🌟 80s+ Octogenarians & Centenarians Chronological History Timeline

Inspiring timelines of extraordinary creators and thinkers who continued to produce revolutionary work and live vigorously past 80 and 90.

🌱 Child Prodigies & Teenage Feats ⚡ 20s Breakthrough & Annus Mirabilis 🔥 The 27 Club & Immortal Legends 👑 30s Prime & Golden Epoch 🏛️ 40s Mastery & Philosophical Maturity 🧭 50s Late Bloomers & Second Acts 🌅 60s–70s Senior Pinnacle & Enduring Giants

Chronological Timeline (228 Entries)

[1485] Thomas Malory80세 — This work was subsequently published by William Caxton in 1485, establishing it as a foundational text of English literature.
[1584] Bernal Díaz del Castillo92세 — 1492 – 1/2/3 January 1584) was a Spanish conquistador who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events.
[1595] Gerardus Mercator83세 — Mercator's early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life, he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into his Atlas of 1595.
[1614] Fernão Mendes Pinto105세 — His literary work, published posthumously in 1614, remains a significant, albeit debated, historical document.
[1776] John Harrison83세 — 24 March 1692] – 24 March 1776) was an English joiner and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device for solving the problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea.
[1787] Emanuel Swedenborg99세 — The New Church, also known as Swedenborgianism, is a Restorationist denomination of Christianity originally founded in 1787 and comprising several historically related Christian churches that revere Swedenborg's writings as revelation.
[1820] William Herschel82세 — He published detailed catalogues of nebulae in 1802 and 1820, revealing that many cataloged objects were actually star clusters.
[1848] Takizawa Bakin81세 — kʲiɴ]), born Takizawa Okikuni (滝沢興邦; 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848), was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period, who wrote under the pen name Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭馬琴).
[1849] François-René de Chateaubriand81세 — His works include the autobiography Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe (Memoirs from Beyond the Grave), published posthumously in 1849–1850, now widely regarded as one of the most important works in French literature.
[1869] Jane Austen94세 — In 1869 her nephew published A Memoir of Jane Austen.
[1879] Amos Bronson Alcott80세 — Nevertheless, he continued focusing on educational projects and opened a new school at the end of his life in 1879.
[1884] William Procter (industrialist)83세 — William Procter (7 December 1801 – 4 April 1884) was an English-born American industrialist and candlemaker who co-founded Procter & Gamble in 1837, along with James Gamble.
[1889] John Cadbury88세 — John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889) was an English Quaker and businessman, who founded the Cadbury chocolate company in Birmingham, England.
[1896] Henry Parkes81세 — He died in 1896, five years before this process was completed.
[1902] Cyrus McCormick93세 — Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902.
[1903] Pope Leo XIII93세 — Pope Leo XIII wrote a total of 86 encyclicals during his papacy from 1878 to 1903.
[1907] Russell Sage91세 — In his name she used the money for philanthropic purposes, endowing a number of buildings and institutions to benefit women's education: she established the Russell Sage Foundation in 1907 and founded the Russell Sage College for women in 1916.
[1908] Aloysius Bertrand101세 — His masterpiece is the collection of prose poems Gaspard de la Nuit, published posthumously in 1842; three of its poems were adapted to an eponymous piano suite by Maurice Ravel in 1908.
[1909] Samuel Rawson Gardiner80세 — Following Gardiner's death, it was completed in two volumes by Charles Harding Firth as The Last Years of the Protectorate (1909).
[1911] Hippolyte Taine83세 — Taine had a profound effect on French literature; Maurice Baring wrote in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica that "the tone which pervades the works of Zola, Bourget and Maupassant can be immediately attributed to the influence we call Taine's.
[1912] Johann Martin Schleyer81세 — Johann Martin Schleyer (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːhan ˈmaʁtiːn ˈʃlaɪɐ]; 18 July 1831 – 16 August 1912) was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük.
[1914] Ferdinand de Lesseps109세 — This led to a revised, lock-based canal design, which was completed in 1914.
