Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sciences & Discovery

26

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John David McAfee

John McAfee

Great Britain

1945 – 2021 (75 years old)

Eccentric British-American computer programmer and cybersecurity pioneer who founded McAfee Associates in 1987, creating the world's first commercial anti-virus software before embarking on a bizarre, fugitive lifestyle.

Barcelona, Spain

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Sports & Athletics

41

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Milkha Singh

ਮਿਲਖਾ ਸਿੰਘ

Pakistan

1929 – 2021 (91 years old)

Legendary Indian sprinter revered as 'The Flying Sikh' who overcame the trauma of Partition to win gold at the Commonwealth Games and set national records.

Chandigarh, India

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

39

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Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth David Kaunda

Northern Rhodesia

1924 – 2021 (97 years old)

Founding Father and first President of Zambia who led the nation to independence in 1964 and provided vital sanctuary to southern African liberation movements against apartheid.

Lusaka, Zambia

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

28

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Enrique José Bolaños Geyer

Enrique Bolaños

Nicaragua

1928 – 2021 (93 years old)

President of Nicaragua (2002–2007) who courageously prosecuted his own predecessor and political patron Arnoldo Alemán for embezzlement, championed transparency, modern economic growth, and established a free public presidential digital archive.

Nindirí, Masaya, Nicaragua

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Literature & Poetry

6

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Saadi Youssef

سعدي يوسف

Iraq

1934 – 12 June 2021 (87 years old)

Celebrated Iraqi poet of everyday life and exile, translator of Walt Whitman, Lorca, and Cavafy into modern Arabic.

London, United Kingdom

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Sciences & Discovery

27

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Ei-ichi Negishi

根岸 英一

China

1935 – 2021 (85 years old)

Distinguished Japanese chemist and Purdue University professor who was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the Negishi coupling, a palladium-catalyzed reaction enabling the synthesis of complex molecules in medicine and electronics.

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

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Sciences & Discovery

30

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Richard Robert Ernst

Richard R. Ernst

Switzerland

1933 – 2021 (87 years old)

Swiss physical chemist and ETH Zurich professor who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing Fourier transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) spectroscopy and multi-dimensional NMR, the foundational technology behind medical MRI.

Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

26

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Francis Lee Bailey Jr.

F. Lee Bailey

United States

1933 – 2021 (87 years old)

Famed American criminal defense attorney who represented notorious high-profile clients including Sam Sheppard (establishing landmark fair-trial jurisprudence), the Boston Strangler, Patty Hearst, and O.J. Simpson as part of the "Dream Team".

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

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History

4

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Hichem Djait

هشام جعيط

Tunisia

1935 – 2021 (85 years old)

Internationally renowned historian and philosopher who served as President of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts (Beit Al-Hikma), authoring groundbreaking works on early Islamic political history.

La Marsa, Tunisia

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Arts & Music

27

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Billy Joe Thomas

B. J. Thomas

United States

1942 – 2021 (78 years old)

Five-time Grammy-winning American singer whose soulful, warm voice produced timeless pop and country classics including "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "Hooked on a Feeling", and "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song".

Arlington, Texas, United States

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

29

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Poul Holmskov Schlüter

Poul Schlüter

Denmark

1929 – 2021 (92 years old)

Prime Minister of Denmark (1982–1993) and first Conservative to hold the office in 81 years, whose decade-long premiership stabilized Denmark's economy, pegged the krone, and signed the Single European Act and Maastricht Treaty.

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Politics

4

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Ahmed Mestiri

أحمد المستيري

Tunisia

1925 – 2021 (95 years old)

Historic freedom fighter and principled politician who resigned high ministerial offices to found Tunisia's first legal democratic opposition party, becoming the moral compass of democratic reform.

La Marsa, Tunisia

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Sports & Athletics

34

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Ronald Hill

Ron Hill

Great Britain

1938 – 2021 (82 years old)

Pioneering English marathon champion who won the 1970 Boston Marathon in a course record, captured European and Commonwealth gold medals, ran every single day for 52 years and 39 days without missing a day, and used his textile chemistry PhD to pioneer modern running clothing.

Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

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Sports & Athletics

30

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Max Rufus Mosley

Max Mosley

Great Britain

1940 – 2021 (81 years old)

President of the FIA (1993–2009), barrister, and March F1 co-founder who partnered with Bernie Ecclestone to commercialize Formula One, revolutionized driver safety following Ayrton Senna's death, created Euro NCAP crash testing, and won landmark privacy rights cases.

London, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

31

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Eric Carle

Eric Carle

United States

1929 – 2021 (91 years old)

Beloved American children's book author and illustrator celebrated for his distinctive hand-painted paper collage technique and immortal picture books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, translated into 66 languages.

Northampton, United States

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Sports & Athletics

30

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Lee Edward Evans

Lee Evans

United States

1947 – 2021 (74 years old)

Two-time Olympic gold medalist who broke the 400m world record (43.86 seconds) at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics—a record that stood for twenty years—and co-founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights, wearing black berets on the medal podium with Larry James.

Lagos, Nigeria

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Arts & Music

26

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Francesco Battiato

Franco Battiato

Italy

1945 – 2021 (76 years old)

Maverick Italian singer-songwriter, avant-garde composer, and intellectual who revolutionized Italian pop music by blending electronic experimentation, Sufi mysticism, and philosophical satire on his million-selling masterpiece La voce del padrone.

Riposto, Sicily, Italy

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Arts & Music

7

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Mustapha Dassoukine

مصطفى الداسوكين

Morocco

1942 – 2021 (78 years old)

Pioneer of Moroccan popular theatrical comedy and television satire whose five-decade duo with Mustapha Zaari in Masrah al-Najm defined Moroccan comedy across generations.

Casablanca, Morocco

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