1969 deaths

Willy Røgeberg (1 December 1905 – 15 December 1969) was a Norwegian rifle shooter who competed before and after World War II. He won two Olympic medals. He won his first olympic medal in 50 m Rifle, prone at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. After the war he won a bronze medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, this time in 300 m Rifle, Three positions. He also won several medals in the ISSF World Shooting Championships.After his Olympic medal in 1936 he started his own guns and sporting equipment business in Oslo.
During the Second World War German occupation of Norway, Røgeberg was arrested by the Germans on 29 May 1942 on weapons related charges. He spent the period 29 May – 5 October 1942 incarcerated at Møllergata 19, then 5 October 1942 to 22 December 1943 as prisoner no. 4776 at Grini concentration camp.

Clemente Ruiz Nazario (November 23, 1896 in San Germán, Puerto Rico – December 25, 1969), was the first Puerto Rican appointed as District Judge to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

General de División Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez (6 October 1903 – 4 July 1969) was a military aviator and head of the Mexican Air Force. As a Colonel he made a goodwill flight of several countries in Latin America. He traveled almost 35,000 km in 118 hours of flight time aboard a Lockheed 12, named "President Carranza" returning to Mexico City on September 13, 1940. He commanded the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (FAEM), who participated in World War II at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines. The FAEM is notable as the only Mexican military unit ever to fight outside Mexico itself. Ixtepec No. 2 Air Base in Ixtepec, Oaxaca is named in honour of General Cárdenas Rodríguez.
Rodríguez Cárdenas retired from the Mexican Air Force with the rank of Divisional General.

Margarita Xirgu Subirá (18 June 1888, Molins de Rei, Barcelona, Spain – 25 April 1969, Montevideo, Uruguay), also Margarida Xirgu, was a Spanish stage actress, who was greatly popular throughout her country and Latin America. A friend of the poet Federico García Lorca, she was forced into exile during Francisco Franco's dictatorship of Spain, but continued her work in America. Notable plays in which she appeared include Como tú me Deseas, La casa de Bernarda Alba, and Mariana Pineda.
An opera, Ainadamar, by the composer Osvaldo Golijov and playwright David Henry Hwang, based on Xirgu's life and her association with Lorca, was premiered in 2003. A recording of the work released in 2006 on the Deutsche Grammophon label (Catalog #642902) won the 2007 Grammy awards for Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Best Opera Recording.

Pastora Pavón Cruz, known as La Niña de los Peines (10 February 1890 – 26 November 1969), is considered the most important woman flamenco singer of the 20th century. She was a sister of singers Arturo Pavón and Tomás Pavón, also an important flamenco singer, and aunt to Arturo Pavón, the first flamenco pianist. Both brothers, Pastora and Tomás, together with singer Manuel Torre, were the inspiring models for the next generation of singers like Antonio Mairena, Pepe de la Matrona or Fosforito, who led the movement towards the revival of traditional forms in the decades of the 1950s-1970s.

Oscar Garcia Rivera Sr. (November 6, 1900 – February 14, 1969) was a politician, lawyer and activist. Garcia Rivera made history when in 1937 he became the first Puerto Rican to be elected to public office in the continental United States. In 1956, he also became the first Puerto Rican to be nominated as the Republican candidate for Justice of the City Court.

José Gaos (26 December 1900, Gijón, Spain – 10 June 1969, Mexico City) was a Spanish philosopher who obtained political asylum in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War and became one of the most important Mexican philosophers of the 20th century. He was a member of the Madrid School.

Édouard Duhour (1 March 1905 – 21 November 1969) was a French shot putter. He competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics and finished in 11th place. His younger brother Clément competed in the shot put and discus throw at the next Games.

Angelo Louis Marie Hesnard (or Angel Marie Louis Hesnard; 22 May 1886, Pontivy – 17 April 1969, Rochefort) was a French born psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and was an important figure in 1930s French sexology.

Gabriel Chevallier (3 May 1895 – 6 April 1969) was a French novelist widely known as the author of the satire Clochemerle. He is also known for Fear (La Peur), a novel about the World War I.