Famous Faces of Pancreatic Cancer
by John Doe
by John Doe
9 min readPancreatic cancer is a disease that's rare but deadly, the fourth leading cause of cancer death globally. Join Legacy.com in remembering a few of the many who have died of pancreatic cancer over the years.
Tony Esposito (1943–2021)
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Tony Esposito (1943–2021) was a goaltender for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. He was a Hall of Famer who pioneered the butterfly goalie style.
Bobby Bowden (1929–2021)
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Bobby Bowden (1929–2021) was the longtime head football coach at Florida State University. He is considered one of the all-time greatest college football coached.
Rick Aiello (1955–2021)
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Rick Aiello (1955–2021) was an actor known for roles in movies including “Do the Right Thing” and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.” He was also the son of actor Danny Aiello, with whom he worked in "Do the Right Thing."
Felix Silla (1927–2021)
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Felix Silla (1927–2021) was an actor and stuntman best known for playing Cousin Itt on "The Addams Family." He also played a hang-gliding Ewok in “Return of the Jedi” and the robot Twiki, voiced by Mel Blanc, on TV’s “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.”
Alcee Hastings (1936–2021)
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Alcee Hastings (1936–2021) was a Democratic U.S. representative from Florida, who served from 1993 until his death. Prior to his congressional career, Hastings made history by becoming the first Black federal judge in Florida.
Alex Trebek (1940–2020)
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Alex Trebek (1940–2020) was the beloved host of the iconic game show “Jeopardy!” for more than 35 years. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host seven times between 1989 and 2020 for his work on “Jeopardy!”
Bob Gibson (1935–2020)
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Bob Gibson (1935–2020) was a flame throwing Hall of Fame starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals for 17 seasons. Gibson had more than 3,000 strikeouts, 3,117 in total, becoming only the second player in baseball history to do so at the time.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020)
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the second woman and the first Jewish woman appointed to the court in U.S. history. Ginsburg became a towering figure of the political left in later years, elevated to pop culture stardom and referred to as “The Notorious R.B.G.”
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Frankie Banali (1951–2020)
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Frankie Banali (1951–2020) was the drummer for Quiet Riot’s classic hit-making line-up. They had a big hit in 1983 with their cover version of the Slade song “Cum On Feel the Noize.”
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John Lewis (1940–2020)
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John Lewis (1940–2020) led the famous 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. He later represented Georgia’s 5th District, encompassing much of Atlanta and some of its suburbs, for 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Linda Tripp (1949–2020)
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Johnny Clegg (1953–2019)
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Johnny Clegg (1953–2019) was a South African music legend who performed with two popular multi-racial bands during the minority white rule apartheid era. His bands promoted racial unity and were harassed by the South African government.
Bushwick Bill (1966–2019)
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Bushwick Bill (1966–2019) was a member of the iconic Houston based rap trio the Geto Boys. He was featured on the Geto Boy’s hit songs, “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” and “Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta.”
Aretha Franklin (1942–2018)
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Aretha Franklin (1942–2018) was the Queen of Soul, a legend of soul music with a powerful and melodic voice. Her unforgettable hit songs include "Respect," “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Women,” “Freeway of Love,” and “Rock Steady.”
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Deanna Lund (1937–2018)
Actress Deanna Lund (1937–2018) starred as party girl Valerie Scott on the sci-fi TV series “Land of the Giants.” Lund had roles in two Elvis Presley movies, “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” and “Spinout,” and starred opposite Frank Sinatra in “Tony Rome.”
Charles Neville (1938–2018)
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Saxophonist Charles Neville (1938–2018) was a founding member of legendary New Orleans band the Neville Brothers. The Neville Brothers released many albums, worked with Keith Richards and Carlos Santana, and won a Grammy in 1989 for the song “Healing Chant” from their Yellow Moon album.
