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The year in review: Influential people who have died in 2026
The year 2026 saw the deaths of influential figures across entertainment, sports, intelligence, and public health, including Aldrich Ames, whose betrayal significantly impacted Western intelligence.
- In the first month of this year, a roll call listed several influential figures who died, including Emmy-winning comic actor Catherine O'Hara and CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames.
- Aldrich Ames, the CIA turncoat, betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia, with secrets blamed for executions and major Cold War setbacks to the CIA.
- Emmy-Winning comic actor Catherine O'Hara launched her career with the Second City comedy group in Toronto and starred as Macaulay Culkin's mother in two Home Alone movies, winning an Emmy as Moira Rose.
- The obituary list spans arts, sports and national security, naming figures from Bob Weir, Grateful Dead guitarist and singer, to a Hockey Hall of Famer nicknamed `Mr. Goalie`; some legacies are contested as Scott Adams was dropped from syndication in 2023 for racist remarks.
- Also included were an early civil-rights figure arrested at age 15 nine months before Rosa Parks and a doctor who led smallpox eradication this year.
Insights by Ground AI
13 Articles
13 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left7Leaning Right0Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution64% Left
Bias Distribution
- 64% of the sources lean Left
64% Left
L 64%
C 36%
Factuality
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