[1918] Andrew Dickson White86세 — Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who co-founded Cornell University, one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States, and served as its first president for nearly two decades.
[1927] Frédéric Passy105세 — His son, Paul Passy, published a memoir of his life in 1927, and his works are still being republished and translated into English in the 21st Century.
[1931] Melvil Dewey80세 — Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification.
[1933] Augustus Saint-Gaudens85세 — He designed the $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin (1905–1907) for the US Mint, considered one of the most beautiful American coins ever issued, and the $10 Indian Head eagle; both of these were minted from 1907 until 1933.
[1936] Wilhelm Maybach90세 — From around 1936 Maybach-Motorenbau designed and made almost all the engines fitted in German tanks and half-tracks used during World War 2, including those for the Panther, Tiger I and Tiger II heavy tanks.
[1937] Alberto de Oliveira80세 — He founded and occupied the 8th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1897 until his death in 1937.
[1938] John J. Loud94세 — The modern ballpoint pen would be patented later in 1938 by László Bíró, 22 years after Loud's death.
[1940] Jeon Bong-jun85세 — In 1940, writer Oh Ji-young, who had been an acquaintance of Jeon's, published a book containing a poem titled Baekgusi (백구시; 白鷗詩), which he claimed was written by Jeon when he was a child.
[1940] Philippe Pétain84세 — In 1940, Pétain was appointed to lead the collaborationist regime of Vichy France, becoming the head of state during World War II.
[1948] Benedetto Croce82세 — In the 1948 general election he was elected to the new republican Senate and served there until his death.
[1948] John Mott83세 — Intimately involved in the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948, that body elected him as a lifelong honorary President.
[1949] Maurice Maeterlinck87세 — Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French.
[1951] Kotaro Honda81세 — He was also awarded the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal in 1931 and became a Person of Cultural Merit in 1951.
[1953] Margaret Murray90세 — She was president of the Folklore Society from 1953 to 1955, and published widely.
[1955] Hubert Cecil Booth84세 — Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners.
[1957] Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus86세 — After 1957, the circus no longer exhibited under its own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas.
[1961] Carl Jung86세 — Carl Gustav Jung ( YUUNG; Swiss Standard German: [ˈkarl ˈjʊŋ]; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology.
[1961] Luigi Illica104세 — As a playwright of considerable quality, he is today remembered through one of Italy's oldest awards, the Luigi Illica International Prize founded in 1961, which goes to world famous opera singers, opera conductors, directors and authors.
[1961] Thomas Beecham82세 — After his return to Britain, he founded the Royal Philharmonic in 1946 and conducted it until his death in 1961.
[1963] Pablo Casals87세 — Kennedy awarded Casals the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, though the ceremony was presided over by President Johnson.
[1966] Konrad Adenauer90세 — From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a newly founded Christian democratic party, which became the dominant force in the country under his leadership.
[1967] Branch Rickey86세 — Rickey's contributions were recognized posthumously when he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967.
[1967] Bronisław Malinowski83세 — In 1967 his widow, Valetta Swann, published his personal diary kept during his fieldwork in Melanesia and New Guinea.
[1967] Hans Kelsen86세 — He then rewrote his short book of 1934, titled Reine Rechtslehre, into a much enlarged "second edition" published in 1960; it appeared in an English translation in 1967.
[1967] John Galsworthy100세 — The books were popular when first published and their latter-day popularity was boosted considerably when BBC Television broadcast a 26-part adaptation for the author's centenary in 1967.
[1967] Mohammad Mosaddegh85세 — Mohammad Mosaddegh (16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis.
[1971] Agatha Christie81세 — For her contributions, she was appointed a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1971.
[1971] Allauddin Khan90세 — For his contributions to music, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1954, the Padma Bhushan in 1958, and the Padma Vibhushan in 1971.
[1971] Fumio Gotō87세 — He was appointed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in November 1971.
[1971] Marius Canard83세 — Canard studied at the Collège Bonaparte in Autun and completed his studies in the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lyon, where he learned the Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages under the guidance of his coeval Gaston Wiet (1887–1971).
