Of all the notables who died in 2009, the one who most changed
the world could have walked down any Main Street USA without
causing a stir.
Scientist Norman Borlaug, who died Sept. 12 at age 95, developed
crops that enabled Third World farmers to wrest more food from
their land. His "green revolution" was credited with averting
global famine and won him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver
were born into America's pre-eminent political family and spent
decades living up to its tradition of service.
Michael Jackson helped create his own family dynasty, this one
rooted in show business, as the lead singer for The Jackson 5 when
he was just a child. He grew up to become one of entertainment's
most influential and controversial figures as the King of Pop, and
his death at age 50 was as mystifying as his life.
They are just four of the men and women of achievement who died
in 2009.
The political world said goodbye to Jack Kemp, Claiborne Pell,
Robert McNamara, Jody Powell and writers William Safire, Irving
Kristol and Robert Novak. Overseas, we lost two courageous
dissidents who went on to lead their countries Corazon Aquino of
the Philippines and Kim Dae-jung of South Korea.
In the arts, those who died in 2009 include groundbreaking
choreographer Merce Cunningham; photographer Irving Penn; painter
Andrew Wyeth; and novelist John Updike.
We lost scholars John Hope Franklin and Claude Levi-Strauss;
broadcast journalists Walter Cronkite and Don Hewitt; and TV stars
Ed McMahon, Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett.
Here, a roll call of some of the people who died in 2009. (Cause
of death cited for younger people if available.)