List of Famous people who died in 2000

Benjamin Orzechowski, known professionally as Benjamin Orr, was an American musician best known as the bassist, co-founder, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band the Cars. He sang lead vocals on several of their best known songs, including "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go" and "Drive". He also scored a moderate solo hit with "Stay the Night."

Walter Stanley Keane was an American plagiarist who became famous in the 1960s as the claimed painter of a series of widely reproduced paintings depicting vulnerable subjects with enormous eyes. The paintings are now accepted as having been painted by his wife Margaret Keane. When she declared her side of the story, Walter Keane retaliated with a USA Today article that again claimed he had done the work.

Jean Frances Speegle Howard was an American actress who acted primarily in film and on television. Howard made appearances in over 30 television shows, mostly sitcoms, such as Married... with Children (1994–1996), but she also had guest spots on such series as Grace Under Fire (1993) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) beginning from 1975 until her death.

Diether Krebs was a German actor, cabaret artist and comedian.

Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician who served as the President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. He was also the Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971, as well as regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000.

Squadron Leader Rajesh Pilot ; was an Indian politician, a minister in the Government of India and a former Indian Air Force officer. He belonged to the Indian National Congress party and represented the Dausa constituency in Lok Sabha. His original name was Rajesh Bidhuri. He died in a road accident, a few days after filing a nomination to contest as the president of the Congress party.

Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989 during the bubble economy.

Terence Kemp McKenna was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, philosophy, culture, technology, environmentalism, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He was called the "Timothy Leary of the '90s", "one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism", and the "intellectual voice of rave culture".

On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers – who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing – were convicted of manslaughter in 2006.

Peter Dubovský was a Slovak footballer who played as a forward.