Category: Famous Deaths

1143 – John II Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (1118-43), dies in an accident at 55
1704 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist (Historia Aethiopica, Grammatica Aethiopica), dies at 79
1863 – Joseph Netherclift, English composer (We Happy Shepherd Swains), and lithographer, dies at 70
1959 – Gustave Charlier, Belgian literature historian, dies at 73
1970 – Felix, of Bourbon-Parma and Prince consort of Luxemburg, dies at 76
1993 – Hubertus Earnest, bishop of Breda, dies at 100
2006 – Gerard Reve, Dutch writer (Evenings, Dear Guys), dies at 82
2009 – Herbie Lovelle, America drummer, studio musician (Hot Lips Page) and actor (Law and Order), dies at 85
2013 – Annette Funicello, American actress (Mickey Mouse Club; Beach Blanket Bingo), and singer (“Tall Paul”). dies from multiple sclerosis complications at 70
2022 – Henri Depireux, Belgian soccer midfielder (2 caps; RFC Liège, Standard de Liège) and manager (Cameroon, Congo DR, FC Metz), dies at 78

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1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer, dies at 76
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and Father of Confederation, assassinated at 42
1871 – Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
1947 – Henry Ford, American industrialist and auto maker (Ford Model T), dies at 83
1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian actor (Maltese Falcon, Treasure of Sierra Madre), dies from an aneurysm at 67
1994 – Evert Hartman, Dutch writer (War Without Friends), dies at 56
2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (Earl-Flo, Gun Shy), dies at 79
2020 – Harv Schmidt, American college basketball coach (University of Illinois 1967-74), dies at 83
2021 – Doug Holden, English soccer winger (5 caps; Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End), dies at 90
2023 – John Regan, American session and touring rock bassist (Frehley’s Comet; Peter Frampton), dies at 71

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1348 – Laure de Noves, “Petrarch’s Laura”, Italian muse of poet Petrarch, wife of Count Hugues II de Sade, dies of the plague at about 38 (b. 1310)
1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky [Vоlоdymyr Borovyk], Russian painter, died at 67
1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian statesman, dies at 74
1906 – Alexander Lange Kielland, Norwegian writer (Gist; Fortuna; St. Hans Fest), and politician (mayor; governor), dies at 57
1943 – Jimmy Collins, American Baseball HOF third baseman (World Series 1903 Boston Americans; NL HR leader 1898 Boston Beaneaters) and manager (Boston Americans 1901–06), dies at 73
1985 – Mark Lothar [Lothar Hundertmark], German composer (The Story of the Lazy Bear), dies at 82
1997 – Jack Kent Cooke, Canadian entrepreneur, NFL team owner (Washington Redskins), dies at 84
1998 – Tammy Wynette [Virginia Pugh], American country singer (“Stand By Your Man”), dies at 55
2009 – Shawn Mackay, Brumbies rugby player (b. 1982)
2021 – Alcee Hastings, American politician (U.S. House of Representative- Florida), dies at 84

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1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)
1934 – Salvatore Di Giacomo, Italian poet and songwriter during “Golden Age of Neapolitan Song”, dies at 74
1971 – Earl “Jock” Caruthers American jazz saxophonist (Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, 1932-47), dies at 60
1989 – William Hibbard, American composer, musician and conductor, dies of an AIDS related illness at 49
1991 – Manley Lanier “Sonny” Carter Jr, American chemist and NASA astronaut (STS 33), dies at 43
1993 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress in Hindi and Telugu movies (Shola Aur Shabnam; Deewana), dies at 19 of injuries and internal bleeding after falling from balcony of her 5th-floor apartment
1994 – Roy Smeck, American vaudeville banjoist, lap steel guitarist, and ukulele player, known as “The Wizard of the Strings”, dies at 94
2001 – Sonya Hedenbratt, Swedish jazz singer, and actress, dies at 70
2007 – Maria Gripe, Swedish writer (Josephine), dies at 83
2020 – Bobby Mitchell, American Pro Football Hall of Fame running back (Pro Bowl 1960, 62–64; First-team All-Pro 1962–64; Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins), dies at 84

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1617 – John Napier, Scottish mathematician and inventor (logarithms), dies from effects of gout at 67
1714 – Charles, Duke of Berry, French heir presumptive to the Spanish throne (1700-07), dies of injuries from a hunting accident at 27
1870 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
1890 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, French Canadian politician (1st Premier of Quebec), dies at 69
1912 – Isaac Kauffman Funk, American publisher (Funk and Wagnalls), dies at 72
1926 – Thomas Burberry, English fashion designer, founder of luxury brand Burberry, and inventor of gabardine, dies at 90
1951 – Al Christie, Canadian-born pioneering film director and producer (Nestor Film Company), dies at 69
2002 – Harry L. O’Connor, Czech film stuntman
2012 – Claude Miller, French director and screenwriter, dies at 70
2023 – Craig Breedlove, American auto racer (5 x world land speed record holder; first to reach 500mph (800km/h) and 600mph (970km/h), dies of cancer at 86

