Notable Women Who Died in 2006

September 10: Patty Berg

Professional golfer Patty Berg was a founder of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association).

• Patty Berg
• LPGA Founder, Hall of Famer Patty Berg Dies

September 13: Ann Richards

Ann Richards, former governor of Texas and feisty figure in Texas and national politics, has died, losing her battle with esophagal cancer. Governor from 1991-1995, she came to national prominence with a keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. When Ann Richards was elected State Treasurer in 1982, she was the first woman elected to statewide office in Texas since Ma Ferguson. Richards was reelected in 1986, unopposed, and then ran for governor in 1990. In her 1994 reelection campaign, she lost to George W. Bush.

• Ann Richards, Former Texas Governor, 1933-2006

September 15: Oriana Fallaci

Italian writer Oriana Fallaci died in Florence, Italy, after a long battle against cancer. She had lived in New York but returned to Italy recently. Fallaci was known for her interviews with Henry Kissinger -- she got him to say that he fancied himself a cowboy and to call the Vietnam War "useless" -- and with other world leaders including the Ayatollah Khomeini, Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Willy Brandt, Walter Cronkite, the Shah of Iran, Golda Meir, Mu'ammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, Deng Xiaoping, General Giap, and Yasser Arafat.

• Oriana Fallaci, June 29, 1929 - September 15, 2006