Leona Helmsley passed away earlier this morning at the age of 87. Few details have yet been made public other than that she died of heart failure.

Helmsley, who lost her husband in 1997, has been far from the public in recent years. Before his death, the hotelier was widely known for helping her husband, Harry, run his multi billion dollar real estate empire. Mrs. Helmsley was not known for her soft and cuddly ways, she was known to be ruthless in her business dealings and was known as "The Queen of Mean".

Helmsley is survived by a a brother and multiple grandchildren.

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died of a heart attack at the age of 89. A political icon he served many roles in domestic and foreign policies. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and "court philosopher" of the Kennedy administration was dining with family members in Manhattan on Wednesday when he suffered a heart attack. Schlesinger had six children - four from his first marriage, to the author Marian Cannon, and two from his second, to Alexandra Emmet.

Schlesinger was among the most prominent historians of his time, widely respected as learned and readable, with a panoramic vision of American culture and politics. He received a National Book Award for "Robert Kennedy and His Times" and a National Book Award and a Pulitzer for "A Thousand Days," his memoir/chronicle of President Kennedy's administration. He also won a Pulitzer, in 1946, for "The Age of Jackson," his landmark chronicle of Andrew Jackson's administration.

Damien Nash, a Denver Broncos running back, was hosting a basketball game yesterday to benefit the Darris Nash Find a Heart Foundation, a charity that raises funds for heart transplant research. Darris Nash, the brother of Damien had to have a transplant. Darris had a weakened heart muscle condition known as dilated cardiomyopathy. The ailment can be caused by a viral infection, inflammation or other causes.

Damien Nash collapsed after returning home to his wife, and was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:41 p.m. central standard time. The family of course is in shock since he had no history of heart problems. Damien is survived by his wife Judy and a 7 month old daughter. Nash was 24. Nash was a graduate of Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and University of Missouri before getting drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2005. Denver signed him as a free agent in 2006. He played a total of 6 NFL games.

Australian television personality and environmentalist Steve Irwin, known worldwide as the Crocodile Hunter, died of cardiac arrest after being hit by a stingray barb to the chest. While filming an underwater documentary off the Great Barrier Reef on Australia's northeast coast, Irwin was diving off his boat Croc One near Batt Reef when the incident occurred.

Irwin was known for his boldly adventurous antics and outrageous stunts with animals during the Crocodile Hunter wildlife documentaries that aired on the Animal Planet Channel and for making the now widely-used phrase Crikey! famous. He was also an avid environmentalist. Both entertaining and educational, Crocodile Hunter became a television show enormously popular among all age groups, and one the whole family could watch together.

From poisonous snakes to chomp-snapping crocodiles, he was a one-of-a-kind character who brought interest in wildlife and the environment to a global viewing television audience in the most engaging manner.

He is survived by his American wife Terri, from Oregon, and their daughter Bindi Sue, who is eight-years-old, and son Bob, who is two-years-old. Steve Irwin was 44.

"When I was a child, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times. I learned very early in life that: 'Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend - without a song.' So I keep singing a song." -- Elvis Presley acceptance speech for the 1970 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Award.

On August 16, 1977, the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley, died of heart failure. This week, as many as 10,000 fans from around the world have come to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee to honor the memory of Elvis on the 29th anniversary of his death, and to visit his gravesite.

During Elvis Week, you can visit the official Elvis Presley website and leave a message on the Elvis Week Virtual Wall. In the biography of Elvis published at the website it states: "His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture."

During his lifetime, Elvis starred in 33 movies, sold over one billion records -- more than any other artist -- and his work earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, who calls Elvis the undisputed King of Rock and Roll, paid tribute to him with its first exhibit devoted to a single artist. The exhibit opened August 8, 1998. Outside of Graceland, it was the largest collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia ever assembled for display.

