September 7, 2008

2008Kune Biezeveld, Dutch minister and theologian (born 1948)^[†]

Kunegonda Elizabeth (Kune) Biezeveld was a Dutch theologian. She was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.

2008Ilarion Ciobanu, Romanian rugby player and actor (born 1931)^[†]

Ilarion Ciobanu was a Romanian actor. He has been described as "a legend" in the press and the last true Romanian comic.

2008Don Haskins, American basketball player and coach (born 1930)^[†]

Donald Lee Haskins, nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M. He was the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso from 1961 to 1999. In 1966 his team won the NCAA tournament over the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp. The watershed game highlighted the end of racial segregation in college basketball.

2008Gregory Mcdonald, American author (born 1937)^[†]

Gregory Mcdonald was an American writer best known for his mystery adventures featuring investigative reporter Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher.

2008Nagi Noda, Japanese director and producer (born 1973)^[†]

Nagi Noda was a Japanese pop artist and art director born in Tokyo.

2008The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.^[†]

In September 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that it would take over the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Both government-sponsored enterprises, which finance home mortgages in the United States by issuing bonds, had become illiquid as the market for those bonds collapsed in the subprime mortgage crisis. The FHFA established conservatorships in which each enterprise's management works under the FHFA's direction to reduce losses and to develop a new operating structure that will allow a return to self-management.