Nick Badami

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) _ Nick Badami, a key figure in alpine skiing who helped bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Utah, died Wednesday. He was 88.

Badami died at his home in Tucson, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association said Thursday.

Badami played a key role in bringing the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City, fashioned the transformation of Park City into a winter sporting mecca and set the model for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Badami, former head of the manufacturing and retailing conglomerate BVD, bought Park City Ski Area in 1975 and with his son Craig developed the America's Opening World Cup races. The event became the traditional start in November of the FIS (International Ski Federation) Alpine Ski World Cup for more than 10 years.

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Harry Bernsen Jr.

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Harry Bernsen Jr., a film, television and stage producer and father of actor Corbin Bernsen, died Saturday. He was 82.

Bernsen died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, spokesman Charles Sherman said. There was no specific cause of death, Sherman said.

Bernsen's producer credits include the TV miniseries "The Awakening Land" and the films "Fools' Parade" with James Stewart and "Take a Hard Ride" with Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly, Sherman said. On stage, Bernsen joined in producing "The Boys Of Autumn" starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.

A Chicago native, Harry Bernsen served with the Marines in World War II and then studied acting in Los Angeles. But he decided he would be a better producer than performer.

Bernsen also took on the role of manager at the Jaffe Agency, working with director Arthur Hiller and actor Jim Hutton, among others.

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Matthew J. Bruccoli

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ Matthew J. Bruccoli, a University of South Carolina English professor who wrote and edited about two dozen books on author F. Scott Fitzgerald, died Wednesday at his Columbia home. He was 76.

He had worked at the university until he was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, USC officials said.

Bruccoli taught at the university for almost 40 years and was the Emily Brown Jefferies distinguished professor emeritus. In addition to his work on Fitzgerald, he wrote and edited dozens of books on other 20th century writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, John O'Hara and James Dickey.

He and his wife, Arlyn, donated an extensive collection of books, manuscripts, letters and other materials by and about Fitzgerald to USC's Thomas Cooper Library. The collection includes signed first-edition works and other rarities, such as Fitzgerald's briefcase and even his whiskey flask.

Bruccoli's fascination with Fitzgerald began in 1947. He was a high school student when he first heard a radio drama of a Fitzgerald short story.

In 1974, Bruccoli co-authored "The Romantic Egoists" with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's only child, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith. The elegant journal featured clippings and photographs from her parents' lives.

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Stoney Garland

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) _ Former Texas Tech defensive tackle Stoney Garland, who was paralyzed in a car accident more than a decade ago, died Wednesday. He was 33.

Garland died at his home in Plains, the school's athletic department said.

In 1997, the 6-foot-6, 285-pound Garland transferred to Texas Tech from Navarro Junior College and played one year under coach Spike Dykes.

In November 1997, Garland was riding with three others in the front seat of a pickup truck that rear-ended a car near campus. Garland wasn't wearing a safety belt and his head hit the windshield.

Garland spent the past 10 1/2 years in a wheelchair with movement limited to his head, neck and left arm.

Since 1998, proceeds from an annual golf tournament fundraiser have gone to the Stoney Garland Fund to help defray his medical costs. The tournament is Saturday in Lubbock, and all the proceeds will go to Garland's family.

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Harriet McBryde Johnson

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ Harriet McBryde Johnson, a civil and disability rights attorney who drew national attention by protesting the annual Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethon, died Wednesday. She was 50.

Johnson, who suffered from congenital neuromuscular disease, died in her sleep. The cause of death has not been determined, said her father, David D. Johnson.

Harriett McBryde Johnson, who handled cases for the poor and working class, protested the telethon for almost 20 years, objecting to what she called the show's "charity mentality" and "pity-based tactics."

She wrote in her 2005 memoir, "Too Late to Die Young," the telethon first sent her the message that her neuromusclular disease would eventually kill her.

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Jack Lucas

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) _ Jack Lucas, a North Carolina native who at 14 lied his way into military service during World War II and became the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, died Thursday. He was 80.

Lucas had been battling cancer and died after he requested doctors at a hospital in a Hattiesburg, Miss., to remove a dialysis machine, his wife, Ruby, said.

Jacklyn "Jack" Lucas was just six days past his 17th birthday in February 1945 when his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the nation's highest military honor. He used his body to shield three fellow squad members from two grenades, and was nearly killed when one exploded.

Lucas was left with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel in his body and every major organ, including six pieces in his brain and two in his heart, and endured 26 surgeries in the following months. He often showed the curious his arms, which were speckled with grenade fragments that could be seen just under the surface of his skin.

He was the youngest serviceman to receive the Medal of Honor in any conflict other than the Civil War.

Lucas became a symbol of patriotism in the decades after the war, meeting presidents and traveling the world to speak with frontline soldiers and fellow veterans.

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Macon Ray

CORYDON, Ind. (AP) _ Macon Ray, an Abraham Lincoln impersonator who portrayed the former president in plays, schools, on billboards and TV commercials, died Tuesday. He was 81.

Ray died of cancer, said his widow, Linda Ray.

A former high school teacher and coach in Indiana and Kentucky, Ray stood almost 6-foot-4 and performed in the drama "Young Abe Lincoln" for more than a dozen years at the amphitheater in Lincoln State Park near Lincoln's boyhood home in Spencer County.

In 1988, dressed as Lincoln, Ray rode in a horse-drawn carriage with Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle during a visit to Spencer County in southern Indiana.

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Harlan Cleveland

Harlan Cleveland, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who led the University of Hawaii for five years, has died. He was 90.

Cleveland died last Friday in Sterling, Va., according to the university. It did not say how Cleveland died.

Cleveland was Hawaii's president from 1969 to 1974 after serving as President Lyndon B. Johnson's ambassador to NATO for four years.

During his tenure, the University of Hawaii-Hilo was created, the William S. Richardson School of Law opened and the medical school expanded to a four-year program.

Cleveland then led the international affairs program of the Aspen Institute before becoming the founding dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He retired as a professor.