Category: Famous Deaths

1732 – Reigen [Satohito], 112th Emperor of Japan (1663-87), dies at 78
1855 – Alexandre Stiévenard, French violinist, guitarist and composer, dies at 86
1924 – William Laurel Harris, American mural painter (Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in NY), dies of a stroke at 54
1975 – Clive Morton, British actor (Goodbye Mr Chips, Moonraker), dies at 71
1981 – Brahmarishi Hussain Sha, Indian religious leader and scholar (head of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham in Pithapuram), dies at 76
1983 – Mohammed Roem, Indonesian politician (as Foreign Minister negotiated Roem–Van Roijen Agreement that led to independence), dies at 75
1991 – Peter Bellamy, English folk singer, commits suicide at 47
1997 – Jonathon Silver, entrepreneur/arts patron, dies at 47
2003 – Rosalie Allen, American country singer, yodeler, and disc jockey, dies of congestive heart failure at 79
2021 – Waka Nathan, New Zealand rugby union flanker (14 Tests; Auckland RU), dies at 81

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1910 – Tup Scott, Australian cricket batsman and captain (8 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 102; Victoria), dies of typhoid at 51
1972 – Calvin Frazier, American country and Detroit blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (“This Old World’s In A Tangle”), dies of cancer at 57
1992 – James Van Fleet, American US Army General (served during WWI, WWII, and Korean War), dies at 100
1999 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (Man of a Thousand Faces), dies at 89
2002 – Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan pioneer radio broadcaster, dies at 75
2017 – Charles Bradley, American RandB and funk singer, known as ‘The Screaming Eagle of Soul’, dies of stomach cancer at 68
2020 – Bobby Wilson, English tennis player (Wimbledon doubles 1960 runner-up), dies at 84
2025 – Danny Thompson, British double bassist (Blues Incorporated; Pentangle; Richard Thompson; John Martyn), dies at 86
2025 – Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti (1999-2025), dies in his 80s
2025 – Cecilio Lastra, Spanish boxer (WBA featherweight champion 1977–78), dies at 74

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1286 – Mugaku Sogen, Zen Rinzai line founder of Engakuji temple, dies at 60
1539 – Guru Nanak, Founder of the religion of Sikhism and the 1st Sikh Guru, dies at 70
1952 – Cor Ruys, Dutch actor (Princess Stage, The Cross-Patch), dies at 63
1953 – William Brann, South African cricketer (3 Tests for South Africa), dies at 54
1960 – Melanie Klein, Austrian-British author and child psychoanalyst (object relations theory), dies at 78
1979 – Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-British physicist who coined the term nuclear fission (Manhattan Project), and educator (Cambridge), dies at 74
1994 – Edward Shackleton, English explorer, geographer and Labour Party politician, dies at 83
2010 – Eddie Fisher, American pop singer (“Oh My Papa”: I’m Walking Behind You”), dies from complications from hip surgery at 82
2021 – Orlando Martínez, Cuban boxer (Olympic gold bantamweight 1972), dies at 77
2025 – Aron Bell [Bielski], Polish-American WWⅡ resistance fighter and scout for the Bielski partisans, dies at 98

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1542 – Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet (b. c. 1490)
1944 – James E. Ferguson, American Democratic party politician (Governor of Texas, 1915-17; First Gentleman of Texas, 1925-27 and 1933-35), dies at 73
1997 – Eric William Hunter Christie, British lawyer and advocate for the Falkland Islands, dies at 75
1997 – Jennifer Holt, American actress (b. 1920)
2002 – Robert L. Forward, American physicist and writer (b. 1932)
2010 – Don Partridge, British folk-pop singer-songwriter and one-man band (“Blue Eyes”, “Breakfast on Pluto”), dies of a heart attack at 68
2019 – Christopher Rouse, American Grammy Award-winning composer (Trombone Concerto – Pulitzer Prize for Music, 1993), and educator (Eastman School, 1981-2002; Juilliard, 1997-2017), dies of renal cancer at 70
2020 – Bob Nevin, Canadian ice hockey right wing (Stanley Cup 1962, 63; Toronto Maple Leafs; NY Rangers; 1,128 career NHL games), dies at 82
2020 – Tommy Devito, American rock baritone vocalist and guitarist (Four Seasons – “Sherry”), dies of COVID-19 at 93
2020 – Lars-Åke Lagrell, Swedish sports administrator (President Swedish Football Association 1991-2012) and politician (Governor Kronoberg County 2002-06), dies at 80

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1630 – Claudio Saracini, Italian composer, dies at 44
1863 – Jacob Grimm, German philologist, folklorist and editor of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”, dies at 78
1908 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (Spanish Dancer), dies at 64
1933 – Annie Besant, English social reformer and supporter of Indian independence, dies at 85
1974 – Carlyle Blackwell Jr, American actor (The Pilgrim Lady, The Triumph of the Rat), dies at 71
1996 – Paul Erdos, Hungarian mathematician, dies of a heart attack at 83
1999 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor (National Lampoon’s European Vacation), dies from heart failure at 90
2011 – Robert Whitaker, British photographer whose work was used on Beatles and Cream album covers, dies at 71
2021 – Billy Maxwell, American golfer (US Amateur C’ship 1951; Ryder Cup 1963; 7 x PGA Tour wins), dies at 92
2025 – Marian Burros, American food writer best known for her plum torte recipe (NYT Cooking, The Summertime Cookbook), dies at 92

