1735 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish mathematician and writer (Scriblerus Club), dies at 67
1844 – Nicholas Biddle, US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
1946 – James Cecil Parke, Irish tennis player (Australasian C’ship singles and doubles, Davis Cup 1912; Wimbledon doubles 1914) and rugby union centre (20 caps; Leinster Rugby), dies at 64
1947 – Francis MacKinnon, English cricket batsman (1 Test; Kent CCC) and 35th Chief of MacKinnon clan, dies at 98
1968 – Frankie Lymon, American pop singer (The Teenagers – “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”), dies of a heroin overdose at 25
1989 – Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist and ethologist (Man and His Ideas, Nobel Prize 1973), dies at 85
1993 – Marlena Davis, American pop singer (The Orlons – “Don’t Hang Up”; “South Street”), dies of lung cancer at 48
2008 – Anthony Blond, British publisher (The Publishing Game, Book Book), dies at 79
2011 – Frank Buckles, last surviving American World War I veteran (b. 1901)
2024 – Richard Lewis, American comedian and actor (Anything But Love; Robin Hood: Men in Tights; Curb Your Enthusiasm), dies of a heart attack at 76
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 26th February 2026
1839 – Sybil Ludington, American revolutionary heroine (rode to alert militia), dies at 77
1910 – Adelaide Hoodless, Canadian educational reformer (founder of the Women’s Institute), dies at 51
1927 – Willie Simms, American jockey (US Champion Jockey by wins 1893, 94; Kentucky Derby 1896, 98; Preakness Stakes 1898; Belmont Stakes 1893, 94), dies at 57
1943 – Helene Stöcker, German feminist, pacifist, and writer, dies of cancer at 73
1966 – Minerva Urecal [Dunnock], American stage, radio, and screen character actress (Accent on Love; The Adventures of Tugboat Annie; Peter Gunn; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao), dies of a heart attack at 71
1982 – Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japanese actor and director (Gate of Hell; A Page of Madness; Jujiro; Jigoku-mon), dies at 86
1995 – Willie Johnson, American electric blues guitarist (Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years”), dies at 71
2000 – George L. Street III, American Navy Submariner and Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 86
2008 – John Yates, Anglican bishop (Bishop of Lambeth), dies at 82
2021 – Hannu Mikkola, Finnish rally driver (World Rally champion 1983), dies from cancer at 78
Famous Deaths for 25th February 2026
1805 – Thomas Pownall, British colonial statesman (b. 1722)
1865 – Otto Ludwig, German playwright and writer (Between Heaven and Earth), dies at 47
1906 – Anton Arensky, Russian composer and conductor, dies of tuberculosis at 44
1964 – Grace Metalious, American writer (b. 1924)
1967 – John Griggs, American actor (The Joey Bishop Show; Fearless Fosdick), dies at 58
1992 – Ollie O’Toole, American comedian, impressionist, and actor, dies after long illness at 79
1994 – Baruch Goldstein, American-Israli physician and mass murderer (at least 55 dead in shooting at Hebron Ibrahimi Mosque), lynched at 42
1998 – Rockin’ Sidney [Simien], American zydeco and RandB singer-songwriter, accordionist, guitarist, organist, and harmonica player (“My Toot-Toot”; “You Ain’t Nothing But Fine”), dies of throat cancer at 59
2005 – Edward Patten, American soul singer (Gladys Knight and the Pips – “Midnight Train to Georgia”, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”), dies of a stroke at 65
2021 – John Geddert, American gymnastics coach (US head coach London Olympic Team 2012), dies from self-inflicted gunshot wounds at 63
Famous Deaths for 24th February 2026
1525 – Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier
1969 – Kenneth Green, actor (Penrod), dies of a heart attack at 61
1984 – Uwe Johnson, writer, dies at 59
1991 – John Charles Daly, American, newscaster and TV game show host (What’s My Line), dies at 77
1994 – Donald Phillips, pianist and composer, dies at 80
1998 – Henny Youngman, American comedian and violinist (Take my wife … please), dies at 91
2020 – Jan Kowalczyk, Polish equestrian rider (Olympics gold show jumping individual; silver team 1980), dies at 78
2020 – Ben Cooper, American western actor (The Rose Tattoo; Outcast; Arizona Raiders), dies at 86
2020 – Mario Bunge, Argentine-Canadian philosopher and physicist (pioneering work in epistemology), dies at 100
2024 – Kenneth Mitchell, Canadian actor (Star Trek: Discovery), dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 49
Famous Deaths for 23rd February 2026
1572 – Pierre Certon, French composer
1781 – George Taylor, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (for Pennsylvania), dies at about 64 or 65
1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (L’otage-1909), dies at 86
1980 – Robert Vandekerckhove, Belgian politician, dies at 62
1990 – Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello, Dutch lawyer and politician (Liberal), dies of cancer at 53
1992 – Jacquelyn Hyde, American actress (Dark, House of Terror), dies at 61
1995 – Peter Wykeham, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, dies at 79
1997 – Oscar Lewenstein, British theater impresario (Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera), and film producer (The Knack …and How to Get It), dies of heart failure at 80
