In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic civil rights advocates, great athletes and artists who pioneered their professions and impacted millions of people around the world.
Many of their names
feature prominently in the collective consciousness
- RBG, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Ernesto Cardenal, Sean Connery - but health restrictions due to the COVID-19 crisis often limited public attendance to mourn their loss. in a year that has seen more than a million people die from the coronavirus.
Some of the 2020 deaths affected relatively young personalities, leaving mourners with the anguish of those
lives that were exhausted too soon
, such as NBA star Kobe Bryant, at 41;
and actress of Puerto Rican origin Naya Rivera, at 33.
This list, a kind of last goodbye, includes some of the most influential figures who died in the year that ends.
Naya Rivera, singer and actress (33 years old)
The Puerto Rican singer and actress who played the character Santana on the hit musical series Glee died on July 8 at age 33.
According to the autopsy, Rivera accidentally drowned while sailing with his 4-year-old son on Lake Piru in California.
That of Naya Rivera, the Puerto Rican-born actress who became best known for her role as Santana on the musical series Glee, was one of the most heartfelt deaths of 2020. She was 33 years old.
AP
The boy told investigators that he and his mother went swimming and that he later returned to the boat they were sailing in, but she "never came back from the water."
After several days of intense searching in the lake, on Monday, July 13, at approximately 9:10 am, the authorities found his body floating.
The authorities ruled out that his drowning was caused by a criminal act or corresponded to suicide.
The autopsy concluded that the actress asked for help before she died.
Actress Naya Rivera's autopsy report reveals she asked for help while drowning
Sept.
12, 202000: 32
Eddie Van Halen, guitar player (65 years old)
The guitar virtuoso whose dazzling speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen to become one of
hard rock's
greatest groups has
died.
on October 6, from throat cancer.
Eddie Van Halen died at 65 in Los Angeles.
Getty Images
The Dutch-American had been in and out of hospital for the past year and had undergone a round of chemotherapy shortly before he died, according to TMZ.
Van Halen was a
huge commercial success in the late 70s and 80s.
Their single 'Jump', from the 1984 album, received great acclaim and was the only one to take the band to number one on the US charts.
Ernesto Cardenal, poet and priest (95 years old)
The Nicaraguan poet and priest died on March 1 in Managua at the age of 95.
Cardenal is recognized as a symbol of the revolutionary poetry of his country and of Latin America.
Considered one of the most important and awarded artists in Nicaragua, he also became a priest in Colombia, and founded a community of peasant poets and painters that became a symbol of opposition to the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, overthrown in 1979 by the Sandinistas. .
Nicaraguan poet and priest Ernesto Cardenal, protagonist of the Sandinista revolution and critical of Daniel Ortega's government, has died at the age of 95.NurPhoto via Getty Images
One of the greatest critics of the current President Daniel Ortega's regime, Cardenal
called his presidency "a family dictatorship"
and was the subject of lawsuits that he attributed to "political persecution" for his relentless criticism of the Sandinista leader and his wife, the current Vice President Rosario Murillo.
Kenny Rogers, singer-songwriter and actor (81 years old)
The three-time Grammy Award-winning musician was a superstar in the 1970s and '80s, selling more than 47 million records in the United States.
He died March 20 at age 81 of natural causes, his family said.
Kenny Rogers passed away at age 81, at the end of March.
WADE PAYNE / INVISION / AP
Rogers had a successful career spanning more than six decades and left an indelible mark on American music and millions of people around the world.
His legacy includes 24 number ones, including
The Gambler
,
Lady
,
Islands In The Stream
,
Lucille
,
She Believes In me,
and
Through the Years.
Joaquín Salvador Lavado (Quino), graphic humorist (88 years old)
The Argentine cartoonist and graphic humorist, better known as Quino and father of the character Mafalda, died on September 30 at the age of 88 in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, surrounded by his family.
Quino died at the end of September at the age of 88 in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, surrounded by his family.
Quino had suffered a stroke a week earlier.
The cartoonist masterfully combined irony, acidity and tenderness in his vast work as a comedian, where Mafalda, an irreverent little girl who described life and the world from her childhood eyes, became his great icon.
