List of Famous people who died in 2015

Alf Schwarz was a Canadian sociologist noted for his research in Sub-Saharan Africa. After studies at the Sorbonne (Paris) with Raymond Aron, Pierre Bourdieu, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roger Bastide, Georges Balandier and research assignment at Université de Dakar (Senegal), he began his academic career in 1963 with a faculty position at the Institut de recherches économiques et sociales of Université Lovanium. He joined in 1966 Université Laval as professor of sociology. He founded at Laval University the first academic program in African studies in French speaking Canada. As one of the pioneers of African studies in Canada he was decidedly involved in the creation of the Canadian Association of African Studies and edited for many years the Canadian Journal of African Studies/La Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines. He retired from Laval University in 1998. He died in Natal, Brazil in 2015.

Luiz Paulo Fernández Conde was a Brazilian architect and politician. He was Mayor of Rio de Janeiro from 1997 to 2001 and Vice Governor from 2003 to 2007.

Nathan Peck was an American jazz trombonist.

Costas Papacostas was the Cypriot Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011. Following the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion he resigned as Minister of Defence and was succeeded by Demetris Eliades, the Minister of Agriculture. In July 2013 he was found guilty of manslaughter, with the court saying he “closed his eyes to the danger” regarding the storage of explosives, for which he received a sentence of 5 years imprisonment.

Eugène Dodeigne was a French sculptor living and working at Bondues (Nord-Pas-de-Calais).

Jutta Resch-Treuwerth was a German journalist. She became well known the German Democratic Republic as a marriage and relationship counsellor.

Erla Hafstein Stefánsdóttir was an Icelandic piano-teacher and self-proclaimed seer. She was a noted public commentator on the topic of the huldufólk, particularly in relation to how they might be affected by building projects such as road-building, housing estates, or power-stations. She also held elf-tours in Hafnarfjörður.

Gregory Walcott was an American television and film actor. Although he had roles in many Hollywood films and television series, he is perhaps best known for having appeared in the 1994 film Ed Wood and Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space from 1959.

Hal Willis was a Canadian country singer who lived in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec the youngest son of Alfred and Evelina Gauthier.

Endre A. Balazs was a Hungarian inventor who transformed a natural lubricant into a palliative for arthritic knees. He devoted seven decades to exploring the therapeutic potential of hyaluronic acid. He was enlisted in the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2012.