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2022 by Kelly Sikkema on

15 Famous People that Died in 2022

2022! A sense of normalcy was returning to the world after a gruesome few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the positives, 2022 was marked by a number of global challenges that impacted individuals, communities, and nations around the world.

From ongoing conflicts and political upheaval to natural disasters and pandemics, the year was filled with difficult and often tragic events. It was also a year in which many notable figures from the worlds of politics, entertainment, and sports passed away.

In this article, we will examine the lives and legacies of some of the famous people who died in 2022.

1. Pope Benedetto (Benedict) XVI

Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta greets Pope Benedict XVI photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo –

Pope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on 16 April 1927. From 19th April 2005 till his resignation on February 28, 2013, he was the head of the Catholic Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State.

In the 2005 papal conclave that followed Pope John Paul II’s passing, Benedict was chosen to serve as pope. Since Celestine V in 1294, Benedict was the first pope to resign voluntarily.

When Benedict XVI resigned, he opted to use the title “Pope emeritus.鈥� He retained this name until his death on 31st December 2022 at 95 years old.

2. Takeoff

Rapper Takeoff performing on stage by The Come Up Show –

Takeoff was born Kirsnick Khari Ball on June 18, 1994. His professional stage name was Takeoff. He was best known for being the youngest member of the hip-hop trio Migos.

The group also included his uncle Quavo and first cousin Offset. Migos first gained popularity following the release of their 2013 single “Versace”. The group had several Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hits including 鈥淢otorsport鈥� (Nicki Minaj and Cardi B).

Takeoff received two Grammy Award nominations. He was killed at 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston, Texas on November 1, 2022. This was after being shot three times in the torso and head.

3. Pele

Carlos Babington and Pel茅 by Unknown Author –

In any sport, you will find people arguing over who the greatest of all time (GOAT) is. In football or soccer, that is the great Pele. Pele, known as Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on 23rd October 1940.

At 17 years old, he was the youngest player ever to compete in the World Cup. He scored a hat-trick in the World Cup semifinal against France, becoming the tournament’s youngest player to do so.

Pel茅 had a colon cancer diagnosis in 2021. At the age of 82, Pel茅 passed away from multiple organ failure, a consequence of colon cancer, on December 29, 2022, at 3:27 p.m. So, just how good was Pele? See here!

4. Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II by PolizeiBerlin –

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in London’s Mayfair on April 21, 1926. She held the position of queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth states from February 6th, 1952, until her death in 2022.

Elizabeth was the Duke and Duchess of York’s firstborn child (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth-The Queen Mother). The ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth became the presumed heir when her father assumed the kingdom in 1936 following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII.

Her death certificate recorded her cause of death as 鈥渙ld age鈥�. Queen Elizabeth’s reign lasted for 70 years and 214 days. This was the longest rule recorded by any female monarch in history.

Find out more about Queen Elizabeth II here.

5. Kathy Whitworth

Golfer by Kaw锚 Rodrigues on

Kathrynne Ann Whitworth was born on September 27 1939 in Monahan, Texans. She was an American professional golfer.

She won more LPGA and PGA Tour tournaments during her playing career than any other player with 88 victories. Whitworth also finished runner-up 93 times, giving her 181 total top-two finishes.

She was the first woman on the LPGA Tour to collect $1 million in earnings during her career in 1981.  After participating in the Women’s Senior Golf Tour’s BJ’s Charity Classic, Whitworth announced her retirement from competitive golf in 2005. On December 24, 2022, in Flower Mound, she passed away at the age of 83 after passing out while at a neighbor’s Christmas party.

6. Jiang Zemin

Chinese President Jiang Zemin during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by Kremlin.ru –

On August 17, 1926, Jiang Zemin was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Jiang was a Chinese politician who held the Office of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002.

He was the chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2003. In March 1993, Jiang was elected to the presidency of China. From 1989 to 2002, Jiang presided as China’s supreme leader.

China saw significant economic growth under Jiang’s leadership, and market reforms were maintained. Jiang passed away in Shanghai on November 30, 2022, at the age of 96. It is reported that Jiang died from Leukemia and multiple organ failures.

7. Edward Christian Prescott

Edward Christian Prescott by Narodowy Bank Polski –

In Glens Falls, New York, on December 26, 1940, Edward Christian Prescott was born. He was an American economist. In 2004, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, sharing the award with Finn E. Kydland.

The award was for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics. Their contributions were based on papers they authored.

The First paper is 鈥淩ules Rather than Discretion: The inconsistency of optimal planning鈥� in 1977 and the second paper is 鈥淭ime to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations鈥� in 1982. At the age of 81, Prescott passed away from cancer on November 6, 2022.

