Wartime pilot who took a flying detour

KEN MEARES- 1918-2013

Ken Meares learnt to fly Empire Class flying boats in Africa in 1943 during an unusual secondment as a war-time RAAF pilot.

Calm in a crisis, ocean was natural home for spirited sailor

TONY HUSSEY 1971-2013

It was just another night in Mallorca, Spain. Australian yachtsman Tony Hussey was riding home on his bicycle with two friends when, on a winding road, a motorcyclist struck the three, killing Hussey.

Altruistic fitness guru focused on health

LES GRONOW 1924-2013

In his 65 years as a health and fitness trainer, Les Gronow conditioned athletes of every description, prepared Australia's top sports people to meet their challenges and worked on the stars of the future.

Unrepentant Nazi organised massacre of 335 Italians

ERICH PRIEBKE 1913-2013

Erich Priebke was an SS captain who was sentenced to life in prison for helping to organise the execution of 335 men and boys at the Ardeatine Caves in Italy in 1944.

Chess prodigy did his own tour of duty

MAX FULLER 1945-2013

Australia's first chess professional, Max Fuller, developed from a gangly teenager who would rarely be seen at Canterbury Boys High School without a chessboard under his arm to Australia's No.1 in a few years.

Children's author who rewrote the rulebook

CAROL ODELL 1921-2013

Carol Odell was born into a family immersed in the arts. Her father, Jack Odell, was a surveyor by profession but also a musician who composed and published a light opera, The Plumber's Opera, in 1929. Her mother, Dorothy Fuller, was an illustrator and the sister of Rosalinde Fuller, a noted actor who starred as Ophelia to John Barrymore's Hamlet on Broadway in 1923.

British race driver showed real talent and determination

SEAN EDWARDS 1986-2013

Sean Edwards was a promising racing car driver and in May became only the second Englishman to win the gruelling 24 Hours Nurburgring endurance event. He also won this year's Dubai 24 Hour race and was leading the 2013 Porsche Supercup, which features identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racing cars.

Innocent man spent 40 years in solitary

HERMAN WALLACE 1941-2013

Herman Wallace spent more than 40 years in solitary confinement in the United States for the murder of a prison guard before his conviction was finally overturned this month.

Pulitzer Prize winner told immigrants' stories

OSCAR HIJUELOS 1951-2013

Oscar Hijuelos was a Cuban-American novelist who wrote about the lives of immigrants adapting to a new culture and became the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his 1989 book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.

Belgian PM held nation together

WILFRIED MARTENS 1936-2013

Wilfried Martens was a political survivor who, as Belgian prime minister between 1979 and 1992, became one of the world's longest-serving heads of government.

Lebanese singer 'the man with the golden voice'

WADIH EL SAFI 1921-2013

Wadih el Safi was a Lebanese singer and composer whose strong, clear voice propelled him to fame throughout the Arab world.

Teflon man 'never thought' of non-stick frypans

MALCOLM RENFREW 1910-2013

Chemist Malcolm Renfrew never imagined that his work would one day become synonymous with the nonstick frying pan. As a young man in the 1930s he dreamed of acting and joined a traveling tent show.

Polish diplomat falied to end Vietnam War

JANUSZ LEWANDOWSKI 1931-2013

Janusz Lewandowski was a former diplomat who, in 1966, launched an effort to bring Hanoi and Washington to the negotiating table and end the conflict in Vietnam - an undertaking code-named “Project Marigold".

Showman the last of the medicine men

TOMMY SCOTT 1917-2013

Tommy Scott was a country singer and songwriter who began his career in the 1930s as a member of one of the last traveling medicine shows and later became its leader, keeping it alive for more than five decades of one-night stands long after its dubious comedy and digestive cures became cultural relics.

Jim Bradford: Bookish 'butterball' did the heavy lifting

JIM BRADFORD 1928-2013

Jim Bradford spent much of his life in quiet obscurity at the Library of Congress as an assistant bookbinder and a researcher. But he was a most unusual library employee - a 182cm, 170kg weightlifter and two-time Olympian. He could easily have been mistaken for a National Football League tackle, sportswriter Shirley Povich once said of him.

