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 1950 Royal typewriter, was submitted before he died and is scheduled for publication in the near future.

Under his stewardship as publisher and editor ARTnews became one of the most widely circulated art magazines. It won a National Magazine Award for general excellence in 1981, and George Polk awards for cultural reporting in 1980 and 1991, the latter for investigating art stolen by the Soviets during its occupation of Germany after WWII.

Mr. Esterow loathed what he considered the inaccessibility of much art criticism. He joked in a 2009 lecture that for years he had sought grants from the National Endowment of the Arts for those who wanted to write simple declarative sentences.

Maurice Tempelsman, the Belgian-American diamond magnate who drew news media scrutiny as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ companion for more than a decade before her death in 1994, died on August 23 in Manhattan. He was 95.

Mr. Tempelsman became Mrs. Onassis’ financial advisor and, in time, was reported to have quadrupled her $26 million inheritance from Mr. Onassis. Within a few years, they were being seen together at private dinners, consular affairs, the ballet and the opera.

To the general public, Mr. Templesman was best known as the final companion of Mrs. Onassis. As she was dying of cancer, he was identified as the concerned-looking man in news photographs accompanying her on walks in Central Park, steadying her. He was at her bedside when she died at 64 in May 1994, and stood with her children at her funeral in New York and at her burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Shelly Zegart, a colossus in the world of quilting, who was instrumental in elevating what was long considered a mere utilitarian craft into the canon of American art and material culture, died on July 22 at her home in Louisville, Ky. She was 84.

Once called the “Queen of Quilts,” Ms. Zegart never stitched so much as a sweater in her life. “I don’t make anything,” she once said, “not even dinner.”

What she did make were connections: Between quilters, art collectors, historians and museums. In doing so, she connected quilting to the American experience.

“I like to work with marginalized groups of people, marginalized communities, and quilts felt to me like they were marginalized,” she said. “The first time I saw quilts, I said, ‘Wait a minute, there’s something wrong here. These are great works of arts.’”

Jerry Adler was in his 60s and what he joked was the “twilight of a mediocre career,” as a stage manager and director on Broadway, when he fell by happenstance into a long and respected second act in show business as an actor of scene-stealing versatility.

By the time he died on August 30 in Manhattan at 96, Mr. Adler had amassed 60 film and television credits as well as the acclaim of his peers. After years of sitcom work, he came to wider attention on the hit HBO crime-family drama “The Sopranos” as Herman Rabkin, known as Hesh, a trusted associate of Tony Soprano.

The character was supposed to be a one-off for the 1999 pilot, but David Chase, the show’s creator, found Mr. Adler so compelling that he kept bringing him back for six seasons.

Marilyn Diamond, who with her husband at the time, Harvey Diamond, wrote a blockbuster 1985 diet book, Fit For Life, which attracted millions of adherents to their fruit-and-vegetable-based regimen but which also drew sharp criticism from the medical establishment, died on Sept. 7 in Roanoke, VA. She was 81.

Fit For Life spent 35 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. The book presented ideas ahead of their time, like veganism, caloric restriction and drinking oat and nut milk to replace dairy.

Michael Seltzer, whose bedside vigil for a friend who was dying of AIDS, transformed him into a prodigious fundraiser for the disease. He rallied individuals, foundations and corporations to support prevention and treatment in the 1980s, when it was largely neglected at all levels of government. Mr. Seltzer died on July 31 while vacationing on Governor Island, near Branford, CT. He was 78.

During Mr. Seltzer’s tenure as executive director of Funders Concerned About AIDS, private philanthropy for H.I.V.-related programs soared to $59 million in 1996 from $18 million in 1987. A total of nearly $700 million has been raised from his sources since then.

Rosa Roisinblit, an Argentine human-rights activist who fought to establish the truth about the fate of her pregnant daughter and thousands of others who were kidnapped by security personnel and “disappeared” during the country’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, died on Sept. 6 in Buenos Aires. She was 106.

Human rights groups have estimated that 30,000 Argentines were kidnapped, among them Mrs. Roisinblit’s 25-year-old daughter and her son-in-law, who were taken on Oct. 6 1978 when Patricia was eight months pregnant. Her infant son was given to a civilian Air Force intelligence officer and his wife. The boy was one of reportedly hundreds of those born in captivity who were, under false papers, transferred to childless military couples.

Mrs. Roisinblit joined a group called the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo who fought to find the stolen generation of children. According to the Grandmothers Group, about 300 grandchildren remain to be found; 140 have been given back to their families, including her grandson who was found on a tip in 2000 that a fast-food worker might be related to her. Tests proved positive.

At the age of 96 Mrs. Roisinblit had the satisfaction of facing in court the men charged with kidnapping her daughter and son-in-law. All three were found guilty and sentenced to prison.

“I want to find the remains of my children,” Mrs. Roisinblit said in court, “because then I’d have a place to lay a flower.”