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Overton Joseph Paul (b. 1960-01-04 / d. 2003-06-30)
He was a senior vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He held a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Overton is known for conceiving of the idea now known as the Overton window, the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream at a given time. He died at age 43 from injuries suffered in a crash while piloting an ultralight aircraft, soon after taking off from the Tuscola Area Airport near Caro, Michigan. Overton had just married a few weeks before the accident.
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61
Born 1962-12-28. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
Konstantin Evgenievich Smeshko (Константи́н Евге́ньевич Смешко́) was a Russian military commander who was deputy chief of the Engineer Troops (starting in 2017) and a major general. He previously commanded the engineering troops of the Far Eastern Military District and those of the Southern Military District from 2012 to 2017. In 2015, he was responsible for cleaning the area of explosive objects on the territory of the Chechnya and the Ingushetia. For that, he was awarded the honour "Mastery in clearing of (to the Party of) mines in the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia". He later also operated the demining near Deir ez-Zor, Syria in 2017. Killed in an unknown location allegedly due to the Himars strike in one of the multiple attacks carried out in December. His funeral ceremony was held in Moscow in last days of December 2024
47
Born 1976-06-04. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:Murder
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner.He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in 2011. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised after being severely poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. He accused President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service. In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while hospitalised in Germany. Following his arrest, mass protests were held across Russia. The next month, Navalny's suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over 2+1⁄2 years detention, and his organisations were later designated as extremist and liquidated. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial described as a shame by Amnesty International. Following the rejection of his appeal, Navalny was transferred to a high-security prison in June. In August 2023, he received another sentence of 19 years on extremism charges. In December 2023, Navalny went missing from prison for almost three weeks. He re-emerged in an Arctic Circle corrective colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. In 2024, the Russian prison service reported that Navalny had died, which subsequently sparked protests in both Russia and various other countries. Accusations against Putin's government in connection with his death have been made by many Western governments and international organisations.
56
Born 1966-12-08. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Suicide
Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinead Marie Bernadette O'Connor), known professionally as Sinéad O'Connor, was an Irish singer, songwriter and political activist. Her debut studio album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her 1990 album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, was her biggest success, selling more than seven million copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", was named the year's top world single at the Billboard Music Awards. O'Connor had chart success with Am I Not Your Girl? (1992) and Universal Mother (1994), both certified gold in the UK, Faith and Courage (2000) certified gold in Australia, and Throw Down Your Arms (2005) went gold in Ireland. Her career included songs for films, collaborations with many other artists and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. O'Connor's 2021 memoir, Rememberings, was a bestseller. On 26 July 2023, O'Connor was found unresponsive at her flat in Herne Hill, South London, and later confirmed dead at the age of 56. Her family issued a statement later the same day, without indicating the cause of her death. The following day, the Metropolitan Police reported that O'Connor's death was not being treated as suspicious. On 28 July, the coroner in London said that the date of her death was still unknown.
81
Born 1941-04-08. Domain:Art. Cause of death:Age
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood DBE RDI (née Swire) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she made clothes for the boutique that she and Malcolm McLaren ran on King's Road, which became known as SEX. Their ability to synthesise clothing and music shaped the 1970s UK punk scene, which was dominated by McLaren's band, the Sex Pistols. She viewed punk as a way of "seeing if one could put a spoke in the system". Westwood opened four shops in London and eventually expanded throughout Britain and the world, selling an increasingly varied range of merchandise, some of which promoted her many political causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, climate change and civil rights groups.