[1972] Cha Hyung-won82세 — Cha Hyung-won (Korean: 차형원; Hanja: 車亨元; September 5, 1890 – July 2, 1972) was designated as Ingan-munhwage on 16 January 1967 for the Gangneung Danoje festival, which is an Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Korea.
[1972] J. R. R. Tolkien80세 — He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.
[1974] António de Oliveira Salazar85세 — The regime he created lasted until 1974, making it one of the longest-lived authoritarian dictatorships in modern Europe.
[1975] Ivo Andrić83세 — Ivo Andrić (Serbian Cyrillic: Иво Андрић, pronounced [ǐːʋo ǎːndritɕ]; born Ivan Andrić; 9 October 1892 – 13 March 1975) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.
[1975] Will Durant90세 — It was written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975.
[1976] Mary Pickford84세 — She was awarded the second Academy Award for Best Actress for her first sound film role in Coquette (1929) and received an Academy Honorary Award in 1976 in consideration of her contributions to American cinema.
[1977] Blind Willie Johnson80세 — This song was included in the golden phonograph records aboard the Voyager interstellar probes launched in 1977 by NASA.
[1978] Jean Rhys88세 — In 1978, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her writing, just before her death in 1979.
[1978] Willy Messerschmitt80세 — Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (German pronunciation: [ˈmɛsɐʃmɪt]; 26 June 1898 – 17 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer who designed a number of prominent aircraft for the Luftwaffe and civil aviation.
[1979] César Vallejo87세 — Clayton Eshleman and José Rubia Barcia's translation of The Complete Posthumous Poetry of César Vallejo won the National Book Award for translation in 1979.
[1979] King Vidor85세 — In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his "incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator.
[1979] Reza Shah101세 — He founded the Pahlavi dynasty that lasted until it was overthrown in 1979 by the Iranian Revolution.
[1980] Dorothy Day83세 — As part of the Catholic Worker Movement, Day co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980.
[1980] Isabel Briggs Myers83세 — Isabel Briggs Myers (born Isabel Briggs; October 18, 1897 – May 5, 1980) was an American writer who co-created the personality test known as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs.
[1981] Nintendo92세 — The company became internationally dominant in the 1980s after the arcade release of Donkey Kong (1981) and the Nintendo Entertainment System, which launched outside of Japan alongside Super Mario Bros.
[1982] Djuna Barnes90세 — She published her last major work, the verse play The Antiphon, in 1958, and she died in her apartment at Patchin Place, Greenwich Village, in June 1982.
[1982] Gunnar Myrdal84세 — " When his wife, Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, they became the fourth ever married couple to have won Nobel Prizes, and the first and only to win independent of each other (versus a shared Nobel Prize by scientist spouses).
[1982] Leonid Utesov87세 — 9 March] 1895, Odessa – 10 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet estrada singer, and comic actor, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1965.
[1984] Jaroslav Seifert83세 — Seifert was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man".
[1986] Harold Arlen81세 — Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide.
[1987] Abdul Ghaffar Khan97세 — He was awarded Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, by the Indian government in 1987.
[1987] Douglas Sirk90세 — Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for the film melodramas he directed in Hollywood during the 1950s.
[1987] Varlam Shalamov80세 — These books were initially published in the West, in English translation, starting in the 1960s; they were eventually published in the original Russian, but only became officially available in the Soviet Union in 1987, in the post-glasnost era.
[1987] Wassily Leontief81세 — Leontief was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciencesoctoral students have also been awarded the prize (Paul Samuelson 1970, Robert Solow 1987, Vernon L.
[1988] Shen Congwen86세 — Shen was slated to win the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature but died before it could be awarded.
[1988] Sun Li-jen88세 — He was charged with conspiracy in 1955 and spent 33 years under virtual house arrest, released only after president Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988.
[1989] C. L. R. James88세 — Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989), who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.
[1989] Kōnosuke Matsushita95세 — Kōnosuke Matsushita (松下幸之助, Matsushita Kōnosuke; 27 November 1894 – 27 April 1989) was a Japanese industrialist who founded Panasonic, the largest Japanese consumer electronics company.
