Historical Archives & Public Figures

William Joseph Dunlop

great britain

1952 – 2000 (48 years old)

Northern Irish motorcycle racer known as 'King of the Roads', won a record 26 Isle of Man TT races, celebrated for his humbleness and charity work.

Tallinn, Estonia

7 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

8

🕯️ 380

Joseph Henri Maurice Richard

Canada

1921 – 2000 (78 years old)

Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens, first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games and reach 500 career goals.

Montreal, Canada

8 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

10

🕯️ 950

Gino Bartali

Italy

18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000 (85 years old)

Legendary two-time Tour de France champion cyclist who used his training rides during WWII to smuggle forged identity papers inside his bicycle frame, saving hundreds of Italian and foreign Jews from deportation.

Florence, Italy

10 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

4

🕯️ 0

Baya Hocine

باية حسين

Algeria

1940 – 2000 (59 years old)

Pioneering Algerian teenage fedayeen who carried out urban resistance operations in the Battle of Algiers, condemned to death at age sixteen, and later became a prominent post-independence journalist.

Algiers, Algeria

4 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

8

🕯️ 980

Habib Bourguiba

الحبيب بورقيبة

Tunisia

1903-08-03 – 2000-04-06 (96 years old)

Transformed Tunisia into the most progressive nation in the Arab world for women's rights, outlawing polygamy and establishing free universal education and healthcare.

Monastir, Tunisia

8 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

4

🕯️ 0

Stanley Matthews

Sir Stanley Matthews

United Kingdom

1915 – 2000 (85 years old)

English football legend 'The Wizard of the Dribble', first-ever recipient of the Ballon d'Or in 1956, and first active footballer to be knighted, who played in the English top flight until age fifty.

Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom

4 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

8

🕯️ 280

Malcolm Denzil Marshall

🌐 Barbados

1958 – 1999 (41 years old)

Barbadian cricketer for the West Indies, widely acknowledged as the most devastatingly complete and fearsome fast bowler of modern cricket.

Christ Church, Barbados

8 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

9

🕯️ 3,250

Walter Payton

Walter Jerry Payton

United States

25 July 1954 – 1 November 1999 (45 years old)

Walter Jerry Payton, known affectionately across America as 'Sweetness', was an iconic running back for the Chicago Bears celebrated for his punishing 'never-die-easy' running style, exceptional stutter-step, and radiant off-field charity. Retiring in 1987 as the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards, the NFL named its prestigious annual Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in his honor.

South Barrington, Illinois, United States

9 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

11

🕯️ 840

Julius Nyerere

Julius Kambarage Nyerere

Tanzania

1922-04-13 – 1999-10-14 (77 years old)

Moral giant of African post-colonial governance; united over 120 ethnic groups into one stable peaceful nation and provided rear bases to defeat white minority regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa.

London, Great Britain

11 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

7

🕯️ 3,150

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilton Norman Chamberlain

United States

21 August 1936 – 12 October 1999 (63 years old)

Wilton Norman 'Wilt' Chamberlain was the most dominant individual physical force in the history of basketball, holding dozens of unbreakable NBA statistical records. Standing 7 feet 1 inch with world-class track and field athleticism, he averaged 50.4 points per game in the 1961–62 season, grabbed 55 rebounds in a single game, and scored 100 points in a single contest on 2 March 1962.

Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, United States

7 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3,976

🕯️ 52

Amália Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues

Portugal

1920 – 1999 (79 years old)

The 'Queen of Fado' whose dramatic voice and black shawl made Portuguese fado world-famous.

Lisbon, Portugal

3,976 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

6

🕯️ 0

James Leonard Farmer Jr.

James Farmer

United States

1920 – 1999 (79 years old)

L'un des « Big Four » du mouvement des droits civiques américains, fondateur du CORE (1942) et architecte légendaire des Freedom Rides de 1961 contre la ségrégation.

Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States

6 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

10

🕯️ 290

Eugenio Saraceni

United States

1902 – 1999 (97 years old)

American professional golfer who was the first to win the modern Career Grand Slam, inventor of the modern sand wedge, famed for his 1935 'Shot Heard 'Round the World'.

Naples, Florida, United States

10 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2

🕯️ 0

Oswaldo Guayasamin

Oswaldo Guayasamín Calero

Ecuador

1919 – 1999 (79 years old)

Ecuadorian painter and sculptor of Quechua-indigenous descent whose expressionist masterwork The Age of Rage (La Edad de la Ira) denounced the violence and oppression of twentieth-century tyranny.

Quito, Ecuador

2 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

7

🕯️ 360

Joseph Paul DiMaggio

United States

1914 – 1999 (84 years old)

American baseball center fielder for the New York Yankees, legendary for his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, an immortal record in American sports.

Colma, California, United States

7 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

🕯️ 0

Bing Xin

冰心

Qing Empire

1900 – 1999 (98 years old)

Pioneering Chinese poet, essayist, and children's author whose delicate collections A Maze of Stars and Letters to Young Readers nurtured generations of Chinese readers.

Beijing, China

2 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2,959

🕯️ 174

Glenn T. Seaborg

Glenn Theodore Seaborg

United States

1912 – 1999 (86 years old)

American nuclear chemist who co-discovered plutonium and nine other transuranic elements, winning the 1951 Nobel Prize.

El Cerrito, California, United States

2,959 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

8

🕯️ 500

King Hussein of Jordan

الحسين بن طلال

Jordan

1935-11-14 – 1999-02-07 (63 years old)

Revered as the consummate diplomatic survivor and tireless regional peacemaker who preserved Jordanian stability amidst constant Middle Eastern turbulence.

Amman, Jordan

8 Full Record →

Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries