Milestones

By Melissa August; Peter Bailey; Elizabeth L. Bland; William Han; Jeninne Lee-St. John; Elizabeth Sampson

AILING. WILLIAM REHNQUIST, 80, Chief Justice of the U.S.; with thyroid cancer; in Washington. The type and prognosis of his illness, which has prompted increased speculation about the future of the Supreme Court, were not disclosed, although the additional announcement of a tracheotomy suggests an advanced or complicated case.

SETTLED. SEXUAL HARASSMENT SUIT, BY BILL O'REILLY, 55, FOX News channel's brashly conservative talk-show host, and Andrea Mackris, 33, former producer of his show The O'Reilly Factor; for an undisclosed sum; in New York City. O'Reilly had vowed to fight the suit, which accused him of making sexually explicit phone calls to Mackris, saying, "If I have to go down, I'm willing to do it," but apparently changed his mind.

DIED. JOHN PEEL, 65, BBC radio host whose live broadcasts were a showcase for new musicians; of an apparent heart attack; in Cuzco, Peru. Since 1967, Peel Sessions has brought hundreds of rock bands, including Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins, into its studio to perform, often before a group had a recording contract. The sessions, in wide circulation both as bootleg and commercial recordings, have become invaluable time capsules of rock history.

DIED. VAUGHN MEADER, 68, who satirized President John F. Kennedy in the hit 1962 album First Family; of emphysema; in Auburn, Maine. Meader was a stand-up comedian whose Kennedy satire, making fun of his "vigah" in an uncannily similar New England accent, caught on with a Kennedy-hungry public and resulted in an album that quickly sold 7.5 million copies and won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Even the President thought it was funny; he bought 100 copies for Christmas gifts. When Kennedy was assassinated the following year, however, Meader's career died with him. After struggling through years of depression and drug abuse, he remade himself as a bluegrass musician.

DIED. LEWIS URRY, 77, whose invention of a long-life battery made possible a host of portable devices; in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. In 1955, at Union Carbide's Eveready lab, the chemical engineer was asked to make a small battery that would last for more than a few minutes. He was quite successful: at a demonstration for company executives, one toy car, equipped with an older battery, quickly slowed to a halt while another, powered with his now standard alkaline battery, raced around and around the cafeteria. Urry, according to his son Michael, was a modest man who "took special pride around Christmas, when there was a rush for batteries."

DIED. ROBERT MERRILL, 87, powerful baritone who was a favorite at the Metropolitan Opera; in New York City. In his 30 years at the Met, he was regarded as one of the greatest Verdi baritones of his generation, singing the title role in Rigoletto many times. Unlike other opera singers of his era, Merrill never avoided the mainstream. He made many recordings, including one of the national anthem that was used for years to open games at Yankee Stadium.

DIED. GEORGE SILK, 87, a LIFE photographer for three decades; in Norwalk, Conn. A New Zealand native, he joined LIFE during World War II. He was with U.S. forces at the Battle of the Bulge and was the first to photograph the city of Nagasaki after the Japanese city was hit by an atom bomb. After the war, he adapted a photo-finish camera meant for horse racing into an instrument for capturing athletes in motion.

DIED. LESTER LANIN, 97, society bandleader; in New York City. Known for a fast, two-beat tempo called the businessman's bounce, Lanin played at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, Grace Kelly's engagement party and almost every presidential Inauguration since Eisenhower's.