Notable Deaths in 2026

Rifaat al-Assad

Former Vice President of Syria, brother of Hafez al-Assad

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

Son of Muammar Gaddafi, former heir apparent of Libya

Shot

Jesse Jackson

Civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate

Robert Mueller

Former FBI Director and Special Counsel investigating Russian interference

George Ariyoshi

First Asian American Governor in U.S. history (Hawaii)

Ted Turner

Founder of CNN and Turner Broadcasting System

Barney Frank

U.S. Congressman, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act

Heart failure

Bernadette Chirac

Former First Lady of France, widow of President Jacques Chirac

Alan Greenspan

Former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve (1987–2006)

Complications from Parkinson's disease

Lindsey Graham

U.S. Senator from South Carolina

Aortic dissection complicated by cardiovascular disease

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Former Emir of Qatar (1995–2013)

James Woolsey

Former CIA Director (1993–1995)

Stroke

Kay Granger

First Republican woman elected to Congress from Texas

Siim Kallas

Prime Minister of Estonia (2002 to 2003) and European Commission vice-president

Édouard Balladur

Prime Minister of France (1993 to 1995)

Raif Dizdarević

President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1988 to 1989)

Milan Panić

Prime Minister of FR Yugoslavia (1992 to 1993), founder of ICN Pharmaceuticals

Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali

Pioneering Malaysian doctor, wife of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

Biljana Plavšić

President of Republika Srpska (1996 to 1998), convicted by the UN war crimes tribunal

Cesar Virata

Prime Minister of the Philippines (1981 to 1986)

Dennis Hastert

Longest-serving Republican Speaker of the US House, later imprisoned

Natural causes

James Van Der Beek

Actor: Dawson's Creek, Varsity Blues

Colorectal cancer

Robert Duvall

Oscar-winning actor: The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Tender Mercies

Chuck Norris

Martial artist, actor: Walker Texas Ranger, Missing in Action

Nathalie Baye

French actress, César Award winner

Complications from Lewy body dementia

Ann Blyth

Actress: Mildred Pierce, The Great Caruso

Penelope Keith

Actress: The Good Life, To the Manor Born

Cancer

Sam Neill

Actor: Jurassic Park, The Piano, Peaky Blinders

Brenda Fricker

Oscar-winning actress: My Left Foot

Gunther von Hagens

Anatomist, creator of Body Worlds exhibitions

Cerebral haemorrhage complicated by Parkinson's disease

Reggie Bannister

Actor: the Phantasm horror franchise (1979–2016)

Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease

Ben Jones

Actor: Cooter Davenport in The Dukes of Hazzard; Georgia Congressman

Heart attack

Tyler Duckworth

Reality TV personality: The Real World: Key West, two-time The Challenge winner

Hayden Panettiere

Actress: Heroes, Nashville, Remember the Titans

Accidental overdose (combined drug toxicity)

Shelley Fabares

Actress and singer: The Donna Reed Show, Coach, "Johnny Angel"

Pneumonia

Tim Curry

Actor: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue, It

Coronary artery disease

Peter Cullen

Voice actor: Optimus Prime in Transformers, Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh

Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Film director: Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), The Horseman on the Roof

Richard O'Sullivan

Actor: Robin Tripp in Man About the House and Robin's Nest

Patricio Guzmán

Documentary filmmaker: The Battle of Chile, Nostalgia for the Light

Cardiorespiratory arrest

Stephanie Cole

Actress: Waiting for God, Tenko, Open All Hours, Doc Martin

Marina Vlady

Actress: The Conjugal Bed, Cannes Best Actress (1963)

Dennis Haskins

Actor: Principal Richard Belding in Saved by the Bell

Esther Rantzen

Broadcaster: That's Life!; founder of Childline and The Silver Line

Lung cancer

Mary Louise Weller

Actress: Mandy Pepperidge in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Anatoly Kashpirovsky

Soviet TV psychotherapist and hypnotist famous for televised "healing" sessions

Cardiac arrest

Eva Marie Saint

Oscar-winning actress of On the Waterfront and North by Northwest

Natural causes

Nana Patekar

Award-winning Hindi and Marathi actor of Parinda, Krantiveer and Salaam Bombay!

