Actor Paul Newman died this year. So did Larry Harmon, who was better known as Bozo the Clown; W. Mark Felt, who was the mysterious Deep Throat; and William Stulla, who as Engineer Bill delighted a generation of children with a glass of milk.
William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, also left the scene, as did singer and self-proclaimed “sex kitten" Eartha Kitt and the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter.
Millionaire Steve Fossett's adventurer's life came to an end after a plane crash on a California hillside. And, after 28 years in a coma, socialite Martha “Sunny" von Bulow died in December.
Here are lists of the major newsmakers in a wide range of categories who died in 2008:
