From soul diva Aretha Franklin to astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and former UN chief Kofi Annan, here are some of the notable figures who passed away in 2018:
January
• 15: Dolores O’Riordan, singer-songwriter of Irish band The Cranberries, drowned accidentally in a hotel bath aged 46.
• 27: Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish founder of affordable flat-pack furnishing empire IKEA, passed away at home aged 91.
February
• 21: US preacher Billy Graham, spearhead of a worldwide evangelical Christian movement and spiritual counsel to several US presidents, passed away aged 99.
• 24: Bollywood megastar Sridevi Kapoor drowned in a hotel bathtub at the age of 54. She had appeared in around 300 films, including blockbusters such as “Mawali” (“Scoundrel”).
March
• 10: French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, famous for the “little black dress,” died in his sleep aged 91.
• 14: Physicist Stephen Hawking, Britain’s most famous modern-day scientist and known for popularizing the secrets of the universe, died at home aged 76. Suffering from a form of motor-neurone disease, he spent most of his life in a wheelchair and communicated via a computer speech synthesizer.
April
• 2: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela and an anti-apartheid icon in her own right, died in hospital aged 81 and after a long illness.
• 13: Oscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, behind “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” died aged 86 after a short illness.
• 17: Barbara Bush, the wife of former US president George H.W. Bush (in office between 1989 and 1993) and mother of president George W. Bush (2001-2009), passed away aged 92.
May
• 22: US literary giant Philip Roth, a towering figure among 20th-century novelists and 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, died of heart failure aged 85.
June
• 5: American handbag designer Kate Spade committed suicide at the age of 55.
• 8: US chef and television food show host Anthony Bourdain, 61, committed suicide in Alsace, eastern France, where he was filming for his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel program “Parts Unknown.”
July
• 5: French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, director of the landmark nine-and-a-half-hour Holocaust documentary “Shoah,” died aged 92.
August
• 6: French “chef of the century” Joel Robuchon, who at one point held a record 32 Michelin stars at the same time, died aged 73 from pancreatic cancer.
• 16: Aretha Franklin, American “Queen of Soul” behind hits such as “Respect” and “Natural Woman,” died of cancer aged 76. Her nearly eight-hour funeral was attended by former presidents, stars and musical royalty.
• 18: Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations between 1997 and 2006, died after a short illness at age 80. He was given a state funeral in his native Ghana.
• 25: John McCain – US Republican senator, Vietnam War hero and two-time presidential candidate – died aged 81 following a year-long battle with brain cancer.
September
• 6: Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, best known for alpha-male roles in the 1970s and 1980s, died aged 82 after a heart attack.
October
• 15: Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and later a billionaire and philanthropist, died from cancer aged 65.
• 22: Gilberto Benetton, one of the founders of the eponymous Italian clothes brand, died aged 77 after an illness.
November
• 12: American comics legend Stan Lee – co-creator of global action hero favourites including Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men and Black Panther – passed away aged 95.
• 26: Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose work includes “Last Tango In Paris” and Oscar-winning “The Last Emperor,” died aged 77 at his home in Rome.
• 30: Former US president George H.W. Bush died aged 94, just months after his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush.
December
• 8: Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet-era dissident who became a symbol of resistance in modern-day Russia as a leading rights activist, died after a long illness at the age of 91.
• 28: Amos Oz, celebrated Israeli novelist and passionate advocate of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, died of cancer aged 79.
