Both were mold-breaking former heads of state who reshaped their own countries and the world. Nelson Mandela, revered for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, and Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” who imposed her will on Britain’s politics and economy, were among notables who died in 2013.
Mandela, who died Dec. 5 at age 95, was considered a master of forgiveness. He became South Africa’s first Black president after spending 27 years in prison for championing equality against the white-minority government, and he inspired the world by seeking a relatively peaceful transition of power.
As Britain’s only female prime minister, Thatcher ruled for 11 years and showed an unshakable faith in the free market, leaving behind a leaner government and more prosperous nation. While she had fierce critics, praise for her leadership came in from around the world when she died in April at 87.
Other political figures who died this year included Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, former Italian premier Giulio Andreotti, Poland’s ex-prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, France’s Pierre Mauroy, and Hungary’s Gyula Horn, prominent past mayors of New York and Beijing, Ed Koch and Chen Xitong, and former U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Harry F. Byrd.
Also dying in 2013 was a man whose invention you may hold as you read this. Doug Engelbart, who died in July, invented the computer mouse, among other things. Others from the world of science and technology who died this year included the Manhattan Project’s Donald F. Hornig, Nobel Prize winners Frederick Sanger, Robert Edwards and Kenneth Wilson, audio pioneers Ray Dolby and Amar Bose and astronauts C. Gordon Fullerton and Scott Carpenter.
In the arena of arts and entertainment, this year saw the death of one who was hugely influential though not technically an entertainer at all. Roger Ebert, who died in April, was America’s most popular film critic, telling audiences which movies to see or avoid with his famous thumbs-up or thumbs-down reviews.
Others from the entertainment world who died this year included actors James Gandolfini, Peter O’Toole, Jane Kean, Annette Funicello, Jean Stapleton, Bonnie Franklin, Cory Monteith, Frank Thornton and Conrad Bain, as well as the swimming star Esther Williams and the Bollywood villain Pran. Musicians included George Jones, Van Cliburn, Lou Reed, Donald Byrd, Ray Manzarek, Bebo Valdes, Mindy McCready, Chrissy Amphle and Chris Kelly. Among others: writer Tom Clancy, director Nagisa Oshima and ballerina Maria Tallchief.
Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2013. (Cause of death cited for younger people if available.)
JANUARY:
Patti Page, 85. Singer who stumbled across “Tennessee Waltz” and made it one of the best-selling recordings ever. Jan. 1.
Gerda Lerner, 92. Pioneer in the field of women’s history and a founding member of the National Organization for Women. Jan. 2.
Ned Wertimer, 89. He played Ralph the Doorman on all 11 seasons of the CBS sitcom “The Jeffersons.” Jan. 2.
Huell Howser, 67. Homespun host of public television’s popular “California’s Gold” travelogues. Jan. 6.
Evan S. Connell, 88. Author, whose literary explorations ranged from Depression-era Kansas City in the twin novels “Mrs. Bridge” and “Mr. Bridge” to Custer’s last stand in “Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn.” Jan. 10.
Aaron Swartz, 26. Co-founder of Reddit and activist who fought to make online content free to the public. Jan. 11. Suicide.
Khanh Nguyen, 86. South Vietnamese general who briefly gained control of the government in a coup and went on to lead a “government in exile” in California. Jan. 11.
Eugene Patterson, 89. Pulitzer Prize-winning editor who helped fellow Southern whites understand the civil rights movement, eloquently reminding the silent majority of its complicity in racist violence. Jan. 12.
Conrad Bain, 89. Veteran stage and film actor who became a star in middle age as the kindly white adoptive father of two young African-American brothers in the TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” Jan. 14.
Nagisa Oshima, 80. Japanese film director acclaimed for “Empire of Passion” and “In the Realm of the Senses.” Jan. 15.
Andre Cassagnes, 86. Inventor of Etch A Sketch, toy that generations of children drew on, shook up and started over. Jan. 16.
Pauline Friedman Phillips, 94. Under the name of Abigail Van Buren, she wrote the long-running “Dear Abby” newspaper advice column read by millions. Jan. 16.
James Hood, 70. One of the first Black students who enrolled at the University of Alabama a half century ago in defiance of racial segregation. Jan. 17.
Earl Weaver, 82. Fiery Hall of Fame manager who won 1,480 games with baseball’s Baltimore Orioles. Jan. 19.