8. Benjamin Civiletti

Benjamin_Civiletti by Marylandstater –

Benjamin Richard Civiletti was born on July 17, 1935, in Peekskill, New York. He was an American lawyer who held the position of Attorney General of the United States from 1979 to 1981, under the Carter administration.

Civiletti was the first Italian American to lead the U.S. Department of Justice. Previously he had served as the Deputy Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.

Later, he served as a senior partner at the Baltimore-based Venable LLP law firm (known until 2003 as Venable, Baetjer & Howard). Civiletti frequently dealt with politically sensitive issues, such as inquiries into the interactions of President Carter’s brother Billy with Libya. Benjam铆n died on October 16, 2022, at the age of 87.

9. Fidel Ramos

Former President Fidel V. Ramos by Robert D. Ward –

Fidel Valdez Ramos was born on March 18,1928 in Lingayen, Pangasinan. He was a politician and general from the Philippines who presided over the country as its 12th president from 1992 to 1998.

He was the only military career officer to formally attain the rank of five-star general or admiral. Fidel ascended to the position of commander-in-chief of the armed forces from a second lieutenant. Along with the current 17th president, Bongbong Marcos, he is the third-oldest person to assume the presidency.

Ramos was acclaimed as a hero by many Filipinos during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution for his choice to secede from the Marcos administration. He then swore allegiance and commitment to the newly constituted government of President Corazon Aquino.

Ramos is credited with creating both the Special Forces of the Philippine Army and the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police. He died on July 31, 2022, at the age of 94 from complications of COVID-19.

10. David Trimble

Official portrait of Lord Trimble by Chris McAndrew –

William David Trimble was born in Belfast on October 15, 1944. He was a British politician who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005.

Trimble was North Ireland鈥檚 first First Minister from 1998 to 2002. He also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005.

Additionally, he served as Upper Bann鈥檚 Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 1998 to 2007. After a brief illness, Trimble passed away on July 25, 2022. He was 77 years old.

11. Leonid Kravchuk

photo of Leonid Kravchuk in the Polish Senate by The Chancellery of the Senate of the Republic of Poland –

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was born on 10 January 1934 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn, Ukraine. He was a politician from Ukraine who served as the country’s first president from 5 December 1991 to 19 July 1994.

Additionally, he was the leader of the Verkhovna Rada. He was a People鈥檚 Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine(united) faction. He committed to giving up Ukraine’s nuclear arsenal when he signed the Lisbon Protocol in 1992.

Kravchuk resigned as president following a political crisis involving the prime minister and the president. He ran for a second term as president in 1994 but was defeated by his former Prime minister, Leonid Kuchma. Leonid died on 10 May 2022 at the age of 88 after a long illness.

12. Sidney Altman

Biologist by NOAA on

Sidney Altman was born on May 7, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was a Canadian-American molecular biologist. Altman was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University.

He and Thomas R. Cech shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research on the catalytic capabilities of RNA. After a long illness, Altman passed away in Rockleigh, New Jersey, on April 5, 2022.

13. Luc Montagnier

photo of Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize Laureate for Physiology or Medicine 2008, at a press conference at the Karolinska in Solna by Prolineserver –

Luc Montagnier was born on 18 August 1932 in Chabris, France. He was a French virologist. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Fran莽oise Barr茅-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen for discovering the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Montagnier was a full-time professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in 麻豆APP. On February 8, 2022, he passed away in Neuilly-sur-Seine at the age of 89.

14. Coolio

Music artist Coolio by Unknown Author –

Artis Leon Ivey jr. was born on August 1, 1963, in Monessen, Pennsylvania. He was an American rapper who was professionally known as Coolio. He rose to fame as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle.

With the releases of his albums, It Takes a Thief (1994), Gangsta’s Paradise (1995), and My Soul (1997), Coolio became a well-known solo artist in the mid-late 1990s. In 1995, he won Grammy Award with his single 鈥淕angsta鈥檚 Paradise鈥�.

Porn actress Cherie Deville selected Coolio to be her Democratic running mate in the 2020 election. Coolio was discovered dead while at a friend鈥檚 house in Los Angeles, California on September 28, 2022.

He was found unresponsive on a bathroom floor. When he passed away, he was 59 years old. It is reported that Coolio may have suffered cardiac arrest at the time of death.

15. Nick Holonyak Jr.

Photograph of Nick Holonyak, Jr. published in 2002 by Anonymous –

Nick Holonyak Jr. was born on November 3, 1928, in Zeigler, Illinois. He was an American engineer and educator. He is best known for creating the first visible light-emitting semiconductor laser diode in 1962 and demonstrating it.

This device served as a precursor to the first batch of widely used light-emitting diodes (LEDs). His other creations include the laser diode, a red-light semiconductor laser (used in CD and DVD players and cell phones. On September 18, 2022, Nick died in Urbana, Illinois. He was aged 93 at the time.