Names and NewsGone Too Soon: Stars We Lost in 2008

BERNIE MAC

After battling complications from pneumonia, the actor-comedian died on Aug. 9. Mac, who was 50 when he passed, suffered from sarcoidosis, which his sister-in-law Mary Ann Grossett told PEOPLE was in remission at the time of his death. Thousands mourned the comic at a Chicago memorial service – including his wife of more than 30 years, Rhonda, who told PEOPLE her grief "comes in waves".