Example: O.J Simpson
He was a symbol of where the 90s were and how big his court case was at the time. Not that he should garner sympathy because we all know he did it and he only got off on technicality as well as theater performed by his council. But we all know where we were when that was all happening.
Stalin
His death led to the discovery of the horrors of Stalinism. A part of the leftist intelligentsia in the West saw communism for what it was, which considerably weakened Western communist parties, and ultimately brought the hegemony of neoliberalism. Also, the USSR was never as brutal with their population afterwards
Brezhnev tried though