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Deaths in 2026
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Deaths in 2026

Written by
Amy Tikkanen
Amy Tikkanen is Managing Editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Amy Tikkanen
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Britannica Editors
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Below is a list of notable deaths in 2026, arranged in chronological order. (The age of the individual is in parentheses.)

January

January 5
  • Aldrich Ames (84): American official in the CIA who was one of the most successful double agents for the Soviet Union and Russia; he was arrested in 1994 and later sentenced to life in prison
January 7
January 10
  • Bob Weir (78): American guitarist and songwriter who was a cofounder of the Grateful Dead, a hugely influential San Francisco-based musical group that formed in the mid-1960s and was known for an eclectic mix of psychedelic rock instrumentation and jazzy improvisation (death announced this day)
January 11
January 13
  • Scott Adams (68): American cartoonist who captured the malaise of the modern workplace in his comic strip Dilbert
  • Claudette Colvin (86): American woman who was arrested as a teenager in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman; later that year Rosa Parks made a similar protest that became a milestone in American civil rights history
January 17
January 19
  • Valentino (93): Italian fashion designer known for garments in his trademark “Valentino red” (rosso Valentino) and whose style was described as jet-set chic
January 24
January 30
  • Catherine O’Hara (71): Canadian comedic actor known for her improvisational skills and ability to imbue her comic characters with depth and humanity; her notable credits include two Home Alone movies (1990 and 1992); the mockumentaries Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind (2003); and the TV sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015–20)

February

February 11
  • James Van Der Beek (48): American actor who was best known for the teen drama Dawson’s Creek (1998–2003) and the football movie Varsity Blues (1999); he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2024
  • Bud Cort (77): American actor known for the cult classic Harold and Maude (1971), Hal Ashby’s black comedy about a 20-year-old boy who has a passionate affair with an octogenarian (Ruth Gordon)
February 12
  • Holmes Rolston III (92): American utilitarian philosopher and theologian who pioneered the fields of environmental ethics and environmental philosophy
February 13
  • Roy Medvedev (100): Russian historian and dissident who was one of his country’s foremost historiographers in the late 20th century
February 15
  • Robert Duvall (95): American actor noted for his ability to quietly inhabit any characters, particularly average working people, bringing them fully but subtly to life; his notable movies include The Godfather (1972), The Godfather, Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1980), and Tender Mercies (1983, Academy Award)
February 16
  • Frederick Wiseman (96): American filmmaker noted for his documentaries that examine the functioning of American institutions; his notable films included Titicut Follies (1967), Hospital (1970), Public Housing (1997), Monrovia, Indiana (2018), and City Hall (2020).
February 17
  • Jesse Jackson (84): American activist and politician who was one of the most significant leaders of the 20th-century civil rights movement; his reputation as a peacemaker, troublemaker, groundbreaker, and iconoclast helped pave the way for the progressive policies of Barack Obama and others in the 21st century
  • Edward Hoagland (93): American novelist, travel writer, and essayist noted especially for his writings about nature and wildlife
February 19
  • Eric Dane (53): American actor who was known for his work on the TV series Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria; he died some 10 months after being diagnosed with ALS
February 21
  • Willie ColĂłn (75): American trombonist, composer, bandleader, and activist who helped to popularize salsa music in the United States in the 1970s
February 22
  • Nemesio RubĂ©n Oseguera Cervantes (59): Mexican drug lord who led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel; “El Mencho,” as he was widely known, was one of the most wanted drug traffickers, and he was killed by Mexican military forces
February 27
  • Neil Sedaka (86): American singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist who was one of the most prolific songwriters of his era, having written or cowritten more than 500 songs, including the hits “Calendar Girl” (1959) and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (1960)
February 28
  • Ali Khamenei (86): Iranian cleric and politician who was president of Iran (1981–89) before serving as the country’s rahbar, or leader, from 1989 to 2026; he was killed during a military assault launched by the United States and Israel

