Milestones Oct. 25, 1999

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ARRESTED. GIANCARLO PARRETTI, 58, fugitive financier; near Orvieto, Italy. Parretti, whose $1.3 billion takeover of MGM in 1990 and subsequent default on an $888 million loan nearly destroyed the company, fled the U.S. in 1996 after being convicted of perjury and evidence tampering.

DIED. WILT ("The Stilt") CHAMBERLAIN, 63, 7 ft. 1 in., "gentle giant" of the NBA and the only player to have scored 100 points in a game; of congestive heart failure; in Bel Air, Calif. (see EULOGY and ESSAY).

DIED. JULIUS NYERERE, 77, statesman and Tanzania's first President; of leukemia; in London. Nyerere led his country to independence from British rule in 1961, united 120 ethnic groups into one country, and was its leader for 23 years. He continued until his death to try to unite Africa--most recently by mediating in a civil war in Burundi.

DIED. MILT JACKSON, 76, jazz vibraphonist and improviser who co-founded the Modern Jazz Quartet; in New York City. Composer of the Quartet's signature Bags' Groove, Jackson got his start in Dizzy Gillespie's band and recorded with John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk.

DIED. MORRIS WEST, 83, novelist whose characers struggled with faith and outlandish plots; in Sydney, Australia. Critics were unimpressed with his books--The Devil's Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman among them--but West sold 60 million books worldwide.

DIED. GEORGE FORREST, 84, Tony Award-winning composer; in Miami. With longtime partner Robert Wright, Forrest wrote songs for the musical Kismet and later for Grand Hotel.

EVACUATED. JERRI NIELSEN, 47, U.S. doctor who has been treating herself since July with chemotherapy for a lump in her breast; from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station; by the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing.