Milestones

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Leslie-Bernard Joseph, Jeninne Lee-St. John, Julie Rawe, Elspeth Reeve

RESIGNED. PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN, 56, after 22 years as Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S.; citing personal reasons. Some speculated that the Washington insider, whose access and influence earned him the nickname Top Gun among some government officials, is seeking a role in the Saudi government, perhaps as intelligence chief or as a national security adviser. He is succeeded by former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, currently ambassador to Britain.

DIED. JOHN OSTROM, 77, Yale paleontologist who popularized the theory that dinosaurs are linked with modern birds; of pneumonia; in Litchfield, Conn. With the 1964 discovery of a two-legged creature with razor-sharp claws he called Deinonychus, or "terrible claw," and subsequent work cementing his theory, he began a campaign, largely successful, to convince scientists that at least some of the prehistoric beings were not, as long assumed, slow, dim-witted reptiles but speedy, warm-blooded, carnivorous predators that had much in common with today's flightless birds.

DIED. PAUL DUKE, 78, veteran political reporter for the Wall Street Journal and NBC News who became a Friday-night fixture on PBS for 20 years as moderator of the sober, erudite journalistic roundtable Washington Week; of leukemia; in Washington.

DIED. GAVIN LAMBERT, 80, keenly observant critic, screenwriter and chronicler of Hollywood; in Los Angeles. An ex-assistant to director Nicholas Ray, he became editor of the influential British film journal Sight & Sound before turning out such screenplays as The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and writing biographies of such Hollywood stars as Norma Shearer and Natalie Wood.

DIED. CHARLES CHIBITTY, 83, last survivor of the Comanche code talkers who sent messages for the Allies during World War II; in Tulsa, Okla. "It's strange," said the war vet in 2002. "Growing up as a child I was forbidden to speak my native language at school. Later [it] helped win the war, and that makes me very proud."

DIED. GERRY THOMAS, 83, inventor of the TV dinner; in Phoenix, Ariz. He came up with the idea as a marketer for poultry company C.A. Swanson & Sons, after seeing that Pan American Airways was developing a flat aluminum tray for hot in-flight meals. Since Swanson had a post-Thanksgiving bird surplus, he devised a multi-compartment tray for the turkey and accompanying side dishes. Introduced in 1954 with a package resembling a TV set, the dinners took off, selling 10 million that year and earning Thomas a raise, a spot on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and hate letters from husbands who wrote, he said, that "I was ruining their lives."

DIED. JAMES DOOHAN, 85, Canadian-born actor forever known, to his later dismay, as Montgomery Scott, level-headed chief engineer of Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise; in Redmond, Wash. With his exasperated Scottish burr ("We've got nuh powrrr, Cap'n!"), he saved the ship from repeated disasters, but the famous line "Beam me up, Scotty" was actually never spoken exactly that way on the original show.

DIED. EDWARD HEATH, 89, moderate leader of Britain's Conservative Party who, as Prime Minister from 1970 to '74, brought Britain into Europe's Economic Community (now called the European Union); in Salisbury, England. His tenure was wracked with difficulties--an economy weakened by an oil crisis and by violence in Northern Ireland--and in 1975 a rising Margaret Thatcher ousted him from the party leadership. Although largely marginalized, he remained in the House of Commons until his retirement in 2001.

DIED. WILLIAM WESTMORELAND, 91, consummate military man who oversaw the buildup of U.S. troops in Vietnam from 1964 to '68 and was vilified for it; in Charleston, S.C. The strapping West Point star led battalions in World War II and Korea and landed in Vietnam as the great hope of Washington bigwigs. But after the 1968 Tet offensive fueled opposition to the war, he was brought home to the lower-profile position of Army Chief of Staff. The $120 million libel suit he filed in 1982 against CBS, over a story that claimed he misled the White House and the public about enemy troop strength, also ended with a whimper and was settled with both sides claiming victory. Still, he inspired enthusiasm among many of those he commanded--"He was the storybook soldier, South Carolina Eagle Scout, a born leader," retired General Wesley Clark told TIME. "I've been hung in effigy. I've been spat upon," Westmoreland said. "I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best efforts."

DIED. GERALDINE FITZGERALD, 91, striking Dublin-born actress whose open frustration with her Hollywood studio bosses kept her largely in supporting roles but who still carved out a respected career; in New York City. She played Bette Davis' devoted friend in Dark Victory, got an Oscar nomination for William Wyler's Wuthering Heights and made an acclaimed comeback onstage in 1971 as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.