Athlete competed at Hitler's Olympics

BASIL DICKINSON 1915-2013

When he died, Basil Dickinson was Australia's oldest Olympian and one of the last of the 1936 Australian Olympics team that went to Berlin.

Correspondent blazed trail for reporters in volatile region

DAVID BALDERSTONE 1946-2013

In 1977, David Balderstone was the first Australian to become a Middle East correspondent for Fairfax. He had a lifelong interest in the Holy Land sparked by an illustrated Bible given to him as a child by his godmother.

Astronaut had troubled space flight

SCOTT CARPENTER 1925-2013

Scott Carpenter was the second American to orbit Earth, in a 1962 flight marred by technical glitches and ending with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a splashdown far from the target site. His death leaves John Glenn, now 92, who flew the first orbital mission earlier that year, as the last survivor of the Mercury 7 group of astronauts.

A key figure in protection of blood supplies

GORDON ARCHER 1926-2013

The most important period of Gordon Archer's career in blood transfusions was the unravelling and management of what became known as the AIDS epidemic.

Art lover imbued with ethical passion

ROGER PIETRI 1921-2013

Roger Pietri was fascinated by Asian art and although few people knew the true reasons for his passion, many will benefit from his vision.

Influential punk rocker responsible for classic Irish ballad

PHIL CHEVRON 1957-2013

Phil Chevron was one of Ireland's best-loved and most influential punk rockers, and wrote the Pogues' anthemic, enduringly popular ballad Thousands Are Sailing.

Obituary

Born salesman found his feet in air freight

Warwick Stanley Sid Ward, who grew up to start Wards Air Cargo and become one of the biggest freight haulers in Australia, was a salesman in the making.

Wash'n'wear chemist 'gave cotton a boost'

RUTH BENERITO 1916-2013

Ruth Benerito was an American chemist and inventor. Among her 55 patents was a process for treating cotton that led to the creation of wash-and-wear fabrics, effectively revitalising America's cotton industry.

Bayreuth bad boy revived the Ring

PATRICE CHEREAU 1944-2013

Patrice Chereau was a theatre and film director whose centenary production of Wagner's Ring Cycle conducted by Pierre Boulez was controversial, but proved to be instrumental in revitalising the reputation of Bayreuth.

'The Black Hornet' - Caribbean's greatest WWII pilot

ULRIC CROSS, 1917-2013

Ulric Cross is thought to have been the most decorated Caribbean airman of World War II, he went on to enjoy a distinguished career in Trinidad as a judge and diplomat.

Bounty mutiny expert a pioneer of oral history

TREVOR LUMMIS 1930-2013

Trevor Lummis was a social historian who supplemented traditional written sources with oral history, or life stories related by word of mouth. He was also an authority on the history of Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty mutineers settled in the late 18th century.

Braille visionary brought maths to the blind

ABRAHAM NEMETH 1918-2013

Abraham Nemeth's frustrations in pursuing an academic career in math prompted him to develop the Nemeth Code, a form of Braille that greatly improved the ability of visually impaired people to study complex mathematics.

New Republic critic's fifty years of film

STANLEY KAUFFMANN, 1916-2013

Stanley Kauffmann's literate, tightly constructed movie reviews appeared in the New Republic for more than half a century and set a standard for critical ease and erudition. He continued to write for the magazine until his last months.

Tibetan lama brogught Buddhism to Scotland

STANLEY KAUFFMANN, 1916-2013

Choje Akong Rinpoche was a Tibetan Buddhist lama who made his home in Britain and co-founded Samye Ling in the Scottish lowlands, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West.

Crime figure turned legend

MARK CHOPPER READ 1954-2013

He was Australia's best-known crime figure turned author, turned legend. The man with one name, "Chopper". Yet, contrary to popular opinion, Mark Read was no underworld mastermind and his criminal history was littered with blunders.

Engineer paved way for alternative energies

KEN INALL 1921-2013

Ken Inall was a leader in research for alternative energies decades before they became fashionable. In the 1970s and '80s, Canberra and the Australian National University were home to him and the distinguished group of scientists working in the university's nuclear physics department.

