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
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 28th May 2025
1672 – John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
1811 – Henry Dundas, British minister (b. 1742)
1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1846-52 and 1865-66), dies at 85
1900 – George Grove, English biblical scholar and misicographer, dies at 79
1964 – John Finley Williamson, American choral conductor (Westminster Choir College, 1920-58), dies at 76
1979 – William Edmonson, American bass harmony and gospel vocalist (Southernaires), radio, stage and screen actor (Thirty Years Later), dies at 76
1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
1990 – Joseph Hardy, American character actor (Husbands; The Clock), dies at 71
1996 – Jimmy Rowles [Hunter], American jazz pianist and composer (The Peacocks), dies of cardiac arrest at 77
2021 – Mark Eaton, American basketball center (NBA All-Star 1989; NBA Defensive Player of the Year 1985, 89; Utah Jazz), dies after a bicycle accident at 64
Famous Deaths for 27th May 2025
1564 – John Calvin [Jehan Cauvin], Protestant religious reformer and theologian (Calvinism), dies at 54 (b. 1509)
1708 – Jacques Danican Philidor, French composer, dies at 51
1831 – Jedediah Smith, American explorer (b. 1799)
1939 – Joseph Roth, Austrian-Jewish journalist (Fluctuate ohne Ende), dies of pneumonia at 44
1963 – Lambrakis, Greek EDA-parliament leader, murdered
1969 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (Star Trek Cage, The Searchers), dies of an intracranial hemorrhage at 43
1986 – Isma’il Raji’ al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher (b. 1921)
2006 – Paul Gleason, American actor (Breakfast Club, Die Hard), dies of lung cancer at 67
2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (Taxi – “Bobby”; Grease – “Kenickie”; Babylon 5 – “Zack”), dies of pneumonia and sepsis at 60
2011 – Gill Scott-Heron, American writer, poet and singer (“Whitey on the Moon”), dies at 62
Famous Deaths for 26th May 2025
1824 – Capel Lofft, English writer (b. 1751)
1881 – Jakob Bernays, German philologist (b. 1824)
1883 – Abdelkader El Djezairi, Algerian leader, scholar and national hero (b.1808)
1948 – Theodore Morell, German doctor, Hitler’s personal physician, dies at 61
1955 – Alberto Ascari, Italian auto racer (World F1 champion 1952, 53), dies in a testing accident at 36
1959 – Joe Kelly, American radio and television host (Quiz Kids, 1949-53), dies at 57
1967 – Antoon Spinoy, Belgian politician, dies at 60
1976 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (Being and Time), dies at 86
1996 – Halka Grossman, Israeli resistance fighter and politician, dies at 76
2022 – Ray Liotta, American actor (Goodfellas; Field of Dreams: Cop Land), dies of heart failure at 67
Famous Deaths for 25th May 2025
709 – Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, Bishop of Sherborne. English poet and scholar (b. cica 639)
1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher, dies at 60
1927 – Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1876)
1954 – Robert Capa, Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist, dies of injuries from a landmine explosion at 40
1964 – Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov, Russian composer (Rhapsodie hébraïque; Prince Lake), and teacher, dies at 92
1996 – David W. Howe, American test pilot (X-14) and WWII flying ace, dies at 77
2004 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (b. 1917)
2006 – Otto Zykan, Austrian pianist and composer, dies at 71
2010 – Alexander Belostenny, Ukrainian basketball player (b. 1959)
2012 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (6x Olympic gold, 1936-1960), dies at 93
Famous Deaths for 24th May 2025
1734 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (Vitalism), dies at 74
1826 – Friedrich Fesca, German violinist and composer, dies of tuberculosis at 37
1966 – Emil Fahrenkamp, German architect (Shell-Haus in Berlin), dies at 80
1987 – Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold, British actress (Gigi; The Music Man), dies at 89
2000 – Kurt Schork, American reporter (b. 1947)
2004 – Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
2005 – Carl Amery [Christian Anton Mayer], German writer, dies at 83
2018 – Gudrun Burwitz [Himmler], German daughter of SS leader Heinrich Himmler, dies at 88
