Milestones

DIED

The signature of Houston's flourishing indie hip-hop sound is the technique of slowing down a track to simulate the effects of the scene's trippy drug of choice, codeine-laced cough syrup. Among the nationally recognized stars of the genre was Big Moe, known for fusing spoken verse, singing and complex melodies. The University of Houston graduate--whose 2002 album, Purple World, reached No. 3 on Billboard's hip-hop charts--was 33 and apparently died of a heart attack.

As a retired Air Force officer with a stellar record at the Pentagon, Charles Riechers was supposed to help revamp the USAF's procurement office, saddled by allegations of favoritism and inefficiency. Instead, the office's newly installed No. 2 was found in his garage, dead of an apparent suicide. An active-duty officer for 20 years, he had been under scrutiny in recent weeks for a consulting job with an Air Force contractor that had been arranged for him by the Air Force. Riechers was 47.

His hard-line stance as a high-ranking member of Burma's ruling junta--he refused even to talk to pro-democracy leaders--helped foster the climate that in recent weeks has prompted widespread demonstrations led by Buddhist monks and the arrests of thousands. Prime Minister General Soe Win first impressed his bosses in 1988 when he brutally quashed an uprising at Rangoon University by ordering troops to open fire on protesters. He later earned the moniker "Butcher of Depayin" for masterminding a bloody 2003 attack on democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. He was 59 and had leukemia.

You wouldn't expect a spiritual leader to be able to power-lift 7,000 lbs. with one arm, but charismatic Indian philosopher Sri Chinmoy believed that extreme physical fitness was key to achieving enlightenment and world harmony. A guru with disciples around the globe, he drew attention to his mission by holding "ultramarathon" events that spanned up to 3,100 miles and by lifting trucks, airplanes and people, including Nobel laureates Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela. He was 76.

Comedian Mort Sahl spoke for many now famous performers when he said he was "set free" by Enrico Banducci, the influential impresario of the seminal San Francisco nightclub the hungry i. After buying the cabaret in the early 1950s for $800, Banducci installed a brick-wall backdrop, now standard in comedy clubs, and urged artists to be themselves. In addition to nurturing Sahl, known for his edgy political satire, the flamboyant, beret-clad enthusiast helped launch such performers as Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Lenny Bruce, Bill Cosby and the Kingston Trio. Banducci was 85.

The French Resistance did not encourage the participation of women--which is all the more a tribute to the determination of Andree De Jongh. As a twentysomething Belgian nurse, she helped found the Comet Line, a route subsequently used by 400 Allied soldiers (118 of whom she personally accompanied) to escape the Nazis. "It was our job," she said. De Jongh was arrested in 1943, survived a German camp and later worked in a leper hospital in Ethiopia. She was 90.

APPRECIATION

Ernest Withers 1922-2007

No other photographer chronicled the electric, tragic '50s and '60s in the segregated South with such vigor and grace. He will be missed, but his images live on

With reporting by Harriet Barovick, Gilbert Cruz, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver, Kate Stinchfield, Lon Tweeten, DAVID VAN BIEMA