Herbert Moskowitz dies at 87; pioneer in drunk driving research

The experimental psychologist's work raised public consciousness about drunk driving and helped lead to stricter laws against it.

Hal Schaefer dies at 87; musician known for Marilyn Monroe liaison

Hal Schaefer was a jazz pianist, composer and arranger and a figure in what became known as the 'wrong-door raid,' led by Monroe's ex-husband Joe DiMaggio.

Grant Gerson dies at 92; founder of Calamigos Star C Ranch

Gerson opened the summer camp halfway between Malibu and Agoura Hills in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1947. By 1984 more than 14,000 children had gone through the camp's program.

Gil Friesen dies at 75; longtime president of A&M recording label

Gil Friesen is called a visionary by label co-founder Herb Alpert. Friesen also contributed significantly to A&M's reputation for fair play among the musicians it signed.

Gary Squier dies at 61; L.A.'s first housing director

After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, he helped secure more than $300 million in federal funding to reconstruct 14,000 damaged housing units in Los Angeles.

Ray Briem dies at 82; all-night radio host in L.A.

One of the first conservatives to establish a beachhead in radio, Ray Briem consistently attracted the largest ratings of any overnight talk show. He championed Propositions 13 and 187.

N. Joseph Woodland dies at 91; co-inventor of bar code

N. Joseph Woodland worked at IBM for nearly four decades. He was on the team that developed a bar-code-reading laser scanner system in response to demand from grocers.

Ravi Shankar dies at 92; sitar master

Ravi Shankar, who introduced Indian music to much of the Western world, counted Beatles member George Harrison among his disciples.

Dr. William F. House dies at 89; championed cochlear implant

Dr. William F. House also developed a successful surgery for an ear disease that had prevented astronaut Alan Shepard from returning to space.

Forrest Shumway dies at 85; turned Signal Oil into conglomerate

Forrest Shumway helped engineer the merger that created Allied-Signal Corp. He also served on the USC board of trustees for many years.

Charles Rosen dies at 85; pianist wrote 'The Classical Style'

Rosen combined a concert pianist's virtuosity with a well-rounded cultural erudition that made him a forceful and sometimes feared presence in New York's intellectual circles.

Latin music star Jenni Rivera believed dead in plane crash

Jenni Rivera defied the limits of genre and used her personal struggles in her songs, becoming a hero among Latin women in the U.S. and Mexico and a powerful player in a field dominated by machismo.

Jeff Millar dies at 70; 'Tank McNamara' comic strip creator

The long-running comic strip offered a sardonic look at the world of sports, and Americans' fixation on it, from the perspective of an outsider looking in.

Barry Berkus dies at 77; architect of mass-market housing

Berkus built a portfolio of 600,000 dwellings encompassing about 10,000 designs in developments across the U.S. He favored high ceilings, natural light and open spaces.

Jack Brooks dies at 89; longtime Democratic Texas congressman

Brooks was first elected in 1952 and left office in 1994. He served on the House Judiciary Committee and drafted the articles of impeachment of President Nixon.

Reinhold Weege dies at 62; creator of TV hit 'Night Court'

The Emmy-winning comedy, part of a powerhouse Thursday-night lineup for NBC that included "The Cosby Show," "Family Ties" and "Cheers" pushed the envelope for network TV at the time.

Ed Cassidy dies at 89; drummer for band Spirit

The drummer influenced the sound of the L.A. band, which for a time lived communally in Topanga Canyon.

John D. Silva dies at 92; introduced news helicopter

John D. Silva created the Telecopter, essentially a flying television studio, for KTLA-TV Channel 5 in L.A.