Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Roy Ottoway Wilkins

Roy Wilkins

United States

1901 – 1981 (80 years old)

Directeur exécutif historique de la NAACP (1955-1977), stratège constitutionnel et politique déterminant pour l'adoption des lois sur les droits civiques et le droit de vote.

New York City, New York, United States

17 Full Record →

7

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Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov

Валерий Борисович Харламов

Russia

1948 – 1981 (33 years old)

Soviet ice hockey forward for CSKA Moscow and the Soviet national team, two-time Olympic champion and one of the most dazzling skaters in hockey history.

Moscow, Russia

7 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

Mariama Ba

Mariama Bâ

French West Africa

1929 – 1981 (52 years old)

Senegalese novelist whose epistolary masterpiece So Long a Letter (Une si longue lettre) won the inaugural Noma Award, becoming the foundational feminist novel of modern Francophone Africa.

Dakar, Senegal

2 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

6

Mildred Lisette Norman

United States

1908 – 1981 (72 years old)

Pèlerine mystique et pacifiste américaine qui parcourut à pied plus de 40 000 kilomètres à travers l'Amérique du Nord sans argent pour prêcher la paix.

Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, United States

6 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

42

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Terry Fox

Terrance Stanley Fox

Canada

28 July 1958 – 28 June 1981 (22 years old)

Terrance Stanley 'Terry' Fox was a Canadian humanitarian and athlete who, having lost his right leg to osteosarcoma at age eighteen, embarked on the historic 'Marathon of Hope' in 1980, running a full marathon (26.2 miles) every single day across Canada on an artificial leg to raise money for cancer research. Running 3,339 miles before cancer spread to his lungs, his legacy has raised over $850 million worldwide.

New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

42 Full Record →

3

Ziaur Rahman

জিয়াউর রহমান

British India

1936 – 1981 (45 years old)

President of Bangladesh who broadcast the declaration of independence in March 1971, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and conceived the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Dhaka, Bangladesh

3 Full Record →

9

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Robert Nesta Marley

Bob Marley

Jamaica

6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981 (36 years old)

Global musical and spiritual prophet who brought Jamaican reggae and Rastafari consciousness to the world stage, uniting humanity with anthems of liberation, peace, and love in Exodus, Redemption Song, and One Love.

Miami (Florida), United States

9 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

7

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Joe Louis

Joseph Louis Barrow

United States

13 May 1914 – 12 April 1981 (66 years old)

Joe Louis, 'The Brown Bomber', was an American heavyweight boxing champion whose record 140-consecutive-month reign as world heavyweight champion (1937–1949) with 25 successful title defenses remains an all-time record in boxing history. His dramatic first-round knockout of German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938 made him America's first nationwide African-American folk hero on the eve of World War II.

Paradise, Nevada, United States

7 Full Record →

5

General of the Army Omar Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley

United States

1893 – 1981 (88 years old)

Five-star General of the Army hailed as 'The G.I.'s General' who commanded 1.3 million soldiers in the Twelfth United States Army Group across Western Europe.

Arlington (Virginia), United States

5 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

2

Mao Dun

茅盾

Qing Empire

1896 – 1981 (84 years old)

Chinese novelist and social realist critic who wrote Midnight and served as modern China's first Minister of Culture, funding the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Beijing, China

2 Full Record →

9

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Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood

Great Britain

1940 – 1981 (40 years old)

British motorcycle racer and Formula One driver known as 'Mike the Bike', nine-time Grand Prix world champion and 14-time Isle of Man TT winner.

Warwickshire, Great Britain

9 Full Record →

13

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John Winston Ono Lennon

John Lennon

United Kingdom

9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980 (40 years old)

Co-founder of The Beatles and legendary songwriter whose creative partnership with Paul McCartney redefined popular music, whose 1971 anthem Imagine became humanity's universal prayer for global peace.

New York City, United States

13 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

7

Dorothy May Day

Dorothy Day

United States

1897 – 1980 (83 years old)

Journaliste et militante sociale américaine, cofondatrice du Catholic Worker Movement alliant hospitalité envers les pauvres et pacifisme radical.

Staten Island, New York, United States

7 Full Record →

6

Bill Evans

William John Evans

United States

1929 – 1980 (51 years old)

American jazz pianist and composer whose impressionistic chord voicings, lyrical touch, and modal harmonies reshaped modern jazz, celebrated for 'Kind of Blue' and Village Vanguard trios.

New York City, United States

6 Full Record →

4

Dahmane El Harrachi

دحمان الحراشي

Algeria

1926 – 1980 (54 years old)

Iconic Algerian Chaabi singer and composer from El Harrach whose melancholy immigrant anthems, foremost among them 'Ya Rayah' (O Traveler), captured the heartache of exile and became a global world music phenomenon.

Algiers, Algeria

4 Full Record →

5

Marino Marini

Italy

1901 – 1980 (79 years old)

Italian sculptor and painter celebrated for his tragic, expressive equestrian sculptures of horse and rider reflecting the existential trauma and loss of control of modern man.

Viareggio, Italy

5 Full Record →

3