Who Died In 2024: Let’s Learn About Them and Honor Their Lives

Who Died In 2024: Let’s Learn About Them and Honor Their Lives

2024 was a great year for many things, but unfortunately, some of the world’s favorite notable or well-known people passed away. Let’s learn about and honor these great people.

Music

Many of the world’s great musicians passed away, too many to fit in this article. So here are a couple of musical artists who had done great things and were a big part of the music industry before they died.

Quincey Jones 

Quincey Jones was born on March 33, 1933. When he was 13 he was mentored and “adopted” by Count Baise. When he lived in Paris he lived across the street from Picasso and was mentored by Nardia Gourgner. He arranged music for Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra, Micheal Jackson, Aretha Franklin, etc. He made music for the movies, The Pawnbroker, In the Heat of the Night,  and Cold Blood. Jones has won almost every award in the book, more than 25 Grammys, 7 Academy awards, and an Emmy for the music he did for (Roots). An Academy for Motion Pictures and Science, a Kennedy Center of Honor,  an Oscar, a National Medal of Honor, and finally was accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was married 3 times to Jen Cadwell, Una Anderson, and Peggy Lipton. He also has 7 children, Rashida Jones, Kidadda Jones, Quiencey Jones the 3rd, Joline Jones Levine, Kenya Kirski Jones, Martina Jones, and Rachel Jones. 

Phil Lesh 

Born March 15, 1940. He met his future bandmates at Stanford and the University of California Berkeley. Before the Grateful Dead Lesh played trumpet and violin but bass in the Grateful Dead. He was influenced by Jack Cassiday, Jefferson Airplane, Bach Counterpart, and Jack Bruce, and he was mentored by Luciano Berio. He was in two other projects and a band. The other ones are The Dead, and Phil Lesh and Friends. He married Jill Lesh and had two children, Grahme and Brain Lesh. He and his wife had a charity foundation, the Unbroken Chain Foundation. The Grateful Dead was awarded 2025 MusiCares Persons Of The Year. Finally, Lesh was accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died on October 25, 2024. 

 Sports 

Many amazing and gifted athletes passed away in the year 2024. Again too many to fit into this article so here are some of the most known players and athletes.

Rickey Henderson

Born December 28th, 1958. He started with the Athletic A’s. Then he went to the New York Yankees. And back to the Athletic A’s to help them win the World Series. He was the 1990 World Series MVP. Then he moved around from the Padres, Angels, Mets, and Mariners. He was the Athletic A’s Player of the Century. He broke Babe Ruth’s walks record and was Known as the best lead-off hitter and base stealer. He has 3000 Career Hits.  He broke Colb’s record and scored 2246 Home runs. And he stole 1,406 bases. He was married to Pamela Palmer and had three daughters Alexis, Andrea, and Adrianna Henderson. 

Pete Rose 

Born April 14th 1942. Pete Rose was a baseball mastermind. He broke Colb’s record of 4192 home runs but his total career home runs are 4256. He was a switch hitter (he threw with one hand but batted with the other). He spent most of his career as a player-manager and player for the Cincinnati Reds. He did go to the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos, but in 1975 he went back to the Reds and they won the World Series. And he won the National League MVP. He wrote two books, Pete Rose: My Story and My Prison Without Bars. He was married to Carol J. Wouling and Karolyn Englehardt. He had kids, Pete Rose Jr, Chea Courtney, Fawn Rose, Tyler Rose, and Morgan Erin Rubio. He died on September 30th, 2024. 

Kelvin Kiptum 

Born December 2, 1999. He was the marathon world record holder. He holds the records for 3/7 of the fastest marathons ever run. He’s won 3 marathons including two top-tier World Major Marathons. He is the only man to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 2 minutes three times. When he was young in Kenya, he would hurdle his family’s cattle and end up running alongside other barefoot trail runners. He was self-taught and started training in 2013 when he was 13. He ran his first half marathon at 13 and got 10th, and 12th the following year. He was married to Asenath Rotich and had two children Caleb and Precious. He died on February 2, 2024.

Film and Television 

The people I am about to list were great people, who did great things in the film and television industry and most importantly made many people happy by creating and acting in wonderful masterpieces.

Terri Garr

She was born December 1st, 1944, and has credits in over 140 movies. She has an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA Nomination, and won a National Overview award. When she was a child she trained in many different types of Dance and Ballet. What is considered to be her big break is her episode of Star Trek “ Assignment on Earth”. She was also a cast member in The Conversation, Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters with the Third Kind, Tootsie, Mr. Mom,  and 6 Elvis musicals; she played Phoebe in Friends for 3 episodes. She was in many more films, television shows, and musicals. She was married to John O’Neil and they adopted and raised a daughter together, MollyO’Neil. She Died October 29, 2024.

