Lynda Obst a New York journalist turned Hollywood producer, who promoted women in films like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Contact” while writing dispatches from Hollywood for The Atlantic and The New York Times, died on Oct. 22 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 74. As a producer, she excelled at frothy romantic comedies and serious science fiction dramas. She was at times an outspoken critic of the movie industry, especially its treatment of [...]

Alan Rachins who became widely recognizable for his roles on “L.A. Law” and “Dharma & Greg,” died on Nov. 2 in Los Angeles. He was 82. The characters — one an officious lawyer, the other an aging hippie — were eccentric, but extremely popular. “L.A. Law” was so popular that some real-life lawyers worried at the time that the show could affect juries’ behavior. In 1990, one lawyer told The New York Times, “Any lawyer [...]

Bernie Marcus, who envisioned a big-box store aimed at do-it-yourselfers and turned it into Home Depot, the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, died on Nov. 4 in Boca Raton FL. He was 95. Today, Home Depot has more than 2,300 stores across North America, and records more than $150 billion in annual revenue. Home Depot employees were called “associates,” and not only were paid more than minimum wage, but also received stock options. More than 3,000 [...]

Richard A. Fineberg, a political science teacher whose years of scrutinizing the proposal and operation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System resulted in environmental safety measures, and his reporting of an under-sea detonation of a nuclear bomb spawned the Greenpeace organization, died Sept. 27 in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was 83. Throughout his life, he was driven to hold oil companies accountable to their promises for environmental protections, according to The New York Times.

Joseph Rykwert, an architectural historian, who challenged Modernism’s embrace of functional architecture with his own theory that architecture should reflect a community’s shared values, died on Oct.7 at his home in London. He was 98. Born in Warsaw in 1926, his family had become convinced that a German invasion of Poland was imminent. They fled through the Baltics to Sweden and then to London, where Joseph began his architectural training at University College London, later [...]

Steven J. Rosen, a staunch supporter of Israel who strengthened the clout of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), but whose career was derailed when he was charged with leaking government secrets, a case that was later dropped, died on Oct. 28 near his home in Silver Spring, MD. He was 82. Mr. Rosen was a prominent behind-the-scenes figure in Washington as the director of foreign policy issues for AIPAC from the 1980s to [...]

Frank Auerbach, one of Britain’s pre-eminent postwar painters who, for more than 60 years, painted his friends and the streets and parks near his London studio, died on Nov. 11 at home in London. He was 93. He painted seven days and five evenings every week, with live models and from drawings made during his walks in his neighborhood. He never wavered from his routine. “I sometimes think of doing other things, but actually it’s [...]

Lawrence Robbins, an influential trial and appellate lawyer who argued 20 cases before the Supreme Court, prepared high-profile witnesses for their congressional testimonies, and made his debut as a novelist only weeks before his passing, died on Nov. 2 in Manhattan. He was 72. His clients included, among others, Marie Yovanovitch, dismissed as the ambassador to Ukraine on Mr. Trump’s orders; and Christine Blasey Ford who testified that Brett Kavanaugh, who had been nominated to [...]