75
Born 1946-11-14. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Cancer
Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather (born Marie Louise Cruz) was an American actress, model, and Native American civil rights activist. Littlefeather was born to a Native American (Apache and Yaqui) father and a White mother. During the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz, she became involved in the Native American activist community. Littlefeather represented Marlon Brando at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, where she—on Brando's behalf—declined the Best Actor award that he won for his performance in The Godfather. The favorite to win, Brando boycotted the ceremony as a protest against Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans and to draw attention to the standoff at Wounded Knee. During her speech, the audience's response to Brando's boycotting was divided between booing and applause. After the Academy Award speech, Littlefeather worked in hospice care. She continued her activism for health-related and Native American issues, and produced films about Native Americans. In June 2022, the Academy sent Littlefeather a statement of apology that was read in full at An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather on September 17. Over the years, Littlefeather described her personal experiences with serious health issues, including internal bleeding, collapsed lungs, and cancer. She reported having tuberculosis at age 4 and received treatment in an oxygen tent while hospitalized. She stated that she was suicidal and hospitalized in a mental institution for a year. In 1974, she stated that Marlon Brando sent her to a doctor when she was in a lot of pain and helped her recover, so she made the Oscar speech to repay him. At the age of 29 her lungs collapsed. After recovering, she received a degree from Antioch University in holistic health and nutrition with an emphasis in Native American medicine, a practice she credited with her recovery. In 1991, Littlefeather was reported to be recovering from radical cancer surgery. A 1999 article stated she had had colon cancer in the early 1990s. In 2018, Littlefeather developed stage 4 breast cancer, a recurrence of the breast cancer from which she was reported to be in remission in 2012. She said in a 2021 interview that the cancer had metastasized to her right lung and that she was terminal. Littlefeather died at her home in Novato, California, on October 2, 2022, at the age of 75, a month before her 76th birthday.
59
Born 1963-08-01. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Heart
Artis Leon Ivey Jr., known professionally as Coolio, was an American rapper. First rising to fame as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio achieved mainstream success as a solo artist in the mid-to-late 1990s with his albums It Takes a Thief (1994), Gangsta's Paradise (1995), and My Soul (1997). He is best known for his 1995 Grammy Award-winning hit single "Gangsta's Paradise", as well as other singles "Fantastic Voyage" (1994), "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" (1996), and "C U When U Get There" (1997). From 1996 on, Coolio released albums independently, and provided the opening track "Aw, Here It Goes!" for the 1996 Nickelodeon television series Kenan & Kel. He created the web series Cookin' with Coolio and released a cookbook. While at a friend's house in Los Angeles on September 28, 2022, Coolio was discovered unresponsive on a bathroom floor. He was pronounced dead by first responders. He was 59 years old at the time of his death. Police have opened an investigation into his death, though foul play is not suspected, and Coolio's manager stated he appeared to have suffered cardiac arrest. Coolio was cremated in a private ceremony with no funeral service. His ashes were then encased in jewelry for his family, with the rest of his ashes going into an urn.
95
Born 1926-07-18. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:Age
Bernard Pons was a French politician and medical doctor who was a member of the Union of Democrats for the Republic from 1971 to 1976 and a member of the Rally for the Republic party thereafter. He served as Secretary General of Rally for the Republic, Minister for Transport, and continued as a special advisor to the Union for a Popular Movement until 2008 after his retirement from active politics in 2002. Born Claude Bernard Pons in Béziers, Pons qualified as a doctor and worked as a general practitioner.
61
Born 1960-04-07. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
Yvan Colonna is a Corsican nationalist convicted for assassination. He is the son of Jean-Hugues Colonna, a former member of the National Assembly for the Socialist Party elected in the Alpes-Maritimes and a recipient of the French Légion d'honneur. On the 6th of February 1998 at 9:05 pm, the prefect of Corsica, Claude Érignac, was assassinated as he exited a theatre onto rue Colonna-d'Ornano in Ajaccio. He was shot receiving three 9 mm bullets in the neck, and died shortly thereafter. The weapon was shown to be one of the weapons stolen in the attack on the Gendarmerie Nationale station in Pietrosella on 6 September 1997. An enquiry followed, which resulted in the arrest of several militants. Interrogation pointed towards Yvan Colonna as the culprit. Police went to question him, but he had already fled. This sparked the biggest manhunt in French history, and Colonna was thought to have left the country, possibly for South America. However, an infrared camera set in the mountains of Corsica, near Vico as surveillance of a bergerie, a traditional Corsican stone hut, yielded evidence that Colonna was hiding here. He was arrested on the 4th of June 2003. Charged with assassination and being a member of a terrorist organisation, he was arraigned before the court of special cases in Paris from 12 November 2007. The court was in session until 12 December 2007. During his internment awaiting trial, he has repeatedly claimed innocence, and that he is the victim of unfair press coverage, convicting him before trial. On 13 December 2007, Colonna was pronounced guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has since appealed. On 20 June 2011, Colonna's conviction was upheld on appeal. He was serving his life sentence in the Toulon-La Farlède detention centre where he was assassinated by an other inmate. On 2 March 2022, Colonna was attacked in prison by Franck Elong Abé, an Islamist 36-year-old Cameroonian inmate, reportedly for "disrespecting Muhammad". In response, violent unrest broke out across Corsica. After spending three weeks in a coma at a hospital, he died of his wounds on 21 March 2022, at the age of 61.
