Author Leo Rosten, 88, whose 1968 bestseller The Joys of Yiddish helped introduce words like yenta, chutzpah, shlemiel and oy into the American vernacular, died of undisclosed causes on Feb. 19 at his New York City home....
Former NBC president Robert Sarnoff, 78, who led the network into the color-TV era in the 1950s, died of cancer Feb. 22 in New York City. Sarnoff initiated the first televised presidential candidates' debate, between Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy, in 1960....
Drummer Tony Williams, 51, who joined Miles Davis's influential mid-'60s jazz quintet at age 17, died of a heart attack Feb. 23 in Daly City, Calif., after gallbladder surgery. In 1969, Williams formed the pioneering fusion group Lifetime with organist Larry Young and guitarist John McLaughlin.
Actor Charlie Sheen, 31, pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor battery charge on Feb. 24 in Malibu in connection with a Dec. 20 incident at his Agoura Hills home. Sheen allegedly pushed his then-girlfriend Brittany Ashland, 25, to the floor, knocking her unconscious....
Author and spiritual adviser-to-the-stars Deepak Chopra, 49, filed a $10 million lawsuit Feb. 18 in San Diego against a local law firm, two lawyers, a reporter for The Weekly Standard magazine and two private investigators, claiming they attempted to defame and extort money from him. Chopra, who has already filed a $35 million libel suit against the Standard for running a story alleging he hired a prostitute in 1991, claims the defendants asked for $1 million to keep the story quiet. The prostitute now says she mistook someone else for Chopra....
After his government waived his diplomatic immunity, Gueorgui Makharadze, 35, economics officer at the Republic of Georgia embassy, was indicted by a grand jury Feb. 25 on charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in connection with a Jan. 3 car accident in Washington that killed Joviane Waltrick, 16, and injured four others (PEOPLE, Jan. 20, 1997)....
On Feb. 25, a Media, Pa., jury found chemicals heir John du Pont, 58, guilty of unpremeditated murder in the January 1996 shooting of Olympic wrestler David Schultz, 36. The defense claimed that du Pont was a paranoid schizophrenic, but the jury rejected his plea of innocent by reason of insanity, though they found him mentally ill. His April 22 sentencing will include a psychiatric hearing.
Actress Jennifer Lopez, 26, who plays the slain Tejano singer in the forthcoming film Selena, married model Ojani Noa, 23, on Feb. 22 in Miami. It is the first marriage for both.
NYPD Blue's Kim Dellaney, 35, is engaged to marry TV and film producer Alan Barnette, 45. The couple have not set a date. It will be the third marriage for both.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
