Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Politics

0

🕯️ 0

Govan Mbeki

Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki

South Africa

1910-07-09 – 2001-08-30 (91 years old)

Heroic Rivonia Trialist and political theorist known as 'Oom Gov', who spent twenty-four years on Robben Island and authored 'The Peasants' Revolt', father of President Thabo Mbeki.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

0 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2,132

🕯️ 167

Fred Hoyle

Sir Fred Hoyle

Great Britain

1915 – 2001 (86 years old)

Visionary English astrophysicist who explained stellar nucleosynthesis of chemical elements and coined the term 'Big Bang'.

Leicester, United Kingdom

2,132 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

30

🕯️ 0

Jorge Amado

Jorge Leal Amado de Faria

Brazil

1912 – 2001 (88 years old)

Foremost Brazilian novelist whose colorful, sensual chronicles of Afro-Bahian culture in Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands captivated the world.

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

30 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

10

🕯️ 0

Mohamed Kellou

محمد قلو

Algeria

1931 – 2001 (70 years old)

Pioneering diplomat and international lawyer who headed the diplomatic mission of the GPRA in the United Kingdom, winning Western public opinion for the Algerian cause.

Algiers, Algeria

10 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

🕯️ 0

Aly Bellagha

علي البلاغة

Tunisia

1924 – 2001 (77 years old)

Renowned painter and master wood craftsman of the Tunis School who elevated traditional North African artisanal iconography into sophisticated modernist assemblages and carvings.

Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

4 Full Record →

Media

1

🕯️ 0

Carrie Best

Carrie Mae Best

Canada

1903 – 2001 (98 years old)

Trailblazing Black Nova Scotian journalist who founded The Clarion in 1946, publicizing Viola Desmond's arrest, and hosted the radio program The Quiet Corner for twenty-five years.

New Glasgow (Nova Scotia), Canada

1 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2

🕯️ 0

Morris (Maurice de Bevere)

Maurice De Bevere

Belgium

1923 – 2001 (77 years old)

Belgian comic book creator who created Lucky Luke, 'the man who shoots faster than his own shadow', crafting alongside writer René Goscinny the definitive humorous Western saga.

Schaerbeek (Brussels), Belgium

2 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

20

🕯️ 0

Mohamed Zefzaf

محمد زفزاف

Morocco

1945 – 2001 (56 years old)

Revered Moroccan novelist and master of the Arabic short story whose humble, poetic realism captured the lives of dockers, prostitutes, and forgotten dreamers in Casablanca.

Casablanca, Morocco

20 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

🕯️ 0

Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler

Canada

1931 – 2001 (70 years old)

Acerbic, world-renowned Montreal novelist and satirist whose masterpieces The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain's Horseman, and Barney's Version captured Mile End Jewish life.

Montreal, Canada

2 Full Record →

Science

1

🕯️ 0

Albert Rakoto Ratsimamanga

Albert Rakoto Ratsimamanga

Madagascar

1907-12-28 – 2001-07-01 (93 years old)

Eminent Malagasy biochemist and physician who co-discovered the healing properties of Centella asiatica (Madecassol) and founded the Institut Malgache de Recherches Appliquées (IMRA).

Antananarivo, Madagascar

1 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

32

🕯️ 0

Nikolay Basov

Николай Геннадиевич Басов

Soviet Union

1922 – 2001 (78 years old)

Soviet physicist who co-invented the maser and laser principles through quantum electronics, awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Aleksandr Prokhorov and Charles Townes.

Moscow, Russia

32 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

🕯️ 0

Tove Jansson

Tove Marika Jansson

Finland

1914-08-09 – 2001-06-27 (86 years old)

Beloved Finland-Swedish author, illustrator, and painter who created the whimsical and philosophical world of the Moomins and wrote adult masterpieces like Sommarboken (The Summer Book).

Helsinki, Finland

2 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

🕯️ 0

Mustapha Badie (Mustapha Berkoune)

مصطفى بديع (مصطفى بركون)

Algeria

1927 – 2001 (74 years old)

Visionary founding director of Algerian television drama, whose 1974 masterpiece 'L'Incendie' (The Fire) brought colonial rural realities to millions of viewers.

Algiers, Algeria

4 Full Record →

Arts & Music

18

🕯️ 0

Soad Hosny

سعاد حسني

Egypt

January 26, 1943 – June 21, 2001 (58 years old)

Incomparable Egyptian screen superstar adored as 'The Cinderella of Egyptian Cinema' (Sindirella al-Shasha), whose radiant exuberance, comedic brilliance, and dramatic depth in over eighty films defined modern Egyptian popular culture.

6th of October City, Egypt

18 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

20

🕯️ 0

Khalifa al-Fakhri

خليفة الفاخري

Libya

1942 – June 18, 2001 (59 years old)

Exquisite Libyan short-story writer and prose stylist whose melancholic, poetic narratives explored the existential solitude of man, the nostalgia for childhood, and the fragile dignity of the vulnerable.

Benghazi, Libya

20 Full Record →

Politics

1

🕯️ 0

Víctor Paz Estenssoro

Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro

Bolivia

1907-10-02 – 2001-06-07 (93 years old)

Historic four-time President of Bolivia and founder of the MNR who led the 1952 National Revolution, nationalizing the big tin mines, enacting Agrarian Reform, and instituting universal suffrage.

Tarija, Bolivia

1 Full Record →

Politics

1

🕯️ 0

Faisal Husseini

فيصل الحسيني

Iraq

17 July 1940 – 31 May 2001 (60 years old)

Beloved Palestinian statesman and leader in Jerusalem who led the Palestinian delegation to Madrid and established Orient House as the de facto capital.

Jerusalem, Palestine

1 Full Record →

Music

1

🕯️ 0

Francis Bebey

Francis Bebey

Cameroon

1929-07-15 – 2001-05-28 (71 years old)

Celebrated Cameroonian novelist, classical guitarist, and sanza virtuoso who founded UNESCO's music division and authored 'African Music: A People's Art'.

Paris, France

1 Full Record →