79
Born 1942-04-16. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Age
Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams CBE was a British businessman, racing car driver and the founder of Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited. He was the team principal from its foundation in 1977 until 2020. Williams met Virginia Berry in 1967. They married in 1974. They had two sons, Jonathan and Jamie, and a daughter, Claire, who would go on to become the deputy team principal of his future Formula One team Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Williams used a wheelchair since a car accident in the South of France, on 8 March 1986, rendered him tetraplegic. He was driving with team sponsorship manager Peter Windsor in a hired Ford Sierra 1600 from the Paul Ricard Circuit to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport when the incident happened. Williams had been at the circuit to watch the testing of the team's new Williams FW11, but as a keen long distance runner, he was returning to the airport following the trials because he wished to compete in a half marathon in London the next day. During the drive to the airport, he lost control of the hire car on a slight left hand kink in the road, clipping a low stone wall, causing the vehicle to leave the highway. An eight-foot (2.4 m) drop between the road and a field caused the car to roll onto the driver's side. Williams remained conscious but was immediately aware that he could not move and was fearful of fire due to fuel spillage. He suffered a spinal fracture between the fourth and fifth vertebra after being pressed between his seat and the crushed roof. Windsor, who had sustained only minor injuries, extracted Williams from the vehicle while waiting for the emergency services. Virginia flew with Patrick Head to the French hospital and was of the opinion that Williams was about to die. She organised his urgent repatriation to England, where doctors performed a tracheotomy, which then allowed his lungs to be drained of fluid, almost certainly saving his life. Virginia wrote an autobiographical book that was published in 1991, A Different Kind of Life, in which she describes her experiences in the Formula One team's formative years as well as her husband's near-fatal accident. For his part, Williams decided not to read her account during her lifetime, preferring to leave the past in the past. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, and died on 7 March 2013, at the age of 66.
75
Born 1945-09-18. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Suicide
John David McAfee (/ˈmækəfiː/ MAK-ə-fee) was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate. In 1987 he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation. McAfee resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company. McAfee was found dead due to an apparent suicide by hanging in a prison cell near Barcelona shortly after his extradition to the U.S. was authorized by Spain. On April 30, 2012, McAfee's property in Orange Walk Town, Belize, was raided by the Gang Suppression Unit of the Belize Police Department. At that time, McAfee was in bed with a girlfriend. A GSU press release stated that McAfee was arrested for unlicensed drug manufacturing and possession of an unlicensed weapon. He was released without charge. In 2012, Belize police spokesman, Raphael Martinez, confirmed that McAfee was neither convicted nor charged, only suspected. In January 2014, McAfee in Canada claimed that when the Belizean government raided his property, it seized his assets, and that his house later burned down under suspicious circumstances. On August 2, 2015, McAfee was arrested in Henderson County, Tennessee, on one count of driving under the influence and one count of possession of a firearm while intoxicated. In July 2019, McAfee and members of his entourage were arrested while his yacht was docked at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, on suspicion of carrying high-caliber weapons and ammunition. They were held for four days before being released. On August 11, 2020, McAfee fabricated a hoax that he was arrested in Norway during the COVID-19 pandemic, after refusing to replace a lace thong with a more effective face mask. McAfee later posted a picture of himself to Twitter with a bruised eye, claiming that it occurred during this arrest. However, the photo of the alleged arrest shows an officer with the German word for "police" on their uniform, so it could not have been an arrest in Norway. The Augsburg Police later confirmed McAfee unsuccessfully attempted to enter Germany on that day, but was not arrested. On November 12, 2012, Belize police began to search for McAfee as a "person of interest" in connection to the murder of American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull. Faull was found dead of a gunshot wound on November 11, 2012, at his home on the island of Ambergris Caye, the largest island in Belize. Faull was a neighbor of McAfee's. In a November 2012 interview with Wired, McAfee said that he had always been afraid police would kill him and refused their routine questions; he evaded the Belizean authorities. Belize's prime minister, Dean Barrow, called McAfee "extremely paranoid, even bonkers." McAfee fled Belize when he was sought for questioning concerning the murder. The magazine Vice accidentally gave away McAfee's location at a Guatemalan resort in early December 2012, when a photo taken by one of its journalists accompanying McAfee was posted with the EXIF geolocation metadata still attached. While in Guatemala, McAfee asked Chad Essley, an American cartoonist and animator, to set up a blog so that McAfee could write about his experience while on the run. McAfee then appeared publicly in Guatemala City, where he unsuccessfully sought political asylum. On December 5, 2012, McAfee was arrested for illegally entering Guatemala. Shortly afterward, he was placed under arrest, and a board to review McAfee's plea for asylum was formed. The committee denied his asylum, so he was taken from his holding facility to a detention center in order to await deportation to Belize. On December 6, 2012, Reuters and ABC News reported that McAfee had two minor heart attacks in a Guatemalan detention center and was hospitalized. McAfee's lawyer stated that his client had not suffered heart attacks, but had instead suffered from high blood pressure and anxiety attacks. McAfee later said he had faked the heart attacks while being held in Guatemala, to buy time for his attorney to file a series of appeals that ultimately prevented his deportation to Belize, thus hastening the government's decision to send him back to the United States. On December 12, 2012, McAfee was released from detention in Guatemala, and deported to the United States. On November 14, 2018, the Circuit Court in Orlando, Florida, refused to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against McAfee for Faull's death. In January 2019, McAfee announced that he was on the run from U.S. authorities, and living internationally on a boat following the convening of a Grand Jury to indict him, his wife, and four of his 2020 Presidential campaign workers on tax-related charges. At the time the IRS had not independently confirmed the existence of these charges. On October 5, 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice for tax evasion. The June indictment, which was unsealed upon his arrest, alleged he earned millions of dollars from 2014 to 2018, but failed to file income tax returns. On October 6, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint that further alleged that McAfee and his bodyguard promoted certain initial coin offerings in a fraudulent cryptocurrencies pump-and-dump scheme. According to the SEC, McAfee presented himself as an impartial investor when he promoted the ICOs, despite the fact that he was allegedly paid $23 million in digital assets in exchange for the promotions. On March 5, 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York formally indicted McAfee and an executive adviser on these charges. McAfee was incarcerated in Spain, pending extradition to the United States. On June 23, 2021, the Spanish National Court authorized the extradition of McAfee to the United States, for criminal charges in Tennessee. McAfee died a few hours later. The New York extradition case was still pending in a lower Spanish court.
90
Born 1930-04-17. Domain:Society. Cause of death:COVID
Rémy Julienne was a French driving stunt performer, stunt coordinator, assistant director and occasional actor. He was also a rallycross champion and 1956 French motorcross champion. He was a veteran of over 1,400 films. Notable large film projects in which he arranged stunts, consulted or manufactured special stunt cars include The Italian Job and six James Bond films, five of which were directed by John Glen and three with his sons Dominique and Michel. His career suffered a setback in 1999, when a stunt went wrong during the filming of Taxi 2, written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Gérard Krawczyk, causing the death of a cameraman Alain Dutartre and the serious injury of the cameraman's assistant. Julienne accused the production company of taking short cuts in safety equipment, which Besson denied. The case wound up on September 11, 2007, with Julienne receiving an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a €13,000 fine. The prosecutor accused Julienne of "not taking all the necessary measures for the security of the stunt in question" and notably to have "neglected the speed calculations of the car and the length of the jump". Besson's firm EuropaCorp was initially cleared of all charges in 2007. Instead, Julienne, was held solely responsible for the botched scene. But the Paris Court of Appeal reversed the ruling in June 2009, and ordered EuropaCorp pay €100,000. Julienne's jail sentence was reduced to six months, and his fine was reduced from €13,000 to €2,000 but he was required to pay the Dutartre family €50,000 in court costs. EuropaCorp producers were criticised for rejecting Julienne's offers to trial the car scene in question for a price, which the stuntman claims would have prevented the tragedy.
73
Born 1947-09-03. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Heart
Gérard Paul Francis Houllier OBE (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ ulje]) was a French football manager and player. His clubs consist of Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, with whom he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2001. He then guided Olympique Lyonnais to two French titles, before announcing his resignation on 25 May 2007. He became manager of Aston Villa in September 2010. He also coached the France national team between 1992 and 1993. He assisted Aimé Jacquet in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was part of UEFA's and FIFA's Technical Committee in the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, and technical director for the French Football Federation during the 2010 finals. In June 2011, he stepped down from club coaching, leaving his managerial role at Aston Villa, following frequent hospitalisation over heart problems. From July 2012 until his death, Houllier had been head of global football for Red Bull. He was responsible for Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, Germany's RB Leipzig and American club New York Red Bulls, as well as the now dissolved Red Bull Brasil and Red Bull Ghana academies. He became the technical director of women's football clubs Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and OL Reign in November 2020.
