Historical Archives & Public Figures

Maynard Ferguson

Canada

4 May 1928 – 23 August 2006 (78 years old)

Montreal-born jazz trumpet virtuoso whose astonishing high-register power, fiery big bands, and chart-topping "Gonna Fly Now" electrified global jazz.

Ventura, United States

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

28

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Bismillah Khan

उस्ताद बिस्मिल्लाह ख़ान

India

1916 – 2006 (90 years old)

Legendary Indian classical musician who elevated the shehnai from a modest wedding folk instrument to the premier concert classical stage, awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001.

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), India

28 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

4

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Shamsur Rahman

শামসুর রাহমান

Bangladesh

1929-10-23 – 2006-08-17 (76 years old)

Premier modernist poet of post-partition Bengal whose verses (including 'Asad's Shirt' and 'To You, O Freedom') served as the poetic conscience of the 1969 Mass Uprising and 1971 Liberation War.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

4 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

7

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Mahfoud Kaddache

محفوظ قداش

Algeria

1921 – 2006 (85 years old)

The foremost academic historian of the Algerian National Movement, whose monumental two-volume study 'Histoire du nationalisme algérien' is the bedrock text on the rise of the revolution.

Algiers, Algeria

7 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

9

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Midani Ben Salah

الميداني بن صالح

Tunisia

1929 – 2006 (76 years old)

Celebrated poet of the Jerid desert oasis who celebrated Palestinian solidarity, southern working-class struggles, and North African brotherhood in vibrant collections such as Night in the Oasis.

Nefta, Tunisia

9 Full Record →

Arts & Music

9

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Fatima Chebchoub

فاطمة شبشوب

Morocco

1952 – 2006 (54 years old)

Visionary dramatist, director, and university professor who made history as Morocco's first female Halqa street storyteller, transforming traditional masculine oral theater into feminist social critique.

Casablanca, Morocco

9 Full Record →

Arts & Music

19

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El Hachemi Guerouabi

الهاشمي قروابي

Algeria

1938 – 2006 (68 years old)

Undisputed modern giant of Algerian Chaabi music who modernized the Casbah musical genre with peerless vocal elegance, theatrical charisma, and unforgettable masterpieces like 'El Barah'.

Algiers, Algeria

19 Full Record →

Arts & Music

5

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Ismail Shammout

إسماعيل شموط

Palestine

1930 – 3 July 2006 (76 years old)

Founding father of modern Palestinian painting whose iconic realist and symbolic canvases depicted the Nakba and the return to the homeland.

Amman, Jordan

5 Full Record →

Arts & Music

33

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Cheikha Rimitti

الشيخة ريميتي (سعدية الغيزانية)

Algeria

1923 – 2006 (83 years old)

Fierce and legendary Algerian vocalist acclaimed as the 'Grandmother of Raï' (Godmother of Raï), who defied social conventions for six decades to sing raw, uncensored songs of female desire, poverty, and liberation.

Val-de-Marne, France

33 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

38

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Floyd Patterson

United States

4 January 1935 – 11 May 2006 (71 years old)

Floyd Patterson was an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight champion who became the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in history in 1956 at age twenty-one. Mentored by legendary trainer Cus D'Amato, he utilized the peek-a-boo defense and leaping 'gazelle punch', and in 1960 became the first man in boxing history to regain the heavyweight crown.

New Paltz, New York, United States

38 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

34

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Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Indonesia

1925 – 2006 (81 years old)

Indonesian novelist and dissident whose monumental Buru Quartet, composed while imprisoned without trial on the remote penal island of Buru, stands as Southeast Asia's greatest literary epic.

Jakarta, Indonesia

34 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

46

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William Sloane Coffin Jr.

William Sloane Coffin

United States

1924 – 2006 (81 years old)

Pasteur presbytérien et aumônier de Yale, figure de proue de la désobéissance civile contre la guerre du Vietnam et président de SANE/Freeze pour le désarmement nucléaire.

Strafford, Vermont, United States

46 Full Record →

Politics

2

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Georges Rawiri

Gabon

1932-11-30 – 2006-04-09 (73 years old)

Eminent Gabonese poet and statesman who served as Foreign Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and first President of the Senate of Gabon, author of classic lyrical collections.

Lambarene, Gabon

2 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

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Marcel Dubé

Canada

1930 – 2006 (76 years old)

Prolific Quebec dramatist whose powerful urban tragedies Zone and Un simple soldat captured the existential alienation of working-class youth on the eve of the Quiet Revolution.

Montreal, Canada

4 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

6

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Muhammad al-Maghut

محمد الماغوط

Syria

1934 – 3 April 2006 (72 years old)

Revolutionary Syrian poet and satirical playwright who fathered modern Arabic prose poetry and skewered Arab authoritarianism.

Salamiyah, Syria

6 Full Record →

Arts & Music

6

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Edgar Naccache

إدغار نقاش

Tunisia

1917 – 2006 (88 years old)

Leading Tunisian Jewish painter and co-founder of the Tunis School whose luminous Mediterranean landscapes, harbor scenes, and still lifes captured the soft coastal light of Carthage.

Paris (Memorial in Tunis), France

6 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

32

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Stanisław Lem

Stanisław Herman Lem

Poland

1921 – 2006 (84 years old)

Foremost Polish science fiction author and philosopher of technology whose Solaris, The Cyberiad, and Summa Technologiae explored the limits of human intelligence.

Kraków, Poland

32 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

10

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Abdelkrim al-Filali

عبد الكريم الفيلالي

Morocco

1927 – 2006 (79 years old)

Distinguished Moroccan historian and anti-colonial journalist who authored the monumental 10-volume Political History of the Arab Maghreb, documenting shared North African anti-imperialist solidarity.

Rabat, Morocco

10 Full Record →

Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries