List of Famous people who died in 2002

Rex David Thomas was an American businessman, philanthropist, and fast-food tycoon. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers. He is also known for appearing in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history.

Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Snead was awarded a record 94 gold medallions, for wins in PGA of America Tour events and later credited with winning a record 82 PGA Tour events, including seven majors. He never won the U.S. Open, though he was runner-up four times. Snead was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

Mufidah Abdul Rahman was one of Egypt's first female lawyers; she was also the first female lawyer to take cases to the Court of Cassation in Egypt, the first woman to practice law in Cairo, Egypt, the first woman to plead a case before a military court in Egypt, and the first woman to plead cases before courts in the south of Egypt.

Darryl Andrew Kile was an American Major League Baseball starting pitcher. He pitched from 1991 to 2002 for three teams. In his first season for the Cardinals, he won 20 games in 2000 as the team reached the postseason for the first time in four years. They advanced to the playoffs in the next two seasons. Kile was known for his sharp, big-breaking curveball. He died at the age of 33 of coronary artery disease in 2002 in Chicago, where he and the Cardinals were staying for a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs. He was the first active major league player to pass away during the regular season since 1979, when the New York Yankees' Thurman Munson died in a plane crash.

Marco Siffredi was a French snowboarder and mountaineer who hailed from a climbing family; his father was a mountain guide, and his brother had died in an avalanche in Chamonix. Siffredi was the first to descend Mount Everest on a snowboard in 2001 via the Norton Couloir. In 2002, he disappeared after making his second Everest summit, while attempting to snowboard the Hornbein Couloir.

John A. Chapman was a Combat Controller in the United States Air Force who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on August 22, 2018 for his actions in the Battle of Takur Ghar during the War in Afghanistan. He is the first airman to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. Chapman was inducted into the Hall of Heroes on August 23, 2018, and posthumously promoted to Master Sergeant on the following day.

Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was a United States Air Force general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen.

Ruth Williams Khama, Lady Khama, was the wife of Botswana's first president Sir Seretse Khama, the Paramount Chief of its Bamangwato tribe. She served as the inaugural First Lady of Botswana from 1966 to 1980.

Christa Worthington was a United States fashion writer who worked for Women's Wear Daily, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and The New York Times. She was also a co-author of several books on fashion and formerly dated Stan Stokowski, the oldest son of Gloria Vanderbilt and Leopold Stokowski.

Karim Lala, born as Abdul Karim Sher Khan in Shegal District in Samalam Village of Kunar province of Afghanistan, was infamous as one of the three "mafia dons of Mumbai" in India for more than two decades from the sixties to the early eighties. The other two being Mastan Mirza aka Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar.