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Meyssonier Fernand (b. 1931-06-14 / d. 2008-08-08)
He was an executioner in the last years of French Algeria. He acted as an executioner from 1947 to 1961 and executed more than 200. He inherited the job of executioner from his father Maurice Meyssonnier in 1947 when he ended compulsory education. His ancestors had been executioners from ages ago. When Algeria became independent from France in 1961, the guillotine was replaced by execution by firing squad.
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95
Born 1930-01-30. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Eugene Allen Hackman (January 30, 1930 – c. February 18, 2025) was an American actor. Considered one of the greatest actors of his generation and a paragon of the New Hollywood movement, Hackman's acting career spanned over four decades. He received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Hackman was found dead along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and one of their three dogs, at their home in Santa Fe on February 26, 2025. He is presumed to have died of heart disease complicated by advanced Alzheimer's disease around February 18, about a week after Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. In 1990, Hackman underwent an angioplasty. In 2012, Hackman was struck by a pickup truck while he was cycling in the Florida Keys. It was initially reported that he had suffered serious head trauma; however, his publicist stated that his injury was nothing more than "bumps and bruises". Hackman attended an event in Santa Fe in late 2022. He was last seen in public in March 2024. After his death, autopsy reports revealed Hackman had Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to his death. Hackman's will, created in 1995, lists Arakawa as his sole inheritor; Arakawa's will states that if they die within 90 days of each other, the proceeds go to charity.
94
Born 1930-06-19. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she collaborated with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977). She appeared in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), and her son Nick Cassavetes's film, The Notebook (2004). In 2021, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, "The most important and original movie actor of the past half century-plus is Gena Rowlands." In November 2015, Rowlands received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her unique screen performances. On June 24, 2024, Nick Cassavetes announced that his mother had been living with Alzheimer's disease for the previous five years. Rowlands died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at her home in Indian Wells, California, at the age of 94.
87
Born 1935-09-09. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Chaim Topol (Hebrew: חיים טופול), also spelled Haym Topol, mononymously known as Topol, was an Israeli actor, singer, and illustrator. He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye, the lead role in the stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1971 film adaptation, performing this role more than 3,500 times from 1967 through 2009. Topol began his acting career during his Israeli army service in the Nahal entertainment troupe and later toured Israel with kibbutz theatre and satirical theatre companies. He was a co-founder of the Haifa Theatre. His breakthrough film role came in 1964 as the title character in Sallah Shabati, by Israeli writer Ephraim Kishon, for which he won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer—Male. Topol went on to appear in more than 30 films in Israel and the United States, including Galileo (1975), Flash Gordon (1980), and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He was described as Israel's only internationally recognized entertainer from the 1960s through the 1980s. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1971 film portrayal of Tevye, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for a 1991 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Topol was a founder of Variety Israel, an organization serving children with special needs, and Jordan River Village, a year-round camp for Arab and Jewish children with life-threatening illnesses, for which he served as chairman of the board. In 2015 he was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement. In June 2022, Topol's son, Omer, revealed that his father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
75
Born 1947-06-22. Domain:Philosophy. Cause of death:cancer (pancreas)
Bruno Latour was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist. He was especially known for his work in the field of science and technology studies (STS). After teaching at the École des Mines de Paris (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation) from 1982 to 2006, he became Professor at Sciences Po Paris (2006–2017), where he was the scientific director of the Sciences Po Medialab. He retired from several university activities in 2017. He was also a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Latour is best known for his books We Have Never Been Modern (1991; English translation, 1993), Laboratory Life (with Steve Woolgar, 1979) and Science in Action (1987). Although his studies of scientific practice were at one time associated with social constructionist approaches to the philosophy of science, Latour diverged significantly from such approaches. He was best known for withdrawing from the subjective/objective division and re-developing the approach to work in practice. Latour said in 2017 that he is interested in helping to rebuild trust in science and that some of the authority of science needs to be regained. Along with Michel Callon and John Law, Latour is one of the primary developers of actor–network theory (ANT), a constructionist approach influenced by the ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel, the generative semiotics of Algirdas Julien Greimas, and (more recently) the sociology of Émile Durkheim's rival Gabriel Tarde.
