Chico Mendes

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and Indigenous peoples. He was assassinated by a rancher on 22 December 1988. The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, a body under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, is named in his honor.

15 December 1944

Born on the same birth date (15 December 1944): Jim Leyland

Born on the same birth day (15 December): Abner Powell • Alex Telles • Carlo J. Caparas • Charlie Cox • Delon Armitage • Edna O'Brien • Eric Young (wrestler) • Harry Babcock (pole vaulter) • John Hammond (record producer) • Maxwell Anderson • Mehmet Aurélio • Melanie Chartoff • Michael Shanks • Michel Richard Delalande • Oscar Niemeyer • Roman Pavlyuchenko • Stan Kenton • Stuart Townsend

Born in the same month (December 1944): Andris Bērziņš (Latvian President) • Barry Jenkins (musician) • Bertie Higgins • Bob Shaw (golfer) • Carlo M. Croce • Cathy Lee Crosby • Crispian Steele-Perkins • Dionysis Savvopoulos • Eric Bloom • Gerard Windsor • Gordon Taylor (footballer) • John Densmore • Kenny Everett • Michael Lang (producer) • Mike Curb • Miroslav Macek • Mitchell Feigenbaum • Sam Strahan • Steve Tyrell • Tahar Ben Jelloun • Tim Reid • Wesley Clark