Historical Archives & Public Figures

Walter Bonatti

Italy

1930 – 2011 (81 years old)

Italian mountaineer and photojournalist, celebrated as one of the purest and greatest solo alpinists in history, pioneer of extreme climbing.

Porto Venere, Italy

17 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

15

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Elena Bonner

Елена Георгиевна Боннэр

🌐 Turkmenistan

15 February 1923 – 18 June 2011 (88 years old)

Elena Bonner was a fearless Soviet pediatrician, World War II veteran, and premier human rights activist who co-founded the Moscow Helsinki Group in 1976 and served as the voice and international representative of her husband, Andrei Sakharov. Defying constant KGB surveillance, arrests, and internal exile in Gorky, she represented Soviet prisoners of conscience before the world community and accepted the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize on Sakharov's behalf.

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

15 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3

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M. F. Husain

मक़बूल फ़िदा हुसेन

British India

1915 – 2011 (95 years old)

Iconic Indian modernist painter dubbed the 'Picasso of India', co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, celebrated for his dynamic galloping horses and monumental mythological epics.

Woking (Surrey), United Kingdom

3 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

2

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Albertina Sisulu

Nontsikelelo Albertina Thethiwe

South Africa

1918 – 2011 (92 years old)

Revered as 'Ma Sisulu' and 'Mother of the Nation', prominent anti-apartheid leader, nurse, and co-president of the United Democratic Front.

Johannesburg, South Africa

2 Full Record →

Arts & Music

7

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Leonora Carrington

Mary Leonora Carrington

United Kingdom

1917 – 2011 (94 years old)

British-born Mexican Surrealist painter, sculptor, and novelist celebrated for her enchanting, alchemical dreamscapes steeped in Celtic mythology, occult lore, and female autonomy.

Mexico City, Mexico

7 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

3

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Saad el-Shazly

سعد الدين الشاذلي

Egypt

1922 – 2011 (88 years old)

Brilliant Egyptian military strategist and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces who meticulously planned and executed Operation Badr, successfully crossing the Suez Canal and shattering the Bar Lev Line in October 1973.

Cairo, Egypt

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3

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Bhimsen Joshi

भीमसेन जोशी

British India

1922 – 2011 (88 years old)

Legendary Indian classical vocalist of the Kirana gharana, renowned for his thunderous voice, astounding breath control, and devotional Santvani abhangs, awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2008.

Pune (Maharashtra), India

3 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

7

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Edmond Amran El Maleh

إدمون عمران المالح

Morocco

1917 – 2010 (93 years old)

Moroccan-Jewish writer, philosopher, and Communist activist who fiercely defended Palestinian rights, celebrated Judeo-Arabic-Berber symbiotic identity, and authored 'Aïlen ou la nuit du récit'.

Essaouira, Morocco

7 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

9

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Mohammed Arkoun

محمد أركون

Algeria

1928 – 2010 (82 years old)

Renowned Algerian philosopher, historian of Islamic thought, and professor at the Sorbonne who pioneered 'Applied Islamology', deconstructing both theological fundamentalism and Western orientalist dogmas.

Algiers, Algeria

9 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

9

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Antonius Johannes Geesink

Netherlands

1934 – 2010 (76 years old)

Dutch judoka, 10th dan, 1964 Olympic open category champion whose historic victory in Tokyo broke Japan's monopoly and made judo a global sport.

Utrecht, Netherlands

9 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

4

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Goh Keng Swee

吳慶瑞

Straits Settlements

1918 – 2010 (91 years old)

Deputy Prime Minister and mastermind of Singapore's economic miracle who created the Jurong Industrial Estate, the Singapore Armed Forces, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Singapore, Singapore

4 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

8

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Mohammed Abed al-Jabri

محمد عابد الجابري

Morocco

1935 – 2010 (74 years old)

Foremost modern Moroccan philosopher whose monumental four-volume 'Critique of Arab Reason' provided the most rigorous epistemological deconstruction of Arab-Islamic intellectual history.

Casablanca, Morocco

8 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

14

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Dorothy Irene Height

Dorothy Height

United States

1912 – 2010 (98 years old)

Présidente pendant quarante ans du National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), unique femme à siéger aux côtés des Big Six lors de la préparation de la Marche sur Washington de 1963.

Brentwood, Maryland, United States

14 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

14

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Norman Ernest Borlaug

Norman Borlaug

United States

1914 – 2009 (95 years old)

Agronome américain surnommé le père de la Révolution verte, crédité d'avoir sauvé plus d'un milliard d'êtres humains de la famine, prix Nobel de la paix 1970.

College Station, Texas, United States

14 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

9

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Anton Engelbert Sailer

Austria

1935 – 2009 (73 years old)

Austrian alpine ski racer, the first skier to win all three alpine skiing gold medals (downhill, slalom, giant slalom) in a single Winter Olympics (1956).

Kitzbühel, Austria

9 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

3

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Kim Dae-jung

김대중 / 金大中

Korea (under Japanese rule)

1924 – 2009 (85 years old)

President of South Korea, democracy activist, and 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate known as the 'Nelson Mandela of Asia' for his Sunshine Policy of North-South reconciliation.

Seoul, South Korea

3 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

14

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Corazon Aquino

María Corazón Cojuangco Aquino

Philippines

1933-01-25 – 2009-08-01 (76 years old)

Icon of peaceful democratic transition across the globe; promulgated the 1987 Philippine Constitution restoring civil liberties, term limits, and human rights commissions.

Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines

14 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3

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Tyeb Mehta

तय्यब मेहता

British India

1925 – 2009 (83 years old)

Indian modernist painter and filmmaker of the post-independence avant-garde, renowned for his tragic, fractured depictions of the Diagonal, the Falling Figure, and the Goddess Kali.

Marine Lines (Mumbai), India

3 Full Record →

Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries