2012 deaths

Alan Leigh Sawyer (January 1, 1928 – June 30, 2012) was an American professional basketball player for the Washington Capitols of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins from 1945 to 1950. He missed the end of the 1948–49 season after an appendectomy. Sawyer helped lead the 1949–50 team to their first Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) championship. He was named to the first team of the All-Southern Division PCC team in 1949, and voted to the second team in 1950. He was selected in the third round of the 1950 NBA draft by the Capitols.After the Capitols were disbanded mid-season in 1951, its players were allocated to other teams, and Sawyer was drafted by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. However, he decided to return to the University of California, Los Angeles, to complete his degree.Sawyer later became a math teacher and coached basketball at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California.

Eugene Bleecher Selznick (March 19, 1930 – June 10, 2012) was an American Hall of Fame former volleyball player, and volleyball coach. He played on world championship and Pan American Games championship teams. He was also inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Agustín García Calvo (October 15, 1926 – November 1, 2012) was a Spanish philologist, philosopher, poet and playwright.

Arne Christiansen (19 May 1926 – 23 January 2012) was a Norwegian judge.
He was born in Oslo. He enrolled in law studies in 1945, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1949. He worked as a sub-director in the Ministry of Justice and the Police from 1964 to 1969, presiding judge in Eidsivating from 1970 to 1974 and as a Supreme Court Justice from 1974 to 1996. He also presided over the Norwegian Association of Judges and the International Association of Judges.He resided at Hosle. He died in 2012.

Herbert Loren Adams (April 14, 1928 – February 1, 2012) was an American baseball outfielder who played three seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox. He was born in Hollywood, California, and later coached at Northern Illinois University.

Andreas Arntzen (1 June 1928 – 21 May 2012) was a Norwegian barrister.
He was a son of Sven Arntzen and father of presiding judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen.He took the cand.jur. degree in 1952, studied at Harvard Law School and was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. In 1960 he became a barrister with access to work with Supreme Court cases. He was hired in the law firm founded by his father, today named Arntzen de Besche. He is best known as the defender of Arne Treholt in 1984–1985, together with Jon Lyng and Ulf Underland. From 1987 to 1989 he led the commission that delivered the Norwegian Official Report 1989: 2, scrutinizing the bankruptcy of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk. He died in May 2012.

Tenga Rinpoche (Tibetan: དསྟན་དགའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wylie: bstan dgav rin po che; 1932 – 30 March 2012) was a Tibetan teacher (lama) in the Karma Kagyu tradition.Born in Kham in 1932, Tenga Rinpoche was recognized as a reincarnation of Lama Samten at the age of seven.As he grew older, he studied at Benchen Monastery and was eventually given the name Karma Tenzin Thinle Namgyal from Situ Rinpoche. Soon after, he was given ordination by Situ Rinpoche and entered a three-year retreat.He was an expert in mandala painting and sculpture.In 1959, Tenga Rinpoche left Benchen for Lhasa. After the 14th Dalai Lama left Tibet in relation with the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he escaped with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the brother of Dilgo Khyentse, the 9th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche. He then eventually traveled to northern India. In India, he settled at Rumtek Monastery, the main seat of the 16th Karmapa. Tenga Rinpoche served the 16th Karmapa for seventeen years, nine of those years in the position of Dorje Lopön.In 1976 Tenga Rinpoche settled in Swayambhunath, Nepal, where he founded a second Benchen Monastery and a retreat center in Pharping.In 1986, Tenga Rinpoche established the new Benchen Monastery in Kathmandu.He visited France regularly, giving teachings at Kagyu-Dzong in Paris and Vajradhara-Ling in Aubry-le-Panthou, Normandy. On 21 September 2003, he laid the cornerstone of the Temple for Peace in Normandy.On 30 March 2012, at 3:24 in the morning Nepali time, Tenga Rinpoche died.Nyima Döndrup, the yangsi (reincarnation) of the previous Tenga Rinpoche was born 14 December 2014 in Nepal. He was discovered in 2017 following the indications of the 17th Karmapa who met him on 21 March 2017 in Bodhgaya for a ceremony at Tergar Monastery.

Antoinette Olympe Bradna (12 August 1920 – 5 November 2012) was a French dancer and actress, who emigrated to the United States where she lived for the rest of her life.

Inger Birgitte "Gitte" Dæhlin (21 June 1956 − 2 December 2012) was a Norwegian sculptor, known for her sculptures from textile material.
She was born in Oslo as a daughter of Erik Oddvar and Lisbet Dæhlin. She studied at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art from 1973 to 1974 and then under Morten Krogh and Bård Breivik at Vestlandets kunstakademi from 1974 to 1977, before residing two years in Mexico. Her works are owned by, among others, the National Gallery of Norway, Arts Council Norway and the Norwegian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

Aase Ingerid Nathalie Bjerkholt (16 January 1915 – 17 August 2012) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was born in Oslo.
She was consultative councillor of state for family and consumer affairs during the third cabinet Gerhardsen in 1955–1956, and became the first Minister of Family and Consumer Affairs in 1956. She held the post until 1965, except for one month in 1963 during the cabinet Lyng. From January to February 1963 she was also caretaking Minister of Social Affairs.
She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1958, and was re-elected on three occasions. On the local level she was a member of Oslo city council from 1945 to 1947.