60
Born 1961-07-08. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Unknown
Andrew John Leonard Fletcher, also known as Fletch, was an English keyboard player, DJ, and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In 2020, he and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fletcher was married to Gráinne Fletcher (née Mullan) for almost 30 years. The couple had two children. While Depeche Mode were touring with the band Blancmange in the early 1980s, Fletcher was renowned for his skill at chess. Neil Arthur of Blancmange has mentioned in interviews "never winning a game of chess with Andy Fletcher!" During the 1990s, Fletcher owned a restaurant called Gascogne located on Blenheim Terrace in St. John's Wood, London. He made a series of bad investments in the mid-1990s that led to a number of financial settlements involving Lloyd's of London and Daniel Miller. Writing about the 1993 Devotional Tour, Glyn Brown of The Independent said: "... an epic 180-show affair, became the definition of hell. Depeche Mode – down to Gore, Gahan and Andrew Fletcher – were barely on speaking terms, using separate limos and dressing rooms. The smack-blasted vocalist required cortisone shots just to perform, borderline alcoholic Gore suffered two stress-induced seizures, and Andrew Fletcher's deepening depression resulted, in the summer of 1994, in a full nervous breakdown."
75
Born 1945-11-03. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Age
Gerhard Müller was a German professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the sport. Nicknamed "Bomber der Nation" ("the nation's Bomber") or simply "Der Bomber", Müller was named European Footballer of the Year in 1970. After a successful season at Bayern Munich, he scored ten goals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup for West Germany where he received the Golden Boot as top goalscorer. In 1972, he won the UEFA European Championship and was the top goalscorer, scoring two goals in the final. Two years later, he scored four goals in the 1974 World Cup, including the winning goal in the final. After Müller ended his career in 1982, he fell into a slump and suffered from alcoholism. However, his former companions at Bayern Munich convinced him to go through alcohol rehabilitation. When he emerged, they gave him a job as a coach at Bayern Munich II. There is also a collection of apparel released by sporting giants Adidas under the Gerd Müller name. It is part of the Adidas originals series. In July 2008, the Rieser Sportpark, in Nördlingen, where Müller had begun his career, was renamed the Gerd-Müller-Stadion in his honour. On 6 October 2015, it was announced that Müller was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
73
Born 1947-08-11. Domain:TV/Radio. Cause of death:Age
Georges Alexis Pernoud was a French journalist, television presenter and television producer. He is known for presenting his television documentary Thalassa (1980-2017), created in 1975 and dedicated to the sea. Georges Pernoud comes from a family of journalists, by René, his father, and by Georges his uncle and godfather. Her aunts are historian Régine Pernoud and literary director Laurence Pernoud. Georges Pernoud died of Alzheimer's disease in a hospital of the Parisian region.
107
Born 1912-11-29. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
Viola Clara Smith (née Schmitz) was an American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers. She played five times on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as in two films and the Broadway musical Cabaret. Smith never married. She had been engaged to be married, but the man was drafted into World War II, and the engagement was cancelled. At the time of Smith's 107th birthday in November 2019, it was reported that she occasionally still drummed with bands in Costa Mesa, California, as one of the oldest living mainstream musicians. Smith died on October 21, 2020, at her home in Costa Mesa, California, at the age of 107. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the time leading up to her death
86
Born 1932-05-04. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Susan Brown was an American television and film actress and interior designer. She was best known for her roles on daytime soap operas, particularly General Hospital; in 1979, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her role on the show. Brown died in Los Angeles, California from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 86.
78
Born 1940-02-12. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Xenia Gratsos, also known as Brioni Farrell, was a Greek American actress who worked both in film and on stage. She was born in Greece and moved to the United States to pursue her acting career. She had a long career with multiple roles in U.S. television and film. She lived in southern California with her husband, Eugene Robert Glazer, two dogs and seven cats, all of which were rescues. Star Trek ("The Return of the Archons") (1967) ... as Tula The actress succumbed to complications of Alzheimer's after suffering from the illness for 12 years.
84
Born 1933-10-22. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Age
Donald Herod Peterson was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Peterson was originally selected for the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program, but, when that was canceled, he became a NASA astronaut in September 1969. He was a mission specialist on STS-6 on board Challenger. During the mission Peterson performed a spacewalk to test the new airlock and space suits. He logged 120 hours in space. Peterson retired from NASA in 1984. He died at his home in El Lago, Texas, of Alzheimer's disease and bone cancer, at the age of 84.