March

March 8
March 10
  • Alfredo Bryce Echenique (87): Peruvian novelist, short-story writer, and essayist whose fictional works are filled with wry humor that blends intimacy and pathos
March 13
  • Paul R. Ehrlich (93): American biologist and educator who in 1990 shared Sweden’s Crafoord Prize
March 14
March 15
  • Len Deighton (97): English author, journalist, film producer, and a leading writer of spy stories, his best-known being his first, The Ipcress File (1962), an account of deception and betrayal in an espionage agency
March 17
  • Ali Larijani (67): senior official in Iran for several decades and the de facto leader of the country from supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s death on February 28, 2026, until his own death on March 17, 2026, both of which occurred from U.S.-Israeli strikes during the 2026 Iran War
March 19
  • Umberto Bossi (84): Italian politician who was the leader (1991–2012) of the Northern League (Lega Nord), an anti-immigrant, right-wing party that sought greater autonomy for northern Italy (Padania)
March 20
March 22
March 24
  • BirutĂ© Galdikas (79): primatologist, conservationist, and educator who, having dedicated more than half a century to the study of orangutans in Indonesian Borneo, was credited with conducting the longest-running longitudinal study by one principal investigator of any wild mammal in the world
March 26
  • Mary Rand (86): British track-and-field athlete, who won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo to become the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field
March 28
  • Liamine Zeroual (84): Algerian military officer and politician who served as the president of Algeria (1994–99)

April

April 9
  • Afrika Bambaataa (68): American disc jockey (deejay or DJ) and music producer who was often referred to as one of the “godfathers” of hip-hop, credited as being a leading disseminator of the genre’s music and culture
April 12
  • Asha Bhosle (92): celebrated Indian playback singer who recorded more than 12,000 songs in 20 different Indian languages over eight decades; her career was remarkable for both its longevity and the versatility of her voice
April 19
  • Dave Mason (79): British singer-songwriter and musician who cofounded Traffic, a rock band of the 1960s and ’70s that was known for incorporating lengthy jazzlike improvisation into rock-music structures
April 22
  • Michael Tilson Thomas (81): American conductor and composer of classical music, pianist, and educator who was noted as a champion of contemporary American composers and as the founder and music director of Miami’s New World Symphony and the music director of the San Francisco Symphony
  • David Malouf (92): Australian poet and novelist of Lebanese and English descent whose work reflects his ethnic background as well as his Queensland childhood and youth
April 26
  • Nedra Talley (80): American singer who was a member of the hugely popular trio the Ronettes; their single “Be My Baby” (1963) was one of the defining songs of the girl-group era
Apil 29
  • J. Craig Venter (79): American geneticist, biochemist, and businessman who pioneered new techniques in genetics and genomics research and headed the private-sector enterprise, Celera Genomics, in the Human Genome Project
April 30

May

May 6
  • Ted Turner (87): American broadcasting entrepreneur, philanthropist, sportsman, and environmentalist who founded a media empire that included several television channels that he created, notably CNN
May 19
May 25
  • Sonny Rollins (95): American jazz musician and tenor saxophonist who was among the finest improvisers on the instrument to appear since the mid-1950s

June

June 4?
  • Marjane Satrapi (56): Iranian artist, director, and writer whose graphic novels explored the gaps and junctures between Iran and the West; perhaps her most well-known work was the Persepolis series about her childhood in Tehran
June 9
  • Duane Michals (94): American photographer noted for his sequential images, which often deal with myths and mysteries, and for his creative extension of the possibilities of the photographic medium
June 11
  • David Hockney (88): English painter, draftsperson, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer whose works are characterized by economy of technique, a preoccupation with light, and a frank mundane realism derived from Pop art and photography
June 15
  • Abdullah Ibrahim (91): South African musician and composer who combined traditional South African music, American and European jazz, and classical music; his composition â€œMannenberg” became an anthem for the movement against apartheid in South Africa
June 17
  • Tony Brown (93): American activist, television producer, writer, educator, and filmmaker who hosted Tony Brown’s Journal (1968–2008; original name Black Journal until 1977), the longest-running Black news program in television history
June 18
  • François Englert (93): Belgian physicist who was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics for proposing the existence of the Higgs field, which endows all elementary particles with mass through its interactions with them
June 21
  • Abdul Ahad Mohmand (67): Afghan pilot and cosmonaut, the first Afghan citizen to travel into space
June 22
June 24
June 30
  • Victor Willis (74): lead singer for the Village People, a 1970s American disco group known for dressing in sexually suggestive costumes featuring male stereotypes; he also cowrote two of their biggest hits, “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man”

July

July 8
  • Wally Funk (87): American aviation pioneer who in 2021 became the oldest woman to go into space aboard Jeff Bezos’s New Shepherd spacecraft
July 11
July 12
  • Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani (74): former emir of Qatar (1995–2013) whose reign had a transformative impact on the country; he introduced a number of liberal reforms, and by the end of his rule, Qatar led the world in the export of natural gas and enjoyed a higher GDP per capita than any oil-producing Gulf state
July 17
  • Garfield Sobers (89): West Indian cricketer who was considered by many authorities to be the most gifted all-around player of the game
July 26
  • Betye Saar (99): American artist and educator, renowned for her assemblages that lampoon racist attitudes about Blacks and for installations featuring mystical themes
July 29
  • Glen Hansard (56): Irish singer-songwriter and front man of the Frames who appeared in the film The Commitments (1991) and won an Academy Award for the song “Falling Slowly” from the film Once (2006)

