Rabbi Josef Neumann, 72, who was gravely injured in a Hanukkah assault in Monsey, NY, when he and a few dozen others had gathered in the home of a Hasidic rabbi. Around 10 p.m., a man barged into the home with a machete and began attacking people. Five were hospitalized with serious injuries; four quickly recovered, but Rabbi Neumann was in a coma after the attack. He died on March 29 at the Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, NY.

Grafton Thomas, 37, had been charged with attempted murder. Westchester County Police said the charge could be upped to murder.

Adam Schlesinger, an acclaimed singer-songwriter for the bands Fountains of Wayne and Ivy, who had an award-winning second career writing songs for film, theater and television, died April 1 in Poughkeepsie, NY. He was 52. The cause was complications of the coronavirus, his family said.

In the Fountains of Wayne, started in 1995, Mr. Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood perfected a novelistic form of hummable pop-rock. The group became a cult favorite.

Mr. Schlesinger found success in other media as well. He wrote the Beatlesesque theme song to “That Thing You Do!,” a 1996 film directed by Tom Hanks about an also-ran 1960s rock band. It had a catchy melody and a twisting chord progression that caught on immediately. The movie brought Mr. Schlesinger nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. He also won three Emmys for his songs on the 2010s TV show, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

He received two Grammy nominations with Fountains of Wayne, and a solo trophy for Stephen Colbert’s “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!,” for best comedy album.

Elinor Ross, born Elinor Marilyn Rosenthal, a soprano who made a dramatic Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970 as a last-minute replacement in the title role of “Turandot,” died March 6 in Manhattan. She was 93.

After a performance of “Aida,” she awoke the next day with a condition called Bell’s Palsy — a paralysis of the muscles in the face — which curtailed her career. After her illness struck, Ms. Ross had surgery and eventually was able to give occasional concerts.

Alan Turner, who drew on Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism in acclaimed paintings and drawings that could be humorous, disturbing or poignant, died Feb. 8 at his loft in Lower Manhattan. He was 76.

Mr. Turner’s art was widely exhibited and wide ranging. In the late 1970s, he produced mesmerizing paintings of trees. Then came works featuring humanoid figures and faces, with body parts distorted or bizarrely placed. In recent years, spurred by cardboard shelters in the homeless encampments along the Tiber River that he saw on his frequent trips to Rome, he developed a series, mostly in graphite, that explored boxes that harbor people, pets or even memories.

In an interview with Dan Nadel, who curated a Parker Gallery show of his works and interviewed him for the catalogue in 2017, Mr. Turner said that unconscious and barely conscious influences went into creating his art, and into appreciating it.

Eva Szekely, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who later became an Olympics multiple award-winning swimmer, died Feb. 29. She was 92.

Fascist militants in Hungary took her away at age 17 and put her into a labor camp. She escaped by jumping onto a passing streetcar during a forced march through the city. She returned to her family, who were living in a two-room safe house, where she remained until liberated.

Throughout her career Szekely broke six world records, won 44 national titles, took home a gold in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, and earned a silver in the same race at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.

In 2004, Szekely was named one of Hungary’s “Athletes of the Nation.”

James Lipton, who as host of the Bravo series, “Inside the Actors Studio,” delighted television audiences with his perceptive interviews with celebrity actors, died March 2 at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

Mr. Lipton was a knowledgeable interviewer, who focused on craft while avoiding gossip, winning the trust of his famous guests as well as an international audience. During his 23-season run, the show became a coveted stop for writers, directors and performers, who would give some of their longest and most unguarded interviews to Mr. Lipton. Among the 275 or so stars he interviewed were Alex Baldwin, Neil Simon, Sally Field, Dennis Hopper, Sidney Lumet and so many others.

Famously, he completed each episode by asking his guests a series of questions employed by the French television host Bernard Pivot — What is your favorite curse word? What is your favorite word? What is the profession you wouldn’t have wanted to practice? If God exists, what would you like to hear him say upon your arrival at heaven’s door? For some, it was a favorite part of the show.

Editor’s note: Some years ago, returning from a Thanksgiving dinner at our niece’s house in Connecticut, we spotted James Lipton aboard the Bridgeport to Port Jefferson ferry. As huge fans of his program, we struck up a conversation with him, about his program, the state of theater in general, and the actors who make it live. The conversation was memorable on many levels, particularly his keen understanding of his interviewees as well as his audience. He said he felt that the popularity of his program was not that he interviewed famous people, but that famous people were also just people, and truly wanted to reveal that about themselves. It was that aspect of the interview that most engaged him as well as his audience, he said.

Speaking personally regarding the Bernard Pivot question about a favorite word, the best response, without question, was given by Paul Newman. While most of Mr. Lipton’s guests were suggesting words like, “peace,” “beautiful,” “love,” and the like, Paul Newman broke up the audience as well as James Lipton. His favorite word? “Lunch.” (SMB)

Michael Hertz, the graphic designer who helped make the New York City subway system legible for more than four million riders a day, died Feb. 18, at Nassau University Medical Center. He was 87.

In 1979, Hertz’s firm, Michael Hertz Associates, debuted a new map for the New York City subway. The map replaced Italian artist Massimo Vignelli’s abstract design from 1972, which was seen to have sacrificed accuracy for aesthetics, and prompted a flood of complaints from straphangers. Hertz and his team’s answer was to orient the map around recognizable landmarks like Central Park, and evoke the real geography and neighborhoods of the five boroughs.

While Hertz’s firm’s design has undergone revisions since 1979, including by Hertz himself in 1998, the template remains in place. “All New Yorkers carry some image of Mike’s subway map in their heads,” said Chuck Gordanier, the chief of marketing and advertising for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.