Stan Musial, 92. St. Louis Cardinals star with the corkscrew stance and too many batting records to fit on his Hall of Fame plaque. Jan. 19.
Hans Massaquoi, 87. Former managing editor of Ebony magazine whose distinctive memoir described his unusual childhood growing up black in Nazi Germany. Jan. 19.
Donald F. Hornig, 92. Scientist who served as a key figure on the Manhattan Project, an adviser to three U.S. presidents and president of Brown University. Jan. 21.
Linda Pugach, 75. Blinded in 1959 when her lover hired hit men to throw lye in her face, she became a media sensation after later marrying him. Jan. 22.
Cardinal Jozef Glemp, 83. Longtime head of Poland’s influential Roman Catholic church who helped lead the nation peacefully through martial law and the fight against communism. Jan. 23.
Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, 69. Frontman for the hit-making funk music band the Ohio Players. Jan. 26.
Ceija Stojka, 79. She survived three Nazi death camps and went on to raise the awareness of the Nazi persecution of the Roma – or Gypsies – in her art and writings. Jan. 28.
Said Musa Maragha, 86. Hard-line Palestinian military commander better known by his nom de guerre, “Abu Musa,” who rebelled against leader Yasser Arafat to form his own rival party. Jan. 29.
Patty Andrews, 94. Last of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” and the poignant “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” captured the home-front spirit of World War II. Jan. 30.
FEBRUARY:
Ed Koch, 88. Former New York mayor and combative politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during three City Hall terms. Feb. 1.
Lavonne “Pepper” Paire-Davis, 88. A star of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and an inspiration for the central character in the movie “A League of Their Own.” Feb. 2.
Chris Kyle, 38. Former Navy SEAL and author of the best-selling book “American Sniper.” Feb. 2. Fatally shot at a Texas gun range.
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, 87. Mixed-race daughter of one-time segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond who kept her parentage secret for more than 70 years. Feb. 3.
James Muri, 93. World War II pilot who saved his crippled B-26 bomber and crew by buzzing the flight deck of a Japanese aircraft carrier during the Battle of Midway. Feb. 3.
Donald Byrd, 80. Hard-bop trumpeter of the 1950s who collaborated on dozens of albums with top artists of his time and later enjoyed commercial success with hit jazz-funk fusion records such as “Black Byrd.” Feb. 4.
Petro Vlahos, 96. Two-time Academy Award winner whose blue- and green-screen technique on movies like “Mary Poppins” and “Ben Hur” made the modern blockbuster possible. Feb. 10.
Mindy McCready, 37. She hit the top of the country music charts before personal problems sidetracked her career. Feb. 17. Apparent suicide.
Richard Briers, 79. British actor who was an avuncular comic presence on TV and movie screens for decades. Feb. 17.
Jerry Buss, 80. Los Angeles Lakers’ playboy owner who shepherded the NBA franchise to 10 championships from the ’80s Showtime dynasty to the Kobe Bryant era. Feb. 18.
Alexei German, 74. Russian film director best known for works offering a bitter view of life in the Soviet Union under dictator Josef Stalin. Feb. 21.
Magic Slim, 75. Younger contemporary of blues greats Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf who helped shape the sound of Chicago’s electric blues. Feb. 21.
Cleotha Staples, 78. Eldest sibling in the influential gospel group The Staple Singers. Feb. 21.
Debi Austin, 62. She smoked a cigarette through a hole in her throat to illustrate her struggle with nicotine addiction in a public service advertisement. Feb. 22. Cancer.
Wojciech Inglot, 57. Polish chemist and businessman who founded and ran a cosmetics company, Inglot, that grew to nearly 400 stores in 50 countries. Feb. 23. Internal hemorrhaging.
C. Everett Koop, 96. He raised the profile of the surgeon general by riveting America’s attention on the then-emerging disease known as AIDS and by railing against smoking. Feb. 25.
Stephane Hessel, 95. Concentration camp survivor and member of the French resistance whose 32-page book “Time for Outrage” became a best-seller and an inspiration for the left. Feb. 26.
Thomas “Tom” Griffin, 96. B-25 bomber navigator in the audacious Doolittle’s Raid attack on mainland Japan during World War II. Feb. 26.
Dale Robertson, 89. Oklahoma native who became a star of television and movie Westerns during the genre’s heyday. Feb. 26.
