I often love reading about famous people. Sometimes, their life's story reads like a page out of history.

It should any way - they have blazed the trail of success for others to follow. While alive, we may not know much about the details of their entire lives because only the relevant details for a specific part of their lives at a specific event is made available to the public.

When they pass away, that's when the biographers literally go to town with the entire story of their lives and achievements or failures.

August 2007 was no different, I read a few obituaries but, until today, I never knew that so many others had passed away.

Leona Helmsley passed away and gave $12 million to her dog and $5 million to her brother; Mary Astor, who gave out a total of about $200 million to charity in her lifetime; the writer John Gardner, too and many others who also had their brand of personal magic.

Do you remember anyone that meant something to you? BTW, Luciano Pavarotti, the operatic maestro, passed away this wee: Opera legend Pavarotti dies at 71
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