Category: Famous Deaths

1633 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer and singer who wrote the 1st recognized opera “Dafne”, dies at 71
1750 – Rachel Ruysch, Dutch painter (portrait of sovereign Johan von de Pfalz), dies at 86
1896 – Thomas Chamberlain, officer of the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg
1970 – Glenn Hartranft, American athlete (discus WR 47.89m 1925; Olympic silver shot putt 1924), dies at 68
1983 – Giff Vivian, New Zealand cricket all-rounder (7 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 100, 17 wickets; Auckland), dies at 70
1990 – Sara Seegar [Stone], actor (Mystery of Room 13), dies at 76
1996 – Anthony Parsons, British diplomat and British Ambassador to Iran during Iranian Revolution (1974-79), dies at 73
1999 – John Rigby Hale, British linguist and historian, dies at 75
2007 – Elizabeth Murray, American abstract expressionist painter, and printmaker known for her use of shaped canvases, dies of lung cancer at 66
2007 – Ian McGeoch, Scottish Vice-Admiral with Royal Navy (submarine HMS Splendid WWII), dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

1656 – Prince Ottavio Piccolomini, Italian nobleman, Duke of Amalfi, and field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at 56
1851 – Lorenz Oken, German naturalist, dies at 72
1890 – John Henry Newman, British thologian (Tract 90), educator, poet (Dream of Gerontius), Anglican priest, Catholic priest, cardinal and saint, dies of pneumonia at 89
1892 – Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)
1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian-German chess player, dies at 67
1988 – Jean-Pierre Ponnele, French opera director (Carmina Burana), dies at 56
1996 – Mel Taylor, American rock drummer (The Ventures, 1962-73 and 1979-96), dies of cancer at 63
2005 – James Booth [David Geeves], British actor and screenwriter (Zulu, Keeping Mum), dies at 77
2010 – Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Scottish Conservative politician (1959-2001), dies at 86
2022 – Darius Danesh, Scottish pop, opera, and swing singer-songwriter (Colourblind; Live Twice) and stage actor, dies of respiratory arrest at 41

More Famous Deaths »

794 – Fastrada, 3rd wife of French King Charles the Great, dies at 30
1655 – Louis de Vadder, Flemish painter, dies at 50
1717 – Nicolaas Witsen, Dutch statesman and mayor of Amsterdam, dies at 76
1843 – Jakob F. Fries, German philosopher, dies at 69
1896 – Otto Lilenthal, German aviation pioneer, killed from injuries sustained during a glider test at 48
1915 – Henry Moseley, English physicist (relationship between atomic number and charge of the atomic nucleus), shot and killed at Gallipoli during WWI, at 27
1979 – Walther Gerlach, German physicist who, with Otto Stern, co-discovered spin quantization in a magnetic field (Stern–Gerlach effect), dies at 90
2002 – Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic), dies of pancreatic cancer at 40
2002 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist, dies at 75
2022 – Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish actor (Jake in “Pojat”) and musician (Eino Leino), dies at 77

More Famous Deaths »

1727 – Johann Philipp Treiber, German composer dies at 52
1744 – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, English patron of the arts (George Frideric Handel) (b. 1673)
1911 – John Gates (“Bet-a-million” Gates), American inventor and industrialist who established the market for barbed wire fencing, dies following an unsuccessful operation to remove a throat tumor at 56
1961 – Walter Bedell Smith, U.S. Army general (WWII) and head of CIA (1950-52), dies at 75
1973 – Dean Corll, American serial killer (Houston mass murders), fatally shot by an accomplice at 33
1996 – Frank Whittle, English RAF engineer air officer and inventor of the turbojet engine, dies at 89
2000 – Fouad Serageddin, Egyptian politician and leader of Egypt’s Wafd Party, dies at 88
2014 – Michael Brown, American shooting victim whose death provoked nationwide protests and civil unrest, shot dead by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson at 18
2020 – Martin Birch, British sound engineer (Fleetwood Mac; Deep Purple) and record producer (Whitesnake; Iron Maiden), dies at 71
2023 – (Jaime Royal) “Robbie” Robertson, Canadian-Mohawk singer-songwriter and rock guitarist (The Band – “The Weight”; “Up On Cripple Creek”), and soundtrack composer (Martin Scorsese films), dies of prostate cancer at 80

More Famous Deaths »

1555 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician (b. 1494)
1685 – Sassoferrato [Giovanni B Salvi], Italian painter (Madonna), dies at 75
1947 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general, led anti-Bolshevik White forces during Russian Civil war, dies at 73
1980 – Aga Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and politician (President of Pakistan 1969-71, Bangladesh genocide during his regime), dies at 63
1991 – James Irwin, American air force officer and NASA astronaut (Apollo 15, 8th person to walk on the moon), dies at 61
1996 – Herbert Huncke, American writer and poet, dies at 80
2004 – Fay Wray, Canadian American actress (King Kong), dies at 96
2007 – Ma Lik, Chinese politician (b. 1952)
2007 – Joybubbles [Josef Carl Engressia Jr.], American notable phone phreak, dies at 58
2024 – Jorge Rodríguez, Mexican soccer midfielder (40 caps; CD Toluca 201 games), dies of Evans syndrome at 56

