What Happened in 2011 — Events, Births & Deaths

A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.

Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.

Sitting US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is shot in the head along with 18 others in a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords survived the assassination attempt, but six others died, including John Roll, a federal judge.

Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, in icy conditions, killing 78 people.

Syrian civil war: The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) is established with the stated goal of re-organizing Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism.

Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.

At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.

Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sanaa.

Within Ursa Minor, H1504+65, a white dwarf with the hottest known surface temperature in the universe at 200,000 K, was documented.

Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.

For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.

As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a 'Day of Rage'.

Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi's regime begin.

Arab Spring: In Bahrain, security forces launch a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama; the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.

The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore.

New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, kills 185 people.

Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its final mission, STS-133.

An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard.

Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.

An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Beginning of the Syrian revolution.

Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.

Min Aung Hlaing is appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's armed forces.

After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of fourteen people, including seven UN workers.

India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashes at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32.

In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.

The Israel Defense Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to successfully intercept a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza, marking the first short-range missile intercept ever.

A gunman opens fire at an elementary school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing twelve children and injuring 22 others before committing suicide.

Six people and the perpetrator are killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.

An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus, kills 15 people and injures 204 others.

Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.

WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.

The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.

The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.

Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted fugitive, is killed by the United States Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others are taken ill.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.

The Istanbul Convention is signed in Istanbul, Turkey.

Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others.

STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.

Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date.

An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.

Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her 25-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people.

Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights.

RusAir Flight 9605 crashes in Besovets during approach to Petrozavodsk Airport, killing 47.

A man goes on a killing spree in Grand Rapids, Michigan, killing seven and wounding two before killing himself.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.

A rally takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to call for fairer elections in the country.

Russian cruise ship Bulgaria sinks in the Volga River near Syukeyevo, Tatarstan, causing 122 deaths.

Amid widespread backlash to revelations of phone hacking, the British weekly tabloid newspaper News of the World publishes its final issue and shuts down after nearly 168 years in print.

Ninety-eight containers of explosives self-detonate killing 13 people in Zygi, Cyprus.

Mumbai is rocked by three bomb blasts during the evening rush hour, killing 26 and injuring 130.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1999 is adopted, which admits South Sudan to member status of United Nations.

Noar Linhas Aéreas Flight 4896 crashes in Boa Viagem, Recife, killing all 16 people on board.

Guinean President Alpha Condé survives an attempted assassination and coup d'état at his residence in Conakry.

NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Norway attacks: A bomb explodes, targeted at government buildings in central Oslo, followed by a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.

A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths.

A Royal Moroccan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes near Guelmim Airport in Guelmim, Morocco. All 80 people on board are killed.

While flying from Seoul, South Korea to Shanghai, China, Asiana Airlines Flight 991 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold. The Boeing 747-400F freighter attempts to divert to Jeju International Airport, but crashes into the sea South-West of Jeju island, killing both crew members on board.

Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall.

War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.

A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.

First Air Flight 6560 crashes 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Resolute Bay runway, killing 12 of the 15 aboard.

A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington, D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at 200 million–300 million USD.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.

Fifty-two people are killed during an arson attack caused by members of the drug cartel Los Zetas.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA.

Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.

The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in Russia kills 43 people, including nearly the entire roster of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Kontinental Hockey League team.

A dedication ceremony is held at the United States National September 11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York City, and the memorial opens to family members.

Four miners are killed in the Gleision Colliery mining accident in the Swansea Valley, Wales.

Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City.

The 2011 Sikkim earthquake is felt across northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and southern Tibet.

Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time career saves leader with 602.

The United States military ends its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.

The special court in India convicted all 269 accused officials for atrocity on Dalits and 17 for rape in the Vachathi case.

In the Mekong River massacre, two Chinese cargo boats are hijacked and 13 crew members murdered.

Libyan Crisis: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in his hometown of Sirte and kill them shortly thereafter, ending the first Libyan civil war.

