Milestones

DIED

With stars like Tito Puente and Celia Cruz under his wing, Ralph Mercado, 67, became the most influential concert promoter in the Latin music world, spreading the salsa gospel to new audiences and venues, such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

• At 17, actress Betsy Blair, 85, married dance legend Gene Kelly at the start of a promising career that came to an abrupt halt when she was blacklisted. She made a comeback with an Oscar nomination for 1955's Marty.

• Though he felt it was a mistake at the time, Alan W. Livingston, 91, brought the fledgling Beatles to the U.S. while president of Capitol Records. Some of his other nonmistakes include creating the Bozo the Clown character and co-writing the song "I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat," a musical dialogue between Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat.

• His darkly comic novels, like Cabot Wright Begins, inspired some and baffled others. Still, James Purdy, 94, enjoyed writing stories that "bristled with impossibilities."

RELEASED

After serving half of a 14-year jail term, Sara Jane Olson, 62, member of the '70s radical group the Symbionese Liberation Army, was released on March 17. In 2002, Olson was convicted of trying to bomb Los Angeles police cars and for her role in a deadly bank robbery.

SENTENCED

After lobbing his shoes at George W. Bush last December--during the then U.S. President's final official visit to Iraq--Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, a journalist turned Iraqi hero, was sentenced to three years in jail on March 12. Al-Zaidi declared that his actions were patriotic and just.