Milestones

By Melissa August; Peter Bailey; Elizabeth L. Bland; William Han; Nadia Mustafa; Elizabeth Sampson

RECOVERING. BILL CLINTON, 58, after a four-hour quadruple-bypass operation during which doctors found his heart disease to be extensive, with some of his arteries more than 90% blocked; in New York City. The former President was released from the hospital Friday.

SENTENCED. FRANK QUATTRONE, 48, former investment banker to high-flying Silicon Valley companies during the Internet boom; to 18 months in prison; in New York City. He is appealing a May conviction for hindering a federal stock investigation involving Credit Suisse First Boston, but will be forced to begin serving prison time in late October while the appeal is pending.

RETIRING. MICHAEL EISNER, 62, CEO of the Walt Disney Co. for 20 years; when his contract expires in September 2006; in Los Angeles. Although he is credited with transforming Disney into a media powerhouse, investors have begun to question his stewardship as the company's stock price has fallen. The board of directors stripped him of his additional title of chairman after an unprecedented vote of no confidence at a March shareholders' meeting.

DIED. NUHA AL-RADI, 63, Iraqi ceramist and painter best known for her book Baghdad Diaries, a vivid, witty account of the daily life of Iraqis during the first Gulf War and its aftermath; of pneumonia linked to treatment for leukemia; in Beirut. She was wryly resigned to Saddam Hussein's violent regime, but also critical of the U.S. for bombing her native city and killing civilians. Fearing persecution, she chose to live in exile in Beirut after her book was published in 1998.

DIED. BILLY DAVIS, 72, singer-songwriter turned advertising executive best known for writing the '70s corporate anthem I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke; after a long illness; in New Rochelle, N.Y. Under the name Tyran Carlo, the Detroit native wrote R&B hits for Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and the Supremes during the 1950s and '60s. In 1968 he moved to New York City to join the McCann Erickson ad agency, where he came up with the 1971 Coke theme song, which was later turned into the pop hit I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony).

DIED. BROCK ADAMS, 77, Democratic Congressman from Washington State who served as President Jimmy Carter's Transportation Secretary for two years; in Stevensville, Md. Elected to the House in 1964, he became chairman of the Budget Committee before joining Carter's Cabinet in 1977. After returning to his law practice, he made a political comeback in 1986, unseating Republican Senator Slade Gorton in a close race. After facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment--all of which he denied--he retired in 1992 after one term.

DIED. BOB EVANS, 77, computer scientist who led the development of a new class of mainframe computers during the industry's fledgling days, transforming the basic architecture of computers and substantially reducing the cost of powerful computing; in Hillsborough, Calif. As an engineering manager at IBM, he convinced the company to invest more than $5 billion in the new system, opening five plants and hiring 60,000 employees. The risky undertaking paid off, as the famous 360s--named after the number of degrees in a circle--helped turn IBM into a data-processing power soon after their introduction in 1964.

DIED. RICHARD BUTLER, 86, white supremacist who in the early 1970s founded a 20-acre compound in rural Idaho called the Aryan Nations, spawning chapters in a dozen states and contacts with neo-Nazis around the globe; in Hayden, Idaho. Dubbed "the elder statesman of hate" by civil rights advocates, the former aerospace engineer housed a spectrum of right-wing extremists, some of whom would later be convicted of racially motivated crimes. Butler himself claimed he was against violence, however, and operated relatively unhindered until he was bankrupted by a $6.3 million lawsuit in 2001--stemming from a 1998 incident in which his guards assaulted a Native-American woman--and had to sell his compound.