[1989] Konosuke Matsushita95세 — " Kōnosuke Matsushita (松下幸之助, Matsushita Kōnosuke; 27 November 1894 – 27 April 1989) was a Japanese industrialist who founded Panasonic, the largest Japanese consumer electronics company.
[1990] Helen Wills85세 — Her record of eight wins at Wimbledon was not surpassed until 1990 when Martina Navratilova won her ninth.
[1990] Juan José Arévalo86세 — Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (10 September 1904 – 8 October 1990) was a Guatemalan statesman and professor of philosophy who became Guatemala's first democratically elected president in 1945.
[1990] William L. Shirer86세 — Shirer published 14 books besides The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, including Berlin Diary (published in 1941), The Collapse of the Third Republic (1969), several novels, and a three-volume autobiography, 20th Century Journey (1976 to 1990).
[1992] Barbara McClintock90세 — Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
[1992] Lionel Hampton84세 — In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996.
[1992] Mother Teresa82세 — Her authorized biography, written by Navin Chawla, was published in 1992, and on 6 September 2017, she was named a co-patron of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta alongside St Francis Xavier.
[1993] Kōshō Uchiyama81세 — Opening the Hand of Thought, first published in English in 1993 by Arkana Press, was edited by Jishō Cary Warner, and translated by Daitsū Tom Wright and Uchiyama's Dharma heir Shohaku Okumura.
[1994] Ralph Ellison80세 — Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.
[1995] John Hope Franklin80세 — In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
[1995] Lew Wasserman82세 — In 1995, his monumental career was recognized when President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
[1995] Malcolm Lockheed108세 — In 1926 the brothers also founded the Lockheed Aircraft Company, which went on in 1995 to become Lockheed Martin.
[1997] Donald Wills Douglas Sr.105세 — He founded the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 (the company later merged with McDonnell Aircraft to form McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which merged with Boeing in 1997).
[1997] Óscar Romero80세 — In 1997, Pope John Paul II bestowed upon Romero the title of Servant of God, and a cause for his beatification was opened by the church.
[1998] Akira Kurosawa88세 — Akira Kurosawa (黒澤明 or 黒沢明, Kurosawa Akira; March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades.
[1998] Cao Yu88세 — He also chaired the China Theatre Association from 1968 to 1998 and founded the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1952.
[1998] Eugénie Brazier103세 — This achievement was unmatched until Alain Ducasse was awarded six stars with the publication of the 1998 Michelin Guide.
[1998] Rafael Caldera82세 — It also included the pardon of participants in the 1992 coup attempts, including Hugo Chávez, who was elected president in 1998.
[1998] Samuel Eilenberg85세 — Samuel Eilenberg (September 30, 1913 – January 30, 1998) was a Polish-American mathematician who co-founded category theory (with Saunders Mac Lane) and homological algebra.
[1999] Uta Hagen80세 — She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999.
[2000] Antoine de Saint-Exupéry100세 — Debris from the wreckage was discovered near Marseille in 2000, but the cause of the crash remains unknown.
[2000] Barbara Cartland99세 — Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) was an English writer and socialite who published both contemporary and historical romance novels, the latter set primarily during the Victorian or Edwardian period.
[2000] Jacques Barzun93세 — The historical retrospective From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (2000), widely considered his magnum opus, was published when he was 93 years old.
[2000] Libertad Lamarque92세 — By the time she died in 2000, she had appeared in 65 films (21 filmed in Argentina, 45 in Mexico and one in Spain) and six telenovelas, had recorded over 800 songs and had made innumerable theatrical appearances.
[2001] Arthur C. Clarke84세 — Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, widely regarded as one of the most influential films of all time.
[2001] Mario Puzo81세 — His final novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001.
[2002] David Wechsler106세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Wechsler as the 51st most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
[2002] Fulton J. Sheen107세 — The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2002.
[2002] George Armitage Miller82세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Miller as the 20th most cited psychologist of that era.
