Notable Deaths of 2012—PICTURES

Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was found dead on Wednesday, May 16, on her husband's property in Bedford, N.Y., of an apparent suicide. She was 52.

PHOTO: AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File

Former Sen. Jim Abdnor, R-S.D., died on Wednesday, May 16, in hospice care in Sioux Falls, S.D., according to the Argus Leader newspaper. Abdnor, 89, died of natural causes, his family told the Associated Press. Abdnor, who served on the Senate Appropriations Committee, was a four-term House member in 1980 when he defeated former Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential candidate in 1972. Abdnor (center, flanked by Treasury Secretary James Baker III and Sen. Dennis DiConcini, D-Ariz., in 1986) was defeated for a second term by Democrat Tom Daschle.

PHOTO: AP Photo/Lana Harris, File

Former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach died on Tuesday, May 8, at his home in Skillman, N.J. He was 90. As the attorney general during the Johnson administration, Katzenbach was also a central player during the Kennedy administration, particularly in advancing civil-right issues and "helping to map Vietnam War strategy," according to the New York Times. He's pictured here shaking hands with a group of demonstrators outside his Justice Department office, after pleading with them to leave, in 1965.

PHOTO: AP

Dick Clark, long the face of America's New Year's Eve celebration on TV and the host of American Bandstand died on April 18. He was 82.

Mike Wallace, longtime CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent, died Sunday, April 8, 2012, at age 93.In this May 8, 2006 file photo, Wallace is seen during an interview at his office in New York.

PHOTO: (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

. In this 1957 file photo, Wallace (left) and British writer Malcolm Muggeridge chat with each other in ABC Television Studio before their appearance on the network's "Mike Wallace Interview" show in New York City. Muggeridge, who touched off a storm of protest by criticizing the British Monarchy. Earlier October 19, Muggeridge had been fired from his job as columnist on the conservative London Dispatch. The TV interview was blacked out in Washington where the Queen Elizabeth II currently is on a state visit.

PHOTO: (AP Photo)

Tonga's monarch, King George Tupou V, died on Sunday, March 18 at a hospital in Hong Kong. The cause of death wasn't announced, according to The Christian Science Monitor. Tupou helped his country make the transition to become a parliamentary democracy in 2010. "The United States has lost a friend and the people of Tonga have lost a visionary leader," President Obama said in a statement. The king is pictured at his coronation in 2010 with his aide-de-camp, Christian Tupou.

PHOTO: AP Photo/Torsten Blackwood, POOL

House Foreign Affairs Committee member Donald Payne, D-N.J., passed away on Tuesday, March 6 after a battle with colon cancer, according to local news reports. He was 77.

PHOTO: AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart passed away on Thursday from "natural causes," according to Big Journalism, one of the websites he owned. He was 43.

PHOTO: Chet Susslin

Frank Cushing, a former staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, died on Feb. 6 of a brain tumor at his home in Falls Church. He was 59 years old.

PHOTO: Courtesy of the Cushing family

Longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Jan. 22 after a battle with lung cancer. Paterno, who won more games than any other coach in major college football, was fired amid a child sex-abuse scandal in which his former assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with multiple counts of abuse. President Obama called the Paterno family to offer his condolences the day after Paterno died.

PHOTO: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Former Rep. Ed Jenkins, D-Ga. (far left), appears with a group of visiting U.S. congressmen meeting with then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inside No. 10 Downing Street in London on July 4, 1989. Jenkins, who represented Georgia in Congress for 16 years, died on Jan. 1 after suffering from a long illness. He was 78.

PHOTO: PETER KEMP/AP

In this March 7, 1995, file photo, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his press secretary, Tony Blankley (left), meet with reporters during a daily Capitol Hill news conference. Blankley, who later worked as a conservative author and commentator, died on Sunday, Jan. 8 of stomach cancer. He was 63.

PHOTO: JOE MARQUETTE/AP

Former South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, shown here with former President George W. Bush, died on Jan. 12 after a battle with cancer. The four-term governor was a flamboyant politician who left a lasting mark on South Dakota politics. He was 72.

PHOTO: SUSAN WALSH/AP