final credits - lives by subject
lives grouped by what they were best known for
Selected biographies from the Last Link's Final Credit pages.
Listed here are persons whose tributes have appeared on this site since March 1, 2005.
Listings for other passings observed during this site's history will be added as time permits.
movies | music & musicians | television | radio | the wars | cold war & the manhattan project | the kennedy assassinations | the space program | watergate | the world stage | art & architecture | crime, terror& law enforcement | the information age | science, medicine & invention | hockey | mountaineers | relatives | really old people | furried, finned and four-legged friends | politics in canada | wacky lives and odd deaths | edmonton
month and page index | name index | sources
Movies
- movies - final credits
Lives from the big screen.
Music & Musicians
- music - final credits
Lives from the world of music.
Television
- television - final credits
Lives from the small screen.
Radio
- radio - final credits
Lives from the first of electronic media.
The Wars
World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam and both Gulf wars.
- Claude-Marie Boucaud - among the 10 last survivors of the 8.5 million French soldiers that served in WWI.
- Peter Casserly - Australia's oldest WWI veteran and living male
- André Debry - among the 10 last survivors of the 8.5 million French soldiers that served in WWI.
- Duane W. Dively - U2 pilot.
- Alfred Finnigan - World War I veteran and oldest man in Wales.
- Lazarre Gionet - last surviving New Brunswick veteran of WWI.
- Ray Holmes - saved Buckingham Palace from German attack.
- John Keyston - anti-submarine warfare expert.
- Charles Kuentz - last surviving German veteran of World War I, and fought for and against the Germans in two world wars.
- Clarence Laking - last Canadian World War I veteran to have seen action.
- Stanley S. Lane - fought in two world wars and in Korea.
- Donovan Leighton - Tuskegee airman.
- Wheeler Lipes - submarine pharmacist whose appendectomy on a fellow crew-mate was depicted in two movies.
- Harry Lloyd - believed the secret of long life was to keep up with what was happening in the world.
- Peter Malkin - Mossad agent who arrested Adolf Eichmann, Nazi Holocaust architect.
- Albert Marshall - last surviving British WWI cavalryman.
- Melita Norwood - spy who came in from the Co-op.
- Raymond J. Plouhar - American soldier who appeared in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
- Winant Sidle - U.S. Army information officer.
- Ernest "Smokey" Smith - last Canadian to hold the Victoria Cross.
- Kay Snelgrove - Canadian school-girl spy.
Cold War & The Manhattan Project
- Hans Bethe - fled Nazi Germany in 1935, wound up as head of the Manhattan Project.
- Brett Collier - as a P.O.W., survived Nagasaki blast.
- Kenneth M. Failor - Cold War strategist.
- Bruce Faraday - developed materials for U.S. 'stealth' technology.
- Richard Godwin - project head, nuclear ship Savannah.
- Robert Granville - F.B.I. agent who arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the first U.S. civilians executed for spying.
- Daniel Hamilton - DEW Line engineer.
- Todd Kauppila - Los Alamos scientist.
- Katherine Lathrop - one of the few women who worked on the Project.
- Samuel P. Massie Jr. - chemist, made liquid compounds of uranium for the first atomic bomb.
- Philip Morrison - delivered the plutonium core of the first atomic bomb in the back seat of his Dodge.
- Melita Norwood - spy who came in from the Co-op.
- Kay Snelgrove - Canadian school-girl spy.
- William J. Thaler - developed "over-the-horizon" radar.
Kennedy Assassinations
- Charles R. Baxter - surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital who tried to save Kennedy.
- Ted Callaway - lawyer who represented Sirhan Sirhan.
- Stavis "Steve" Ellis - in command of the motorcycle escort for Kennedy's motorcade.
- Herman Kohlman - Attorney Jim Garrison's assistant in the only trial in connection with the president's assassination.
- Lawrence Teeter - eyewitness to Tippit's murder.
The Space Program
- Howard Benedict - aerospace writer who covered more than 2,000 missile and rocket launches.
- Donald Buchanan - designed NASA's rocket crawlers.
- John Ford - launch engineer.
- Robert Dale Reed - designed a lifting body that eventually became the space shuttle.
- Edward G. Schwarm - electrical engineer, designed Apollo program systems.
- John D. Stewart - British amateur rocketeer.
- John Szymkowicz - rocket chemical engineer.
Watergate
- Deep Throat - the secret was finally given up.
- William Reckert - Justice Department transcriber who discovered the 18 1/2-minute gap.
- Dick Smyser - was long thought to have asked the question to which Richard Nixon responded "I am not a crook."
- Al Wasserman - filmmaker whose "The Making of the President 1972" could not be shown until 1975 because of the evolving scandal.
The World Stage
- Walter Haut - told the world about the Roswell UFO.
