Pope Francis [AP Photo]
Church, which counts 1.4 billion adherents and is now led — for the first time — by an American pope. The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he spoke before a crowd horrified many and prompted somber conversations about political violence.
And when trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre died by suicide, it brought additional scrutiny to the investigations of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They were among the noteworthy and influential people who died in 2025 where the deaths themselves had a widespread impact.
Charlie Kirk [AP Photo]
The deaths of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife became a source of both sadness and mystery after their bodies were found in their home in February. Authorities ultimately determined that Hackman, who was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, died of heart disease, likely unaware that Betsy Arakawa had died from hantavirus a week earlier.
Meanwhile, the death of heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne, which came just weeks after his farewell concert, marked the end of an era in music. The year also saw the death of boxing great George Foreman, who memorably lost a much-watched match to Muhammad Ali but whose career had inspiring second and third acts as a world champion and successful business owner.
George Foreman [AP Photo]
And the world said goodbye this year to Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative whose long career in public service included becoming one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history under President George W. Bush.
Here is a roll call of some influential figures who have died this year (cause of death cited, if available):
JANUARY
Wayne Osmond, 73. The singer and guitarist was a founding member of The Osmonds, a million-album-selling family act known for such 1970s teen hits as “One Bad Apple,” “Yo-Yo” and “Down By the Lazy River.” Jan. 1.
David Lynch, 78. The filmmaker was celebrated for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” and the TV series “Twin Peaks.” Jan. 16.
Mauricio Funes, 65. After serving as president of El Salvador, he spent the final years of his life in Nicaragua to avoid various criminal sentences. Jan. 21.
Marianne Faithfull, 78. The British pop star, muse, libertine and old soul inspired and helped write some of the Rolling Stones’ greatest songs and endured as a torch singer and survivor of the lifestyle she once embodied. Jan. 30.
FEBRUARY
Barbie Hsu, 48. A Taiwanese actress who starred in the popular TV drama “Meteor Garden” that swept Asia, she died of pneumonia triggered by the flu. Feb. 2.
The Aga Khan, 88. He became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims at age 20 as a Harvard undergraduate and poured billions of dollars in tithes into building homes, hospitals and schools in developing countries. Feb. 4.
Tony Roberts, 85. The versatile, Tony Award-nominated performer in plays and musicals appeared in several Woody Allen movies — often as Allen’s best friend. Feb. 7.
Sam Nujoma, 95. Known as the father of Namibia, the fiery, white-bearded freedom fighter led his nation’s independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years. Feb. 8.
Gene Hackman, 95. The Oscar-winning actor whose studied portraits ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving villains and made him one of the industry’s most respected and honored performers. Feb. 18. Found dead with his wife Betsy Arakawa.
Roberta Flack, 88. The Grammy-winning singer and pianist’s intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recording artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after that. Feb. 24.
Boris Spassky, 88. A Soviet-era world chess champion, he lost his title to American Bobby Fischer in a legendary 1972 match that became a proxy for Cold War rivalries. Feb. 27.
MARCH
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, 70. He was a Cuban American who opposed his uncle Fidel Castro and spent 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of a politically powerful South Florida family. March 3.
Oleg Gordievsky, 86. The Soviet KGB officer helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain. March 4.
George Foreman, 76. The fearsome heavyweight boxer lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Muhammad Ali before his inspiring second and third acts as a 45-year-old world champion and a successful business owner. March 21.
David Childs, 83. He was the lead architect of the One World Trade Center skyscraper that rose from the site where the twin towers collapsed in New York City during the 9/11 attacks. March 26.
Richard Chamberlain, 90. The handsome hero of the 1960s television series “Dr. Kildare” came out as gay four decades later and was known as the “king of the miniseries” for his roles in “The Thorn Birds” and “Shogun.” March 29.
APRIL
Val Kilmer, 65. The brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” died of pneumonia. April 1.
Kim Shin-jo, 82. He was a North Korean commando who resettled in South Korea as a pastor after the failure of his mission to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1968. April 9.
Mario Vargas Llosa, 89. The Peruvian author was a Nobel literature laureate and a giant of Latin American letters. April 13.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 85. The former Malaysian prime minister was a moderate who extended the country’s political freedoms but was criticized for lackluster leadership. April 14.
Nora Aunor, 71. She became one of the biggest stars of Philippine cinema during a career that spanned seven decades. April 16.
Pope Francis, 88. History’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for poor people but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. April 21.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre [AP Photo]
Virginia Giuffre, 41. She accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein. An advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s downfall, she died by suicide according to her publicist. April 25.
MAY
Robert Benton, 92. The Oscar-winning filmmaker co-created “Bonnie and Clyde,” and received mainstream validation as the writer-director of “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Places in the Heart.” May 11.
José Mujica, 89. The former Uruguayan president and Marxist guerrilla’s radical brand of democracy, plainspoken philosophy and simple lifestyle as a flower farmer fascinated people around the world. May 13.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 87. The revered Kenyan man of letters was a voice of dissent who, in dozens of fiction and nonfiction books, traced his country’s history from British imperialism to home-ruled tyranny. May 28.
Etienne-Emile Baulieu, 98. The French scientist was best known as the inventor of the abortion pill. May 30.
JUNE
Frederick Forsyth, 86. The British author wrote “The Day of the Jackal” and other bestselling thrillers. June 9.
Brian Wilson, 82. The Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems, becoming one of the world’s most influential recording artists. June 11.