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Edwin Hawkins (1943–2017)
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Gospel singer Edwin Hawkins (1943–2017) was best known for the crossover hit "Oh Happy Day" and as a major force for contemporary inspirational music. "Oh Happy Day," featuring the vocals of Dorothy Combs Morrison, was released as a single credited to the Edwin Hawkins Singers and became a million-seller in 1969, showing there was a large market for gospel songs and for inspirational music during the turbulent era of the late 1960s.
Rick Stelmaszek (1948–2017))
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Former Minnesota Twins coach Rick Stelmaszek (1948–2017) helped the team win two World Series championships. Stelmaszek spent 32 seasons as a Twins coach from 1981-2012. He was the longest tenured coach in Twins history and third-longest with a single team in major league history.
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Jared Martin (1941–2017)
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Actor Jared Martin (1941–2017) played Steven "Dusty" Farlow on the hit series "Dallas." In true soap opera style, his character died in a plane crash but was resurrected after outcry from the fans. Martin appeared in a number of other TV shows and movies.
Richard Hatch (1945–2017)
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Actor Richard Hatch (1945–2017) starred in the original 1970s “Battlestar Galactica” TV series and returned in a new role for its acclaimed 2000s reboot.
John Hurt (1940–2017)
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Acclaimed English character actor John Hurt (1940–2017) was known for his starring role in "The Elephant Man" as well as for countless smaller roles. He stood out as Winston Smith, protagonist of the dystopian classic “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1984); Kane, the ill-fated spacefarer who was host to the titular parasite in “Alien” (1979); the insane Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC miniseries "I, Claudius" (1976); a secret incarnation of the face-changing, time-traveling Doctor on the 50th anniversary episode of "Doctor Who" (2013); and Mr. Ollivander, the magic wand salesman who appeared in three of the "Harry Potter" films (2001 - 2011).
Hans Rosling (1948–2017)
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In 1993 Hans Rosling (1948–2017) co-founded the Swedish branch of the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, a nongovernmental entity that helps people in war-torn and developing countries. A medical doctor and statistician, Rosling made data come alive during worldwide presentations and famous TED talks about social and economic trends.
Alan Rickman (1946–2016)
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Alan Rickman was a British actor who played bad-guy and other film roles to perfection. He was best known as terrorist Hans Gruber in "Die Hard" and as Professor Severus Snape of the “Harry Potter” film series.
Horst Rechelbacher (1941–2014)
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Austrian-born Horst Rechelbacher (1941–2014) founded the natural beauty products company Aveda in 1978. Starting with just one salon, he eventually sold Aveda to Estee Lauder Cos. for $300 million.
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Bonnie Franklin (1944–2013)
Everett Collection
Bonnie Franklin (1944–2013) played many roles throughout an acting career that lasted almost 60 years, but one stands out. It's the role that made her famous and earned her a TV Land Innovator Award: single mom Ann Romano on the TV sitcom "One Day at a Time."
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Ray Price (1926–2013)
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The velvet-voiced Ray Price (1926–2013) was a giant among traditional country performers in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, as likely to defy a trend as he was to defend one. He helped invent the genre's honky-tonk sound early in his career, then took it in a more polished direction.
Sally Ride (1951–2012)
NASA
Sally Ride (1951–2012), the first American woman in space – and also the youngest American in space – inspired generations of women who were blown away by the pleasant-seeming, normal-looking, and completely brilliant and driven young woman who burst onto the national radar in 1983.
Ben Gazzara (1930–2012)
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
On Broadway, Ben Gazzara (1930–2012) originated the role of Brick Pollitt in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." He went on to a long career in television and film, starring on TV in "Run for Your Life" and appearing in such films as "The Big Lebowski."
Art Ginsburg (1931–2012)
AP Photo
"Mr. Food" Art Ginsburg (1931–2012) was originally a butcher and ran his own catering business prior to making a name for himself on television as Mr. Food. He ended each of his TV segments with the catch phrase "Ooh! It's so good!"
Steve Jobs (1955–2011)
AP Photo
"Steve Jobs (1955–2011) was better than Santa Claus, because he'd show up once a year and offer us toys that we'd never even imagined could exist." –An Apple fan on Twitter
Anne Francis (1930–2011)
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