Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Howard Pawley

Canada

21 November 1934 – 30 December 2015 (81 years old)

Manitoba premier whose courageous defense of constitutional French-language rights for Franco-Manitobans stood firm against intense political backlash.

Windsor, Canada

4 Full Record →

17

Hocine Aït Ahmed

حسين آيت أحمد

Algeria

1926 – 2015 (89 years old)

Legendary Algerian statesman, chief of the Organisation Spéciale, diplomat of the Bandung Conference, and lifelong champion of pluralist democracy and human rights.

Aït Ahmed (Ain El Hammam, Kabylie), Algeria

17 Full Record →

8

Taleb Rabah

طالب رابح

Algeria

1930 – 2015 (85 years old)

Revered pioneer of modern Kabyle folk music, who spent decades as an immigrant factory worker in France singing the struggles and dignity of Algerian emigrants.

Aïn El Hammam (Tizi Ouzou), Algeria

8 Full Record →

6

Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye

Marjorie King

Great Britain

1928-10-21 – 2015-12-01 (87 years old)

Celebrated novelist and poet acclaimed as the 'Mother of Kenyan Literature', whose 1986 masterwork 'Coming to Birth' won the Sinclair Prize and captured the birth of independent Kenya.

Siaya, Kenya

6 Full Record →

11

Fatima Mernissi

فاطمة المرنيسي

Morocco

1940 – 2015 (75 years old)

World-renowned Moroccan sociologist and feminist author whose groundbreaking books Beyond the Veil and The Forgotten Queens of Islam revolutionized the understanding of gender in the Muslim world.

Rabat, Morocco

11 Full Record →

19

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Fatema Mernissi

فاطمة المرنيسي

Morocco

1940 – 2015 (75 years old)

World-renowned Moroccan sociologist and author whose landmark books 'Beyond the Veil' and 'The Veil and the Male Elite' reexamined Islamic history, patriarchy, and women's rights.

Rabat, Morocco

19 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

43

🕯️ 430

Jonah Tali Lomu

New Zealand

1975 – 2015 (40 years old)

New Zealand rugby union player for the All Blacks, universally acknowledged as rugby's first truly global superstar whose raw power transformed the sport.

Auckland, New Zealand

43 Full Record →

39

🕯️ 820

Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt

Germany

1918-12-23 – 2015-11-10 (96 years old)

Preeminent economic realist and geopolitical strategist of Western Europe; laid the institutional foundations for the single European currency (Euro).

Hamburg, Germany

39 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

9

Claudine Chaulet

كلودين شولي

France

1931 – 2015 (84 years old)

Eminent sociologist and clandestine FLN driver who drove Ramdane Abane across police lines in 1955 and dedicated her life to researching Algerian rural peasantry.

Algiers, Algeria

9 Full Record →

23

Gamal al-Ghitani

جمال الغيطاني

Egypt

May 9, 1945 – October 18, 2015 (70 years old)

Towering Egyptian novelist, war correspondent, and cultural editor whose acclaimed masterpiece 'Zayni Barakat' utilized late Mamluk historical chronicles to construct a dazzling allegory of modern authoritarian surveillance and state control.

Cairo, Egypt

23 Full Record →

6

Mahmoud Sehili

محمود السهيلي

Tunisia

1931 – 2015 (84 years old)

Distinguished painter and colorist educated at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, whose moody chiaroscuro canvases explored spiritual depths and who founded the historic Galerie El Maken.

Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

6 Full Record →

Cinema

4

Chantal Akerman

Chantal Anne Akerman

Belgium

1950 – 2015 (65 years old)

Visionary Belgian avant-garde filmmaker whose 1975 masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles was voted the Greatest Film of All Time in the prestigious 2022 Sight & Sound decennial poll.

Paris, France

4 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

37

🕯️ 350

Lawrence Peter Berra

United States

1925 – 2015 (90 years old)

American baseball catcher, manager, and coach who won a record 10 World Series championships as a player, famed for his paradoxical 'Yogi-isms'.

East Hanover, New Jersey, United States

37 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

53

🕯️ 2,390

Moses Malone

Moses Eugene Malone

United States

23 March 1955 – 13 September 2015 (60 years old)

Moses Eugene Malone was a relentless American basketball center and three-time NBA Most Valuable Player who perfected the art of offensive rebounding, earning the title 'Chairman of the Boards'. The first modern player to jump straight from high school to professional basketball, he led the Philadelphia 76ers to the 1983 NBA championship with his famous playoff prediction 'Fo', Fo', Fo''.

Norfolk, Virginia, United States

53 Full Record →

6

Boudjemaâ El Ankis

بوجمعة العنكيس (محمد بوجمعة)

Algeria

1927 – 2015 (88 years old)

Legendary Chaabi performer and composer whose collaborations with poet Mahboub Bati produced enduring popular masterpieces including 'Rah El Ghali Rah'.

Algiers, Algeria

6 Full Record →

10

Boutheldja Belkacem

بوتفرة بلقاسم

Algeria

1947 – 2015 (68 years old)

Pioneering singer and accordionist who recorded the very first modern Pop-Rai 45-rpm record in 1965, transforming western Algerian music alongside Messaoud Bellemou.

Aïn Témouchent, Algeria

10 Full Record →

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