Sophia P. Ruano, 81, owned Sophia's Flowers in Lake Forest Park, and was the wife of Frank Ruano, a perennial political activist who sued to block construction of both the Kingdome and Safeco Field.
Larry E. Rouvelas, 85, who came to Seattle from Greece in 1939, was the longtime owner of the Pike Place Market's Athenian Inn restaurant.
Elizabeth McCafferty, 36, was an artist and former art critic for The Oregonian, who came here from Portland in 1995 and worked at Microsoft and Amazon.com. She died after a long bout with septic shock.
Eudora Welty, 92, wrote some 15 books, primarily dealing with Southern lives and places. She won a Pulitzer Prize and several other awards. Her last book collected '30s-'40s photos of Mississippi churchyards; Elizabeth Spencer's introduction to it noted "Welty's vision of death as a part of life.''
Clifford W. Phillips, M.D., 85, worked in the Army Medical Corps. His Seattle Times paid notice said he especially remembered "being present at the signing of the Japanese surrender and having the opportunity to shake the hand of Emporer Hirohito."
Joan Gelb Bove, 99, discovered a new hair-coloring invention in France in 1931 and co-founded Clairol. Their hair color was the first successful product of its kind in the U.S. Did she or didn't she? Yes, she did--as The New York Times quoted her son, "Right until almost the end, she was still coloring her hair.... She never let it grow gray."
Jim Hatfield, 43, was an Arkansas ex-convict who wrote Fortunate Son, the 1999 George W. Bush bio that alleged Bush had used cocaine in the '70s. The book was withdrawn by St. Martin's Press, then picked up by a small indie publisher. Hatfield reportedly killed himself after months of personal depression.
Phoolan Devi, 37, India's "Bandit Queen," was assassinated at her New Delhi home. The former leader of a murderous lower-caste gang, she became the subject of a hit 1994 movie and was elected to the country's parliament in 1996 on a feminist and lower caste-rights platform.
Dick Erickson, 65, ran the UW varsity rowing program from 1968 to 1987. His teams won 15 Pacific Coast championships, one national title, and one Henley Grand Challenge title. He also helped organize the UW women's crew and Seattle's annual Opening Day regatta.
ServiceStop.com, a one-time rival to the already closed MyLackey.com, shut its doors last Friday. It operated delivery, dry cleaning, and home services, sold as group packages to other tech companies as employee perks.
