Bruce Cutler, a combative New York criminal defense lawyer who won acquittals three times for the mob boss John J. Gotti, and whose intimidating cross-examinations of witnesses became known as a “Brucification,” died in Brooklyn on Oct. 6. He was 77. Bald, stout and barrel-chested — The New Yorker once said he resembled Telly Savalas crossed with Jesse Ventura — Mr. Cutler embraced a pit bull approach to jurisprudence. “It’s my whole life,” he said [...]

Ivan Klima, the Czech novelist whose survival of two totalitarian regimes — one Nazi, the other communist — made him one of Eastern Europe’s most perceptive distillers of the human condition under authoritarianism, died on Oct. 4 at his home in Prague. A writer of more than 40 books, also a dissident, teacher and critic, Mr. Klima was deeply affected by an early experience in his life: incarceration as a boy by the Nazis at [...]

Jerome A. Cohen, who pioneered the study of China’s legal system, was one of the first foreign lawyers to practice in China, and who became a voice against human rights abuses there, died on Sept. 22 at his home in Manhattan. He was 95. Mr. Cohen “created the field of the study of Chinese law in the United States,” Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, said in an interview with The [...]

Mel Taub, the longtime creator of the Puns and Anagrams (PandA) puzzle for The New York Times, died on Sept. 14 at his home in Austin, TX. He was 97. By his own estimate, Mr. Taub contributed some 350-400 PandAs to The Times. A hundred or so are archived at xwordinfo.com, a website created by Jim Horne, a puzzler enthusiast.

Aron Bell, who had been a teenage member of a daring brigade of Jewish partisans that during WWII attacked German troops in Belorussia and rescued some 1,200 Jews from near-certain death, died on Sept. 22 at his home in Palm Beach, FL. He was 98. The Bielski partisans, run by three of Mr. Bell’s older brothers, formed after the arrest and murder of the siblings’ parents in December 1941. On its website, the U.S. Holocaust [...]

Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio (NPR) staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, died Oct. 16. She was 87. Colleagues considered her a mentor, a matchmaker, a founding mother — always tough, and always true to herself. Stamberg’s stories and segments over the decades spanned the human experience, from examining matters of state to illuminating pointillist details of artistic achievement. She was recognized [...]

Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmast4r and a popular chess commentator and livestreamer, died recently (date and place unknown). His death at age 29 was announced by the Charlotte (NC) Chess Center, where he was the head coach. In his short career, Mr. Naroditsky, known as Danya, became one of the game’s most accomplished players and highly respected teacher and insightful commentator. Mr. Naroditsky was ranked No. 1 for his age group in the United States [...]

Milton Esterow, a New York Times art journalist who, in 1972 bought and reinvigorated ARTnews magazine and, at both media outlets, helped bring an investigative edge to culture reporting, especially regarding artwork looted by the Nazis. Mr. Esterow died Oct. 3 at his home in Manhattan He was 97. A draft of his final article for The Times, focused on the restitution of art stolen during the Holocaust — written, as always, on Mr. Esterow’s [...]