Fontaine Maury Maverick Jr. (January 3, 1921 – January 28, 2003) was an American lawyer, politician, activist, and columnist from the U.S. state of Texas. A member of the prominent Maverick family, he was the great-grandson of Samuel Maverick, the rancher who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and famously refused to brand his cattle, and the son of Maury Maverick Sr., a two-term member of the United States House of Representatives.
Henryk Jan Jabłoński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈxɛnrɨk jaˈbwɔɲskʲi]; 27 December 1909 – 27 January 2003) was a Polish historian and politician. After 1948, he became a politician of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party, as well as a historian and professor at Warsaw University. He served as head of state of the People's Republic of Poland between 1972 and 1985.
Walter Valdi (stage name of Walter Pinnetti; 20 August 1930 – 13 October 2003) was an Italian singer, songwriter, author and actor of several songs and theatrical pieces in Milanese Dialect.
He was born in Cavenago Brianza and died in Milan.
Irena Jurgielewiczowa (née Drozdowicz; 13 January 1903 – 25 May 2003) was a Polish teacher and writer of children's literature and young adult literature. During World War II she was an underground teacher, member of Armia Krajowa, and participant of the Warsaw Uprising. After the war she was a lecturer at the University of Warsaw.
She is best known for Ten obcy (That Stranger, 1961) and Inna.
Thomas Savage (April 25, 1915 – July 25, 2003) was an American author of novels published between 1944 and 1988. He is best known for his Western novels, which drew on early experiences in the American West.
Marcella Pobbe (13 July 1921 - 17 June 2003) was an Italian operatic soprano who sang a wide range of roles in both the lyric and spinto repertory.Pobbe was born in Montegalda near Vicenza, where she studied with Elena Fava, and later entered the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, where she studied with Rinalda Pavoni. She also studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Giorgio Favaretto. She made her stage debut in Spoleto, as Gounod's Marguerite, in 1949, and the same year, first appeared at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where she was to appear regularly until 1973.
She made her debut at the Rome Opera in 1954, in the title role of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, and at La Scala in 1955, as Bathseba in the premiere of Darius Milhaud's David. She appeared at the Baths of Caracalla in 1957, as Mathilde in Guglielmo Tell, and in 1959 as Elsa in Lohengrin. She also sang at most major opera houses in Italy, Venice, Parma, Bologna, Florence, Mantua, Palermo, etc., as well as on Italian radio and television.
On the international scene, she made guest appearances at the Monte Carlo Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Liceo in Barcelona. In North America, she sang at the Philadelphia Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, for a few performances of Marguerite and Mimi during the 1958-59 season.
Her repertory also included; Agathe, Eva, Countess Almaviva, Micaela, Leonora, Maria, Amelia, Desdemona, Maddalena, Tosca, Adriana, Francesca, etc. She can be heard on record as Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele, opposite Ferruccio Tagliavini and Giulio Neri, and in two recitals of arias, which reveal a singer with a voice of considerable beauty and refinement. For Italian television in the 1950s, she appeared in several productions, notably Le nozze di Figaro, Un ballo in maschera and Adriana Lecouvreur, one of her most celebrated roles.
Pobbe went on performing until the late 1970s, and then became a music critic for Vicenza Gazzettino. In 2000, she published a series of interviews she had made with conductors. She died in Milan.
Ann Petersen (22 June 1927 – 11 December 2003) was a Belgian actress.She was especially noted for her roles in Home Sweet Home, Pauline & Paulette, the children's serial Samson & Gert, and Captain Zeppos, Wij, Heren van Zichem and Thuis.
Roberto Murolo (19 January 1912 – 13 March 2003) was an Italian musician.
Leif Vetlesen (7 August 1921 – 18 May 2003) was a Norwegian sailor, political worker, organizational worker and writer.
He was born in Kristiania as a son of engineer Alf Vetlesen (1878–1963) and teacher Aagot Bugge (1881–1967). He was a great-grandson of Frederik Moltke Bugge. He finished his secondary education at Oslo Cathedral School in 1939, and then went to sea. He was going to return to land after one year, but when Norway was involved in World War II in April 1940, their merchant fleet became a crucial asset in the war and Vetlesen stayed. He worked at sea for several years, but while hospitalized with jaundice in Cardiff, he became involved with the British Communist Party. As he became known as a good speaker, he was hired in the trade union Norwegian Seafarers' Union in 1944.After the war he launched a campaign for better treatment of war sailors, but his agitation led to him being fired from the union in 1947. In 1949 he was also excluded from the Young Communist League of Norway. His marriage since 1943 to Lorna Dilys Peaty also ended in 1949; in 1951 he married Vesla Gunvor Hansen. After the Soviet invasion of Hungary he renounced Communism and joined the Norwegian Labour Party together with his wife.Vetlesen held various jobs, both as a manual worker and electoral campaigner for the Labour Party, before being hired as information director in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. He remained here until 1982 except for three years from 1968 to 1971 in Uganda. From 1982 to 1985 he was secretary-general of Amnesty International Norway. His wife was a government minister from 1986 to 1988.Vetlesen's former work for war sailors was taken up by Thore Horve during the 1960s, and led to an ex gratia monetary payment to sailors in 1972. Vetlesen released several books about the topic, including Sjøfolkenes kamp for det hemmelige fond (1949), Reis ingen monumenter. Kampen om Nortraships hemmelige fond (1981), Med døden i kjølvannet. Av en krigsseilers saga (1989) and Syv fortellinger fra Norges krig på havet (with others, 1993). He also wrote two books about the Communist Party and Peder Furubotn. He was decorated with the HM The King's Medal of Merit in gold in 1997, and died in May 2003 in Oslo.
Willy Christian Simonsen (13 September 1913 – 4 December 2003) was a Norwegian engineer and business founder.
He was born in Kristiania as a son of chemist Einar Simonsen (1867–1918) and Alice Sophia Andersen (1877–1969). He finished his secondary education at Hegdehaugen School in 1933, and graduated in electrical engineering from the Dresden University of Technology in 1938. He worked as an engineer for Elektrisk Bureau and Chr. Michelsen Institute. During the German occupation of Norway from 1940 he was involved in the Norwegian resistance movement where he cooperated with fellow engineers Odd Dahl and Helmer H. Dahl to wiretap German forces. This was discovered and Simonsen was arrested by Gestapo, but admitted to Ullevål Hospital from which he escaped. He fled to the United Kingdom, where he started working in the Radio Production Unit of the British War Office. He developed the shortwave radio "Sweetheart".He was hired as a technical consultant for the Norwegian High Command after the war. In 1947 he started the company Simonsen Radio in Oslo, and in 1957 the company Simonsen & Mustad followed in Horten. He received initial capital from Halfdan and John Mustad. The brand name Simrad became known in the communications business, and was leading in echo sounding equipment. He backed out of these companies in 1968 and started Simonsen Elektro (in Oslo) in 1970 and Simonsen Elektro Løkken (in Løkken Verk). These companies produced automatic cell phones, in the NMT 450 system, and were leading in the Norwegian market until the 1980s.Simonsen was decorated with the Defence Medal 1940–1945, the UK Defence Medal, the Haakon VII 70th Anniversary Medal and the Order of St. Olav, and has received the Reginald Fessenden Award. He died in December 2003.