Category: Famous Deaths

1661 – Guru Har Rai, seventh Sikh Guru
1840 – François Budan de Boislaurent, French mathematician, dies at 80
1874 – Thomas Tellefsen, Norwegian pianist and composer, dies at 50
1885 – Thomas Talbot, American politician, 31st Governor of Massachusetts, dies at 67
1966 – Sydney Chatton, English actress (Once Upon a Horse), dies of a heart attack at 48
2006 – Valentin Muratov, Russian gymnast (4 gold, 1 silver medals 1952, 1956 Olympics), dies at 78
2006 – Puck Brouwer, Dutch athlete (b. 1930)
2007 – James “Bud” Ekins, American film stuntman (The Great Escape; Bullitt), dies at 77
2010 – Lex van Delden, Dutch actor (Soldier of Orange), dies at 63
2018 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish bel canto operatic soprano, and unlikely pop star (with Freddie Mercury – “Barcelona”), dies at 85

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1112 – Sigebert of Gembloux, French chronicler
1564 – Pierre de Manchicourt, Flemish composer, dies at about 54 [birth date uncertain]
1950 – Frederic Lewy, German neurologist (b. 1885)
1960 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American anthropologist and author (Anthropologist looks at History), dies at 84
1965 – Gustaf Adolf Tiburtius Bengtsson, Swedish composer, dies at 79
1986 – Emanuel Sayles, American jazz banjo player (Preservation Hall Jazz Band), dies at 79
1996 – Seymour Cray, American inventor (Cray Research, Cray I supercomputer), dies after a car accident at 71
1997 – Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler, dies at 35
2004 – William H. Dobelle, American biomedical engineer (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 nominee), dies at 62
2011 – Bert Jansch, Scottish folk guitarist, singer, dulcimer player, and songwriter dies of lung cancer at 67

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1838 – Eleanore Sophia Maria Westenholz, German composer, dies at 79
1862 – William Duncan Smith, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 36
1952 – Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner, founded Murdoch media, dies at 67
1966 – Sherman Billingsley, American bootlegger and nightclub owner (Stork Club – NYC), dies at 66
1979 – Christina Spierenburg, Dutch singer, dies at 56
1996 – Silvio Piola, Italian soccer striker (34 caps, 30 goals; Lazio), dies at 83
2004 – Rio Diaz, Filipino actress and TV hosts (b. 1959)
2021 – Eddie Robinson, American baseball first baseman (MLB All Star 1949, 51–53; Washington Sens, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia A’s) and executive (GM Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves), dies at 100
2023 – Giannis Ioannidis, Greek basketball coach (12 × Greek League C’ship; 6 × Greek Cup winner; GS Larissas, Aris, Olympiacos, AEK, Greece 1982–90), dies at 78
2024 – Jack Colwell, Australian pop singer-songwriter, vocal arranger and music director (Polyphony Choir), dies at 34

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1862 – Pleasant Adam Hackleman, Union brigadier general, dies in battle at 47
1929 – Gustav Stresemann, German chancellor (1923) who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926, dies of a stroke at 51
1936 – John Heisman, American football coach (legalised forward pass, originated the center-snap; Heisman Trophy named after him), dies from pneumonia at 66
1967 – Woody Guthrie [Woodrow Wilson], American folk singer-songwriter (“This Land Is Your Land”), peace activist, and father of Arlo, dies of Huntington’s disease at 55
1983 – Kurt Kusenberg, German writer (Wein Auf Lebenszeit), dies at 79
1989 – Hans Deutgen, Swedish archer (World C’ship gold individual 1947, 48, 49, 50; team 1948), dies at 72
2012 – (Kathryn) “Kathi” McDonald, American blues and rock singer (Ike and Tina Turner Revue; Big Brother and The Holding Company), and songwriter, dies at 64
2016 – Joan Marie Johnson, American pop singer (The Dixie Cups – “Chapel Of Love”; “Iko Iko”), dies of congestive heart failure at 72
2016 – Ljupka Dimitrovska, Macedonian-Croat pop singer (“Adio”), dies at 70
2023 – Bob Wagner, American college football coach (University of Hawaiʻi 1988-95), dies at 76

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1729 – Arnold Boonen, Dutch portrait painter, dies at 60
1901 – Rudolph Koenig, German physicist, dies at 68
1902 – John Whiteaker, American farmer, soldier (Mexican-American War), goldminer, politician (1st Governor of Oregon, 1859-62; US Representative, 1879-81), and judge, dies at 82
1919 – Ernest Halliwell, South African cricket wicketkeeper (8 Tests), dies at 55
1931 – Thomas Lipton, Scottish yachtsman (5-time America’s Cup challenger) and tea merchant (Lipton Tea), dies at 81
1985 – (Georgios) “George” Savalas, Greek-American actor (Kojak; Kelly’s Heroes), dies of leukemia at 58
1998 – D. French Slaughter Jr, American politician (Rep-R-VA, 1985-91), dies at 73
2003 – John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
2005 – August Wilson [né Kittel], American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Fences; The Piano Lesson), dies of liver cancer at 60
2020 – Bob Gibson, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (NL Cy Young Award 1968, 70; NL MVP 1968; 9 x MLB All Star; St. Louis Cardinals), dies from pancreatic cancer at 84

