Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Ivar Ballangrud

Ivar Eriksen Ballangrud

Norway

1904-03-07 – 1969-06-01 (65 years old)

One of the greatest speed skaters in history who won four Olympic gold medals across three Olympic Winter Games (1928, 1932, 1936) and four World Allround Championships.

Trondheim, Norway

5 Full Record →

John Bracken

Canada

22 June 1883 – 27 May 1969 (85 years old)

Eminent agricultural scientist who served as premier of Manitoba for two decades (1922–1942), leading non-partisan coalition governments through the Great Depression.

Kars, Canada

1 Full Record →

Arts & Music

33

Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins

United States

1904 – 1969 (64 years old)

American jazz titan known as 'Hawk' and 'Bean', who single-handedly transformed the saxophone into a primary, expressive jazz solo instrument with his landmark 1939 'Body and Soul'.

New York City, United States

33 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Nazi Boni

Burkina Faso

c. 1909 – 1969-05-16 (59 years old)

Foundational figure of modern Burkinabé literature, historian, and statesman whose 1962 epic novel 'Crépuscule des temps anciens' documented the pre-colonial history and culture of the Bwamu people.

Bwan, Dédougou, Burkina Faso

2 Full Record →

33

Zakir Husain

ज़ाकिर हुसैन

India

1897 – 1969 (72 years old)

Third President of India, pioneering educationist, and co-founder of Jamia Millia Islamia who served as vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and formulated Gandhi's Basic Education model (Nai Talim).

New Delhi, India

33 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

35

Military Leaders & Strategists

Romulo Gallegos

Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire

Venezuela

1884 – 1969 (84 years old)

Venezuelan novelist and statesman whose 1929 masterpiece Dona Barbara became the defining allegorical epic of Latin American civilization versus barbarism in the plains.

Caracas, Venezuela

35 Full Record →

54

Statesmanship & Statesmen

General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike)

Dwight David Eisenhower

United States

1890 – 1969 (78 years old)

Five-star General of the Army and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe who planned Operation Overlord (D-Day) and directed the liberation of Western Europe in WWII.

Abilene (Kansas), United States

54 Full Record →

31

Joseph Kasa-Vubu

Congo

c. 1917 CE – 1969 (52 years old)

First President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo upon independence in 1960, leader of the ABAKO movement, who governed through the catastrophic early years of the Congo Crisis.

Singini (Tshela), Democratic Republic of the Congo

31 Full Record →

Arts & Music

5

Military Leaders & Strategists

Arthur Lismer

Great Britain

1885 – 1969 (83 years old)

English-born founding member of the Group of Seven who painted dramatic dazzle-camouflage troopships in Halifax during WWI and founded the Montreal Children's Art Centre.

Kleinburg (Vaughan, Ontario), Canada

5 Full Record →

54

Abdel Moneim Riad

عبد المنعم رياض

Egypt

1919 – 1969 (49 years old)

Egyptian Chief of Staff acclaimed as the 'Golden General', who rebuilt Egypt's armed forces after the 1967 defeat and was killed in action leading soldiers on the front lines of the Suez Canal in 1969.

Cairo, Egypt

54 Full Record →

Bonifacio Ondó Edu

Bonifacio Ondo Edu

Equatorial Guinea

1922-01-01 – 1969-03-05 (47 years old)

First Prime Minister of autonomous Spanish Guinea (1964–1968) and leader of the Movimiento de Unión Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial (MUNGE).

Evinayong, Equatorial Guinea

1 Full Record →

Arts & Music

12

Yahia Turki

يحيى التركي (يحيى بن الحاج عثمان)

Turkey

1903 – 1969 (66 years old)

Revered 'Father of Tunisian Painting' and long-time president of the École de Tunis whose luminous, post-impressionist canvases captured the light, architectural harmonies, and everyday human dignity of the Medina of Tunis.

Tunis, Tunisia

12 Full Record →

Mahmoud Khiari

محمود الخياري

Tunisia

1911 AD – 1969 (58 years old)

Pioneering teachers' trade union founder and diplomat who represented the United Nations as chief civilian representative during the tumultuous Congo Crisis of 1961.

Tunis, Tunisia

1 Full Record →

Eduardo Mondlane

Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane

Mozambique

1920-06-20 – 1969-02-03 (48 years old)

Founding father of Mozambican liberation who united divergent nationalist factions to found FRELIMO in 1962, launched the armed independence struggle, and authored 'The Struggle for Mozambique'.

Maputo, Mozambique

1 Full Record →

Art

Víctor Manuel García Valdés

Cuba

1897-10-22 – 1969-02-01 (71 years old)

Foundational modernist painter who introduced European avant-garde aesthetics to Cuba and created the iconic 1929 painting 'La Gitana Tropical' (The Tropical Gypsy), hailed as Cuba's Mona Lisa.

Havana, Cuba

1 Full Record →

Social

Dominique Pire

Georges Charles Clément Ghislain Pire

Belgium

1910-02-10 – 1969-01-30 (58 years old)

Dominican friar from Dinant awarded the 1958 Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless humanitarian rescue and rehabilitation of displaced refugees in post-WWII Europe through 'European Villages'.

Bouge, Namur, Belgium

1 Full Record →

Law