Category: Famous Deaths

258 – Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Christian writer and saint, is beheaded in Carthage during persecutions by the Emperor Valerian at 58
1819 – Erik Acharius, Swedish botanist (lichens), dies at 61
1952 – Alexander Xaver Gwerder, Swiss writer, commits suicide at 29
1964 – Mary Howe, American composer and pianist (Sand), dies at 82
1982 – Christian Ferras, French violinist and conductor, dies at 49
1994 – David van Cup, sculptor/painter, dies at 57
2006 – Esme Melville, Australian actress (b. 1918)
2007 – Jacques Martin, French TV host (Le Petit Rapporteur), dies at 74
2019 – John Ralston, American College Football Hall of Fame linebacker, coach and executive (Cal, Stanford, Denver Broncos), dies at 92
2022 – Don Tregonning, Australian tennis player and coach, dies at 93

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1813 – Hezqeyas, Emperor of Ethiopia (1789-94), dies
1949 – August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1920 for study of arterioles and capillaries), dies at 74
1967 – Varian Fry, American journalist and recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations”, dies at 59
1967 – Russell L. Rogers, American electrical engineer and astronaut (X-20), dies in explosion at 39
1969 – Charles Foulkes, Canada general and honorary citizen of Wageningen who accepted WWII Germany’s surrender in the Netherlands, dies at 66
1991 – Ferry Barendse, Dutch trumpeter, composer, and singer (Ramblers), dies at 80
1992 – Lou Jacobs, US clown (1966 US postage stamp), dies at 89
2003 – Frank O’Bannon, American politician (Governor of Indiana, 1997-2003), dies of a stroke at 73(
2007 – Neville Jeffress, Australian founder of Media Monitors Australia, dies at 87
2009 – Paul Burke, American actor (Naked City, Thomas Crown Affair, Neal-Dynasty), dies at 83

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1956 – Sándor Graf Festetics, Hungarian nobleman and politician (Minister of War, 1918-19), dies at 74
1988 – Lauris Norstad, American general (NATO commander) and CEO (Owens-Corning Fiberglass), dies at 71
1994 – Tom Ewell [Sam Yewell Tompkins], American actor (Tom Ewell Show, The Seven Year Itch), dies at 85
1995 – Larry Gales, American jazz double-bassist, dies of leukemia at 59
2001 – Victor Wong, American actor (Big Trouble in Little China), dies of a heart attack at 74
2008 – Bob Quinn, Australian Football Hall of Fame rover (All Australian captain 1947; SA captain 1945-47; Magarey Medal 1938, 45; Port Adelaide FC), dies at 93
2009 – Norman Borlaug, American agronomist (Green revolution – Nobel Peace Prize 1970), dies at 95
2021 – Michel Maïque, French rugby league second rower (8 Tests; FC Lézignan) and politician (Mayor of Lézignan-Corbières 2014-20), dies from acute pancreatitis at 73
2023 – Gordon Kennett, English motorcycle speedway rider (World Pairs C’ship [Malcolm Simmons] 1978; World Championship 1978 runner-up), dies at 70
2023 – Dominique Colonna, French soccer goalkeeper (13 caps; Stade Français, OGC Nice, Reims) and manager (Cameroon 1965-70), dies at 95

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1968 – René Cogny, French General (b. 1904)
1971 – Curtis Jones, American blues pianist and songwriter (“Lonesome Bedroom Blues”, “Highway 51 Blues”), dies of heart failure at 65
1988 – John Sylvester White, American actor (Welcome Back, Kotter), dies at 68
1992 – Frank Singuineau, Trinidadian actor (Firepower, Pressure, Mummy), dies at 79
1997 – Hannah Weiner, American experimental poet, dies at 68
2006 – Joachim Fest, German historian and journalist (Hitler biography, Speer: The Final Verdict), dies at 79
2006 – William Auld, Scottish poet, writer and supporter of Esperanto, dies at 81
2007 – Gene Savoy, American author, explorer and religious leader, Head Bishop of the International Community of Christ (1971-2007), dies at 80
2015 – Marcel Zeeuw, Surinamese soldier (participant in the Sergeant Coup, 1982), dies at 61
2024 – Chad McQueen, American actor (Nightforce; The Karate Kid), dies at 63

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1547 – Pier Luigi Farnese, Italian Duke of Parma and Piacenza (1545-47) and illegitimate son of Pope Paul III, murdered at 43 by a group of his nobles tired of his oppressive and tyrannical rule
1604 – Hamida Banu Begum, Persian Mughal Empress, chief consort of the Emperor Humayun and mother of Akbar, dies at 77
1770 – José de Escandón, Spanish colonizer and the first governor of the Nuevo Santander province, dies at 70
1828 – Antoine-Francçois Andreossy, French General and diplomat under Napoleon, dies at 67
1845 – Karl August von Lichtenstein, German composer, dies at 78
1942 – Nachman N “Neddy” Bamberg, actor, dies in Auschwitz at 63
1982 – Max Winders, Belgian architect (WWII), responsible for bringing the Belgian gold stock, dies at 100
1983 – Felix Bloch, Swiss-American nuclear physicist (1st Director of CERN, Nobel Prize for Physics 1952), dies at 77
1996 – Joanne Dru [LaCock], American actress (Red River, All the King’s Men), dies of lymphedema at 74
2010 – Edwin Charles Tubb, British sci-fi writer (Earth is Heaven, Earthfall), dies at 90

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1596 – Anna Jagiellon, Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania (1575-87), dies at 72
1841 – Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Swiss botanist, established a plant classification system and coined the term taxonomy, dies at 63
1959 – Max d’Ollone, French composer and writer (Le Ménestrel), dies at 84
1979 – Wilbur Ware, American jazz double bassist (Riverside Records; Thelonious Monk; Sonny Rollins), included in photographer Art Kane’s photo “A Great Day In Harlem”, dies of emphysema at 56
1981 – Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and semanticist, dies at 80
1994 – Patrick O’Neal, American actor (Under Siege; The Stepford Wives; King Rat; Night of the Iguana), dies at 66
1996 – Jack Pepys, South African British immunologist (allergy and allergic diseases), dies at 82
1998 – Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer, dies of liver cancer at 47
2006 – Richard Burmer, American composer and musician, dies at 50
2008 – Warith Deen Muhammad, American Muslim leader and theologian (American Society of Muslims), dies at 74

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780 – Leo IV de Khazar, Byzantine Emperor (775-80), dies of tuberculosis at 30
1100 – Antipope Clement III [Guibert of Ravenna], Italian archbishop, and1st anti-pope (1084-1100), dies at about 75 [birthdate uncertain]
1425 – King Charles III of Navarre (b. 1361)
1858 – Jacopo Foroni, Italian opera composer (I gladiatori; Advokathen Panthelin), and conductor, dies during cholera epidemic at 34
1993 – Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison, American surfer, dies of a heart attack at 80
2009 – Raymond “Ray” Barrett, Australian actor (The Troubleshooters, Gillette Summer Sports Reel), dies at 82
2014 – Magda Olivero, Italian soprano (Adriana Lecouvreur; La Voix Humaine), dies at 104
2018 – Tito Capobianco, Argentinian stage impresario, dies at 87
2020 – Gene A. Budig, American baseball executive (last American League [AL] president 1994-99), dies from liver disease at 81
2024 – Ed Kranepool, American Major League Baseball first baseman (New York Mets; All-Star, World Series champion, Mets Hall of Fame), dies of cardiac arrest at 79

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1799 – Louis Guillaume Lemonnier, French botanist and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, dies at 82
1819 – Jean-Louis Duport, French cellist and composer, dies at 69
1929 – Frederic Weatherly, British barrister, author, translator, and lyricist (“Danny Boy”, “The Holy City”, “Roses of Picardy”), dies at 80
1939 – Kyoka Izumi, Japanese novelist and kabuki playwright, dies at 65
1961 – Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy [Gerbrandij], Dutch lawyer, resistance fighter, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1940-45), dies at 76
2001 – Igor Buketoff, American conductor (Iceland Symphony Orchestra, 1964-65), dies at 86
2002 – Erma Franklin, American gospel and RandB singer (“Piece Of My Heart”), dies at 64
2016 – Norbert Schemansky, American weightlifter (Olympic gold heavyweight 1952, silver 1948, bronze 1960, 64), dies at 92
2017 – John Maxwell Geddes, Scottish composer and pedagogue, dies at 76
2025 – John Penton, American motorcycle racer and designer considered “the godfather of off-road motorcycling”, dies at 100

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1819 – Georg Druschetzky [Jiří Družecký], Czech composer, oboist, and timpanist, dies at 74
1941 – Hugo Loudon, Dutch businessman and co-founder of Royal Dutch Shell, dies at 81
1948 – Gerrit Hendrik Kersten, Dutch vicar and founder (Calvinist Party), dies at 66
1963 – Margarita Sierra, Spanish-American actress (Surfside 6 – “Cha Cha”), dies after heart surgery at 27
1981 – Joseph Yasser, Russian-American composer, dies at 88
1999 – René Lecavalier, French Canadian sportscaster (b. 1918)
2018 – Evelyn Anthony, British historical writer (Poellenberg Inheritance), dies at 92
2018 – Alan Oakman, English cricket all-rounder (2 Tests; Sussex CCC), dies at 88
2024 – Mark Moffatt, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and record producers (The Monitors; Tim Finn), dies of pancreatic cancer at 74
2024 – Horst Weigang, German soccer goalkeeper (12 caps East Germany; Lokomotive Leipzig, Rot-Weiß Erfurt), dies at 83

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1201 – Constance, Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond, dies at about 40 (b. circa 1161)
1859 – Friedrich von Olivier, German landscape painter, dies at 68
1922 – Sarah Winchester, American businesswoman, heiress, and philanthropist, dies at 83
1924 – Karel Komzák III, Austrian conductor and composer, dies at 46
1976 – Arthur Gilligan, British cricket all-rounder (11 Tests, 34 wickets; England captain 1924-25; Sussex CCC), dies at 81
1982 – Douglas Bader, English RAF fighter pilot in World War II, dies at 72
1996 – Clem Thomas, Welsh rugby union flanker (26 Tests, 9 as captain; Cambridge Uni RFC, Brynamman, Swansea, London Welsh, Harlequins) and journalist (The Observer), dies at 67 dies at 67
2015 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (Late Spring, Tokyo Story), dies of pneumonia at 95
2016 – Duane Graveline, American doctor and astronaut, dies at 85
2021 – Sarah Harding, British pop singer (Girls Aloud – “Sound of the Underground,” “Love Machine”), dies of breast cancer at 39

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