Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Age: 76

Summary: atheist activist who was such a controversial figure that in 1964 Life magazine called her "the most hated woman in America", who was one of the litigants in the case of Murray vs. Curlett, which led the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1953 decision to ban organized prayer in public schools and made her by far the country's most famous atheist, who founded the group American Atheists in 1963 and remained its leading spokesperson for three decades, appearing on TV and radio to promote the separation of church and state (and often caustically ridiculing belief in God), who published books over time including What On Earth Is an Atheist? (1969), Freedom Under Siege (1974) and An Atheist Epic (1989), who kept active in atheist affairs until she and two of her adult children vanished in 1995 after leaving a note saying they would be away temporarily, but one private investigator concluded that they had fled to New Zealand after the trio appeared to have taken with them at least $500,000 in American Atheists funds.

Cause of Death: Murdered by dismemberment

Born: April 13, 1919

Died: September 29, 1995

Location: San Antonio, Texas