Before we get started, it has to be mentioned that Alzheimer is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of memory and other mental capacities.
Alzheimer is one of those diseases that is terminal and doesn’t have any cure so far, it is also denominated as a form of dementia. The average age to be diagnosed is 65 years old, but in some cases, people can develop it at an early age of 40.
Here we are going to share some of the famous personalities around the world who have developed this undesirable disease:
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965): well known for being the British Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, suffered from Alzheimer and died at the age of 91 (pretty long life after all).
- Elwyn Brooks White (1899-1985): leading American author, poet, and essayist creator of “The Elements of a Writer” other things, died after a tough fight against Alzheimer in his farm home.
- Sir Rudolph Bing (1902-1997): was a businessman and “Knight” decorated by Isabel II in 1971 and also general manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera.
- Otto Preminger (1906-1986): Austrian producer, actor, and director nominated the best director at least twice in his lifetime, died because of his Alzheimer.
- William Hanna (1910-2000): director of many cartoons classics such as “Flintstones”, “Secret Squirrel”, “Jetsons”,
“Scooby-Doo” among others. Although he had Alzheimer, the reason of his death was throat cancer.
- Princess Juliana (Netherlands) (1910-2004): at a young age she said that she would have preferred to be a social worker because she liked to spend her time with the sick, needy children, and even handicapped. With the progression of her disease due to memory loss, she couldn’t recognize her own family.
- Ronald Reagan (1911-2004): 40th American president was the oldest man elected for the duty of president in the presidential period for (1980-1988). After battling 10 years with Alzheimer, he died. His mother and brother also died because of the disease.
- Sugar Ray Robinson (1921-1989): the boxing champion and Muhammad Ali idol died at the age of 67. He was first diagnosed with diabetes and in the last years of his life was diagnosed with Alzheimer.
- Charles Bronson (1921-2003): legendary American actor known for playing roles in the movies as a “tough man” suffered for over 10 years with the disease, although his reason of death was pneumonia.
- Floyd Patterson (1935-2006): was a heavyweight American boxing champion suffered Alzheimer and died due to prostate cancer.
- Gene Wilder (1933-2016): better known as the first Willy Wonka was an American actor who died from complications with Alzheimer, despite it, he could still recognize his family members.
There are plenty sad cases of famous people who had suffered and are suffering from this terrible disease. One interesting fact about it is that every 72 seconds somebody in the world develops Alzheimer. Being said that by the time you end up reading this, many people have already developed it.
