Milestones

By Harriet Barovick, Gilbert Cruz, Andrea Ford, Randy James, Katie Rooney, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver, Molly Stephey, Nathan Thornburgh

DIED

His break-dancing in the 1983 movie Flashdance helped turn an urban art form from the streets of the Bronx and Harlem into an international phenomenon, but Wayne Frost, also known as "Frosty Freeze," had been developing his signature style since the 1970s, later joining the influential Rock Steady Crew. He appeared as the face of the break-dancing craze on the cover of the Village Voice and later performed in the movie Beat Street. An acrobatic, charismatic dancer, Frost created gravity-defying moves that persist today as some of the most challenging and daring in hip-hop, like the "suicide," in which a dancer must land a full flip flat on his back. He died at 44 after a long illness.

Her "invisible sculptures"--areas of blank space annotated with short, evocative written descriptions--defied the accepted notions of visual art well before such challenges became common practice among her peers. And when Eugenia Butler did explore physical media, she maintained her dedication to the provocative and at times discomfiting. My Last Museum Piece, her 2003 reprise of an original 1969 work, consisted of a huge, clear plastic ball, its interior smeared with honey and buzzing with captive flies. She suffered a brain hemorrhage at age 61.

The rich red and orange hues of the giant murals of Josef Mikl breathed new life into Vienna's 18th century Redoutensaal concert hall. In addition to winning praise for his abstract works in sculpture, drawing and painting, Mikl helped reinvigorate the art community and heal its wounds following the Nazi era in his native Austria. He was 78.

Hailed as one of spain's greatest cinematic talents, screenwriter Rafael Azcona penned nearly 100 scripts over his prolific career, including several enduring works that examined his homeland's troubled past. Among the many tales he spun out of the jarring legacy of the Spanish Civil War, Belle Epoque earned him an Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1992. The film, which marked the first major leading role of fellow Spaniard Penelope Cruz, harked back to a less complicated time, on the eve of dictator Francisco Franco's rise. With a deft ability to move between drama and levity, innocence and anguish, he is credited with inspiring anew Spaniards' passion for film in the postwar era. He was 81.

For hundreds of children battling cancer, oncologist Charlotte Tan was a reason for hope. Her ceaseless work developing drug therapies over more than 40 years at New York City's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center helped establish alternative ways to treat illnesses ranging from leukemia to Hodgkin's disease and bone cancer. In one of her many lasting contributions to the field of oncology, Tan collaborated with Dr. Herbert Oettgen and others to discover that the enzyme L-asparaginase could be used to target and starve tumors in cancer patients. She was 84.

A diplomat, journalist, scholar and WW II Navy veteran, David Newsom wore many hats. But his greatest gift was for adept negotiation; Newsom's expertise was often called for during the most delicate and urgent situations, notably while he served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1978 to '81. During that period he had to contend with Pakistan's growing nuclear program, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 444-day Iranian hostage crisis, in which 52 Americans were held captive in Tehran. A lifelong public servant, Newsom always advocated negotiation and debate before resorting to conflict. He was 90.

A first-time novelist at age 54, Helen Yglesias made up for lost time by writing five books from 1972 to 1999, garnering a devoted readership. Perhaps her most widely read work, Sweetsir, published in 1981, explored the tortured life of a woman regularly beaten by her husband, until she finally, lethally retaliates. Though her characters spanned a broad spectrum from defiant youth to wry old age, throughout her novels the former editor for The Nation was consistently devoted to her theme: the lives and struggles of women. She was 92.