Famous People Who Died Today

Moe Howard was an American comedian and actor best known for his role as the leader of one of the most popular farce comedy teams of all time, The Three Stooges. He appeared in several films as part of the comedy team and is credited with popularizing a distinctive hairstyle called a bowl cut.

Diana Dors was an English singer and actress who became renowned as one of the most famous sex symbols of her generation in the UK. She achieved stardom, first as a blonde bombshell—who made headlines for organizing lavish parties—and later as a regular chat-show guest. Diana Dors’ life and career inspired a 1999 TV biographical film titled The Blonde Bombshell.      

Rapper and bass guitarist Adam Yauch, better known by his pseudonym, “MCA,” was a founding member of the hip-hop and rap rock Beastie Boys. He also owned a film distributing company and was a practicing Buddhist who supported the Tibetan independence movement. He died of parotid cancer.

Nettie Stevens was an American geneticist. She is credited with discovering sex chromosomes which later came to be known as the X and Y chromosomes. In 1994, Nettie Stevens was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Legendary Japanese athlete Jigoro Kano is remembered as the founder of judo. A fine educator, he had also had a 23-year stint as the principal of 2 schools, which later became the University of Tsukuba. He was also the first Asian to be part of the International Olympic Committee.

Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovak politician, diplomat, aviator, and Freemason. He served as the minister of war for Czechoslovakia during World War I while simultaneously serving as a general in the French Army. He was a  leading member of the Czechoslovak National Council and contributed to the cause of Czechoslovakian sovereignty. He died in a plane crash in 1919.  

Frank Stella is an American sculptor, painter, and printmaker known for his work in the fields of post-painterly abstraction and minimalism. An influential artist, Stella has been an ardent supporter of copyright protection for artists. In 2009, he was honored with the prestigious National Medal of Arts. In 2011, the International Sculpture Center honored Stella with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Coxsone Dodd was a Jamaican record producer best remembered for his influential role in the development of reggae and ska in the 1950s and 1960s. Coxsone Dodd is also credited with founding a record company named Worldisc in 1959. In 2002, the Institute of Jamaica honored him with the prestigious Gold Musgrave Medal for his contribution to Jamaican music.

Four-time winner of the AEGON Awards, Elena Baltacha was a Ukrainian-born British tennis player, who held the British No. I position for the first time at the age of nineteen. An unbelievable fighter, she continued to play despite her debilitating illness, winning matches almost till the very end, retiring from professional tennis five months before her death from liver cancer.

Adnan Khairallah was an Iraqi political leader who served as the Minister of Defence from 15 October 1977 until his death on 4 May 1989. Although he was Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law, Khairallah had a long-standing rift with Hussein, which led many to believe that Adnan Khairallah was killed under orders from Saddam Hussein. His death was officially labeled an accident.

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Edward Calvin Kendall is best known for his work on isolating thyroxine, or the thyroid hormone, and for crystallizing glutathione. He also revolutionized medical science by curing rheumatoid arthritis with cortisone, the steroid hormone he discovered. He was also associated with the Mayo Foundation and Princeton University.

US geophysicist Maurice Ewing conducted path-breaking research on ocean basins and sediments, using seismic methods. Apart from teaching geology at Columbia University, he also served as the director of the Lamont Geological Observatory. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he also received the National Medal of Science, among other awards.

Pope Eleutherius, the bishop of Rome for around 15 years from 174 to 189 C.E, is revered as a Saint in the Catholic Church. He is known for his stance against the Montanist movement and the food decree that he issued. Also, as per a legend, it is believed that Lucius, the King of Britain, asked him to send missionaries.

Philippine communist leader Luis Taruc was a major figure of the guerrilla movement named Hukbalahap and led its fight against the Japanese occupiers of the Philippines. Tried for terrorism, he was sentenced to a 12-year prison term but was later pardoned by President Ferdinand Marcos.

Frederic Franklin was a British-American ballet dancer, director, and choreographer. Over the course of his illustrious career, Franklin made immense contributions to several popular ballet companies, such as The Royal Ballet, Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo, and the Markova-Dolin Ballet. Frederic Franklin also received prestigious awards like the Laurence Olivier Award, the Capezio Dance Award, and the Dance Magazine Award.

Known for his seminal work on cultural diffusion, time-space geography and human migration, Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand was a noted academic attached to the prestigious Lunds University of Sweden. Hailed for introducing humanistic approach to geography, he paid close attention to ideas like embodiment and emotion, which in turn helped to develop critical geography, promoting social justice and liberation. 

Swedish national hero Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson was initially a mine owner. He later led the 1434 Engelbrekt rebellion against King Eric of Pomerania. He was eventually killed by Måns Bengtsson, an aristocrat and knight whose father had been involved in a legal battle with Engelbrektsson regarding the burning of a ship.