85
Born 1932-06-29. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Soon-Tek Oh – also spelled as Soon-Taek Oh or Soon-Taik Oh or Soon-Teck Oh was a Korean–American actor best known for the voice of Fa Zhou in Disney's Mulan and the direct-to-video sequel Mulan II and the sadistic Colonel Yin in Missing in Action 2: The Beginning. He has starred in many films, and also acted in television series, including Stargate SG-1, MacGyver, M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, Airwolf, Magnum, P.I., Hawaii Five-O, Kung-Fu, Zorro, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Touched by an Angel. Oh died in Los Angeles at age 85 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, according to actor Chil Kong.
84
Born 1933-08-27. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Age
She was an American author who wrote on the topics of female sexuality and liberation. Her writings argue that women have often been reared under an ideal of womanhood, which was outdated and restrictive, and largely unrepresentative of many women's true inner lives, and that openness about women's hidden lives could help free women to truly feel able to enjoy being themselves. She asserts that this is not due to deliberate malice, but due to social expectation, and that for women's and men's benefit alike it is healthier that both be able to be equally open, participatory and free to be accepted for who and what they are. Nancy Friday died at her home in Manhattan from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
85
Born 1932-01-14. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
He was an American jazz and soul-jazz drummer and baritone vocalist. In addition to his work as sideman, Tate released many albums as leader and lent his voice to songs in the animated Schoolhouse Rock! series. Grady Tate died of complications of Alzheimer's at the age of 85.
85
Born 1931-10-09. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an English actor, best known for his role as Mike Rawlins in the BBC series Till Death Us Do Part. He was the father-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and the widower of Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix, marrying her a few days before her death in 1986. Booth was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2004. He suffered a stroke in 2010. He also had chronic heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
81
Born 1936-04-22. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
Glen Travis Campbell was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. He released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease six months earlier. He became a patient at an Alzheimer's long-term care and treatment facility in 2014. That same year Campbell was the subject of the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me, directed by longtime friend James Keach, that examined Campbell's Alzheimer's diagnosis and how it affected his musical performances during his final tour across the United States with his family. The documentary received critical acclaim, being one of the rare films to achieve a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Campbell began having problems with alcoholism and cocaine addiction in the 1970s. He credited his fourth wife Kim with helping him turn his life around. Campbell eventually stopped drinking alcohol and taking drugs in 1987. However, it was evident he relapsed in 2003 when he pleaded guilty in Arizona to drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident and spent 10 days in jail.
94
Born 1922-04-13. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Age
Elisabeth Waldheim (née Ritschel) was an Austrian political figure and the wife of Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary-General and President of Austria. She was the First Lady of Austria from 1986 to 1992. She spoke German, English and French.
96
Born 1920-02-03. Domain:Science (Medical/Bio style). Cause of death:Age
He was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher. He is widely credited as the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, a technique of abdominal thrusts for stopping choking, described in Emergency Medicine in 1974. He also invented the Micro Trach portable oxygen system for ambulatory patients and the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve, or "flutter valve", which drains blood and air out of the chest cavity. A statement from his family said Heimlich died at The Christ Hospital after complications from a heart attack in his home in Hyde Park, Cincinnati.
73
Born 1943-04-30. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
He was an American singer, songwriter and musician who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to Billboard magazine, he had thirty-eight Hot 100 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20. He had six gold singles in his career. Vee's career began in the midst of tragedy. On February 3, 1959, "The Day the Music Died," three of the four headline acts in the lineup of the traveling Winter Dance Party—Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper—were killed in the crash of a V-tailed 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza airplane, along with the 21-year-old pilot, Roger Peterson. (Dion DiMucci, the fourth headliner, had opted not to travel on the plane.) It crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, en route to the next show on the tour itinerary, in Moorhead, Minnesota. Velline, then 15 years old, and a hastily assembled band of Fargo schoolboys (including his older brother Bill) calling themselves the Shadows volunteered for and were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and his band at the Moorhead engagement. Their performance there was a success, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Vee's career as a popular singer. Vee continued performing live until 2011 when diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
83
Born 1933-06-11. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, singer-songwriter and author. Wilder died at the age of 83 at home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He had kept knowledge of his condition private, but had been diagnosed three years prior to his death.
71
Born 1944-03-23. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Cancer
Patrick Floersheim was a French actor. He was the French voice of many stars : Jeff Bridges, Ed Harris, Robin Williams, Willem Dafoe, Dustin Hoofman, Kurt Russel, Arnold Schwarzenegger or James Woods.
