Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Ahmed Hamza

أحمد حمزة

Tunisia

1930 – 2011 (80 years old)

Iconic Tunisian singer and composer who popularized Tunisian melodic song across the Arab world with his immortal anthem Jari Ya Hamouda, later famously covered by Mohamed Mounir.

Nabeul, Tunisia

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Nate Dogg

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale

United States

1969 – 2011 (41 years old)

American singer and rapper whose smooth, resonant baritone hooks defined West Coast G-funk hip-hop alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Warren G on classics like Regulate.

Long Beach, United States

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Joe Morello

Joseph Albert Morello

United States

1928 – 2011 (82 years old)

Virtuoso American jazz drummer of the Dave Brubeck Quartet celebrated for his unmatched mastery of odd time signatures, immortalized by his 5/4 drum solo on Take Five.

Irvington, United States

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Jane Russell

Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell

United States

1921 – 2011 (89 years old)

Legendary Hollywood leading lady and glamour icon who starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and founded the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF).

Santa Barbara, United States

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Annie Girardot

Annie Suzanne Girardot

France

1931 – 2011 (79 years old)

One of the most beloved and acclaimed French actresses of the 20th century, star of Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers and Haneke's The Piano Teacher, winning three César Awards.

Paris, France

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Literature & Poetry

15

Arnošt Lustig

Czech Republic

1926 – 2011 (84 years old)

Acclaimed Czech-Jewish author and Holocaust survivor who survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald, dedicating his literary life to chronicling the human spirit under extreme Nazi brutality.

Prague, Czech Republic

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George Shearing

Sir George Albert Shearing

Great Britain

1919 – 2011 (91 years old)

Blind British-American jazz pianist and composer who created the famous 'Shearing sound' with his quintet and composed the enduring jazz standard Lullaby of Birdland.

New York City, United States

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Literature & Poetry

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Military Leaders & Strategists

Bo Carpelan

Bo Gustaf Bertelsson Carpelan

Finland

1926-10-25 – 2011-02-11 (84 years old)

Eminent Finland-Swedish poet and novelist who became the only author to win the prestigious Finlandia Prize twice, celebrated for luminous, meditative works like Urwind and Berg.

Helsinki, Finland

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Saad el-Shazly

سعد الدين الشاذلي

Egypt

1922 – 2011 (88 years old)

Brilliant Egyptian military strategist and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces who meticulously planned and executed Operation Badr, successfully crossing the Suez Canal and shattering the Bar Lev Line in October 1973.

Cairo, Egypt

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Gary Moore

Robert William Gary Moore

Great Britain

1952 – 2011 (58 years old)

Virtuoso Northern Irish guitarist and singer celebrated for his blisteringly fast technique, lyrical vibrato, work with Thin Lizzy, and blues standards like Parisienne Walkways and Still Got the Blues.

Rottingdean, United Kingdom

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Sciences & Discovery

Ken Olsen

Kenneth Harry Olsen

United States

1926 – 2011 (84 years old)

Pioneering American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957, creating the PDP and VAX minicomputers that democratized interactive computing.

Fishers, United States

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Ahmed Bouanani

أحمد البوعناني

Morocco

1938 – 2011 (72 years old)

Visionary Moroccan cinematic poet, graphic artist, and novelist whose 1980 masterpiece 'The Mirage' (Al-Sarab) is recognized as one of the most artistically profound films in African cinema.

Demnate (Azilal), Morocco

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Maria Schneider

Marie Christine Gélin

France

1952 – 2011 (58 years old)

French actress who rose to controversial worldwide fame at age nineteen opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris and starred in Antonioni's The Passenger.

Paris, France

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Literature & Poetry

15

Édouard Glissant

France

1928 – 2011 (82 years old)

Influential Martinican poet, novelist, and philosopher whose concepts of 'Antillanité', Creolization, and the 'Poetics of Relation' profoundly transformed postcolonial literary theory.

Le Diamant, France

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John Barry

John Barry Prendergast

Great Britain

1933 – 2011 (77 years old)

Legendary English film composer who won five Academy Awards, created the signature James Bond orchestral sound across eleven 007 films, and scored Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.

Oyster Bay, United States

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Bhimsen Joshi

भीमसेन जोशी

India

1922 – 2011 (88 years old)

Legendary Indian classical vocalist of the Kirana gharana, renowned for his thunderous voice, astounding breath control, and devotional Santvani abhangs, awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2008.

Pune (Maharashtra), India

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