[SunkenCiv]

Living longer would mean disturbance to the complex chain of events that have led to all of us being here to have this conversation, so it's just lucky this is a moot topic. Probably should start this in reverse order, because my first one (the first one that comes to mind) would likely have so altered the next few centuries that the others wouldn't have been born, or at the very least, wouldn't have wound up in the appropriate circumstances.

1. Alexander the Great
2. Basil II "the Bulgar Slayer"
3. King Aethelstan

[Skooz]

Schubert
Mendelssohn
Mozart

[NRx]

Czar Alexander II of Russia and Frederick III of Germany. Both of these men were bent on reforming their respective countries. And both died prematurely, Alexander from an assassin and Frederick from cancer. If either or both of these men had lived normal life expectancies the terrible and bloody history of the 20th century might have been very different.

[King Moonracer]

Lee Atwater

[Yogafist]

Tony Snow
John Adam’s
Jim Croce

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Patton, Scalia, my mom

[sparklite2]

Franz Kafka
Natalie Wood
Ricard Wagner

[Lopeover]

Martin Luther King, Andrew Breitbart & Seth Rich

[farming pharmer]

1) WWII vets who died while Obama was still in office. "We fought for this?"

2)Osama bin Laden - so we could waterboarded the hell out of him.

3) John Bonahm

4) Dr. Hajwatalla, my pharmaceutics professor. Student:"This is so complicated, where do we start?" Professor's answer:"You...must start at the beginning".

5) My grandfather on my mom's side.

6) My grandfather on my dad's side - died at 47 of lung cancer in the early sixties, before better treatments were available.

[gaijin]

Andrew Breitbart.

[Nothingburger]

Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn

[BulletBobCo]

Vince Foster, Ron Brown and Seth Rich.

[Bonemaker]

Dying “young” gets more relative the older one gets. All on the list died younger than I am now,

Here’s a few quickies...

1. Glenn Miller
2. Lou Gehrig
3. Walter Payton
4. Richie Valens
5, Lem Winchester
6. Buddy Holly
7. Amelia Earhart
8. Chief Joseph
9. Alexander the Great
10. Elvis Presley
11. Peter Sellers
12. Marilyn Monroe
13. Cochise
14, Ernst Rommel
15. Dwight Eisenhower

And tens of thousands more.

[OttawaFreeper]

Agree with the Freeper who suggested Barbara Olson. I will add my grandfather who died of asbestos related cancer (same type as what killed Steve McQueen) at age 75 in 1984.

Maybe it is not a person, but I wonder if the large archive of videotapes and film cans that NBC had by about 1975 or thereabouts and was chucked and destroyed for the most part on the orders of some silly woman who was in charge of programming there at that time could be included here. The colour videotapes of the 1960s Match Game and other game shows, variety programming, soap operas, and other things that featured early appearances by actors and actresses who were later famous and other precious curiosities likely should have been saved.

[Gay State Conservative]

Sorry...far too many to pick just three.But I've seen many good ones mentioned.

[timeflies]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, George VI, and Marilyn Monroe

[bigbob]

Kathy...Bobby..Eddie...I dunno, pick three:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPNqojbyIDk

[Library Lady]

John Wayne

[jy8z]

There are thousands of people who have made the world a better place to live.

These three aren't historical to any one but family members but they met the above quote.

My father.
My mother.
My youngest brother.

[ifinnegan]

Walt Disney is an obvious one.