Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams

Frank Williams

Great Britain

1942 – 2021 (79 years old)

Legendary Formula One team principal and founder of Williams Grand Prix Engineering whose relentless competitive will overcame a 1986 paralyzing crash to lead his team to 9 Constructors' and 7 Drivers' World Championships and 114 Grand Prix victories.

Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

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Stephen Joshua Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

United States

1930 – 2021 (91 years old)

Towering American composer and lyricist whose revolutionary, intellectually complex masterpieces including West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Company, and Into the Woods redefined the 20th-century Broadway musical, earning 8 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

Roxbury, Connecticut, United States

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Chun Doo-hwan

전두환

South Korea

1931 – 2021 (90 years old)

Military dictator and President of South Korea (1980–1988) who seized power in the December 12 military coup, ordered the brutal suppression of the May 1980 Gwangju Uprising, and oversaw dramatic economic modernization before bowing to democratic elections.

Seoul, South Korea

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Politics

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Grant Devine

Canada

5 July 1944 – 18 November 2021 (77 years old)

Agricultural economist who ended eleven years of NDP rule to serve as premier of Saskatchewan from 1982 to 1991, championing the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.

Moose Jaw, Canada

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Literature & Poetry

48

Wilbur Addison Smith

Wilbur Smith

🌐 Zambia

1933 – 2021 (88 years old)

Prolific, internationally bestselling Zambian-South African historical adventure novelist who sold over 140 million copies of 49 books, famed for his sweeping Courtney and Ballantyne sagas of African history and Ancient Egyptian series.

Cape Town, South Africa

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7

Gazbia Sirry

جاذبية سري

Egypt

1925 – 2021 (96 years old)

Pioneering Egyptian female modernist painter whose powerful neo-expressionist canvases examined working-class women, political turmoil, and urban claustrophobia over seven decades.

Cairo, Egypt

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Sports & Athletics

17

Prophets & Divine Messengers

Loucif Hamani

لوسيف حماني

Algeria

1950 – 2021 (71 years old)

Pioneering Algerian professional boxer who represented Algeria at the 1972 Munich Olympics and captured the African and European super-welterweight championships.

Tizi Ouzou, Algeria

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8

Sabah Fakhri

صباح فخري

Syria

2 May 1933 – 2 November 2021 (88 years old)

Legendary Syrian musical icon whose incomparable vocal stamina, tarab artistry, and mastery preserved the musical heritage of Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria

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Sports & Athletics

30

Walter Ferguson Smith

Walter Smith

Great Britain

1948 – 2021 (73 years old)

Revered Scottish football manager who led Rangers FC to ten Scottish Premier Division titles (including completing the historic "9-in-a-row" in 1997 and reaching the 2008 UEFA Cup Final), and managed Everton and the Scotland national team.

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

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Roh Tae-woo

노태우

South Korea

1932 – 2021 (88 years old)

6th President of South Korea (1988–1993) who issued the historic June 29 Declaration yielding to democratic direct elections, hosted the triumphant 1988 Seoul Olympics, and orchestrated "Nordpolitik" establishing diplomatic ties with Moscow and Beijing.

Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

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18

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink

Bernard Haitink

Netherlands

1929 – 2021 (92 years old)

Revered Dutch conductor whose modest, deeply insightful musicianship led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for twenty-seven years, served as Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Glyndebourne, and set the gold standard for Mahler, Bruckner, and Beethoven symphonies.

London, United Kingdom

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Edita Gruberová

🌐 Czechoslovakia

1946 – 2021 (74 years old)

Slovak coloratura soprano hailed across the globe as the "Queen of Bel Canto" (Königin des Belcanto), whose dazzling high notes, effortless agility, and supreme vocal control dominated the world's opera stages for fifty years in Zerbinetta, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Queen of the Night.

Vienna, Austria

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Colin Luther Powell

Colin Powell

United States

1937 – 2021 (84 years old)

Trailblazing American four-star general and statesman who became the first African American National Security Advisor, first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War, and first Black US Secretary of State.

Arlington, United States

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Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai

احمد شاه احمدزی

Afghanistan

1944 – 2021 (77 years old)

Acting Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1995–1996) and prominent anti-Soviet Mujahideen leader who served in the Islamic State of Afghanistan cabinet under Burhanuddin Rabbani prior to the Taliban capture of Kabul.

Kabul, Afghanistan

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Abolhassan Banisadr

ابوالحسن بنی‌صدر

Iran

1933 – 2021 (88 years old)

First President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1980–1981) following the 1979 Revolution, an economist who advocated for an independent, democratic Islamic republic before clashing with hardline clerics and Ayatollah Khomeini, fleeing into four decades of French exile.

Versailles, France

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Hadj Rabah Driassa

رابح درياسة

Algeria

1934 – 2021 (87 years old)

Beloved master of clean, family-centered Algerian Saharan and Bedouin folk song, composer of celebrated national anthems like 'Mabrouk Alayna'.

Blida, Algeria

3 Full Record →

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