1968: Martin Luther King Jr
1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower
1970 - Jimi Hendrix
1971: Georgy Dobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov - the crew of Soyuz 11
1972: J. Edgar Hoover
1973: Lyndon B. Johnson
1974: Bud Abbott
1975: Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate and second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy.
1976: Sal Mineo
1977: Groucho Marx
1978: Terry Kath, American rock musician
“Don’t worry, it’s not loaded…”
1979: John Wayne
1980 - John Lennon
1981 : Richard Boone, Navy gunner (torpedo bombers, WW II) and actor
1982: John Belushi
1983: Meyer Lansky
Which surprised me. He was a notorious figure from the thirties so I hadn’t realized he was still around in the eighties.
1984: Michel Foucault, French philosopher, died of AIDS
1985: Roger Maris, who hit a then-record 61 home runs for the Yankees in 1961.
1986: Cliff Burton, bassist for Metallica
1987: Budd Dwyer
Dwyer was a politician who had been convicted of accepting bribes. He committed suicide by shooting himself at a press conference.