Jeffrey Zaslow, an award winning American author, journalist and columnist, died Feb. 10, 2012 in a car accident in northern Michigan. Returning from a book signing event, he lost control of his car on a snow covered road and was hit by a tractor-trailer. He was 53 years old. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. Zaslow also co-authored best-selling books with Randy Pausch, Gabrielle Giffords, and Captain Chesley Sullenberger.There is an article by Tara Parker-Pope in the print edition of the New York Times, today, February 14, 2012, "
Life's Frailty, and the Gestures that go a long way" in which she remembers her friend Jeffrey Zaslow and the important lessons he taught her.
The Last Lecture. By Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. 2008.
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
The Magic Room: A Story about the Love we wish for our Daughters. By Jeffrey Zaslow. 2012.
The New York Times bestselling journalist and author of The Girls from Ames , Jeffrey Zaslow, takes us to a multi-generational family owned small-town bridal shop called "Becker's. Run by the same family for years, Becker's has witnessed transformations in how America views the institution of marriage; some of the shop's clientele are becoming stepmothers, or starting married life for a second time.
Highest Duty. My Search for What Really Matters. By Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger with Jeffrey Zaslow. 2009.
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in aviation history when Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. HIGHEST DUTY reveals the important lessons Sully learned through childhood, in his military service, and in his work as a commercial airline pilot. A few weeks after the crash, Sully discovered that he had lost a library book about professional ethics, Just Culture: Balancing Safety and Accountability, in the downed planes cargo hold. When he called the library to notify them, they waived the usual fees. Mayor Michael Bloomberg replaced the book when he gave Sully the Key to the City in a New York ceremony.
As individuals, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, showed Americans how optimism, an adventurous spirit, and a call to service can help change the world. As a couple, they became a national example of the healing power to be found in deeply shared love and courage. Their arrival in the world spotlight came under the worst of circumstances. On January 8, 2011, while meeting with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona, Gabby was the victim of an assassination attempt that left six people dead and thirteen wounded. Gabby was shot in the head; doctors called her survival "miraculous." As the nation grieved and sought to understand the attack, Gabby remained in private, focused on her against-all-odds recovery. Mark spent every possible moment by her side, as he also prepared for his final mission as commander of space shuttle Endeavour. Now, as Gabby's health continues to improve, the couple is sharing their remarkable untold story.
From the co-author of the bestselling "The Last Lecture" comes a moving tribute to female friendships, with the inspiring story of 11 girls and the women they became.
Mr. Sendak's next work, "My Brother's Book", is scheduled to be published in February, 2013.
The Magic Room: A Story about the Love we wish for our Daughters. By Jeffrey Zaslow. 2012.
Highest Duty. My Search for What Really Matters. By Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger with Jeffrey Zaslow. 2009. 
Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. By Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly. With Jeffrey Zaslow. 2011.
The Girls from Ames. A story of women and a forty-year friendship. By Jeffrey Zaslow. 2009. 
Eva Zeisel, a ceramic artist, died December 30, 2011 in New York City, N.Y. at age 105. She saw her work as a "playful search for beauty". She was born in Budapest on November 13, 1906. Her maiden name was Eva Amalia Striker. An aunt's Hungarian peasant pottery collection inspired her to become a ceramist. In 1925 she visited Paris. In 1930 she moved to Berlin. In 1932 she visited the Ukraine. By 1935 she was working in Moscow, but was arrested in 1936, falsely accused by a colleague. She was imprisoned for 16 months. A friend, Arthur Koestler, drew upon her experience in writing his 1941 novel DARKNESS AT NOON. She was released without explanation in 1937 and went to Vienna. In 1938, upon the Nazi's arrival in Austria, she escaped to Britain. In London she was reunited with Hans Zeisel, a lawyer and sociologist whom she had met in Berlin. They married and then emigrated to the United States soon after. During her second day in New York, she went to the public library to look up addresses of trade publications. In 1939 she began teaching ceramics as industrial design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She left her teaching position in 1954 and then designed collections of ceramics, glass and metal, including rugs, furniture and lighting fixtures. Her book "Eval Zeisel on Design" was published in 2004. She remained active almost until the end of her life. Eva Zeisel is survived by a daughter and a son and three grandchildren. Her husband, Hans Zeisel, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, died in 1992. For more information on Eva Zeisel, check out:
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London on Feb. 27, 1932 to American parents. Her father was a successful art dealer and her mother was an actress. In 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles, where Elizabeth, coached and encouraged by her mother, found work in the motion picture industry. Elizabeth Taylor starred in more than 50 films and became a Hollywood legend. She died at age 79 on March 23, 2011 in Los Angeles.
Jack LaLanne, founder of the modern physical fitness movement, died on January 23, 2011 at age 96. The son of French immigrants, he was born in San Francisco on Sept. 26, 1914.
Elizabeth Edwards was born July 3, 1949 and died December 7, 2010 of cancer at the age of 61. She was an attorney and best-selling author.
Ted Sorensen, political adviser, speechwriter and White House counsel died October 31, 2010 in New York City, following a stroke. He was 82 years old. He served in the White House from January 20, 1961 until February 29, 1964 under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
José Saramago, a Portuguese writer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, died Friday at his home in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. He was 87. He was the first Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize. He was born in 1922 in the village of Azinhaga and was raised by his maternal grandparents. Since his family was so poor, he was forced to leave grammar school at age 12 and start training as a car mechanic. His first novel was published when he was 23, but he became a full-time writer only in his late 50s.
Alice Miller was born January 12, 1923 in Poland. In 1946 she emigrated to Switzerland. She gained her doctorate in Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology in 1953 in Basel. The English publication in 1981 of her first book "The Drama of the Gifted Child" caused a sensation. She died aged 87 April 14, 2010 in Provence, France.
Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee American Indian tribe, died April 6, 2010. She was 64 years old.
J.D. Salinger died Wednesday, January 27th at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. He was 91 years old.
Mystery writer Robert B. Parker died Monday, January 18th, at his home in Cambridge, Mass. Parker was at his writing desk working on a new novel when he suffered a massive heart attack. He was 77.
Erich Segal, author of "Love Story" died Sunday, January 17th at his home in London. He was 72.
Two extraordinary women passed away this January.
Freya von Moltke was born on March 29, 1911 in Cologne and died January 1, 2010 in Norwich, Vermont, aged 98. She was the widow of Count Helmuth James von Moltke, who as a member of the anti-resistance movement in Germany was hanged by the Nazis in 1945. She hid her husbands' documents and letters in the beehives of their estate in Kreisau/Krzyzowa , now part of Poland and in 1990 published them as "Letters to Freya". In 1990 Kreisau became an international youth meeting center for European understanding.
The French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss died on October 30, 2009 of cardiac arrest, just a few weeks before his 101st birthday. The father of structuralism and modern anthropology, and "one of the great intellectual heroes of the 20th century" (quotation by Philippe Descola, Collège de France) was born on November 28, 1908 in Brussels. He obtained advanced degrees in philosophy, literature and law at the University of Paris. While teaching sociology at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, he studied various tribes in Central Brazil. These ethnological studies later informed his groundbreaking theoretical work. In 1942 he emigrated from France to the United States and taught for several years at the New School for Social Research in New York. He returned to France after World War II and during his academic career published several influential books, namely Tristes Tropiques (1955), a memoir of his life in Brazil and the The Savage Mind (La Pensée Sauvage) (1962). For more information, see the obituary by Edward Rothstein in the New York Times.