Category: Famous Deaths

1566 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan and the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1530-1566), dies at 71 [or Sep 6]
1683 – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French statesman (First Minister of State, 1661-83; Minister of the Navy, 1689-83), dies at 64
1988 – Lawrence Brown, American trombonist (Duke Ellington Orchestra), dies at 81
1995 – John Megna, American actor (To Kill a Mocking Bird), dies of AIDS-related complications at 42
1995 – Francis Showering, English brewer, dies at 83
2001 – Justin Wilson, American Cajun chef (Wise Potato Chips) and humorist, dies at 87
2003 – C. H. Sisson, British author (Christopher Homm), dies at 89
2015 – (Frederick) “Denny” Greene, American singer (Sha Na Na, 1968-84), dies from cancer at 66
2015 – Patricia Canning Todd, American tennis player (French National C’ship singles 1947; French doubles and mixed doubles 1948; Wimbledon doubles 1947), dies at 93
2016 – Hugh O’Brian, American actor (Wyatt Earp, Search), dies at 91

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1063 – Tughril, Turkish conqueror of Persia and Baghdad and founder of the Seljuk Empire (1037-63), dies at about 73
1759 – Girolamo Chiti, Italian composer and music theorist, dies at 80
1852 – William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1796)
1963 – Robert Schuman, Luxembourg-born French statesman and Prime Minister of France (1947-48), dies at 77
1964 – Werner Bergengruen, Baltic German writer (Der Großtyrann und das Gericht), dies at 71
1974 – Marcel Achard, French playwright (La forges the Paris), dies at 75
1995 – Edmond Jouhaud, French general, dies at 90
2010 – Paul Conrad, American cartoonist (Pulitzer 1964, 71, 84), dies at 86
2014 – Joan Rivers, American comedian and actress (Late Show, Hollywood Squares), dies at 81 after serious complications from a procedure on her vocal cords
2014 – Wolfhart Pannenberg, German theologist (Gingham Girl), dies at 85

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1402 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke and tyrant of Milan (1395-1402), dies at 51
1658 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and puritan Lord Protector of England (1653-58), dies at 59
1790 – Thomas Norris, English composer, dies at 49
1808 – John Montgomery, American Continental Congressman (b. 1722)
1857 – Heinrich Lichtenstein, German zoologist, botanist and explorer who collected plants in Southern Africa, dies at 77
1908 – Cornelis Pijnacker Hordijk, Dutch jurist and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1888-93), dies at 61
1940 – Vilhelm Ekelund, Swedish poet and writer (Sak och sken, Hafvets Stjärna), dies at 59
1951 – Robert Hernried, Austrian born American composer and conductor, dies at 67
1982 – Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa, Italian general who fought the mafia, murdered by Sicilian mafia at 61
1987 – Viktor Nekrasov, Ukrainian journalist and novelist (V okopakh Stalingrada – Front-line Stalingrad; Kira Georgijevna), dies at 76

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1645 – Alice Lisle, Last woman to be executed by a judicial sentence of beheading in England, beheaded for harboring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion at around 68
1944 – Manfred Freiherr von Killinger, German ambassador to Romania, commits suicide after Romanian coup
1967 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (US Open 1913, US Amateur 1914, 31), dies at 74
1982 – Jay Novello, American radio and screen character actor (Harum Scarum; Rebel Breed), dies of cancer at 78
1988 – Bill Northam, Australian yachtsman (Olympic gold 5.5m class 1964; Sport Australia HOF), dies at 82
1997 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (Man’s Search for Meaning) and founder of logotherapy, dies at 92
2006 – Bob Mathias, American decathlete (Olympic gold 1948, 52) and congressman, dies of cancer at 75
2011 – Felipe Camiroaga, Chilean character animator, Chile (b. 1966)
2012 – Emanuel Nunes, Portuguese composer, dies at 71
2020 – Adrianus Johannes Simonis, Dutch clergyman, Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Utrecht (1983-2007), dies at 88

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1715 – Louis XIV, King of France (1643-1715), known as “The Sun King”, had longest reign of any European monarch, dies at 76
1780 – Reynier de Klerk, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1778-80), dies at 69
1925 – Donald Petrie, Scottish botanist and educator noted for his work in New Zealand, dies at 78
1961 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect (Dulles Airport (Virginia); Gateway Arch (St. Louis, Missouri); IBM Building (Rochester, Minnesota); MIT Chapel (Cambridge, Massachusetts)), dies while undergoing surgery for a brain tumor at 51
1984 – Howland Chamberlin, American actor (Force of Evil, Pickup), dies at 73
1986 – Murray Hamilton, American character actor (Rich Man Poor Man, Anatomy of a Murder), dies of lung cancer at 63
2007 – Roy McKenzie, New Zealand philanthropist (b. 1922)
2010 – Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45th Yokozuna (b. 1928)
2012 – Smarck Michel, Haitian Prime Minister (1994-95), dies from a brain tumour
2022 – Earnie Shavers, American boxer (2 x world heavyweight c’ship challenger – Muhammad Ali 1977, Larry Holmes 1979), dies at 78

