Obituaries

Neil Thomson: champion for Aboriginal Australians

Keira James 4:39 PM Neil John Thomson, born September 14, 1942; died January 24, 2016.

Private Secretary to Duke of Edinburgh mixed Prince Philip's martini with his finger

4:36 PM Private secretary to Prince Philip took the position on condition his black Labrador could share the office

Ravenswood headmistress of 25 years with an undiminished zest for life

9:40 PM Ravenswood headmistress with a passion for travel, fundraising and girls' education

Viktor Korchnoi, chess grandmaster who defected

Russian chess grandmaster known as Viktor the Terrible who became a pawn in the Cold War.

Shaffer brought magic to the theatre with Amadeus and Equus

Playwright Peter Shaffer produced many dramatic - and cinematic - triumphs, including Equus and Amadeus.

Muhammad Ali: Boxing great lived up to the hype

Muhammad Ali 1942-2016

Talent behind the camera for many box-office hits

Vilmos Szigmond was listed in the top-10 most influential cinematographers of all time by the Camera Guild.

Publisher was a champion of the obscure and the foreign until they became fashionable

Publisher David Owen was a champion of the obscure, the neglected, the modern, the foreign, the difficult and the downright unpopular.

Politician used hunger strikes to campaign for change

Marco Pannella was a political provocateur and a co-founder and long-time leader of Italy's Radical Party.

Businessman took his class act around the world and to a wide variety of industries

Clare Warburton Arthur Warburton was raised by poor parents and lived for a time in an empty railway carriage, but went on to Cambridgeand became a businessman.

Muhammad Ali, titan of boxing and the 20th century, dies at 74

Robert Lipsyte Muhammad Ali, the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic and controversial sports figure of the 20th century, died Friday. He was 74.

ABC pioneer who went on to direct The Avengers and Upstairs Downstairs

Director who revelled in the creative organisation and complexity of the studio

Equestrian athlete with caring heart

Billie Jayde Kinder made the most of far too brief 12 years.

In Passing

Seafarer and trade union leader helped shape Australia as a country of 'the fair go'

PATRICK GERAGHTY, Seafarer and Trade Union Leader

Refugee historian explored the fragility of freedom

Emily Langer Fritz Stern fled Nazi Germany as a boy and became a leading historian of the land he left behind.

'Touching the mantle of creativity'

For Ruth Galene, dancing was as natural and as necessary as breathing.

Connie Kopelov, married in first same sex wedding in New York

Connie Kopelov, whose wedding to Phyllis Siegel in 2011 was the first legal same sex marriage in New York City

Carla Lane, the most successful woman writer in British TV comedy

Carla Lane created The Liver Birds, Butterflies and Bread, classic television sitcoms that crowned her the most successful woman writer in British television comedy.