List of Famous people who died in 2009

Norman Rex Ghormley was an American optometrist who held leadership roles with the American Academy of Optometry and served as an optometrist for collegiate and professional sports teams.

Sunita Deshpande was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India. She was fondly called "Sunitabai".

Ekaterina Sergeevna Maximova was a great Soviet and Russian ballerina of the second part of the 20^th century who had international recognition and fame. She was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre for 30 years, a ballet pedagogue, People’s Artist of the USSR and Russian Federation, winner of international ballet competitions, Laureate of many prestigious International and Russian awards, a professor in GITIS, Honorary professor at the Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, and an Executive Committee member of the Russian Center of Counseil International De La Danse, UNESCO

Rena Kanokogi was a renowned Jewish-American judo expert. In 1959, disguised as a man, she won a medal at a YMCA judo tournament, but had to return it after acknowledging that she was a woman. Traveling to Japan to continue her judo training, Kanokogi became the first woman allowed to train in the men's group at the Kodokan. She is perhaps best known for pioneering women's judo competition at the Olympic Games. Rusty is often referred to as, "The Mother of Women's Judo".

Günter Kießling was a German general in the Bundeswehr, who became famous as the subject of what became known as the Kießling Affair.

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Nevinny was a Soviet and Russian actor who was titled a People's Artist of the USSR in 1986. He worked in the Moscow Art Theatre from 1959 until his death in 2009.

Karine Ruby was a French snowboarder and Olympic champion. She won two medals at the Winter Olympics, with a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. She also earned six gold medals and four silver medals at the FIS Snowboard World Championships, and 67 wins and 122 podiums at the FIS Snowboard World Cup, which earned her the description by The New York Times as "the most decorated female snowboarder in the world".

Thomas Edward Fitzpatrick nicknamed Tommy Fitz, was an American pilot known for two intoxicated flights where he flew from New Jersey and landed on the streets of New York City.

William Taliaferro Close was an American surgeon who played a major role in stemming a 1976 outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire, the first major outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever in Central Africa, and preventing its further spread. He was also the father of actress Glenn Close and husband of Bettine Moore Close.

Lolita Lebrón was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of attempted murder and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wounding of five members of the United States Congress. She was released from prison in 1979 after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter. Lebrón was born and raised in Lares, Puerto Rico, where she joined the Puerto Rican Liberal Party. In her youth she met Francisco Matos Paoli, a Puerto Rican poet, with whom she had a relationship. In 1941, Lebrón migrated to New York City, where she joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, gaining influence within the party's leadership.