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1719 – Joachim Tielke, German violin maker, dies at 77
1902 – Masaoka Shiki, Japanese haiku and tanka poet and diarist (Salt Water Ballads), dies at 34
1935 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian pioneer in rocket and space research, dies at 78
1962 – Nikolai Pogodin, Soviet playwright, dies at 61
1971 – William F. Albright, American old testament scholar and archaeologist, dies at 80
2000 – Gloria Talbott, American film and television actress, sometimes known as “the Scream Queen” for her work in B-movies, dies of kidney failure at 69
2004 – Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian-born American civil servant (b. 1919)
2018 – Arthur Mitchell, African-American ballet dancer (New York City Ballet, 1955-66), choreographer, and founder of Dance Theater of Harlem (1968), dies of renal failure at 84
2022 – Maury Wills, American baseball shortstop (7 x MLB All-Star; NL MVP 1962, World Series 1959, 63, 65; LA Dodgers), dies at 89
2023 – Buddy Teevens, American college football coach (Dartmouth College 1987-91, 2005-23; Uni of Maine, Tulane Uni, Stanford University), dies from injuries sustained in road accident at 66

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1891 – William Ferrel, American mathematician (b. 1817)
1951 – Pamela Colman Smith, British suffragist, writer and artist known for designing the Rider-Waite deck of tarot cards, dies at 73
1953 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian racing driver, dies at 26
1967 – John Cockcroft, English physicist (development of Radar, Nobel Prize 1951 for 1st particle accelerator, Director of Atomic Energy Research Establishment), dies at 70
1975 – Fairfield Porter, American painter, dies at 68
1992 – Earl Van Dyke, American jazz and session piano, Hammond B-3, and harpsichord player (Motown Records’ Funk Brothers, 1964-72), dies of prostate cancer at 62
1995 – Donald Davie, English Movement poet and literary critic, dies at 73
2002 – Ernest Sidey, British air marshal (General of RAF Medical Services, Honorary Surgeon to the Queen), dies at 89
2012 – Jack Kralick, American MLB baseball pitcher (All-Star 1964; no hitter 1962; Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians), dies from complications of strokes at 77
2025 – Diane Martel, American music video director (Beyoncé; Mariah Carey; Miley Cyrus), dies of cancer at 63

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1179 – Saint Hildegard von Bingen, German Benedictine nun, magistra, writer, and 1st western composer whose works survive (Ordo virtutum), dies at 81
1791 – Tomás de Iriarte, Spanish writer (Fabulas Literarias), dies at 40
1820 – Henri Hamal, Belgian composer, dies at 76
1933 – Joseph De Piro, Maltese founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul, dies at 55
1948 – Ferruccio Giannini, Italian-American operatic tenor (one of the first to be recorded), teacher, and impresario (Verdi Opera House, Philadelphia), dies at 79
1958 – Herbie Fields [Bernfeld], American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (“Dardanella”), dies from an intentional overdose of sleeping pills at 39
1977 – Lou Hooper, Canadian jazz pianist, and educator, dies at 83
2006 – Dorothy Stratton, American coast guard officer (1st woman officer in US Coast Guard, SPARS), dies at 108
2015 – Peter Heatly, Scottish diver and Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation, dies at 91
2021 – Roger Brown, College Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle (Maryland Eastern Shore; 6 x Pro-Bowl; Detroit Lions, LA Rams), dies at 84

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655 – Pope Martin I, Umbrian cleric, Pope of the Imperial Church (649-53) who was banished due to his opposition to Monothelitism, and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint, dies at between 55 and 65 [birthdate unceratin]
1775 – Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, English privy councillor (b. 1684)
1865 – Christian Julius De Meza, Danish general (b. 1792)
1936 – Karl Buresch, Austrian lawyer and politician, dies at 57
1946 – Mamie Smith, American vaudeville singer, dancer and actress (Crazy Blues), dies at 63
1948 – Ferdinand I MKLM, prince of Saxony-Coburg/tsar of Bulgaria, dies
1977 – Marc Bolan, English rock vocalist and guitarist (T-Rex – “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”), dies in a car crash at 29
2020 – Stanley Crouch, American social critic and writer (Notes of a Hanging Judge; The All-American Skin Game, or, The Decoy of Race), dies at 74
2023 – Arild Hetleøen, Norwegian soccer central defender (4 caps; SK Brann), dies at 80
2025 – D. D. Lewis, American College Football HOF linebacker (Mississippi State University; Super Bowl VI, XII Dallas Cowboys), dies at 79

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668 – Constans II, Emperor of Byzantium (641-668), known as “the Bearded”, assassinated in his bath at 37 (some sources cite July 15)
1701 – Edmé Boursault, French writer (b. 1638)
1893 – Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (Nottingham Gas Light and Coke Company; Nottingham Waterworks Company), dies at 86
1924 – Frank Chance, American Baseball HOF first baseman (World Series 1907, 1908; 2 x NL stolen base leader; NL runs leader 1906 Chicago Orphans/Cubs) and manager (Chicago Cubs, NY Yankees, Boston RS), dies at 47
1927 – Herman Gorter, Dutch socialist and poet (May, Tiny Hero’s Poem), dies at 62
1947 – Richard Le Gallienne, English writer (had affair with Oscar Wilde, father of actress Eva Le Gallienne), dies at 81
1996 – Peter Michael Grayson, British showman, dies at 70
2003 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American television evangelist (The World of Tomorrow), dies of complications of pneumonia at 73
2003 – Josef Hirsal, Czech novelist (b. 1920)
2016 – Rose Mofford, American politician, 1st female Governor of Arizona (1988-1991), dies at 94

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