James Dobbins, a U.S. diplomatic troubleshooter whose assignments included reopening the embassy in Kabul after the 2001 invasion and then returning more than a decade later as a special envoy during a grinding war and fading hopes of stabilizing Afghanistan, died July 3 at a hospital in Washington. He was 81.

The missions he led vastly expanded human understanding of the Red Planet and made him a hero to fellow Iranian Americans.

Esteban Volkov, who witnessed the dying breaths of his grandfather, Leon Trotsky - the exiled Russian revolutionary leader whose assassination in Mexico in 1940 had been ordered by archrival Joseph Stalin - and who devoted his final decades to preserving Trotsky's legacy, died June 16 in Tepoztlán, Mexico.

Sheldon Harnick, a Broadway lyricist whose creative partnership with composer Jerry Bock led to some of the most enduring scores in American musical theater history, notably "Fiddler on the Roof," died April 30 at his home in Manhattan. He was 99.

Disillusioned by the Vietnam War, he leaked a top-secret history of the conflict, leading to a landmark Supreme Court case.

Janice Lufkin served in the Navy Nurse Corps from 1966 to 1992 and earned a dozen medals, stars, ribbons and citations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Retired Air Force Major Brian Shul, a fighter pilot who nearly died after being shot down during the Vietnam War and then, defying doctors who said his injuries would ground him forever, flew the world’s fastest jet in top-secret Cold War operations, died May 20 at a hospital in Reno, Nev. He was 75.

He dominated the NFL in the 1950s and ‘60s, then left football for acting and activism.

Army veteran Joseph Butler III was known for his kindness, his courtesy, his humor and his professionalism. And for greeting his friends with the recognizable: “Money!”

The May 9 funeral for Army veteran Calaab Kirby had no prepared eulogy. One by one, attendees stood and shared their "Calaab stories." Each memory came from a new perspective, set somewhere during the 33 years of the young man's life.