1941 births

Kenneth Wayne Brewer (November 28, 1941 – March 15, 2006) was an American poet and longtime scholar who resided in Utah, where he served as Poet Laureate. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he attended Butler University and Western New Mexico University in the 1960s, then earned a master's degree in English literature from New Mexico State University, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Utah, where he worked with Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Taylor, in 1973. Since that time he taught a wide variety of courses at Utah State University, concentrating on mentoring creative writers at the graduate level, while publishing prolifically and speaking extensively. He died after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ronald Eugene Andersen (May 26, 1941 – July 3, 1997) was an American bridge player. He won 11 "national"-rated events at North American Bridge Championships, thrice-annual 10-day meets organized by the American Contract Bridge League, where he became known best as a superior live commentator in the vugraph room.
Andersen was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and studied at the University of Iowa before beginning a professional bridge career. Eventually he owned a seat on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and he died in a Chicago hospital at age 56.Andersen finally became a favorite commentator for European Bridge League and World Bridge Federation championships, as well as major ACBL tournaments. In the month before his death, June 1997, he worked the European Championships in Italy, from which he was flown home to Chicago after suffering two strokes in consequence of kidney failure.Andersen co-wrote seven books related to the Precision Club bidding system with C. C. Wei, inventor of the system, or Kathie Wei.Andersen and Sabine Zenkel traveled the world as a partnership during 1991–1992, based in Chicago. They also wrote a book, Preempts from A to Z (1993; 2nd, 1996).

Sidney Carne Wolff (born 1941) is an American astrophysicist, researcher, public educator, and author. She is the first woman in the United States to head a major observatory, and she provided significant contributions to the construction of six telescopes. Wolff served as Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). She is a member of the International Astronomical Union's Division G: Stars and Stellar Physics.

Claude Patterson (born July 8, 1941) is an American retired professional wrestler, ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted by the National Wrestling Alliance for repeated appearances with independent promotions, complaints of institutional racism and attempts to form a wrestlers' labor union.

Craig L. Berkman (born August 12, 1941) is an American venture capitalist and a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was known as a major donor in national Republican circles. He chaired the Oregon Republican Party in the early 1990s, opposing the far right Oregon Citizens Alliance. He ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1993 and for Governor of Oregon in 1996, losing the former race to Haley Barbour and the latter to Denny Smith in the primary election.Berkman served as Oregon's state Republican Party chairman from 1989 to 1993 and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor of Oregon in 1994.He was arrested in March 2013 in the Tampa, Florida suburb of Odessa, where he has a $3.94 million home, on charges of selling pre-IPO shares of Facebook.In June 2013, Berkman pleaded guilty to securities and wire fraud at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. On December 16, 2013, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and will be required to repay $8.4 million to investors.

Alexander William Monteath (22 May 1941 – 9 March 2021) was a Scottish television actor and broadcaster. He was best known for playing the part of crofter Dougal Lachlan in Take the High Road from 1980 until 1992.Monteath was born in Doune, Perthshire on 22nd May 1941. He was a graduate of the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art and went on to act at leading Scottish theatres (including Kilmarnock, Pitlochry and Perth) before entering broadcasting. His wife, Caroline Grant, was also an actress. His son David Monteath has also been an actor on Coronation Street, Dramarama, Take the High Road and Endeavour amongst various other TV shows and films.Monteath's earliest acting appearances on TV were in a half-hour drama for St. Andrew's Day called Rory Aforesaid in 1961, where he appeared as a extra alongside Hannah Gordon followed by guest roles in episodes of Witch Wood and Judith Paris (both 1964) and appeared in an episode of Scottish Playbill as a TV announcer in 1966.Monteath joined Scottish Television as an continuity announcer and newsreader in 1964, After doing some relief announcing for the first two years, Monteath was brought in as STV's new weekday announcer in the autumn season of 1966, then joined the announcing team at BBC Scotland in 1969 - in addition to his announcing and newsreading duties on TV and radio, Monteath presented some radio shows on Radio 4 Scotland, including a weekly lunchtime show 'Twelve Noon' in the early 1970s.After a spell working at Pitlochry Festival Theatre (1973 - 1978), Monteath returned to acting in the late 1970s, some of his TV credits include appearances in The Omega Factor (1979); Grange Hill (1996); Taggart (1997); and Monarch in the Glen (2000), but he is perhaps best known as one of the original characters – Dougal Lachlan – in STV’s Take the High Road, a role he played for 12 years (1980 – 1992).
In January 1992, it was announced that his character would be retired from Take the High Road. Monteath said he was "paying the price for one too many rows with the series' scriptwriters".In November 2021, it was announced by Equity that Monteath had died. His death occurred in Balfron, Stirlingshire on 9 March, at the age of 79.

Gordon Alan Gebert Jr. (born October 17, 1941) is an American former child actor, architect, and professor predominantly known for playing Janet Leigh's son in Holiday Affair and for smaller roles. In adulthood, he trained as an architect and has taught at the City College of New York.

Yvan Ylieff (Bulgarian: Иван Илиев, Ivan Iliev; born 8 March 1941) is a Belgian politician of the Francophone Socialist Party.
Ylieff was born in Verviers, Liège, to a Bulgarian emigrant family. He graduated in history before engaging in politics. In 1973, he was elected mayor of the municipality of Dison, a position he held until 2018. From 1974 to 1995, he was a member of Belgian Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the Belgian Federal Parliament. In 1988–1989, he was a Minister of National Education of Belgium; from 1989 to 1992, he served as the French Community of Belgium's Minister of Culture and Higher Education. In 1995–1999, he was federal Minister of Scientific Policy and from 1999 to 2003 he was Government Commissioner of Scientific Issues.

Joseph Gonzales (born 6 August 1941) is a boxer from France.
He competed for France in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, in the light-middleweight event where he finished in second place.

Nancy Farmer (born 1941) is an American writer of children's and young adult books and science fiction. She has written three Newbery Honor Books and won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The House of the Scorpion, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2002.