1951 – Robert Mark, US chairman (Caste World Congress), dies at 41
1976 – Ad Verhoeven, Dutch soccer player (Xerxes/Sparta), dies in a car crash at 42 [or 1/17]
1980 – Cecil Beaton, British photographer and costume designer (My Fair Lady, Gigi), dies at 76
1985 – Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (Hard Day’s Night, Steptoe and Son), dies from cancer at 72
1994 – Torbjörn Hultcrantzn, Swedish jazz double bass player, dies at 56
1996 – Jos Kunst, Dutch composer, dies at 60
2008 – John Stroger American politician (Cook County (Illinois) Board of Commissioners, 1970-2006), dies at 78
2016 – Michel Tournier, French writer (Friday, or, The Other Island), dies at 91
2016 – Glenn Frey, American Grammy Award-winning guitarist, singer-songwriter (The Eagles – “Take it Easy”; “Heartache Tonight”;”Tequila Sunrise”; solo – “Smuggler’s Blues”; “The Heat Is On”), and Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame member, dies from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia at 67
2017 – Roberta Peters [Peterman], American operatic soprano (NY Metropolitan Opera, 1950-85), dies of Parkinson’s disease at 86
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 17th January 2026
1805 – Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, French scholar and interpreter, dies at 73
1830 – W Waiblinger, writer, dies
1909 – Sir Francis Smith, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819
1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian poet and author (Craii de Curtea-Veche), dies after suffering a stroke at 50
1952 – Walter O Briggs, American entrepreneur and sports team owner (Detroit Tigers 1935-52), dies at 74
1970 – Billy Stewart, American singer (“I Do Love You”), dies in auto-accident at 32
1993 – Ger ter Horst, Dutch soccer trainer (Sparta), dies
2001 – Norris Turney, American jazz flute and saxophone player (Billy Eckstine, 1947-48; Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1968-73), dies at 79
2012 – Johnny Otis [Ioannis Veliotes], American RandB musician, songwriter, producer and talent scout (“Willie and the Hand Jive”; “Cupid’s Boogie”), known as “the godfather of rhythm and blues”, dies at 90
2025 – Denis Law, Scottish soccer striker (55 caps; Manchester United 309 games; Ballon d’Or 1964; World Soccer World XI 1964), dies from Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia at 84
Famous Deaths for 16th January 2026
1545 – George Spalatin, German humanist, reformer and important figure in the Reformation, dies at 60
1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist (b. 1480)
1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
1842 – Thomas Fearnley, Norwegian landscape painter, dies of typhoid fever at 39
1924 – Maurice de Plessys, French poet (Palace Occidental), dies at 59
1935 – Ma Barker [Arizona Clark], American crime matriarch, mother of several Barker–Karpis Gang members, dies in police shootout at 61
1942 – Carole Lombard [Jane Alice Peters], American actress (My Man Godfrey; To Be or Not to Be), dies in a plane crash at 33
1979 – Fred Elizalde, Spanish Filipino composer, dies at 71
1998 – Lionel Birkett, West Indian cricket batsman (4 Tests, 1 x 50; Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago), dies at 92
2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, British-Australian astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
Famous Deaths for 15th January 2026
1672 – John Cosin, English clergyman, dies at 77
1964 – George Duncan, Scottish golfer, course designer (British Open 1920), dies at 80
1973 – Jef Alpaerts, Flemish pianist, educator, and conductor (Collegium Musicum Antverpiense), dies at 68
1974 – Karel Salmon [Karl Salomon], Israeli operatic bass-baritone singer, composer, and conductor, dies at 76
1994 – György Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (Chopin, Liszt), dies at 72
1997 – Jose Ignacio Domecq, Spanish wine maker, dies at 82
2001 – Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)
2002 – Michael Bilandic, American lawyer, politician (Mayor of Chicago, 1976-79), and jurist (Illinois Supreme Court, 1990-2000), dies of heart failure at 78
2012 – Edward Derwinski, American politician (1st Secretary of Veteran Affairs 1989-92; US Representative from Illinois, 1959-83), dies of cancer at 85
2018 – Dolores O’Riordan, Irish musician and singer-songwriter (The Cranberries – “Zombie”; ,”Linger”), drowns in the bath at 46
Famous Deaths for 14th January 2026
1867 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter (Valpincon Bather), dies at 86
1937 – Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi poet, dramatist and novelist, dies at 47
1961 – Ernest Thesiger, English actor (Brass Monkey, Ghoul), dies at 81
1978 – Robert Heger, German conductor and composer, dies at 91
1984 – Ray Kroc, American fast food entrepreneur (McDonald’s) and owner of baseball’s San Diego Padres, dies of heart failure at 81
1996 – Jacques LeBrun, French yachtsman (Olympic gold – Snowbird class, 1932), dies at 85
1999 – Aldo van Eyck, Dutch architect (City Hall), dies at 80
2008 – Judah Folkman, American pediatric surgeon and cancer researcher (angiogenesis), dies of a heart attack at 74
2016 – Alan Rickman, English actor (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Die Hard, Harry Potter), dies of cancer at 69
2024 – Christophe Boesch, French-Swiss primatologist (studied and championed chimpanzees), dies at 72
Famous Deaths for 13th January 2026
