File photo of apartheid icon, Nobel laureate and former South African president Nelson Mandela
Some of the notable figures who have passed away in the year just ending:
- Nagisa Oshima, Japanese filmmaker, directed "Furyo", aged 80, on January 15.
- Andree Putman, internationally acclaimed French designer, aged 87, on January 19.
- Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president, aged 58 from cancer, on March 5.
- Ieng Sary, Cambodian Khmer Rouge co-founder who was on trial for genocide and war crimes, aged 87, on March 14.
- Zillur Rahman, Bangladesh president, aged 84, on March 20.
- Boris Berezovsky, exiled Russian oligarch and Kremlin critic, in London aged 67 of hanging, on March 24.
- Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister known as the "Iron Lady", aged 87, on April 8.
- Robert Edwards, British scientist, Nobel laureate for work on developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), aged 87, on April 10.
- General Jorge Videla, Argentinian dictator at the height of its "Dirty War" against leftist activists, aged 87 in prison, on May 17.
- Ray Manzarek, co-founder of legendary 1960s group The Doors and creator of their signature organ sound, aged 74 from cancer, on May 20.
- Esther Williams, US swimming champion and Hollywood star, aged 91, on June 6.
- Fatai Rolling Dollar, Nigerian musician, aged 86, on June 12.
- Jiroemon Kimura, world's oldest person and the oldest male ever known to have lived, aged 116, on June 12.
- Marc Rich, controversial founder of Swiss commodities giant Glencore, aged 78, on June 26.
- Douglas Engelbart, US engineer who invented the computer mouse, aged 88, on July 2.
- JJ Cale, US singer-songwriter whose music was covered by Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Johnny Cash, aged 74, on July 26.
- Berthold Beitz, patriarch of German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp, who saved hundreds of Jews from Nazi persecution, aged 99, on July 30.
- Laszlo Csatari, most wanted Nazi war criminal, aged 98, on August 10.
- Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who regained only minimal consciousness after being buried in an avalanche in February 2012, aged 44, on August 12.
- Seamus Heaney, celebrated Irish poet and Nobel laureate, aged 74, on August 30.
- David Frost, British TV giant, aged 74 of a heart attack on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner, on September 2.
- Ray Dolby, pioneered noise-reducing and surround-sound audio technologies, aged 80, on September 12.
- Tom Clancy, best-selling author of spy novels, aged 66, on October 1.
- Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese general who defeated French and US forces, aged 102, on October 4.
- Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jewish community, aged 93, on October 7.
- Erich Priebke, Nazi war criminal, aged 100, on October 11.
- Manna Dey, legendary Bollywood singer, aged 94, on October 24.
- Lou Reed, US singer-songwriter, aged 71 of complications following liver surgery, on October 27.
- Doris Lessing, British author and Nobel laureate, aged 94, on November 17.
- Frederic Sanger, British biochemist, double Nobel laureate, aged 95, on November 19.
- "The Fast and the Furious" actor Paul Walker, aged 40, in a car crash on November 30.
- Nelson Mandela, apartheid icon, Nobel laureate and former South African president, aged 95, on December 5.
- Peter O'Toole, the Irish actor, aged 81 on December 14.
- Joan Fontaine, the British Oscar-winning actress aged 96, on December 16.
- Ronnie Biggs, the British Great Train Robber, aged 84, on December 18.
- Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of fabled AK-47 automatic rifle, aged 94, December 23.