Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Ali Sriti

علي السريتي

Tunisia

1919 – 2007 (88 years old)

Supreme maestro of the Tunisian oud and guardian of the classical Andalusian Malouf heritage who directed the National Radio Orchestra and mentored international virtuoso Anouar Brahem.

Tunis, Tunisia

11 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

31

Driss Chraïbi

إدريس الشرايبي

Morocco

1926 – 2007 (80 years old)

Pioneering Moroccan author who detonated modern North African Francophone literature with his explosive 1954 debut novel 'The Simple Past' (Le Passé simple), challenging patriarchal despotism and colonial hypocrisy.

Casablanca, Morocco

31 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

Ulfat Idilbi

إلفة الإدلبي

Syria

15 November 1912 – 21 March 2007 (94 years old)

Pioneering Syrian woman novelist whose internationally acclaimed masterpiece 'Sabriya' portrayed Damascene women during the French Mandate.

Damascus, Syria

2 Full Record →

Politics

Resistance & Human Rights

Kenneth Koma

Kenneth Goabamang Koma

Botswana

1923-06-23 – 2007-03-19 (83 years old)

Influential socialist theoretician and political visionary who founded the Botswana National Front (BNF) in 1965, authoring 'Pamphlet No. 1' and serving as Leader of the Opposition from 1984 to 2003.

Mahalapye, Botswana

1 Full Record →

41

🕯️ 940

Lucie Aubrac

Lucie Bernard (Lucie Aubrac)

France

29 June 1912 – 14 March 2007 (94 years old)

Iconic French history teacher and resistance fighter who co-founded the Libération-Sud network and led daring armed commando assaults to liberate imprisoned resistance comrades from Gestapo prisons in Lyon.

Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

41 Full Record →

Art

Hans Wegner

Hans Jørgensen Wegner

Denmark

1914-04-02 – 2007-01-26 (92 years old)

Legendary Danish master craftsman celebrated as 'the King of Chairs' who designed over 500 chairs, including The Round Chair (used in the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates) and the Wishbone Chair.

Gentofte, Denmark

1 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

42

🕯️ 1,890

Abbé Pierre

Henri Antoine Grouès

France

5 August 1912 – 22 January 2007 (94 years old)

Abbé Pierre (Henri Grouès) was a French Roman Catholic priest, WWII Resistance fighter, and deputy who founded the international Emmaüs movement in 1949 to combat homelessness and poverty. During the deadly winter of 1954, his famous radio broadcast 'Insurrection of Goodness' mobilized the French nation to build emergency shelters, making him France's most beloved moral icon for decades.

Esteville, Seine-Maritime, France

42 Full Record →

Science

2

Statesmanship & Statesmen

James Hillier

Canada

22 August 1915 – 15 January 2007 (91 years old)

Canadian physicist who co-designed the first operational high-resolution transmission electron microscope in North America at the University of Toronto in 1938.

Princeton, United States

2 Full Record →

4

Mostefa Lacheraf

مصطفى الأشرف

Algeria

1917 – 2007 (89 years old)

Eminent sociologist, author of the seminal 1965 study 'Algérie: nation et société', Minister of Education, and one of the five historic FLN leaders intercepted in the 1956 plane hijacking.

Algiers, Algeria

4 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

10

Ahmed Fouad Shennib

أحمد فؤاد شنيب

Libya

1923 – 2007 (84 years old)

Celebrated Libyan romantic poet from Derna and Minister of Education who expanded the national university system and represented Libya at UNESCO.

Derna, Libya

10 Full Record →

29

Clay Regazzoni

Gianclaudio Giuseppe Regazzoni

Switzerland

1939 – 2006 (67 years old)

Beloved Swiss Ferrari Formula One driver 'Clay' who won five Grands Prix, helped Scuderia Ferrari win three World Constructors' Championships, scored Williams' first-ever F1 victory, and pioneered motorsport for paraplegics.

Porza (Lugano), Switzerland

29 Full Record →

History

Joseph Ki-Zerbo

Burkina Faso

1922-06-21 – 2006-12-04 (84 years old)

One of Africa's most brilliant historians and philosophers who edited Volume I of the UNESCO General History of Africa and formulated the doctrine 'Nan lara an sara' (If we sleep, we die).

Toma, Burkina Faso

1 Full Record →

Politics

Hassan Gouled Aptidon

Djibouti

1916-10-15 – 2006-11-21 (90 years old)

First President of the Republic of Djibouti (1977–1999) who led the nation to independence from France and maintained stability as a regional mediator in the Horn of Africa.

Djibouti City, Djibouti

1 Full Record →

33

🕯️ 2,760

Ferenc Puskás

Puskás Ferenc (Purczeld)

Hungary

1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006 (79 years old)

Ferenc Puskás was a prolific Hungarian forward whose thunderous left-foot strikes and captaincy guided the legendary 'Mighty Magyars' through a 31-match unbeaten run, winning Olympic gold in 1952. Defecting after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he joined Real Madrid at age thirty-one, scoring 242 goals in 262 games and winning three European Cups.

Budapest, Hungary

33 Full Record →

5

Alphonse Halimi

ألفونس حليمي

Algeria

1932 – 2006 (74 years old)

World Bantamweight Boxing Champion born in Constantine, nicknamed 'La Petite Terreur', who unified the world bantamweight title in Paris in 1957.

Paris (honored in Constantine), France

5 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

5

André Mandouze

أندريه ماندوز

France

1916 – 2006 (90 years old)

Eminent Saint Augustine scholar and Dean of the Faculty of Letters in Algiers who courageously exposed colonial torture and stood as an unwavering champion of free Algeria.

Paris / Algiers honors, France

5 Full Record →