[2002] Gordon Allport105세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Allport as the 11th most-cited psychologist of the 20th century.
[2002] Harry Harlow97세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Harlow as the 26th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
[2002] Marcel Bezençon95세 — In 2002, the Marcel Bezençon Awards were founded by Christer Björkman (Melodifestivalen winner and Swedish ESC participant in 1992) and Richard Herrey (Melodifestivalen and Swedish ESC winner in 1984 as part of the Herreys).
[2002] Neal E. Miller93세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Miller as the eighth most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
[2002] Stanley Schachter80세 — A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Schachter as the seventh most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
[2003] Robert Ettinger85세 — Ettinger founded the Cryonics Institute and the related Immortalist Society and until 2003 served as the groups' president.
[2004] Alain Robbe-Grillet82세 — His enduring influence was cemented when he was elected a member of the prestigious Académie française in 2004.
[2004] Jacques Cousteau94세 — The film won the 1956 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and remained the only documentary to do so until 2004 (when Fahrenheit 9/11 received the award).
[2004] Luis Barragán102세 — Barragán won the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture, in 1980, and his personal home, the Luis Barragán House and Studio, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
[2005] Abdullah of Saudi Arabia81세 — Upon becoming king in 2005, Abdullah appointed his half-brother Sultan bin Abdulaziz as crown prince.
[2005] Amrita Pritam86세 — mɾɪt̪ɑː pɾiːt̪əm] ; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi.
[2005] Art Blakey86세 — He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
[2005] Henry Taube90세 — Henry Taube (November 30, 1915 – November 16, 2005) was a Canadian-born American chemist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his work in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes.
[2005] Jimmy Smith (musician)80세 — In 2005, Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor that America bestows upon jazz musicians.
[2005] Roy J. Glauber80세 — Born in New York City, he was awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence", with the other half shared by John L.
[2005] Thomas Schelling84세 — Schelling was awarded the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences@) for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game theory analysis.
[2005] William Gaddis83세 — The first and longest of his five novels, The Recognitions, was named one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two others, J R and A Frolic of His Own, won the annual U.
[2006] Byron Nelson94세 — Nelson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.
[2006] Don Rickles80세 — He won a Primetime Emmy Award for the 2006 documentary film titled Mr.
[2006] Mark Felt93세 — Felt published a memoir, The FBI Pyramid (1979), which was updated and republished as A G-Man's Life, with John O'Connor, in 2006.
[2006] Naguib Mahfouz95세 — Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature.
[2006] Robert Altman81세 — He directed the West End revival of Arthur Miller's penultimate play Resurrection Blues (2006).
[2006] Shin Sang-ok80세 — Shin Sang-ok (Korean: 신상옥; Hanja: 申相玉; 1925 or 1926 – April 11, 2006), anglicized as Simon Sheen, was a South Korean filmmaker who directed 74 films in a career spanning over five decades.
[2006] William Styron81세 — (June 11, 1925 – November 1, 2006) was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1968 for The Confessions of Nat Turner.
[2007] Doris Lessing88세 — Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
[2007] Mel Brooks81세 — His musical adaptation of The Producers ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007 and won 12 Tony Awards.
[2008] Ian Paisley82세 — In 1951 he co-founded the Reformed fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and was its leader until 2008.
[2008] Julius and Ethel Rosenberg90세 — In 2008, the National Archives of the United States published most of the grand jury testimony related to the prosecution of the Rosenbergs.
[2008] Peter Matthiessen81세 — A co-founder of the literary magazine The Paris Review, he is the only writer to have won the National Book Award in both nonfiction (The Snow Leopard, 1979, category Contemporary Thought) and fiction (Shadow Country, 2008).
[2009] Franco Zeffirelli86세 — Zeffirelli was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.
[2009] Paul Feyerabend85세 — The uncompleted draft of an earlier work was released posthumously in 2009 as Naturphilosophie and translated to English in 2016 as Philosophy of Nature.
[2009] Roger Corman83세 — In 2009, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers".
[2009] Ronnie Biggs80세 — He was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013.
