2005 deaths

Martin Joseph Hillenbrand (August 1, 1915 – February 2, 2005) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1972 to 1976.

Jean Cazeneuve (17 May 1915 – 4 October 2005) was a French sociologist and anthropologist. Apart from being a scholar, he has been involved with Radio and TV at the executive level; from 1964 till 1974 he has been president of the French public Radio and TV agency (ORTF), after which he has been chairman of TF1, the first French national-wide channel, till 1978. He joined the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in 1973, of which became president in 1983.
He is highly regarded for his illuminating contribution to the study the ritual clowns.

Robert Eugene Bush (October 4, 1926 – November 8, 2005), at age 18, was the youngest member of the United States Navy in World War II to receive the nation's highest military decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the medal for heroic actions "above and beyond the call of duty" while serving as hospital corpsman attached to a Marine Corps rifle company on May 2, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa.

Leo Brewer (13 June 1919, St. Louis, Missouri – 22 February 2005, Lafayette, California) was an American physical chemist. Considered to be the founder of modern high-temperature chemistry, Brewer received his BS from the California Institute of Technology in 1940 and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942. Brewer joined the Manhattan Project following his graduate work, and joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in 1946. Leo Brewer married Rose Strugo (died 1989) in 1945. They had three children, Beth Gaydos, Roger Brewer, and Gail Brewer. He died in 2005 as a result of Beryllium poisoning from his work in World War II.

Helon Blount (January 15, 1929 – March 7, 2005) was an actress and singer who appeared in the original Broadway productions of such musicals as The Most Happy Fella, Woman of the Year and Follies.

Colette Besson (7 April 1946 – 9 August 2005) was a French athlete, the surprise winner of the 400 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Wendie Jo Sperber (September 15, 1958 – November 29, 2005) was an American actress, known for her performances in the films I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Bachelor Party (1984), and Back to the Future (1985), as well as the television sitcoms Bosom Buddies (1980–1982) and Private Benjamin (1982–1983).

Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈalvɐɾu kuˈɲal]; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo. He served as secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) from 1961 to 1992. He was one of the most pro-Soviet of all Western Europe communist leaders, often supporting the Soviet Union's foreign policies, including the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. During the 1970s, Cunhal supported Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s political agenda, and strongly opposed Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika policies in the 1980s.

David Nyhan (December 23, 1940 – January 23, 2005), born Charles David Nyhan Jr., was a journalist and biographer, whose op-ed column ran in The Boston Globe newspaper for many years. He graduated from Harvard College where he played varsity football.His column was syndicated to more than 16 newspapers and magazines by Creators Syndicate, and after working for The Boston Globe for 32 years, he retired in 2001.
Boston-area professor and editor Bill Ketter remarked "For David Nyhan, giving voice to the voiceless was intuitive." He covered national politics and was a frequent source for commentary on presidential races and on the New Hampshire primary in particular.
In his last column, he wrote: "The thing I'll miss most is the chance to shine a little flashlight on a dark corner, where a wrong was done to a powerless peon, where a scarred politician maybe deserved a better fate, where the process went awry, or the mob needed to be calmed down and herded in another direction."
Nyhan died suddenly aged 64 on January 23, 2005, at his home in Brookline, suffering a heart attack after shoveling snow.

John Theurer Diebold (June 8, 1926 – December 26, 2005). An American businessman who was a pioneer in the field of automation, founding The Diebold Group to advise corporations around the world as well as governments in the U.S and abroad in the potential of information technology.