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 who doesn’t watch ‘L.A. Law’ the night before he’s going to trial is a fool.” In 1998, Mr. Rachins was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

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 of the company’s original employees, including former secretaries and sales associates became millionaires as the company’s fortunes soared. The company would eventually employ more than half a million people.

He retired as chairman and chief executive in 2002, and devoted his life to philanthropy, supporting programs for children with brain disorders, children’s health, medical research, Jewish causes, veterans’ initiatives, national security, and political causes from which Home Depot stores distanced itself.

Of his success, Mr. Marcus said, “The key is not to make the sale; the key is to cultivate the customer…Care for them today, and they’ll be back tomorrow.”

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 transferring to the Architectural Association, from which he graduated in 1947.

Although he spent most of his career in academia, largely at Cambridge and later at the University of Pennsylvania, his work influenced practicing architects and general readers. He was one of only four writers to receive the Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and in 2014 was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for service to the field of architecture.

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 thew early 2000s. He forged ties with officials in the State Department and the White House to promote American support of lsrael.

Mr. Rosen had worked for AIPAC for 23 years when in 2005, under the World War I-era Espionage Act, he was charged with sharing secret national security information with journalists and the Israeli Embassy. By 2009, the case had collapsed and all charged were dropped.

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 much more interesting to paint,” Mr. Auerbach told The Guardian in 2015. “It is just a marvelous activity that humans have invented.”

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 the Supreme Court by Mr. Trump, had sexually assaulted her.

When the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down his law practice in 2020, Mr. Robbins turned to writing a novel, a long-held ambition. He drew on his legal background for The President’s Lawyer, a thriller about a powerful Washington lawyer who defended a former president accused of killing a woman with whom he was having an affair.