2022's notable deaths around the world

The year 2022 has been marked by extraordinary upheaval caused by the war in Ukraine, which has raised the spectre of nuclear Armageddon, the pressures of rising inflation and a litany of disasters linked to climate change.

Towering figures like Queen Elizabeth II and Mikhail Gorbachev were among notable deaths. It was also a year in which men and women demonstrated personal courage, the capacity to adapt and solidarity within their communities.

New Vision is publishing a series of articles reflecting on the year as it draws to a close and what may be in store in 2023:

From Queen Elizabeth II to the Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev, here are some of 2022's most notable deaths.

JANUARY

- 6: SIDNEY POITIER, 94, American movie star, the first black man to win an Oscar in 1964

- 13: JEAN-JACQUES BEINEIX, 75, French director of iconic 1980s film "Betty Blue"

- 15: NINO CERRUTI, 91, Italian fashion designer

- 20: MARVIN LEE ADAY aka MEAT LOAF, 74, US rocker of "Bat out of Hell" fame

- 22: THICH NHAT HANH, 95, Vietnamese Buddhist monk who introduced the West to mindfulness

- 23: THIERRY MUGLER, 73, French fashion designer

FEBRUARY

- 2: MONICA VITTI, 90, Italian leading lady and muse of director Michelangelo Antonioni

- 6: LATA MANGESHKAR, 92: legendary Bollywood singer

- 10: LUC MONTAGNIER, 89, French scientist who won Nobel medicine prize winner for his co-discovery of the HIV virus

- 17: IVAN REITMAN, 75, director of "Ghostbusters"

MARCH

- 4: SHANE WARNE, 52, Australian cricketer who was one of the game's best-ever players

- 13: WILLIAM HURT, 71, American actor who won an Oscar for "Kiss of the Spider Woman"

- 23: MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, 84, first female US secretary of state (1997-2001)

- 25: TAYLOR HAWKINS, 50, drummer of the alternative US rock group Foo Fighters

APRIL

- 6: VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY, 75, Russian ultra-nationalist politician who predicted Ukraine war

- 13: MICHEL BOUQUET, 96, Celebrated French stage and screen actor

MAY

- 11: SHIREEN ABU AKLEH, 51, American-Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist killed during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank

- 19: VANGELIS (Evangelos Papathanassiou), 79, Greek composer of award-winning scores for "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner"

- 26: RAY LIOTTA, 67, star of Martin Scorsese's gangster classic "Goodfellas"

- 26: ANDY FLETCHER, 60, founding member of British electronic band Depeche Mode

- 30: BORIS PAHOR, 108, Slovenian author who chronicled the horrors of Nazi concentration camps and Italian fascism

JUNE

- 14: AVRAHAM YEHOSHUA, 85, revered Israeli novelist who championed Palestinian rights

- 17: JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT, 91, French star of New Wave films including "A Man and a Woman"

- 22: YVES COPPENS, 87, French palaeontologist who co-discovered the famous fossil "Lucy" in Ethiopia

- 27: LEONARDO DEL VECCHIO, 87, Italy's second-richest man and eyewear magnate

JULY

- 3: PETER BROOK, 97, influential British theatre director famed for his radical stagings of Shakespeare

- 6: JAMES CAAN, 82, Hollywood star of "The Godfather" and "Misery"

- 8: SHINZO ABE, 67, Japan former premier, shot dead by a gunman at a campaign rally.

- 8: JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS, 79, Angola's long-time ruler

- 25: DAVID TRIMBLE, 77, politician, Nobel laureate, for helping to broker 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland

- 27: JAMES LOVELOCK, 103, famed UK scientist behind Gaia theory, who predicted climate change

- 30: NICHELLE NICHOLS, 89, groundbreaking black actress who starred in cult sci-fi series "Star Trek"

- 31: BILL RUSSELL, 88, American NBA basketball player and civil rights activist

AUGUST

- 5: ISSEY MIYAKE, 84, Japanese fashion designer who pioneered high-tech, comfortable fashion

- 8: OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, 73, star of hit musical "Grease" alongside John Travolta

- 12: JEAN-JACQUES SEMPE, 89, French cartoonist, illustrator of "Le petit Nicolas"

- 12: ANNE HECHE, 53, US actress of "Donnie Brasco"

- 30: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, 91, last Soviet leader, whose reforms and outreach to the West set in motion the collapse of the USSR

SEPTEMBER

- 8: QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 96, Britain's longest-serving monarch who reigned for 70 years

- 10: WILLIAM KLEIN, 96, American fashion and street life photographer

- 13: JEAN-LUC GODARD, 91, by assisted suicide. Director who pioneered the French New Wave.

- 14: IRENE PAPAS, 93, Greek star of "Zorba the Greek"

- 22: HILARY MANTEL, 70, British novelist, twice winner of the Booker Prize for her historical fiction best-sellers

- 23: FARREL "PHAROAH" SANDERS: 81, US jazz saxophonist

- 26: YUSUF AL-QARADAWI, 96, prominent Sunni scholar and spiritual leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement

- 28: COOLIO (Artis Leon Ivey Jr.), 59, US "Gangsta Paradise" rapper

OCTOBER

- 4: LORETTA LYNN: 90, American country music titan

- 11: ANGELA LANSBURY, 96, cinema and television star

- 14: ROBBIE COLTRANE, 72, Scottish actor who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films

- 22: DIETRICH MATESCHITZ, 78, Austrian billionaire who founded energy drinks company Red Bull

- 25: PIERRE SOULAGES, 102, French abstract artist who painted almost exclusively in black

- 28: JERRY LEE LEWIS, 87, US 1950s rock and roll star

NOVEMBER

- 9: GAL COSTA, 77, Brazilian singer, a key figure in the 1960s Tropicalia scene

- 20: HEBE DE BONAFINI, 93, one of the founders of Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo anti-dictatorship protest group

- 30: JIANG ZEMIN, 96, Chinese leader who took power after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and oversaw a decade of breakneck growth

- 30:  CHRISTINE MCVIE, 79, singer-songwriter and keyboard player with 1970s band Fleetwood Mac