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
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 31st August 2025
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
Famous Deaths for 30th August 2025
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
Famous Deaths for 29th August 2025
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
Famous Deaths for 28th August 2025
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
Famous Deaths for 27th August 2025
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)
Famous Deaths for 26th August 2025
1346 – John the Blind, King of Bohemia (1310-46), Count of Luxemburg, dies at the Battle of Crécy at 50
1595 – Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
1723 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch microbiologist, microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria and protozoa and naturalist (Philosophical Transactions), dies at 90
1813 – Daniel Gottlob Turk, German composer, dies at 63
1849 – Jacques- Féréol Mazas, French composer, conductor and violinist, dies at 66
1865 – Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (Comet Encke), dies at 73
1943 – Ted Ray, British golfer (British Open 1912, US Open 1920), dies at 66
2000 – Lynden Pindling, Bahamas ‘Father of the Nation’ Prime Minister of Bahamas (1967-92), dies at 70
2007 – Edward Brandt Jr., American physician and public health official, dies at 74
2023 – Bob Barker, American TV game show host (The Price is Right, 1972-2007; Truth or Consequences, 1956-75), actor (Happy Gilmore), and animal rights activist, dies at 99
Famous Deaths for 25th August 2025
471 – Gennadius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 458)
1482 – Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of England by marriage to King Henry VI, major figure during the War of the Roses, dies at 52
1925 – Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal, dies at 72
1939 – (Charles) “Babe” Siebert, Canadian NHL ice hockey player, 1925-39, 3X All-Star (Montreal Maroons, Boston Bruins, and 2 other teams), drowns in Lake Huron at 35
1968 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricket batsman (39 Tests, @ 48.21, 6 x 100, HS 232; NSWCA), dies of a fractured skull at 58
1985 – Samantha Smith, American peace activist and actress (invited to the Soviet Union during Cold War), dies in plane at 13
1990 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer and radio personality, dies at 87
1997 – Robert Pinget, French novelist (The Interrogation) and playwright, dies at 78
1998 – Lewis F. Powell Jr., American Supreme Court justice (1972-87), dies at 90
2002 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian writer (b. 1923)
Famous Deaths for 24th August 2025
1313 – Henry VII, Roman Catholic German King (1308-1313) and Holy Roman Emperor (1312-13), dies of fever
1516 – Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, fought the Portuguese and the Ottomans, dies at the Battle of Marj Dabiq at 75 or 76
1712 – Thomas Bullis, Jr. English organist and composer, dies at 54 (burial date)
1982 – Giorgio Abetti, Italian astronomer (Solar physics), dies at 99
1990 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer, dies at 48
1997 – (Vincente) “Tete” Montoliu, Catalonian jazz pianist, dies at 64
1998 – E. G. Marshall [Everett Eugene Grunz], American actor (12 Angry Men, The Defenders), dies of lung cancer at 84
2018 – Robin Leach, English TV host (Life Styles of Rich and Famous), dies at 76
2024 – Don Wert, American baseball third baseman (MLB All Star and World Series 1968 Detroit Tigers), dies at 86
2024 – William Reynolds, American actor (The Gallant Men; All That Heaven Allows), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 23rd August 2025
1540 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar and humanist, first keeper of the royal library at the Palace of Fontainebleau, dies at 73
1723 – Antoine Mouque, Flemish composer, organist and singer, dies at 64
1884 – LeRoy Pope Walker, American lawyer and 1st Confederate States Secretary of War (1861), dies at 67
1982 – Alberto Cavalcanti, Brazilian director (Herr Puntila), dies at 85
1986 – Charles Janssens, Belgian actor (Mira, Malpertuis), dies at 80
1990 – David Rose, American Emmy Award-winning composer (“The Stripper”; “Holiday For Strings”), and orchestra leader (The Red Skelton Show), dies at 80
1994 – Richard Jock Kinneir, British graphic designer (modern road signs), dies at 77
2007 – William John McKeag, Canadian politician, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (1970-76), dies at 79
2012 – Steve Van Buren, Honduran-American Pro Football HOF halfback (5 × First-team All-Pro; 4 × NFL rushing yards leader; 4 × NFL rushing TDs leader; Philadelphia Eagles), dies from pneumonia at 91
2020 – Charlie Persip, American jazz drummer (Dizzy Gillespie; The Jazz Statesmen; Billy Eckstine), dies at 91