PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — 2020 has been a year unlike any other in recent history. On top of a global pandemic, people around the globe have had to cope with the loss of many influential people — from actors and legendary athletes to civil rights leaders and those who shattered glass ceilings.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the many beloved figures who died in 2020. The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement. Basketball great Kobe Bryant died in a January helicopter crash at age 41, actor Chadwick Boseman died of cancer in August at age 43, and soccer great Diego Maradona died in November at age 60. The year also claimed guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen and actor Sean Connery.
This photo gallery is our way of remembering some of the people we lost in the last 12 months.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg smiles during a photo session with photographers at the U.S. Supreme Court March 3, 2006 in Washington DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this April 13, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant smiles during the first half of his last NBA basketball game, against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was gearing up for a great year: not just the certain election of NBA superstars like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, but also a chance to unveil a completely renovated museum. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening has been pushed back two months to July 1 and the induction ceremony is being postponed, either to October or the spring. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) 
FILE – This Jan. 23, 2013 file photo shows artist Christo posing in front of his proposed “Over the River” project at the Metropolitan State University Center for Visual Art in Denver. Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects, has died. His death was announced Sunday, May 31, 2020, on Twitter and the artist’s web page. He was 84. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, file) 
Argentine soccer superstar Diego Armando Maradona cheers after the Napoli team clinched its first Italian major league title in Naples, Italy, on May 10, 1987. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, File ) 
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE – In celebration of a 2015 Summer/Fall North American Tour, Van Halen performed a special concert for Walt Disney Television via Getty Images’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” March 30 on Hollywood Boulevard. Featuring some of the band’s essential rock and roll classics, the concert will broadcast over two nights, March 30 and March 31, on the late night talk show and marks Van Halen’s first U.S. television performance with original lead singer David Lee Roth. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET/PT on Walt Disney Television via Getty Images. (Photo by Randy Holmes/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images) 
Little Richard in 2004 (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this Jan. 23, 1987 file photo, actor Sean Connery holds a rose in his hand as he talks about his new movie “The Name of the Rose” at a news conference in London. Scottish actor Sean Connery, considered by many to have been the best James Bond, has died aged 90, according to an announcement from his family. (AP Photo/Gerald Penny, File) 
Alex Trebek poses in the press room at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Center on Sunday, May 5, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) 
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) listens during a news conference September 25, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this Monday, Jan. 2, 1990, file photo, David Dinkins delivers his first speech as mayor of New York, in New York. Dinkins, New York City’s first African-American mayor, died Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. He was 93. (AP Photo/Frankie Ziths, File) 
FILE – In this April 26, 2015, file photo, Fred Willard poses in the pressroom at the 42nd annual Daytime Emmy Awards at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. Willard, the comedic actor whose improv style kept him relevant for more than 50 years in films like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best In Show” and “Anchorman,” has died at age 86. Willard’s daughter, Hope Mulbarger, said in a statement Saturday, May 16, 2020, that her father died peacefully Friday night. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – In this Jan. 29, 2018 file photo, Chadwick Boseman, a cast member in “Black Panther,” poses at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, died of colon cancer on Aug. 28, 2020 in Los Angeles. He was buried on Sept. 3, in Belton, South Carolina, about 11 miles from his hometown of Anderson, according to a death certificate obtained Monday, Sept. 14 by The Associated Press. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – This Nov. 16, 1982 file photo shows actor Kirk Douglas at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. Douglas died Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 at age 103. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File) 
FILE – In this May 25, 1967 file writer-comedian Carl Reiner poses in his new hairpiece in Los Angeles. Reiner, the ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man,” has died, according to reports. Variety reported he died of natural causes on Monday night, June 29, 2020, at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 98. (AP Photo/Harold Filan, File) 
FILE – In this Friday, Oct. 16, 2015 file photo, actor Max Von Sydow attends the Lumiere Award ceremony of the 7th Lumiere Festival in Lyon, central France. Max von Sydow, the self-described “shy boy”-turned-actor who played the priest in the horror classic “The Exorcist,” has died. He was 90, it was reported on Monday, March 9, 2020. He was known to art house audiences through his work with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. But it was his role as the devil-evicting priest in William Friedkin’s controversial 1973 film “The Exorcist” that brought him to international attention. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File) 
Irrfan Khan attends the INFERNO World Premiere Red Carpet at the Opera di Firenze on October 8, 2016 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Entertainment) 
