Media & the arts
Art Buchwald, Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and satirist, died Jan. 17, age 81.
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Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and advisor to President John F. Kennedy, died Feb. 28, age 89.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., genre-defying novelist and favorite of college students, died April 11, age 84.
David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize–winning chronicler of the Vietnam War and cultural historian, died April 23, age 73.
Beverly Sills, Grammy-winning soprano and chairman of Lincoln Center, died July 2, age 78.
Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time and other beloved children’s books, died Sept. 6, age 88.
Luciano Pavarotti, booming Italian tenor who sold more than 100 million records, died Oct. 12, age 71.
Norman Mailer, pugnacious novelist who won two Pulitzer Prizes, died
Nov. 10, age 84.
Ira Levin, author of The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby, died
Nov. 12, age 78.
Show business
Carlo Ponti, film producer and husband of Sophia Loren, died Jan. 9, age 94.
Sidney Sheldon, best-selling novelist and producer of I Dream of Jeannie and The Patty Duke Show, died Jan. 30, age 89.
Anna Nicole Smith, Playboy Playmate of the Year and reality-show star, died Feb. 8, age 39.
Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, died April 26, age 85.
Charles Nelson Reilly, campy, Tony Award–winning actor and fixture of Match Game, died May 25, age 76.
Tom Snyder, TV personality who hosted The Tomorrow Show on NBC, died July 29, age 71.
Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director whose films plumbed the depths of the human psyche, died July 30, age 89.
Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director who eschewed narrative and other cinematic conventions, died July 30, age 94.
Merv Griffin, talk-show host who developed Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, died Aug. 12, age 82.
Max Roach, revolutionary bebop drummer, died Aug. 16, age 83.
Jane Wyman, Oscar-winning actress and first wife of Ronald Reagan, died Sept. 10, age 90.
Marcel Marceau, French mime and alter ego of “Bip,” died Sept. 22, age 84.
Deborah Kerr, proper British actress nominated for six Academy Awards, died Oct. 16, age 86.
Joey Bishop, deadpan comic and last survivor of the “Rat Pack,” died Oct. 17, age 89.
Robert Goulet, powerful baritone and the original Lancelot in Camelot, died Oct. 30, age 73.
Ike Turner, R&B musician and songwriter, and ex-husband of Tina Turner, died Dec. 12, age 76.
Dan Fogelberg, soulful singer of “Leader of the Band” and “Same Old Lang Syne,” died Dec. 16, age 56.
Sports
Dennis Johnson, Boston Celtics point guard and five-time NBA all-star, died Feb. 22, age 52.
Bowie Kuhn, commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1984, died March 15, age 80.
Eddie Robinson, Grambling State University football coach who won a record 408 games, died April 3, age 88.
Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers coach who developed the “West Coast Offense,” died July 30, age 75.
Phil “The Scooter” Rizzuto, New York Yankees shortstop and master bunter, died Aug. 13, age 89.
Al Oerter, Olympic discus thrower who was the first to win gold medals in the same event in four consecutive games, died Oct. 1, age 71.
Politics
E. Howard Hunt Jr., Watergate conspirator and spy novelist, died Jan. 23, age 88.
Thomas F. Eagleton, Missouri senator and George McGovern’s first 1972 presidential running mate, died March 4, age 77.
Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia who helped bring down the Soviet Union, died April 23, age 76.
Kurt Waldheim, Nazi officer, U.N. secretary-general, and president of Austria, died June 14, age 88.
Lady Bird Johnson, beautification-minded widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson, died July 11, age 94.
General
Walter M. Schirra Jr., one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, died May 3, age 84.
Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, died May 15, age 73.
Tammy Faye Bakker, televangelist and eventual gay icon, died July 20, age 65.
Brooke Astor, New York City–based philanthropist and local legend, died Aug. 13, age 105.
Leona Helmsley, luxury hotelier known as “the Queen of Mean,” died Aug. 20, age 87.
Richard Jewell, Olympic guard falsely accused of the fatal 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Games, died Aug. 29, age 44.
Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Nov. 1, age 92.
Evel Knievel, daredevil motorcyclist who broke 40 bones, died Nov. 30, age 69.
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