2021 – Samuel E. Wright, American stage and screen actor and singer (Jesus Christ Superstar; Ball Four; The Little Mermaid; The Lion King), dies of prostate cancer at 74
2022 – John Thompson, American football executive (GM Seattle Seahawks 1976-82; NFL Executive of the Year 1978), dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 23rd May 2025
1662 – John Gauden, English bishop and writer (b. 1605)
1887 – Ludwig Mathias Lindeman, Norwegian organist, composer, musical folklorist, dies at 74
1896 – Jose Asunción Silva, Colombian poet (Nocturno III), dies at 30
1973 – Athena Lorde, American actress (Fuzz, Skin Game, Firecreek), dies of cancer at 57
1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate, and organized crime prosecutor, assassinated by Sicilian mafia at 53
1995 – Mick Pyne, British touring and session jazz pianist (Tubby Hayes; Georgie Fame: Charlie Watts), dies at 54
1996 – Rob Hall, New Zealand high altitude climber, dies of exposure on Mount Everest at 35
1996 – Scott Fischer, American high altitude climber, dies of exposure on Mount Everest at 40
2006 – Clifford Antone, American businessman, dies at 56
2018 – Homer Neal, African-American particle physicist, dies of a stroke at 75
Famous Deaths for 22nd May 2025
1666 – Gaspar Schott, German scientist (b. 1608)
1819 – Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Dutch naval officer and founder of Dutch Marines Corp, dies at 84
1884 – William T. Wofford, Brigadier General (Confederate Army-American Civil War), dies at 59
1943 – Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington’s cherry trees, dies at 81
1975 – Robert “Lefty” Grove, American Baseball HOF pitcher (6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1929, 30; AL MVP 1931; Triple Crown 1930, 31; Philadelphia A’s, Boston Red Sox), dies from a heart attack at 75
1998 – John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (Knock on Any Door, All the King’s Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest), dies at 71
2001 – Jack Watling, British actor (Nanny, Adventure for 2, Naked Heart), dies at 78
2005 – Julia Randall, American poet (b. 1924)
2012 – Wesley Brown, 1st African American US Naval Academy graduate, dies at 85
2017 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (MotoGP Champion 2006), dies after being hit by a car at 35
Famous Deaths for 21st May 2025
1647 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian, poet and playwright (Grandida; Nederduytsche Historiën / History of the Netherlands), dies at 66
1968 – Doris Lloyd, English American actress (Oliver Twist), dies of heart strain at 71
1975 – Boris Klyuzner, Russian Soviet composer, dies at 65
1980 – Ida Kamińska, Polish stage and screen actress, director, and writer (The Shop on Main Street; Mother Courage and Her Children), dies at 80
1983 – Kenneth Clark, English art historian (Civilisation), dies at 79
1984 – Ann Little, actress (Roaring Road), dies at 93
1988 – Harry Babasin, American jazz bassist and cellist (Dodo Marmarosa Trio), and archivist (Los Angeles Theaseum), dies of emphysema at 67
1991 – Jean Van Joutte, Prime Minister of Belgium (1952-54), dies
1998 – Douglas Fowley, American actor (Singin’ in the Rain, Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats), dies at 86
1999 – Karnail “Bugz” Pitts, American rapper (D12), killed in a picnic dispute at 21
Famous Deaths for 20th May 2025
1717 – John Trevor, British statesman (b. 1637)
1782 – William Emerson, British mathematician known for his work on fluxions, dies at 81
1910 – Jean-Baptiste Theodore Weckerlin, French composer, dies at 88
1935 – Ivans [Jacob van Schevichaven], Dutch lawyer and detective writer, dies at 68
1960 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet, 1935 Pulitzer Prize for “Bright Ambush”, dies at 49
1961 – Nannie Helen Burroughs, American educator and civil rights activist (founded National Training School for Women and Girls), dies at 82
1994 – Dallas Pratt, American collector (The American Museum in Britain), dies at 79
2005 – William Seawell, American Army Brigadier General and CEO of Pan Am, dies at 87
2012 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted Lockerbie bomber (Pan Am 103), dies from prostate cancer at 60
2019 – Andrew Hall, English actor (Butterflies – “Russell”), and theater director, dies of cancer at 65