1001 – Fujiwara no Teishi, Japanese Empress who appears in “The Pillow Book”, dies as the result of childbirth at 23 or 24
1488 – Hermann Vischer, “the Old”, German brass sculptor, buried
1914 – Valentin Zubiaurre Spanish composer (Ferdinand Set), and educator, dies at 76
1943 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss artist and dancer, dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at 53
1995 – Arnold Smith, painter (Vigelius Prize 1935), dies at 89
1998 – Andrew Rutherford, Scottish scholar and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London (1994-97), dies at 68
2005 – Earl Cameron, Canadian broadcaster (b. 1915)
2008 – Johnny Podres, American baseball pitcher (World Series 1955 MVP, 59, 63, 65; 4 x MLB All Star; Brooklyn/LA Dodgers), dies at 75
2009 – Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese composer, lyricist, and poet, dies of pneumonia at 83
2023 – Klas Lestander, Swedish biathlete (Olympic gold 20k 1960), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 12th January 2026
1807 – Jean Luzac, Dutch journalist, newspaper editor (Gazette de Leyde), and Patriot, dies in a gunpowder barge explosion at 60
1960 – Nevil Shute [Norway], English-Australian novelist (On the Beach, Town like Alice), dies at 60
1992 – Harry van Doorn, Dutch politician (KVP/KRO-chairman/PPR/CRM), dies at 76
1994 – Robert Horen, American stage and screen actor, dies of cancer at 68
2003 – Paul Pender, American boxer (World Middleweight Champion 1960–61; The Ring Middleweight Champion 1962–63 Retired; Lineal Middleweight Champion 1962–63 Retired), dies at 72
2007 – Alice Coltrane [née McLeod], American jazz harp, piano, and organ player (Journey in Satchidananda), dies of respiratory failure at 69
2019 – Bonnie Guitar [Buckingham], American guitarist, singer and record executive (Dark Moon), dies at 95
2022 – Everett Lee, American violinist, and theater and classical conductor (Cosmopolitan Little Symphony, 1947-55; Norrkoping Symphony, 1962-72), dies at 105
2024 – Bev Dovey, English rugby union prop (2 Tests; Bristol RFC 184 games; Western Counties, Gloucestershire), dies at 85
2025 – Robert Machray, American stage and screen character actor, dies of complications from dementia at 79
Famous Deaths for 11th January 2026
1856 – Nikolai I Nadezjdin, Russian archaeologist, dies [NS=Jan 23]
1891 – Georges-Eugene, Baron Haussmann, French administrator and architect, dies at 81
1901 – Vasily Kalinnikov, composer influenced by folksong, dies of tuberculosis at 34
1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian politician and Prime Minister of India (1964-66), dies under suspicious circumstances at 61
1983 – Erik Løchen, Norwegian jazz musician and film director (The Chasers, Remonstrance), dies at 58
1994 – Roger “Ram” Ramirez, American jazz piano player and composer, dies at 80
1999 – Brian Moore, Irish novelist (Catholics, Doctor’s Wife), dies at 77
2013 – Robert Kee, British journalist, historian and broadcaster (Panorama; Ireland: A Television History), dies at 93
2016 – Kenneth Corfield, English industrialist (CEO Standard Telephones and Cables), dies at 91
2022 – Rosa Lee Hawkins, American pop singer (The Dixie Cups – “Chapel Of Love”; “Iko Iko”), dies from surgery complications at 76
Famous Deaths for 10th January 2026
1883 – Samuel Mudd, American physician (imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth), dies of pneumonia at 49
1901 – Sir James Dickson, Premier of Queensland, Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1832)
1967 – Emerson Treacy, American actor (California Straight Ahead, Prowler), dies after surgery at 66
1968 – Josue Teofilo Wilkes, Argentine composer, dies at 85
1997 – Shiv Verma, Indian revolutionary soldier and Marxist, dies at 88
2008 – (Walter) “Pete” Candoli, American jazz, big band, and session trumpeter (Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; Henry Mancini; The Brothers Candoli), dies of prostate cancer at 84
2013 – Christel Adelaar, Dutch actress (Pipo the Clown – “Mammaloe”), dies of lung cancer at 77
2015 – Michael Wright, British academic and Vice-Chancellor of Aston University (1996-2006), dies of cancer at 67
2017 – Clare Hollingworth, British war correspondent who was the first to report on the outbreak of WWII, dies at 105
2017 – (Armando) “Buddy” Greco, American jazz and pop singer (“Ooh! Look-A There, Ain’t She Pretty”; “The Lady Is A Tramp”), pianist, and television personality (Away We Go), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 9th January 2026
1679 – Werner Fabricius, German composer, dies at 45
1964 – Halide Edib Adevar/Salih, Turkish feminist (Handan), dies at about 80
1979 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect (Nuove Struttura), dies at 87
1993 – Sir Paul Hasluck, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1905)
1995 – Gisela Mauermeyer, German discus thrower (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 81
1999 – Jim Peters, English long-distance runner who was 1st to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes, dies at 80
2005 – Koji Hashimoto, Japanese film director (Sayonara Jupiter), dies at 68
2018 – Karin von Aroldingen, German ballet dancer (NYC Ballet), dies at 76
2020 – Pete Dye, American golf course designer (TPC at Sawgrass, Crooked Stick, Oakwood CC), dies of Alzheimer’s disease at 94
2023 – Ferenc Mészáros, Hungarian soccer goalkeeper (29 caps; Vasas SC 252 games), dies at 72