List of Famous people who died in 2002

Leopold Vietoris was an Austrian mathematician, World War I veteran and supercentenarian. He was born in Radkersburg and died in Innsbruck.

Ivan Dominic Illich was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic. His 1971 book Deschooling Society criticises modern society's institutional approach to education, an approach that constrains learning to narrow situations in a fairly short period of the human lifespan. His 1975 book Medical Nemesis, importing to the sociology of medicine the concept of medical harm, argues that industrialised society widely impairs quality of life by overmedicalising life, pathologizing normal conditions, creating false dependency, and limiting other more healthful solutions. Illich called himself "an errant pilgrim."

Vadim Sergeevich Shefner ; was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who started publishing poetry in 1936. His first poetry collection was published in 1940. He turned to humorous and philosophical science fiction in the early 1960s, but continued publishing non-genre fiction and poetry. Here is an English translation of one of his most famous poems:

Turgut Özatay was a Turkish film actor. He appeared in 225 films between 1952 and 1998. He starred in the film The Broken Pots, which was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival.

Hans-Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 magnum opus Truth and Method on hermeneutics.

Tharwat Abaza was an Egyptian journalist and novelist. His best-known novel, A Man Escaping from Time, was turned into an Egyptian television series in the late 1960s. He died at the age of 74.

Samson Iosifovich Samsonov was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter, he was granted the honorary title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1991.

Frances Rix Ames was a South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist, best known for leading the medical ethics inquiry into the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who died from medical neglect after being tortured in police custody. When the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) declined to discipline the chief district surgeon and his assistant who treated Biko, Ames and a group of five academics and physicians raised funds and fought an eight-year legal battle against the medical establishment. Ames risked her personal safety and academic career in her pursuit of justice, taking the dispute to the South African Supreme Court, where she eventually won the case in 1985.

Saeed Hanaei or Said Hanai was an Iranian serial killer.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Zhurkina was a radio operator and gunner in the 99th Guards Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment during the Second World War and one of only four women to be awarded all three classes of the Order of Glory.