Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Statesmanship & Statesmen

22

🕯️ 0

Louis J. Nigro Jr.

United States

c. 1948 – 2013 (65 years old)

Louis John Nigro, Jr. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to leadership.

Washington, D.C., United States

22 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

23

🕯️ 0

Lloyd Hartman Elliott

United States

c. 1919 – 2013 (94 years old)

Lloyd Hartman Elliott was President of the George Washington University from 1965 to 1988. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to leadership.

Washington, D.C., United States

23 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

20

🕯️ 0

Robert J. Callahan

United States

c. 1931 – 2013 (82 years old)

Robert Jeremiah Callahan was a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1985 to 2000. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to leadership.

Washington, D.C., United States

20 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

15

🕯️ 0

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Italy

1909 – 2012 (103 years old)

Italian neurobiologist who discovered Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and served as an active Senator for life in Italy until age 103.

Turin, Italy

15 Full Record →

Arts & Music

12

🕯️ 0

Harry Carey Jr.

Harry George Carey Jr.

United States

1921 – 2012 (91 years old)

Prolific American character actor and core member of John Ford's famed stock company who appeared in enduring Western cinema classics including 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' and 'The Searchers'.

Los Angeles, United States

12 Full Record →

Arts & Music

11

🕯️ 0

Fontella Bass

Fontella Bass

United States

1940 – 2012 (72 years old)

Powerhouse American soul and R&B singer and pianist best known for her immortal 1965 Million-selling anthem 'Rescue Me', as well as avant-garde collaborations with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

St. Louis, United States

11 Full Record →

Arts & Music

12

🕯️ 0

Charles Durning

Charles Edward Durning

United States

1923 – 2012 (89 years old)

Celebrated American character actor and decorated World War II hero who earned three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star before earning two Oscar nominations in 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and 'To Be or Not to Be'.

Arlington, United States

12 Full Record →

Arts & Music

11

🕯️ 0

Jack Klugman

Jack Klugman

United States

1922 – 2012 (90 years old)

Prolific American stage, film, and television actor renowned for his role as Juror #5 in '12 Angry Men', sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison in 'The Odd Couple', and the tenacious medical examiner in 'Quincy, M.E.'.

Los Angeles, United States

11 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

16

🕯️ 0

Mustapha Ould Salek

مصطفى ولد محمد السالك

Mauritania

1936 – 2012 (76 years old)

Head of State of Mauritania (1978–1979) who led the military intervention that brought an end to Mauritania's ruinous involvement in the Western Sahara War.

Nouakchott, Mauritania

16 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

42

🕯️ 310

Maurice Herzog

Maurice Herzog

France

1919 – 2012 (93 years old)

French mountaineer who led the 1950 French expedition that made the historic first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak: Annapurna I.

Chamonix, France

42 Full Record →

Arts & Music

12

🕯️ 0

Galina Vishnevskaya

Галина Павловна Вишневская

Russia

1926 – 2012 (86 years old)

Legendary Russian soprano, prima donna of the Bolshoi Theatre, and fierce champion of human rights who with her husband Mstislav Rostropovich sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and defied the Soviet regime.

Moscow, Russia

12 Full Record →

Arts & Music

40

🕯️ 965

Ravindra Shankar Chowdhury

রবি শঙ্কর

India

7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012 (92 years old)

Foremost sitar virtuoso of the 20th century who introduced Hindustani classical music to the Western world, collaborating with Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison, and performing at Monterey and Woodstock.

San Diego (California), United States

40 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

19

🕯️ 0

Albert O. Hirschman

Otto Albert Hirschmann

Germany

1915 – 2012 (97 years old)

German-born American political economist who wrote Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and during World War II served as Varian Fry's right-hand man in Marseille, saving thousands of refugees from the Nazis.

Princeton, United States

19 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

17

🕯️ 0

Patrick Moore

Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore

Great Britain

1923 – 2012 (89 years old)

Eccentric British amateur astronomer, author, and television personality who presented the BBC's The Sky at Night for 55 consecutive years, inspiring generations of stargazers with his trademark monocle and rapid-fire speech.

Selsey, United Kingdom

17 Full Record →

Arts & Music

10

🕯️ 0

Dave Brubeck

David Warren Brubeck

United States

1920 – 2012 (91 years old)

Iconic American jazz pianist and composer whose classic 1959 album Time Out broke rhythmic conventions with Blue Rondo à la Turk and Take Five, and who fiercely refused to play integrated concerts to segregated audiences.

Redding, United States

10 Full Record →

Arts & Music

29

🕯️ 0

Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho

Brazil

1907 – 2012 (104 years old)

Visionary Brazilian architect who pioneered sensual reinforced concrete curves, serving as chief architect of Brasilia's civic monuments and co-designer of the UN Headquarters in New York.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

29 Full Record →

Humanities

7

🕯️ 0

Ahmed Taïeb El Alj

أحمد الطيب العلج

Morocco

1928 – 2012 (84 years old)

Patriarch of modern Moroccan theater, playwright, and poet who authored over forty plays and adapted Molière and Shakespeare into Moroccan Darija, penning the lyrics of classic national songs.

Rabat, Morocco

7 Full Record →

Politics

3

🕯️ 0

Motsamai Mpho

Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho

Botswana

1921-02-03 – 2012-11-28 (91 years old)

Pioneering Bayei freedom fighter and anti-apartheid leader charged alongside Nelson Mandela in the 1956 South African Treason Trial, founder of the Botswana Independence Party (BIP).

Palapye, Botswana

3 Full Record →