ROME, March 3 (Reuters Life!) - Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, to whom Luciano Pavarotti owed his launch to stardom, died in Milan Monday. He was 86.
Di Stefano died after a long coma caused by an attack during a robbery at his Kenyan holiday home in late 2004.
Fellow Italian tenor Pavarotti, who died last year, had his big break when Di Stefano dropped out of a performance of "La Boheme" at London's Covent Garden in 1963. Pavarotti performed as the stand-in and a star was born.
Local media said Di Stefano had never fully recovered from the savage beating he received from unknown assailants at his villa near the eastern Kenyan resort of Mombasa.
Treated for serious head injuries, he was moved to a hospital in Milan where he slipped into a coma last December.
Born in Sicily, Di Stefano made his operatic debut in 1946 and his debut at La Scala in Milan the following year. He made many recordings with Maria Callas and Pavarotti. (Editing by Charles Dick)
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The following deaths were reported yesterday -

===Giuseppe Di Stefano===

Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian tenor died yesterday in Milan. He has been in a coma since he was the victim of an assault in 2004. He died at the age of 86. 

===Norm O'Neill===

Norm O'Neill, former Australian cricketer died yesterday. The death was a result of an long term illness O'Neill has been suffering from. 

An cricketer who has played against O'Neill said  "I've got beautiful memories of Norm O'Neill he was a sensational cricketer. He was a sensational sportsman, actually he was also a top-class baseballer as well as a cricketer."

===Annemarie Renger===

Annemarie Renger, German politician died yesterday  at the age of 88.

In 1972 she became the first woman to become President of the Bundestag. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

===Joseph Zelnik===

Joseph Zelnik, editor of the Cape May County Herald  and the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin died yesterday. A public service is due to be held on Sunday.