Milestones Jun. 30, 2003

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RESIGNED. THOMAS O'BRIEN, 67, bishop of Phoenix, Ariz.; after being charged with leaving the scene of an accident in which his car struck and killed a 43-year-old carpenter. The accident followed a year of turmoil over O'Brien's alleged role in protecting priests accused of sexual abuse, which culminated in his striking a deal earlier this month with prosecutors to avoid possible obstruction-of-justice charges. If convicted, the prelate, who led Arizona's 480,000 Catholics for 22 years, could face more than three years in prison.

RESIGNED. CHARLES MOOSE, 49, whose steady, empathetic public appearances as leader of the investigation into the Washington-area sniper killings last October won him nationwide attention; as Montgomery County, Md., police chief; in his words, to "explore other paths in life"; in Rockville. Moose, who has a deal to publish a book on the probe, had been battling the county's ethics commission, which bans profiting from official duties.

ARRESTED. ANDREW LUSTER, 39, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune and convicted rapist who fled in January during his trial; by police in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; after being nabbed by bounty hunters. Convicted and sentenced in absentia to 124 years in prison for drugging and raping three women in his Los Angeles-area home, Luster was deported back to California, where he has begun serving his sentence.

DIED. DOUG MICHELS, 59, avant-garde artist and architect who co-founded the San Francisco-based "underground architecture" studio Ant Farm; in a fall while climbing alone to a whale observation point; near Sydney, Australia. In 1974, he installed the famed "Cadillac Ranch" in Amarillo, Texas. The outdoor sculpture's 10 Cadillacs, thrust nose-down in the ground, were taken to represent the decline of U.S. industry.

DIED. LARRY DOBY, 79, Hall of Fame slugger who became the first African American in the American League--just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by joining the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers; in Montclair, N.J. In a 13-year career spent mostly with the Cleveland Indians, the star center fielder never lost his cool despite segregated conditions and rejection by some of his teammates. "The Bible ... says you should forgive and forget," he observed in 1999. "Well, you might forgive. But boy, it's tough to forget."

DIED. LEON URIS, 78, robust novelist of war's glories and ravages; in Shelter Island, N.Y. After serving as a Marine on Guadalcanal, he scored with best sellers set on the front lines of World War II (Battle Cry), the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (Mila 18), Israel (Exodus) and Palestine (The Haj). He also wrote his own epitaph; his tombstone will read: AMERICAN SOLDIER. JEWISH WRITER.

DIED. GEORGE AXELROD, 81, author of saucy, acerbic plays and screenplays; in Los Angeles. Once a radio and TV writer, he helped set the tone for pop culture's postwar flirtation with infidelity and angst in his Broadway farce The Seven Year Itch. The film version, with Marilyn Monroe, brought him to Hollywood, where he wrote the scripts for Bus Stop, Breakfast at Tiffany's and that classic spiked cocktail of melodrama, satire and treason, The Manchurian Candidate. His two films as writer-director, Lord Love a Duck and The Secret Life of an American Wife, are revered by comedy cultists.