67
Born 1948-10-24. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
He was an English drummer and a founding member of 1970s rock band Mott the Hoople. Later, he worked as a producer, and produced many of the BBC Radio 1 John Peel sessions from 1981 to 1994. Aged 58, Griffin was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In January 2009 it was confirmed that Griffin and the other original members of Mott the Hoople would reform for three 40th anniversary reunion concerts in October 2009. Due to popular demand, the reunion was eventually extended to five shows. Having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Griffin only performed during the encores. The Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers, a fellow Herefordshire native and friend of the band, played the main set and also covered for Griffin on the 2013 tour. Griffin died in his sleep exactly a week after former collaborator David Bowie died from cancer.
90
Born 1925-11-30. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an American character actor known for playing scientist Dr. Rudy Wells in the television series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman, from 1975 onward (a role originally portrayed by Martin Balsam and then by Alan Oppenheimer).
84
Born 1931-01-25. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an American actor. Jones was best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977 such as The Love Bug (1968). Jones also originated the role of Bobby in Stephen Sondheim's Company. Jones died on September 1, 2015, at the age of 84, of Parkinson's disease.
83
Born 1932-04-10. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
He was an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s, but is best known for his appearances in both British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Funny Girl (1968). He was nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a César Award. Sharif had a triple heart bypass in 1992 and suffered a mild heart attack in 1994. Until his bypass, Sharif smoked 100 cigarettes a day. He quit smoking after the operation. In May 2015 it was reported that Sharif was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. His son Tarek Sharif said that his father was becoming confused when remembering some of the biggest films of his career; he would mix up the names of his best-known films, Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, often forgetting where they were filmed.
70
Born 1944-03-04. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
He was an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s, when he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career spanned more than 50 years and spanned a repertoire in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, and country. His passing was announced by a publicist at XL Recordings. He suffered diabetes, prostate cancer, heart diseases, colon cancer, pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.
70
Born 1943-11-28. Domain:Business. Cause of death:Cancer (lung)
He was an Italian motorcycle designer for Cagiva, Ducati, and MV Agusta, and one of the founders of Bimota. Tamburini's designs are iconic in their field, with one critic calling him the "Michelangelo of motorbike design". His Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4 were included in the Guggenheim Museum's The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit of 1998–1999. Tamburini was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2013 and underwent chemotherapy near his residence in San Marino.
78
Born 1935-08-02. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Hamidou Benmessaoud (Arabic: حميدو بنمسعود; 2 August 1935 – 19 September 2013), best known as Amidou, was a Moroccan-French film, television, and stage actor. Born in Rabat, at 17 Amidou moved to Paris to attend the CNSAD. In 1968 he made his debut on stage, in Jean Genet's Les paravents. Amidou was best known for his association with director Claude Lelouch, with whom he shot eleven films, including Lelouch's film debut Le propre de l'homme (1960). He made his debut in a Moroccan film in 1969, starring in Soleil de printemps directed by Latif Lahlou. His career included roles in Spaghetti Westerns like Buddy Goes West and several American productions, including William Friedkin's Sorcerer, John Frankenheimer's Ronin and John Huston's Escape to Victory. In 1969, Amidou was awarded best actor at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival for his role in Life Love Death by Claude Lelouch, and later won best actor awards at the Cairo Film Festival (for Pursuit by Leila Triquie) and at the Tangier Film Festival (for Rachid Boutounes' Here and There). In 2005 he received, at the hands of Martin Scorsese, a Lifetime Career Award at the International Film Festival of Marrakech. He was also the first Moroccan actor to have won an acting award at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art.
73
Born 1939-01-10. Domain:Music. Cause of death:orphan disease
He was an American singer. He is best known for his 1967 hit single and generational anthem, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)". He had suffered from Guillain–Barré syndrome since 2010. Guillain–Barré–Strohl syndrome, is an acute polyneuropathy, a disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system. Ascending paralysis, weakness beginning in the feet and hands and migrating towards the trunk, is the most typical symptom, and some subtypes cause change in sensation or pain as well as dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
96
Born 1915-10-22. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:Age
He was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–84 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment of the State of Israel, Shamir was a member of the Irgun, a group that was considered a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council and was a breakaway from the Haganah. He was the country’s second longest-serving prime minster after David Ben-Gurion. In 2004, Shamir's health declined, with the progression of his Alzheimer's Disease and he was moved to a nursing home. The government turned down a request by the family to finance his stay at the facility.