80
Born 1940-04-04. Domain:Journalism. Cause of death:Age
Marcel Trillat was a French journalist and documentary filmmaker. A communist, he directed many documentaries about the living conditions of workers, women and immigrants in France. He also did documentaries about French government's response to the Algerian War and the Gulf War and religious cults and public hospitals. He co-directed three documentaries with Maurice Failevic, one of which is about the history of communism in France. He was a director of France Télévisions, France's public television broadcaster, for five years.
96
Born 1923-12-15. Domain:Science (Physics style). Cause of death:Age
Freeman John Dyson FRS was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. He was professor emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. On 28 February 2020 Dyson died at a hospital near Princeton, New Jersey, from complications following a fall. He was 96.
77
Born 1942-09-22. Domain:Business. Cause of death:Stroke
He was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014 and oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of the world's most popular sports during the 1990s and 2000s. He is credited with developing and broadening the NBA's audience, especially internationally setting up training camps, playing exhibition games, and recruiting more international players. In addition, with Stern's guidance the NBA opened 12 offices in cities outside the United States, and broadcast to over 200 territories in over 40 languages. Stern also helped found the Women's National Basketball Association and the NBA G League, the NBA's development league. Under Stern, the NBA launched their digital presence with NBA.com, NBA TV and NBA League Pass. He also established the NBA's social responsibility program, NBA Cares. On December 12, 2019, Stern suffered a brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery. He died in Manhattan on January 1, 2020, at age 77.
49
Born 1969-09-17. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Suicide
Keith Charles Flint was an English singer, dancer and motorcycle racer. He was a founding member of the electronic dance act the Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer, he became the frontman of the group and performed on the group's two UK number one singles, "Firestarter" and "Breathe" both released in 1996. He was also the lead singer of his own band, Flint. He owned a motorcycle racing team, Team Traction Control, which won four Isle of Man TT races throughout 2015 and 2016, and competed in the British Supersport Championship. Flint was a keen motorcyclist. He rode 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from England to southern Spain to attend the 2007 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix and also raced in club competitions. He rode with Lee Thompson of the band Madness. He had his own motorcycle team, Team Traction Control, which competed in the British Supersport Championship as part of the British Superbike Championship before stepping up to the British Superbike Championship in 2017. In 2015 Team Traction Control machines won two Isle of Man TT races, ridden by Ian Hutchinson. The team and Ian Hutchinson repeated their two victories again in 2016. Flint's final public performance with the Prodigy was on 5 February 2019 at Trusts Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. On Saturday 2 March 2019, Flint took part in the Chelmsford Parkrun, for the third consecutive week, in which he achieved his personal best time. On 4 March 2019, just after 8:10 am, Essex Police were called to Flint's home in North End, near Great Dunmow, Essex, in response to concerns for his welfare. Flint was pronounced dead at the scene, and the police did not treat the death as suspicious. It was later confirmed at an inquest into his death he had died as a result of hanging. The coroner adjourned the inquest until 23 July for a full hearing. Later that day, bandmate Liam Howlett stated in an Instagram post that Flint had taken his own life. The official band website then went black with an announcement of his death and the Prodigy announced that they had cancelled all forthcoming shows. It was later revealed by Emily Eavis that this included a booking at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival. The next scheduled Prodigy performance was to be the Estéreo Picnic Festival on 6 April 2019 in Bogotá, Colombia. It was established by the coroners inquest on 8 May 2019 that there was insufficient evidence to conclude a suicide verdict in relation to Flint's death.
22
Born 1996-01-10. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
Tara Fares was a controversial Iraqi model and beauty blogger. On 27 September 2018, she was shot three times by an unknown gunman in Baghdad while driving her Porsche Boxster convertible. She was taken to hospital, where she died. Iraq's Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji stated that those responsible for her murder were members of "an extremist Shiite group" who had received dishonourable discharges from different armed factions. However, the names of any suspects had still not been released as of October 2020. Numerous conspiracy theories have circulated about her death. Many people reject the government’s reason and blame the murder on the young woman's freedom, which bothered many extremist militias. The exhibition of her tattoos and her naked photos on his social networks have always been taken for provocation by religious population. Her death was followed by numerous death threats against other Iraqi social media stars, with the same lifestyle as Tara.
