Milestones

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Ellin Martens, Paruedee Nguitragool, Desa Philadelphia, Julie Rawe, Alain Sanders, Josh Tyrangiel

PLEADED GUILTY. COLONEL JAMES HIETT, 48, former supervisor of U.S. antidrug efforts in Colombia; to concealing knowledge that his wife laundered drug money; in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, N.Y. Hiett admitted paying bills with $25,000 in funds from smuggled heroin. He faces a maximum of three years in prison plus $250,000 in fines.

DIED. JOSEPH BURTON DELACRUZ, 62, former president of the National Congress of American Indians; of a heart attack; in Seattle. An advocate of tribal sovereignty, he battled federal agencies over fishing and timber rights.

DIED. EDWARD GOREY, 75, author and illustrator of more than 100 morbidly funny books; of a heart attack; in Yarmouth Port, Mass. A former book-jacket designer, he created such macabre classics as The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an alphabet book in which A stands for "Amy who fell down the stairs." Though not a recluse, Gorey avoided the limelight (he declined a 1980 Tony Award for his gothic Dracula set design). Despite plaudits from critics such as Edmund Wilson, Gorey said that to take his work seriously would be "the height of folly."

DIED. LILA KEDROVA, 82, Russian-born actress who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek; in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

DIED. ABRAM CHAYES, 77, lawyer and adviser to the Kennedy Administration who developed the legal foundation for the U.S. quarantine of Soviet ships during the Cuban missile crisis; in Boston.

DIED. ALEXANDER COHEN, 79, voluble Broadway impresario who brought the Tonys to TV and Richard Burton's Hamlet to Broadway; in New York City.

DIED. ALICE SHEETS MARRIOTT, 92, co-founder of the Marriott Corp.; in Washington. Marriott and her husband transformed a nine-stool root beer stand into an international hotel empire.