Kirk Kerkorian, John Whitehead, King Abdullah: Year in Deaths

An eighth-grade dropout who became a billionaire by investing in casinos and Hollywood film studios; the executive who led Goldman, Sachs & Co.’s international growth in the 1970s and ’80s; and Saudi Arabia’s monarch for the past decade, who kept Arab Spring protests to a minimum by pouring more than $100 billion into the nation’s economy. Kirk Kerkorian, John Whitehead and King Abdullah were among the year’s notable deaths in business, finance and government.

The business world lost Satoru Iwata, the chief executive officer of Nintendo Co., which leapfrogged past competitors with the introduction of the Wii video game system; and Adrian Cadbury, former chairman of Cadbury Schweppes Plc and a champion of best practices in corporate governance.