List of Famous people who died in 2019

Sufi Muhammad bin Alhazrat Hassan was a Pakistani cleric and Islamist militant, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a militant organisation vying for implementation of Sharia in Pakistan. It operates mainly in the Dir region, Swat, and Malakand districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Sufi Muhammad was jailed for sending thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to fight the U.S. intervention in 2001. However, he was freed in 2008 after he renounced violence. He was the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who assumed the leadership of TNSM during Sufi's imprisonment. He was described by BBC as a "follower" of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islamic school of thought, and by the Jamestown Foundation as one of the "active leaders" of Jamaat-e-Islami in the 1980s.

Mario Sabino Júnior was a Brazilian judoka, who won the gold medal in the half heavyweight division at the 2003 Pan American Games. In the final he defeated Canada's Nicolas Gill. He represented his native country a year later at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Alan Brinkley was an American political historian who taught for over 20 years at Columbia University. He was the Allan Nevins Professor of History until his death. From 2003 to 2009, he was University Provost.

Prosper Grech was a Maltese Augustinian friar, who co-founded the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome. He was created a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 February 2012. He was the second Maltese member of the College of Cardinals, the first since 1843.

Giuseppe "Beppe" Merlo was an Italian tennis player, who is considered the inventor of the two-handed backhand, many years before this style of stroke was made internationally popular by Bjorn Borg and became the backhand technique preferred by the majority of recreational and professional players.

Mardik Martin was an American screenwriter of Armenian descent. He was born in Iran and raised in Iraq.

Tsai Ying-wen was a Taiwanese political scientist and translator. He was a fellow at Academia Sinica, with his main research focus on the history of Western political thought. His book, From Monarchy and Autocracy to Democracy, won Academia Sinica's 5th Academic Book Award in Humanities and Social Sciences in 2016.

Stanton Terry Friedman was a nuclear physicist and professional ufologist who resided in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He was the original civilian investigator of the Roswell UFO incident. He worked on research and development projects for several large companies.

Renzo Burini was an Italian professional football player and coach, who played as a striker or as a winger. He was born in Palmanova.