McDonald, Maurice
Business and Finance
Age 69
November 26, 1902 - December 11, 1971
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
Maurice McDonald and Richard McDonald, together known as the McDonald Brothers, were American entrepreneurs who founded the fast food company McDonald's. They opened the original McDonald's restaurant in 1940 in San Bernardino, Ca...
Willie, Boxcar
Music
Age 67
September 1, 1931 - April 12, 1999
Ozark Memorial Park Cemetery / Branson / Missouri / USA / North America
Perhaps the most successful invented character in the history of country music, Boxcar Willie was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and...
Fender, Leo
Music
Age 81
August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991
Fairhaven Memorial Park / Santa Ana / California / USA / North America
Keith Richard's once said "thank God for Leo Fender". For it was Leo Fender, with $600 in his pocket, started the Fender Radio Service company during World War II which eventually led to a lifetime obsession with creating and buil...
Ardolino, Emile
Show Business
Age 50
May 9, 1943 - November 20, 1993
St. John Cemetery / Middle Village / New York / USA / North America
Emile Ardolino was an American film director, choreographer, and producer, best known for his films Dirty Dancing (1987) and Sister Act (1992).
Duncan, Isadora
Show Business
Age 50
May 26, 1877 - September 14, 1927
Cimetière du Père Lachaise / Paris / France / Europe
Known as the Mother of Dance, Isadora Duncan was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in California, she...
Ayres, Lew
Show Business
Age 88
December 28, 1908 - December 30, 1996
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Lew Ayres was an American actor best known for as role as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine movies. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Act...
Powell, William
Show Business
Age 91
July 29, 1892 - March 5, 1984
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
William Powell was a premier American actor who personified the suave and sophisticated leading man during Hollywood's Golden Age. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin M...
Bradham, Caleb
Business and Finance
Age
May 27, 1867 - February 19, 1934
Cedar Grove Cemetery / New Bern / North Carolina / USA / North America
Caleb Bradham was an American pharmacist who is best known as the inventor of soft drink Pepsi. Around 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After ret...
Nolan, Jerry
Music
Age 45
May 7, 1946 - January 14, 1992
Mount St. Mary's Cemetery / Flushing / New York / USA / North America
One cannot talk about the origins of punk rock without mentioning the New York Dolls lead guitarist Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan on drums. This underrated American glam band played an important role in influencing bands as dive...
Piaf, Édith
Music
Age 47
December 19, 1915 - October 10, 1963
Cimetière du Père Lachaise / Paris / France / Europe
The most popular singer in France in the 1950s, Edith Piaf gained international recognition through her emotional songs of doom and tragic love. Unlike her contemporaries Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, Piaf achieved stard...
Collier, Sean
Crime and their Victims
Age 26
January 3, 1986 - April 18, 2013
Puritan Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery / Peabody / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Three days after the horrific Boston Marathon Bombings in April 2013 and with the two perpetrators still at large, Officer Sean Collier was on patrol on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when the two pe...
Borden, Lizzie
Crime and their Victims
Age 66
July 19, 1860 - June 1, 1927
Oak Grove Cemetery / Fall River / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Lizzie Borden is infamous for being the prime suspect in the double murder of their father and step-mother. She was tried and acquitted and no one else was charged in the murders. The murders and trial received widespread publicit...
Ruffin, David
Music
Age 50
January 18, 1941 - June 1, 1991
Woodlawn Cemetery / Detroit / Michigan / USA / North America
David Ruffin is an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the original members and lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 - 1968. His vocals can be heard on the legendary Motown hits My Girl, Ain't...
DeSalvo, Albert
Crime and their Victims
Age 42
September 3, 1931 - November 25, 1973
Puritan Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery / Peabody / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Albert DeSalvo was an alleged American rapist and serial killer in Boston, Massachusetts, who purportedly confessed to being the "Boston Strangler", the murderer of thirteen women in the Boston area from 1962 to 1964. In 1967, DeS...
Hearst, William Randolph
Business and Finance
Age 88
April 29, 1863 - August 14, 1951
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park / Colma / California / USA / North America
William Randolph Hearst was the heir to a mining fortune, publisher and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboyant methods of yellow journalism inf...