1920 births

Osamu Hayaishi MJA (早石 修, Hayaishi Osamu, January 8, 1920 – December 17, 2015), was a Japanese biochemist, physiologist, and military physician. He discovered Oxygenases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health in 1955.Citing his "outstanding and pioneering contributions to biomedical sciences and enzymology," the Wolf Foundation awarded Hayaishi the 1986 Wolf Prize in Medicine "for his discovery of the oxygenase enzymes and elucidation of their structure and biological importance".Hayaishi was President of International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 1973 to 1976.

Robert Haig Weitbrecht (1920-1983) was an engineer at SRI International and later the spin-off company Weitbrecht Communications who invented a type of a modem (a form of acoustic coupler).

Charles Wesley Akers (April 2, 1920 – February 1, 2009) was an American historian, author, and educator.

Ruth McCue Bell Graham (June 10, 1920 – June 14, 2007) was a Chinese-born American Christian author, most well known as the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. She was born in Qingjiang, Jiangsu, Republic of China, the second of five children. Her parents, Virginia Leftwich Bell and L. Nelson Bell, were medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles (480 km) north of Shanghai. At age 13 she was enrolled in Pyeng Yang Foreign School in Pyongyang, Korea, where she studied for three years. She completed her high school education at Montreat, North Carolina, while her parents were there on furlough. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.
The Grahams met at Wheaton College and were married in the summer of 1943, shortly after their graduation. Ruth Graham became a minister's wife for a brief period in Western Springs, Illinois. She lived out the rest of her life in Montreat, North Carolina. The Grahams have five children: Virginia (Gigi), Anne, Ruth, Franklin, and Nelson Edman (Ned), 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.
Graham wrote a number of books, including some co-authored with her daughter Gigi Graham.

James Willis Hensley (April 12, 1920 – June 21, 2000) was an American businessman in the beer industry.
Hensley was born in Texas and moved to Arizona during his youth. He was a bombardier on B-17 Flying Fortresses during World War II and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he was convicted of illegal distribution of liquor and was also involved in a racetrack operation that was investigated by authorities.
He founded Hensley & Co. in 1955. Headquartered in Phoenix, it grew to become one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributorships in the nation. One of Arizona's richest men at the time of his death, Hensley was the father of Cindy Hensley McCain and the father-in-law of United States Senator and 2000 and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain.

Pedro Cano (June 19, 1920 – June 24, 1952) was a Mexican-American World War II veteran who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat near Schevenhütte, Germany in December 1944.
Cano was born in La Morita, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He moved to the United States into the small community of Edinburg, Texas, when he was 2 months old. There he served as a farm laborer until he volunteered to serve in the Army during World War II. As a private, he was deployed to the European theater to serve with the 4th Infantry Division, where he engaged in battles both in France and in Germany. He exhibited extraordinary courage and valor in battle and later sustained injuries that left him permanently disabled. He returned to South Texas to join his wife and children and resumed his work as a farm laborer.Private Cano received two Bronze Star medals, a Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Service Cross. On March 18, 2014, the Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.After repeated requests during wartime to become a U.S. citizen and being ignored by his commanding officer due to other pressing matters, Cano finally achieved his longest-lasting ambition, to become an American citizen, in May 1946. He died six years later on June 24, 1952, at the age of 32 in a tragic automobile accident. He left a wife and three children.

Richard Louis Meier (1920 - February 26, 2007) was a US regional planner, systems theorist, scientist, urban scholar, and futurist, as well as a Professor in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California at Berkeley. He was an early thinker on sustainability in planning, and recognized as a leading figure in city planning and development. He is not related to the New York-based architect Richard Meier, whom he was often confused with.

Paul Edward Waldschmidt CSC (January 7, 1920 – October 20, 1994) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon from 1978 to 1990.

George Edward "Chips" Sobek (February 10, 1920 – April 9, 1990) was a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played with the Sheboygan Red Skins during the 1949-50 NBA season. Sobek had also played in the National Basketball League, most notably for the Toledo Jeeps.
A native of Hammond, Indiana, Sobek attended Notre Dame, where he earned All-American status in 1941, as chosen by Madison Square Garden, although he did not make the consensus team. After graduating from Notre Dame, he would also play a season with the Naval Station Great Lakes while under service with them.
Sobek also played professional baseball, spending three years in the minor leagues. With the 1946 Superior Blues, he led Northern League second basemen in fielding percentage (.964), double plays (61), putouts (353) and assists (322). He hit .308/~.368/.371. In 1948, he hit .297 for the Hot Springs Bathers and had a brief tenure with the Waterloo White Hawks. In 1949, he hit .244 for Superior to conclude his playing career.Sobek was later a Chicago White Sox scout from 1950 to 1984, signing Denny McLain (most notably), Steve Trout, and Mike Squires. He also managed several seasons in the Sox organization. He also scouted for the San Francisco Giants from 1985 to 1988.Sobek was the athletic director and baseball coach at Thornton Fractional High School in Calumet City, Illinois, for 26 years and he directed the White Sox Boys Camp in Chilton, Wisconsin.Sobek also was a longtime college basketball referee, notably for the Big Ten Conference. He was an official in at least one small college championship contest.

Earl Irvin West (May 18, 1920, Carmel, Indiana – February 4, 2011, Memphis, Tennessee) was a historian of the Restoration Movement. He was known for his multivolume work Search for the Ancient Order, published incrementally from 1949 to 1993. He was baptized by Hugo McCord in 1935. A graduate of Butler University, he received his Ph.D in American History at Indiana University. Although he lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was the minister for two different congregations, he also served for many years as professor of church history at Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tennessee, now Harding School of Theology, commuting once a week to Memphis. West founded Religious Book Service.