Kofi Annan (80). Ghana-born, United Nations secretary general from 1997 to 2006; he won the Nobel peace prize in 2001.
Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur (66). Ghana -born, former Vice-President of Ghana’s 4th Republic, in office from 6 August 2012 until 7 January 2017. Previously, he was Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 2009 to 2012.
K.B Asante (93). Kwaku Baprui Asante was a Ghanaian diplomat, writer and politician, who served as the Secretary to Ghana’s First President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Prof. Atukwei Okai (77). A renowned Ghanaian poet, scholar, cultural activist and author. Until his death Prof. Atukwei Okai was the Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers Association of Ghana.
V.C.R.A.C Crabbe (95). The former Supreme Court Judge of Ghana.
Joseph Henry Mensah (89). A founding member of the governing New Patriotic Party and served in three different ministerial positions under the John Agyekum Kufuor administration.
James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey-Orleans (81). A Ghanaian civil servant and diplomat who served as Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from October 1997 to March 2001.
Emmanuel Boakye Agyarko (60). A Pharmacist cum politician who served as a member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon in the Greater Accra region. Kyeremateng Agyarko, was formerly Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Board (2001 – 2009).
Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng, aka.Ebony Reigns (20). Music artiste whose songs became popular within the past two years was only a week shy of her 21st birthday. Some of her hits tracks includes, “Date Ur Fada” and “Poison”
Rest of the World citizens
Avicii (28). Swedish DJ and producer.
(Real name: Tim Bergling.)
Charles Aznavour (94). Armenian-born French singer and songwriter (he wrote more than 1 000 songs); Anglophones remember his 1974 hit She.
Marty Balin (76). American musician; key figure in Jefferson Airplane and later Jefferson Starship.
Trevor Bayliss (80). Inventor of the wind-up radio.
Bernardo Bertolucci (77). Italian director, famous for Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor.
Anthony Bourdan (61). Celebrity chef, writer and documentary-maker; his final series was Parts Unknown.
Barbara Bush (92). Wife of the 41st president of the United States.
George HW Bush (94). Forty-first president of the United States; he presided over the first Gulf War.
Fidel Ángel Castro Díaz-Balart (68). Fidel Castro’s son; he became a scientist.
Dennis Edwards (74). Singer in soul band The Temptations; he was on their hit Papa Was a Rolling Stone (1972).
Roy Clark (85). Country singer and actor on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Aretha Franklin (76). The Queen of Soul, she was the most powerful voice in 1960s and early-1970s music. Winner of 18 Grammies, her songs included Respect, Think and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
Lewis Gilbert (97). British film director of Alfie (1966), Educating Rita (1983) and Shirley Valentine(1989), and three James Bond films, among many others.
Hubert de Givenchy (91). French fashion designer.
William Goldman (87). Novelist and Hollywood scriptwriter; won Oscars for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and All the President’s Men (1976) scripts. Wrote a famous memoir, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983).
Billy Graham (99). American evangelist.
Roy Hargrove (49). Jazz trumpeter; leader of The RH Factor, winner of two Grammy awards.
Barbara Harris (83). Actor; starred in Nashville (1975) and Family Plot (1976).
Stephen Hawking (76). Scientist and populariser of science; wrote the worldwide bestseller A Brief History of Time (1988).
Tab Hunter (86). US actor, a heartthrob in the 1950s and 1960s; by the 1980s he was gleefully parodying himself in Polyester (1981) and Lust in the Dust (1985).
Sridevi Kapoor (54). Bollywood star who made more than 300 movies.
Jamal Khashoggi (59). Saudi Arabian dissident journalist, resident in US; murdered in Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
Ed King (68). Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist; wrote the hit Sweet Home Alabama.
Margot Kidder (69). Actor who played Lois Lane in several Superman movies.
Charles Krauthammer (68). US political punter and columnist.
Stan Lee (95). Creator and publisher of a host of comic-book characters and superheroes, he led Marvel Comics from 1941 to 2010.
John Mahoney (77). Actor; known for his role as the dad in long-running TV sitcom Frasier.
John McCain (81). US war hero, Republican senator who vied with Donald Trump for a presidential nomination in 2016.
Mac Miller (26). US rapper and producer.
Dolores O’Riordan (46). Cranberries singer.
Burt Reynolds (82). US actor and sex symbol; had a hit with Deliverance (1972) and another with Smokey and the Bandit (1977).
Philip Roth (85). US novelist and author of more than 30 books. His first big success was Portnoy’s Complaint (1969); he followed it with highly regarded works such as The Ghost Writer (1979), Sabbath’s Theatre (1995) and The Plot Against America (2004). He won all the prizes.
Nicolas Roeg (90). British film director, often avant garde; known for The Man Who Fell to Earth (1975).Pete Shelley (63). Lead singer of punk band the Buzzcocks.
Nancy Sinatra (101). Singer Frank Sinatra’s first wife; mother of his three children, including daughter Nancy.
Neil Simon (91). US playwritght and later screenwriter, famed for Barefoot in the Park” (1963) and Tony-winner The Odd Couple (1965).
Mark E Smith (60). Singer of post-punk band The Fall.
Verne Troyer (49). Actor, best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies.
Mort Walker (91). Cartoonist; his Hi and Lois strip ran for decades.
Nancy Wilson (81). Jazz and rhythm and blues singer; she had hits with Tell Me the Truth and (You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am in the early 1960s and her own TV show later in the decade.
Tom Wolfe (88). American writer who had non-fiction hits with works such as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and The Right Stuff (1979), and later with novels such as Bonfire of the Vanities (1987).
South Africans who have become ancestors
Keorapetse Kgositsile, widely known as Bra Willie (79). Writer, teacher and arts activist. South Africa’s poet laureate from 2006, he spent three decades in exile. In the United States, he published poetry, including Spirits Unchained (1969) and My Name Is Afrika (1971), performed his work as part of the Uptown Black Arts Movement, and co-founded the Black Arts Theatre in New York. He returned to South Africa in 1990; in the same year his collection When the Clouds Clear came out.
Winnie Mandela (81). Feminist icon of the struggle against apartheid. While her husband Nelson Mandela was in jail, from the early 1960s to 1990, she kept the flame burning, surviving arrests, banning and persecution. In the late 1980s she was involved with the thuggish “football club” that led to the death of child activist Stompie Seipei.
Hugh Masekela (78). Jazz trumpeter and composer. As a youth, he was part of the 1950s Sophiatown cultural boom; later he was a leading performer based in the United States till his return from exile in 1990. Grazing in the Grass (1968) was a US hit; Bring Him Back Home (1987) became an anthem about Nelson Mandela. His Stimela (1994) is almost another national anthem.
Sandy Mokwena (68). Veteran actor; known in his last years for his role as Bra Eddie in Scandal.
Mendi Msimang (89). Leading figure of the freedom struggle, though often behind the scenes. An ANC Youth League founder in the 1940s, he served the ANC in exile as an organiser, ambassador (India and later Britain) and co-founder of Solomon Mahlangu College; he served the ANC in power as treasurer general and later chair of its integrity commission.
David Phetoe (85). Well known actor, he played as Paul Moroka in long-running TV series Generations.
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Ghanamatters.com | Ghana
Credit: mg.co.za
