Milestones Dec. 18, 1995

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DIED. THOMAS WASHINGTON, 58, president of the National Rifle Association; three weeks after suffering a heart attack while deer hunting; in Dearborn, Michigan. His successor, Marion P. Hammer, is the N.R.A.'s first female head.

DIED. ROXIE ROKER, 66, actress; in Los Angeles. For over a decade, Roker played the blunter half of an interracial couple--one of TV's first--on the sitcom The Jeffersons.

DIED. CLAIR PATTERSON, 73, geochemist who in the early '50s established the age of the earth and the solar system as 4.6 billion years; of asthma; in Sea Ranch, California.

DIED. ROBERTSON DAVIES, 82, author; in Orangeville, Ontario. Davies earned his Merlin-like mien: his novels were steeped in literal and figurative magic, juxtaposing Jungian soul searching and sweeping myth with minutely detailed portraits of Canadian provincialism. In fact, Davies was one of the first writers from that country to develop an international following. The best known of his works is the Deptford trilogy, which tracked the lives of a magician, his manager and a one-legged schoolmaster.

DIED. JAMES RESTON, 86, journalist; in Washington. Originally a sports reporter, Reston's grasp of global gamesmanship led him to the New York Times. His first job: correspondent during the London blitz. He went on to win a Pulitzer chronicling the birth of the U.N. and, in 1953, became the paper's Washington bureau chief. As a thrice-weekly columnist, he gained fame for his deft prose, solid reporting and enviable access, but the latter often came at a price. In 1961, at President John F. Kennedy's request, he withheld what he knew of plans involving an obscure Cuban inlet called the Bay of Pigs. Reston later helped nurture the Times's op-ed page, bringing fresh voices to the paper, though few as elegant and essential as his own.