List of Famous people who died in 2009

Savva (Savely) Vasilyevich Yamshchikov was a leading expert on Russian provincial art, particularly medieval icon painting and portrait painting of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Yuri Sergeyevich Ryazanov was a Russian artistic gymnast. He was the 2009 World All-Around bronze medalist, the 2009 Russian All-Around national champion, and the 2007 & 2009 European All-Around bronze medalist. He was a member of the Russian teams that won the gold medals at the 2008 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships and silver at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Ryazanov competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, placing 17th in the All-Around qualification.

Yolanda Varela was a Mexican actress. Born in Mexico City on 30 March 1930, she started acting at a very early age. She studied ballet in the National Institute of the Performing Arts. Varela was the leading actress in many Mexican films and some Spanish/Mexican co-productions.

Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd was an Irish actor. In 1950, he received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance as Corporal Lachlan MacLachlan in the 1949 film The Hasty Heart. His defining career role was the portrayal of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, V.C., in the 1955 film The Dam Busters.

Martinus Jacobus Maria "Maarten" Sikking was a field hockey goalkeeper from the Netherlands. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, where his team finished in fourth place on both occasions.

Nizar Rayan was a high ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law, he became a top Islamic cleric within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong promoter between 1994 and 2004 of suicide bombings on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War.

Susanna Agnelli, Contessa Rattazzi, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian politician, businesswoman and writer. She was the first woman to be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy.

James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist who first became associated with the New Wave of science fiction for his post-apocalyptic novels such as The Drowned World (1962). In the late 1960s, he produced a variety of experimental short stories, such as those collected in the controversial The Atrocity Exhibition (1970). In the mid 1970s, Ballard published several novels, among them the highly controversial Crash (1973), a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism, and High-Rise (1975), a depiction of a luxury apartment building's descent into violent chaos.

Sebastian Faisst was a German handball player, who played for the professional club TSV Dormagen since 2008, coming from the professional club HSG Konstanz and was a member and captain of the German under-21 national handball team. He died in Schaffhausen during a U-21 match against Switzerland of heart failure.

Julia García-Valdecasas was a Spanish Minister of Public Administration from 2003 to 2004.