#6 Jack Tramiel

Died: April 2012

Jack Tramiel was born on December 13, 1928. He was a Polish-born American businessman, best known for founding Commodore International, the manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers.

His Commodor computer paved the way for the PC industry by bringing affordable computers to the masses in the late '70s and early '80s. The Commodore 64 model sold more than 20 million units — four times the sales of the Apple II, according to The New York Times.

He died in April 2012, of heart failure at the age of 83.

#5 Sally Ride

Died: July 23, 2012

Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951. She was an American physicist and astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978 and, at the age of 32, became the first American woman to enter into low Earth orbit in 1983.

She left NASA in 1987 to work at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control and had served on the investigation panels for two space shuttle disasters, Challenger and Columbia, the only person to serve on both. She co-authored six children's science books with her life partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy and founded Sally Ride Science in 2001. Ride remains the youngest American astronaut to be launched into space.

Ride died on July 23, 2012, at age 61, seventeen months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.