Dead Celebrity Alert

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Vicki Van Meter, celebrated for piloting a plane across the country at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. She was 26. … Read full obituary

Steve Fossett, the wealthy, record-setting adventurer who for years blithely sailed, soared and drove through all manner of danger before disappearing in September during what was meant to be a routine short flight, was declared dead Friday by a Chicago court. He was 63… … Read full obituary

Sir Edmund Hillary, the beekeeper from Auckland who conquered Mount Everest and went on to become one of the greatest adventurers of the 20th century, has died at the age of 88. Hillary, who reached the peak of Everest in 1953, days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, only admitted being the first man to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain after the death of his climbing companion, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, in 1986. … Read full obituary

A man hailed as one of Britain’s greatest polar explorers has died. Sir Wally Herbert became the first person to reach the North Pole on foot without motorised transport in 1969.

The 72-year-old, from Laggan near Aviemore, had suffered from diabetes and heart trouble and died in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. … Read full obituary

BRISTOW — A Bristow native considered the father of modern hot-air ballooning died Thursday.

Paul “Ed” Yost perfected the concept of using propane heat to fill a balloon to make it fly and be maneuverable. He died of natural causes at this home in Taos, N.M. He was 87. … Read full obituary

Harold Froehlich, the innovative Minnesota engineer who helped design the deep-diving mini-sub used to explore the Titanic, has died at the age of 84. … Read full obituary

Jimmy Hall, a fearless man of adventure who had just been named the host of Discovery Channel’s popular series “Shark Week,” died in a base-jumping accident in Canada. … Read full obituary

One of the first U.S. astronauts and only the fifth American in space, Walter Schirra, has died at age 84. The U.S. space agency NASA says he had been suffering from cancer, but has provided no further details. … Read full obituary

A renowned rock climber and author who scaled peaks around the world fell 500 feet to his death in Yosemite National Park, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. …

Skinner, 47, of Lander, Wyo., was celebrated for having climbed hundreds of rock faces from Canada’s Yukon Territory to the Himalayas using a technique called free climbing, in which climbers ascend upward using no artificial aid to climb — only a rope to protect against falls. … Read full obituary

Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, has died after being struck by a stingray barb in Queensland.

Mr Irwin, 44 died after the stingray barb went through his chest while he was shooting a documentary off Port Douglas. … Read full obituary

The controversial mountaineering legend, Heinrich Harrer, died peacefully over the weekend; he was in his nineties. Harrer is likely most known by younger climbers through the film, Seven Years in Tibet, which was based on his life. … Read full obituary