Iraq War: President Barack Obama announces that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq will be complete by the end of the year.

A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands.

The Libyan National Transitional Council deems the Libyan Civil War over.

Motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli dies in a racing accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The global population of humans reaches seven billion. This day is now recognized by the United Nations as the Day of Seven Billion.

Mario Draghi succeeds Jean-Claude Trichet and becomes the third president of the European Central Bank.

The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passes 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976.

The first national test of the Emergency Alert System is activated in the United States at 2:00 p.m. EST.

A helicopter crash just outside Mexico City kills seven, including Francisco Blake Mora the Secretary of the Interior of Mexico.

Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the Euro area crisis.

A blast in Iran's Shahid Modarres missile base leads to the death of 17 of the Revolutionary Guards members, including Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.

Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.

NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani check post in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.

The Mars Science Laboratory launches to Mars with the Curiosity Rover.

The Alma-Ata Metro was opened.

The Zhanaozen massacre occurs when violent protests by oil workers take place in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, resulting in security forces killing at least 14 and injuring 100 more.

NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.

Violet McGraw, American actress

Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, Turkish chess prodigy and grandmaster

Lil Bub, American celebrity cat (died 2019)

Anne Francis, American actress (born 1930)

Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan (born 1922)

Mia Bustam, Indonesian painter, writer, and political prisoner (born 1920)

Coen Moulijn, Dutch footballer (born 1937)

Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (born 1947)

Salmaan Taseer, Pakistani businessman and politician, 26th Governor of Punjab, Pakistan (born 1944)

Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian street vendor who caused the Tunisian Revolution, which was the first revolution in the Arab Spring. (born 1984)

Uche Okafor, Nigerian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (born 1967)

Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (born 1937)

Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (born 1924)

Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (born 1927)

Georgia Carroll, American singer, model and actress (born 1919)

Theoni V. Aldredge, Greek-American costume designer (born 1922)

Dennis Oppenheim, American sculptor and photographer (born 1938)

E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1958)

Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (born 1949)

Vassilis C. Constantakopoulos Greek captain and businessman (born 1935)

David Kato Kisule, Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda's gay rights movement (born 1964)

Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1927)

Charlie Callas, American comedian and musician (born 1927)

Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (born 1916)

Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (born 1921)

Maria Schneider, French actress (born 1952)

Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, first Prime Minister of Haiti (born 1913)

Brian Jacques, English author and radio host (born 1939)

Peggy Rea, American actress and casting director (born 1921)

Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (born 1909)

Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (born 1939)

Trevor Bailey, English cricketer and journalist (born 1923)

George Shearing, English-American pianist and composer (born 1919)

Len Lesser, American actor (born 1922)

Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (born 1930)

Ollie Matson, American sprinter and football player (born 1930)

Dwayne McDuffie, American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media (born 1962)

Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (born 1926)

Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (born 1923)

Anant Pai, Indian author and illustrator (born 1929)

Arnošt Lustig, Czech author, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1926)

Frank Buckles, American soldier (born 1901)

Necmettin Erbakan, Turkish engineer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1926)

Duke Snider, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (born 1926)

Gary Winick, American director and producer (born 1961)

Annie Girardot, French actress (born 1931)

May Cutler, Canadian journalist, author, and politician (born 1923)

Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter (born 1945)

Sasao Gouland, governor of Chuuk State, Micronesia (born 1933)

David S. Broder, American journalist and academic (born 1929)

Bill Blackbeard, American author and illustrator (born 1926)

Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (born 1919)

Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1951)

Nate Dogg, American rapper (born 1969)

Richard Wirthlin, American religious leader (born 1931)

Michael Gough, English actor (born 1916)

Ferlin Husky, American country music singer (born 1925)

Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (born 1925)

Kym Bonython, Australian drummer and radio host (born 1920)

Artur Agostinho, Portuguese journalist (born 1920)

Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (born 1926)

