Erik Hite

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Let's take time to pause as 2008 comes to a close to remember and salute people who helped shape our diverse, rich Southern Arizona community.

All of Southern Arizona mourned the death of Tucson Police Officer Erik Hite, shot in the line of duty by a suspect in crosstown pursuit.

The cause of justice took a blow at the loss of Pima County Public Defender Robert Hooker. A distinguished criminal-defense attorney, Hooker left a lucrative private practice in 2005 to devote himself to improving representation for the indigent.

"He had a deep, deep reverence for the Constitution, for the rights and liberties of citizens accused of a crime," veteran attorney Michael Piccarreta told the Star. "He believed that when he was representing clients, he was representing the Bill of Rights, one client at a time."

H. Wilson "Unky" Sundt poured good citizen energy into Tucson and Southern Arizona while building Sundt Construction, a company with deep Tucson roots and a sterling worldwide reputation.

Sundt was a member of the Tucson Conquistadores and served on the boards of Magma Copper, Schuff Steel, the University of Arizona Foundation, the Tucson Airport Authority and Tucson Electric Power Co.

Needy children and educational causes in Southern Arizona and Sonora will miss the generosity of José Canchola, owner of McDonalds franchises in Tucson and formerly in Nogales.

In Nogales, Canchola hosted a Christmas Day party for children from neighboring Nogales, Sonora, for 30 years. Among his generous acts, Canchola helped spearhead Tucson-Pima Public Library fundraising, co-founded the Ronald McDonald House in Tucson and created scholarships for journalism and business students at the University of Arizona.

We honor the service of World War II hero David "Davey" M. Jones, one of the famed Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who retired from the Air Force as a two-star general after decades of service. The University of Arizona alumnus received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and numerous other honors.

Jones was one of the raiders who used B-25 bombers to hit targets in a one-way-only attack on Japan in April 1942, a few months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. He bailed out in China, where the Chinese helped him return to the United States.

We learned the value of a lifelong quest for knowledge from Danny Lopez, noted Tohono O'odham storyteller. Lopez was a linguist, teacher, singer and storyteller who taught his traditional tongue to more students than can be counted.

The best tortillas are made at Anita's Street Market in Barrio Anita, thanks to the dedication and hard work of Mario Soto. He ran the market for more than 20 years with his wife, Grace.

If you tried to buy a plant out of season, you'd have no luck with Ralph McPheeters. The founder of the Catalina Heights Nursery advised Southern Arizona plant lovers for 55 years.

College football fans, especially, will miss Tucsonan Larry Smith, who was University of Arizona head football coach from 1980-86 and later head coach at University of Southern California and the University of Missouri.

Joseph Tofel put Tucson on the map as a tennis destination through the Tucson Racquet & Fitness Club by luring world-class professional tennis tournaments to town. All the top names in the 1960s, '70s and '80s played at the club, including Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs, John Newcombe, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Fred Stolle and Ricardo "Pancho" Gonzáles.

Father Kieran McCarty, a Franciscan priest at Mission San Xavier del Bac, was one of the premiere experts on the Southwestern Spanish missions and Southwestern colonial history. Thousands of pages of Spanish colonial documents are at the UA as a result of his research in Mexico City and Madrid.

Southern Arizona lost Layne Brandt, an avid outdoorsman and vice president of farm operations for Farmers Investment Co., better known as Green Valley Pecan Co., one of the largest growers of pecans in the nation.

The controversy is long past for Evan Mecham, the only Arizona governor to be impeached, tried and ejected from office. Mecham, the state's chief executive for less than 16 months, also was at the center of a controversy over a paid state holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

The Mormon Church mourned Gordon B. Hinckley, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Leading a global expansion, Hinckley traveled to 60 countries.

We'll read no more columns, essays or potboiling spy fiction from columnist William F. Buckley, the iconic conservative founder of the National Review.

Readers among us also will miss Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke ("2001: A Space Odyssey), novelist Michael Crichton ("Jurassic Park") and Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn ("The Gulag Archipelago").

On the small screen, a great loss was the avuncular, easy-going host of NBC's "Meet the Press", Tim Russert. He went for the jugular with a smile on his face.

Among the television faces we'll see only in syndication are Estelle Getty ("The Golden Girls"), Suzanne Pleshette ("The Bob Newhart Show") and Harvey Korman ("The Carol Burnett Show").

It would be wrong to describe Paul Newman simply as an actor. He starred in 50 films, but he also founded the Hole in the Wall camps for children with deadly blood diseases or cancer and raised millions by marketing Newman's Own salad dressings and other items.

Some pretty big acting big boots to fill were left by Richard Widmark ("How the West Was Won,"), Charlton Heston ("The Ten Commandments") and Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight"). We also will miss director and actor Sydney Pollack ("Tootsie").

A founding father of rock and roll, Bo Diddley, is gone and so is the so-smooth Isaac Hayes.

Gritty comedian George Carlin, who liked to shock audiences into thinking, sometimes with off-color language, is gone.

In Southern Arizona we especially mourn and honor the memory of soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008: Army Pfc. Joseph F. Gonzales Jr., Cpl. Stewart S. Trejo, Army Chief Warrant Officer Robert Hammett, Army Staff Sgt. Victor M. Cota, Army Staff Sgt. Ernesto Guadalupe Cimarrusti, of Douglas, Army Sgt. Gary D. Willett.