Current Affairs May 2020 - Deaths
1 - Legendary footballer Chuni Goswami passed away
Legendary Footballer Chuni Goswami passed away at the age of 82 years. Chuni Goswami was the Captain of gold medal winning Indian football team of Jakarta Asiad held in 1962. He was awarded Arjun, Padmasree and several other prestigious awards for his outstanding contributions in the field of Sports.
Chuni Goswami also received Mohanbagan Ratna awards in 2005. The West Bengal Government conferred him the highest civilian award Banga Bibhusan in 2013. He was also the captain of Bengal Ranji Cricket team.
2 - Lokpal member Justice A K Tripathi (Retd) passed away
Serving Lokpal member Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi passed away at the age of 62 years after he tested positive for COVID-19. He was one of three judicial members of Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Justice Tripathi also served as the Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court. He had earlier served as the Additional Advocate General for Bihar. Later, he was elevated as Additional Judge of the Patna High Court and later the Chief Justice.
3 - Renowned poet K S Nisar Ahmed passed away
Renowned Kannada poet Professor K S Nisar Ahmed passed away at the age of 84 years. His notable works include Nityotsava, Manasu Gandhi Bazaru, Sanje Aidara Male and Manadondige Mathukathe. He wrote several tremendously popular songs and poems. He was honoured with the Kendra Sahitya Akademi award in 2008.
Professor KS Nissar Ahmed won the Padma Shri award in 2008 for his immense contribution to Kannada literature. He was also a recipient of Rajyotsav Award.
4 - Writer and columnist RV Smith passed away
Eminent author and Delhi’s master chronicler Ronald Vivian Smith passed away at the age of 81 years. He was best known for his writings on Delhi. He wrote many books during his lifetime, Lingering Charm of Delhi: Myth, Lore and History and Delhi: Unknown Tales of a City.
R.V. Smith worked as a scribe for The Statesman and started writing on history. He won the Rotary Award, the Michael Madhusudan award for journalism and the Canon Holland Prize for general knowledge.
5 - South African anti-apartheid veteran Denis Goldberg passed away
Veteran South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg passed away at the age of 87 years. He was one of Nelson Mandela's closest colleagues in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Goldberg was the only white person to be sentenced to life imprisonment for resisting white rule in South Africa in the 1964 Rivonia trials alongside Nelson Mandela. In 2009, Goldberg was awarded the Albert Luthuli medal for his fight against apartheid and in 2011 the German Federal Cross of Merit first class for his contribution to international understanding.
6 - Former Union Minister Dalit Ezhilmalai passed away
Former Union Minister and former organising secretary of AIADMK, Dalit Ezhilmalai, passed away at the age of 74 years. One of the founding members of PMK, Ezhilmalai, was the first general secretary of the party in 1989. He became Union Minister of State for Health in Vajpayee government in 1998-99.
Ezhilmalai took part in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He was a recipient of the K Sainik Seva Medal from the president for meritorious service in the Indian Army.
7 - Veteran director & story artist Rob Gibbs passed away
Finding Nemo-Toy Story fame Robb Gibbs passes away. He was well known for successful animated film industry made Pixar films such as Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Monsters.Up, Wall-E, Inside Out to Onward, Incredibles 2, Monsters at Work series for Disney+ and Monsters University.
Robb Gibbs contributed to short film ‘Tokyo Mater’ in 2008, series ‘Mater’s Tall Tales’ and ‘Tales from Radiator Springs’ of 2012. Robb Gibbs worked for 20 years as Pixar director, story artist and writer at Pixar studios.
8 - Eminent historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan passed away
Eminent historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan passed away due to COVID-19. He was popularly known for his work on Russian and European history and Indo-Russian relations. He penned various books such as Shadows of Substance: Indo-Russian Trade and Military-Technical Cooperation (2010), Indo-Russian Relations: 1917-1947 and Footsteps of Afanasii Nikitin: Travels through Eurasia and India in the Early 21st Century (2015).
Vasudevan served as Chairman of Syllabus Committees and Textbook Development Committees for Social Sciences, NCERT, from 2005 to 2015 and as Consultant on Indo-Russian Trade for the Ministry of Commerce between 2006 and 2007.
9 - Founding father of rock ‘n’ roll Little Richard passed away
Singer Little Richard, who was a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll, passed away at the age of 87 years. Richard started his career with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956 after which he cut a series of unstoppable hits “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up”.
In 2010, Time magazine listed Here's Little Richard as one of the 100 Greatest and Most Influential Albums of All Time. He was later inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and his classic “Tutti Frutti” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry years later.
10 - US actor and comedian Jerry Stiller passed away
US veteran actor and comedian Jerry Stiller passed away at the age of 92 years. He played George Costanza's short-tempered father Frank on the smash TV show "Seinfeld," for which he won the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series at the American Comedy Awards in 1998.
Stiller earned a 1997 Emmy nomination for his indelible Seinfeld performance. In 2007 Stiller and his wife Anne Meara received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2012, Stiller and Meara were honored alongside Harry Belafonte by The Actors Fund of America.
11 - National Professor Anisuzzaman passed away
Noted literary personality and educationist Professor Anisuzzaman passed away at the age of 83 years. He was a reputed scholar and leading intellectual of Bangladesh who made great contribution in the field of Bangla language and literature.
Prof. Anisuzzaman was a liberation war fighter. He received many awards including the Ekushey Padak in 1985. Rabindra Bharti conferred an honorary D.Lit on him in 2005. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2014.
12 - Grammy winning-singer Betty Wright passed away
Iconic soul and R&B singer Betty Wright passed away at the age of 66 years. She was known for her hits "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night". She was nominated for six Grammys and won for best R&B song in 1975 for "Where Is the Love."
Wright started singing with the family gospel group, Echoes of Joy, and released her solo debut album, “My First Time Around,” at age 15 in 1968. The album yielded a top 40 hit, Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do.
13 - Sahitya Akademi winner Debesh Roy passed away
Veteran Bengali author Debesh Roy passed away at the age of 84 years. He was conferred the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel 'Teesta Parer Brittanto'. His first book was "Jajati".
Some of the other memorable books written by Mr Roy are Borisaler Jogen Mondal , Manush Khun Kore Keno and Samay Asamayer Brittanto. He was also honoured by Bhasa Sahitya Parishad and Bhualka Purashkar.
14 - Noted Marathi writer Ratnakar Matkari passed away
Noted Marathi dramatist, litterateur, theatre personality and National Award-winning director, Ratnakar Matkari passed away. He was honored with Sangeet Natak Akademi, Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Sahitya Akademi award. He penned over 90 dramas including 20 for children, 25 novels and many mono-act plays.
Some of his popular Marathi dramas include ‘Arannyak’ based on Mahabharata, ‘Lok Katha 78’, ‘Dubhang’, ‘Ashwamedh’, Chaar Diwas Premache’, ‘Indira’ and children’s plays ‘Albatya Galbatya’ and ‘Nimma Shimma Rakshas’. He worked as a columnist for newspapers and magazines in the 1970s.
15 - Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr passed away
Three-time Olympic champion and one of the greatest ever hockey players, Balbir Singh Dosanjh passed away at the age of 95 years. He is the lone Indian and hockey player to be included in the IOC’s ‘Olympic Icons”, a select group of 16 all-time Olympic greats honoured during the London Olympics.
Balbir Singh is considered one of the best centre-forwards of all times. He was also the manager of the only World Cup winning Indian side in 1975. He is he first sportsperson to be awarded the Padma Shri (1957).