68
Born 1950-05-13. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Pneumonia
Daniel David Kirwan was a British musician whose greatest success came with his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a solo artist from 1975 to 1979, recorded albums with Otis Spann, Chris Youlden, and Tramp, and worked with his former Fleetwood Mac colleagues Jeremy Spencer and Christine McVie on some of their solo projects. An obituary in The New York Times quoted Kirwan's former wife as saying that he had died in his sleep "after contracting pneumonia earlier in the year and never fully recovering from it." Alcohol and drugs appear to have contributed to Kirwan's decline. Green's biographer Martin Celmins said that by the age of 21, after two and a half years as a professional musician, Kirwan was "lost in a drink and drugs wasteland." A lot of pressure and responsibility had fallen on his shoulders after Green left the band in 1970 and he had found it difficult to cope. By the end of 1970 his excessive drinking was causing concern. By 1972 he was said to be drinking heavily and showing signs of alcoholism and he had experimented with LSD and mescaline. Celmins quoted Fleetwood's first wife, Jenny Boyd, who knew Kirwan, as saying, "I think drugs and alcohol got Danny totally nuts in the end. He was just too sensitive a soul." In the late 1970s Kirwan's mental health deteriorated, and after a difficult time recording his final solo album in January 1979 he played no further part in the music industry. In 1994 he was said to be "a homeless alcoholic, divorced, with a son he hardly ever sees." In March 1996 he was reported to be sleeping on park benches and was a semi-permanent resident of a hostel for the homeless. Around this time his ex-wife was quoted as saying, "[Danny] lives a very simple life and is pretty much disconnected from what you or I would call reality." In July 2000, a few weeks after his 50th birthday, Kirwan was settled in a care home for alcoholics in South London. Martin Celmins, who had interviewed Kirwan in 1996, said he was now looking "fitter, stronger and more together" and kept a guitar in his room. He noted, "[Danny] remains a very private person who keeps himself to himself." In 2002 Jeremy Spencer visited with Kirwan's ex-wife and son. Spencer said later that the meeting had been pleasant, although Kirwan was "in his own world". Kirwan was well looked after and was visited by family and friends.
74
Born 1944-03-24. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Pneumonia
Ronald Lee Ermey was an American actor, voice actor, drill instructor and Marine. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ermey was also a United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant. Ermey was often typecast in authority figure roles, such as Mayor Tilman in the film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in Prefontaine, Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, Jimmy Lee Farnsworth in Fletch Lives, a police captain in Se7en, plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films, Lt. "Tice" Ryan in Rocket Power, a prison warden in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and John House in House. On television, Ermey hosted two programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers' questions about various military issues both modern and historic; and Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which concerned the development of different types of weapons. He also hosted GunnyTime on the Outdoor Channel. Ermey died at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, from complications related to pneumonia on the morning of April 15, 2018, twenty-two days after his 74th birthday. His funeral was held in Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, January 18, 2019, where his ashes are buried.
96
Born 1921-06-10. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Age
Oskar Gröning was a German SS Unterscharführer who was stationed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. His responsibilities included counting and sorting the money taken from prisoners, and he was in charge of the personal property of arriving prisoners. On a few occasions he witnessed the procedures of mass killing in the camp. After being transferred from Auschwitz to a combat unit in October 1944, Gröning surrendered to the British at the end of the war; his role in the SS was not discovered. He was eventually transferred to Britain as a prisoner of war and worked as a farm labourer. Upon his return to Germany, he led a normal life, reluctant to talk about his time in Auschwitz. However, more than 40 years later, he decided to make his activities at Auschwitz public after learning about Holocaust denial. He openly criticised those who denied the events that he had witnessed and the ideology to which he had subscribed. Gröning was notable as a German willing to make public statements about his experience as an SS soldier, which were self-incriminating and which exposed his life to public scrutiny. In particular, he confessed to stealing jewellery and currencies from gas chamber victims for his personal benefit. In September 2014, Gröning was charged by German prosecutors as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases, for his role at the Auschwitz concentration camp. His trial began in April 2015, after the court had ruled that, at the age of 93, he was still fit to stand trial. The trial was held in Lüneburg, Germany. On 15 July 2015, he was found guilty of facilitating mass murder and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Following a number of unsuccessful appeals against the prison sentence, Gröning died on 9 March 2018 while hospitalized before he was set to begin his sentence.
