May 17, 2014

2014Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929)^[†]

Gerald Maurice Edelman was an American biologist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system. Edelman's Nobel Prize-winning research concerned discovery of the structure of antibody molecules. In interviews, he has said that the way the components of the immune system evolve over the life of the individual is analogous to the way the components of the brain evolve in a lifetime. There is a continuity in this way between his work on the immune system, for which he won the Nobel Prize, and his later work in neuroscience and in philosophy of mind.

2014C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (born 1922)^[†]

Captain Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair was an Indian businessman who founded The Leela Group. He was a 2010 recipient of the Padma Bhushan, given by Government of India. He was sometimes popularly known as Captain Nair due to his service in the Indian Army.

2014Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (born 1944)^[†]

Lieutenant general Douangchay Phichit was a Laotian politician from Attapeu and a Politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense.

2014Thongbanh Sengaphone, Laotian politician (born 1953)^[†]

Thongbanh Sengaphone was a Laotian politician and member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP). He served as Minister of Public Security and held seats in the LPRP's Central Committee and the Secretariat.