NOTABLE DEATHS OF 2016
Embracing Soviet-style communism, Fidel Castro overcame imprisonment and exile to become leader of Cuba and defy the power of the United States at every turn. The strongman’s half-century rule was marked by the unsuccessful U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. But after surviving a crippling trade embargo and dozens of assassination plots, Castro died in November at age 90. Perhaps befitting the controversial leader, his death elicited both tears and cheers across the Western Hemisphere.
But Castro was just one of many noteworthy people who died in 2016.
Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2016. (Cause of death cited for younger people, if available.)
January
Dale Bumpers, 90. Former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator who earned the nickname “giant killer” for taking down incumbents, and who gave a passionate speech defending Bill Clinton during the president’s impeachment trial. Jan. 1
Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, 96. Twin sister of Iran’s deposed shah whose glamorous life epitomized the excesses of her brother’s rule. Jan. 7.
Georgia Davis Powers, 92. Giant in the fight for civil rights in Kentucky and the first African-American woman elected to the state Senate. Jan. 30.
February
Ferd Kaufman, 89. Associated Press photographer who was at Dallas police headquarters as authorities brought in President John F. Kennedy’s assassin. Feb. 3.
Edgar Mitchell, 85. Apollo 14 astronaut who became the sixth man on the moon when he and Alan Shepard helped NASA recover from Apollo 13’s “successful failure.” Feb. 4.
Antonin Scalia, 79. Influential conservative and most provocative member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Feb. 13.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 93. Veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country’s landmark peace deal with Israel but clashed with the United States when he served a single term as U.N. secretary-general. Feb. 16. March Thanat Khoman, 101. As Thailand’s foreign minister, he helped cement his country’s close relations with the United States during the Vietnam War. March 3. Raymond Tomlinson, 74. Inventor of modern email and a technological leader. March 5.
Nancy Reagan, 94. Helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president — and finally during his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. March 6.
Meir Dagan, 71. Former Israeli general and longtime director of the country’s spy agency. March 17.
Rob Ford, 46. Pugnacious, populist former mayor of Toronto whose career crashed in a drug-driven, obscenity-laced debacle. March 22. Cancer. Mother Mary Angelica, 92. Folksy Roman Catholic nun who used a monastery garage to begin a television ministry that grew into a global religious media empire. March 27.
Winston Moseley, 81. Man convicted of the 1964 stabbing death of Kitty Genovese, a crime that came to symbolize urban decay and indifference. March 28. Hans-Dietrich Genscher,
89. Long-serving German foreign minister who was one of the key architects of the country’s 1990 reunification of east and west. March 31.
April
Patricio Aylwin, 97. Lanky law professor who played a decisive role in restoring Chile’s democracy after 17 years of brutal dictatorship and was later elected president. April 19.
Isabelle Dinoire, 49. Frenchwoman who received the world’s first partial face transplant. April 22. Conrad Burns, 81. Former U.S. senator whose folksy demeanor and political acumen earned him three terms and the bitter disdain of his opponents. April 28. Rev. Daniel Berrigan, 94. Roman Catholic priest and peace activist who was imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam War. April 30.
May
Tommy Kono, 85. He took up weightlifting in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans and went on to win two Olympic gold medals for the United States. May 1.
Afeni Shakur, 69. Former Black Panther who inspired the work of her son, rap icon Tupac Shakur, and fostered his legacy for decades after he was slain. May 2. Bob Bennett, 82. Former
U.S. senator who shied away from the spotlight but earned a reputation as someone who knew how to get things done in Washington. May 4. Samuel Gibson, 39. Diminutive New Zealand man who inspired many by defying the brittle bones he was born with and pursuing a life filled with rigorous outdoor adventures. May 16. Died after falling from wheelchair during half-marathon. Morley
Safer, 84. Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who was equally at home reporting on social injustices, the Orient Express and abstract art, and who exposed a military atrocity in Vietnam that played an early role in changing Americans’ view of the war. May 19. Rosalie Chris Lerman, 90.
Survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp who was the wife of the founder of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and a passionate advocate of Holocaust remembrance. May 19. Kang Sok Ju, 76. Top North Korean diplomat who negotiated a short-lived 1994 deal with the United States to freeze his nation’s nuclear programs in exchange for international aid. May 20. Thomas E. Schaefer, 85. Retired Air Force colonel who was the ranking military officer among the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days before being released in 1981. May 31.
June
Muhammad Ali, 74. Heavyweight champion whose fast fists, irrepressible personality and determined spirit transcended sports and captivated the world. June 3. Victor Korchnoi, 85. Chess grandmaster and former Soviet champion who defected to the West and was considered among the best players never to win a world championship. June 6.
Margaret Vinci Heldt, 98. She became a hairstyling celebrity after she created the beehive hairdo in 1960. June 10.
Gordie Howe, 88. Known as “Mr. Hockey,” the Canadian farm boy whose blend of talent
and toughness made him the NHL’s quintessential star. June 10. George Voinovich, 79. Former U.S. senator and a two-term Ohio governor who preached frugality in his personal and public life and occasionally bucked the GOP establishment. June 12.
Jo Cox, 41. Lawmaker who campaigned for Britain to stay in the European Union. June 16. Killed by a gun- and knifewielding attacker. David Jonathan Thatcher,
94. Member of the Doolittle Raiders, who bombed Japan in an attack that stunned that nation and boosted U.S. morale during World War II. June 22.
Pat Summitt, 64. Winningest coach in Division I college basketball history who lifted the women’s game from obscurity to national prominence during her 38-year career at Tennessee. June 28.
July
Elie Wiesel, 87. Romanianborn Holocaust survivor whose classic “Night” became a landmark testament to the Nazis’ crimes and launched his career as one of the world’s foremost witnesses and humanitarians. July 2. Jack C. Taylor, 94. He started a leasing company with seven cars and built it into Enterprise Rent-A-Car. July 2.
