Richie Benaud

Cricketer and sports broadcaster -- via the New York Times.

Robert Walker

Animator and director -- via the Animation World Network. Co-directed "Brother Bear."

Eddie Aiona

Prop master -- via Variety.

Ralph Clemente

Filmmaker and educator -- via the Orlando Sentinel.

Gunter Grass

Nobel-winning writer, and poet, playwright, essayist, sculptor, and activist -- via the New York Times. He has a jacked-up legacy. A person who condemned his countrymen for their involvement with Nazism, he revealed 60 years on that he himself was a member of the SS during World War II. This severely compromised the integrity of his calls for an honest facing up to the past.

His writing is still meaningful and inspiring. An early wielder of magic realism, Grass taught us how to weld together fantasy, realism, and cultural observation in effective and profound ways. Although he will be best remembered for "The Tin Drum," two other books of his had a far greater effect on me personally -- "The Flounder" and "On Writing and Politics." I forgive him.