Ellen Glasgow

popular name: Ayn Rand

date_of_death: March 6, 1982

age: 77

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Ayn Rand escaped to the United States, where she would eventually publish four novels and a handful of political screeds encouraging selfishness and a lack of concern for others. After the release of her third novel The Fountainhead, Rand began to attract young followers. Few authors have influenced the alt-right more than Russian-American cult leader Ayn Rand. Rand is best known for her fourth novel Atlas Shrugged: a story about how rich industrialist super-humans should wipe out the ordinary mortals and bring about a paradise just for selfish people who like all the same things as Ayn Rand. The problem is that Atlas Shrugged has had a profound influence on a lot of powerful people, who spend their lives trying to dismantle the institutions that vulnerable people depend on to survive. Objectivism teaches that the rich should be free to do whatever they want, no matter how many people get hurt. Later in life she lost her husband to the ravages of alcoholism (a habit born out of Ayn openly cheating with a younger man) and was hemorrhaging money due to cancer surgery and a 30-year addiction to amphetamines. So it came as no surprise when she asked her lawyer to secure social security and Medicare payments using her legal name of Alice O'Connor. That's right - in her own words her books provided wide-ranging parables of "parasites," "looters" and "moochers" using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes' labor. In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O'Connor (her husband was Frank O'Connor). Upon her passing the grave of Ayn Rand can be found at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York - just a short distance from legendary musician Tommy Dorsey.

popular name: O. Henry

date_of_death: June 5, 1910

age: 47

cause_of_death: Cirrhosis of the liver with complications of diabetes and an enlarged heart

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. Porter was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He moved to Texas in 1882, where he met his wife, Athol Estes, with whom he had two children. In 1902, after the death of his wife, Porter moved to New York, where he soon remarried. Will Porter's most prolific writing period started in New York City where he wrote 381 short stories including "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief". His stories are known for their surprise endings and witty narration. He wrote a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit, characterization, and plot twists were adored by his readers but often panned by critics. Porter was a heavy drinker, and by 1908, his markedly deteriorating health affected his writing. In 1909, Sarah left him, and he died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. Porter's legacy includes the O. Henry Award, an annual prize awarded to outstanding short stories.

popular name: Nellie Bly

date_of_death: January 27, 1922

age: 57

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Writers and Poets

best_know_for: Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Cochran on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, was a pioneering American journalist, industrialist, and humanitarian best known for her groundbreaking investigative reporting. She gained national recognition in 1887 when she feigned insanity to expose the harsh conditions at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, resulting in her famous exposé Ten Days in a Mad-House, which revolutionized mental health care. Bly also gained fame for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days. As one of the first female investigative journalists, she challenged the traditional roles of women in journalism with her bold, immersive reporting style. Later in life, she became a businesswoman and continued advocating for social reform until her death on January 27, 1922. She was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.