Kobe Bryant, athlete (41 years old)
NBA star Kobe Bryant died on January 26 at age 41 in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles, California. His daughter Gianna, 13, also died in the tragedy along with seven other people.
Born on August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant was the youngest of three children - and the only son - of the marriage of Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox.
AP
Bryant played for 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, was a five-time NBA champion and is considered one of the best players in the history of the American league.
The athlete's death caused a huge impact in the city where he made his career, throughout the United States and in the world.
It was known by the nickname of the Black Mamba.
He was the youngest player in history to be signed in the professional league, at age 17, in 1996. He won five championships and
marked an era alongside players like Shaquille O'Neil and Pau Gasol
.
He was the fourth-leading scorer in league history, recently surpassed by LeBron James.
Kobe Bryant supporters mourn the death of the athlete at the gates of the Staples Center in Los Angeles
Jan. 26, 2020
Chadwick Boseman, actor (43 years old)
The American actor, who played black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, died on August 28 of colon cancer, which he had suffered from four years ago.
He was 43.
Actor Chadwick Boseman, who established himself on the big screen as the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has died of cancer at age 43.Victoria Will / Invision / AP
Boseman never spoke publicly about his diagnosis.
He was survived by his wife and one of his parents.
The actor had no children.
Pau Donés, vocalist of Jarabe de Palo (53 years old)
The singer and leader of the Spanish rock group Jarabe de Palo, died on June 9 at his home in Lleida, Spain, as a result of colon cancer that he had been battling for almost five years, his family announced.
He was 53 years old.
Pau Donés, the leading voice of Jarabe de Palo, died in Spain as a result of colon cancer.
He was 53 years old.
After announcing his indefinite retirement from the stage in 2019, Donés had resumed his musical activity and was preparing the early release of his fourteenth album.
Donés grew up in Barcelona, where he dedicated himself to the guitar when he was only 15 years old.
An admirer of Latin music, he mixed some of those rhythms with Catalan rumba and flamenco on songs like La Flaca, published in 1996 and which immediately brought his group to the fore with success.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (87 years old)
The iron judge who dedicated her life to fighting gender discrimination and overcame many adversities before landing on the Supreme Court in 1993, died on September 18 at the age of 87, due to complications from pancreatic cancer.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the iron judge who dedicated her life to fighting gender discrimination, passed away in mid-September at age 87 of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Known by the nickname of 'Kiki' among her relatives, or 'the notorious RBG' - for her firmness and incomparable dissent in certain cases - she left her mark as a progressive leader in the Supreme Court, where she arrived in 1993 after her nomination by the then president Bill Clinton.
Prolific author and influential leader, she has always
supported abortion rights
and the #MeToo movement for women's rights, freedom of the press, and legal independence.
Diego Armando Maradona, footballer (60 years old)
The Argentine star, one of the best athletes in history, died on November 25 of a cardiorespiratory arrest at his home in Tigre, Argentina.
The former player and coach had settled in that residence after undergoing brain surgery in early November.
The world soccer star Diego Armando Maradona passed away at the end of November at the age of 60 at his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His unique and fascinating style of play allowed him to captivate fans around the world throughout his two-decade career.
Maradona came to be chosen by FIFA as
the "best popular footballer of the 20th century."
Although his reputation was tarnished by his addictions and a series of scandals in his personal life, in Argentina he was always idolized as the 'Pibe de Oro'.
John Lewis, politician and civil rights fighter (80 years old)
The Democratic congressman from Georgia, a symbol of America's civil rights struggle, died on July 18 after a long battle with cancer.
He was 80 years old.
Congressman John Lewis, a symbol of America's civil rights struggle, has died after a long battle with cancer.
He was 80 years old.
Lewis was an advocate of nonviolent protest.
He was the youngest and last survivor of a group of great civil rights activists, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
One of its actions most famous was when he led about 600 demonstrators in the march known as that of the "Bloody Sunday" (
Bloody Sunday
, in English) on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where government soldiers fractured skull.