Clement Arrindell, Nevisian judge and politician, 1st Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (born 1931)

Farley Granger, American actor (born 1925)

Ângelo de Sousa, Portuguese painter and sculptor (born 1938)

John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1918)

Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (born 1910)

Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (born 1975)

Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (born 1946)

Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (born 1970)

Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (born 1920)

Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (born 1926)

Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)

Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (born 1935)

Dorjee Khandu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (born 1955)

Evald Okas, Estonian painter (born 1915)

Henry Cooper, English boxer (born 1934)

Ted Lowe, English sportscaster (born 1920)

Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (born 1922)

Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (born 1936)

Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (born 1901)

Yosef Merimovich, Israeli footballer and manager (born 1924)

Dana Wynter, British actress (born 1931)

Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (born 1957)

Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1924)

Big George, English songwriter, producer, and radio host (born 1957)

Victor Nosach, Soviet historian (born 1929)

Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (born 1984)

Robert Traylor, American basketball player (born 1977)

Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1936)

Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (born 1938)

Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (born 1978)

Huguette Clark, American heiress, painter, and philanthropist (born 1906)

Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (born 1950)

Margo Dydek, Polish-American basketball player (born 1974)

Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and poet (born 1949)

Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (born 1920)

Haleh Sahabi, Iranian humanitarian and activist (born 1957)

James Arness, American actor and producer (born 1923)

Andrew Gold, American singer, songwriter, musician and arranger (born 1951)

Bhajan Lal, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Haryana (born 1930)

Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, author, and activist (born 1928)

Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (born 1925)

Juan Francisco Luis, Virgin Islander sergeant and politician, 23rd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (born 1940)

Azam Khan, Bangladeshi singer-songwriter (born 1950)

René Audet, Canadian bishop (born 1920)

Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (born 1910)

Östen Mäkitalo, Swedish engineer and academic (born 1938)

Ryan Dunn, American television personality (born 1977)

Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet (born 1927)

Coşkun Özarı, Turkish footballer and coach (born 1931)

Peter Falk, American actor (born 1927)

Dennis Marshall, Costa Rican footballer (born 1985)

Fred Steiner, American composer and conductor (born 1923)

Annie Easley, American computer scientist and mathematician (born 1933)

Goff Richards, English composer and conductor (born 1944)

Margaret Tyzack, English actress (born 1931)

Mike Doyle, English footballer (born 1946)

Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter, sculptor, and photographer (born 1928)

Carly Hibberd, Australian road racing cyclist (born 1985)

Allan W. Eckert, American historian and author (born 1931)

Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1929)

Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (born 1924)

Betty Ford, 38th First Lady of the United States (born 1918)

Friedrich Wilhelm Schnitzler, German landowner and politician (born 1928)

Googie Withers, British-Australian actress (born 1917)

David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (born 1967)

Taiji Sawada, Japanese musician (born 1966)

Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (born 1922)

Linda Christian, Mexican-American actress (born 1923)

Cees de Wolf, Dutch footballer (born 1945)

Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (born 1983)

Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot-Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Abdul Fatah Younis, Libyan general (born 1944)

Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (born 1977)

Fe del Mundo, Filipino pediatrician and educator (born 1911)

Robert Robinson, English journalist and author (born 1927)

Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1984)

Mihri Belli, Turkish activist and politician (born 1916)

Raúl Ruiz, Chilean director and producer (born 1941)

Nick Ashford, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1942)

Seyhan Erözçelik, Turkish poet and author (born 1962)

Mike Flanagan, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1951)

Bernie Gallacher, English footballer (born 1967)

Honeyboy Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1915)

Junpei Takiguchi, Japanese voice actor (born 1931)

Roberto Bruce, Chilean journalist (born 1979)

Michael S. Hart, American author, founded Project Gutenberg (born 1947)

Victims of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash:

Cliff Robertson, American actor (born 1923)

Christian Bakkerud, Danish racing driver (born 1984)

