It's no secret that 2016 has been a rough year, as we lost many cultural giants, from David Bowie to Prince to Gwen Ifill to John Glenn to ... well, it's a hell of a list. But what makes 2016 sting all the more was how deep the losses were. While we mourned the deaths of greats who lived life in the public eye, the world also lost innovators, ground-breakers, and life-changers — people who may not have garnered as many headlines but made no less an impact during their lives. SEE ALSO: Hey 2016, here are all the times you sucked in one image Here are 14 other notable men and women who died in 2016. Richard Adams, Watership Down author Richard Adams in 1978 with his best-selling book, 'Watership Down.' Image: AP The author of well over a dozen books and stories, Richard Adams died on Dec. 24, 2016, at the age of 96. He's best known for Watership Down , the tale of a group of rabbits who undergo a fraught journey after their warren is destroyed. Adams was awarded the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for the international bestseller. Watership Down was turned into an animated film in 1978 — which spurred "Bright Eyes," a hit song for Art Garfunkel — and later an animated series on UK television. Adams completed a series of short stories that served as a sequel in 1996 and a new version of the classic will air on the BBC and Netflix in 2017. Ernestine Anderson, famed jazz singer Famed jazz singer Ernestine Anderson died in March 2016 at the age of 87, an accomplished recording artist with a career that spanned 60 years and included dozens of albums and a handful of Grammy nominations. As jazz declined in popularity in the mid-1960s, Anderson went a decade without releasing an album but had a stellar second act of a career, returning in 1977 and performing well into her 80s. While Anderson was renowned for her performances of standards, she's probably best known for the song, "Never Make Your Move Too Soon." Roscoe Brown, Jr., Tuskegee airman Photo of Roscoe Brown, Jr. from the African American Aviation Collection of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive. Image: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive/flickr Roscoe C. Brown Jr., a crucial member of the Tuskegee Airmen — the first group of African-American military pilots — passed away on July 2, 2016 at the age of 94. Brown, also a prominent college educator, was best known for his involvement in World War II, where he flew 68 combat missions as a fighter squadron commander and was credited as the first U.S. pilot to take down a German military jet. Brown was an advocate for civil rights and education throughout the years and, in 2007, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his legendary efforts, along with several other surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Mattie Colin, journalist Mattie Smith Colin, who served as a reporter and the food and fashion editor of the Chicago Defender over a 50-year career, stirs a pot during a cooking demonstration in 1985. Image: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Mattie Smith Colin, 98, was a journalist who played a large role in the growth of the Chicago Defender , one the most influential black newspapers in the United States. While she worked for the paper for over 50 years, Smith was a reporter and, later, food and fashion editor, garnering the most recognition for her coverage of the death and funeral of Emmett Till, a black Chicago teenager who was beaten to death in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with a white woman, one of the early pivotal moments of the Civil Rights movement. Denton Cooley, surgeon Surgeon Denton A. Cooley as he leaves an operating room on March 16, 1978 at the Texas Heart Institute. Image: AP photo World-renowned surgeon Denton Cooley made medical strides after performing the first-ever successful human heart transplant in the United States back in 1968. Amongst his many achievements in the world of medicine, Cooley founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962 and performed the world's first human implantation of a total artificial heart in 1969. He served as Texas Children's Hospital's first chief of cardiovascular surgery and has performed over 120,000 open heart operations with his team throughout the years. In November, Cooley passed away at 96 years old. Jack Greenberg, Civil Rights attorney Jack Greenberg, NAACP director-counsel of the Legal Defense and Educational fund, is seen at a news conference, Oct. 31, 1969, in New York. Image: Allen Green/ap photo One of the most influential civil rights lawyers in the world, Jack Greenberg is remembered best for his involvement in the history-making case, Brown v. Board of Education . As a Columbia Law School graduate, Greenberg fought to argue two of the five cases that helped successfully deem "separate but equal" unconstitutional in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, which changed the education system as we knew it. He succeeded Thurgood Marshall as Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, and fought for freedom and equality in over forty cases before the Supreme Court throughout the course of his life. Greenberg passed away in October at the age of 91. Ruth Gruber, photojournalist An outstanding journalist, lecturer and photographer, Ruth Gruber documented and assisted in a Holocaust rescue back in the 1940s, when she escorted around 1,000 Jewish Holocaust refugees from Europe to the United States. Gruber worked for the New York Herald Tribune in 1947 and witnessed a ship carrying around 4,000 Holocaust survivors being turned away from Palestine and photographed the refugees. Her powerful photography was used to help Leon Uris write his best-selling historical novel Exodus . Above is a trailer for Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber , a 2009 documentary reflecting on the remarkable life of the Brooklyn native who died Nov. 17, 2016 at the age of 105. Zaha Hadid, renowned architect First woman to receive Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Zaha Hadid, poses Sunday, March 14, 2004, in West Hollywood, Calif. Image: Kevork Djansezian/ap photo Born in Baghdad, pioneering architect Dame Zaha Hadid was the first woman to receive the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. Known for famous and innovative designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, the Guangzhou Opera House and Glasgow's Riverside Museum, Hadid paved the way for female architects by establishing her own practice in London in 1979. She went on to receive outstanding awards including the United Kingdom's RIBA Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011 and RIBA 's Gold Medal in 2016. Hadid died this year on March 31 at the age of 65. Dr. Donald Henderson, doctor Dr. Donald A. Henderson speaks at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences about the risks of bioterrorism, Dec. 11, 2003. Image: Neemah Aaron/ap photo Dr. Henderson, a legendary American physician, educator, and epidemiologist, devoted his life to eradicating one of the world's deadliest diseases: smallpox. Henderson traveled the world for a decade to cure those affected with the smallpox vaccine, thus putting an end to the worldwide health epidemic in 1980. The genius medical mind, who passed away on Aug. 19 at 87 years old, is credited with saving millions lives over the years. Monte Irvin, baseball player In this 1952, file photo, San Francisco Giants infielder Monte Irvin poses during spring training. Image: AP photos Hall-of-famer Monte Irvin was a true trailblazer in the world of sports. Though the talented baseball player postponed his MLB career when he was drafted into the Army during World War II, he had a successful run playing with the Newark Eagles, the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs. Irvin served as a prominent African-American all-star athlete in the MLB at a time when Major League Baseball was far from diverse. He went on to help the Giants win the World Series in 1954 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. The athlete, who passed away on Jan. 11, 2016, is also remembered as part of the first all-black outfield in pro baseball, with teammates Willie Mays and Hank Thompson. Sammy Lee, Olympian Dr. Sammy Lee, U.S. Army Medical Lieutenant from Pasadena, Calif., dives from the tower of the Empire Pool in Wembley, England, August 5, 1948 in the Olympic Tower Diving Championships. Image: ap photo Lee, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning diver, made history at the 1948 Olympic Games in London by becoming the first Asian-American to ever win an Olympic gold medal and the first American to win two consecutive gold medals in Olympic platform diving. In addition to Lee's many athletic accomplishments, he was an ear, nose and throat specialist and served as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Korea in between participating in the games. In 1990, the University of Southern California alum earned a place in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and he died of pneumonia on Dec. 3, 2016 at age 96. Vera Rubin, astrophysicist World famous astronomer Vera Rubin, 82, in her office at Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, DC, on Jan. 14, 2010. Image: linda Davidson/The Washington Post/Getty Images Vera Rubin, a pioneering astrophysicist, is well-known for discovering powerful evidence of dark matter in the universe. Amongst her efforts to inspire and make a place for women in the field of astronomy, Rubin pursued her education despite gender roadblocks and became the first woman to officially observe at the Palomar Observatory in 1965. She and her colleague, Kent Ford, discovered that stars at the edge of a galaxy moved at the same speed as the ones near the center, evidence for the existence of dark matter. Rubin, who died on Dec. 25 at age 88, examined more than 200 galaxies throughout her career and paved the way for women to further excel in the field of science. Piers Sellers, climate scientist U.S. astronaut Piers Sellers talks with reporters following the safe return the space shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Image: APPete Cosgrove/ap photo Sellers, a British-born astronaut and climate scientist passed away on Dec. 23, 2016, after sharing a final message with the world via video. A dedicated Sellers began working for NASA as a scientist in 1982 and joined its astronaut corps in 1996. He flew on three space shuttle missions between 2002 and 2010 alone and served as NASA's deputy director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate and director of the Earth Sciences Division. You might also recognize Sellers from Leonardo DiCaprio's recently released climate change documentary, Before the Flood . Junko Tabei, first woman to climb Mt. Everest Mountain climber Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest in Nepal on May 16, 1975. Image: ap photo In 1975, Tabei, an extraordinary Japanese climber, conquered mountaineering at 35-years-old when she became the first woman to climb the world's highest mountain, Mt. Everest. After achieving her epic 29,000-foot feat, Tabei continued to scale some of the world's most astounding mountains. She became the first woman to climb the "Seven Summits" — the highest peak on seven continents — in 1992 and most recently, climbed Mount Fuji in Japan in 2011 with a group of high school students. Tabei passed away from cancer at age 77 on Oct. 20, 2016. Additional reporting by Marcus Gilmer BONUS: Debbie Reynolds, Hollywood royalty and mother of Carrie Fisher, dies
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