Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Sean P. Carson, 32, who grew up in Des Moines, was among seven Americans killed Aug. 16 when a U.S. military helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Sgt. David V. Williams, 24, of Frederick, Md., a Stryker Brigade soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, died Aug. 18 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The cause of death is under investigation.

Sgt. Louis R. Torres, 23, of Oberlin, Ohio, a soldier assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, died Wednesday at San Antonio (Texas) Military Medical Center of wounds suffered in an Aug. 6 bombing in Kandahar.

George Hickman, 88, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II who went on to a career at Boeing and was a beloved usher at University of Washington and Seahawks games, died last Sunday in Seattle after a heart attack.

Phyllis Diller, 95, the wild-haired housewife-turned-comedian who was the template for self-deprecating female comedians, died Monday in Los Angeles.

James Fogle, 75, whose felonious past was the basis of his autobiographical novel and a 1989 film, "Drugstore Cowboy," died Thursday at the Monroe Correctional Complex. He was serving time for robbing a Redmond pharmacy with a BB gun in May 2010. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said the likely cause of death was mesothelioma.

Joe Jay Pinkham, 84, a longtime General Council secretary for the Yakama Nation and a Marine veteran of the Korean War, died Tuesday in Toppenish, Yakima County.

Jerry Nelson, 78, the puppeteer behind a delightful menagerie of characters, including Count von Count on "Sesame Street" and Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock," died of emphysema Thursday at Cape Cod, Mass.

Meles Zenawi, 57, Ethiopia's prime minister, died Monday of an infection. He had been reportedly hospitalized in Brussels, Belgium.

Steve Van Buren, 91, the Hall of Fame running back who led the Philadelphia Eagles to NFL titles in 1948 and 1949, died Thursday in Lancaster, Pa.

Ruggiero Ricci, 94, a violinist who made the rare leap from child prodigy to be regarded as one of the greatest virtuosos of his generation, died Aug. 6 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Chalmers A. "Babe" Loughridge, 93, one of four physicians who created the specialty of emergency medicine in the early 1960s, died Aug. 12 in Alexandria, Va.

William P. Thurston, 65, a mathematician who revolutionized understanding of the structure of 3-D spaces and won the Fields Medal, considered mathematics' highest honor, died of cancer Tuesday in Rochester, N.Y.

William Windom, 88, an actor who won an Emmy Award for his turn in the 1969 TV comedy series "My World And Welcome To It," died Thursday of congestive heart failure in Woodacre, north of San Francisco.

Tony Scott, 68, director of exuberant action films including "Top Gun" and "Unstoppable," and a prolific producer of TV shows and commercials with his brother Ridley Scott, died last Sunday when he jumped off a bridge in Los Angeles.

Ben Isaacs, 107, believed to be the oldest surviving Pullman rail-car porter, died Aug. 15 in Victorville, Calif.