Ralph Gubbins, English footballer (born 1932)

Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor and model (born 1971)

Alexander Galimov, Russian ice hockey player (born 1985)

Thomas Capano, American lawyer and politician, and convicted murderer (born 1949)

Dolores Hope, American singer (born 1909)

George Cadle Price, 1st Prime Minister of Belize (born 1919)

Oscar Handlin, American historian and author (born 1915)

Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghan academic and politician, 10th President of Afghanistan (born 1940)

Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1940)

Bob Cassilly, American sculptor, founded the City Museum (born 1949)

David Croft, English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Sylvia Robinson, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1936)

Anwar al-Awlaki, American-Yemeni terrorist (born 1971)

Doris Belack, American actress (born 1926)

Derrick Bell, American academic and scholar (born 1930)

Bert Jansch, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1943)

Steve Jobs, American businessman, co-founder of Apple Inc. (born 1955)

Charles Napier, American actor and singer (born 1936)

Fred Shuttlesworth, American activist, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (born 1922)

Ramiz Alia, Albanian politician, 1st President of Albania (born 1925)

Andrew Laszlo, Hungarian-American cinematographer (born 1926)

Al Davis, American football coach, general manager, and NFL team owner (born 1929)

Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American actress (born 1907)

Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (born 1920)

Carl Lindner, Jr., American businessman (born 1919)

Kakkanadan, Indian author (born 1935)

James Hillman, American psychologist and author (born 1926)

Tom Addington, English soldier (born 1919)

Jimmy Savile, English radio and television host (born 1926)

Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1941)

Roberto Lippi, Italian race car driver (born 1926)

Cahit Aral, Turkish engineer and politician, Turkish Minister of Industry and Commerce (born 1927)

Peeter Kreitzberg, Estonian lawyer and politician (born 1948)

Arnold Green, Latvian-Estonian soldier and politician (born 1920)

Andy Rooney, American author, critic, journalist, and television personality (born 1919)

Roger Faulques, French military officer and mercenary (born 1924)

Heavy D, Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and actor (born 1967)

Peter J. Biondi, American soldier and politician (born 1942)

Ivan Martin Jirous, Czech poet (born 1944)

Killer Karl Kox, American professional wrestler (born 1931)

Francisco Blake Mora, Mexican lawyer and politician, Mexican Secretary of the Interior (born 1966)

Esin Afşar, Italian-Turkish singer and actress (born 1936)

Neil Heywood, English-Chinese businessman (born 1970)

Jackie Leven, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)

Oba Chandler, American murderer (born 1946)

Kurt Budke, American basketball player and coach (born 1961)

Anne McCaffrey, American science fiction and fantasy author (born 1926)

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American author (born 1926)

Sena Jurinac, Bosnian-Austrian soprano (born 1921)

Lynn Margulis, American biologist and academic (born 1938)

Paul Motian, American drummer and composer (born 1931)

Jim Rathmann, American race car driver (born 1928)

Manon Cleary, American painter and academic (born 1942)

Len Fulford, English photographer and director (born 1928)

Ken Russell, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

Christa Wolf, German author and critic (born 1929)

Dev Anand, Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

Sonia Pierre, Haitian-Dominican activist (born 1965)

Sócrates, Brazilian footballer and manager (born 1954)

Hubert Sumlin, American singer and guitarist (born 1931)

Dobie Gray, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1940)

Harry Morgan, American actor (born 1915)

John Patrick Foley, American cardinal (born 1935)

Bob Brookmeyer, American trombone player and composer (born 1929)

Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949)

Robert Easton, American actor and screenwriter (born 1930)

Nicol Williamson, Scottish actor (born 1938)

Václav Havel, Czech poet, playwright, and politician, 1st President of the Czech Republic (born 1936)

Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (born 1926)

Aydın Menderes, Turkish economist and politician (born 1946)

Ronald Searle, English-French cartoonist (born 1920)