IN MEMORIAM

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Bo Diddley, 79, legendary guitarist whose “ham-bone” syncopation derived from ancient African rhythms is “one of the fundamental building blocks” of rock’n’roll.

Isaac Hayes, 65, pioneering singer, songwriter and musician best known for his Theme from Shaft and as the voice of Chef on the animated TV show South Park.

Pervis Jackson, 70, rolling bass voice behind the singing group, The Spinners.

Eartha Kitt, 81, sultry singer, dancer and actress was a versatile performer who won two Emmys. A self-proclaimed “sex kitten” known for her catlike purr and portrayal of Catwoman in the 60’s Batman TV series. After criticizing the Vietnam War at a White House luncheon, Kitt’s career nose-dived in the U.S.

   Sean Levert, 39, singer

Bernie Mac, 50, actor-comedian who teamed up in the casino heist Ocean’s Eleven and gained award for his sitcom The Bernie Mac Show.

Miriam Makeba, 76, South African singer who was banned from her own country for 30 years under apartheid; she was the first African woman to win a Grammy award.

Odetta, 77, folk singer with a booming, classically trained voice and guitar.

Levi Stubbs, 72, singer, Four Tops frontman who drove such Motown classics as Reach Out (I’ll Be There) and Baby I need Your Loving.

Ivan Dixon -- (March 16), 76, actor who reportedly entered films as Sidney Poitier’s double. He played Kinchloe on “Hogan’s Heros.”

SPORTS

Will Robinson, 96, first Black basketball coach at a Division I school with Illinois State University in the 70s. As a Detroit Pistons’ scout he discovered Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman.

Gene Upshaw, 63, Hall of Fame guard for the Oakland Raiders who spent 25 years as leader of the NFL players union.

LITERATURE and MEDIA

Ragan A. Henry, a pioneering media mogul and lawyer. The Harvard-educated lawyer was one of Philadelphia’s richest African Americans who was the first African American to own a network-affiliated TV station; he also founded the National Leader, a short-lived Black newspaper in the early 1980s.

Nancy Hicks Maynard, 61, former co-publisher of The Oakland Tribune who co-founded the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education that advocates diversity in the nation’s newsrooms.

 OTHERS

Ethel Bradley, 89, widow of Los Angeles’ first Black mayor Tom Bradley. Bradley co-founded the Black Women’s Forum in Los Angeles.

Amanda Roberts Jones, 110, a slave’s daughter who cherished her vote for the country’s first Black president.

Bishop S.C. Madison, 86, led 1.5 million-member United House of Prayer for All People.

CIVIL RIGHTS, LAW and POLITICS

James Bevel, 72, served as a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. before helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March on Washington. At the time of his death in Springfield, Va., Bevel’s legacy had become clouded by a conviction for having sex 10 years ago with one of his then-teenage daughters.

J.L. Chestnut, 77, first Black lawyer in Selma, Ala., and prominent attorney in civil rights cases.

Zelma Henderson, 88, the last surviving adult plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which led to the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in public schools.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, the first Black woman to represent Ohio in Congress

Mildred Loving, 68, Black woman whose marriage to a White man led to landmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling striking down state bans on interracial marriages.

Wallace D. Mohammed, 74, imam who succeeded his father as leader of the Nation of Islam who moved thousands of its followers into mainstream Islam.

Abraham Woods, 80, longtime Birmingham civil rights leader who helped coordinate the 1963 March on Washington and stood behind Martin Luther King Jr. during his “I Have A Dream” speech.

Rev. Simmie Lee Harvey, 90, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.