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Nicolette Goulet was born on 5 June 1956 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for Ryan's Hope (1975), A Walk with Death (1993) and As the World Turns (1956). She was married to Tim Fowlar. She died on 17 April 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Danny Federici was born on 23 January 1950 in Flemington, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Confessions of an Action Star (2005), Christmas Evil (1980) and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: War (1986). He was married to Maya Federici. He died on 17 April 2008 in New York City, New York, USA.

Neena was an actress, known for Aya Sawan Jhoom Ke (1969), Bharosa (1963) and Shehar Se Door (1972). She was married to Tolaram Jalan. She died on 17 April 2008 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Aimé Césaire was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique. His father, Fernand Elphège, managed a sugar estate, though he was educated as a teacher. His mother, Eléonore, was a seamstress. In order to gain access to better education, his family moved to Martinique's capital, Fort-de-France, where Aimé attended the Lycée Schoelcher. He excelled as a student and was granted a scholarship at age 18 to study in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he met Léopold Senghor. Along with Léon Damas, Césaire's classmate from the Lycée Schoelcher, Césaire and Senghor founded the student publication L'Etudiant noir, a literary review that focused on black literature from Africa and the West Indies. This publication laid the foundation for the "negritude" movement. Césaire began writing his poem "Cahier d'un retour au pays natal" in 1936, and it was first published in 1939.

In 1937, Césaire married his classmate Suzanne Roussi, with whom he ultimately had four sons and two daughters. The two moved back to Martinique with their first son in 1939, and both took jobs teaching at the Lycée Schoelcher. During this time, Césaire was sent to Haiti as a cultural ambassador, and there he lectured on French poetry. He and his wife founded the literary review Tropiques in 1941, which dealt with Martinican identity. Around this time he also became close friends with French surrealist André Breton, who encouraged Césaire to incorporate surrealism into his writing and political spheres. A member of the communist party, Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France and deputy in the French National Assembly in 1945. He helped to draft the 1946 law that began departmentalization of former French colonies. Césaire maintained his position in the communist party until 1956, when the Soviet Union's suppression of the Hungarian revolution led to his leaving the party. In 1958 he founded the Parti Progressiste Matriniquais, or Martinican Progressive Party. He ultimately retired from French politics in 1993, though he remained mayor of Fort-de-France until 2001 (he had held the position since 1945, minus a short period from 1983-1984). Césaire died on April 18, 2008 at the age of 94.

In trying to conceptualize the impact Césaire had on the country and people of Martinique, perhaps it is easiest simply to look at the number of attendees of his funeral procession in Martinique, united in both mourning Aimé's passing and in celebrating his achievements. A short video of a section of the procession can be found by clicking the link below.

Mikhail Tanich was a Russian poet-songwriter known for such hits as "Black cat" and "Komarovo" among other popular songs.

He was born Mikhail Isaevich Tankhilevich on 15 September 1923, in Taganrog, Soviet Union (now Taganrog, Russia). His father, Isaiah Tankhilevich, was executed by the gunshot under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin; at the same time, his mother was imprisoned. Young Tanich was raised by his grandfather; he graduated from high school in June 1941, when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in WWII. He became an artillery officer, fought against the Nazis on the Belorussian Front, and was decorated for his courage in battles, ending the war near Berlin, on the river Elbe. After the war he studied architecture. At that time Tanich praised the advancements of the Western technology and mentioned that the German radio made by Telefunken was better than a Soviet-made radio. For that comment Tanich was arrested in 1947, and imprisoned in Solikamsk Gulag camp in Siberia. There he served 6 years until the death of Stalin in 1953.

Tanich made his first publications in the 1950s, during the cultural Thaw under Nikita Khrushchev. He shot to fame with his songwriting debut, "Tekstilny Gorodok," a popular song of the 60s, co-written with the composer Yan Frenkel. At that time, Tanich became part of the Moscow cultural milieu among such figures as Bulat Okudzhava, Klavdia Shulzhenko, Nikita Bogoslovskiy, Vladimir Shainsky, Oskar Feltsman, Arkadi Ostrovsky, Yuriy Saulskiy, and Igor Nikolayev, among others. His songs were sung by such Russian singers as Iosif Kobzon, Eduard Khil, Muslim Magomayev, Maia Kristalinskaya, Edita Pekha, Alla Pugachyova, Alena Apina, Valeriy Leontev and Larisa Dolina.

In 1990 Tanich became the founding member of the popular Russian band, Lesopoval. He co-wrote about a hundred songs for the band, making it a successful show and recording project during the 1990s and 2000s. He also collaborated with the younger generation of Russian singers, such as Igor Nikolaev, Arkadi Ukupnik, and Viacheslav Malezhik.

Mikhail Tanich was a member of the Union of Soviet and Russian Writers, and the author of 15 books. He received numerous awards and decorations from the Russian and Soviet state, including the "Ovation" National Prize (1997), and was designated Honorable Cultural Figure of Russia (2001). He died of a kidney cancer on 17 April, 2008, at the Botkin Hospital in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Vagankovskoe Cemetery, in Moscow, Russia.

Durwood Bloomgren was born on 12 March 1933. He was an actor, known for South Pacific (1958). He died on 17 April 2008 in Stanley, North Carolina, USA.

Marcel Godin was born on 10 March 1932 in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. Marcel was a writer, known for O.K. Shérif (1967) and Bidule de Tarmacadam (1969). Marcel died on 17 April 2008 in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Clifford H. Poland Jr. was born on 1 August 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for Everglades! (1961), Around the World Under the Sea (1966) and Hello Down There (1969). He died on 17 April 2008 in Johnson City, Tennessee, USA.

Gwyneth Dunwoody was born on 12 December 1930 in Fulham, London, England, UK. She was married to Dr. John Dunwoody. She died on 17 April 2008 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.