Pierre Nova, a French scholar whose ideas about the role of memory and identity in the writing of history gained prominence both in France and abroad, and who became a kingpin in his country’s intellectual community through his influence over publishing, died on June 2 in Paris. He was 93. Mr. Nora’s major contribution to historiography was the concept of “lieux de mémoire” (sites of memory), a term he coined to describe elements of the [...]

Joel Shapiro, a celebrated American sculptor whose works imbued life-size stick figures with a surprising depth of feeling, died June 14 in Manhattan. He was 83. From one piece to the next, his figures appear to leap with joy, dance balletically, fall backward, topple onto their heads, or collapse onto the floor into a tangle of arms and legs. He executed more than 30 large-scale commissions, most notably “Loss and Regeneration,” commissioned for the plaza [...]

Harris Yulin, a character actor who for more than six decades portrayed unsympathetic, menacing, corrupt and glowering guys on stage and on screen, died on June 10 in Manhattan. He was 87. Mr. Yulin never became a marquee name, but to many audiences, he was instantly recognizable. He portrayed J. Edgar Hoover, Hamlet and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Other roles ranged from crooked cops and politicians to a lecherous television anchorman. Mr. Yulin never stopped working. [...]

Leonard A. Lauder, the art patron and philanthropist who with his mother, Estée Lauder, built a family cosmetics business into a worldwide organization of brands, died on June 7 at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 92. While best known for his business enterprises, Mr. Lauder was also one of America’s most influential philanthropists and art patrons. He gave hundreds of millions to museums, medical institutions and breast cancer and [...]

Paul Marantz, a prominent architectural lighting designer who illuminated discos and skylines, libraries and hotels, museums and embassies, died on May 26 at his home in Manhattan. He was 87. His projects included new buildings, including the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and renovations of [...]

Marthe Cohn was barely 25 on April 11, 1945, and Jewish, but being blond and blue-eyed, she could pass for an Aryan. She was French, from northeastern Alsace, but spoke German fluently. She was a nurse and 4 feet 11 inches tall. She was also a spy, working with the French resistance to Nazi occupiers in WWII. She died on May 20 at her home in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, where she had settled with [...]

Terry Louise Fisher, who channeled her experience as a Los Angeles prosecutor into an Emmy Award-winning television career as a writer and producer for “Cagney & Lacey,” and a creator, with Steven Bochco, of the sleek drama “L.A. Law,” died June 10 in Laguna Hills, CA. She was 79. In 1983, she began writing for “Cagney & Lacey,” bringing depth and realism to a CBS series focused on two female NYC detectives. “L.A. Law” ran [...]