Obituaries | featured news

His films, which featured killer babies and desserts, offered suspense and horror bordering on satire. He was also a prolific creator of television shows.

Forsaking the music that made his group, the Walker Brothers, a 1960s sensation, he veered toward the avant-garde, influencing David Bowie and Radiohead.

A standout player at N.Y.U., he had a brief N.B.A. career but made his mark as a color commentator and the team’s link to the youth of New York.

He overcame his fear of heights to capture unique views, from the Statue of Liberty ‘s torch and the antennas of the Empire State and World Trade Center.

He was John Lindsay’s voice in tense labor talks. On the bench, he deemed panhandling free speech and said McDonald’s can’t be blamed for obesity.

Whether a crazy quilt of a museum in the Netherlands or a whimsical corkscrew that looked like his friend Anna, Mr. Mendini’s work drew attention.

He was considered a progressive in Roman Catholic leadership. But his reputation was hurt when it was learned that he had urged a victim of abuse not to talk.

He led the team that seized the Nazi architect of the Final Solution in Argentina and later handled the American spy Jonathan Jay Pollard.

Once called “the Susan Sontag of Soviet aesthetic thought,” she wrote about film and theater and helped make a film that drew parallels between Nazism and Stalin.

A well-regarded philosophy professor, Dr. Silvers knew the subject firsthand, having had polio as a child.