FILE – In this Sept. 20, 1972 file photo, British actress Diana Rigg and actor Anthony Hopkins attend the opening night of Macbeth at the National Theatre, London. Rigg plays Lady Macbeth opposite Hopkins’ Macbeth in the Shakespearean tragedy. Actress Diana Rigg, who became a 1960s style icon as secret agent Emma Peel in TV series “The Avengers,” has died at age 82. Rigg’s agent Simon Beresford says she died Thursday Sept. 10, 2020 at home with her family. (AP Photo/Bob Dear, File) 
FILE – In this Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, actor Ian Holm appears at the premiere of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in London. Holm, the acclaimed British actor whose long career included roles in “Chariots of Fire” and “The Lord of the Rings” has died, his agent said Friday. He was 88. Holm died peacefully in the hospital, surrounded by his family and carer, his agent, Alex Irwin, said in a statement. His illness was Parkinson’s related. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE- In this April 19, 2018 file photo, Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor greets media as he arrives for the song launch of film ‘102 Not Out’ in Mumbai, India. Rishi Kapoor, a top Indian actor and a scion of Bollywood’s most famous Kapoor family, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 67.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File) 
FILE – In this June 14, 2018, file photo, Kelly Preston and John Travolta attend the premiere of “Gotti” at the SVA Theatre in New York. Preston, whose credits included the films “Twins” and “Jerry Maguire,” died Sunday, July 12, 2020, her husband Travolta said. She was 57. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – In this March 21, 2009 file photo, Italian actress Franca Valeri attends Italian State RAI TV program “Che Tempo che Fa”, in Milan, Italy. Valeri, an elegant, ironic and versatile actor, who pioneered Italian female comic roles in the post-war years, died in her sleep at her home in Rome, nine days after her 100th birthday, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, file) 
FILE – In this Oct. 24, 2017 file photo, Kenny Rogers poses with his star on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on record and on TV died Friday night, March 20, 2020. He was 81. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) 
FILE – In this June 20, 2017 file photo, John Prine poses in his office in Nashville, Tenn. Prine died Tuesday, April 7, 2020 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 73. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) 
FILE – In this June 16, 2012 file photo, Bonnie Pointer attends the 100th Anniversary of The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Pointer, founding member of the Pointer Sisters, has died. Publicist Roger Neal says Pointer died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on Monday. She was 69. (Photo by Katy Winn/Invision/AP, File) 
Jeremy Bulloch speaks in front of the costume he wore while playing Boba Fett in “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” and “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” at the Star Wars Identities exhibition in London on July 26, 2017. Bulloch, the English actor who played Boba Fett in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died. His agents said in a statement that he died in a London hospital Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, after years of suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He was 75. (AP Photo) 
FILE – In this Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 file photo, Actor Wilford Brimley attends the premiere of ‘Did You Hear About The Morgans’ at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from stunt performer to star of film such as “Cocoon” and “The Natural,” has died. He was 85. Brimley’s manager Lynda Bensky said the actor died Saturday morning, Aug. 1, 2020 in a Utah hospital. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File) 
FILE – In this Oct. 5, 1970 file photo, French actress and singer Juliette Greco present a clothes in Paris, France. French media say Juliette Greco, singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to Existentialist philosophers of France’s post-War period, has died aged 93. They said Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020 Greco died in her Ramatouelle house in the south of France, near Saint Tropez. (AP Photo/Cardenas, file) 
FILE – In this Oct. 25, 2009, file photo, former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula waves to the crowd during a half time ceremony of an NFL football game between the Miami Dolphins and the New Orleans Saints in Miami. Shula, who won the most games of any NFL coach and led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in league history, died Monday, May 4, 2020, at his South Florida home, the team said. He was 90. (AP Photo/Jeffrey M. Boan) 
FILE – This is a 1970 file photo showing Chicago Bears football player Gale Sayers. Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who made his mark as one of the NFL’s best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with a Chicago Bears teammate with cancer, has died. He was 77. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet” and considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen, Sayers died Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (AP Photo/FIle) 
In this Oct. 11, 2019, photo, Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi holds up his hand in the sign language of “I love you” to stress that is an important message in his films, during an interview at his studio in Tokyo. Obayashi has been diagnosed with fatal lung cancer, but his confrontation with death began so long ago it has characterized his entire four decades of filmmaking. Obayashi has stayed true to himself during that whole time, producing more than 40 movies and thousands of TV shows, commercials and other video, devoted to sending the same message, over and over, to warn the world of the horrors of war. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama) 
FILE – In this Jan. 29, 2010 file photo, director Joel Schumacher attends the premiere of “Twelve” during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. A representative for Schumacher said the filmmaker died Monday, June 22, 2020, in New York after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 80. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File) 
FILE – In this June 3, 2004 file photograph, author Mary Higgins Clark poses in her home in Saddle River, N.J. Clark, the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world’s most popular writers, died Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, at age 92. Clark’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced that Clark died in Naples, Fla, of natural causes. (AP Photo/Mike Derer, File) 