- Edward Heath - 47th prime minister of Britain.
- John Iannacone - sky sailor, Hindenberg crash.
- Lyn Nofziger - aide to Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
- Rosa Parks - reluctant mother of the U.S. civil rights movement.
Art & Architecture
- Helen Liu Fong - Googie architect.
- Henry G. Greene - movie house designer.
- James A. Houston - brought Inuit art to world-wide prominence.
- James Lebron - legendary art mover in New York City.
- Kenzo Tange - designed facilities for 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Crime, Terror and Law Enforcement
- Marc Bourdages - Saskatchewan RCMP officer.
- Robin Cameron - Saskatchewan RCMP officer.
- Johnnie Cochran - O.J. Simpson's lawyer.
- John DeLorean - carmaker caught in an FBI sting.
- Simon Eisdorfer - developed hostage negotiation protocols.
- Charles McAtee - supervised the executions of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, whose murder of four members of the Clutter family inspired Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."
- John T. McTernan - McCarthy-era defense lawyer.
- George J. Murtaugh Jr. - attorney in the trial of Richard Speck, who murdered eight Chicago student nurses in 1966.
- Kurt Rebmann - prosecutor, Germany's Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof group trials.
- Elsie Tistaert - phoned in the tip that started the O.J. Simpson case.
- Louis R. Vitullo - Chicago crime-lab head who developed the rape kit.
- James Zadroga - NYPD detective who died from 9/11 four years after the fact.
The Information Age
- Philip Fellows - airline ticket computer guru.
- Jeffrey M. Harbers - developed Microsoft's Office.
- Leonid Khachiyan - helped solve how computers process large problems.
- Lewis G. Zirkle - founder, computer keyboard company Key Tronic Corporation.
Science, Medicine and Invention
- Arnold "Arry" Altman - built the Avanti II.
- Wilfred Bigelow - open heart surgery pioneer.
- Joseph E. Bogen - neurosurgeon whose work led to 'left brain - right brain' thinking pattern concepts.
- David Bushnell - binocular marketer.
- Rebecca Webb Carranza - tortilla chip creator.
- William Paton Cleland - open heart surgeon.
- George Dantzig - mathmetician who inspired a scene in "Good Will Hunting."
- Arthur W. Funk - window cleaner entrepreneur.
- Charles C. Gates Jr. - marketed the V-belt.
- Bertram F. Given - garbage disposal inventor.
- Gordon Gould - invented the Laser.
- Daniel Greenwood - sold milkshake mixing machines to McDonald's.
- Robert Jankel - six-wheeled cars.
- Georgeanna Seegar Jones - test-tube baby pioneer.
- J. Calvin Jureit - invented the Gang-Nail.
- Leonard Marvin Kempf - safety engineer, made the Yield sign.
- William Lester - plastics manufacturing innovator.
- Richard E. Marsh - helped design the perfect McDonalds french fry.
- George A. Molchan - Little Oscar of "Oscar Meyer" fame.
- Nell I. Mondy - potato expert.
- Ruth B. Morgan - keyboard inventor.
- Charlie Muse - created the batting helmet.
- Roberta Nichols - hired by Ford for her work with flexible fuel technology.
- E. Harris Nober - smoke alarm innovator.
- Peter Pang - founder, COLD-fX, common cold cure.
- Madhukar Anant Pathak - sunscreen developer.
- Elwood Perry - fishing lure innovator.
- Harry Petschek - explained the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.
- Robert Rempel - Laser manufacturer.
- Robert E. Rich Sr. - frozen food pioneer.
- Ed Schantz - grandfather of Botox.
- Gordon Shaw - the "Mozart effect."
- Leslie Smith - Matchbox toys.
- Glynda Jean Stewart - created McDonald's Happy Meals.
- George Swindell - adjustable diving helmet.
- Gerry Thomas - TV dinner promoter
- Andrew Toti - inventor, Mae West vest and automatic chicken plucker.
- Gerald Von Rueden - WWII propeller protector.
- Joseph Waksberg - developed the random digit dialer.
- Benjamin Chih-Fang Wei - bridge and Wankel rotary engine engineer.
- Arthur Wood - mouth guard inventor.
- Victor Wouk - hybrid auto entrepreneur.
Hockey
- Rick Blight - 1975 first-round draft pick, Vancouver Canucks.
- Gus Bodnar - fast hands, fast feet.
- John D'Amico - linesman.
- Marius Fortier - father of the Quebec Nordiques.
- Phyllis Gretzky - world's greatest hockey mom.
- Reginald (Red) Horner - Maple Leaf and oldest living member of the National Hockey League Hall of Fame.
- Bill LaForge - hockey coach.
- John J. McMullen - brought NHL hockey to New Jersey.
- Tom Pashby - hockey helmet advocate.
- Bob Redding - goalie-cam innovator.