[2009] Thelonious Monk92세 — As of 2009, Monk was the second-most-recorded jazz composer in history, after Duke Ellington.
[2009] Vidal Sassoon81세 — In 2009, Sassoon was appointed CBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
[2010] Itamar Franco80세 — At the time of his death he was a senator from Minas Gerais, having won the seat in the 2010 election.
[2010] Robert Edwards (physiologist)85세 — In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the development of in vitro fertilization".
[2011] Dev Anand88세 — The 2011 film Chargesheet, which Anand also directed was his final film.
[2011] Joe Paterno85세 — He recorded his 409th victory on October 29, 2011; his career ended with his dismissal from the team on November 9, 2011, as a result of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.
[2011] Sonny Rollins81세 — Sometimes known as "saxophone colossus", Rollins was awarded a lifetime Grammy Award and was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2011.
[2011] Violeta Parra94세 — " In 2011, Andrés Wood directed a biopic about her, titled Violeta Went to Heaven (Spanish: Violeta se fue a los cielos).
[2012] Alvin Plantinga80세 — He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975, received the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy in 2012, and was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2017.
[2012] Edna O'Brien82세 — Her memoir, Country Girl, was published in 2012, and her last novel, Girl, was published in 2019.
[2012] George Rosenkranz96세 — In 2012, he was awarded the Biotechnology Heritage Award, in recognition of his significant contributions to the development of biotechnology through discovery, innovation, and public understanding.
[2013] Gulzar80세 — He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award - Hindi in 2002, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, the third-highest civilian award in India, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, the highest award in Indian cinema.
[2013] Joe Weider94세 — Josef Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian publisher and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider.
[2013] John O'Hara108세 — "O’Hara may not have been the best story writer of the twentieth century, but he is the most addictive," wrote Lorin Stein, then editor-in-chief of The Paris Review, in a 2013 appreciation of O'Hara's work.
[2013] Mary Ellen Rudin89세 — In 2013, Elsevier established the Mary Ellen Rudin Young Researcher Award, which is awarded annually to a young researcher, mainly in fields adjacent to general topology.
[2013] Nagisa Ōshima81세 — Nagisa Ōshima (大島渚, Ōshima Nagisa; March 31, 1932 – January 15, 2013) was a Japanese film director, writer, and left-wing activist who is best known for his fiction films, of which he directed 23 features in a career spanning from 1959 to 1999.
[2013] Raúl Castro82세 — He was re-elected president on 24 February 2013.
[2014] Clint Eastwood84세 — He also directed the biographical films Changeling (2008), Invictus (2009), American Sniper (2014), Sully (2016), and Richard Jewell (2019).
[2014] Isamu Akasaki85세 — Akasaki was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.
[2014] Karl Albrecht94세 — Karl Hans Albrecht (German: [ˈalbʁɛçt]; 20 February 1920 – 16 July 2014) was a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo.
[2014] Nicholas Winton105세 — In 2014, he was awarded the highest honour of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion (1st class), by Czech President Miloš Zeman.
[2015] Chaim Topol80세 — In 2015 he was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement.
[2015] Cicely Tyson91세 — She was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2018.
[2015] Emílio Garrastazu Médici110세 — " As a result of this legacy, in 2015 and 2024, respectively, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) revoked the honorary Doctorate degrees they had awarded him in the 1970s.
[2015] John Forbes Nash Jr.87세 — (June 13, 1928 – May 23, 2015), known and published as John Nash, was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations.
[2015] Katherine Johnson97세 — In 2015 President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
[2015] Shadia84세 — In April 2015, Shadia became the first actress to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Egyptian Academy of Arts.
[2016] A. S. Byatt80세 — Byatt was awarded the Shakespeare Prize in 2002, the Erasmus Prize in 2016, the Park Kyong-ni Prize in 2017 and the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2018.
[2016] Berry Gordy87세 — Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2016, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021.
[2016] David Malouf82세 — Malouf was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, the Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008 and the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2016.
