Louis Braille

popular name: Eddie Rickenbacker

date_of_death: July 23, 1973

age: 82

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Historical Figure

best_know_for: Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker was called America’s Ace of Aces during World War I, the highest scorer of American aerial victories over the Germans. He could just as easily have been labeled the ‘luckiest man alive,’ however, since he survived — by his own count — 135 brushes with death during his exciting lifetime. With 26 aerial victories, he was the United States' most successful fighter ace in the war and is considered to have received the most awards for valor by an American during the war. He was also a race car driver, an automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the long-time head of Eastern Air Lines. At one time he even owned and raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Towards the end of his life as CEO of Eastern Air Lines, the company was the most profitable airline in the postwar era. However during the late 1950s Eastern Air Lines' fortunes declined, and Rickenbacker was forced out of his position as CEO in 1959. Rickenbacker also resigned as the chairman of the board in 1963, at the age of 73. After that, Captain and Mrs. Rickenbacker traveled extensively for a number of years and in the 1960s, Rickenbacker became a well-known speaker, sharing shared his vision for the future of technology and commerce. Upon his death, he was buried at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.

popular name: Aaron Burr

date_of_death: September 14, 1836

age: 80

cause_of_death: Long-term effects of a debilitating stoke

claim_to_fame: Historical Figure

best_know_for: Aaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician. He was elected twice to the New York State Assembly (1784–1785, 1798–1799), was appointed New York State Attorney General (1789–1791), was chosen as a United States Senator (1791–1797) from the state of New York, and reached the apex of his career as third Vice President of the United States (1801–1805), under President Thomas Jefferson. Despite these accomplishments, Burr is chiefly remembered as the man who killed his rival Alexander Hamilton in the famous 1804 duel. Controversy dogged Burr throughout his lifetime, and his reputation among historians remains contested. Burr died in financial ruin in a boarding house in Staten Island, New York at the age of 80.

popular name: Shirley Chisholm

date_of_death: January 1, 2005

age: 80

cause_of_death: Complications after a series of strokes

claim_to_fame: Historical Figure

best_know_for: Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.