Jack Olsen, 77, was one of the Northwest's most celebrated "true-crime" authors. (He preferred to call his work "crime journalism.") He started out as a California newspaperman and a Sports Illustrated staff writer (who married the magazine's first cover model). His 33 books include Son: A Psychopath and his Victims (about Spokane serial rapist Fred Coe), Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell (about a Wyoming doctor who regularly included forced intercourse during unnecessary pelvic examinations), Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt (about a local Black Panther leader who was jailed for 27 years for a crime he didn't commit), Predator (about a south King County serial-rape case, the tragic life of a man who was falsely accused in it, and the Seattle Times reporter who won a Pulitzer for proving the man's innocence, only to get fired by the paper shortly thereafter), and the forthcoming I: The Creation of a Serial Killer (about Oregon "happy-face killer" Keith Jesperson). Olsen took pride in trying to figure out the origins and motivations of the criminals, and in keeping his descriptions of violence to "tasteful" levels. While he once described himself as "a cop groupie," he also felt enforcement alone could never end crime. "When we solve the eternal problem of the distribution of opportunity and wealth," he's reported to have said, "we'll have solved the problem of crime. Everything else is rhetoric." Olsen died on July 16 from a sudden heart attack.

Don Moss, 69, grew up in South Park along the Duwamish River, fascinated by boating. He worked in the Navy, on tugboats, and on Gray Line tour boats. In the late '70s he became captain of the Virginia V, the last of the "Mosquito Fleet" of small steamships that once ferried passengers between Puget Sound towns. In the boat's new role as a tourist attraction and floating maritime museum, Moss entertained and educated passengers while keeping the aging boat running. He retired in 1995 but still helped the nonprofit Virginia V Foundation raise money for the boat's restoration. Moss died on June 29 from a series of strokes. Family and friends scattered his ashes into Lake Union from the ship on July 19.

The Poor Italian Cafe and Corner Bar, across from the Moore Theatre at Second and Virginia, "temporarily" closed over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and didn't come back, a victim of the general economic malaise. The restaurant (originally opened in 1984) was a luncheon spot for downtown office workers and a nighttime place-to-be-seen for the Belltown condo crowd; the Corner Bar was a prominent watering hole among members of the local DJ-music community for the past three years. Another restaurant will take over the space in August.

obits@thestranger.com