Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Cheikh El Hasnaoui

الشيخ الحسناوي (محمد خلوات)

Algeria

1910 – 2002 (91 years old)

Pioneering Algerian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose poignant bilingual songs in Kabyle and Algerian Arabic immortalized the heartbreak of emigration, love, and exile.

Saint-Pierre, Réunion Island

18 Full Record →

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Theodore Samuel Williams

United States

1918 – 2002 (83 years old)

American baseball left fielder for the Boston Red Sox, widely regarded as the greatest pure hitter in baseball history, the last MLB player to hit over .400.

Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

34 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

Timothy Findley

Tiff Findley

Canada

30 October 1930 – 21 June 2002 (71 years old)

Eminent Canadian novelist and playwright whose masterpiece The Wars exposed the psychological trauma and animal vulnerability of human conflict.

Toronto, Canada

2 Full Record →

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Fritz Walter

Friedrich Walter

Germany

1920 – 2002 (81 years old)

Legendary captain of West Germany who led the national team to victory in the 1954 World Cup 'Miracle of Bern', restoring German national dignity after World War II.

Kaiserslautern, Germany

28 Full Record →

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Mamo Wolde

ማሞ ወልዴ

Ethiopia

1932 – 2002 (69 years old)

Legendary Ethiopian long-distance runner who succeeded Abebe Bikila to capture the Olympic marathon gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

26 Full Record →

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Samuel Jackson Snead

United States

1912 – 2002 (89 years old)

American professional golfer who won 82 PGA Tour events (tied all-time record) and seven major championships, famed for his fluid, natural swing.

Hot Springs, Virginia, United States

31 Full Record →

Politics

Ruth Williams Khama

United Kingdom

1923-12-09 – 2002-05-22 (78 years old)

British-born inaugural First Lady of Botswana whose 1948 interracial marriage to Seretse Khama defied apartheid South Africa and British imperial pressure, becoming a global symbol of racial harmony.

Serowe, Botswana

1 Full Record →

Art

Niki de Saint Phalle

Catherine-Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle

France

1930 – 2002 (71 years old)

French-American feminist sculptor and member of the Nouveaux Réalistes who achieved worldwide acclaim for her revolutionary Shooting Paintings, jubilant monumental 'Nanas', and the fantastical Tarot Garden in Tuscany.

San Diego (California), United States

1 Full Record →

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Ladislao Kubala

Kubala László

Hungary

1927 – 2002 (74 years old)

Legendary Hungarian-born forward who became the heart and soul of FC Barcelona in the 1950s, whose immense popularity compelled the construction of the Camp Nou.

Barcelona, Spain

30 Full Record →

Education

Kofo Ademola

Kofoworola Aina Moore

Nigeria

1913-05-21 – 2002-05-15 (88 years old)

Distinguished educator and humanitarian who in 1935 became the first Black African woman to earn a degree from Oxford University, founding the National Council of Women's Societies.

Lagos, Nigeria

1 Full Record →

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Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Валерій Васильович Лобановський

Ukraine

1939 – 2002 (63 years old)

Legendary Ukrainian football manager and pioneer of scientific football and universal pressing, who led Dynamo Kyiv to two European Cup Winners' Cups and managed the Soviet Union to the Euro 1988 final.

Kyiv, Ukraine

26 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2

Dr. Nefissa Hamoud (Mrs. Pacha)

الدكتورة نفيسة حمود (باشا)

Algeria

1924 – 2002 (78 years old)

Pioneering woman physician of the ALN in Wilaya 3 (Kabylie), who performed surgical operations in mountain caves and became President of the Algerian Red Crescent.

Algiers, Algeria

2 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

29

Kaifi Azmi

कैफ़ी आज़मी

India

1919 – 2002 (83 years old)

Urdu poet and lyricist of the Progressive Writers' Movement whose revolutionary poem Aurat championed female emancipation, and who transformed his impoverished native village of Mijwan.

Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh), India

29 Full Record →

9

Saleh Selim

صالح سليم

Egypt

1930 – 2002 (71 years old)

Affectionately hailed as 'El Maestro', Selim was the charismatic captain and visionary longtime president of Al Ahly SC, establishing the club's uncompromising ethical principles and winning African Club of the Century.

Cairo, Egypt

9 Full Record →

Politics

0

Mohamed Ibrahim Egal

Maxamed Xaaji Ibraahim Cigaal

Somalia

1928-09-13 – 2002-05-03 (73 years old)

Statesman who served as Prime Minister of the State of Somaliland in 1960, Prime Minister of the Somali Republic (1967–1969), and second President of the Republic of Somaliland.

Berbera, Somalia

0 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

Ibrahim Al-Arrayedh

إبراهيم العريّض

India

1908-03-08 – 2002-05-02 (94 years old)

Towering pioneer of modern Bahraini literature and neoclassical poetry, polyglot who translated Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat directly from Persian, and Speaker of the 1973 Constituent Assembly.

Manama, Bahrain

1 Full Record →

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