Milestones

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daren Fonda, Belinda Luscombe, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Eric Roston, Susanna Schrobsdorff, Josh Tyrangiel

CHARGES DROPPED. Against former Indonesian President SUHARTO, 79; in Jakarta. Judges pronounced the ailing ex-strongman medically unfit to face corruption charges. Earlier in the week his youngest son Hutomo ("Tommy") Mandala Putra, 37, was fined $3.5 million and sentenced to 18 months in jail for corruption; Hutomo's lawyers will appeal.

DIED. FRANK WILLS, 52, keen-eyed former Watergate security guard who discovered the break-in that led to Richard Nixon's resignation; from brain cancer; in Augusta, Ga. Working the midnight shift at the complex, Wills called police after noticing tape on door locks leading to the offices of the Democratic National Committee. When they arrived, they found a burglary in progress. After a brief period of fame, Wills spent the remainder of his life largely in poverty.

DIED. PIERRE TRUDEAU, 80, dashing former Prime Minister of Canada who served from 1968 until 1984 (except for nine months when he was voted out of office); in Montreal (see Eulogy below).

DIED. CARL SIGMAN, 91, Brooklyn-born composer-lyricist whose eminently hummable tunes were recorded by the likes of Guy Lombardo (Enjoy Yourself) and Billie Holiday (Crazy, He Calls Me); in Manhasset, N.Y. Most active in the '40s and '50s, he wrote everything from Frank Sinatra ballads (What Now My Love) to TV theme songs ("Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen"). His last major hit was the theme for Love Story (Where Do I Begin?), a sentimental coda to a remarkable career.

DIED. RICHARD MULLIGAN, 67, lovably paternal character actor best known as the oddball Burt Campbell on the sitcom Soap; of cancer; in Los Angeles. Mulligan began his career as a writer before appearing in dozens of TV shows, movies and plays. In 1980 he won an Emmy for Soap and in 1989 earned another for playing a good-natured widower on Empty Nest.