Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died Wednesday, February 27, after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said. He was 78.
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died Monday, February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group the Temptations, died at age 62 on February 18. Harris, center on the stool, poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974.
Lou Myers, a stage, film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy "A Different World," died on February 19 at the age of 75.
Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss, who had owned the Lakers since 1979, was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss' ownership.
Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. She was 37. During her career, McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts.
Ed Koch, the brash former New York mayor, died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88, his spokesman said.
Patty Andrews, center, the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, died at her Northridge, California, home on January 30, her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene, left, and Laverne.
Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19, according to his former team. He was 92.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver, who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires, died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82, Major League Baseball said.
Pauline Phillips, better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 94.
Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who co-wrote the initial specification for RSS, committed suicide, a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.
Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died aged 76 following a skiing accident.
Richard Ben Cramer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose 1992 book "What It Takes" remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles, died January 7, according to his longtime agent. He was 62.
Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed "Snakes on a Plane."
Tony Lip, who played mob figures in the hit cable show "The Sopranos" and several critically acclaimed movies, died January 4, a funeral home official said. Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga, was 82.
Character actor Ned Wertimer, known to fans of "The Jeffersons" as the doorman Ralph Hart, died on January 2. He was 89.
Pop-country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas, California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler, Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles.
- Van Cliburn's battle with bone cancer was revealed last August
- "He died peacefully in his Fort Worth, Texas, home," his publicist says
- Cliburn is considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century
(CNN) -- Van Cliburn, the classical pianist honored by a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died Wednesday after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said.
"He died peacefully in his Fort Worth, Texas, home ... surrounded by loved ones," spokeswoman Mary Lou Falcone said.
Cliburn, 78, won the International Tchaikovsky Competition months after the Soviet Union stunned Americans with the successful launch of Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. His victory swelled U.S. pride when it was near a Cold War low.
When his illness was made public last August, Falcone said "His spirits are high."
"Van Cliburn was an international legend for over five decades, a great humanitarian and a brilliant musician whose light will continue to shine through his extraordinary legacy," she said Wednesday. "He will be missed by all who knew and admired him, and by countless people he never met."
He was credited with improving cultural relations between the two superpowers. Cliburn toured the Soviet Union several times through the 1960s during the height of tensions.
Cliburn, considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, performed for every U.S. president since Harry Truman, according to his official biography.
At the end of the ticker-tape parade in May 1958, the 23-year-old address the crowd at New York's city hall.
"I appreciate more than you will ever know that you are honoring me, but the thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music," Cliburn said. "Because I'm only one of many. I'm only a witness and a messenger. Because I believe so much in the beauty, the construction, the architecture invisible, the importance for all generations, for young people to come that it will help their minds, develop their attitudes and give them values. That is why I'm so grateful that you have honored me in that spirit."
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CNN's Douglas Hyde contributed to this report.
