Famous People Who Died Today

Kenny Rogers was an American singer-songwriter. He is among the best-selling musicians of all-time list, having sold over 100 million records. His songs and albums remain influential among country music lovers. A multi-talented personality, Rogers was also successful as an actor and entrepreneur; he was the co-founder of the Kenny Rogers Roasters chain of restaurants.

Jaime Escalante  was a Bolivian-American educator. He is best remembered for teaching calculus to students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles from 1974 to 1991. He had an illustrious career and was a much-respected figure in teaching.  The film Stand and Deliver is based on his life. He received Presidential Medal for Excellence in Education in 1988. 

Known for his bestselling book Train to Pakistan, Khushwant Singh was a reputed lawyer, politician, and journalist. He was also known for his widely popular column With Malice towards One and All, which was featured in many Indian newspapers. His post-colonial writings mirrored his wit and sarcasm.

Alfred Douglas was an English journalist and poet best remembered as one of the lovers of famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde. Douglas played an important role in Wilde's imprisonment for homosexuality. Alfred Douglas' father John Sholto Douglas abhorred his son's relationship with the Irish poet and publicly accused the latter of homosexuality, which was illegal at that time.

Irish footballer Jim Stynes was initially skilled in Gaelic football but later deviated to Australian rules football. While his memoir, My Journey, detailed his battle with cancer, he had also written self-help books with Dr. Jon Carnegie. He had also co-founded The Reach Foundation, a non-profit for young people.

Girija Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician who served as the prime minister of the country on four occasions. Although he was accused of institutionalizing corruption in Nepal, Koirala remains one of the most popular politicians in the history of Nepal. In 2015, he was posthumously honored with Nepal's highest honor, Nepal Ratna Man Padavi.

Born into a noble family, Lajos Kossuth grew up to be one of his country’s greatest political reformers. He initially followed in his father’s footsteps to become a lawyer and later entered national politics to become the governor-president of Hungary. He is remembered for his role in the Hungarian Revolution.

John of Nepomuk was the saint of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) who is usually depicted with a halo of five stars, symbolizing the stars that hovered over the Vltava River at the time of his murder. John of Nepomuk, who was drowned at the behest of Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, was beatified and canonized in 1721 and 1729 respectively. 

Risë Stevens was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for playing the titular role in Carmen. She is also remembered for her association with the Metropolitan Opera National Company, where she worked as director from 1963 to 1968. Stevens' life and career inspired two biographies, namely Subway to the Met and Risë Stevens: A Life in Music.

Ivan Shishkin was a Russian painter best remembered for his associaton with the Peredvizhniki movement. He achieved popularity for his forest landscapes, such as Morning in a Pine Forest and Rain in an Oak Forest. He was also an excellent printmaker and a draftsman. Shishkin also worked as a professor of painting in several prestigious institutions like the Imperial Academy.

Nadar was a French caricaturist, photographer, novelist, journalist, and balloonist who championed heavier-than-air flight. Nadar became the first photographer to take aerial photographs in 1858. His photographic portraits are preserved by several museums and institutions.

Apart from being a qualified doctor, Julius von Mayer was also a skilled chemist and physicist. His theory that heat and work can be transformed into one another paved the path for what is now known as the first law of thermodynamics, which states “energy can be neither created nor destroyed.”

Remembered as a legendary ballet master, Alexander Pushkin was also great ballet dancer, depicting numerous leading roles with the internationally renowned Kirov Ballet Company from 1925 to 1953. Sometime in 1940s, he also took up teaching, guiding nearly all the leading male dancers of the Kirov Ballet through the 1960s, most well-known among them being Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Zillur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician best remembered for his service as the President of Bangladesh from 12 February 2009 to 20 March 2013. He played an important role in the Bengali language movement and Bangladesh Liberation War before establishing himself as an influential politician. In 2013, Zillur Rahman became the third Bangladeshi president to die in office.

Indonesian poet Amir Hamzah is best known for his works such as Buah Rindu and Nyanyi Sunyi. Apart from his poetry, he was also appreciated for his contribution to the development of Indonesia’s national language. He was named a National Hero of Indonesia. His works merged Islamic mysticism with Malay literary tradition.

Best known as the pioneer of dendrochronology, or the process of dating of events by analyzing tree rings, A. E. Douglass had also been the director of the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. He also worked extensively on Mars and was the first to photograph the zodiacal light.

Known simply as Diti, Parveen Sultana Diti was a Bangladeshi film and television actress, who had more than two hundred works to her credit. Also a good singer, she appeared in various programs for Bangladesh television before debuting in acting with the television drama, Laili Majnu. A famed silber-screen idol, her untimely death from cancer was mourned by the entire nation.  

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt was a Norwegian mineralogist. He is credited with co-founding crystal chemistry and modern geochemistry along with Vladimir Vernadsky. He is also credited with developing the Goldschmidt Classification of elements. The Geochemical Society has established the V. M. Goldschmidt Medal in his honor, which is awarded annually.

Composer-pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek remained instrumental in representing Czech music globally, travelling widely across Europe and performing at courts and concert venues. Noted for technical prowess, Dussek played a significant role in extending the size of the pianoforte. His compositions for the harp are regarded as standard repertoire for all harpists, while the ones for piano are highly valued by many teachers.

Legendary Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak was a child when he began composing music. Best known for composing his country’s national anthem, Ja, vi elsker dette landet, he was also part of the New Norwegian Society and the nationalistic art movement in Norway. Folk music inspired many of his compositions.

William Wentworth was an Australian explorer, pastoralist, newspaper editor, politician, lawyer, and author. He was one of the most powerful and wealthiest figures of New South Wales. William Wentworth is credited with founding the Australian Patriotic Association, which is regarded as the first political party in Australia. 

Ferdinand Foch was a French military theorist and general who played a key role during the First World War where he served as the Supreme Allied Commander. Ferdinand Foch played a crucial role in stopping a renewed German advance in the Second Battle of the Marne. Foch was promoted to Marshal of France for his role in World War I.