The Neediest Cases Fund gave Catherine Gunderson help with food and furniture. Friends have given her newfound joy.

David Ware, the renowned saxophonist, did not want a kidney transplant, fearing that someone else’s life force would be inside him. He was wrong.

Ellen Frey McCourt pushed her husband, Frank McCourt, to stop talking about his years in Ireland, and to write about them. Thus, “Angela’s Ashes.”Ellen Frey McCourt was something of a human tuning fork as her husband, the writer Frank McCourt, worked on “Angela Ashes.”

Ellen Frey McCourt pushed her husband, Frank McCourt, to stop talking about his years in Ireland, and to write about them. Thus, “Angela’s Ashes.”Ellen Frey McCourt was something of a human tuning fork as her husband, the writer Frank McCourt, worked on “Angela Ashes.”

Judge Sonia Sotomayor leaving her Greenwich Village apartment building in May.The Supreme Court nominee revels in the city’s kaleidoscopic spin even as her professional life is so consuming that she has spoken of forgoing traditional markers of personal success.

Fellow musicians have rallied around Terence Conley, a jazz pianist, as he works to recover from a serious head injury.

Fellow musicians have rallied around Terence Conley, a jazz pianist, as he works to recover from a serious head injury.

At the trial of Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, Annette de la Renta and Nancy Kissinger testified to incidents in which her mental faculties appeared to be impaired.

Representative Anthony D. Weiner of New York was Ben Affleck’s research subject as the actor prepared to play a young, overtly ambitious politician in “State of Play.”

Roman Pietrs opted for the tight curls in order to raise money for a childhood friend who has developed a potentially paralyzing illness.