List of Famous people who died in 2002

Bartley Gorman V was a Traveller, who was a bare-knuckle boxer of Irish descent, he declared himself as the King of the Gypsies. Between 1972 and 1992, he reigned supreme in the world of illegal gypsy boxing. During these years, he fought down a mineshaft, in a quarry, at horse fairs, on campsites, in bars and clubs and in the street. Several relatives of Gorman have become professional boxers in recent years, including Nathan Gorman, Hughie Fury and Tyson Fury.

Toshihito Ito was a Japanese actor and member of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys theatrical troupe. He was born on February 16, 1962 in Niigata, Japan.

Joan Maud Littlewood was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of Modern Theatre". Her production of Oh, What a Lovely War! in 1963 was one of her more influential pieces.

John Barry Foster was an English actor who had an extensive career on stage, television, radio and cinema over almost 50 years. He is probably best known for playing the title character in the British crime series Van der Valk (1972–1992) and Bob Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972).

George Nader was an American actor and writer. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 through 1974, including Sins of Jezebel (1953), Congo Crossing (1956), and The Female Animal (1958). During this period, he also did episodic television and starred in several series, including NBC's The Man and the Challenge (1959–60). In the 1960s he made several films in Germany, playing FBI agent Jerry Cotton. He is remembered for his first starring role, in the low-budget 3-D sci-fi film Robot Monster (1953), known as "one of the worst films ever made".

Necip Hablemitoğlu was a Turkish historian and intellectual. He was assassinated in front of his home in 2002. The perpetrators of this assassination have still not been found. In Ergenekon trial testimony, however, detained suspects Osman Yıldırım claimed that Osman Gürbüz killed him by the motivation of detained suspects Veli Küçük and Muzaffer Tekin for a false flag operation.

Gerhard Löwenthal was a prominent German journalist, human rights activist and author. He presented the ZDF-Magazin, a news magazine of ZDF which highlighted human rights abuses in communist-ruled Eastern Europe, from 1969 to 1987. Löwenthal, who was known as a staunch anticommunist, was president of the Germany Foundation from 1977 to 1994.

June Millicent Jordan was a Jamaican American, bisexual poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation.

Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. Decades later, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her work on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She also portrayed the character of chimpanzee Zira in the first three installments of the original film adaptation Planet of the Apes.

Thomaz Soares da Silva, also known as Zizinho, was a Brazilian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder for the Brazil national football team. He came to international prominence at the 1950 World Cup, where he scored two goals. He was lauded as a complete player, with an array of offensive skills such as his dribbling, passing, and shooting ability with both feet, as well as his accuracy from dead ball situations and extraordinary vision, and is often considered the best Brazilian footballer of the pre-Pelé era.