List of Famous people who died in 2019

William Joseph Levada was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. From May 2005 until June 2012, he served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI; he was the highest ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland in Oregon from 1986 to 1995, and then Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. While serving as archbishop, he was criticized for covering up sexual abuse by priests within his jurisdiction. Levada was created a cardinal in 2006 by Benedict XVI.

Yevheniya Mykhaylivna Dembska was a Ukrainian theatre and cinema actress.

Shelley Lubben was an American author, singer, motivational speaker, and pornographic actress. As a performer in the adult film industry, she was known professionally as Roxy. After she left the sex industry, Lubben became a born-again Christian and anti-pornography activist. From 2008 to 2016, she was the Executive Director of the Pink Cross Foundation, which reaches out to women and men in pornography and speaks in public forums, sharing about the hazardous working conditions that she experienced in the porn industry. In January 2016, she closed the Pink Cross Foundation. She was also an ordained Chaplain with the Order of Saint Martin with a degree in Theological studies.

Therese Zenz was a Saar-born German sprint canoer. She took part in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won three silver medals for the United Team of Germany in 1956 and 1960. At the 1952 games she competed for Saar and finished ninth in the K-1 500 metres event. She later became a coach for the West German team.

Yasuo Furuhata was a Japanese film director. He worked with Ken Takakura in many films he directed. He won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year and 31st International Film Festival of India for Poppoya. He died 20 May 2019.

Lt. Col. Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly was the President of Mauritania and Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation (CSMN) from 3 June 1979 to 4 January 1980.

Arswendo Atmowiloto was an Indonesian journalist and writer. Considered one of Indonesia's most productive writers, he began his literary career in the 1970s and entered journalism in the 1980s. Following a controversial publication in 1990, he was imprisoned for subversion until 1993, though he continued his literary and journalistic work during and after his sentence.

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian was an Iranian artist and a collector of traditional folk art. She is noted for having been one of the most prominent Iranian artists of the contemporary period, and she was the first artist to achieve an artistic practice that weds the geometric patterns and cut-glass mosaic techniques (Āina-kāri) of her Iranian heritage with the rhythms of modern Western geometric abstraction. In 2017, the Monir Museum in Tehran, Iran was opened in her honor.

Jacques Diouf was a Senegalese diplomat and the Director-General of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from January 1994 to 31 December 2011. He died on 17 August 2019, 16 days after his 81st birthday.

Ines Torelli was a Swiss comedian, radio personality, and stage, voice and film actress starring usually in Swiss German language cinema and television and stage productions.