People
The musicians, writers, technologists, and activists the world lost or was moved by in 2011.
Every People article in the 2011 knowledge base. Use the topic filters to narrow by sub-topic.
Unsung Heroes of 2011 — Pivotal Figures in Social Movements
Lesser-known organizers and catalysts who shaped 2011's transformative social movements, from Tun...
Literary and Intellectual Figures of 2011
2011 was defined, in literary and intellectual terms, by the deaths of two towering figures withi...
Notable Deaths of 2011
2011 saw the deaths of globally influential figures spanning science, entertainment, politics, ac...
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (October 5, 1936 – December 18, 2011) was a Czech playwright, essayist, and statesma...
Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong Il (February 16, 1941 – December 17, 2011) was the supreme leader of North Korea for 17 ...
Death of Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens, the renowned writer, essayist, and public intellectual, died on **December ...
Death of Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier, the 1964 Olympic champion and undisputed heavyweight boxing champion who handed Muha...
Dennis Ritchie
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (September 9, 1941 – c. October 12, 2011) was an American computer sci...
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was the co-founder and longtime chief executive ...
Death of Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental and political activist who became the first African wom...
Death of Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse, the British-Jewish singer-songwriter known for her distinctive mezzo-soprano vocal...
Mark Zuckerberg in 2011
Mark Zuckerberg's 2011 transformations—launching Facebook Timeline, preparing for IPO, and establ...
Death of Clarence Clemons
Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons, the legendary saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, d...
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011) was the founder and leader of the extremist milita...
Death of Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for vice president by a major U.S. political party, ...
Death of Elizabeth Taylor (March 23, 2011)
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, one of cinema's most iconic and glamorous actresses, died on March 23,...
Death of R. Sargent Shriver
R. Sargent Shriver, founding director of the Peace Corps and chief architect of Lyndon Johnson's ...
Death of Mohamed Bouazizi
Mohamed Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor whose act of self-immolation on December 17, 2010, ...