List of Famous people who died at 48

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. She was certified as the most awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records and is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She is regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. Her crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV influenced several African-American female artists.

Harshad Shantilal Mehta was an Indian stockbroker. Mehta’s involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam made him infamous as a market manipulator. Although, as reported by the Economic Times, some financial experts believe that Harshad Mehta did not commit any fraud, he had "simply exploited loop holes in the system".

Maureen "Mo" Starkey Tigrett was a hairdresser from Liverpool, England, best known as the first wife of Ringo Starr, the Beatles' drummer. When she was a trainee hairdresser in Liverpool, she met Starr at The Cavern Club, where the Beatles were playing. Starr proposed marriage at the Ad Lib Club in London, on 20 January 1965. They married at the Caxton Hall Register Office, London, in 1965, and divorced in 1975.

Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, where he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Although he was the most pro-LGBT politician in the United States at the time, politics and activism were not his early interests; he was neither open about his sexuality nor civically active until he was 40, after his experiences in the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, was an Iraqi terrorist and the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from 2014 until his death.

Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 – June 8, 1997) was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the organic mercury compound dimethylmercury (Hg(CH₃)₂). Protective gloves in use at the time of the incident provided insufficient protection, and exposure to only a few drops of the chemical absorbed through the gloves proved to be fatal after less than a year.

Scott Richard Weiland was an American musician, singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the band Stone Temple Pilots from 1989 to 2002 and 2008 to 2013, making six records with them. He was also lead vocalist of supergroup Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008, recording two albums, and recorded one album with another supergroup, Art of Anarchy. Weiland established himself as a solo artist as well and collaborated with several other musicians throughout his career.

Ahmad Shah Massoud was an Afghan politician and military commander. He was a powerful guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias and, after the Taliban takeover, was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001.

Vincent Walker Foster Jr. was an American attorney who served as deputy White House counsel during the first six months of the Clinton administration.

Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon. Over the course of her 22-year career, she wrestled for promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and World Championship Wrestling. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2019.