[2016] Jacques Pépin81세 — In 2016, with his daughter, Claudine Pépin and his son-in-law, Rollie Wesen, Pépin created the Jacques Pépin Foundation to create culinary education opportunities, particularly for workforce development for adults with barriers to employment.
[2016] Phyllis Schlafly92세 — In 1972, Schlafly founded the Eagle Forum, a conservative political interest group, and remained its chair and CEO until her death in 2016, while staying active in conservative causes.
[2017] Bernie Ecclestone87세 — Widely known in journalism as the "F1 Supremo", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling the commercial rights to Formula One until 2017.
[2017] Vera Lynn100세 — In 2017, Decca Records released Vera Lynn 100, a collection of younger artists duetting with archive recordings by Lynn.
[2018] Arvo Pärt83세 — To solidify his influence, the Arvo Pärt Centre opened to the public in Laulasmaa in 2018.
[2018] Hubert de Givenchy91세 — Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (French: [ybɛʁ də ʒivɑ̃ʃi]; 20 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952.
[2018] Maryse Condé84세 — She won various awards, such as the Grand Prix Littéraire de la Femme (1986), Prix de l'Académie française (1988), Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe (1997) and the New Academy Prize in Literature (2018) for her works.
[2018] Morris Chang87세 — President Tsai Ing-wen awarded him the Order of Propitious Clouds in 2018 and the Order of Dr.
[2019] Hal Blaine90세 — Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles.
[2019] Ismail Kadare83세 — He was awarded the Park Kyong-ni Prize in 2019, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2020.
[2019] Jim Peebles84세 — He was jointly awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019 for these seminal discoveries.
[2019] John B. Goodenough97세 — In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside M.
[2019] Jon Voight81세 — In 2019, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
[2019] Philip Glass82세 — He also wrote the scores for Broadway productions such as the revivals of The Elephant Man (2002), The Crucible (2016), and King Lear (2019).
[2019] Pranab Mukherjee84세 — He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019, by his successor as president, Ram Nath Kovind.
[2019] Roy Emerson83세 — He also held the record of six Australian Open men's singles titles until 2019 when Novak Djokovic won his seventh title.
[2019] Sol LeWitt91세 — A biography published in 2019 further cemented his place as a foundational figure in modern art history.
[2019] Vanessa Redgrave82세 — She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival for The Aspern Papers (1984), and received nominations for A Touch of the Poet (1988), John Gabriel Borkman (1997), and The Inheritance (2019).
[2020] Amartya Sen87세 — The German Publishers and Booksellers Association awarded him the 2020 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his pioneering scholarship addressing issues of global justice and combating social inequality in education and healthcare.
[2020] Tarō Asō80세 — After the LDP returned to government following the 2012 election under Shinzo Abe, Asō was appointed to the Cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, retaining those roles when Yoshihide Suga replaced Abe in 2020.
[2020] Yoshiro Mori83세 — In 2014, he was appointed to head the organizing committee for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, but resigned ahead of the games' opening following gaffes made at a committee meeting that were perceived as sexist.
[2021] Peter Brook96세 — In 2021, he was awarded India's Padma Shri.
[2021] Rita Moreno90세 — Moreno returned in the supporting role of Valentina in the 2021 Spielberg-directed remake of the same name.
[2021] Wilbur Smith88세 — By the time of his death in 2021, he had published 49 books.
[2022] B. V. Doshi95세 — He was also awarded the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan, and the Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal for 2022.
[2022] Frederick Wiseman92세 — He only directed two narrative films: La Dernière Lettre (2002) and A Couple (2022).
[2022] Grand National Assembly of Turkey102세 — To avoid a hung parliament and its excessive political fragmentation, from 1982 to 2022, a party must have won at least 10% of the national vote to qualify for representation in the parliament, but in 2022 this was reduced to 7%.
[2022] Jacques Chirac90세 — 2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and was the last president to be re-elected until 2022.
[2022] Werner Herzog80세 — Herzog has also published over 12 books of prose, including the autobiography Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir (2022) and directed over two dozen operas.
