Legacy
By Julie Sloane

(FORTUNE Small Business) –

It may feel as if you've put out fires at your job, but Paul "Red" Adair really did. The legendary oil well firefighter ran an eponymous company from 1959 to 1994 that battled blazes from the North Sea to those in Kuwait during the Gulf war. John Wayne immortalized Adair's heroics in the 1968 film Hellfighters. The distinguished extinguisher died in August at age 89.

Blobs and Bibles

Irvin "Shorty" Yeaworth followed his bliss. Director of the 1958 sci-fi cult film The Blob, Yeaworth left the world of killer goo to produce hundreds of religious films and later design theme parks. Yeaworth died in July at the age of 78 while working on a park in Jordan to promote regional peace. —J.S.