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1684 – Pierre Corneille, French poet and dramatist (El Cid, Horace), dies at 42
1704 – Cornelis Dusart, Dutch painter and engraver, dies at 44
1837 – Robert Clark, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1819-21), dies at 60
1936 – Oscar Da Costa, West Indian cricket all-rounder (5 Tests), dies at 29
1961 – Donald Cook, American actor (Too Young To Go Steady), dies at 60
1988 – Sacheverell Sitwell, English writer (People’s Palace), dies at 90
1992 – Petra Kelly, German politician (co-founder of German Green Party), activist, and writer (Nonviolence Speaks to Power), killed by her lover in murder-suicide at 44 (date approximate)
2004 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker), dies at 81
2007 – Ned Sherrin, English broadcaster, author and stage director (b. 1931)
2017 – Arthur “Art” Janov, American psychologist and psychotherapist notable for creating primal therapy (The Primal Scream), dies of natural causes at 93

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1612 – Ercole Bottrigari, Italian composer, dies at 81
1770 – George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader and preacher, dies in Newburyport, Massachusetts, at age 55
1862 – Isaac Peace Rodman, American banker and Brigadier General (Union Army), dies of injury at about 40
1963 – Arnold Foster, English composer, dies at 66
1978 – Beryl Booker, American swing and cool jazz pianist (Dinah Washington), dies at 56
1984 – Ellsworth Bunker, US ambassador (South-Vietnam, dies at 90)
1985 – Herbert Bayer, Austrian-American Bauhaus trained graphic artist (invented Universal typeface), photographer and designer, dies at 85
1991 – Frank Ervin, American harness racer (Hambletonian 1959, 66), dies at 87
2021 – John J. Rigas, American entrepreneur and founder of Adelphia Communications Corporation, dies at 96
2024 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese Basketball HOF center (8 x NBA All-Star; 4 × NBA Defensive Player of the Year; Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets), dies of brain cancer at 58

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855 – Lotharius I, Romanian-French emperor (signed Treaty of Verdun), dies
1902 – William McGonagall, Scottish-Irish poet infamous as an extremely bad poet and considered the worst in British history (The Tay Bridge Disaster, The Famous Tay Whale), dies at 77
1951 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach and administrator (first coach US men’s national team), dies at 86
1973 – W. H. Auden [Wystan Hugh Auden], British-American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (The Age of Anxiety; Funeral Blues), dies of heart failure at 66
1995 – Gerd Bucerius, German lawyer, newspaper publisher (Die Zeit, 1946-95), and politician, dies at 89
2002 – Edmund Trebus, British hoader, (A Life of Grime), dies at 83
2006 – Louis-Albert Cardinal Vachon, Canadian Catholic Archbishop of Quebec, dies at 94
2010 – Georges Charpak, Polish-French physicist who invented and developed subatomic particle detectors (Nobel 1992), dies at 86
2020 – Doyle Royal, American collegiate soccer coach (NCAA C’ship 1968; University of Maryland 1946-73) and tennis coach (U of Maryland 1954-80), dies at 101
2021 – Heiko Salzwedel, German cycling coach (est. Australian Institute of Sport Road Cycling/MTB program; German, Danish, British Cycling), dies at 64

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1582 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian (b. 1506)
1881 – John Milton Bernhisel, American physician, politician and Latter Day Saints figure, dies at 82
1915 – Saitou Hajime, 3rd squad leader of the Shinsengumi died under name of Goro Fujita (b. 1844)
1917 – T. E. Hulme, English writer and poet, dies at 34
1959 – Vincent Richards, American tennis player (US Pro C’ships 1927-28, 30, 33), dies of a heart attack at 56
1964 – Nacio Herb Brown, American composer (Singin’ In The Rain), dies at 68
1982 – Larry Breeding, American actor (Who’s Watching the Kids), dies in a car crash on his 36th birthday
1992 – William Douglas-Home, British playwright (Now .. Barabbas), dies at 80
2010 – Dolores Wilson, American opera singer (b. 1928)
2024 – Jacques Teugels, Belgian soccer defender (13 caps; RSC Anderlecht, RWD Molenbeek), dies at 78

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1674 – Thomas Traherne, English poet and mystic (Roman Forgeries), dies
1876 – Braxton Bragg, American General (Confederate Army), dies at 59
1899 – Henry Heth, American Major General in the Confederate Army (accidently started Battle of Gettysburg), dies at 73
1915 – Kaspar C E Ritter von Zumbusch, German/Austrian sculptor, dies at 84
1921 – Engelbert Humperdinck, German opera composer (Hansel and Gretel), dies at 67
1960 – Sylvia Pankhurst, English feminist and suffragette, dies at 78
1982 – Ralph Baldwin, Canadian harness driver and trainer (11 major world records; Hambletonian Stakes 1963, 73), dies at 66
1994 – Gerald Bledsoe, American broadcaster (Soul Alive, WWRL), dies of a heart attack at 51
1995 – Alison Steele [Ceil Loman], American radio DJ known as “The Nightbird” (WNEW-FM; WXRK-FM), dies of stomach cancer at 58
2024 – Maggie Smith, British Tony, Emmy, Oscar, and BAFTA Award-winning stage and screen actress (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; A Room with a View; Downton Abbey; Harry Potter films), dies at 89

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