List of Famous people who died in 2002

Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.

Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and diplomat. Annenberg owned and operated Triangle Publications, which included ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, TV Guide, the Daily Racing Form, A+ Magazine, Essence, Star & Sky Magazine, Elementary Electronics, Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, The Atlantic Monthly, and Seventeen magazine. He was appointed by President Richard Nixon as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he served from 1969 to 1974.

Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Mark Healy on the popular '90s family sitcom Roseanne. Quinn also amassed a large fan base for his portrayal of Doyle, a half-demon, on Angel, a spin-off series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Ruth Marianna Handler was an American businesswoman and inventor. She served as the president of the toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., In 1959 she invented the Barbie doll, which sold over a billion copies worldwide. She was the founder and president of the world's largest toy company, which at its peak had 18,000 employees and annual sales of over $300 million. She was active in public service and won many awards. In 1974 the Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel, and in 1978 Ruth Handler and four others were convicted in federal court of conspiracy, mail fraud, and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was a Soviet fighter pilot known for his incredible escape from a Nazi concentration camp on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea.

Lars Olof Göran Kropp was a Swedish adventurer and mountaineer. He made a solo ascent of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen or Sherpa support on 23 May 1996, for which he travelled by bicycle, alone, from Sweden and part-way back.

Barbara Valentin was an Austrian actress. She worked in film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Lisa Nicole Lopes, better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. Lopes was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besides rapping and singing backing vocals on TLC recordings, Lopes was one of the creative forces behind the group. She received more co-writing credits than the other members. She also designed the outfits and staging for the group and contributed to the group's image, album titles, artworks, and music videos. Through her work with TLC, Lopes won four Grammy Awards.

Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician best known as the original lead singer and co-songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part of Seattle's grunge movement. Staley was known for his distinct vocal style and tenor voice, as well as his harmonizing with guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. Staley was also a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N' Chains, and the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99.

David Parker Ray, also known as the Toy-Box Killer, was an American kidnapper, torturer, rapist and suspected serial killer. Though no bodies were found, he was accused by his accomplices of killing several women and suspected by the police to have murdered as many as 60 women from Arizona and New Mexico, while living in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, approximately seven miles north of Truth or Consequences.