Category: Famous Deaths

1555 – Maarten van Rossum, Dutch army leader who fought for the Duke of Guelders, dies at about 76
1626 – Anne of Saint Bartholomew, Flemish Roman Catholic nun, dies at 76
1935 – Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, Russian botanist (more than 300 new types of fruit), dies at 79
1937 – Jean Harlow [Harlean Carpentier], American actress and 1930s’ sex goddess (Dinner at 8; Bombshell), dies from gallbladder infection at 26
1978 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate 1967, dies at 80
1980 – Henry Miller, American writer (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn), dies of circulatory complications at 88
2001 – Carole Fredericks, American singer (Fredericks Goldman Jones), dies of a heart attack at 49
2010 – Omar Rayo, Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. (b. 1928)
2011 – Hubert Du Plessis, South African pianist and composer, dies at 88
2020 – Frank Bey [Bass], American blues singer-songwriter (“All My Dues Are Paid”), dies at 74

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1878 – Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (Stirling cycle engine) (b. 1790)
1911 – Charley Jones, American MLB Baseball outfielder, and one of the first sluggers, 1875-88 (Cincinnati Reds; Boston Red Caps, and 3 other teams), dies at 59
1935 – Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, British army officer, dies at 72
1969 – Miles Dempsey, British WWII general (XIII Corps, Second Army), dies of cancer at 72
1984 – A. Bertram Chandler, Anglo-Australian mariner and sci-fi author (Empress of Outer Space), dies at 72
1987 – Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor and playwright (Porridge), dies of stomach cancer at 64
2010 – Paul Wunderlich, German lithographer, surrealist painter, and sculptor, dies at 83
2015 – Vincent Bugliosi, American attorney and author (Helter-Skelter), dies at 80
2016 – Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother to Anthony, dies at 90
2023 – Teddy McCarthy, Irish hurler (2 x All-Ireland Titles; Cork; Sarsfields GAA) and Gaelic footballer (2 x All-Ireland Titles; Cork; Glanmire GFC), dies at 57

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1296 – Edmund Crouchback, English prince and son of Henry III of England, dies at 51
1667 – Francesco Sforza Pallavicino, Italian theologist and historian (Istoria del Concilio di Trento), dies at 59
1885 – Julius Benedict, German opera composer (Protoghesi), dies at 80
1893 – Mary Ann Shadd Cary, American-Canadian anti-slavery campaigner, suffragist and 1st African American newspaper publisher (“The Provincial Freeman”), dies of stomach cancer at 69
1908 – Luca Fumagalli, Italian pianist and composer (Luigi XI), dies at 71
1913 – Chris von der Ahe, German entrepreneur and owner of St. Louis Brown Stockings, dies at 61
1992 – Max Lerner, American journalist (NY Post) and educator, dies at 88
2004 – Ronald Reagan, 40th US President (Republican: 1981-89) and actor (Bedtime for Bonzo), dies at 93
2005 – Susi Nicoletti, German actress (b. 1918)
2012 – Barry Unsworth, English novelist (Sacred Hunger), dies from lung cancer at 81

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1922 – William Halse Rivers, British psychologist/anthropologist, dies
1925 – Pierre Louÿs, French writer (Aphrodite), dies at 54
1942 – Reinhard Heydrich, German Nazi leader (head of Bohemia and Moravia and the Reich Main Security Office), dies a from an infection while recovering from injuries a week after an assassination attempt at 38
1972 – Godfried Devreese, Belgian violist, conductor, and composer (Elf Dance; Gothic Symphony), dies at 79
1979 – Herman Shumlin, American Broadway producer, director and actor (Watch on the Rhine), dies at 80
1985 – John Ringling North, American circus director (Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus from 1937-43), dies at 81
1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (Hi and Lois, Hagar the Horrible), dies at 71
2006 – Eric Molobi, South African activist (ANC, Kagiso Trust), dies at 58
2015 – Albert West [Albertus Westelaken], Dutch pop singer (The Shuffles – “Cha-La-La, I Need You”; Stars on 45), dies at 65
2024 – John Todd, Australian Football HOF coach (6 × WAFL Premierships; AFL: West Coast Eagles) and half-forward (Sandover Medal 1955), dies at 86

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1864 – Peter A. Porter, US Union colonel (8th NY), dies in the Battle of Cold Harbour at 36
1900 – Mary Kingsley, English ethnographer and explorer who became the first European to enter parts of Gabon, Africa, dies of typhoid at 37
1981 – Eric Dalton, South African cricket batsman (15 Tests, top score 117), dies at 74
1983 – Ypk van der Fear, Dutch writer (Reade Runen), dies at 75
1986 – Arthur Charles Ernest Hoérée, Belgian-French composer, dies at 89
1987 – Will Sampson, American-Muscogee rodeo performer, actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: The Yellow Rose; The White Buffalo), and painter, dies of post-surgery kidney failure at 54
1998 – Joseph C. Harsch, American newscaster (Background), dies at 93
2000 – William E. Simon, American businessman, US Secretary of Treasury under Nixon, dies at 72
2014 – Elodie Lauten [Genevieve Schecroun], French-American composer (The Death of Don Juan), dies of cancer at 63
2022 – John Porter, American politician (Rep-R-IL, 1980-2001), dies at 87

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1948 – Viktor Brack, German Nazi physician and war criminal, executed by hanging at 43
1961 – George S. Kaufman, American playwright (This is Show Business), dies at 72
1976 – Juan José Torres, former President of Bolivia, assassinated in the frame of Operation Condor
1987 – Andres Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist and composer, dies at 94
1993 – French JFM of Thiel, Dutch 2nd chamber chairman (1963-72), dies at 86
2006 – Keith Smith, English professional rugby player (b. 1952)
2009 – David Eddings, American fantasy writer (Belgariad, Malloreon), dies at 77
2015 – Irwin Rose, American biologist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 2004), dies at 88
2020 – Wes Unseld, American Basketball HOF center (NBA C’ship, Finals MVP 1978; NBA MVP 1969; 5 x NBA All-Star; Washington Bullets) and coach (Washington Bullets), dies from pneumonia at 74
2020 – Arrogate, American thoroughbred racehorse (Breeders’ Cup Classic, World’s Best Racehorse 2016; Pegasus World Cup, Dubai World Cup 2017), dies at 7

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1710 – David Mitchell, Scottish admiral in the British Royal navy (b. 1642)
1795 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist (b. 1744)
1846 – Gregory XVI [Bartolomeo Alberto Mauro Cappellari], Pope (1831-1846), dies at 80
1876 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary, dies at 28
1973 – Helen Parkhurst, American educator (The Dalton Plan), dies at 86
1996 – Stephen Jones, English art historian, dies of cancer at 41
2001 – Queen Aiswarya of Nepal, killed by her son Dipendra in the Nepalese Royal Massacre at 51
2004 – William Manchester, American historian (Death of a President), dies at 82
2006 – Rocío Jurado, Spanish singer and actress, dies at 59
2008 – Tommy Lapid, Israeli journalist and politician (b. 1931)

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1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and the last Anglo-Saxon earl, beheaded after rebelling against William the Conquorer
1246 – Isabella of Angouleme, queen consort of King John of England (1200-16) and Countess of La Marche, dies at about 58
1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and 1st moderator (Free Church of Scotland 1843-47), dies at 67
1906 – Hermann Schell, German theologist and philodopher (Gott und Geist), dies of a heart attack at 56
1996 – Elsbeary Hobbs, American rocker (Drifters), dies at 59
2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist, dies of cancer at 62
2010 – Chris Haney, Canadian journalist who created the board game “Trivial Pursuit”, dies at 59
2017 – Jiří Bělohlávek, Czech conductor (Czech Philharmonic, 1990-92 and 2012-17; Prague Philharmonia, 1993-2005; BBC Symphony, 2006-12), dies of cancer at 71
2020 – Christo [Javacheff], Bulgarian artist and wrapper (Running Fence), dies at 84
2021 – Phil Johnstone, British songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer (Robert Plant), dies at 63

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1809 – Johan B Scheffer, portrait painter, dies at about 43
1922 – David Mendes Chumaceiro, Curacaos poet (Adelfas), dies at 45
1935 – Lothar Windsperger, German composer and editor, dies at 49
1938 – Raden Soetomo, Indonesian freedom fighter, dies at 49
1944 – Jessie Ralph, American stage, silent and sound screen actress (The Good Earth; San Francisco: The Bank Dick), dies at 79
1946 – Louis Slotin, Canadian Physicist and Chemist (Manhattan Project, Los Alamos) who assembled the plutonium core for ‘Trinity’, the first detonated atomic device, dies of radiation poisoning at 35 (b. 1910)
1977 – Claire Goll, German-French writer, dies at 86
2006 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director, won 2 Palme d’Or awards for “The Ballad of Narayama” and “The Eel”, dies at 79
2008 – Boris Shakhlin, Russian gymnast (Olympic gold, 1956, 1960, 1964; World Champion, 1958; European Champion, 1955), dies at 76
2022 – David Holford, West Indian cricket all-rounder (24 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 105no, 51 wickets, BB 5/23; Barbados), dies at 82

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1511 – Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, Spanish Governor of the Indies (1501-09), dies at 50 or 51
1790 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (Battle of Bunker Hill), dies at 72
1862 – Franciszek Wincenty Mirecki, Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue, dies at 71
1921 – Abbott Handerson Thayer, American painter and naturalist (paintings of angels), dies at 71
1951 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek composer, dies at 66
1961 – Uuno Klami, Finnish composer (Psalmus; Kalevala Suite), dies of a heart attack while sailing at 60
1972 – Margaret Ruthven Lang, American composer (Irish Love Song), dies at 104
2012 – Mark Minkov, Russian Soviet theater and film score composer, dies at 67
2015 – Henry Carr, American athlete (Olympic gold 200m, 4x400m 1964) and football safety (NY Giants), dies at 72
2021 – B.J. Thomas, American singer (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”; “Hooked On A Feeling”; “Growing Pains Theme”), dies of lung cancer at 78

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