88
Born 1928-12-30. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was a French actor. In 1969, in L'Armée des ombres, he was responsible for the prison camp where Lino Ventura, alias Philippe Gerbier, was imprisoned. For television, he played Flambart, the police officer who chased Eugène François Vidocq relentlessly, played by Bernard Noël in the TV series Vidocq in 1967.
64
Born 1953-07-02. Domain:Directing. Cause of death:Cancer
Alain Berbérian was a French film director and writer of Armenian descent. Born in Beirut to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, Berbérian spent his youth in Lebanon before finishing his studies in France. He was the brother of cartoonist Charles Berberian. He began his career in the audiovisual field, working as an editor at Canal+. His first feature film was the comedy La Cité de la peur, which was hit in France. Based on a script by Les Nuls, the film describes a series of murders in Cannes. Berbérian returned in 1998 with Paparazzi, starring Vincent Lindon and Patrick Timsit. The film follows the life of a night watchman (Timsit) who is fired after being photographed at a soccer game, instead of being at his job. He then meets Michel (Lindon), who teaches him how to be a paparazzo. In 2000, Berbérian directed Six-Pack, a thriller with Richard Anconina who stalks a serial-killer to the four corners of Paris. Returning in 2002 with the comedy Le Boulet, starring Gérard Lanvin and Benoît Poelvoorde, a prison guard (Poelvoorde) has to team up with a convict (Lanvin) to retrieve a lotto ticket from the latter. Then in 2004, Berbérian paired Christian Clavier and Jean Reno in the comedy, The Corsican File, based on a comic book of the same name by René Pétillon, in which a detective is responsible for locating a man living in Corsica who is owed an inheritance. In 2007, he reunited Gérard Jugnot and Jean-Paul Rouve in L'Île aux trésors.
30
Born 1987-03-23. Domain:Journalism. Cause of death:Murder
Kim Isabel Fredrika Wall was a Swedish freelance journalist. She was born in Trelleborg, Scania, to Ingrid and Joachim Wall, and had a younger brother, Tom. After graduating from high school in Malmö, she received a bachelor's degree in international relations at the London School of Economics and a dual master's degree in journalism and international relations at Columbia University in New York City She wrote reports about a variety of topics for publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Vice, Slate, and Time. In March 2016, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung awarded her the Hansel Mieth Prize for Best Digital Reportage for "Exodus", a multi-media report on climate change and nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. At the time of her death, Wall lived with her Danish boyfriend Ole Stobbe in Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. On 10 August 2017, Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall boarded the midget submarine UC3 Nautilus with the intent of interviewing its owner, entrepreneur Peter Madsen. She was reported missing after the submarine failed to return to Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. The submarine was found sunken the following morning and Madsen was arrested upon being rescued from the water. Between 21 August and 29 November, Wall's dismembered body parts were found in different locations around the area. Charged with her murder, Madsen was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 April 2018 by Copenhagen City Court following a widely publicised trial. The case is also known in Denmark as Ubådssagen (transl. "The submarine case").
42
Born 1974-11-02. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Operation
He was an American rapper, author, and entrepreneur who, with Havoc, was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep. In an interview with Vibe in November 2000, Prodigy spoke about what inspired him to directly address his battle with sickle-cell anemia in his song "You Can Never Feel My Pain", from his debut studio album H.N.I.C. He attributes his nihilism to the "permanent physical suffering" caused by his lifelong battle with the condition. On June 20, 2017, it was reported that Prodigy had died at the Spring Valley Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, while hospitalized for complications related to his sickle-cell anemia. He was performing in the Art of Rap Tour in Las Vegas with Havoc, Ghostface Killah, Onyx, KRS-One, and Ice-T when he was hospitalized. According to a coroner's report, Prodigy was admitted to Spring Valley Medical Center after suffering a significant medical episode arising from his life-long battle with sickle-cell anemia. Days later, on the morning of June 20, Prodigy was found unresponsive by hospital staff. It was reported at the time that Prodigy died from accidental choking. The complaint, which was filed on behalf of the family by The Gage Law Firm, alleges that the Spring Valley hospital breached their duty of care for Prodigy by "failing to maintain a working IV access," and by "failing to continuously monitor oxygen levels" as ordered by physicians in the hospital, and that those failures led to Prodigy's death
73
Born 1944-01-13. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Age
He was an English racing cyclist who became the world amateur road race champion in 1967. In response to a journalist's shouted comment that the last British amateur world road champion had been Dave Marsh 45 years earlier, Webb retorted: "And they'll have to wait another 45 years before another British rider wins." Not only did no British man win a world road race championship in the following 45 years, but none can now win the amateur championship as the segregation between amateur and professional cycling no longer exists.
