Milestones

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DIED While living a hard-drinking rock-'n'-roll lifestyle, John Martyn, 60, the British folk singer--songwriter, influenced artists such as Eric Clapton, U2 and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.

He called himself the "Jackie Robinson of journalism." Robert Churchwell Sr., 91, became the first African American at a major Southern newspaper after joining the Nashville Banner in 1950.

Friends called her the "cowgirl of the typewriter." She started in 1941 on a simple script rewrite, and over a 10-year career during the 1940s and '50s, Frances Kavanaugh, 93, wrote nearly 30 screenplays for westerns, a genre dominated by men on both sides of the camera.

ELECTED With a vote of 508 to 169, Metropolitan Kirill, 62, was chosen as the new leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the world's second largest, succeeding the long-serving leader Alexy II, who died in December.

APPOINTED After a failed economy forced Iceland's government to resign on Jan. 31, Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, was named interim Prime Minister, making her Europe's first openly gay leader.

WON On Jan. 30, Michael Steele, 50, became the first African American elected chairman of the Republican National Committee. He vowed to create a "brand new [party] message."

Clarification: Milk Deluxe, pictured in a Feb. 9 Milestones item about the China tainted-milk scandal, has been cleared of melamine contamination by authorities in Hong Kong and China, and the people sentenced had no connection with Milk Deluxe. We regret any misunderstanding.