This 2007 image released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons shows author Clive Cussler riding in a classic car. Cussler died on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020 at his home in Scottsdale, AZ. He was 88. (Ronnie Bramhall/G.P. Putnam’s Sons via AP) 
FILE – In this Jan. 28, 1969, file photo, English actress Honor Blackman poses for photographers during a break from the filming in London. Blackman, 94, the potent British actress who took James Bond’s breath away as Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger” and who starred as the leather-clad, judo-flipping Cathy Gale in “The Avengers,” died April 5. (AP Photo/Leonard Brown, File) 
FILE – In this Nov. 18, 2011 file photo, Regis Philbin appears on his farewell episode of “Live! with Regis and Kelly”, in New York. Philbin, the genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” has died on Friday, July 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File) 
FILE – This Sept. 26, 2008 file photo shows debate moderator Jim Lehrer during the first U.S. Presidential Debate between presidential nominees Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. PBS announced that PBS NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer died Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, at home. He was 85. (AP Photo/Chip Somodevilla, File) 
Roy Horn, of Siegfried and Roy magic act, holds royal white tiger cubs, photo on black 
FILE – In this Saturday, March 28, 2015 file photo, Japanese fashion designer Takada Kenzo poses for photographers as he arrives at the Rose Ball in Monaco. Fashion designer Kenzo Takada dies from COVID-19 complications at age 81 near Paris, spokeswoman and reports said Sunday Oct. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, file) 
FILE – In this July 29, 1998, file photo Linda Tripp meets with reporters outside federal court in Washington after her final appearance before a grand jury investigating an alleged affair between President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of Clinton, died Wednesday, April 8, 2020, at age 70. (AP Photo/Khue Bui, File) 
FILE- In this April 25, 1997, file photo, Author Roger Kahn, author of the bestseller “The Boys of Summer”, poses at his home in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Kahn, the writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers died Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, at a nursing facility in Mamaroneck, N.Y., according to his son Gordon Kahn. He was 92. (AP Photo/Todd Plitt, File) 
FILE – In this Oct. 4, 2017, file photo, Lyle Waggoner arrives at the “The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special” in Los Angeles. Waggoner, who played comic foil on the show, has died. He was 84. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File) 
The Harlem Globetrotters’ Fred “Curly” Neal performs during a timeout in the second quarter in an NBA basketball game between the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix. Neal, the dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades, has died the Globetrotters announced Thursday, March 26, 2020. He was 77. Neal played for the Globetrotters from 1963-85, appearing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries for the exhibition team known for its combination of comedy and athleticism. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) 
FILE – In this Aug. 25, 2002, file photo, Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline is honored for his 50 years with the Tigers organization at Comerica Park in Detroit. Al Kaline, who spent his entire 22-season Hall of Fame career with the Detroit Tigers and was known affectionately as “Mr. Tiger,” has died. He was 85. John Morad, a friend of Kaline’s, confirmed to The Associated Press that he died Monday, April 6, 2020, at his home in Michigan. (AP Photo/John F. Martin) 
FILE – In this March 1968 file photo, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson is pictured during baseball spring training in Florida. Gibson is fighting pancreatic cancer. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the 83-year-old Hall of Famer was diagnosed with the cancer several weeks ago and revealed the news Saturday, July 13, 2019, to the other living Hall of Famers. (AP Photo, File) 
FILE – In this June 21, 2006 file photo, singer-songwriter Bill Withers poses in his office in Beverly Hills, Calif. Withers, who wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” died in Los Angeles from heart complications on Monday, March 30, 2020. He was 81. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) 
FILE – In this June 16, 2008, file photo, Del Martin, left, places a ring on her partner Phyllis Lyon, right, during their wedding ceremony officiated by then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, center, at City Hall in San Francisco. Pioneering gay rights activist Lyon, who was among the first same-sex couples to marry in California when it became legal to do so, has died at her San Francisco home. Lyon died at age 95 of natural causes Thursday, April 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) 
FILE – In this file photo dated Sunday, June 21 2009, Stirling Moss, the legendary British Racing driver attends the British Formula One Grand Prix at the Silverstone racetrack, in Silverstone, England. Stirling Moss has died at the age of 90, according to an announcement Sunday April 12, 2020, from his family. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, FILE) 
FILE – In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, file photo, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Yeager talks to members of the media following a re-enactment flight commemorating his breaking of the sound barrier 65 years earlier, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, died Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at age 97. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File) 
FILE – This Sept. 13, 2011, file photo shows British author John Le Carre at the UK film premiere of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” in London. John le Carre, the spy-turned-novelist whose elegant and intricate narratives defined the Cold War espionage thriller and brought acclaim to a genre critics had once ignored, has died. He was 89, Le Carre’s literary agency, Curtis Brown, said Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020 that he died in Cornwall, southwest England on Saturday. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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