60
Born 1956-10-21. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:alcohol, other drugs
She was an American actress, writer, and comedian. Fisher is known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, a role for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. Her other film credits include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The 'Burbs (1989), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Soapdish (1991), and The Women (2008). Fisher was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performances on the television series 30 Rock and Catastrophe. She was posthumously made a Disney Legend in 2017, and in 2018 she was awarded a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Fisher was on a commercial flight on December 23, 2016, from London to Los Angeles when she suffered a medical emergency around fifteen minutes before the aircraft landed. A passenger seated near Fisher reported that she had stopped breathing; another passenger performed CPR on Fisher until paramedics arrived at the scene. Emergency services in Los Angeles were contacted when the flight crew reported a passenger unresponsive prior to landing. Fisher was taken by ambulance to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator. In a June 16, 2017, news release, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said that the exact cause of death could not be determined, but sleep apnea and the buildup of fatty tissue on the walls of arteries were among the contributing factors. A full report from June 19, 2017, stated that Fisher had cocaine in her system, as well as traces of heroin, other opiates, and MDMA. The report also stated that the investigation was unable to determine when she had taken the drugs, and whether they contributed to her death. Her daughter Billie Lourd stated that Fisher "battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life [and] ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases... I know my Mom, she'd want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles."
82
Born 1934-07-14. Domain:Art. Cause of death:Age
He was a French comics artist/writer and publisher. Through his own work and the magazines he co-founded, L'Écho des savanes and Fluide Glacial, he was a key figure in the switch in French-language comics from their children's entertainment roots to an adult tone and readership. His series include Rubrique-à-Brac, Gai-Luron, and Superdupont. In 1995, having taken a back seat for a couple of years, Diament and Gotlib sold Fluide Glacial and Audie to publisher Flammarion and relinquished responsibilities, though Gotlib continued his column for some time. Fluide Glacial remains profitable and has outlived all its competitors such as Vaillant/Pif, Pilote and the Hara-Kiri stable.
91
Born 1925-04-19. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961) and the NBC action television series Search (1972–1973). His notable films included the adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (1965); he also had a notable supporting role in John Wayne's last film, The Shootist (1976). He was highly regarded for creating the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit youth leadership-development program for high-school scholars. It has sponsored more than 400,000 students since O'Brian founded the program in 1958, following an extended visit with physician and theologian Albert Schweitzer.
94
Born 1921-07-08. Domain:Science (Physics style). Cause of death:Age
He was a French scientist and educator, known for his major contribution to the development of the University of Grenoble in the years following the Second World War. He is also known for his early work on nuclear magnetic resonance, centimetre wavelength radiation (microwaves) and electron spin resonance. He graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), and, on completing his thesis, was invited by Louis Néel to a post at the University of Grenoble, where he established the Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique. Both men, Néel and Soutif, understood the importance of the relationship between industry and fundamental research, and of the consequent need to attract new industries to the surrounding region. Soutif's success in obtaining teaching posts and in reinforcing the discipline of physics at the University of Grenoble was remarkable. He is recognized not only for his scientific achievements but also for the outstanding clarity of his teaching and his mission to spread scientific reason. These were talents that, in the positions of responsibility and decision that he occupied during his career, propelled him to become one of the principal architects of the growth of the University.
56
Born 1959-09-24. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Suicide
He was an American baritone who was the emcee, owner, and a founding member of the Kingdom Heirs. Born in Mascot, Tennessee, French and his brother, Kreis, founded the group in 1981; both began performing musically at their church. He previously traveled with regional groups the Crystal River Boys and the King's Servants. In 2002, French and his brother faced the task of replacing three key group members who had all resigned at the same time. Through skillful additions when necessary, they have managed to keep the group a fan favorite. In addition to his past responsibilities with the Kingdom Heirs, he had served on the board of directors for the National Quartet Convention. He died at the age of 56. On June 22, 2016, Steve and girlfriend, Lindsey Hudson, jumped to their death from the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayette County, WV. They both had active capias warrants for their arrests.