Olivia de Havilland, actress (104 years old)
Olivia de Havilland, one of the last stars of Hollywood's Golden Age of cinema, died on July 26 at the age of 104 in Paris, France.
Winner of two Oscars and one of the last actresses of Hollywood's golden age, Haviland died in Paris, France.
With a career spanning more than 50 years in which she participated in some 50 feature films, de Havilland was the last surviving actress of the classic film '
Gone with the Wind
' (
Gone with the Wind
, 1939).
Off the screen, she
was a leader in the actors' fight against the big studios that at one point had total control over their stars.
He succeeded in taking Warner Brothers to court after the studio lengthened the term of his original contract as a penalty for rejecting papers.
The California Supreme Court ruled in his favor in what became known as de Havilland's Law, which eased the control that the studios had over their actors.
Kenzo Takada, fashion designer (81 years old)
Kenzo Takada, Japanese designer and creator of the brand that bears his name (Kenzo), passed away from COVID-19 on October 4 at the age of 81.
Takada, was in a Paris health center at the time he died.
Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada was born in 1939 near Osaka.
He achieved international success after moving to Paris.
AP
Known for his colorful floral prints and different graphic resources, he was the first Japanese designer to gain prominence on the Parisian fashion scene.
He came to France in the 1960s and developed the rest of his career there, until his retirement at the end of the last century.
With almost 8,000 designs
, the Japanese "never stopped celebrating fashion and the art of living," said his spokesman when announcing the death.
Hosni Mubarak, former dictator of Egypt (91 years old)
The former Egyptian dictator, who was toppled in a military coup in 2011, died on February 25 in a Cairo hospital at the age of 91.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a military coup in 2011, died in Cairo at the age of 91.
Mubarak ruled Egypt with an iron fist for three decades, until he was overthrown and arrested in April 2011, two months after being ousted from office.
He was later sentenced to life in prison, but was acquitted in 2017 after six years in prison on charges of ordering the murder of anti-government protesters.
Sean Connery, actor (90 years old)
The Scottish actor, a movie legend known in particular for being the first to portray James Bond on the big screen, died on October 31 at the age of 90.
Connery played the famous secret agent in seven films.
He was also the winner of an Oscar award, two Bafta awards and three Golden Globes.
Sean Connery, a movie legend and known in particular for being the first to portray James Bond on the big screen, died at the age of 90 in late October.
AP
His celebrity run began in 1950, when he competed as a bodybuilder in a Mr. Universe contest in London.
His physique earned him his first major television role.
But his real big break in the world of cinema came 12 years later, when he was selected to play the spy James Bond for the first transposition to the big screen of that character already the protagonist of popular novels.
Ennio Morricone, musical composer (91 years old)
Acclaimed Italian composer Ennio Morricone passed away at dawn on July 6 in Rome, Italy at the age of 91.
Morricone, who signed the soundtrack of more than 400 films, was admitted to a clinic in the Italian capital after suffering a fall.
Before his death, Ennio Morricone was admitted to a clinic in Rome, Italy, after suffering a fall.
AP
Winner of the Oscar for best soundtrack in 2016 for the music of
Quentin Tarantino's
The Hateful Eight
, Morricone was nevertheless known worldwide since the 1960s, and his career had already been
recognized with an honorary Oscar in 2007.
One of his most acclaimed works was the soundtrack for the film
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
(
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
, 1966), considered one of the most influential film musical works of all time.
Kirk Douglas, actor (103 years old)
Regarded as the last great actor of old Hollywood, Douglas passed away on February 5.
Legendary Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas has died at 103.
He left his mark on more than 80 films.
AP
Kirk Douglas always wanted to be an actor.
But before dedicating himself to it, he studied philosophy, chemistry and English literature.
A scholarship for his performance in boxing helped finance the studies of the young man, who came from a humble family.
Boxing reappeared in his life, in the movie
Champion
(1949).
His impressive filmography includes big-screen gems like
Paths of Glory
(1957) or
Spartacus
(1960).
Interestingly, he
never won the Oscar, despite being nominated three times
for the Hollywood Academy Awards, although he did receive an honorary statuette in 1996.
With information from The Associated Press