KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus, a former member of the Doobie Brothers who has performed with Steely Dan since 1993, died Tuesday en route to California for performances. He was 58.

Bumpus had a heart attack on a commercial flight from New York, said his friend, Rod Harris.

Steely Dan, on its Web site, expressed its “profound sorrow and sympathy to Cornelius’ wife and family.”

Bumpus began his career at age 10, playing alto saxophone in his school band in Santa Cruz, Calif. In 1966, he spent six months performing with Bobby Freeman, and joined Moby Grape in 1977, writing one tune for the “Live Grape” album. Bumpus also recorded two solo albums and toured with his own band.

After performing with The Doobie Brothers in the early 1980s, Bumpus played with a number of bands, most recently with Steely Dan, which won the “Album of the Year” Grammy for its 2000 “Two Against Nature” release.

His relations with his former Doobies bandmates turned contentious in the late 1990s, when they sued him and several other musicians over their use of the Doobies name. A federal judge in 1999 ruled against Bumpus and the other musicians, ordering them not to use the name.

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H.B. Haggerty

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) – H.B. Haggerty, a professional wrestler turned snarling actor and stuntman, died Jan. 27 of natural causes. He was 78.

Portraying menacing, imposing characters, Haggerty appeared in 22 films, more than 100 television shows, and dozens of TV commercials.

He took drama classes in high school in Los Angeles and later at Denver University, Texas Christian University and John Muir College.

Haggerty briefly played pro football for the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, and later became a pro wrestler under the name “Hard-Boiled” Haggerty. He so outraged wrestling fans in the 1950s and ’60s that a mob once broke his arm in Vancouver, Canada.

He made his film debut in the 1969 musical “Paint Your Wagon,” with Clint Eastwood. Haggerty later appeared in films including “Who Is Killing the Stuntmen?” in 1977; “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” in 1979; and “Million Dollar Mystery” in 1987.

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Hilda Hilst

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) – Hilda Hilst, who provoked Brazilian readers with fiction and poetry depicting insanity, the supernatural and sexual desire, died Wednesday, said a spokesman for the University of Campinas Hospital. She was 73.

Hilst, a retired lecturer at the University of Campinas, published 41 volumes of poetry, fiction and drama over five decades.

Her work dealt with insanity and the supernatural in the tradition of Magic Realism, one of the notable Latin American literary trends of the 20th century. She won critical praise but often left readers puzzled by her seeming obsessions with insanity, death and the afterlife.

Hilst was recognized early in her career by Brazil’s literary establishment, winning top prizes from the Sao Paulo PEN Club and the National Book Club.

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M.M. Kaye

LONDON (AP) – M.M. Kaye, author of the sumptuous war and romance best seller “The Far Pavilions,” died Jan. 29 at age 95, her literary agent said Wednesday.

Kaye, who was raised in pre-independence India, published a number of children’s books and detective novels with little success before releasing “The Far Pavilions” in 1978.

The story of an orphaned British boy brought up as a Hindu who falls in forbidden love with an Indian princess, the book was a runaway best seller and later was made into a television series.

Kaye was born in Simla, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where her father was in the Indian Civil Service. Kaye later said she was unaware she was not Indian herself.

It was not until Kaye returned to England and “The Far Pavilions” – on which she had labored for more than 10 years – was published that she became a household name.

A musical version is planned for London’s West End later this year.

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Annie Miller

BIG BAYOU BLACK, La. (AP) – Annie Miller, a Cajun naturalist credited with founding Louisiana’s first swamp boat tour business 25 years ago died Monday, her family said. She was 89.

Born west of Houma on the Bayou Black river, she grew up trapping with her parents and raised two children on the swamp.

In 1979, at the request of the local chamber of commerce, she and her husband founded a swamp boat tour. By 1991, 20 swamp tours were operating in Louisiana.

Annie Miller was known as a pioneer in the swamp cruise craft, calling alligators to her boat by name as if they were her children. She knew each alligator’s special markings, hideaways and appetite for raw chicken.

Her success at drawing visitors to Terrebonne Parish led officials to declare sections of the marsh and bayous as alligator preserves.

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Jerry Thomson

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – Rocket engine designer Jerry Thomson, a member of Wernher von Braun’s space team, died Sunday. He was 76.

Thomson first worked for North American Aviation in California, designing motors for ballistic missiles. He later returned to Alabama and began working for the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency, which later spawned NASA.

As part of von Braun’s pioneering rocket team, Thomson tested and designed the H-1, J-2 and F-1 engines for NASA.

In 1968, Thomson was selected to begin designs on a space shuttle engine and, from 1971 to 1986, he served as chief engineer for the space shuttle main engine.

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Adella Wotherspoon

NEW YORK (AP) – Adella Wotherspoon, believed to be the last survivor of the deadly 1904 fire and sinking of the excursion ferry General Slocum, has died according to close friend Julia Clevett. She was 100.

Wotherspoon, a retired teacher, died Jan. 26, Clevett said in Wednesday’s New York Times.

Wotherspoon was just 6 months old when the excursion ferry caught fire on the East River as it took a group of German-American church members on an outing on June 15, 1904.

The disaster killed 1,021 of the 1,300 people aboard, according to most sources. Wotherspoon’s parents survived, but she lost other family members.

The General Slocum fire and sinking was the city’s deadliest tragedy until Sept. 11, 2001, and one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.

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Warren Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (AP) – Warren Zimmermann, the last U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia before its breakup and civil war, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 69.

Zimmermann, a career Foreign Service officer, was named ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1989 where he led efforts to keep the nation together. He resigned from the Foreign Service in 1994 over what he felt was President Clinton’s refusal to intervene forcefully in the Bosnia war.

Zimmermann served in several other overseas posts, including two stints in Moscow during the Cold War, and was ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe from 1986 to 1989.

After leaving the Foreign Service, Zimmermann taught at the Johns Hopkins School of International Affairs and Columbia University.

His books include “Origins of a Catastrophe,” about his experiences in Yugoslavia.

AP-ES-02-04-04 1945EST