August

August 12
August 14
  • Yayoi Kusama (97): Japanese artist who was a self-described “obsessional artist,” known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations; she employed painting, sculpture, performance art, and installations in a variety of styles, including Pop art and Minimalism
August 16
  • Hayden Panettiere (36): American actress who began performing as an infant and later appeared in such films as Remember the Titans (2000) and Scream 4 (2011) and starred in the TV series Heroes (2006–10) and Nashville (2012–18); Panettiere died from an accidental drug overdose
August 21
August 24
  • Sliman Mansour (79): foundational artist of the contemporary Palestinian art movement and cofounder of the League of Palestinian Artists
  • Shirakawa Hideki (90): Japanese chemist who won a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000 for the discovery that certain plastics can be chemically altered to conduct electricity almost as readily as metals
August 25
  • Dolly Parton (80): American country music singer and songwriter who crafted such timeless hit songs as “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “9 to 5” and later became known for her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee and her philanthropy
  • Tim Curry (80): British-born actor who was known for his portrayal of eccentric characters, notably Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975); his other notable credits include the film Clue (1985) and the TV miniseries It (1990)
August 26
  • Akiyama Toyohiro (84): Japanese journalist and television reporter, the first Japanese citizen and the first journalist to travel into space; he was also the first fare-paying civilian passenger (nonprofessional astronaut) to participate in a spaceflight
August 28
August 31

September

September 2
September 8
September 12
  • George Chuvalo (89): Canadian professional boxer and heavyweight champion of Canada who was never knocked down in a match; he was the first boxer to take Muhammad Ali to 15 rounds, and Ali called him the “toughest guy I ever fought”
September 14
  • Bob Mackie (87): American costume designer noted for his extravagant and inventive style, characterized by meticulously hand-beaded garments and abundant applications of feathers and rhinestones; notable clients included Cher, Elton John, Diana Ross, and Tina Turner
September 15
  • Annie Dillard (81): American writer best known for her meditative essays on the natural world; in 1975 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her nonfiction work Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
September 17
September 23
  • Bob Pettit (93): American professional basketball player, the first to score 20,000 points in the NBA; Pettit, who was 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 meters) tall, is considered the first really agile player of exceptional height in professional basketball
September 30
  • Margaret Hamilton (90): American computer scientist who was one of the first computer software programmers; she created the term software engineer to describe her work, and she helped write the computer code for the command and lunar modules used on the Apollo missions to the Moon in the late 1960s and early ’70s

October

October 1
  • Biljana PlavĆĄić (96): Bosnian Serb politician, known as “the Iron Lady,” who served as president of the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) from 1996 to 1998; her conduct during and after the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s led to her trial and imprisonment for war crimes
October 3
October 4
  • Cheikh Hamidou Kane (98): Senegalese writer best known for his autobiographical novel L’Aventure ambiguĂ« (1961; Ambiguous Adventure), which won the Grand Prix LittĂ©raire d’Afrique Noire in 1962
October 5
  • Jim Bakker (86): American televangelist who, with his wife Tammy Faye Bakker, built a $125 million empire centered on their TV talk show The PTL Club (also called The Jim and Tammy Show); however, a sex scandal derailed his career, and he ultimately served several years in prison for fraud and conspiracy
October 6
  • Eva Marie Saint (102): American film and television actress known for bringing emotional depth and complexity to her roles, in which she generally played women who appear fragile but have great inner strength; she won an Oscar for her film debut in On the Waterfront (1954)
October 9
  • Mike Ditka (86): American football player and coach who was one of the game’s greatest tight ends in the 1960s and early ’70s and who later had a successful coaching career; he won three Super Bowl titles in three different roles: as a player (1972) and an assistant coach (1978) with the Dallas Cowboys (1972) and as head coach of the Chicago Bears (1986)
October 22
October 28
October 30
October 31
  • Juan Atkins (64): American deejay-producer who is credited with helping invent techno music; his influential singles include “Alleys of Your Mind” (1981; as a member of Cybotron) and “No UFOs” (1983; under the moniker Model 500)
Amy Tikkanen