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1234 – Go-Horikawa, 86th Emperor of Japan (1221-32), dies at 22
1967 – Michael Fitzmaurice, American radio actor (Superman, Reported Missing, 14 Hours), dies of lymphoma at 59
1973 – Stan Worthington, English cricket all-rounder (9 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 128, 8 wickets, BB 2/19; Derbyshire CCC, Northumberland CCC), dies at 68
1995 – Beant Singh, Prime Minister of Punjab province of India, assassinated at 73
1995 – Horst Janssen, German graphic artist and printmaker, dies at 65
2000 – Patricia Owens, Canadian-American actress (The Fly), dies at 75
2002 – Lionel Hampton, American Jazz vibraphone player, pianist, drummer, and actor, dies from congestive heart failure at 94
2012 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian-Soviet marshal and Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1984-87), dies at 101
2016 – Jacques Leduc, Belgian composer, dies at 84
2019 – Leslie H. Gelb, American journalist and diplomat who helped compile the Pentagon Papers, dies of renal failure at 82

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1908 – Alexander P. Stewart, American Lieutenant General (Confederate Army), dies at 86
1934 – Earnest L. Wolzogen, German writer (That tolle Komtess), dies at 79
1950 – Ralph Hancock, Welsh garden designer (Rockefeller Center), dies at 57
1961 – Charles Coburn, American actor (Around the World in 80 Days, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), dies at 84
1991 – Alan Wheatley, British actor (The Adventures of Robin Hood), dies from a heart attack at 84
1994 – Lindsay Anderson, British director (Thursday’s Children; If …), dies at 71
1995 – Sterling Morrison, American musician (Velvet Underground), dies at 53
2002 – J. Lee Thompson, English film director (b. 1914)
2013 – Lotfollah “Lotfi” Mansouri, Persian opera director (Canadian Opera Company, 1976-88; introduced opera surtitles, 1983; San Francisco Opera, 1988-2001), dies at 84
2024 – Shridath Ramphal, Guyanese politician, Foreign Minister of Guyana (1972-75) and Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-90), dies at 95

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1584 – Pedro Ponce de León, Spanish Benedictine monk considered “the first teacher for the deaf”, dies at about 64
1780 – Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect, designed the Panthéon in Paris, dies at 67
1941 – Henri Louis, French officer/resistance fighter, executed at 40
1957 – Louis Diat, French-American chef (Ritz-Carlton Hotel NYC, 1910-51), culinary writer and cookbook author, credited with inventing vichyssoise soup, dies at 72
1981 – Lowell Thomas, American newscaster (High Adventure), dies in Pawling, NY at 89
1990 – Sandy, dog in the play Annie, dies at 16
1991 – Kathryn Cravens, American early news correspondent, dies at 92
1991 – Dixie Dunbar [Charlotte King], American singer and actress, dies of a heart attack at 72
2002 – Paul Tripp, American TV host (Mr I Magination), songwriter (Tubby the Tuba), and children’s book writer (Rabbi Santa Claus), dies at 91
2021 – Ron Bushy, American rock drummer (Iron Butterfly – “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”), dies of esophageal cancer at 79

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430 – Augustine of Hippo, North African saint and theologian (Belijdenissen), dies at 75
1818 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, trader, founder of Chicago, dies
1820 – Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor of the District of Columbia and site of Washington D.C., dies at 66
1927 – Li Dazhao [Ta-chao], Chinese intellectual, revolutionary and co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party with Chen Duxiu, executed as a political prisoner at 37
1971 – Nathan Leopold, US kidnapper and murderer of Bobby Franks (1924), dies at 66
1982 – Nini de Boël, Flemish operetta singer (White Horse), dies at 84
1988 – Paul Whitelaw, New Zealand cricket batsman (2 Tests; Auckland), dies at 78
1994 – Jean-Marie Vincent, Haitian pater, murdered
2007 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American Academy Award-winning stage and screen singer and actress (Sayonara; Flower Drum Song; Courtship of Eddie’s Father – “Mrs. Livingston”), dies of cancer at 78
2024 – (Herman) “Pete” Wade, American country and pop session guitarist (Nashville A-Team; Lynn Anderson – “Rose Garden”; Crystal Gayle – “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”), dies of complications after hip surgery at 89

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1394 – Chōkei, 98th Emperor of Japan (1368-83), dies at 50 or 51 (b. 1343)
1590 – Pope Sixtus V [Felice Piergentile], Pope of the Catholic Church (1585-90), dies at 68
1758 – Barbara of Portugal [Maria Madalena Bárbara Xavier Leonor Teresa Antónia Josefa], Queen of Spain, dies at 46
1875 – William Chapman Ralston, American banker (b. 1826)
1887 – Wilhelm Volckmar, German organ virtuoso, composer, and teacher, dies at 74
1898 – John Hopkinson, British physicist and electrical engineer (Hopkinson’s Law), dies with three of his children in a mountaineering accident in the Pennine Alps, Switzerland at 49
1948 – Oley Speaks, American composer (On the Road to Mandalay), dies at 74
1979 – Bolesław Szabelski, Polish organist and composer, dies at 82
1983 – William Hitzig, Austrian Maxwell physician, dies at 78
2001 – Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (assassinated) (b. 1938)

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