Famous In Life, Noted In Passing

Ruth Bell Graham, 87 She was the quintessential preacher's wife—to the quintessential preacher, Billy Graham—but she wasn't demure. His most outspoken adviser, she told him not to run for president or pursue a TV career. The sign above her bedroom door read: NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE BEEN.

Sol LeWitt, 78 LeWitt's modular cube sculptures helped launch Minimalism, and his lucid writing revealed a ready wit. One piece began: "The editor … is in favor of avoiding the 'notion that the artist is a kind of ape that has to be explained by the civilized critic.' This should be good news to both artists and apes."

Max Roach, 83 A pair of bad breaks gave the 17-year-old Roach his: World War II took drummers off the scene, and Duke Ellington's regular timekeeper fell ill. Roach was soon an indispensable part of the bebop revolution, along with Parker, Gillespie, Bud Powell, Monk and the young Miles Davis. And he kept experimenting: with waltz time, all-percussion ensembles—and all-Roach solo performances.

David Halberstam, 73 The Pulitzer Prize journalist covered Vietnam—JFK tried to get The New York Times to pull him out—and wrote 20 books: on the auto industry, baseball, firefighters and, in "The Powers That Be" (1979), the media itself. "The Best and the Brightest" (1972), on Vietnam-era decision-making, still gives a chill; his final book, on the Korean War, came a few months after his death.

Jack Valenti, 85 LBJ's devoted aide remained a booster even in his posthumous memoir. His second career was president of the Motion Picture Association of America. The bawdy Johnson might have been proud that his guy created the rating system that ends with X.

Molly Ivins, 62 Like her friend and camping partner Texas governor Ann Richards, Ivins was born with a silver knife for a mouth. A muckraking journalist of decidedly liberal persuasion, the sharp-witted Ivins spent four decades eviscerating politicians in her home state and beyond. Especially a fellow she'd known since high school, whom she called "Shrub."