Alexei Navalny
FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny takes part in a rally in Moscow, Russia, February 29, 2020. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
Alexei Navalny was one of the few remaining voices in Russia who gave President Vladimir Putin cause for alarm. One of the Kremlin’s most vocal critics, he was a media-savvy anticorruption activist who managed to breathe life into Russia’s opposition movement, exposing the flaws of Putin’s decadeslong rule on his popular YouTube channel despite never being able to challenge him at the ballot box.
The popularity of his videos, usually detailing the corruption of Russia’s elite, set him apart from others in Russia’s fragmented opposition and gave him a nationwide following that he successfully called on to protest in the streets of Moscow and Russia’s other biggest cities.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 corrective penal colony in Pokrov during a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence in Moscow, Russia May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
He died Feb. 16 in a Russian penal colony where he was serving sentences amounting to more than 30 years on various charges. He was 47 years old.
Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman , a former longtime Connecticut senator and moderate Democrat who became the first Jewish American nominated to a major party’s presidential ticket as Al Gore ’s 2000 running mate, died March 27 at age 82.
Senator Joe Lieberman addresses delegates during the Florida Democratic Party’s convention on Sunday, 07 December 2003, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. Lieberman and other Presidential candidates were in Orlando campaigning for the party’s nomination in next year’s Presidential election. EPA/-
His decadeslong political career included helping spearhead the creation of the Department of Homeland Security following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Lieberman left the Democratic Party in 2006 after he was defeated in a primary by a liberal challenger, because of his support of the Iraq war. But he went on to win the election as an independent and then caucused with Democrats in the Senate. Lieberman most recently was the founding co-chair of No Labels, an independent group laying the groundwork for a potential centrist “unity ticket” for this year’s presidential election.
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman , whose work laid the foundations for the field of behavioral economics, died March 27. He was 90.
Kahneman and his friend Amos Tversky upended traditional economic assumptions that people consistently act rationally and with their self-interest at heart. Instead, experiments conducted by the two Israeli-born psychologists showed that when presented with complex situations, people often rely on rules of thumb that can lead them to behave irrationally.
Insights from Kahneman and Tversky’s work were widely adopted in many fields beyond psychology and economics, including law, marketing, government, investment management and even the planning of giant infrastructure projects.
O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson ’s accomplishments as one of the greatest running backs in college and professional football history, along with a career as an actor and celebrity pitchman, were overshadowed by his 1994 arrest following a nationally televised police chase for allegedly killing his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
FILE PHOTO: O.J. Simpson reacts during his parole hearing at Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada, U.S. on July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Bean/Pool/File Photo
The subsequent trial, which was televised in its entirety and lasted nearly a year, was a worldwide media sensation. Simpson’s acquittal divided the nation largely along racial lines.
Simpson never regained his status as an advertising star, actor or sports announcer. In the three decades since the case, he lost a wrongful-death suit over the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman, wrote a book he said was a hypothetical tale of how he would have carried out the killings, and spent nine years in prison on robbery and kidnapping charges. Simpson was granted parole in 2017. He died April 10 at 76.
Willie Mays
Willie Mays , whose powerful bat and dazzling defense made him arguably the greatest all-around player in baseball history, died June 18 at 93.
US Baseball legend Willie Mays tips his hat to the crowd during The California Museum’s California Hall of Fame ceremony in Sacramento, California, USA 5 December 2007. Other inductees include Steve Jobs, Rita Moreno, Robert Mondavi, Elizabeth Taylor, and Tiger Woods along with the family members for the posthumous awards, Ansel Adams, Milton Berle, Jackie Robinson, Jonas Salk, M.D., John Steinbeck, Earl Warren and John Wayne. EPA/ARLEEN NG
Mays, nicknamed the “Say Hey Kid,” played 22 Major League Baseball seasons after one season in the Negro Leagues, but his youthful exuberance and enthusiasm made him an ambassador for the sport for more than six decades.
In 1979, Mays was quoted by Newsweek summing up what so many who saw him play believed: “I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.”
Ruth Westheimer
By Harald Bischoff – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Ruth Westheimer , the unrelentingly chipper, 4-foot-7 broadcaster, author and educator whose frank and nurturing style of communication helped generations of Americans better understand and enjoy their sex lives, died July 12 at 96.
