The year in review: Influential people who have died in 2026

Emmy-winning comic actor Catherine O’Hara is among the noteworthy and influential people who died in the first month of this year.

Her career was launched with the Second City comedy group in Toronto. But O’Hara is best known for her roles as Macaulay Culkin’s mother in the first two “Home Alone” movies and as the dramatically ditzy matriarch Moira Rose in the TV series “Schitt’s Creek.”

January also saw the death of notorious CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, whose betrayal of Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia is considered among the most damaging intelligence breaches in U.S. history. The secrets he divulged were blamed for the executions of Western agents and were a major setback to the CIA during the Cold War.

Others who died in January include South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki, Grateful Dead band member Bob Weir, “Dilbert” comic strip creator Scott Adams and Italian designer Valentino Garavani.

Here is a roll call of some influential figures who have died this year (the cause of death is cited, if available):

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JANUARY