David Marshall Cox; Television Comedy Writer

David Marshall Cox, 79, comedy writer for such stars as Johnny Carson, Jackie Gleason and Bob Newhart. Born in Pittsburgh, Cox served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and later graduated from the University of Vermont. He began his career as a radio producer in Boston and in 1960 joined the staff of “The Tonight Show” when it was hosted by Jack Paar. Cox continued to work for Johnny Carson and in the late 1960s wrote for “The Joey Bishop Show” and “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Cox also wrote television specials for Gleason and Robert Goulet and monologues for Newhart and Charlie Callas. A longtime resident of Woodland Hills, Cox sang in the Valley Master Chorale and the Woodland Hills Community Congregational Church choir. On Monday in Reno of complications from a stroke.

Sister Eileen Doherty; Leader of Immaculate Heart Sisters

Sister Eileen Doherty, 88, leader of the Immaculate Heart Sisters. The daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants, she was one of five sisters who became nuns. Their brother became a priest. Last year, Sister Eileen and her two sisters who shared her order, Mary Michael and Mary Enda, received the Cardinal’s Award from the archdiocese of Los Angeles. They are the only nuns to be so honored. Sister Eileen entered her order in 1928 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Immaculate Heart College and a master’s degree in education from USC. She was a teacher and school administrator throughout her career and had served for 12 years as superior general of the Immaculate Heart Sisters. On Nov. 13 in Los Angeles.

Laurence Gandar; South African Newspaper Editor

Laurence Gandar, 82, crusading South African editor who was among the first to challenge apartheid. His efforts earned him the World Press Achievement Award in 1966 from the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. An intelligence officer during World War II, Gandar worked for the now-defunct Rand Daily Mail and became its editor in 1957. He exposed horrendous prison conditions in a four-part investigative series, only to be convicted and fined $280 for violating a law on releasing prison information. In 1963, Gandar wrote a series of articles titled “The Nation That Lost Its Way,” in which he disparaged apartheid: “There are two choices and only two. There is racial separation, with massive economic sacrifices--or there is economic integration, with far-reaching political concessions. There is no middle course.” Gandar was promoted to editor in chief in 1966 and three years later left the paper to work for a press institute. The newspaper was closed in 1985. On Saturday in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Valerie Hobson; British Actress, Wife of John Profumo

Valerie Hobson, 81, a film star who stood by her disgraced husband, John Profumo, after Britain’s greatest sex and security scandal of the 1960s. Hobson’s best-known film roles were opposite Alec Guinness in “Kind Hearts and Coronets” in 1949 and as Estella in David Lean’s 1946 version of “Great Expectations.” She also appeared with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Profumo resigned as minister for war in 1963 after the exposure of his affair with Christine Keeler--who was conducting a simultaneous affair with a Soviet military attache. Profumo devoted the rest of his life to quietly rebuilding his reputation through volunteer work--with the devoted support of his wife. The affair was the subject of the 1989 movie “Scandal,” starring John Hurt, Ian McKellen, Bridget Fonda and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. On Nov. 13 in London of a heart attack.

Don Julian; R & B Singer Recorded ‘Heaven and Paradise’

Don Julian, 61, singer whose 1955 recording of the ballad “Heaven and Paradise” with the Meadowlarks vocal group was one of the most celebrated R & B hits recorded in Los Angeles during the ‘50s. Julian, whose recording of the song “The Jerk” in 1964 with another group, the Larks, was a Top 10 pop and R&B; hit, continued to perform and promote shows in Southern California. In 1973, he recorded “Shorty the Pimp,” a song that has been cited as a predecessor of gangsta rap. On Nov. 6 at his home in Los Angeles of complications of pneumonia.

Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky; USC Music Instructor

Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky, 92, a longtime member of the faculties of both the USC School of Music and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Koldofsky, who founded the keyboard collaborative arts department at USC, has been credited by many with raising the stature of accompanying to a recognized art in this country. While at USC she established the world’s first degree-granting program in accompanying. She taught song literature, accompanying and chamber music at USC from 1947 to 1990. Among her many students were mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne and pianist Martin Katz. During her lengthy professional life, Koldofsky accompanied the legendary soprano Lotte Lehmann for eight years, as well as her late husband, the Russian-Canadian violinist Adolph Koldofsky. After the violinist’s death in 1951, Mme. Koldofsky, or Mme. K, as she was invariably called by students and friends, founded an annual scholarship in his name. Born in Canada, she studied piano at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. On Nov. 12 in Santa Barbara.

William J. McCarthy; Former Teamsters President

William J. McCarthy, 79, national Teamsters president during the union’s battle with federal authorities over racketeering charges. He was the last Teamster leader chosen by a small group of union insiders without any vote by the members. After becoming president in 1988, McCarthy agreed to a 1989 pact between the Teamsters and the government calling for federal oversight of the union’s activities. The settlement averted a trial over a federal racketeering lawsuit, which asserted that Teamster leaders had made a “devil’s pact” with the Mob. Citing personal reasons, McCarthy declined to run in the union’s federally supervised 1991 national elections, the first rank-and-file balloting in the Teamsters’ 90-year history. McCarthy served as president of his 7,000-member union local in Boston from 1955 to 1990. He was first named a vice president of the national union in 1969. On Thursday in Arlington, Mass.

Charles ‘Ches’ McCartney; Nomadic ‘Goat Man’

Charles “Ches” McCartney, 97, an American nomad affectionately known as the “Goat Man.” A native of Iowa, McCartney began his travels with two goats and an iron-wheeled wagon in 1930 and roamed the country for 40 years. The wagon was loaded with pots and pans, bales of hay and car tags. He later lived in an abandoned school bus with his son, Gene, who was recently shot to death in a case that remains unsolved. McCartney’s wandering life was chronicled in a 1993 documentary film by Jimmy Hammett titled “Goat Man, the Life and Times of Ches McCartney,” and in a 1994 book, “America’s Goat Man” by Darryl Patton. On Sunday in Macon, Ga.

Oscar Singer; Weather Predictor Who Finally Won Respect

Oscar Singer, 78, whose low-tech method of predicting weather was scorned for decades. Singer was a graduate of the University of Chicago, a retired Air Force major and a meteorologist who helped predict storms in the English Channel that governed the invasion of Europe by Allies during World War II. Nevertheless, he had trouble winning acceptance for the system he developed in 1968 after noticing angular relationships between storms on weather maps. He wrote and published a book explaining his simple grid system of plotting storms: “Singer’s Lock--The Revolution in the Understanding of Weather.” But he earned no respect until he took to the Internet a couple of years ago. The National Weather Service provided a link from its Web site to his. Meteorologists at the University of Geneva in Switzerland gave his work top three-star ratings. Even the American Meteorological Society, which had steadfastly ignored him, invited him to submit material for publication in its periodicals. On the home front, Singer organized an activist group called Remedy Our Laws to oppose malathion spraying. On Tuesday in West Los Angeles of cancer.

Barbara Thornton; Singer, Medieval Musicologist

Barbara Thornton, 48, American singer and medieval musicologist whose work popularized 12th century musical drama. With her partner, Benjamin Bagby, Thornton founded and directed the Sequentia medieval music ensemble based in Cologne, Germany. She brought the group to USC’s Hoose Library in 1988 to perform in the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series. A Times reviewer praised her “rich, even contralto,” and her playing of the symphonia, a small hurdy-gurdy. Born in Summit, N.J., Thornton graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., studied in the Netherlands and Italy, and earned another diploma from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. With Sequentia, she embarked on recording the sacred music of Hildegard von Bingen, the sacred works of Spanish monasteries and 14th and 15th century love songs. Thornton became an expert on Hildegard’s work, introducing the abbess’ musical morality play “Ordo Virtutum” to modern-day audiences in 1982. On Nov. 8 in Cologne of a brain tumor.