James G. Aton (1925 – September 16, 2008), best known as Jim Aton or Jimmy Aton, was an American jazz bassist, pianist, vocalist and composer. He worked with numerous notable artists including Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day and Bill Evans. He appeared in films such as Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) with the Bobby Troup Trio, Roustabout (1964) with Elvis Presley and Barbara Stanwyck, and in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) with Jane Fonda.
James G. Aton (1925 – September 16, 2008), best known as Jim Aton or Jimmy Aton, was an American jazz bassist, pianist, vocalist and composer. He worked with numerous notable artists including Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day and Bill Evans. He appeared in films such as Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) with the Bobby Troup Trio, Roustabout (1964) with Elvis Presley and Barbara Stanwyck, and in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) with Jane Fonda.
Richard Clement Wade (July 14, 1921 in Des Moines, Iowa – July 18, 2008 in Manhattan, New York) was an American historian and urban studies professor who advised many Democratic politicians and candidates. As a historian, he pioneered the interdisciplinary application of social science techniques to the study of urban history and promoted cities as an important academic subject.
Malcolm Carnegie McKenna (1930–2008) was an American paleontologist and author on the subject.
Jack Reno (November 30, 1935 – November 1, 2008) was an American country singer.
Richard Gordon Kendall (also spelled Kendell; 17 November 1933 Paris, Texas – 30 January 2008 Paris, Texas) was an American self-taught artist who, beginning around 1995, began to be chronicled as an outsider artist – in a folk artist.
Katherine Loker (August 13, 1915 – June 26, 2008) was an American heiress and philanthropist. She donated tens of millions of dollars to fund university programs and infrastructure improvement at California State University, Dominguez Hills, Harvard University, and the University of Southern California (USC). She also made significant contributions to the California Museum of Science and Industry, the California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Donald P. Loker Cancer Treatment Center, the Los Angeles Music Center, and the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, among other institutions. She was honored in 1996 with the Harvard Alumni Association Medal and in 2007 received the Presidential Medallion, the highest award of USC. Loker was awarded an honorary doctorate from USC in 1997 and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Harvard in 2000. In 1999, The New York Times spotlighted her leading role in philanthropy. The rose 'Katherine Loker' is named in her honor as are many facilities in California and Massachusetts.
William Erwin Walker, also known as Erwin M. Walker and Machine Gun Walker (born Erwin Mathias Walker; October 6, 1917− October 7, 2008), was an American police employee and United States Army World War II veteran, known for having committed several thefts, burglaries, and shootouts with police in Los Angeles County, California, in 1945 and 1946, one of which resulted in a fatality. The film He Walked by Night (1948) was loosely based on Walker's 1946 crime spree.
Thomas Irving Atkins (March 2, 1939 – June 27, 2008) was an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Boston City Council and General Counsel of the NAACP.
George Andrew Toley (April 23, 1916 – March 1, 2008) was an American collegiate tennis coach at the University of Southern California from 1954 to 1980. His teams won ten NCAA team championships (1955, 1958, 1962–64, 1966–69, 1976), nine individual titles and twelve doubles titles, and included stars such as Alex Olmedo, Rafael Osuna, Dennis Ralston, Joaquín Loyo-Mayo, Raúl Ramírez, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz and Marcelo Lara.
Born in Los Angeles, Toley graduated from Los Angeles High School and attended the University of Miami before returning to his hometown and graduating from USC in 1942 with a degree in Education. He was a nationally ranked tennis player during his college years, rising as high as 7th and 10th in doubles in 1939 and 1940 with partner, Gardnar Mulloy, and 20th in singles from 1940 to 1942.
In 1941–42, Toley served for a brief time as a USC tennis coach, and also as a club pro at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. After World War II, he became club pro at the Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC) from 1947 to 1972. He was also an instructor at the Marlborough School from 1947 to 1970, and added the coaching position at USC in 1954 until retiring in 1980. He wrote a book on college tennis entitled "The Golden Age of College Tennis", published in 2009.
Toley was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I men's tennis in 1978. Toley's teams at USC were highly successful, winning 82% of their dual matches (430-92-4). Toley's 1963 and 1967 teams were named the #1 and #3 greatest all-time men's teams, respectively, by Inside Tennis magazine.In 1983, Toley was one of the 15 initial inductees to the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (along with Olmedo, Osuna and Ralston), was elected to the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000, and to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. Toley died at age 91 in Pasadena, California.