1997 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (Miles Davis), dies at 51
2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)
Famous Deaths for 22nd February 2026
556 – Maximianus of Ravenna, Byzantine bishop (Basilica San Stefano), dies at about 56 [birthdate uncertain]
1827 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter remembered for portraits of leading American Revolution figures (George Washington), dies at 85
1892 – Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)
1911 – William Lewis Cabell “, Old Tige” American Brigadier General (Confederate Army) and Mayor of Dallas, dies at 84
1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes), dies at 55
1936 – John Hope, American educator (President of Atlanta Baptist/Morehouse College,1906-36 and Atlanta University, 1929-36), dies at 67
1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austria-British painter and graphic artist, dies at 93
1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan, dies at 83
1995 – Emmanuel Roblès, Algerian-French novelist and playwright (Lesson Hauteurs), dies at 80
2017 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor (Sphere at World Trade Center), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 21st February 2026
1513 – Julius II, Italian Pope (1503-13) and patron of Michelangelo, Bramante and Raphael, dies at 69
1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat and jurist, dies at 64
1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (discovery of magnetic fields in sunspot), dies at 69
1971 – Adolph Weiss, American bassoonist and composer, dies at 79
1980 – Chester Lauck, American actor (Dreaming Out Loud, 2 Weeks to Live), dies at 78
1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (“…And Ladies of the Club”), dies at 90
1992 – Franc Holden, British astronomer (Binary Stars), dies
1996 – Terence Edward Armstrong, British polar geographer, dies at 75
2015 – Clark Terry, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 94
2019 – Stanley Donen, American film director and producer (Singin’ in the Rain, Bedazzled, Damn Yankees), dies at 94
Famous Deaths for 20th February 2026
702 – K’inich Kan B’alam II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
1810 – Johann Friedrich Kranz, German composer, dies at 57
1892 – Hermann Kopp, German chemist (Law of Kopp), dies at 74
1959 – Ray McDonald, American stage and screen tap dancer, dies choking on food at 38
1970 – Albert Louis Wolff, French conductor and composer, dies at 86
1984 – Giuseppe Colombo, Italian mathematician and engineer who studied Mercury, known as ‘the grandfather of the flyby’, dies at 63
1992 – Eugene R. Black, American President of World Bank (1953-62), dies at 93
2005 – Tom Willmore, English geometer, dies at 85
2008 – Emily Perry, English Actress (b. 1907)
2022 – Leo Bersani, American literary critic and scholar known for his writings on the AIDS crisis (Homos), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 19th February 2026
1716 – Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norway’s first recognised female poet, dies at 82
1963 – Bartolomé “Beny” Moré, Cuban guaracha and mambo singer, guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader, dies of liver cirrhosis at 43
1975 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian 12-tone composer (Il prigioniero; Ulisse), dies of Pulmonary edema at 71
1994 – Gordon Sparling, Canadian pioneering filmmaker (Canadian Cameo series – Canada’s first major films with sound), dies at 93
1994 – Fausto Bara, Mexican-American actor (The Renegades – “Gaucho”), dies of AIDS at 42
1994 – Renske Vellinga, Dutch speed-skater, dies in auto-accident at 19
1996 – Charles “Charlie O” Finley, American sports entrepreneur (MLB’s Kansas City/Oakland A’s: NHL’s California Golden Seals), dies at 77
2009 – Kelly Groucutt, British rock bass guitarist and vocalist (Electric Light Orchestra; ELO II; The Orchestra), dies of a heart attack at 63
2019 – Don Newcombe, American baseball pitcher (4 x MLB All Star; World Series 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers; NL MVP and Cy Young Award 1956), dies at 92
2022 – Nigel Butterley, Australian pianist, composer (The True Samaritan), educator, and radio broadcaster, dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 18th February 2026
999 – Gregory V [Bruno], 1st German Pope, dies
1799 – Maurus Haberhauer, Czech composer, dies at 52
1829 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech organist, harpsichordist, mandolin player, composer, and opera conductor, dies at 77
1833 – Georg Johann Schinn, German composer, dies at 64
1899 – Marius Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (continuous symmetry), dies at 56
1938 – Alida Tartaud-Klein, Dutch actress and performance artist (Rotterdam Stage), dies at 64
1964 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, French Canadian businessman and inventor of the Bombardier snowmobile, dies of cancer at 56
1973 – Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (The Prime Minister of the Underworld), dies of a heart attack at 82
2013 – Elspet Gray, Lady Rix, Scottish actress (4 Weddings and a Funeral, Solo, Tokyo), dies at 83
2023 – Petar Zhekov, Bulgarian soccer forward (44 caps; Beroe Stara Zagora, CSKA Sofia), dies at 78