Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Prince Souphanouvong

ສຸພານຸວົງ (The Red Prince)

French Protectorate of Laos

1909 – 1995 (85 years old)

Royal prince of Laos known as 'The Red Prince' who renounced aristocratic privilege to lead the Pathet Lao liberation movement and became the first President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975.

Vientiane, Laos

2 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

🕯️ 2,310

Carlos Monzón

Carlos Roque Monzón

Argentina

7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995 (52 years old)

Carlos Monzón was an Argentine boxing titan who reigned as the undisputed World Middleweight Champion for seven dominant years (1970–1977), completing 14 consecutive title defenses and never losing a championship fight. Renowned for his piercing left jab, icy cold-blooded composure, and devastating right hand, he retired as champion with an astonishing record of 87 wins and only 3 career defeats.

near Santa Rosa de Calchines, Santa Fe, Argentina

7 Full Record →

14

🕯️ 910

Joe Slovo

Yossel Mashel Slovo

Lithuania

23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995 (68 years old)

Lithuanian-born South African politician and anti-apartheid leader who was chief of staff of the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe and formulated the crucial 'sunset clauses' enabling the peaceful transition to multiracial democracy.

Johannesburg, South Africa

14 Full Record →

🕯️ 2,950

Wilma Rudolph

Wilma Glodean Rudolph

United States

23 June 1940 – 12 November 1994 (54 years old)

Wilma Rudolph was an inspirational American sprinter who overcame childhood polio, scarlet fever, and wearing leg braces until age twelve to become 'the fastest woman in the world'. At the 1960 Rome Olympics, she became the first American woman in history to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay), returning home to demand the complete desegregation of her hometown parade.

Brentwood, Tennessee, United States

7 Full Record →

Carlos Gracie

Brazil

1902 – 1994 (92 years old)

Patriarch and co-founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who adapted traditional Japanese judo into an internationally celebrated grappling martial art and established the famous Gracie Challenge.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3

Cheb Hasni

الشاب حسني (حسني شقرون)

Algeria

1968 – 1994 (26 years old)

Legendary Algerian singer acclaimed as the 'King of Love Raï' (Raï Sentimental), whose heartfelt romantic ballads enchanted millions across North Africa before his tragic assassination in Oran at age twenty-six.

Oran, Algeria

3 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

Karl Popper

Karl Raimund Popper

Austria-Hungary

1902 – 1994 (92 years old)

Austrian-British philosopher who revolutionized the philosophy of science with the criterion of falsifiability in The Logic of Scientific Discovery and defended democracy in The Open Society and Its Enemies.

Vienna, Austria

2 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

6

Linus Carl Pauling

Linus Pauling

United States

1901 – 1994 (93 years old)

Chimiste d'exception et ardent militant pacifiste, seule personne de l'histoire à avoir remporté deux prix Nobel non partagés (Chimie 1954, Paix 1962).

Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States

6 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Egypt (British parents)

1910 – 1994 (84 years old)

British chemist and X-ray crystallographer who deciphered the atomic structures of penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin, winning the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry as a giant of structural biology.

Ilmington (Warwickshire), United Kingdom

2 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

1,794

🕯️ 142

Dorothy Hodgkin

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin

Khedivate of Egypt (British Administration)

1910 – 1994 (84 years old)

British pioneer of X-ray crystallography who determined the atomic structures of penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin.

Ilmington, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

1,794 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

Paul Delvaux

Belgium

1897 – 1994 (96 years old)

Belgian painter famous for his theatrical, melancholic Surrealist canvases of nocturnal train stations, classical temples, skeletons, and somnambulist nude figures.

Veurne, Belgium

4 Full Record →

🕯️ 270

Jean Robert Borotra

France

1898 – 1994 (95 years old)

French tennis champion known as 'The Bounding Basque', four-time Grand Slam singles champion and key member of France's legendary Four Musketeers.

Arbonne, France

7 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

🕯️ 260

Lewis Alan Hoad

Australia

1934 – 1994 (59 years old)

Australian tennis player, four-time Grand Slam singles champion and back-to-back Wimbledon winner, celebrated for his immense power and explosive wrist speed.

Mijas, Spain

7 Full Record →

6

Menachem Mendel Schneerson

מנחם מנדל שניאורסון

Russia

1902 – 1994 (92 years old)

Seventh leader of Chabad-Lubavitch who built a global network of educational and humanitarian emissaries (shluchim), transforming post-Holocaust Jewish life worldwide.

Queens, New York, United States

6 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

Mbaye Diagne

Senegal

1958 – 1994 (36 years old)

Senegalese army captain and UN peacekeeper who unarmed rescued an estimated six hundred to one thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Dakar, Senegal

2 Full Record →

Arts & Music

5

Anni Albers

Anneliese Else Frieda Fleischmann

Germany

1899 – 1994 (94 years old)

German-American textile designer and printmaker who elevated weaving to a monumental fine art form and became the first textile designer to have a solo exhibition at MoMA.

Orange, United States

5 Full Record →