Rusi Framroze Surti Died

Rusi Framroze Surti, the former all-rounder of India from Surat died on 13 January 2013 in Mumbai. Surti was aged 76 years. Surti was often also called poor man's Garry Sobers and played 26 Test matches for India from the time period of 1960 to 1969. He played for Rajasthan as well as Gujarat in Ranji Trophy. In Sheffield Shield, he represented Queensland 35 times.

Koto Okubo, World’s Oldest Living Female died at 115

Koto Okubo, the lady who received the title of world’s oldest lady alive after the death of Dina Manfredini of United States, died on 12 January 2013. The 115 years old Okubo was born on 24 December 1897 in a town near Tokyo, Japan.

Dina Manfredini after receiving the title died within two weeks time and she received the award after the death of Japanese Jiroemon Kimura. Jiroemon born on 19 April 1897, in the ancient capital of Kyoto also died at the age of 115 years.

Former South Africa bowler Adcock dies

Former South Africa fast bowler Neil Adcock has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

Cricket South Africa said that Adcock died on Sunday after contracting pneumonia.

He played 26 tests for South Africa between 1953 and 1962 and was chosen by the respected Wisden Cricket Almanack as one of its five cricketers of the year in 1961 following his 26 wickets at 22.52 during South Africa’s series in England in 1960.

CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul paid tribute to Adcock as “one of the great fast bowlers during what was truly a golden era of fast bowling” and said he formed “South Africa’s first great new ball attack” with the late Peter Heine.

Adcock took 104 career wickets at an average of 21.10.

Tony Greig, Former Captain of England Cricket Team and Commentator Died

Tony Greig, 66, the former captain of England cricket team and renowned commentator passed away in Sydney on 29 December 2012 following lung cancer. Greig was diagnosed with the ailment in October 2012. 

Key elements of Tony Greig’s life:

•Tony Greig was born in Queenstown in South Africa. 
•He was awarded with the Best Cricketer of the Year award in 1975. 
•Greig had the test career of 58 matches and he scored 3599 runs while claiming 141 wickets. 
•He played 22 ODIs and scored 269 runs while grabbing 19 wickets. 
•He is said to be the leading international all-round player for England. 
•In his captaincy career, the best performance was in 1976-1977. 
•After the end of his cricketing career in 1977, Greig became a successful and renowned commentator.

Hockey legend Leslie Claudius passes away

India’s triple Olympic gold medallist and one of the legends of the game of hockey, Leslie Claudius passed away on December 20 after a prolonged illness.

Claudius was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and frequently needed hospitalisation in the past couple of years.

He was 85-years-old and is survived by wife and three sons. One of his sons Brandon lives with him in Kolkata and the other two sons live in Australia.

In an illustrious career, Claudius had three Olympic gold medals — London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. At Rome in 1960, he led India to a silver—medal finish.

Claudius was one of the five surviving members (Keshav Dutt, Grahanandan Singh, Jaswant Singh Rajput, and Balbir Singh Senior) of the 1948 squad that had won the gold in London when it hosted Olympics 64 years ago.

One of the finest right-half and former captain, Claudius was also part of next three editions of the quadrennial extravaganza that won two gold and one silver, a record only matched by compatriot Udham Singh.

In 1978, Claudius met with tragedy as he lost his younger son Robert (Bobby) in a fatal road accident. Bobby was considered very talented and had also represented India in the Mexico World Cup in 1978.

Along with Dhyan Chand and Ashok Kumar, Leslie and Bobby Caludius were another father-son duo who had represented India at the international events.

Born in Bilaspur, Claudius was conferred with the prestigious Padmashree Award back in 1971.

Norman Woodland, the inventor of bar code died

Norman Woodland, the inventor of bar code, which revolutionalised retail in 70s, died at 91 on 8 December 2012 at New Jersey. He died because of complications resulting due to Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by his wife (61), two daughters, one brother and granddaughters. Woodland was the co-inventor of bar code; the zebra pattern which stores information about the products.  He as well as his partner Bernard Silver (who died in 1963) patented this idea of bar code back in 1952 and also sold that to Philco, the electronics company for 15000 US dollar.

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar passes away

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passed in San Diego on December 11. He was 92.

The legendary musician and composer was India's musical ambassador and a unique phenomenon in the classical music worlds of East and West. He was well known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. He was active as a professional musician till the end and was one of the contenders for the next Grammys.

Oldest Person of the World, Besse Cooper Died At 116

Besse Cooper, the woman listed as the oldest person of the world died on 4 December 2012 in Georgia nursing home at 116 years of age. Besse Cooper had died peacefully in Monroe. Besse was recently taken ill with the stomach virus.

Besse Cooper was declared as the oldest person of the world in January 2011 by the Guinness World Records.
She was also the first Georgian who had world record with her. The birth place of Besse was Tennessee and she had moved during the First World War to Georgia.

Guinness World Records declared that as of now, merely 8 people have reached the age of 116. Besse Cooper held this title of oldest person of the world since 2011. She explained her secret of living for such a long time, to Guinness World Records. She explained that she didn’t eat junk food.

Who is the world’s oldest person now?

After the death of Besse Cooper, the title of oldest person of the world now goes to Dina Manfredini of Johnston who is aged 115 years of age.

Oldest known person of all times

Jeanne Calment, the French woman is the oldest known person till now. She was aged 122 when she died in 1997.

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck passes away

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck has died at the age of 91. Dave Brubeck sometimes struggled to find acceptance among his peers, who thought his music didn't swing. But his album Time Out, packed with unusual time signatures and unorthodox rhythms, found a huge audience. Brubeck died one day shy of his 92nd birthday.