Tom Kaib, an award-winning reporter and editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, died on March 24 from complications of cancer. He was 71. Kaib won many statewide and local prizes for stories, photos and headlines during his 38 years working at the newspaper.

Horton Foote, the Pulitzer Prize- and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "To Kill a Mockingbird," died on March 4. Cause of death was not released. He was 92. Foote won his first Oscar for his reworking of Harper Lee's classic novel, and his second for best original screenplay for "Tender Mercies." In 1995, his play "The Man From Atlanta" won the Pulitzer for drama.

Barbara Franchi, founder of the mystery fiction review Website Reviewing The Evidence, died on Feb. 28 of cancer. She was 73. Franchi's blurbs appeared on numerous cozies, procedurals, hard boiled, noir and all the other sub genres of whodunits. She and her husband Rudi also ran the collectibles shop The Nostalgia Factory.

Forrest "Woody" Miller, a veteran sports reporter for The South Bend Tribune in Indiana, died on Feb. 28. Cause of death was not released. He was 78. “Woody was a throwback, a tough, fair, no-nonsense journalist who loved his work. He was a game guy. He might file an afternoon high school game, then head to the Cove for a night Silver Hawks game. Day-night doubleheaders were pretty routine for Woody, long after most writers had retired. It’s a big loss to the Tribune family," sports editor Bill Billinski said.

Howard Price, a copy editor and educator, died on Feb. 27. Cause of death was not released. He was 65. Price previously worked as a copy editor for the Saginaw News in Michigan and the Northwest New Jersey Daily Record. From 1984 to 2005, he taught courses on the role of journalism and news in democracy, international journalism, relationships between sports and the media and media editing at Eastern Illinois University.

Philip Jose Farmer, a renowned science fiction and fantasy author best known for his "Riverworld" series, died on Feb. 25. Cause of death was not released. He was 91. Over the course of his five-decade career, Farmer won three Hugos, the lifetime achievement award from the World Fantasy Society and the Grand Master Award presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America. His last novel, "The City Beyond Play," was published in 2007.

Bill Holm, a poet, essayist and memoirist, died on Feb. 24 of complications from pneumonia. He was 65. Known as "the Polar Bear of American Literature," Holm penned several books including "Coming Home Crazy," "Boxelder Bug Variations" and "The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth."

Scott Symons, a groundbreaking gay writer, died on Feb. 23. Cause of death was not released. He was 75. At a time when homosexuality was still considered a crime in Canada, Symons released the book "Place d'Armes," which featured a gay protagonist and a sympathetic male prostitute. Symons' own life was quite scandalous as well; soon after the book was published, he left his wife and son to live with his teenage male lover in Mexico. He later lived in Morocco, where he wrote his 1986 novel "Helmet of Flesh."

Christopher Nolan, an award-winning Irish author, died on Feb. 20. Cause of death was not released. He was 43. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, Nolan wrote three books with the help of a "unicorn," a pointer device attached to his forehead that could be used to punch a keyboard. In 1988, his autobiographical novel, "Under the Eye of the Clock," won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.

William Brand, a beer columnist and blogger for the Oakland Tribune in California, died on Feb. 20 from injuries he sustained after being hit by a train. He was 70. Brand worked at the newspaper for 27 years; prior to that, he wrote for the Contra Costa Times and the Alameda Times-Star.

Nonnie Moore, a veteran fashion editor, died on Feb. 19 complications from a choking accident. She was 87. During her four decades in publishing, Moore worked at GQ, Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazaar. In 1994, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Rickey Wright, a music writer and editor, died on Feb. 19 of a stroke. He was 45. Wright was a music writer for the Virginian-Pilot and a music editor for Amazon.com. He also hosted a radio show called "Defenestration 895" on WHRV in the early to mid-1990s.

Vincent Marino, former editor of The Daily Advertiser in Louisiana, died on Feb. 15. Cause of death was not released. He was 91. Marino spent more than 50 years at the newspaper before retiring in 2001. He also taught English at the University of Louisiana.

Terry Hayes, an award-winning blogger for Chron.com, died on Feb. 15. She was 42. Hayes worked as an administrative assistant in the Houston Chronicle's sports department, but she also detailed her battle with cancer in a blog on the newspaper's Website. Known as the CancerDiva, Hayes received the best newspaper blogger award in 2008 from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

Ned Jennings, former managing editor of the Asheville Citizens-Times in N.C., died on Feb. 14. Cause of death was not released. He was 59. Jennings previously worked for the Harlan Daily Enterprise in Kentucky and the Kingsport Times-News in Tennessee.

Steve Emerine, a veteran journalist, educator and newspaper owner, died on Feb. 13 of complications from surgery. He was 73. Emerine worked as a police reporter for the Tucson Citizen, taught journalism at the University of Arizona and penned columns for the Arizona Daily Star and Inside Tucson Business. He also owned the Green Valley News and Nogales International.

Hugh Leonard, an Irish playwright who wrote under the pen name John Keyes Byrne, died on Feb. 12. Cause of death was not released. He was 82. Leonard penned the plays "Da," "The Patrick Pearse Motel" and "A Leap in the Dark" as well as the best-selling novel "Parnell and the Englishwoman."

James Edward "Bud" O'Brien, a veteran journalist and editor, died on Feb. 11. Cause of death was not released. He was 80. O'Brien studied journalism under the GI bill and landed his first reporting job at the Alamosa Valley Courier in Colorado. He went on to work as an editor for the Redding Record-Searchlight and the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian in California.

Carl Edward Zimmerer, a retired editor and columnist for The Courier-Journal, died on Feb. 11. Cause of death was not released. He was 96. Zimmerer began working at the Kentucky newspaper in 1940 as a copy reader. He worked his way up to telegraph editor, chief of wire services and editor of international news before retiring in 1975. Zimmerer also penned a weekly column about stamp and coin collecting.

Mildred Dearman, executive editor of The Carthaginian newspaper in Mississippi, died on Feb. 11. Cause of death was not released. She was 85. Dearman received the University of Southern Mississippi's Medalist Award in Journalism in 1973 and headed the Mississippi Press Association's "Better Newspaper Contest" for a decade.