Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Resistance & Human Rights

Boualem Khalfa

بوعلام خلفة

Algeria

1923 – 2017 (94 years old)

Historic director of the progressive newspaper 'Alger Républicain', resistance militant who survived brutal colonial torture, and poet who spent his life defending free speech.

Algiers, Algeria

2 Full Record →

61

🕯️ 995

Simone Veil

Simone Annie Liline Jacob

France

13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017 (89 years old)

Auschwitz survivor, magistrate, and statesman who as French Minister of Health overcame vicious opposition to legalize abortion (Loi Veil, 1975), and became the first directly elected President of the European Parliament.

Paris, France

61 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

34

🕯️ 830

Helmut Kohl

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl

Germany

1930-04-03 – 2017-06-16 (87 years old)

Architect of German Reunification and Honorary Citizen of Europe; steered the creation of the Euro and European integration after the Cold War.

Ludwigshafen, Germany

34 Full Record →

Ali-Akbar Tajvidi

علی‌اکبر تجویدی

Iran

1926 – 10 June 2017 (91 years old)

Eminent Iranian miniaturist and art historian who earned a doctorate at the Sorbonne and authored the definitive history of Persian painting from the 5th to 10th centuries.

Tehran, Iran

2 Full Record →

History

1

Mohamed Talbi

محمد الطالبي

Tunisia

1921 – 2017 (95 years old)

Renowned historian of medieval Ifriqiya and liberal Islamic philosopher who served as first Dean of the Faculty of Letters of Tunis, fiercely defending liberty of conscience and critical thought.

Tunis, Tunisia

1 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

Taoufik Baccar

توفيق بكار

Tunisia

1927 – 2017 (89 years old)

Pioneering literary critic and professor regarded as the father of modern Tunisian literary criticism, who founded the prestigious 'Uyun' book series that canonized modern Tunisian literature.

La Marsa, Tunisia

2 Full Record →

3

Sid Ahmed Naguib

سيد أحمد نجيب

Algeria

1946 – 2017 (71 years old)

Refined master of Chaabi music known for his profound scholarly respect for classical Arabic qasidas and his graceful interpretation of the Casbah tradition.

Algiers, Algeria

3 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

38

Ahmed Kathrada

Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada

South Africa

1929 – 2017 (87 years old)

Anti-apartheid veteran who was convicted alongside Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial and served twenty-six years in prison, dedicating his life to non-racialism.

Johannesburg, South Africa

38 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

42

🕯️ 270

John Surtees

Great Britain

1934 – 2017 (83 years old)

British racing icon, the only person in history to win Grand Prix World Championships on both two and four wheels.

London, Great Britain

42 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

Dr. Abderrahmane Hadj-Salah

عبد الرحمن حاج صالح

Algeria

1928 – 2017 (88 years old)

Pioneering linguist universally revered as the 'Father of Modern Arabic Linguistics', creator of the neo-Khalilian linguistic theory and President of the Algerian Academy of Arabic Language.

Ain Témouchent, Algeria

2 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

20

Gérard Corboud

Switzerland

c. 1926 – 2017 (91 years old)

Gérard J. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to humanitarian.

Bern, Switzerland

20 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

36

🕯️ 1,980

Raymond Kopa

Raymond Kopaszewski

France

13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017 (85 years old)

Raymond Kopa was the premier playmaker of postwar French football and the first French player to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or (1958). The grandson of Polish immigrants who worked in the coal mines, he became a global sensation with Stade de Reims and Real Madrid, winning three consecutive European Cups (1957–1959) alongside Alfredo Di Stéfano.

Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France

36 Full Record →

19

Mohamed Hassan El Joundi

محمد حسن الجندي

Morocco

1938 – 2017 (79 years old)

Giant of Arab stage and screen whose commanding voice and towering performances—notably as Abu Jahl in Moustapha Akkad's epic 'The Message'—made him an immortal dramatic icon.

Marrakech, Morocco

19 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

1

Miriam Tlali

South Africa

1933-11-11 – 2017-02-24 (83 years old)

Courageous author who shattered racial barriers as the first Black South African woman to publish a novel in English ('Muriel at Metropolitan', 1975) and chronicled the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

Johannesburg, South Africa

1 Full Record →

10

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Choukri Mesli

شكري مسلي

Algeria

1931 – 2017 (85 years old)

Major figure of modern Algerian visual art who co-founded the historic 'Aouchem' movement in 1967, reviving ancestral Berber tattoo symbology in contemporary painting.

Algiers, Algeria

10 Full Record →

14