William L. Armstrong, 79. Colorado media executive who became a major conservative voice in the Senate. July 5.
Abdul Sattar Edhi, 88. Pakistan’s legendary philanthropist who devoted his life to the poor and the destitute. July 8.
Sydney H. Schanberg, 82. Former New York Times correspondent awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the genocide in Cambodia in 1975 and whose story of the survival of his assistant inspired the film “The Killing Fields.” July 9. Bernardo Provenzano, 83. Convicted Cosa Nostra “boss of bosses” who reputedly led the Mafia’s powerful Corleone clan. July 13. Wendell Anderson, 83. Former Minnesota governor and ex-Olympian described in a 1973 Time magazine cover article as the youthful embodiment of his home state only to lose public confidence later by arranging his own appointment to the U.S. Senate. July 17. Thomas Sutherland, 85. Teacher who was held captive in Lebanon for more than six years until he was freed in 1991 and returned home to become professor emeritus at Colorado State University. July 22.
August
Ahmed Zewail, 70. Science adviser to President Obama who won the 1999 Nobel Prize for his work on the study of chemical reactions over short time scales. Aug. 2. Robert Kiley, 80. He is credited with revitalizing and modernizing public transportation networks in Boston, New York and London. Aug. 9.
John McLaughlin, 89. Conservative commentator and host of a long-running television show that pioneered holleringheads discussions of Washington politics. Aug. 16.
John W. Vessey, 94. Army general who rose in a 46-year military career to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and helped oversee Reagan’s military buildup. Aug. 18.
Jay Fishman, 63. Former Travelers Group insurance company chief executive who became a national advocate for research into Lou Gehrig’s disease after being diagnosed with it. Aug. 19. Donald “D.A.” Henderson,
87. Epidemiologist whose leadership resulted in the eradication nearly 40 years ago of smallpox, one of the world’s
most feared contagious diseases. Aug. 19.
Sonia Rykiel, 86. French designer dubbed the “queen of knitwear” whose relaxed sweaters in berry-colored stripes and eye-popping motifs helped liberate women from stuffy suits. Aug. 25.
September
Sam Iacobellis, 87. Rockwell International engineer who met President Ronald Reagan’s challenge to deliver 100 B-1 bombers as fast as possible in the early 1980s to challenge the Soviet Union. Sept. 3.
Phyllis Schlafly, 92. Outspoken conservative activist who helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and founded the Eagle Forum political group. Sept. 5. Greta Zimmer Friedman,
92. Believed to be the woman in an iconic photo shown kissing an ecstatic sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II. Sept. 8. Arnold Palmer, 87. Golfing great who brought a countryclub sport to the masses with a hard-charging style, charisma and a commoner’s touch. Sept. 25.
Ben Steele, 98. Bataan Death March survivor whose art helped him maintain his sanity as a prisoner of war and helped him forgive his captors. Sept. 25.
Shimon Peres, 93. Former Israeli president and prime minister, whose life story mirrored that of the Jewish state and who was celebrated around the world as a Nobel prizewinning visionary who pushed his country toward peace. Sept. 28.
October
Jacob Neusner, 84. He transformed the study of American Judaism, becoming one of the most influential 20th-century scholars of the religion. Oct. 8.
Donn Fendler, 90. As a boy, he survived nine days alone on Maine’s tallest mountain in 1939 and later wrote a book about the ordeal. Oct. 10. King Bhumibol Adulyadej,
88. World’s longest reigning monarch, he was revered in Thailand as a demigod, a humble father figure and an anchor of stability through decades of upheaval at home and abroad. Oct. 13. Junko Tabei, 77. The first woman to climb Mount Everest. Oct. 20. Tom Hayden, 76. 1960s antiwar activist whose name became forever linked with the Chicago 7 trial, Vietnam War protests and his ex-wife, actress Jane Fonda. Oct. 23. Robert A. Hoover, 94. World War II fighter pilot who became an aviation legend for his flying skills in testing aircraft and demonstrating their capabilities in air shows. Oct. 25.
November
Janet Reno, 78. First woman to serve as U.S. attorney general and the epicenter of several political storms during the Clinton administration, including the seizure of Elian Gonzalez. Nov. 7. Gwen
Ifill, 61. Co-anchor of PBS’ “NewsHour” with Judy Woodruff and a veteran journalist who moderated two vice presidential debates. Nov. 14.
Melvin Laird, 94. Former Wisconsin congressman and U.S. defense secretary during years when President Richard Nixon sought a way to withdraw troops from Vietnam. Nov. 16.
Denton Cooley, 96. Cardiovascular surgeon who performed some of the nation’s first heart transplants and implanted the world’s first artificial heart. Nov. 18. Fidel Castro, 90. He led his bearded rebels to victorious revolution in 1959, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of U.S. presidents
during his half-century of rule in Cuba. Nov. 25. Michael James “Jim”
Delligatti, 98. McDonald’s franchisee who created the Big Mac and saw it become perhaps the best-known fast-food sandwich. Nov. 28.
December
John Glenn, 95. His 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate. Dec. 8. Lawrence Manley Colburn, 67. Helicopter gunner in the Vietnam War who helped end the slaughter of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese villagers by U.S. troops at My Lai. Dec. 13.
Henry Heimlich, 96. Surgeon who created the lifesaving Heimlich maneuver for choking victims. Dec. 17.
Ed Reinecke, 92. Lieutenant governor of California under Gov. Ronald Reagan who resigned after a perjury conviction tied to the investigation of the Watergate scandal. Dec. 24.
Vera Rubin, 88. A pioneering astronomer who helped find powerful evidence of dark matter. Dec. 25.