In a year-in-review list of prominent deaths in 2026, the Associated Press said February included the deaths of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among other public figures across entertainment, sports and literature.

The AP’s list said Jackson, 84, was a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time presidential candidate who led a lifetime of crusades advocating for poor people and the underrepresented. The list also said Jackson’s death came Feb. 17, after decades of leadership connected to the civil rights movement. MSI previously reported on Jesse Jackson’s death in a separate story on the same period of the year.

In February, the AP also listed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, describing him as Iran’s top leader who ruled for decades while amassing theocratic power and seeking to turn Iran into a regional powerhouse. The AP said Khamenei was killed in U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Feb. 28, and it linked his death to questions about the future of the Islamic Republic amid ongoing fighting in Iran.

The AP’s February roll call included musician Chuck Negron, 83, identified as a founding member of Three Dog Night who sang lead on hits such as “One” and “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song,” and whose band’s “Joy to the World” featured the opening line “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” The list also cited actor Robert Duvall, 95, describing him as an Oscar-winning actor whose roles included the consigliere in the first two “Godfather” films and the over-the-hill country music singer in “Tender Mercies.”

In sports, the AP listed Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski, 89, describing him as a winner of eight Gold Glove awards and the player whose historic walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series helped define the Pittsburgh Pirates fan experience. The AP said Mazeroski died Feb. 20.

The AP’s list extended beyond February to earlier in the year. In January, the AP cited the death of Catherine O’Hara, 71, describing her as a Canadian-born comic actor and an “SCTV” alum who starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two “Home Alone” movies and won an Emmy as Moira Rose on “Schitt’s Creek.” The AP also listed CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, 84, describing him as the agent who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia and who died in prison.

The year-in-review list, which the AP said cites causes of death if available, spanned additional figures from January and February, including actors and entertainers such as James Van Der Beek, Sondra Lee, and Eric Dane, as well as figures in public life ranging from literature to public health.