2012 has seen the passing of a number of prominent figures.
From beloved actors like Ernest Borgnine to comedian Phyllis Diller.
Renowned journalist Mike Wallace and screenwriting great Nora Ephron.
Astronauts Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong.
And a host of music legends like Whitney Houston and Jimmy Little.
We pay tribute to those most of us will never forget.
Some of the notable figures who died in 2012:
JANUARY
- 4: US photographer Eve Arnold, who took classic pictures of Marilyn Monroe among other stars, at 99 in London.
- 13: Rauf Denktash, veteran leader of the Turkish-Cypriot population and their breakaway state in Northern Cyprus, at 87 in Nicosia.
- 20: Pioneering US blues singer Etta James, at 73 in California.
FEBRUARY
- 11: US pop singer Whitney Houston, found in her Los Angeles hotel room at 48 after a long battle with drugs and depression.
- 16: Anthony Shadid, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter for the New York Times, at 43 after suffering an asthma attack while covering the conflict in Syria.
- 22: American reporter Marie Colvin, 56, and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, 28. Killed by government shelling in Syria.
- 29: Davy Jones, lead singer of the 1960s US pop band The Monkees, at 66 in Florida.
MARCH
- 17: Pope Shenuda III, leader of the Coptic Church, the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East, at 88 in Cairo.
- 17: Former Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk, convicted of war crimes in Germany in 2011 after living most of his post-war life in the United States, at 91 in a Bavarian care home.
- 25: Antonio Tabucchi, a prominent Italian writer and critic of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, at 68 in Lisbon.
APRIL
- 5: Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the designer of the iconic 911 sportscar, at 76 in Salzburg, Austria.
- 10: Raymond Aubrac, prominent leader of the French resistance against the Nazis in World War II, at 97 in Paris.
- 11: Ahmed Ben Bella, first president of an independent Algeria, at 95 in Algiers.
MAY
- 8: US children's author Maurice Sendak, creator of "Where the Wild Things Are", at 83 in Connecticut.
- 15: Mexican author and major novelist in the Spanish-speaking world Carlos Fuentes, at 83 in Mexico City.
- 17: US disco singer Donna Summer, known such 1970s and 80s as "I Feel Love", at 63 of lung cancer in Florida.
- 20: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people, at 60 in Libya, nearly three years after his release from prison on compassionate grounds.
- 21: Robin Gibb, singer with the legendary British band the Bee Gees, at 62 in London after a lengthy battle with cancer.
JUNE
- 5: US science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury, author of "The Martian Chronicles" among other works, at 91 in Los Angeles.
- 16: Saudi Arabia announces the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz at 79. He is believed to have died in Geneva.
- 30: Yitzhak Shamir, two-time prime minister of Israel who opposed giving territory to the Palestinians, at 96 near Tel Aviv.
JULY
- 23: Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, at 61 of cancer in California.
- 23: John Atta Mills, president of Ghana, at 68 after a brief illness.
AUGUST
- 1: American essayist and novelist Gore Vidal, known for his caustic wit and anti-establishment views, at 86 in Los Angeles.
- 13: US publisher Helen Gurley Brown, who made Cosmopolitan magazine into a powerhouse with sex tips for women, at 90 in New York.
- 18: US singer Scott McKenzie, whose "San Francisco" became the unofficial hymn of the 1960s hippie movement, at 73 in Los Angeles.
- 21: Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia, at 57 in Addis Ababa after a long illness.
- 25: US astronaut Neil Armstrong, who announced "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", when he became the first person to set foot on the Moon in July 1969, at 82 in Ohio.
SEPTEMBER
- 3: Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon, founder of the worldwide Unification Church and its business empire, at 92 near Seoul.
- 25: US singer Andy Williams, best known for his rendering of "Moon River", at 84 in Missouri.
OCTOBER
- 21: US Democratic politician George McGovern, who opposed the Vietnam War but lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, at 90 in South Dakota.
- 27: Hans Werner Henze, Germany's most prominent composer of contemporary music, at 86 in Dresden.
NOVEMBER
- 14: Palestinian activist Ahmed Jaabari, head of the military forces of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, killed by an Israeli missile fired at his car.
- 23: US actor Larry Hagman, famous as "JR" in the 1980s TV series "Dallas", at 81 from cancer in the Texan city for which the series was named.
DECEMBER
- 5: American jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, of "Take Five" fame, at 91 in Connecticut.
- 5: Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed much of the country's futuristic capital Brasilia, at 104 in Rio de Janeiro.
- 11: Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, who influenced musicians from the Beatles to Yehudi Menuhin, at 92 in San Diego.
- 14: Maurice Herzog, the French climber who conquered Annapurna in the first recorded ascent of a peak above 8,000 metres, at 93 in a Paris suburb.
- 17: Dina Manfredini, the world's oldest person, at 115 in Iowa.
- 26: Gerry Anderson, the British director and creator of the cult sci-fi animation series "Thunderbirds", at 83 in Oxfordshire, England.
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