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1694 – Ferdinand van Apshoven the Younger, Flemish painter, buried at 64
1747 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter, dies at 89
1792 – George Pocock, British admiral who commanded British naval forces in the East Indies, dies at 86
1987 – Hans Gál, Austrian-British composer (Die heilige Ente (The Sacred Duck)), dies at 97
1993 – Alexander Mnouchkine, French movie producer (Professional), dies at 83
1996 – (Roosevelt) “Booba” Barnes, American blues guitarist, dies at 59
2014 – Tommy Lynn Sells, American serial killer, executed for murder at 49
2014 – Virginie Korte-van Hemel, Dutch Catholic People’s Party (KVP) politician (Council of State, 1992-99; Secretary of Justice, 1982-89), dies at 84
2017 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical Hindustani singer, dies at 84
2023 – Rena Koumioti, Greek laiko and entechno singer, dies due to complications of dementia at 81

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1272 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1209)
1416 – Ferdinand I the Righteous, King of Aragon and Sicily, dies at 52
1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian founder of the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
1914 – Paul von Heyse, German writer (Nobel Prize for Literature 1910), dies at 84
1953 – Jean Epstein, French director (Vive la Vie), dies at 56
1974 – Douglass Dumbrille, Canadian actor (Mr Deed Goes to Town), dies at 84
1994 – Richard Davies, actor (Pvt Buckaroo), dies of a heart attack at 79
1995 – Leo LeBlanc, American country musician and pianist who was legally blind, dies of cancer at 55
2001 – Jennifer Syme, American actress (b. 1972)
2020 – Carl Tacy, American college basketball coach (Wake Forest University 1972-85; 222-149 record), dies at 87

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1904 – Guy Wetmore Carryl, American humorist and poet (Fables for the Frivolous, When the Great Gray Ships Come In), dies at 31
1936 – Mikhail Vladimirovich Ivanov-Boretsky, composer, dies at 61
1951 – Clement D’Hooghe, Belgian composer, dies at 51
1968 – Lev Landau, Russian physicist (1962 Nobel Prize for Physics for superfluidity theory), dies from injuries from an earlier car accident at 60
1974 – Alfred Ernest Whitehead, English-Canadian composer, dies at 86
1976 – Freddie Lennon, father of John Lennon (Beatles), dies at 63
2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (Diary of Mad Housewife), dies at 58
2011 – Lou Gorman, American baseball executive (general manager Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox), dies at 82
2013 – Nicolae Martinescu, Romanian Greco-Roman wrestler (Olympic gold 100kg 1972), dies at 73
2025 – Star VII, Alaskan reindeer and a mascot of Anchorage, Alaska, euthanized after probably being poisoned at 8

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1631 – John Donne, Metaphysical poet, dies (birth date unknown)
1917 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, won the first Nobel Prize for Physics (1901) for his serum to cure diphtheria, dies at 63
1934 – Franz Ehrle, German Jesuit and Vatican librarian (modernised the Vatican Library), dies at 88
1945 – Maurice Rose, American army officer (WWI; WWII), highest-ranking American killed by enemy fire in Europe, dies at 45
1957 – Gene Lockhart, American actor (Going My Way), dies at 65
1968 – Grover Lowdermilk, American MLB baseball pitcher (St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, and 4 other teams), dies at 83
1995 – Carl Story, American bluegrass musician (Rambling Mountaineers), dies at 78
1996 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer and automobile designer (Fiat), dies at 91
1997 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist who worked on atoms and molecules (Hund’s Law), dies at 101
2023 – John Brockington, American football running back (First-team All-Pro 1971, 73; Pro Bowl 1971, 72, 73; Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs), dies at 74

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1202 – Joachim of Fiore, Italian Catholic mystic and Christian theologian who founded the Abbey of San Giovanni di Fiore and wrote prophecies of the three ages of human history, dies at about 66 or 67
1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricket wicketkeeper (4 Tests, 3 dismissals; Bombay), dies at 40
1966 – Erwin Piscator, German theater and film director (Nathan the Wise; Revolt of the Fishermen), dies at 72
1967 – Jean Toomer, American poet and novelist (Cane, Blue Meridian), dies at 72
1972 – Peter Whitney, American actor (Rough Riders), dies at 55
1979 – José María Velasco Ibarra, Ecuadorian politician, who served as president 5 times (1934-72), dies at 86
1984 – Peter Yarrall, strongest Englishman (weighed 826 lb (374.7 kg), dies
1984 – Hollis Frampton, American photographer and experimental filmmaker (Zorns Lemma, Critical Mass), dies of cancer at 48
1998 – Ramsay Ames [Phillips], American actress, model and dancer (The Mummy’s Ghost; Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves), dies of lung cancer at 79
2004 – Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)

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