From a hot dog vendor to head of the formidable mercenary army Wagner Group, his rise through Russian society could easily be described as meteoric. But it all came to a sudden end when the plane carrying him and others mysteriously exploded. The Aug. 23 death of Yevgeny Prigozhin put an exclamation point on what had already been an eventful year for the brutal mercenary leader. But he was just one of many noteworthy people who died in 2023. The world also said goodbye to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who died Nov. 29. Another notable figure who died this year was former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter.
