Milestones May 9, 2005

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AWARDED. JANEAL LEE, 30, winner of the Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin pageant, whose title was rescinded after a newspaper photo showed her standing up (which Lee, who has muscular dystrophy, can do for short periods); the title of Miss disAbility International; in Appleton, Wis. The award was created by the World Association of Persons with Disabilities after Lee was disqualified from the Wisconsin pageant. "The focus," said Lee, "is on people's abilities, and I think that is excellent."

DIED. JOHNNY SAMPLE, 67, fiery NFL defensive back best known for his pivotal interception for the New York Jets in 1969's Super Bowl III--the last game of his 11-year career--that helped push the Jets to their storied 16-7 upset of the heavily favored Baltimore Colts; of heart disease; in Philadelphia. An early "trash talker," he winkingly acknowledged his reputation in a 1970 memoir, Confessions of a Dirty Player.

DIED. MARIA SCHELL, 79, stunning, soulful international movie star of such films as the 1954 World War II drama The Last Bridge, Luchino Visconti's White Nights and, opposite Gary Cooper, the 1959 western The Hanging Tree; after a battle with pneumonia; in her hometown of Preitenegg, Austria. Schell, who sporadically withdrew from acting because she suffered from physical and emotional strains, was the subject of the acclaimed 2002 documentary My Sister Maria by her brother, actor-director Maximilian Schell.

DIED. EZER WEIZMAN, 80, pragmatic, influential former Israeli President; in Caesarea, Israel. Wry, caustic and often chauvinistic--he once responded to a young woman who wanted to be a combat pilot by asking, "Have you ever seen a man knitting socks?"-- he built and commanded the Israeli air force from 1958 to 1966 and the following year helped lead the military's rapid, pre-emptive victory in the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. Later, as an ardent peace advocate, he met with Palestinians, vocally criticized hard-liners and through his rapport with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat helped cement that country's historic 1979 peace agreement with Israel.

DIED. PERCY HEATH, 81, nimble, forceful jazz bassist and last surviving charter member of the esteemed Modern Jazz Quartet, whose finely organized arrangements and restrained sound were sometimes called cool jazz; in Southampton, N.Y. An accompanist to such greats as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, he provided the low-key backbone of the innovative Modern Jazz Quartet from 1952 until the enduring ensemble finally dissolved in 1999.

DIED. MASON ADAMS, 86, veteran character actor; in New York City. Though millions knew the longtime radio soap star for his distinctly paternal, honeyed voice on countless commercials ("With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good"), he showed his face most memorably as the level-headed managing editor on CBS's late-'70s series Lou Grant.