Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940–2025), Native American artist

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a Native American artist, activist, and curator who used her work to explore Native American identity and the United States’ history of oppressing indigenous people.

N. Scott Momaday (1934–2024), Pulitzer-winning Native American author

N. Scott Momaday was a Kiowa author, essayist, and poet whose novel, “House Made of Dawn,” won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and helped spark the Native American Renaissance movement in literature.

Rod Holcomb (1943–2024), TV director on ER, Lost 

Rod Holcomb was a TV director and producer who helmed the pilot and series finale of “ER,” along with dozens of other TV episodes.

Harry Connick Sr. (1926–2024), longtime New Orleans district attorney 

Harry Connick Sr. was the district attorney for Orleans Parish (New Orleans) from 1973 to 2003 and the father of musician and actor Harry Connick Jr. 

Herbert “Cowboy” Coward (1938–2024), Toothless Man in Deliverance

Herbert “Cowboy” Coward was an actor best known for his role as “Toothless Man” in the hit 1970s thriller, “Deliverance,” where he delivered the infamous “purty mouth” line.

Lance Kerwin (1960–2023), “James at 15” star

Lance Kerwin was an actor who starred in the 1970s TV drama “James at 15” and miniseries “Salem’s Lot.”

Joseph Sonnabend (1933–2021), pioneering AIDS doctor

Joseph Sonnabend was a physician who was one of the first to notice symptoms in his patients that would later be identified as HIV/AIDS.

Frank Shankwitz (1943–2021), Make-A-Wish Foundation cofounder

Frank Shankwitz was a former Arizona Highway Patrol officer who co-founded the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Leila Janah (1982–2020), Samasource CEO who employed the poor

Leila Janah was an entrepreneur who founded Samasource with the goal of raising up deeply impoverished people in Africa and India by giving them jobs. Janah had been working as a consultant for an outsourcing firm, which employed middle-class Indian workers to do digital jobs like tagging and annotating images. She wondered why those jobs couldn’t be done by the poor, who desperately needed the employment — so she founded Samasource, providing training and living wages to thousands of women and others in poverty. The work they do generates data used for video game technology, self-driving car research, and more. Janah later founded the luxury cosmetics line LXMI, which also employs the poor to harvest and process ingredients.

Wes Wilson (1937–2020), leading 1960s rock concert poster artist

Wes Wilson was a pioneering rock concert poster artist who created posters for leading 1960s San Francisco psychedelic rock bands including the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. He created a recognizable concert poster style with a psychedelic font that made it appear as if the letters were moving. Based in San Francisco during the flower power movement, he designed posters for Bill Graham’s famous Fillmore and for many local bands such as the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Wilson designed the poster for the Beatles' final concert held at Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966.

Rosemary Mariner (1953–2019), first female navy fighter pilot

First woman to command an operational air squadron.

Warren Miller (1924–2018), legendary Ski filmmaker

The thrilling ski films featured his humorous narration.

Mark E. Smith (1957 – 2018), lead singer of The Fall

Fronted the iconic post-punk band since 1976…

Jack Ketchum (1946–2018), master of the horror novel

Beloved author of “The Girl Next Door” and “The Lost.”

Butch Trucks (1947–2017), Allman Brothers Band drummer

Drummer co-founded the Allman Brothers band.

Thurgood Marshall: 20 Facts

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was a giant of the civil rights movement, and his impressive achievements number in the dozens. Here are 20 things to know about about the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.

Marvin Minsky (1927 - 2016), artificial intelligence pioneer

Marvin Minsky, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, died Sunday at the age of 88.