Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (The Lion of Africa)

Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck

Germany

1870 – 1964 (93 years old)

General in the Imperial German Army who conducted an undefeated four-year guerrilla campaign in East Africa with 14,000 men against 300,000 Allied troops.

Pronstorf (Schleswig-Holstein), Germany

51 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

35

Harry Verrier Holman Elwin

Verrier Elwin

Great Britain

1902 – 1964 (61 years old)

Anthropologue et missionnaire anglo-indien, dévoué à la protection, la dignité et la préservation culturelle des populations autochtones (Adivasis) d'Inde.

Shillong, Meghalaya, India

35 Full Record →

Science

Joseph-Armand Bombardier

Canada

16 April 1907 – 18 February 1964 (56 years old)

Visionary Quebec mechanical inventor and entrepreneur whose drive-wheel-and-track system conquered winter isolation, creating the snowmobile and the global Bombardier industrial empire.

Valcourt, Canada

0 Full Record →

Science

Irma LeVasseur

Canada

18 January 1877 – 18 January 1964 (87 years old)

First French-Canadian female physician whose visionary dedication to pediatric medicine founded Montreal's Sainte-Justine Hospital and Quebec City's Enfant-Jésus Hospital.

Quebec City, Canada

0 Full Record →

5

Cheikh Abdelkader El Khaldi

عبد القادر الخالدي

Algeria

1896 – 1964 (68 years old)

Master poet of Bedouin Melhoun and author of the immortal love masterpiece 'Bakhta', whose lyrics form the poetic bedrock of modern Raï and Bedouin song.

Oran, Algeria

5 Full Record →

Science

Tawfiq Canaan

توفيق كنعان

Palestine

24 September 1882 – 15 January 1964 (81 years old)

Pioneering Palestinian physician who directed Jerusalem's Hansen Leprosy Hospital and amassed the world's foremost collection of Palestinian amulets.

Jerusalem, Palestine

0 Full Record →

Arts & Music

7

Cheikh Mohamed Ben Guenoun

محمد بن قنون

Morocco

1895 – 1964 (69 years old)

Revered early 20th-century chikh of Malhun poetry and musical interpretation in Fez, who preserved hundreds of classical qasidas through oral transmission and shellac 78-rpm recordings.

Fez, Morocco

7 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

40

Religious Figures & Theologians

Rikidozan

力道山 (김신락)

North Korea

1924 – 1963 (39 years old)

Father of Japanese professional wrestling (Puroresu) and national postwar hero whose karate chop victories over towering American wrestlers restored Japanese national pride after World War II.

Tokyo (Ota), Japan

40 Full Record →

12

Mahmoud Shaltut

محمود شلتوت

Egypt

1893 – 1963 (70 years old)

Visionary Grand Imam of Al-Azhar who issued the historic 1959 fatwa recognizing Shia Ja'fari jurisprudence, introduced modern medicine and engineering faculties to Al-Azhar, and championed inter-faith dialogue.

Cairo, Egypt

12 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

22

Mahmud Shaltut

محمود شلتوت

Egypt

April 23, 1893 – December 13, 1963 (70 years old)

Renowned Grand Imam of Al-Azhar whose visionary leadership modernized the institution into a university with faculties of medicine and engineering, and who issued the historic 1959 fatwa recognizing the Ja'fari (Shia) school of jurisprudence for interfaith unity.

Cairo, Egypt

22 Full Record →

Arts & Music

34

Prophets & Divine Messengers

Yasujiro Ozu

小津安二郎

Japan

1903 – 1963 (60 years old)

Japanese filmmaker universally revered for Tokyo Story, Late Spring, and Early Summer, whose low-angle tatami shots, elliptical storytelling, and mono no aware elevated cinema to pure Zen philosophy.

Kamakura (Kanagawa), Japan

34 Full Record →

2

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

হোসেন শহীদ সোহ্‌রাওয়ার্দী

🌐 Historical India

1892-09-08 – 1963-12-05 (71 years old)

Eminent statesman, constitutional jurist, and Premier of undivided Bengal who co-founded the Awami League, championed parliamentary democracy, and served as political mentor to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

2 Full Record →

Music

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Ernesto Lecuona

Ernesto Lecuona y Casado

Cuba

1895-08-06 – 1963-11-29 (68 years old)

Internationally renowned classical and popular composer whose genius compositions, including 'Malagueña', 'Siboney', 'Andalucía', and the zarzuela 'María la O', made Cuban melody famous across the globe.

Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, USA

0 Full Record →

43

🕯️ 570

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

United States

1917-05-29 – 1963-11-22 (46 years old)

A symbol of youthful optimism and rhetorical brilliance who averted nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis and inspired global space exploration.

Dallas, Texas, United States

43 Full Record →

12

Mohammed Mokhtar Soussi

محمد المختار السوسي

Morocco

1900 – 1963 (63 years old)

Prolific Moroccan historian, jurist, and anti-colonial intellectual whose monumental 20-volume encyclopedia al-Ma'sul rescued the Amazigh scholarly, poetic, and Sufi heritage of the Anti-Atlas mountains.

Rabat, Morocco

12 Full Record →

11

Mohamed Mokhtar Soussi

محمد المختار السوسي

Morocco

1900 – 1963 (63 years old)

Encyclopedic Moroccan historian, poet, and nationalist leader who authored the monumental 20-volume regional encyclopedia Al-Ma'sul while exiled by French authorities in the Anti-Atlas.

Rabat, Morocco

11 Full Record →

14