List of Famous people who died in 2011

Russell Wilbur "Russ" Peterson was an American scientist and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He served as Governor of Delaware as a member of the Republican Party. An influential environmentalist, he served as chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality and president of the National Audubon Society.

Charles Thomas Kowal was an American astronomer known for his observations and discoveries in the Solar System. As a staff astronomer at Caltech's Mount Wilson and Palomar Mountain observatories between 1961 and 1984, he found the first of a new class of Solar System objects, the centaurs, discovered two moons of the planet Jupiter, and discovered or co-discovered a number of asteroids, comets and supernovae. He was awarded the James Craig Watson Medal for his contributions to astronomy in 1979.

Crescenzio Rinaldini was the Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Araçuaí, Brazil.

Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.

William Donald Schaefer was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. A Democrat, he was the 44th mayor of Baltimore from December 1971 to January 1987, the 58th Governor of Maryland from January 21, 1987 to January 18, 1995, and the 32nd Comptroller of Maryland from January 20, 1999 to January 17, 2007. On September 12, 2006, Schaefer was defeated in his reelection bid for a third term as Comptroller by Maryland Delegate Peter Franchot in the Democratic Party primary.

Andrzej Maria Deskur was President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.

Shelagh Delaney, FRSL was an English dramatist and screenwriter. Her debut work, A Taste of Honey (1958), has been described by Michael Patterson as "probably the most performed play by a post-war British woman playwright".

Eugene Jules Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series. He co-created the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics; Carol Danvers, who would become Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel; and the non-costumed, supernatural vampire hunter Blade.

Harold ("Hal") Warren Lewis was an American Emeritus Professor of Physics and former department chairman at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He was chairman of the JASON Defense Advisory Group from 1966 to 1973, and was active in US government investigations into safety of nuclear reactors.

Kenneth Harry Olsen was an American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson and his brother Stan Olsen.