Many influential people died in 2025, including Pope Francis, boxing great George Foreman, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, in a year that also included the deaths of activist Charlie Kirk and sex trafficking survivor Virginia Giuffre.
The AP’s roundup said the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s leader, brought change to the church and that for the first time it is led by an American pope.
The AP also highlighted the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he spoke before a crowd, saying it horrified many and prompted somber conversations about political violence.
The AP said Virginia Giuffre died by suicide, and that her death brought additional scrutiny to investigations involving sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The roundup also included the deaths of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, saying authorities determined Hackman died of heart disease. It said Hackman was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, and that authorities believed he was likely unaware that Arakawa had died from hantavirus a week earlier.
The story ran with an editor’s note that said it includes discussion of suicide and provided U.S. crisis lifeline information: calling or texting 988 and using an online chat at 988lifeline.org, with additional helplines for outside the U.S. listed separately.
The AP said Ozzy Osbourne’s death, which came just weeks after his farewell concert, marked the end of an era in music, and described it as a closing moment for the heavy metal icon’s run.
The year also included the death of George Foreman, which the AP described in the context of his well-known defeat by Muhammad Ali in “Rumble in the Jungle,” along with later second and third acts as a world champion and successful business owner. The AP also noted that friends and family of Foreman paid tribute to him at a memorial service in his hometown of Houston.
The AP’s roundup further said Dick Cheney died at 84, describing him as a hard-charging conservative whose long public service included becoming one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history under President George W. Bush, and noting that years later Cheney became a critic and target of President Donald Trump.
The AP said the roundup also covered other widely recognized figures from across culture and politics, including stars such as Giorgio Armani, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Diane Ladd, among those whose deaths marked the second half of 2025.
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