Don James Larsen (August 7, 1929 – January 1, 2020)

(AP) – Don Larsen, a journeyman pitcher best remembered for throwing the
only perfect game in World Series history as a member of the New York
Yankees, has died.  A spokesman announced late Wednesday Larsen
had died of esophageal cancer in Hayden, Idaho..

David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020)

David Stern was a businessman and lawyer who served as the fourth
commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) He started
with the league in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978
as General Counsel, and became the league’s Executive Vice President
in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry O’Brien
and is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s
and 2000s.

In a statement, the NBA said Stern had died "as a result" of a brain
hemorrhage he suffered Dec. 12.

(AP) – Robert Glenn "Junior" Johnson, a moonshine runner turned
NASCAR driver described as "The Last American Hero" by author
Tom Wolfe in a 1965 article for Esquire, died Friday.

NASCAR announced the death of Johnson, the winner of 50 races as
a driver and 132 as an owner. He was a member of the inaugural class
inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.

A native of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Johnson was named
one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers in 1998 after a 14-year career that
ended  in 1966 and included a win in the 1960 Daytona 500. He honed
his driving skills running moonshine through the North Carolina hills,
a crime for  which he received a federal conviction in 1956 and a full
presidential pardon in 1986 from President Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Leibman (October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019)

NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Ron Leibman, who appeared in movies, theater
and television in a career that spanned six decades and won a Tony award
for Tony Kushner’s iconic play ”Ängels in America," died Friday after an 
illness. A friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the cause was
complications of pneumonia.

Ron Leibman as Dr. Leonard Green in the NBC sitcom Friends.

Dorothy Catherine Fontana (March 25, 1939 – December 2, 2019)

NEW YORK (AP) — D.C. Fontana, a writer and story editor for the original
“Star Trek” television series and later a contributor to “Star Trek: The
Next Generation" and other related projects, has died.

Fran Evans, a family friend, told The Associated Press that she died
Tuesday after a brief illness.