Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Philosophy & Thought

4

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Ebrahim Al-Urayyed

إبراهيم بن حسن العريض

Bahrain

1902-01-01 – 1986-01-01 (84 years old)

Distinguished Bahraini jurist and scholar who served on the Joint Judicial Courts, modernized commercial and civil jurisprudence in Manama, and advocated judicial codification.

Manama, Bahrain

4 Full Record →

Military

1

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Abderrahmane Senhaji

عبد الرحمن الصنهاجي

Morocco

c. 1920 – 1986 (~66 years old)

Key operational commander in the northern sector of the Moroccan Army of Liberation (Jaysh al-Tahrir al-Maghribi) who coordinated the armed uprising of October 1955 across the Rif and Middle Atlas.

Rabat, Morocco

1 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

37

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Ferhat Abbas

فرحات عباس

Algeria

1899 – 1985 (86 years old)

Eminent Algerian statesman, pharmacist, and author who drafted the historic 1943 Manifesto of the Algerian People and served as the first President of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA) from 1958 to 1961.

Algiers, Algeria

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

35

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Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

🌐 Mauritius

1900 – 1985 (85 years old)

Founding Father and first Prime Minister of Mauritius who led the island to independence in 1968, established free public education and healthcare, and built a stable multi-ethnic democracy.

Pamplemousses, Mauritius

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

40

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Carlos P. Romulo

Carlos Peña Rómulo

Philippines

1899 – 1985 (86 years old)

Diplomat, soldier, and author who served as the first Asian President of the UN General Assembly (1949), won the Pulitzer Prize, and co-founded ASEAN.

Taguig (Metro Manila), Philippines

40 Full Record →

Arts & Music

31

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M'hamed Issiakhem

محمد إسياخم

Algeria

1928 – 1985 (57 years old)

Towering pioneer of modern Algerian painting, graphic designer, and monumental muralist celebrated for his tragic, haunting expressionist depictions of suffering women, motherhood, and revolutionary scars.

Algiers, Algeria

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi

غلامحسین ساعدی / گوهر مراد

Iran

15 January 1936 – 23 November 1985 (49 years old)

Brilliant Iranian playwright and psychiatrist whose collection 'The Mourners of Bayal' was adapted into the historic Iranian New Wave film 'The Cow'.

Paris, France

4 Full Record →

Politics

1

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James Moroka

James Sebe Moroka

South Africa

1891-03-16 – 1985-11-10 (94 years old)

Physician and President-General of the African National Congress (1949–1952) who led the historic 1952 Defiance Campaign against unjust apartheid laws.

Thaba 'Nchu, South Africa

1 Full Record →

Music

6

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Philemon Wehbe

فليمون وهبي

Lebanon

1918 – 5 November 1985 (67 years old)

Prolific Lebanese composer dubbed the 'Sheikh of Melody' whose intuitive folk melodies produced Fairuz's most iconic and joyful songs.

Kfarshima, Lebanon

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Politics

1

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Abdul-Munim al-Rifai

عبد المنعم الرفاعي

Palestine

23 February 1901 – 17 October 1985 (84 years old)

Distinguished two-time Prime Minister of Jordan and diplomat who penned the stirring lyrics of the Jordanian Royal National Anthem.

Amman, Jordan

1 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

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Alex La Guma

Justin Alexander La Guma

South Africa

1925-02-20 – 1985-10-11 (60 years old)

Master realist novelist and anti-apartheid leader whose works 'A Walk in the Night' and 'In the Fog of the Seasons' End' captured the brutal social reality of South Africa.

Havana, Cuba

2 Full Record →

Music

1

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Nicolas Kasanda

Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikanza

Belgian Congo

1939-07-07 – 1985-09-22 (46 years old)

Virtuoso musical genius hailed as 'Dr. Nico' and 'The God of the Guitar', whose dazzling fingerpicking technique and Hawaiian lap-steel solos with Grand Kallé and African Fiesta defined Congolese rumba.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Art

1

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Odhise Paskali

Odhise Paskali

Greece

1903-12-22 – 1985-09-13 (81 years old)

Founder of modern Albanian sculpture whose monumental bronze statues include the colossal equestrian monument to Skanderbeg in Tirana's Skanderbeg Square and The Partisan in Përmet.

Tirana, Albania

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Military

1

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E. L. M. Burns

Tommy Burns

Canada

30 August 1897 – 13 September 1985 (88 years old)

Distinguished Canadian general who served as the first commander of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in 1956, turning Lester B. Pearson's peacekeeping vision into reality.

Ottawa, Canada

1 Full Record →

Science

1

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Frank Macfarlane Burnet

Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet

Australia

1899-09-03 – 1985-08-31 (85 years old)

World-renowned virologist and immunologist who won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance and formulated the clonal selection theory.

Koroit, Victoria, Australia

1 Full Record →

Science

1

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Donald O. Hebb

Donald O. Hebb

Canada

22 July 1904 – 20 August 1985 (81 years old)

Foundational Canadian psychologist whose 1949 concept of synaptic plasticity—"neurons that fire together, wire together"—laid the basis for neural networks and cognitive neuroscience.

Chester, Canada

1 Full Record →

Law

1

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Victoria Mxenge

Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge

South Africa

1942-01-01 – 1985-08-01 (43 years old)

Heroic human rights attorney who took over her husband's practice following his assassination, defended UDF leaders in the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial, and was murdered by apartheid death squads.

King William's Town, South Africa

1 Full Record →

Cinema

1

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Michel Audiard

Michel Audiard

France

1920 – 1985 (65 years old)

The undisputed master of French cinematic dialogue whose razor-sharp street argot, cynical wit, and immortal lines in Les Tontons Flingueurs, Un singe en hiver, and Mélodie en sous-sol are ingrained in the French language.

Paris, France

1 Full Record →