Jewish spiritual leader proved a dynamic political force

OVADIA YOSEF 1920-2013

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef became a fiery figure in Israeli politics as the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, championing the interests of Jews of Middle Eastern and north African origin. He was both a dynamic politician and a highly regarded arbiter of Jewish law.

A 'pretty good storyteller' who made millions

TOM CLANCY 1947-2013

The author of gung-ho techno-military thrillers which generated many millions of dollars, a number of successful films, and a franchise of equally popular - and profitable - video games.

Academic had a love of law and language

PENELOPE PETHER 1957-2013

Penelope Pether was a distinguished legal scholar, a prolific writer, a passionate educator and a dedicated mentor, and she never stopped working.

Pioneer chemist's protest over award made her a pariah

CANDACE PERT 1946 - 2013

Candace Pert identified the first opiate receptor in 1973, a finding that opened a new field of studying the brain's biochemistry.

Talented tenor gave seniors golden days

ROY WATTERSON 1935 - 2013

Roy Watterson was a star of the Australian entertainment industry, a champion of the seniors, a Balmain identity, a father and family man, a loyal friend, a man of honour, and an honest bloke.

Academic looked to the Asian Century

MARJORIE JACOBS 1915-2013

Emeritus professor of history at the University of Sydney, Marjorie Jacobs inspired generations of her students to pursue intellectual excellence, and offered them a new Asian perspective.

Scientist who discovered Lyme disease

STEPHEN MALAWISTA 1934-2013

Stephen Malawista led the team of scientists which in 1976 identified the tick-borne infection Lyme disease, a crippling ailment affecting an estimated two to three thousand people a year in Britain and 300,000 or so a year in the United States.

A key contributor to America's national security

ALBERT WHEELON 1929-2013

Albert "Bud" Wheelon was one of America's central figures in the development of the first spy satellite and later the commercial communications satellite industry. He became one of California's most important technological innovators in aerospace, leaving behind a multbillion-dollar enterprise and making key contributions to national security.

'Without music, life would be a mistake'

HANS LANDESMANN 1932-2013

Hans Landesmann was the Austrian impresario who helped to steady the Salzburg Festival after the death of Herbert von Karajan. He also introduced large-scale thematic programming to the Barbican and co-founded the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra with Claudio Abbado.

Champion of old-school crime writing

ROBERT BARNARD 1936-2013

Robert Barnard was an award-winning British crime writer known for skewering hypocrites, snobs and prigs in his cast of characters as energetically as he dispatched murder victims.

Professor investigated the structure of molecules

ALAN CARRINGTON 1934-2013

Professor Alan Carrington specialised in investigating the structure of molecules. Working at the level of subatomic particles, he was aided by rapid developments in the abstruse and emerging world of quantum theory, which examines the apparently bizarre behaviour of the smallest units of matter. Yet his research had crucial practical applications, furthering our understanding of the ways atoms bond together.

At the birth of the nuclear age

HAROLD M. AGNEW 1921-2013

Harold M. Agnew was the last surviving major figure to have been present at the birth of the nuclear age. He who helped to build the world's first reactor and atomic bombs, flew on the first atomic strike against Japan, filmed the mushroom cloud, helped perfect the hydrogen bomb and led the Los Alamos National Laboratory at the height of the cold war.

Hostage rescue effort was a 'successful failure'

JAMES B. VAUGHT 1926-2013

James B. Vaught, a retired Army lieutenant general, was a decorated combat veteran and was best known for leading an unsuccessful attempt to rescue 53 US hostages held in Iran in 1980.

Cook who pioneered pared-down, regional Italian recipes

MARCELLA HAZAN 1924-2013

Marcella Hazan introduced cooks around the world to authentic Italian food in a series of cookbooks that emphasised the need for fresh ingredients and simple recipes rather than tired dishes tortured with heavy sauces.

Miner's punt on Poseidon paid dividends

NORM SHIERLAW 1921-2013

Norm Shierlaw's greatest role was as chairman of Poseidon No Liability when it became the most spectacular boom stock in Australia's history, soaring from $1 a share in September 1969 to $280 in February 1970.

A lifelong passion for flying

ALAN BONES 1939-2013

Alan Bones was born not far from Sydney's airport and always dreamt of flying. As a child, he built model aeroplanes, and as an adult, he flew big jets around the world.

