Deaths of note from around the world:
Joan Mulhern, 51: A forceful advocate for the environment who lobbied Congress and often rallied public support to sway lawmakers to her cause, Mulhern had been the senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, since 1999. Died Dec. 18 of liver disease in Washington, D.C.
Richard Adams, 65: Nearly four decades ago, Adams legally married his male partner in Colorado and, in the first lawsuit of its kind, tried unsuccessfully to have their marriage recognized by the federal government. In April 1975, Adams and his partner, Tony Sullivan, wed in Colorado, one of a half-dozen gay couples granted marriage licenses there by the Boulder County clerk’s office. The county stopped issuing such licenses almost immediately, but the couple’s marriage was never legally voided. Died Dec. 17 in Los Angeles.
— From wire reports