's first postwar socialist leader from 1983 to 1987; in Tunisia. He later faced charges of corruption.

DIED. ROBERT R. WILSON, 85, pioneering physicist; in Ithaca, N. Y. Wilson worked with Enrico Fermi on the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the atom bomb. In 1972 he constructed the world's largest particle smasher.

DIED. HEDY LAMARR, 86, sultry actress; in Orlando, Fla. The Viennese-born Lamarr (the star of Samson and Delilah) also shared a 1942 patent for a device that prevented radio-controlled torpedoes from having their signals jammed (see Eulogy).

DIED. IRVING I. STONE, 90, head of American Greetings Corp.; in Beachwood, Ohio. Starting in the family card business at age 5 and taking over billing, sales and delivery at 9, Stone built the firm into the second largest card company in the U.S.

DIED. JEAN MACARTHUR, 101, widow of General Douglas MacArthur, who called her "my constant friend, sweetheart and devoted supporter"; in New York City. A witness to history, she shadowed her famous husband during war and peace, most notably at his side on a PT boat, dodging Japanese planes and destroyers, when he was ordered out of the Philippines in 1942.