Carolyn McCarthy, 81. She served nine terms in Congress after being elected in 1996 as a crusader for gun control following a mass shooting on a New York commuter train that left her husband dead and her son severely wounded. June 26.
JULY
Jimmy Swaggart, 90. The televangelist amassed an enormous following and multimillion-dollar ministry, only to be undone by his penchant for prostitutes. July 1.
Muhammadu Buhari, 82. He led Nigeria twice, as a military head of state and a democratic president. July 13.
Fauja Singh, 114. An Indian-born runner nicknamed the Turbaned Torpedo, believed to be the world’s oldest marathoner, died after being hit by a car. July 14.
Rex White, 95. He was NASCAR’s oldest living champion and a 2015 inductee into its Hall of Fame. July 18.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, 54. His 40-year career as an actor and director began as teenage son Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” a cultural phenomenon that helped define the 1980s. He drowned in the Caribbean Sea. July 20.
Ozzy Osbourne, 76. The gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath became the godfather of heavy metal and then a doddering dad on reality TV. July 22.
Hulk Hogan, 71. The mustachioed, headscarf-wearing, bicep-busting icon of professional wrestling turned the sport into a massive business and stretched his influence into TV, pop culture and conservative politics during a long and scandal-plagued second act. July 24.
Dwight Muhammad Qawi, 72. The Hall of Fame fighter took up boxing in prison and became a two-weight world champion. July 25.
AUGUST
Stella Rimington, 90. Dame Stella was the first female chief of Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency and later a successful thriller writer. Aug. 3.
Stella Rimington [AP Photo]
Ion Iliescu, 95. Romania’s first freely elected president after the fall of communism in 1989 later faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody revolution. Aug. 5.
James Lovell, 97. The commander of Apollo 13 helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering. Aug. 7.
Ron Turcotte, 84. The Hall of Fame jockey rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973. Aug. 22.
SEPTEMBER
Graham Greene, 73. A trailblazing Indigenous actor, his long career included an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Kicking Bird in “Dances with Wolves.” Sept. 1.
Giorgio Armani, 91. The iconic Italian designer turned the concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire. Sept. 4.
The Duchess of Kent, 92. Born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley, she famously broke royal protocol to hug a Wimbledon runner-up and stepped away from family duties to teach music in a public school. Sept. 4.
Charlie Kirk, 31. Rising from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster and ally of President Donald Trump, he was fatally shot during an appearance at a college in Utah. Sept. 10.
Kim Seong-Min, 63. The defector who founded Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio used USB sticks and a network of sources in the secretive country to inform the North Korean public about their authoritarian government. Sept. 12.
Robert Redford, 89. The Hollywood golden boy became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters. Sept. 16.
Claudia Cardinale, 87. The acclaimed Italian actor starred in some of the most celebrated European films of the 1960s and 1970s. Sept. 23.
Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, in his 80s. Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti served as the kingdom’s top religious figure for a quarter of a century as the ultraconservative Muslim nation socially liberalized. Sept. 23.
Sara Jane Moore, 95. She was imprisoned for more than 30 years after she made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975. Sept. 24.
OCTOBER
Diane Keaton, 79. The Oscar-winning star’s quirky manner and emotional depth enthralled fans in movies including “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride.” Oct. 11.
D’Angelo, 51. The Grammy-winning R&B singer recognized by his raspy yet smooth voice and for garnering mainstream attention with the shirtless “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video died of cancer. Oct. 14.
Tomiichi Murayama, 101. Japan’s former prime minister was known for his 1995 “Murayama statement” apologizing to Asian victims of his country’s aggression. Oct. 17.
Chen Ning Yang, 103. The Chinese Nobel Prize-winning physicist was one of the most influential scientists in modern physics. Oct. 18.
Queen Mother Sirikit, 93. She supervised royal projects in Thailand to help the rural poor, preserve traditional craft-making and protect the environment. Oct. 24.
NOVEMBER
George Banks, 83. He became one of the most notorious mass murderers in the U.S. by shooting 14 people, and killing 13, including his own children, during a 1982 rampage in Pennsylvania. Nov. 2.
Dick Cheney, 84. The hard-charging conservative was a leading advocate for invading Iraq as one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history. Years later, he became a critic and target of President Donald Trump. Nov. 3.
Kim Yong Nam, 97. North Korea’s longtime ceremonial head of state was best known for his deep, booming voice in propaganda-filled speeches supporting the ruling Kim dynasty. Nov. 3.
James D. Watson, 97. His co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped light the long fuse on a revolution in medicine, crime fighting, genealogy and ethics. Nov. 6.
Juan Ponce Enrile, 101. He was the Philippines’ defense chief during the martial-law era notorious for human rights atrocities, democratic setbacks and plunder, then broke from Ferdinand Marcos, leading to the dictator’s overthrow in a 1986 “people power” uprising. Nov. 13.
DECEMBER
Frank Gehry, 96. He designed some of most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect. Dec. 5.
Rafael Ithier, 99. He was a beloved musician and a founder of the legendary salsa band El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, whose hits have inspired Bad Bunny and other icons from the U.S. territory and beyond. Dec. 6.
Rob Reiner, 78. The son of a comedy giant who became one himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation with movies such as “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally …” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” he was fatally stabbed along with his wife Michele Singer Reiner in their home. Dec. 14.
Peter Arnett, 91. He was the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq. Dec. 17.
Mohammad Bakri, 72. The Palestinian director and actor sought to share the complexities of Palestinian identity and culture through a variety of works in both Arabic and Hebrew. Dec. 24.
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