Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020
The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.
James Randi, dazzling magician and skeptic, dies at 92
FILE - In this Friday, June 29, 2007, file photo, James Randi is shown in front of a poster at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Florida-based James Randi Educational Foundation announced its founder died Monday, Oct. 19, 2020, at 92. The James Randi Educational Foundation confirmed the death, saying simply that its founder succumbed to “age-related causes” on Tuesday. But the vast majority of those he aimed to show were frauds were lesser known, lured to prove their abilities by the James Randi Educational Foundation. Born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge in Toronto on Aug. 7, 1928, Randi ̶ known by everyone simply by that surname ̶ had a nagging desire to question from a young age.