Known widely as simply Dr. Ruth (she had a psychology degree), Westheimer burst into the American mainstream with radical candor, becoming an unlikely but irrepressible celebrity for more than four decades. She demystified and celebrated facets of human sexuality that were previously shrouded in secrecy and shame, or hopelessly muddled by euphemisms, if spoken about at all.
Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart , one of the first comedians to star in a TV sitcom based on his stand-up persona, died July 18 at 94. The stammering Midwesterner, known for his self-deprecating manner and starchy wit, had a gift for making audiences think he was always just playing himself, and at times that was almost true.
But behind the low-key facade was a student of comedy who dissected jokes to figure out why they worked and wove sharp observations about life’s absurdities into his humor. Newhart launched an era that would bring sitcoms such as “Seinfeld” and “Roseanne” to TV, featuring stand-up comedians playing fictionalized versions of themselves and carrying their comic sensibility.
Sheila Jackson Lee
Sheila Jackson Lee , a longtime Democratic congresswoman who successfully pushed to turn Juneteenth into a federal holiday, died July 19 at 74.
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) speaks at a press conference about a House resolution designed to prevent President Donald Trump from firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
Since 1995, Jackson Lee represented the 18th congressional district of Texas, which includes Houston, the state’s largest city. She was an advocate for Black Americans, getting arrested in 2021 for civil disobedience in Washington, D.C., during a protest to support voting-rights legislation.
“Sheila Jackson Lee was a great American,” President Biden said in a statement. “No matter the issue—from delivering racial justice to building an economy for working people—she was unrelenting in her leadership.”
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones , an award-winning actor who overcame a childhood stutter that caused him to barely speak and grew to have one of the most famous voices in cinema, died Sept. 9 at 93.
FILE PHOTO: James Earl Jones holds up the two Emmy Awards he won won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for “Gabriel’s Fire”, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-Series or Special for the TNT movie “Heat Wave” in Los Angeles, 1991. SCANNED FROM NEGATIVE REUTERS/Mircovich/File Photo
Across a career that spanned eight decades, Jones achieved “EGOT” status with Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. He appeared in beloved films such as “Field of Dreams” and “Coming to America,” as well as in Broadway productions including August Wilson’s “Fences.”
But he was best known for performances in which he used only his voice, from Mufasa of Walt Disney ’s 1994 animated blockbuster “The Lion King,” to the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori , the former Peruvian president whose 1990s-era government crushed Maoist rebels and revived a battered economy but descended into authoritarianism and corruption before collapsing, died Sept. 11 at 86.
FILE PHOTO: Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori appears in Government Palace next to the national flag July 24, 1997. REUTERS/Mariano Bazo/File Photo
Fujimori was a little-known academic when he came to power during one of the most tumultuous periods in Peru’s history. His supporters credit him with bringing peace and economic prosperity to a once chaotic, violent country. But in 2009, nearly a decade after leaving the presidency, Peruvian courts convicted both Fujimori and his spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, on charges of human-rights violations and corruption. He was released from prison in 2023.
Maggie Smith
FILE PHOTO: Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and world premiere of the film, “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, at Leicester Square, London, Britain February 17, 2015. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo
In her mid-70s, and with two Academy Awards and numerous stage and screen credits to her name, Maggie Smith became a breakout star of “Downton Abbey.” As the sharp-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham, the actress routinely stole scenes with rapier asides sheathed in upper-crust diction. Her character bore an air of faux-bemusement, her blithe remarks masking an encyclopedic knowledge of social minutiae as well as individuals’ pedigrees.
She also became a familiar presence to younger audiences from the “Harry Potter” universe. As Minerva McGonagall, the good-natured professor of transfiguration at the Hogwarts school, she appeared in seven installments of the eight films in the franchise, from 2001 to 2011.
Smith died Sept. 27 at 89.
Actresses Kelly MacDonald (L) and Maggie Smith are shown in a scene from their Golden Globe nominated film, “Gosford Park.” The film received five Golden Globe Award nominations December 20, 2001 including Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture and Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture for Smith for her role in the film. The Golden Globe Awards will be presented in Beverly Hills January 20, 2002. REUTERS/Mark Tillie/USA Films-Handout
FILE PHOTO: Actors Maggie Smith and Rupert Grint share a light moment on the red carpet as they arrive for the world premiere of “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” at Leicester Square in London, Britain July 7, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
Ethel Kennedy
Ethel Skakel Kennedy , who was at the side of her husband Robert F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in 1968 and drew on her Roman Catholic faith to endure a relentless series of family tragedies, died Oct. 10 at 96.
