The record
17 lives remembered
Business1927 – 2026 · Chicago, Illinois
George E. Johnson Sr. turned a barber's burning-scalp problem into Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen and built Johnson Products Company into the first Black-owned business to trade on the American Stock Exchange. He died July 6, 2026, at the age of 99.
Politics1946 – 2026 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Shirley Kitchen, the North Philadelphia social worker who became the second African American woman to serve in the Pennsylvania Senate and held her seat for two decades before hand-picking her own successor, died July 5, 2026, at the age of 79.
Politics1956 – 2026 · Shelbyville, Tennessee
Jim Tracy, the Tennessee Republican who spent more than a decade in the state Senate and lost a 2014 Republican primary for Congress by 38 votes, then declined to contest it, died July 3, 2026, at the age of 69.
Sports1957 – 2026 · Anaheim Hills, California
LeRoy Irvin, the Los Angeles Rams cornerback who once returned two punts for touchdowns in a single afternoon and still owns the NFL record for punt-return yardage in a game, died July 1, 2026, at the age of 68.
Politics1945 – 2026 · South Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota's first openly lesbian legislator and, by her retirement, the longest-serving in the nation, Karen Clark spent 38 years turning a nurse's ethic of care into law — from the state's first LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections to the 2013 marriage-equality act she authored.
Music1951 – 2026 · Dallas, Texas
Victor Willis, the trained stage actor who became the original lead singer of the Village People and co-wrote "Y.M.C.A.," "Macho Man," and "In the Navy," died June 30, 2026, one day before his 75th birthday.
Law1929 – 2026 · Minneapolis, Minnesota
David Doty, the Minnesota federal judge whose 1990s rulings gave the NFL its free agency and salary cap, died June 27, 2026, three days short of 97.
Sports1982 – 2026 · Chicago, Illinois
Joe Doering, who built a prolific wrestling career across Japan and North America, died on June 26, 2026, after a decade-long battle with brain cancer.
Sports1948 – 2026 · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Steve Zabel, Oklahoma's last two-way player and an NFL union man who later fed Oklahoma City's homeless, died June 23, 2026, at age 78.
Business1926 – 2026 · Washington, D.C.
Alan Greenspan was the Federal Reserve chairman known as “the Maestro,” who steered the U.S. economy for more than 18 years under four presidents, from the 1987 crash to the long boom of the 1990s, and stayed candid to the end about his mistakes.
Medicine1933 – 2026 · Bethesda, Maryland
Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr., the epidemiologist who spent his career chasing the genetic roots of cancer, passed away at 93.
Journalism1959 – 2026 · Gainesville, Georgia
On June 22, 2026, the famous talk radio host and political commentator Martha Zoller passed away unexpectedly following a sudden illness at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
Business1956 – 2026 · Carentoir, Morbihan, Brittany, France
Claude Guillemot, the Ubisoft co-founder and operational force behind the company’s rise, died in a plane crash on June 19, 2026, at 69.
Sports1988 – 2026 · Eight Mile, Alabama
Mikhail Torrance, an All-SEC guard at Alabama, lost his NBA shot to a heart condition, then came back from a cardiac collapse to play professional basketball in five countries.
Education1941 – 2026 · Woodstock, New York
Western Buddhist Scholar and the first ordained westerner ever to ordained as Tibetan Buddhist Monk
Sports1986 – 2026 · Moab, Utah
Andy Lewis, the daredevil who made slacklining a professional sport and performed at the 2012 Super Bowl, died at 39 in a BASE jump near Moab, Utah.
Music1993 – 2026 · Santa Cruz, California
The Tragic Death of Oliver Tree