More Famous Deaths »

1033 – Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine
1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1084–1105), dies at 54
1485 – Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, Scottish prince
1547 – Cajetan of Thiene, Italian priest and saint who founded Catholic order of Theatines, dies at 66
1639 – Martin van den Hove, Dutch scientist (b. 1605)
1661 – Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic (b. 1608)
1821 – Caroline of Brunswick, Queen Consort of King George IV (1820-21), dies at 53
2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent, manager and producer (The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd), dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 77
2017 – Janet Seidel, Australian jazz pianist, vocalist, arranger, and educator, dies of ovarian cancer at 62
2021 – Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, American funk saxophonist (Kool and The Gang – “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight”), dies at 70

More Famous Deaths »

1657 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Polish-Lithuanian military leader of Zaporozhian Cossacks (organized rebellion of Ukrainian Cossacks against the Polish), dies (b. c. 1595)
1821 – Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni, Italian composer and conductor, dies at 64
1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman, dies of a fever at 43
1881 – James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), dies at 60
1900 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German socialist (Social Democratic Party), dies at 74
1946 – Benny Lynch, Scottish boxer (World flyweight title 1937-38), dies of malnutrition-induced respiratory failure at 33
1996 – Muhammad al-Badr, magnate of Northern Yemen (1962), dies
2012 – Robert Hughes, Australian art critic and writer (Barcelona), dies at 74
2016 – Helen Delich Bentley, American politician (Rep-R-MD, 1985-950), dies at 92
2023 – David LaFlamme, American electric rock violinist (It’s A Beautiful Day – “White Bird”), dies at 82

More Famous Deaths »

1778 – Thomas Linley the younger, English violinist and composer known as the “English Mozart”, drowns in a boating accident at 22
1799 – Richard Howe, British admiral, dies at 73
1895 – Friedrich Engels, German social philosopher and revolutionary socialist who co-authored “The Communist Manifesto” with Karl Marx, dies of throat cancer at 74
1922 – Tommy McCarthy, American Baseball HOF outfielder (Boston Beaneaters, Philadelphia Quakers, St. Louis Browns), dies from cancer at 59
1931 – Ullrich Haupt, Prussian actor (Morocco, Du Barry-Woman of Passion), accidentally shot at 43
1977 – Charles Carson, British actor (Cry the Beloved Country), dies at 91
1980 – Harold Runnels, American politician (b. 1924)
1987 – Zygmunt Mycielski, Polish composer, music writer and editor (Ruch Muzyczny, 1957-68), dies at 79
1996 – Frank Marcus, German playwright and critic, dies at 68
2014 – Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, 11th US Surgeon General (1969-73), dies at 87

More Famous Deaths »

1578 – Thomas Stuckley, English adventurer and mercenary, killed at the Battle of Three Kings in Morocco
1612 – Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
1718 – René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
1778 – Pierre de Rigaud, Canadian-born French Governor of New France, dies at 79
1795 – Timothy Ruggles, American leading Tory politician who supported the British during the American Revolutionary War, dies at 83
1958 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet, essayist, novelist, and painter, dies at 75
1997 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian, oldest verified person in history (born 1875), dies at 122 years, 164 days
2011 – Mark Duggan is shot by police in London at 29, sparking widespread riots
2021 – David Haddon Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker’s Almanack; Bookseller), and proponent of Standard Book Numbering (SBN) system, dies at 90
2021 – Graham McRae, New Zealand auto racer (Tasman Formula 5000 Series 1971, 72, 73; LandM Continental 5000 C’ship 1972), dies at 81

More Famous Deaths »

1879 – Joseph Severn, English painter (b. 1793)
1942 – Richard Willstätter, German chemist (Nobel 1915), dies at 69
1944 – Felka Platek, Polish painter, wife of painter Felix Nussbaum, murdered at in Auschwitz Concentration Camp at 44
1947 – Vic Willis, American Baseball HOF pitcher (no-hitter 1899; World Series 1909; MLB ERA leader 1899 and strikeout leader 1902; Boston Beaneaters, Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 71
1948 – Tommy Ryan, American boxer (World Welterweight, Middleweight champion), dies at 78
1958 – Peter Collins, English auto racer (British GP 1958), dies in race accident at German GP at 26
1994 – Innokenti Smoktunovski, Russian actor (Hamlet), dies at 69
2000 – Michael Meyer, English novelist and translator, dies at 79
2019 – Mike Troy, American swimmer (Olympics 2 x gold 200m butterfly, 4×200m freestyle relay 1960), dies at 78
2021 – Jocelyne Bourassa, Canadian golfer (LPGA Rookie of the Year 1972; Canadian Open 1973), dies at 74

More Famous Deaths »