On Sunday, former deputy editor at Wired magazine and journalist William Goggins collapsed from apparent heart failure after he passed the San Francisco Marathon 24-mile mark of the 26.2 mile race. A spectator tried giving Goggins CPR, and it is reported a medical team arrived within minutes, but they were not able to bring Goggins back and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Mark Robinson wrote in Wired News, "Goggins was a legendary figure at Wired magazine, where he started as a freelance copy editor in 1995. He went on to become the managing editor and an articles editor, and eventually rose to become deputy editor. His colleagues admired him tremendously."

Paul Boutin wrote at Boing Boing, "Bill had an exceptional ability to take a good story and make it better -- clearer, catchier, more consistent -- usually by changing only a few words, sometimes by making both editor and writer go back and re-examine their basic premises. Whenever people comment on my ability to write clearly, I know Bill had a lot to do with it."

William Goggins was 43.

Comedian Red Buttons dies at the age of 87 after struggling with a vascular disease. The comedian known for his carrot top burlesque comedy that won him an Oscar in 1957 died Thursday in his Los Angeles home. A performer since his teens, Buttons was the youngest comic on the circuit in burlesque theaters. He then graduated to small roles on Broadway before being drafted into the army in 1943.

The largest jump to fame was his television show "The Red Buttons Show" which was first broadcast on CBS Oct. 14, 1952. The show became a solid hit. Buttons drew on all his experience for monologues, songs, dances and sketches featuring such characters as a punch-drunk fighter, a scrappy street kid, a Sad Sack GI and a blundering German. The hit of the show was a silly song in which he pranced about the stage singing, "Ho! Ho!... He! He!... Ha! Ha!... Strange things are happening!" It became a national craze.

Vascular disease includes any condition that affects your circulatory system. A blockage in the coronary arteries can cause symptoms of chest pain known as angina or a heart attack. It also affects the legs and the renal arteries which are the arteries supplying the kidneys.

Aaron Spelling, television producer who injected the melodrama of daytime soaps into evening primetime weekly television series viewing with such shows as Dynasty, Melrose Place, and Beverly Hills 90210, died on June 23 of a stroke.

Spelling, who began as a movie extra, went on to become a master at creating shows that captured the attention and following of mainstream viewers worldwide. The television series he launched are numerous -- in addition to the ones previously mentioned there was Burke's Law, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Hotel, Matt Houston, The Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, T.J. Hooker, 7th Heaven and Summerland. He produced 140 or more television films. With all that success came enormous financial fortune.

Less than a month after Spelling's death, his wife Candy and daughter Tori are reported to be squabbling over the Aaron Spelling estate, estimated to be worth a half billion dollars, with malicious accusations of impropriety and greed.

It's no respectable way to honor the dead.

But then again, for a man who elevated the superficial personality and lifestyle to an inconceivable height of popularity for the shallow -- which in essence became the definition of culture in the 1980's -- perhaps he would enjoy nothing less than the spectacle of the mother-daughter cat fights that will surely follow in the months ahead between the heirs to his estate. 

Legendary Broadway director Lloyd Richards, known as a pioneering African American director who became one of the most influential people in the U.S. theater, has passed away from heart failure. In 1959, he directed his first Broadway play, A Raisin In the Sun, to which he received a standing ovation on opening night. Richards was director of the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre and led the summer playwrights' conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.

"Lloyd Richards is irreplaceable," Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Executive Director Amy Sullivan said in a statement. "His like will not come again. The American theater and all those who had the privilege to work with him are the better for it. I am honored to have been part of Dean Richard's last graduating class at Yale and to have worked with him many summers at the O'Neill. I learned about the art of the theater from Lloyd, and, more importantly, the art of being a human being. Lloyd Richards was a gentle, quiet, patient man; with a will of steel. His determination and his artistry took the O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference to national and international acclaim. We are and will be forever in his debt."

According to a tribute to Richards, who directed the repertory classics of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, he primarily saw the stage as a particularly effective way to address the joys, triumphs and sorrows of black life. Richards was 87.