They will forever be remembered in our hearts.
2016 has been a tough year with several of our icons in the fields of cinema, entertainment, sports and politics passing away. Here's thanking each one of them for following their passions and giving us plenty of inspiration in some way or the other.
1. Sports
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2. Muhammad Ali
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Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. He was widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. He remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion, having won the title in 1964, 1974 and 1978. He died at the age of 74 on June 3, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
3. Arnold Palmer
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Arnold Palmer was an American professional golfer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history. Nicknamed 'The King', he was one of golf's most popular stars and its most important trailblazer. He died at the age of 87 on September 27, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
4. Jose Fernandez
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Jose Fernandez was a Cuban-born American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins from 2013 until his death in 2016. He was named to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game and won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Month Award in July and August. He died at the age of 24 in a boating accident on September 25, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
5. Hanif Mohammad
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Hanif Mohammad played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He was the first Pakistani to score a triple hundred in a test match. He died at the age of 81 on August 11, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty)
6. Survivors of a boat accident come back ashore on Lake Albert, in Buliisa.
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30 members of the Ugandan football team and their supporters drowned in Lake Albert, Uganda on December 26, 2016. With the help of local fishermen and rescue operations by authorities 15 people were rescued. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
7. Brazil football team
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Brazilian Chapecoense football team were on board of a plane carrying 77 people that crashed in Colombia on November 29, 2016. The team was travelling to play the first leg of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional, a match that was seen as the biggest in the history of the club. You can read the report here.
8. Martin Crowe
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Martin Crowe was a New Zealand cricket player and commentator. He played for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1982 and 1995. By the time he finished his international career in 1995, he held the records for the most Test and One Day International (ODI) runs scored for New Zealand. He died at the age of 53 on March 3, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
9. Kimbo Slice
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Kimbo Slice was a Bahamian-born American mixed martial artist, boxer and occasional actor. He became noted for mutual combat street fights which were spread across the Internet, leading Rolling Stone to call him 'The King of the Web Brawlers'. He passed away of heart failure at the age of 42 on June 6, 2016. (Image Credit: Twitter)
10. Johan Cruyff
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Johan Cruyff was a Dutch professional football player and coach. Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament. He died at the age of 68 on March 24, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
11. Politics
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12. Nancy Reagan
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Nancy Reagan was an American actress, and the wife of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. She championed recreational drug prevention causes by founding the 'Just Say No' drug awareness campaign, which was considered her major initiative as First Lady. She died at the age of 94 on March 6, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
13. Fidel Castro
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Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere. The United States came to oppose Castro's government, and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic blockade, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. He died at the age of 90 on November 25, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
14. Jo Cox
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Jo Cox was a British Labour Party politician. She became a campaigner on issues relating to the Syrian Civil War, and founded and chaired the all-party parliamentary group 'Friends of Syria'. She was murdered at the age of 41 on June 16, 2016. Cox, a supporter of Britain staying in the EU, was shot and stabbed by a Nazi fanatic outside her home. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
15. Shimon Peres
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Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician and the ninth President of Israel, in office from 2007 to 2014. In 1996, he founded the Peres Center for Peace, which has the aim of 'promoting lasting peace and advancement in the Middle East by fostering tolerance, economic and technological development, cooperation and well-being'. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
16. Entertainment
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17. Carrie Fisher
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Carrie Fisher was an American actress, writer, producer, and humorist. Fisher was the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She was known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars film series. Fisher wrote several semi-autobiographical novels, including Postcards from the Edge a non-fiction book, Wishful Drinking, based on the play. She passed away at the age of 60 on December 27, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
18. Debbie Reynolds
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Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for 1950 film Three Little Words, and Singin' in the Rain (1952). She served as president of 'The Thalians', an organisation dedicated to mental health causes. She died at the age of 84 on December 28, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
19. Frank Sintara Jr
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Frank Sinatra Jr was an American singer, songwriter, and conductor. He was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. Sinatra appeared in a 2006 episode of Family Guy, Brian Sings and Swings (Season 4, Episode 19), where he was introduced as the Member of The Board. Same year, Sinatra released an album titled That Face. He died at the age of 72 on March 16, 2016. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
20. Christina Grimme
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Christina Grimme was an American singer, songwriter, and YouTuber known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice.
Her studio album With Love was released in 2013. She was shot dead at the age of 22 in Orlando during her concert on June 10, 2016. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
21. Prince
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Musician Prince was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He was a musical innovator who was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup, and wide vocal range. His 1979 album Prince went platinum, and his next three records—Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982)—continued his success. He died at the age of 57 on April 21, 2016. (File Photo)
22. David Bowie
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British rock music legend David Bowie died after a long battle with cancer this year. The iconic musician had turned 69 only on January 8, 2016, which coincided with the release of Blackstar, his 25th studio album. He was a music legend who used daringly androgynous displays of sexuality and glittering costumes to frame legendary rock hits Ziggy Stardust and Space Oddity. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
23. Alan Rickman
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Alan Rickman was an English actor and director known for playing a variety of roles on stage and on screen. Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. The title character in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, won him a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He died of cancer on January 14, 2016 at the age of 69. (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
24. Gene Wilder
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Gene Wilder, was an American film and theatre comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author. Wilder is known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Wilder directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984). He passed away at the age of 83 on August 29, 2016. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
25. Garry Shandling
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Garry Shandling was an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer, best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show. Shandling was nominated for eighteen Emmy Awards for the show and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1998. (Image Courtesy: Reuters)
26. Leonard Cohen
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Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and painter. Cohen was inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died at the 82 on November 7, 2016. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
27. Alan Thicke
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Alan Thicke was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He was best known for his role in Growing Pains, which ran for seven seasons. Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. He died at the age of 69 on December 13, 2016. (Image Credit: Twitter)
28. Peter Vaughan
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Peter Vaughan was a British character actor, known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He was best known for his role as Grouty in the sitcom Porridge and Maester Aemon in HBO's Game of Thrones. He passed away at the age of 96 on December 6, 2016. (Image Credit: YouTube)
29. Quandeel Baloch
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Quandeel Baloch is a Pakistani model, actress, woman's rights activist and social media celebrity. Baloch first received recognition from the media in 2013, when she auditioned for Pakistan Idol; her audition went viral and she became an Internet celebrity. She was killed at the age of 26 on July 15, 2016. (Image Credit: Facebook)
