Yes, that's almost what I'm saying. Except people aren't keeping quiet about it. If you'd entertain the idea with new eyes you may be surprised at the amount of people that know.

The Stephen Hawking example I provided was one of the clearest I've seen (because with him there's the unavoidable health issue which he super-humanly survived for the length of time he did).

There doesn't need to be anything particularly malicious about these things- some people are just too valuable an asset to lose in the public eye, if they can be replaced their legend (and most importantly, their sale value) will continue. Material gain drives all sorts.

I'm not trying to convince you about all of them, just asking that you read the text and look at the photos and make a judgement on Hawking alone. Can you refute his paper?