Their Stories

Riay Tatary Bakry was a Syrian religious leader, chairman of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain. He was imam of the Central Mosque in Madrid, Spain, as well as president of the Islamic Commission of Spain. He died of the coronavirus on April 6, 2020.

Miguel Ángel Tabet was a Venezuelan theologian, Catholic priest, author, and exegete. Tábet, who was of Lebanese Venezuelan descent, lived and worked in Rome, Italy. He was a professor of biblical hermeneutics, the study of the principles of interpretation of the Bible, at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He died of…
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John Prine was an American country folk singer-songwriter. He was active as a composer, recording artist, and live performer from the early 1970s until his death. Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, as well as serious songs…
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Yaakov Perlow was an American Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, and Rebbe of the Novominsk Hasidic dynasty. From 1998 until his death, he was president of Agudath Israel of America, a Haredi advocacy organization. He was also head of that organization’s Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages). He was one of the most respected…
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Jan Křen was a Czech historian, academic, dissident during Czechoslovakia’s communist era, and a Charter 77 signatory. He specialized in the study of Czech-German relations. He died of the coronavirus on April 7, 2020.

Mishik Kazaryan was a Russian-Armenian physicist specialising in laser physics and optics, the winner of the State Prize of the USSR in the field of science and technology, foreign member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, member of the AM Prokhorov Academy of Engineering Sciences. Kazaryan was a creator of the brightest repetitively pulsed…
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Henri Weber was a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the north-west of France. He was a member of the Socialist Party (PS), which is part of the Party of European Socialists, and sat on the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education. He died of the coronavirus on April 26, 2020.

Jacobus Teunis “Koos” van den Berg was a Dutch politician of the Reformed Political Party (SGP). Born in The Hague, he served as a member of the House of Representatives from 3 June 1986 to 23 May 2002. He died of the coronavirus on April 21, 2020.

Josep Sala Mañé was a Spanish Catalan casteller. He was born in Vilafranca del Penedès in 1938. In his youth, he was member of the Castellers de Vilafranca until his family moved to Barcelona in the 50s. In 1958, alongside the Duch family and Pere Català i Roca he founded the colla (team) of Castellers…
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Leon Konitz was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz’s association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano.…
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