Skilled educator fostered excellence in teaching profession

BOB ZEHNER 1941-2013

Bob Zehner couldn't resist Australia. After coming here for a year's study, he returned with his family and stayed to teach for many years at the University of NSW.

The man behind the Oils and Chisel

JOHN BROMELL 1940-2013

Australia's rock and pop music landscape could potentially have been a desert without John Bromell. He had a unique knack for spotting talent, shopping it around, supporting it through lean times and pushing it over the line.

Critics panned it but fans made speed saga a cult movie

RICHARD C. SARAFIAN 1930-2013

Richard C. Sarafian was a Hollywood director best known for the speed-addled saga of squealing brakes and existential angst chronicled in the 1971 cult film Vanishing Point.

Peter Pockley: Champion for science in a wakening world

PETER POCKLEY 1935-2013

If you tuned into ABC radio in the 1960s and '70s, chances are you listened to the deep tones of Peter Pockley compering NASA's Apollo missions to Australia. But his contribution to science reporting was by no means confined to these landmark broadcasts.

A life devoted to the RSL

RUSTY PRIEST, 1927-2013

When an idea needed a champion, Rusty Priest was the man to go to. He was a hard man to beat in negotiations and one who "called a spade a bloody shovel", as Premier Barry O'Farrell said of him. Priest had a long list of jobs done, and done properly, behind him.

Ruth Patrick: Fresh water biologist saved America's rivers

RUTH PATRICK, 1907-2013

Ruth Patrick's studies of freshwater ecology in the 1930s helped galvanise the later environmental movement and her success in a profession dominated by men charted a course for other female scientists.

'Rockabilly King' died with 'no voice, no money'

MARVIN RAINWATER, 1925-2013

Marvin Rainwater was an American country singer known as the Rockabilly King. He became popular in the late 1950s when he had a No 1 hit with Whole Lotta Woman.

Search and rescue guru's ideas saved thousands

ALBERT TAYLOR, 1924-2013

Albert Taylor was a former United States Border Patrol agent who came to be regarded as a legend in the art of tracking in the wild – sensing in shifting sand or broken twigs the sparest of signals that someone had passed that way.

The man with the nose that knows...

CHARLES CRAIG, 1923-2013

Charles Craig was a successful distiller of Scotch whisky with – it was said – the best-trained “nose” in Britain.

Nobel-winning visionary of vision

DAVID H HUBEL, 1926-2013

David H. Hubel was a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist whose astonishing map of the visual cortex pulled back the curtain on one of the brain's most mysterious functions, the power of sight.

Love, loss and lunacy with the Beat poets

CAROLYN CASSADY, 1923-2013

Carolyn Cassady was the lover of Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac and the wife of Kerouac's road companion Neal Cassady, the “Dean Moriarty” of Kerouac's 1957 novel On The Road.

Opera director had 'A delicious sense of the ridiculous'

LOTFI MANSOURI, 1929-2013

Lotfi Mansouri was the director who introduced surtitles to the opera house, opening up the art form to those who could not follow the composer's language while infuriating purists who found the words – and those who read them – an interminable distraction.

Toyota chief steered an ailing business to global dominance

EIJI TOYODA 1913-2013

Eiji Toyoda led the emergence of his family's Toyota car company both as a global mass-market competitor and a beacon of manufacturing efficiency.

The painter who gave Packer the sack

TERRY JEFF 1938-2013

Terry Jeff liked to claim that he was the only man who ever fired Kerry Packer. This happened when Jeff was head of the Consolidated Press marketing department and Sir Frank Packer wanted to give his son some work experience.

The Year of Living Dangerously author opened our eyes to Indonesia

CHRISTOPHER KOCH, 1932 -2013

Christopher Koch was born with itchy feet. Like the characters in his novels, the Tasmanian author spent most of his life wrestling with a longing for his birthplace and a desire to escape it.

Phenomenal saxophonist among the best in the world

BERNIE MCGANN 1937-2013

A note or two was all it took. Turn on the radio, hear that saxophone sound and it was obvious you were hearing Bernie McGann inside one bar.