When asked to reflect on how she survived so many family traumas, “nobody gets a free ride,” Kennedy said. “Everybody faces friends who have died or family who have died…. So, you know, have your wits about you and dig in and do what you can.”
She was a vital support for the political career of her husband, adopting the Kennedys’ Democratic agenda and appearing to relish political campaigning. After his death, she served as a Kennedy family matriarch and a human-rights activist.
Read our obituary .
Lilly Ledbetter
Lilly Ledbetter, who took her fight for equal pay all the way to the Supreme Court, died Oct. 12. She was 86.
Ledbetter had worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber for nearly two decades when she discovered she was paid less than male co-workers. Her lawsuit made it to the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 in 2007 that she didn’t file the complaint within 180 days of when the discriminatory pay decisions were made.
After the Supreme Court defeat, Ledbetter continued to push Congress to address wage discrepancies between women and men. Congress in 2009 passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which relaxed time restrictions for the filing of wage discrimination lawsuits. It was the first piece of legislation that then-President Barack Obama signed into law.
U.S. President Barack Obama hugs Lilly Ledbetter before signing the Lilly Ledbetter sex discrimination bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 29, 2009. Ledbetter, after 19 years on the job, sued her employer when she discovered she was the lowest-paid supervisor at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plant where she worked, despite having more experience than several male co-workers. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)
Read our obituary and listen to “Lilly Ledbetter: The Woman Who Fought the Pay Gap” from “The Journal” podcast.
Yahya Sinwar
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas military leader in Gaza, greeted supporters at a 2021 rally. AHMED DEEB FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
At Yahya Sinwar ’s command, Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, launched the deadliest attack in Israel’s more than 75-year history. It triggered a war with Israel in Gaza, and now Lebanon, that has upended the Middle East.
Israel vowed to hunt down Sinwar after the attacks. For more than a year, he evaded the Israeli military, hiding in underground tunnels from where he directed Hamas’s war effort.
“I prefer to be a fighter among the army and soldiers, and I will die as a fighter,” Sinwar told a Palestinian news website in 2011.
Israeli forces killed the Hamas leader Oct. 16. He was 61.
Quincy Jones
US music producer Quincy Jones makes the victory sign during a press conference on his participation in the ‘Umbria Jazz’ event, in Rome, Italy, 11 July 2018. On the occasion of Jones’ 85th birthday, Umbria Jazz is presenting a show honoring him at the Arena Santa Giuliana in Perugia on 13 July. The festival runs from 13 to 22 July. EPA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO
Quincy Jones , a voracious music lover and jazz musician who played myriad instruments, scored more than 30 films and produced some of the world’s most popular records, died Nov. 3 at age 91. Racking up 80 Grammy nominations and 28 wins over his career, Jones produced Michael Jackson ’s albums “Off the Wall,” “Bad” and “Thriller.”
U2’s Bono credited Jones with bringing out the best in artists he produced “by making everyone around him want to be themselves.”
Jimmy Carter
Former President Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer whose one term in the Oval Office was plagued by problems at home and abroad but who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after he left office, died Dec. 29. He was 100, the longest-lived former president in the country’s history.
FILE PHOTO: President Jimmy Carter at the White House, in Washington, U.S. March 8, 1977. Library of Congress/Marion S. Trikosko/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
The 39th president’s sole term in office was marred by a listless economy and stubborn inflation, squabbles within his party, gridlock in Congress and the seizure of American hostages in Iran.
Many of the achievements for which he was recognized came after he left office. He was the most active former president in modern U.S. history, gaining renown for work over four decades monitoring elections around the world, fighting neglected diseases, working to raise living standards for the poor and advocating for human rights. He did much of this work through the Carter Center, the humanitarian nonprofit he founded with his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in 1982.
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter attends the starting day of the 24th Jimmy Carter Work Project in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 29, 2007. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter wave to the crowd after Jimmy Carter’s speech before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. July 26, 2004. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Write to Annabelle Williams at annabelle.williams@wsj.com