[2023] Emmerson Mnangagwa81세 — Mnangagwa secured his presidency following the 2018 general election and was re-elected in 2023.
[2023] J. M. Coetzee83세 — His most recently published book is The Pole and Other Stories (2023).
[2023] Lili Ivanova84세 — In 2023 she was awarded with a special award by BG Radio for being "The greatest Bulgarian pop singer of all times".
[2023] Maria Bueno84세 — For 65 years, Bueno remained the only Brazilian woman to have won a Grand Slam title, until Luisa Stefani won the mixed doubles title alongside fellow Brazilian Rafael Matos at the Australian Open in 2023.
[2023] Nancy Pelosi83세 — A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first female elected speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, heading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023.
[2023] Norman Lear101세 — Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922 – December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who wrote and produced more than 100 television shows during a career that lasted over 70 years.
[2023] Omar Bongo88세 — After Bongo's death in June 2009, his son Ali Bongo, who had long been assigned key ministerial responsibilities by his father, was elected to succeed him in August of that year, serving until he was overthrown by his cousin in 2023.
[2023] Robert Solow99세 — Robert Merton Solow (; August 23, 1924 – December 21, 2023) was an American economist known for his studies of economic growth and the development of the Solow–Swan model, for which he won the 1987 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
[2024] Frankie Valli90세 — Valli was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2024, a joint star for both the Four Seasons and him.
[2024] Kim Dae-jung100세 — He was the first South Korean to be awarded a Nobel Prize and one of only two, the second being awarded to Han Kang in 2024 for Literature.
[2024] La Monte Young89세 — Young worked extensively with Zazeela between 1962 and her death in 2024; together, the two recorded, performed live, and developed the Dream House sound and light environment.
[2024] Martha Stewart83세 — In 2024, she was the subject of a Netflix documentary titled Martha, directed by R.
[2024] Namkoong Won90세 — Namkoong Won (Korean: 남궁원; 1 August 1934 – 5 February 2024) was a South Korean actor.
[2024] P. V. Narasimha Rao103세 — In 2024, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, by the government of India.
[2024] Ridley Scott87세 — Scott was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003, and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024.
[2024] Salim Khan89세 — In 2024, Amazon Prime Video released a three-part documentary series about the Salim–Javed screenwriting duo titled Angry Young Men.
[2024] Terry Eagleton81세 — In July 2024, Eagleton was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Lancaster University.
[2024] Vyjayanthimala88세 — In addition to several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards and two BFJA Awards, she was awarded the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1968 and later Padma Vibhushan in 2024.
[2025] Bob Knight85세 — His 1975–76 team won the 1976 NCAA tournament, and, as of 2025–26, remain the last men's team in Division I college basketball to go undefeated during an entire season (32–0).
[2025] Brian Wilson83세 — Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys.
[2025] Helen Garner83세 — In 2025 she won the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, for How to End a Story: Collected Diaries.
[2025] Jean-Marie Le Pen97세 — Jean Louis Marie "Jean-Marie" Le Pen (French: [ʒɑ̃maʁi]; Breton: [lə pɛn]; 20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025) was a French politician who founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party.
[2025] Kim Young-ok87세 — In August 2025, Kim launched a YouTube channel, which began with a video of her doing an internet challenge, and another announcing a fan signing event.
[2025] Muhammadu Buhari83세 — Muhammadu Buhari ( 17 December 1942 – 13 July 2025) was a Nigerian general and politician who ruled as military dictator of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985, and later served as the democratically elected civilian president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.
[2025] Nikita Mikhalkov80세 — In honor of his 80th birthday, in 2025, he was awarded the Order of St.
[2026] Heisuke Hironaka95세 — Heisuke Hironaka (広中平祐, Hironaka Heisuke; April 9, 1931 – March 18, 2026) was a Japanese mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 for his contributions to algebraic geometry.
[2026] Valentino (fashion designer)94세 — Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (Italian: [valenˈtiːno ɡaraˈvaːni]; 11 May 1932 – 19 January 2026), known mononymously as Valentino, was an Italian fashion designer who founded Valentino S.