List of Famous people who died in 2001

Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate, Duke of Alba was a Spanish intellectual, Jesuit priest, literary editor, and aristocrat. After leaving the priesthood, he became the literary editorial director of Taurus Publishing and later held the position of Director General of Music in the Spanish Ministry of Culture from 1977 to 1980. He was married to Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba and head of the House of Alba. In 1986, he went on to occupy Chair "F" of the Royal Spanish Academy, replacing Manuel de Terán Álvarez.

Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann was a paramilitary operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Spann was the first American killed in combat during the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. He died at the Qala-i-Jangi fortress in a Taliban prisoner uprising.

Boris Borisovich Ryzhy, or Ryzhii, was a Russian poet and geologist. Some poems by Ryzhy have been translated into English, Italian, German, Dutch and Serbian. He committed suicide on May 7, 2001, at the age of 26. He was born and died in Yekaterinburg.

Juan José Arreola Zúñiga was a Mexican writer and academic. He is considered Mexico's premier experimental short story writer of the twentieth century. Arreola is recognized as one of the first Latin American writers to abandon realism; he used elements of fantasy to underscore existentialist and absurdist ideas in his work. Although he is little known outside his native country, Arreola has served as the literary inspiration for a legion of Mexican writers who have sought to transform their country's realistic literary tradition by introducing elements of magical realism, satire, and allegory. Alongside Jorge Luis Borges, he is considered one of the masters of the hybrid subgenre of the essay-story. He published only one novel, La feria.

Irene Joan Marion Sims was a British actress remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, including Carry On Nurse (1959), Carry On Cleo (1964) and Carry On Camping (1969). She played Mrs Wembley, the cook with a liking for sherry in On the Up (1990–1992), and Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1994–1998).

John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi Hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie. Hooker was ranked 35 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists.

Paul Richard Averitt was an American soldier serving as a member of the US Army 92nd Signal Corps Battalion. He was one the first photographers taking pictures at Dachau concentration camp during its liberation on April 29, 1945.

Eugene Bondurant Sledge was a United States Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa chronicled his combat experiences during World War II and was subsequently used as source material for the Ken Burns PBS documentary The War (2007), as well as the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), in which he is portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.

Emerson "Bud" Dunn was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Kentucky who spent most of his career in northern Alabama. He trained horses for over forty years and won his first Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship at age 74 with Dark Spirit's Rebel; at the time, he was the oldest rider to win the honor. He was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame in 1987 and named trainer of the year in 1980 and 1991. In 1999 at age 81, Dunn surpassed his own record for the oldest winning rider by winning his second World Grand Championship, riding RPM. He died of a heart attack in January 2001.

Matild Manukyan was a wealthy Turkish businesswoman of Armenian descent. She was a real property investor and madam who made a fortune in the brothel business, whereby she became the top taxpayer in Istanbul for five consecutive years during the 1990s.