Van Cliburn, 78. Pianist whose triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launched a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock-star status. Feb. 27.
Bruce Reynolds, 81. Mastermind of a British heist known as the “Great Train Robbery.” Feb. 28.
John J. Wilpers Jr., 93. Last surviving member of the U.S. Army intelligence unit that captured former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo after World War II. Feb. 28.
MARCH:
Bonnie Franklin, 69. Pert, redheaded actress whom millions came to identify with for her role as divorced mom Ann Romano on the sitcom “One Day at a Time.” March 1.
Jewel Akens, 79. Pop singer who had a 1960s hit with “The Birds and the Bees.” March 1. Complications from back surgery.
Fran Warren, 87. Singer-actress whose 1947 recording of “A Sunday Kind of Love” was a hit of the big band era. March 4.
Hugo Chavez, 58. Fiery populist president of Venezuela who declared a socialist revolution, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America. March 5. Cancer.
Stompin’ Tom Connors, 77. Country-folk singer whose toe-tapping musical spirit and fierce patriotism established him as one of Canada’s biggest cultural icons. March 6.
Dirk Coetzee, 57. Former commander of an apartheid-era police unit in South Africa that killed black activists. March 6.
Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, 90. Last surviving member of the main plot to kill Adolf Hitler, who once volunteered to wear a suicide vest to assassinate the Nazi dictator. March 8.
Princess Lilian, 97. Her decades-long love story with the king’s uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the Swedish royal household. March 10.
Ieng Sary, 87. Co-founder of the brutal Khmer Rouge movement in 1970s who became one of its few leaders to be put on trial for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians. March 14.
James Barrett, 86. Vintner whose chardonnay beat the French in a 1976 tasting that propelled California wines to international prominence. March 14.
Olen Burrage, 82. He was acquitted in the case of three civil rights workers killed by Ku Klux Klansmen in Mississippi in the 1960s. March 15.
Frank Thornton, 92. British actor best known as Captain Peacock in the long-running television comedy “Are You Being Served?” March 16.
Mariam Farhat, 64. Palestinian lawmaker known as the “mother of martyrs” who praised and supported three of her sons who were killed while carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis. March 17.
A.B.C. “Cal” Whipple, 94. Connecticut man who helped get a groundbreaking photograph of dead American soldiers published during World War II. March 17.
Harry Reems, 65. Male star of the 1972’s “Deep Throat,” which brought pornographic film to mainstream audiences. March 19.
Zillur Rahman, 84. Bangladesh’s figurehead president, he was a top leader of the ruling Awami League party before Parliament elected him president in 2009. March 20.
James Herbert, 69. British horror writer whose best-sellers included “The Rats” and “The Fog.” March 20.
George Lowe, 89. Last surviving climber from the team that made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. March 20.
Chinua Achebe, 82. Nigerian author, statesman and dissident who gave literary birth to modern Africa with “Things Fall Apart” and continued for decades to rewrite and reclaim the history of his native country. March 21.
Bebo Valdes, 94. Renowned pianist, composer and bandleader who recorded with Nat “King” Cole, was musical director at Havana’s legendary Tropicana Club and a key participant in the golden age of Cuban music. March 22.
Joe Weider, 93. Legendary figure in bodybuilding who helped popularize the sport and played a key role in introducing young weightlifter Arnold Schwarzenegger to the world. March 23.
Deke Richards, 68. As leader of the Motown creative team known as The Corporation, he was involved in writing and producing many Jackson 5 hits. March 24.
John Williamson, 80. Pioneer of the 1960s sexual revolution as co-founder of Topanga Canyon’s Sandstone Retreat, where nudity and free love once took place with abandon. March 24. Cancer.
Elwin Wilson, 76. Former Ku Klux Klan supporter who apologized for years of violent racism, including the beating of Freedom Rider John Lewis who went on to become a Georgia congressman. March 28.
Richard Griffiths, 65. Versatile British actor who won a Tony Award for “The History Boys” and played unsympathetic Uncle Vernon Dursley in the “Harry Potter” movies. March 28.
Phil Ramone, 79. Grammy-winning engineer, arranger and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon. March 30. Complications from heart surgery.
APRIL:
Barbara Piasecka Johnson, 76. A Polish farmer’s daughter who worked as a maid for an American heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune before marrying him and eventually inheriting much of his wealth. April 1.
