Passages this week

Neil Twelker, 85, an engineer who proposed strengthening the Alaskan Way Viaduct instead of replacing it with a tunnel, died of bone-marrow cancer July 22 in Seattle.

Anastasios "Tasso" Tsantilas, 72, a native of Greece who opened pizza-and-pasta restaurants in Kirkland, Des Moines and Auburn, died of leukemia July 21 in Redmond.

Carl M. Brashear, 75, who in 1954 became the first black U.S. Navy diver, and who was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2000 film "Men of Honor," died Tuesday in Portsmouth, Va., of respiratory and heart failure.

William Wilcox, 32, a homeless man who helped put together a team for an inspirational challenge in a 3-on-3 Hoopfest tournament last month in Spokane, drowned there July 21.

Jessie Mae Hemphill, 71, whose award-winning blues career lasted decades and was heavily influenced by her upbringing in rural Mississippi, died July 22 in Memphis, Tenn.

Mako, 72, the Japan-born actor who used his Oscar nomination for the 1966 film "The Sand Pebbles" to push for better roles for Asian-American actors, died of esophageal cancer July 21 in Somis, Calif. His birth name was Makoto Iwamatsu.

J. Madison Wright Morris, 21, a former child actress and model who appeared in television shows including "Grace Under Fire," "The Nanny" and "ER," died July 21 in Lexington, Ky., of a heart attack a day after returning from her honeymoon. She had a heart transplant in 2000.

John Mack, 78, who spent 36 years as principal oboist with the prestigious Cleveland Orchestra and was regarded as the dean of American oboists, died last Sunday in Cleveland of complications from brain cancer.

Frederick Mosteller, 89, who founded Harvard University's statistics department and used mathematical theories to explain everyday concerns from health care to the World Series, died last Sunday in Falls Church, Va.

Bill Meistrell, 77, whose Body Glove wetsuits helped revolutionize surfing and deep-sea diving, died Tuesday of Parkinson's disease in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Sergio Santander, 80, the former Chilean Olympic Committee president who was one of six IOC members expelled in 1999 for corruption, died of a heart attack Tuesday in Chile.

Chen Jinlang, 45, a popular Chinese-language pop singer, died of colon cancer Tuesday in Singapore.

Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly, 86, a Jamaican poet and folklorist who popularized her country's culture before Jamaica's independence from Britain, died Wednesday.

Dorothea Towles Church, 83, the first professional black model to walk the fashion runways of French couture designers in Paris, died July 7 in New York.

Vincent J. Fuller , 75, a Washington trial lawyer who won a dramatic courtroom victory in the presidential shooting case of John Hinckley Jr. and who defended other notables such as Jimmy Hoffa and Mike Tyson, died Wednesday at a hospice in Derwood, Md., from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aldo Notari, 74, president of the International Baseball Federation, died Tuesday of cancer in Parma, Italy.

Ken Hansen , 53, who worked for 36 years to convince the U.S. government that the Samish Indian Nation wasn't extinct and deserved treaty fishing rights, died in Anacortes on Wednesday of complications from diabetes.