Maggie Smith

Born December 28th, 1934. She has two Academy Awards, 5 BAFTAs, 4 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes, 1 Tony, 3 Primetime Emmy awards, and 6 Lawerence Oliver awards. She earned the trifecta of acting by doing this. Her professional debut was on Broadway in New Faces of ‘56.  She worked for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. OnBroadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Noël Coward’s Private Lives and Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage. She won Academy Awards for Best Actress For The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite. She was Oscar-nominated for Othello, Travels with My Aunt, A Room with a View, and Gosford Park. She played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. She was also in Death on the Nile, Hook, the Sister Act, The Secret Garden, The Exotic Marigold Hotel quartet, My House in Umbria, The Lady in the Van, and many more.  She was given many honorary awards such as the British Film Institute Fellowship, Bafta Fellowship, and Society of London Theater special award.  She was damned by Queen Elizabeth the 2nd.  She was married to Robert Stephens and Beverley Cross and she had two children Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.

She died on September 27th, 2024.

James Earl Jones 

Born November 17th, 1931, James Earl Jones is considered to be one of the best American Actors of all time for his roles on Broadway and playing Darth Vader and Mufasa in the Star Wars franchise and the Lion King. He served in the military during the Korean War. He was in the reserve officers training corps but here he realized he was not fit to be a doctor and luckily this led him to acting. Something he had always been insecure about helped him in the future, his stutter. He had a stutter and this helped him land the role of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. But even before this, he was on Broadway. He was in, The Egghead, Sunshine at Cabello, the Great White Hope (this gave him an academy award and golden globe nomination), Fences (this gave him a Tony Award), a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway. Then on screen, he played Darth Vader in Star Wars , King Mufasa in Lion King, and  he was in Conan the Barbarian, Matewan, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, You Can’t Take It with You, The Gin Game, and The Sandlot.  He also was in many Shakespeare plays, such as Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear.  He was  in many more movies, television shows, and musicals. He was married to Julienne Marie ( divorced)  and Cecily Hart and they had a son Flynn Jones. He died on September 19, 2024

Politicians  

Everyone can agree no matter what your views are that there are good politicians and bad ones. But I think everyone can agree that the people on this list were great and did great for America. 

Jimmy Carter

He was a president born on October 1, 1924. He went to Georgia Southwest College and the United States Naval Academy. He was a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S navy .  During his time in the Navy, there was a major radioactive accident that exposed many people to radioactivity. This led him to cease the development of a neutron bomb. He served for 7 years but after his father died he went on to become a peanut farmer.  At the time of his discharge his awards include the World War II Medal, American Campaign Medal, China Service Medal, and the National Service Defense Medal. As a submarine officer, he also earned the “Dolphin Badge”. His political career started when he became the Governor of Georgia and then a Senator. He focused on improving the education system and reserving its natural resources. Civil rights were a high priority for Carter. His camps successfully pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks, and He established the U.S. Department of Education and Energy. His presidency’s end was marked by the Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island Accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. In response to the invasion, Carter escalated the Cold War by ending détente, he imposed a grain embargo against the Soviets, enunciating the Carter Doctrine, and led the multinational boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan. Carter established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He was also a key figure in the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity. He was married to Rosalynn Smith and they had 4 children together Jack, James the 3rd, Donnel, and Amy. Also, a fun fact he was the only president to live to 100. 

These were all great people who did great things for the world, they should be honored and remembered. These people will be very missed and our thoughts go out to their families.

“Jimmy Carter Facts for Kids.” Jimmy Carter Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Jimmy_Carter. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Teri Garr Facts for Kids.” Teri Garr Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Teri_Garr. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Kelvin Kiptum Facts for Kids.” Kelvin Kiptum Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Kelvin_Kiptum. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Pete Rose Facts for Kids.” Pete Rose Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Pete_Rose. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Rickey Henderson Facts for Kids.” Rickey Henderson Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Rickey_Henderson. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Phil Lesh Facts for Kids.” Phil Lesh Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Phil_Lesh. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

Quincy Jones Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Quincy_Jones. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“James Earl Jones Facts for Kids.” James Earl Jones Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/James_Earl_Jones. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025. 

“Maggie Smith Facts for Kids.” Maggie Smith Facts for Kids, kids.kiddle.co/Maggie_Smith. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.