Jane Henson, 78. She was married to Jim Henson and the two were creative and business partners in the development of the Muppets. April 2.
Roger Ebert, 70. First journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism, who, on his long-running TV review program, wielded the nation’s most influential thumb. April 4.
Victor Carranza, 77. Colombia’s “emerald czar,” he survived at least two assassination attempts and avoided criminal conviction despite being prosecuted for allegedly forming far-right militias. April 4.
Anna Merz, 83. Conservationist who sought to protect the rhinoceros from poaching that has severely depleted its numbers in Africa. April 4.
Lilly Pulitzer, 81. Palm Beach socialite-turned-designer whose tropical print dresses in the 1960s later became a fashion classic. April 7.
Margaret Thatcher, 87. Conservative British prime minister who infuriated European allies, found a fellow believer in Ronald Reagan and transformed her country by a ruthless dedication to free markets. April 8. Stroke.
Annette Funicello, 70. Child star as a perky Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, who then teamed with Frankie Avalon on a string of ’60s fun-in-the-sun movies with names like “Beach Party Bingo.” April 8. Complications from multiple sclerosis.
Robert Edwards, 87. Nobel prizewinner from Britain whose pioneering in vitro fertilization research led to the first test tube baby. April 10.
Maria Tallchief, 88. One of America’s first great prima ballerinas who gave life to “The Nutcracker,” ”Firebird,” and other masterpieces from choreographer George Balanchine. April 11.
Jonathan Winters, 87. Cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. April 11.
Hilary Koprowski, 96. Pioneering virologist who developed the first successful oral vaccination for polio. April 11.
Bob Perry, 80. Houston real estate magnate and political mega-donor who shunned the limelight while generously bankrolling GOP candidates. April 13.
Pat Summerall, 82. Deep-voiced NFL player-turned-broadcaster who spent half of his four decades calling sports famously paired with John Madden. April 16.
Alan Wood, 90. World War II veteran credited with providing the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima. April 18.
Al Neuharth, 89. Founder of USA Today, the nation’s most widely read newspaper. April 19.
Robert Earl Holding, 86. Billionaire whose business empire included ownership of Sinclair Oil and two world-class ski resorts. April 19.
Allan Arbus, 95. He played the wise – and wisecracking – psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on TV’s “M.A.S.H.” April 19.
Deanna Durbin, 91. Teen sensation whose sparkling soprano voice and girl-next-door looks made her a star during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Around April 20.
Chrissy Amphlett, 53. Raunchy lead singer of the Australian band Divinyls whose hit “I Touch Myself” brought her fame in the early 1990s. April 21. Breast cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Leopold Engleitner, 107. Oldest known survivor of Nazi concentration camps. April 21.
George Jones, 81. Peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaker “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” April 26.
Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, 96. Shanghai bishop who revived the Catholic church in China’s financial hub after years of Maoist persecution. April 27.
MAY:
Chris Kelly, 34. Half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade’s most memorable songs with “Jump.” May 1. Drug overdose.
Jeff Hanneman, 49. Founding member of the pioneering metal band Slayer whose career was irrevocably changed after a spider bite. May 2. Liver failure.
David Morris Kern, 103. Creator of Orajel, a medicine aimed at toothaches that was later also used for mouth sores. May 3.
Otis R. Bowen, 95. Small-town doctor who overhauled Indiana’s tax system as governor before helping promote safe sex practices in the early years of AIDS as the top health official under President Ronald Reagan. May 4.
Giulio Andreotti, 94. Seven-time premier and a symbol of postwar Italy. May 6.
Ray Harryhausen, 92. Special-effects master whose sword-fighting skeletons, six-tentacled octopus and other fantastical creations won raves from film lovers and industry heavyweights. May 7.
Jeanne Cooper, 84. Soap opera star who played grande dame Katherine Chancellor for nearly four decades on “The Young and the Restless.” May 8.
Ottavio Missoni, 92. Patriarch of an iconic fashion brand of zigzag-patterned knitwear. May 9.
Malcolm Shabazz, 28. Grandson of Malcolm X who at age 12, set a fire that killed the political activist’s widow. May 9. Injuries from being beaten.
Boruch Spiegel, 93. One of the last survivors of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising by poorly armed Jewish insurgents against the powerful Nazi German force that occupied Poland. May 9.
