Harry Rossoll, 89, who as a U.S. Forest Service illustrator created the Smokey Bear fire prevention messages that became one of the most successful public relations campaigns, died Thursday of an intestinal aneurysm in Atlanta. He provided the rough draft for Smokey Bear in 1944 as the character to promote forest fire prevention after rejecting figures including a forest ranger and a beaver.

Michael Angelo Avallone, 74, a mystery writer who wrote the Ed Noon series and whose original novels were based on the television series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Hawaii Five-0," died Friday in Los Angeles.

Stanley Dance, 88, a jazz critic, 1963 Grammy winner and confidant of Duke Ellington and Earl Hines, died Feb. 23 of pneumonia in San Diego.

Betty Roche, 81, a singer who performed with Duke Ellington in the 1940s and '50s and was noted for her strong, dramatic delivery of blues material, died Feb. 16 at Mainland Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Pleasantville, N.J.

Harriet Waddy, 94, one of the first black officers commissioned in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II and one of the highest-ranking black women in its successor, the Women's Army Corps, died Feb. 21 in Eugene, Ore. She served on active duty in the Army until 1952 and was in the reserves until 1969. She worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for 25 years, retiring in Los Angeles in 1969.

Winthrop Edey, 61, an expert on clocks and the keeper of a meticulous diary documenting life in New York, died Feb. 22 from Hodgkin's disease. He also was known for his detailed diary writing, which he started at age 6. Some have guessed that his unpublished diary could become an important reflection of New York life.

Pub Date: 3/02/99