* Dr. Howard Detwiler Sr.; Founded Granada Hills Hospital

Dr. Howard F. Detwiler Sr., 83, founder of Granada Hills Community Hospital. A native of Blossburg, Pa., and graduate of Loma Linda University Medical Center, Detwiler also helped establish the Burbank Medical Clinic and the Van Nuys Medical Center. In the 1970s, the doctor helped develop outpatient surgery centers, establishing Granada Hills Surgical Center as a model for other hospitals. Detwiler served as a military surgeon in World War II and the Korean War and volunteered as a physician during the Vietnam War. In honor of his son John, who died in the Philippines, Detwiler donated a library and a swimming pool at Philippine Union College near Manila. In later years, Detwiler moved his medical practice to California’s Central Coast, where he developed the Shore Cliff Lodge and the Shelter Cove Lodge in Pismo Beach. But he remained loyal to his Granada Hills facility and last year attended the groundbreaking for a new center to replace facilities destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. On May 27 in San Luis Obispo.

* Robert J. Lapham; Ex-President of Conde Nast Publications

Robert J. Lapham, 77, former president of Conde Nast Publications. A graduate of USC, Lapham served in the Coast Guard amphibious forces in the South Pacific during World War II. He began his career in the West Coast offices of Seventeen and Esquire magazines and joined Conde Nast in 1954 as Vogue magazine’s West Coast advertising and office manager. He moved to New York in 1961 as advertising director for the entire corporation, and later was named general manager and then a vice president. Lapham became president of Conde Nast in 1974. During his tenure, the company added four magazines: Gentleman’s Quarterly, Self, Vanity Fair and Gourmet. Lapham served on the board and as vice chairman of the Magazine Publishers Assn. and was chairman of the Publishers Information Bureau. On Friday in Newport Beach.

* Paul S. Newman; Prolific Comic Book Writer

Paul S. Newman, 75, called the king of comic book writers for his prolific output. Newman was given the title by comic book historian and former DC Comics editor Robin Snyder in 1993, and was listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the most prolific comic book writer. Newman wrote 4,121 published scripts for more than 360 comic book titles, including “The Lone Ranger,” “Archie,” “Bonanza,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Buck Rogers,” “Flash Gordon,” “Superman,” “I Love Lucy,” “Little Rascals,” “Smoky Bear,” “Twilight Zone” and “Mighty Mouse.” To get that many stories approved, he said, he had to submit an additional 5,000 plots that were rejected. Beginning in 1947, Newman wrote and published a total of about 36,000 pages, or the equivalent of about 120 mystery novels. He earned about $10 a page, or $300 an issue. Born in New York City, Newman studied at Dartmouth College and served in World War II. He had ambitions to write plays, but discovered that writing comic books was more lucrative. On May 30 in Columbia, Md., of a heart attack.

* David Seidner; Fashion and Portrait Photographer

David Seidner, 42, fashion and portrait photographer. Born in Los Angeles, he left home as a youth to live and work in London, Paris and New York. His first magazine cover photo was published in Paris when he was 19. Seidner often applied art and literary history to his work. Last winter, he photographed models for Vanity Fair wearing current fashions but hairstyles and makeup straight out of a John Singer Sargent painting. Earlier, he posed artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Jeff Koons and Joan Mitchell, for black and white photographs that looked like Roman portrait busts, and nude models reminiscent of classical statues. Seidner’s most recent project, completed earlier this year, was a series of photographs of orchids for the New York Times Magazine. His work also appeared in Italian Vogue, French Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and sold the fashions and makeup of Yves St. Laurent, Bill Blass, Bergdorf Goodman, Revlon and L’Oreal. His photos have been exhibited in museums and galleries from Los Angeles to Rome, including the former Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Seidner wrote for the art magazine Bomb and for French Vogue and published five books including “David Seidner: Photographs” and “The Face of Contemporary Art.” He recently earned the Eisenstaedt Award for Portrait Photography from Life magazine and Columbia University. Seidner, who had AIDS for the last 15 years, helped raise money and public support for AIDS research. On Sunday in Miami Beach.

* Andy Simpkins; Bass Player Toured With Sarah Vaughan

Andy Simpkins, 67, bass player who worked with Sarah Vaughan and was popular in Los Angeles jazz clubs. A native of Richmond, Ind., Simpkins played clarinet and piano from junior high school through his two years at Wilberforce University, but switched to bass in the Army in the early 1950s. He was a founding member of the Four Sounds (soon the Three Sounds) in 1956 and performed and recorded with them for 12 years. He spent six more years touring and recording with George Shearing and later worked with such artists as Carmen McRae, Joe Williams, Dave Mackay and Monty Alexander. In 1979 Simpkins joined the trio backing the late Vaughan and toured with her for a decade. Based in Los Angeles since 1966, Simpkins had in recent years performed at such venues as the Maple Drive Restaurant in Beverly Hills, the Gallery in the Courtyard in West Hollywood, Shutters in Santa Monica, Cafe Lido in Newport Beach and Birraporetti’s in Costa Mesa. Simpkins recorded extensively, not only with groups on such albums as “The George Shearing Trio” and Vaughan’s “Crazy and Mixed Up” but also on solo albums such as “Calamba.” On June 1 in Los Angeles of cancer.