- Alex Shibicky - slapshot pioneer.
- Alex Smart - record-setting rookie.
- Arthur Wood - mouth guard inventor.
Mountaineers
- Jessica Aulik - Mount McKinley.
- Mike Beery - Mount Rainer.
- Sean Egan - Mount Everest.
- Jerry and Terry Humphrey - Mount McKinley.
- Rob Milne - Mount Everest.
- Michael "Big Mike" O'Brien - Mount Everest.
Relatives
- Jocelyn Brando - Marlon's sister.
- Vivian Cash - wife, Johnny Cash and mother, Roseanne Cash.
- Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Cronkite - wife of Walter Cronkite.
- Pauline Fawcett - mother of Farrah Fawcett.
- Phyllis Gretzky - world's greatest hockey mom.
- Lucille Haise - mother of Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise
- Jan Heyne - wife, Nickelback manager.
- Isabelle "Sis" Lennon Miller - mother of the Lennon Sisters.
- Lisa Pritchett-Johnson - long-time lover of John Entwistle, the late bass player with The Who.
- E. Pierce Marshall - Anna Nicole Smith's stepson.
- Eleanor Stier - un-wed mother of a son by John F. Nash ("A Beautiful Mind").
- Paul Tate - father of Sharon Tate.
- Nina von Stauffenberg - widow of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, failed Hitler assassin.
- Krissy Wood - ex-wife, Rolling Stones' Ron Wood.
- Scott Young - journalist, father of Neil Young.
Really Old People
- Percy Arrowsmith - age 105.
- Claude-Marie Boucaud - age 109.
- Li Cairong - age 119 (unconfirmed).
- Peter Casserly - age 107.
- André Debry - age 107.
- Maria do Couto Maia-Lopes - age 114.
- Hermann Dörnemann - age 111.
- Alfred Finnigan - age 108.
- Lazarre Gionet - age 108.
- Feroze Khan - age 100.
- Ura Koyama - age 114.
- Charles Kuentz - age 108.
- Stanley S. Lane - age 103.
- Harry Lloyd - age 105.
- Albert Marshall - age 108.
- Frieda Mueller - age 110.
- Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe - age 103.
- Florence Reeves - age 111.
- Margaret Russell - age 112.
- Merle Shafer - age 108.
- Kohachi Shigetaka - age 110.
- Ella May Stumpe - age 110.
- Grace Thaxton - age 114.
- Mary Alice Mills Thomas - age 110.
- Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper - age 115.
- Florence Van Stockum - age 111.
- Arbelia Wood - age 119, unconfirmed.
- Charles Young - age 110.
Furried, Finned and Four-legged Friends
- Brooks - gorilla.
- Bubba - lobster.
- Buenos - black spider monkey.
- I Two Step Too - horse, played Seabiscuit.
- Honi - sea lion.
- Marie-Antoinette's Oak - tree.
- Marvin - Florida First Family friend.
- Rudy - gorilla.
- Tinkerbelle - elephant.
Politics In Canada
- Chuck Cadman - independent member of parliament.
- Harold Cardinal - Alberta aboriginal leader, teacher and author.
- Bud Cullen - Federal cabinet minister.
- Gérard Filion - as publisher of the Montreal newspaper "Le Devoir," one of the harshest critics of Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis's Union Nationale government.
- Marie Geddes - health care hunger striker.
- George Hislop - same-sex beneficiary.
- Bob Hunter - co-founder of Greenpeace.
- Frank Moores - Newfoundland's second premier.
- Andy Russell - Alberta conservationist, filmmaker, rancher, broadcaster, mountain guide, political agitator, photographer and author.
- Robin Spry - Canadian documentary filmmaker, “Action: The October Crisis of 1970.”
Wacky Lives and Odd Deaths
- Brett Arnes - McDonald's owner who was run over while standing nude on a highway.
- Richard 'Doc' Brown - roller coaster safety expert
- Jean Denton - "Madonna of the Mortuaries."
- Floyd Devroy - as seen on TV.
- Alan Dundes - folklorist who made sense of nonsense.
- Kenneth M. Failor - U.S. Coinage Commission Director who lost $6 million worth of gold to the Nazis.
- Frank Perdue - hit upon the idea of selling brand-name chicken on TV.
- Richard H. Popkin - expert on skepticism.
- Lloyd Robie - stuck the Carter campaign with "Jimmy who?"
- Marie Rose - killed by garbage.
- Mitchell Rupe - too fat to hang.
- Gibby Salazar - small-town restaurateur to the famous.
- Jack Taylor - fattest man in Britain.
- John J. Taylor - accident prone.
- Richy Victor - sold Beatles bedsheets - one square-inch at a time.
Edmonton
- deadmonton
The murdered and the missing in the metro area. - edmonton lives lost
Lives from the Last Link's point of origin.