List of Famous people who died in 2006

Daniel Wayne Smith was the son of the American model and actress Anna Nicole and Billy Smith. He occasionally appeared in his mother's E! Network reality TV show. Smith died on September 10, 2006, at age 20, after an accidental overdose.

José Gilson Rodriguez, commonly called Zézé, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward for, among other clubs, 1. FC Köln in the Bundesliga.

Patricia Ann Ramsey was an American beauty pageant winner who won the Miss West Virginia Pageant at age 20 in 1977. She was best known as the mother of JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old child beauty pageant queen who was found dead in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 25, 1996.

Richard Carlson was an American author, psychotherapist, and motivational speaker. His book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff... and it’s all Small Stuff (1997), was USA Today's bestselling book for two consecutive years. and spent over 101 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was published in 135 countries and translated into Latvian, Polish, Icelandic, Serbian and 26 other languages. Carlson went on to write 20 books.

Valentín Elizalde Valencia was a Regional Mexican singer. Nicknamed "El Gallo de Oro", he was known for his off-key style and his biggest hits included: "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor", " Vete Con Él", "Vuelve Cariñito", "Cómo Me Duele", "Vencedor", " Mi Virgencita", and "Soy Así". Some of his songs were narcocorridos eulogizing Mexican drug lords like Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. He was murdered in an ambush, allegedly by members of the drug trafficking gang Los Zetas, which at that time served as the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.

Jane Jacobs was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book entitled, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), argued that "urban renewal" and "slum clearance" did not respect the needs of city-dwellers.

Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Her career was on the rise and she was widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979 when a broken leg left her out of several competitions, and the recovery from that injury combined with pressure to master a dangerous and difficult tumbling move caused her to break her neck two weeks before the opening of the 1980 Summer Olympics, leaving her permanently quadriplegic.

Bronwyn Joy Oliver was an Australian sculptor whose work primarily consisted of metalwork. Oliver was raised in rural New South Wales. She trained at Sydney's Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education and London's Chelsea School of Art. She had early success, winning a New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship in 1981 and the Moet & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship in 1984. Oliver settled in Sydney, where she practised and taught until her death in 2006.

Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. An advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. King was also a singer who often incorporated music into her civil rights work. King met her husband while attending graduate school in Boston. They both became increasingly active in the American civil rights movement.

Lamar Hunt was an American businessman most notable for being one of the sons of H.L. Hunt. Lamar made a name for himself by his promoting of American football, soccer, basketball, tennis and ice hockey in the United States.