Suspected cardiac arrest

RJ Mitte

Played Walter White Jr. on Breaking Bad and campaigned for disability rights

Michael Forest

Actor who played the god Apollo in Star Trek and a prolific voice actor in anime

Richard Riehle

Character actor who played Tom Smykowski in Office Space

Natural causes

Danny Watson

New Zealand television presenter and longtime Newstalk ZB afternoons host

Maarten Spanjer

Dutch actor and writer known for Spetters and the TV series Taxi

Bladder and prostate cancer

Lua Blanco

Brazilian actress and singer who played Roberta Messi in Rebelde

Cancer

Bob Weir

Founding member and guitarist of the Grateful Dead

Underlying lung issues

Neil Sedaka

Singer-songwriter: "Calendar Girl", "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"

Afrika Bambaataa

Hip-hop pioneer, founder of the Zulu Nation

Prostate cancer

Sonny Rollins

Jazz saxophone legend: Saxophone Colossus

Peabo Bryson

R&B singer: "A Whole New World", "Beauty and the Beast"

Complications from a stroke

Clive Davis

Legendary music executive: Columbia Records, Arista Records

David Clayton-Thomas

Lead vocalist of Blood, Sweat & Tears: "Spinning Wheel"

Victor Willis

Original lead singer of the Village People: "Y.M.C.A."

Bonnie Tyler

Singer: "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Holding Out for a Hero"

Complications from intestinal surgery

Peppino di Capri

Italian singer: two-time Sanremo Music Festival winner

Freddy Cannon

Rock and roll singer: "Tallahassee Lassie", "Palisades Park"

Cancer

Kavinsky

Electronic musician: "Nightcall" (Drive soundtrack)

Glen Hansard

Oscar-winning musician: "Falling Slowly", The Frames, Once

Traffic collision

Ruby Andrews

Chicago soul singer: "Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)"

Frank Beard

Drummer of ZZ Top for more than five decades

Dolly Parton

Country music legend: "Jolene", "I Will Always Love You", 9 to 5, Dollywood

Cancer

Cassandra Wilson

Jazz singer, two-time Grammy winner: New Moon Daughter, Loverly

Rosalind Ashford

Founding member of Martha and the Vandellas

Duncan Sheik

Singer-songwriter: "Barely Breathing"; Tony-winning composer of Spring Awakening

Heart failure leading to cardiac arrest

Chad Gilbert

Founding guitarist of pop-punk band New Found Glory

Angry Anderson

Frontman of Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo

Complications of a heart attack

Mighty Sparrow

"Calypso King of the World": "Jean and Dinah"

Freddie Jackson

R&B singer behind the 1980s hits Rock Me Tonight and You Are My Lady

George Fenton

Five-time Oscar-nominated composer of Gandhi, Groundhog Day and Planet Earth

Lena Martell

Scottish singer whose One Day at a Time reached number one in 1979

Martina Arroyo

Operatic soprano and one of the first Black singers to build a major international opera career

Deva

Tamil film composer credited with bringing Gaana music into mainstream cinema

Cardiac arrest

Benito di Paula

Brazilian samba singer and pianist behind Retalhos de Cetim and Meu Amigo Charlie Brown

Prostate cancer

Sonny Jurgensen

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback: Washington, Philadelphia

Alex Zanardi

Racing driver and Paralympic champion

Bobby Cox

Baseball Hall of Fame manager: Atlanta Braves

Kyle Busch

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion

Complications from pneumonia and sepsis

Raymond Berry

NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver: Baltimore Colts

Neale Daniher

AFL coach and motor neurone disease advocate

Motor neurone disease

Antonio Rattín

Argentine football captain, infamous 1966 World Cup sending off

Garfield Sobers

Cricket legend: greatest all-rounder in history

Kevin Keegan

Football legend: Liverpool, Hamburg, England captain and manager

Cancer

Franco Baresi

AC Milan and Italy football legend, one of the greatest defenders ever

Robby Albarado

Jockey: rode Curlin to the 2007 Preakness Stakes; 4th-most wins in Churchill Downs history

Cardiac complications following heart surgery

Don Nelson

Second-winningest coach in NBA history: Warriors, Mavericks, Bucks

Tommy John

MLB pitcher who gave his name to the most common surgery in baseball

Bladder cancer

Isao Harimoto

Japanese baseball's all-time hits leader (3,085)

Luděk Mikloško

West Ham United goalkeeper; Czechoslovakia at the 1990 World Cup

Cancer

Sandro Mazzola

Inter Milan and Italy legend, two-time European Cup winner

Bob Pettit

NBA Hall of Famer and the league's first MVP

Gordon Johncock

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner (1973, 1982)

Jeff Van Note

Atlanta Falcons center for 18 seasons, six-time Pro Bowler

Sam McDowell

Six-time All-Star Cleveland pitcher nicknamed 'Sudden Sam'

Fred Claire

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager who built the 1988 World Series champions

Mike Ditka

Hall of Fame tight end who coached the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl title

Wilfredo Gómez

Hall of Fame boxer who won world titles in three weight classes

Ken Friar

Arsenal life president who served the club for more than 70 years

Jorge Castro

Former WBA middleweight world boxing champion nicknamed 'Locomotora' and 'Roña'

Heart failure (preliminary autopsy)

Vin Denson

Pioneering British road racing cyclist and the first Briton to win a stage of the Giro d'Italia

Cliff Hagan

Hall of Fame basketball player, 1958 NBA champion with the St. Louis Hawks and former Kentucky athletics director

Chiaki Ishii

Judoka who won Brazil's first Olympic judo medal at the 1972 Munich Games

Hyron Andrews

South African rugby lock for the Sharks and the Lions

Denis Boytsov

Heavyweight boxer nicknamed the Russian Tyson, with 36 wins in 37 fights

Blood clot

Chuck Amato

NC State head football coach and Florida State assistant under Bobby Bowden

Throat cancer

Jürgen Habermas

Philosopher: The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

Desmond Morris

Zoologist and author of The Naked Ape

Edmund Phelps

Nobel Prize in Economics (2006): inflation and unemployment trade-offs

François Englert

Nobel Prize in Physics (2013): Higgs boson theory

Susumu Tonegawa

Nobel Prize in Medicine (1987): antibody diversity

Rudolph A. Marcus

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1992): Marcus theory of electron transfer

Hideki Shirakawa

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2000): discovery of conductive polymers

Metastatic liver tumour and cancer of unknown primary origin

Ada Yonath

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2009): structure of the ribosome

Helen Branswell

Award-winning infectious disease reporter for STAT and The Canadian Press

Complications from cancer

Doris F. Fisher

Co-founder of Gap Inc.

Denny Sanford

Billionaire banker and philanthropist

Bill Rasmussen

Founder of ESPN

Effects of Parkinson's disease

Scott Adams

Creator of Dilbert comic strip

Prostate cancer

Valentino Garavani

Legendary fashion designer: Valentino

Marjane Satrapi

Author and filmmaker: Persepolis

David Hockney

Painter: A Bigger Splash, Portrait of an Artist

Betye Saar

Celebrated assemblage artist, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Gloria Steinem

Feminist journalist and activist, co-founder of Ms. magazine

Robin Morgan

Feminist poet and author, editor of Sisterhood Is Powerful

Brooke Eby

ALS advocate who documented her illness on TikTok; founder of ALStogether

Complications of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)

Robert X. Cringely

Technology journalist behind InfoWorld's Cringely column and PBS's Triumph of the Nerds

Jeffrey Archer

Bestselling novelist of Kane and Abel and former Conservative MP and life peer

Jim Bakker

Televangelist who co-founded The PTL Club and was later convicted of fraud

Freddie Foreman

London gangland figure and associate of the Kray twins

Noah Adams

Longtime host of NPR's All Things Considered

Douglas Dunn

Scottish poet whose collection Elegies won the Whitbread Book of the Year

Ann Hornaday

Longtime Washington Post chief film critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist

Glioblastoma