Broadcaster inspired generations of stars

ARCH MCKIRDY 1924-2013

The presenter of Australia's most popular radio program had a wicked secret he kept from his 1960s ABC audience. After 10 each night, he introduced the show with the words: ''This is Arch McKirdy inviting you to … relax with me.''

The man who broke Ali's jaw, and beat him

KEN NORTON, 1943-2013

Ken Norton, who fought three memorable fights with Muhammad Ali, breaking his jaw in winning their first bout, then losing twice, and went on to become the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, died Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was 70.

How Nintendo became a global powerhouse

HIROSHI YAMAUCHI, 1927-2013

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who transformed his great-grandfather's playing-card company, Nintendo, into a global video game powerhouse, died Thursday in Kyoto, Japan. He was 85.

Wartime ally, colonial villain

CHIN PENG 1924-2013

Chin Peng was decorated for his bravery fighting alongside British forces in World War II, then took up arms against them in the Malayan Emergency.

Opera House's unsung hero

BILL WHEATLAND 1927-2013

Behind the sleek white tiles of Sydney's Opera House is a history marked with both brilliance and disappointment. No one knew this better than architect Bill Wheatland, who worked as one of the Danish architect Jorn Utzon's close associates on the site between 1963 and 1966.

Sri Lankan women's rights activists sought reconciliation

SUNILA ABEYSEKERA 1952-2013

Sunila Abeysekera was a prominent human rights advocate who sought to bring the world's attention to myriad acts of violence in her country, Sri Lanka, despite threats against her own life.

Jewish pop mystic riled traditionalists

PHILIP BERG 1929-2013

On a trip to Israel in 1964, Philip Berg, a high-flying insurance salesman from Brooklyn, crossed paths with an aging rabbi renowned for his grasp of kabbalah, an esoteric strain of Jewish mysticism. Neither Berg nor kabbalah would ever be the same.

AIDS-immune artist a godsend for researchers

STEPHEN CROHN 1946-2013

His boyfriend was dying of a disease without a name.

Pig farmer sold out of Matchbox toys too early

RODNEY SMITH 1917-2013

Rodney Smith was the co-founder of Lesney Products and oversaw the company's venture into the die-cast toy market, which led to the celebrated Matchbox range.

Polish Jewish partisan survived years of fighting

SHALOM YORAN 1925-2012

For three years, Shalom Yoran survived the German occupation of Poland even as he saw his fellow Jews slaughtered by the Nazis. When he and his family inevitably became targets themselves, his mother knew she would not escape.

A life spent searching for the truth

JOHN BILLINGHAM 1930-2013

Elisabeth Wynhausen: A writer sharp of eye and tongue

ELISABETH WYNHAUSEN 1946-2013

Elisabeth Wynhausen could be a pain in the neck. She was raucous. She wouldn't let up. Her default setting was full throttle. And she had an unwavering confidence that she and she alone knew how the world worked.

Boxer killed opponent who called him gay

EMILE GRIFFITH, 1938-2013

Emile Griffith went down in boxing history as the champion who killed his opponent because he had taunted him as gay. In New York's smoke-filled Madison Square Garden on March 24 1962, Griffith - an elegant fighter with a lightning jab - knocked out the Cuban Benny “The Kid� Paret.

Mr Chess was every player's mate

PETER PARR 1946-2013

It is a world of kings and queens, bishops and knights, and it was one that Peter Parr found himself consumed by for most of his life.

The host who drove Murdoch from Britain

DAVID FROST, 1939-2013

Sir David Frost began his career in television satirising the patrician Establishment and ended it with a knighthood.

Poet of rich lyrical power

SEAMUS HEANEY 1939-2013

Seamus Heaney, who has died aged 74, won the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature, created a bestseller from a translation of Beowulf (1998) and sold more books in Britain than any other living poet; the common charge that he was too easy - "far from unfathomable", as one critic put it - was a backhanded compliment to his democratic lyrical powers.

A bias toward freedom, justice and truth

BILL PEACH, 1935-2013

"We had lots of cheek, lots of hide and lots of pride. We were mostly young, mostly idealistic, and we had the sort of bias that goes with that, the bias towards freedom, justice and truth."