List of Famous people who died at 89
Mark Lane
Mark Lane was an American attorney, New York state legislator, civil rights activist, and Vietnam war-crimes investigator. He is best known as a leading researcher, author, and conspiracy theorist on the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. From his 1966 number-one bestselling critique of the Warren Commission, Rush to Judgment, to Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK, published in 2011, Lane wrote at least four major works on the JFK assassination and no fewer than ten books overall.
Genival Lacerda
Genival Lacerda Cavalcante was a Brazilian forró singer-songwriter.
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Arnold ranked 22nd on Country Music Television's 2003 list of "The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music."
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, promoter, and freemason. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful. In 1952, Hank Williams told Ralph Gleason, "He's the biggest singer this music ever knew. You booked him and you didn't worry about crowds. For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God."
Flora MacDonald
Flora Isabel MacDonald, was a Canadian politician and humanitarian. Canada's first female foreign minister, she was also one of the first women to vie for leadership of a major Canadian political party, the Progressive Conservatives. She became a close ally of Prime Minister Joe Clark, serving in his cabinet from 1979 to 1980, as well as in the cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1988. In her later life, she was known for her humanitarian work abroad. The City of Ottawa recognised MacDonald on July 11, 2018 by naming a new bicycle and footbridge over the Rideau Canal the Passerelle Flora Footbridge.
Qian Qichen
Qian Qichen was a Chinese diplomat and politician. He served as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member from 1992 to 2002, China's Foreign Minister from April 1988 to March 1998, and as Vice Premier from March 1993 to March 2003. Since then, no other diplomat-turned-politician has attained such a lofty status in China's political hierarchy.
Joan Rhodes
Joan Rhodes was a London-born British performer, wrestler, stuntwoman and strongwoman. Born into poverty in London, she and her siblings were deserted by their parents. Following unhappy spells in the workhouse and with an aunt, she left home at 14. After sleeping rough in Brewer Street, Soho, she joined a travelling fair, where she got the idea for her act after seeing a professional strongman at work.
Jan Murray
Jan Murray was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who originally made his name on the Borscht Belt and later was known for his frequent television appearances over several decades.
Abdullah al-Qasemi
Abdullah al-Qasemi was a Saudi Arabian 20th-century writer and intellectual. He is one of the most controversial intellectuals in the Arab world because of his radical change from defending Salafism to defending atheism and rejecting organized religion. He questioned the existence of God and criticized religions, which resulted in the allegations of him becoming an atheist, therefore his books were banned all over the Arab world.
Yvette Williams
Dame Yvette Winifred Corlett was a New Zealand track-and-field athlete who was the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal and to hold the world record in the women's long jump. Williams was named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand, in 1987.