Joyce Brothers, 85. Pop psychologist who pioneered the television advice show in the 1950s and enjoyed a long career as a syndicated columnist, author, and TV and film personality. May 13.
Billie Sol Estes, 88. Flamboyant Texas huckster who became notorious in 1962 when accused of looting a federal crop subsidy program. May 14.
Valtr Komarek, 82. Left-wing Czech politician who helped overthrow the country’s communist regime and was one of the most visible faces of the so-called “Velvet Revolution.” May 16.
Jorge Rafael Videla, 87. Former Argentine dictator who took power in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands in a dirty war to eliminate so-called “subversives,” May 17.
Ken Venturi, 82. Golf star who overcame dehydration to win the 1964 U.S. Open and spent 35 years in the booth for CBS Sports. May 17.
Ray Manzarek, 74. Founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison’s gloomy baritone. May 20. Cancer.
Jack Vance, 96. Award-winning mystery, fantasy and science fiction author who wrote more than 60 books. May 26.
Rev. Andrew Greeley, 85. Outspoken Roman Catholic priest, best-selling author and Chicago newspaper columnist who criticized church hierarchy over the child sex abuse scandal. May 29.
Rituparno Ghosh, 49. Indian film director whose work includes award-winning films in the Bengali language. May 30. Cardiac arrest.
Jean Stapleton, 90. Stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker’s far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV’s groundbreaking 1970s comedy “All in the Family.” May 31.
JUNE:
Chen Xitong, 82. As Beijing’s mayor, he backed the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democratic movement but later expressed regret for the loss of life. June 2.
Mandawuy Yunupingu, 56. The former lead singer of Australian indigenous band Yothu Yindi and one of the country’s most famous Aborigines. June 2.
Frank Lautenberg, 89. Multimillionaire New Jersey businessman and the last World War II veteran remaining in the U.S. Senate. June 3.
David “Deacon” Jones, 74. Hall of Fame defensive end credited with coining the word sack for how he knocked down quarterbacks. June 3.
Rev. Will Campbell, 88. White minister who drew acclaim for his involvement in the civil rights movement. June 3.
Esther Williams, 91. Swimming champion-turned-actress who starred in glittering, aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. June 6.
Pierre Mauroy, 84. As France’s prime minister in the early 1980s, he implemented radical social reforms that made life easier for French workers. June 7.
Richard Ramirez, 53. Serial killer known as the Night Stalker who left satanic signs at murder scenes during a reign of terror in the 1980s. June 7. Liver failure.
Iain Banks, 59. Scottish writer who alternately wowed and disturbed readers with his dark jokes and narrative tricks. June 9.
Robert W. Fogel, 86. University of Chicago economist whose study of the economics of slavery sparked a furious debate in academia and later helped garner him a Nobel prize. June 11.
Thomas Penfield Jackson, 76. As federal judge in Washington he presided over a historic Microsoft antitrust case and the drug possession trial of former Mayor Marion Barry. June 15.
Kenneth Wilson, 77. He earned a Nobel prize for pioneering work that changed the way physicists think about phase transitions. June 15. Complications of lymphoma.
Michael Hastings, 33. Award-winning journalist and war correspondent whose unflinching reporting ended the career of a top American army general. June 18. Car accident.
James Gandolfini, 51. Actor whose portrayal of a brutal but emotionally delicate crime boss in HBO’s “The Sopranos” turned the mobster stereotype on its head. June 19. Heart attack.
Slim Whitman, 90. Country singer who sold millions of records through TV ads in the 1980s and 1990s and whose song saved the world in the film comedy “Mars Attacks!” June 19.
Gyula Horn, 80. Former Hungarian prime minister who played a key role in opening the Iron Curtain. June 19.
Vince Flynn, 47. Best-selling author who wrote the Mitch Rapp counterterrorism thriller series. June 19. Cancer.
Bobby “Blue” Bland, 83. Singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as “Turn on Your Love Light” and “Further On Up the Road.” June 23.
Richard Matheson, 87. Prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer whose “I Am Legend” and “The Shrinking Man” were transformed into films. June 23.
Marc Rich, 78. Trader known as the “King of Commodities” whose 2001 pardon by President Bill Clinton just hours before he left office prompted fierce criticism. June 26.
Jim Kelly, 67. Actor who played a glib American martial artist in “Enter the Dragon” with Bruce Lee. June 29. Cancer.
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