1868 – Henry James O’Farrell, Australian would-be assassin of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
1898 – Louis Théodore Gouvy, French-German composer, dies at 78
1920 – Maria Stanford, American pioneering educator and professor, dies at 83
1970 – Earl Hooker, American blues slide guitar player (“Blue Guitar”), dies of tuberculosis at 40
1973 – Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia, dies at 79
1990 – Erté [Romain de Tirtoff], Russian-French artist and designer, dies at 97
1995 – Bob Wyatt, English cricket all-rounder and captain (40 Tests, 2 x 100, HS 149, 18 wickets; Warwickshire CCC, Worcestershire CCC), dies at 93
2007 – Lobby Loyde [John Lyde], Australian rock guitarist and songwriter (The Purple Heart; Wild Cherries; Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs), dies at 65
2010 – Ludvigsen [Gustav Lorentzen], Norwegian pop and bilhdren;s music singer-songwriter (Knutsen and Ludvigsen), musical therapist, and UNCEF ambassador, dies of cardiac arrest at 63
2015 – Duncan Watson, British solicitor and disability activist (President of World Blind Union, 1988-92), dies at 88
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 20th April 2026
1632 – Nicolas Antoine, French Protestant theologian who attempted to convert to Judaism, burned at the stake for heresy aged about 30 in Geneva, Switzerland
1769 – Pontiac, Ottawa Indian leader, murdered by a Peoria warrior at 48 or 49
1977 – Len Johnson, Australian cricket fast bowler (1 Test, 6 wickets, BB 3/8; Queensland), dies at 58
1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer, 13th person and 1st Bulgarian to climb Mt Everest, dies during his descent at 41 (b. 1943)
1992 – Johnny Shines, American delta blues singer and guitarist, dies at 76
1999 – “Ravishing” Rick Rude, American professional wrestler, dies at 40
2014 – Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, American boxer (famous murder conviction overturned after 19 years imprisonment), dies of prostate cancer at 76
2017 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish fiber artist and sculptor, dies at 86
2018 – Avicii [Tim Bergling], Swedish musician, DJ, remixer and record producer (“Levels”; “Wake Me Up”; “Sunshine”), commits suicide at 28
2018 – Allan B. Swift, American broadcast journalist and politician (US Representative for Washington (D), 1979-95), dies at 82
Famous Deaths for 19th April 2026
1831 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German mathematician, dies at 65
1892 – Fr. Thomas Dale SSC, Anglican clergyman prosecuted for Ritualist practices in the 1870s (b. 1821)
1937 – William Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English historian and explorer (Spitzbergen), dies at 81
1956 – Lionel Crabb “Buster”, British Royal Navy diver (WWII), disappears presumed dead on a job for M16 at 47
1978 – Emile de Strycker, Belgian philosopher and founder of the Antwerp University Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, dies at 70
1981 – Ernst Levy, Swiss composer, dies at 85
1992 – Alice Mary Riley, entertainer, dies of cancer at 51
1995 – Igor Hajek, Czech translator and writer, dies at 64
2011 – Grete Waitz, Norwegian long distance athlete (9 x NYC Marathon titles; World C’ship gold 1983; 5 x gold World Cross Country; WR x 4), dies of cancer at 57
2020 – Peter Beard, American wildlife photographer and diarist (The End of the Game, Eyelids of Morning), found dead in Camp Hero State Park at 82
Famous Deaths for 18th April 2026
1863 – Job Plimpton, American composer and organ builder, dies at 79
1917 – Moritz von Bissing, Prussian general, dies at 73
1947 – Benny Leonard, American boxer (world lightweight title 1917-25), dies from a heart attack at 51
1949 – Will Hay [William Thomson Hay], British comedian, actor and amateur astronomer, dies from a stroke at 60
1956 – Floyd Smith, American aviator and inventor of the modern parachute, dies at 71
1996 – Hubert Opperman, Australian road cyclist, politician (multi-distance world records), dies of heart failure at 91
2013 – Storm Thorgerson, British graphic designer and music video director (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, The Cranberries), dies of cancer at 69
2015 – Joseph Lechleider, American electrical engineer (invented DSL/high speed internet technology), dies at 82
2020 – François Lafortune Jr., Belgian rifle shooter (7 x Olympic Games 1952-1976, 50m Rifle, Prone Position), dies from Parkinson’s disease at 87
2022 – Sid Mark [Fliegelman], American disc jockey and ‘Frank-ophile’ (The Sounds of Sinatra, 1960-2022), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 17th April 2026
485 – Proclus, Greek mathematician, dies in Athens [or Apr 14]
1835 – William Henry Ireland, English forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
1896 – Sophus Tromholt, Danish astrophysicist and photographer (portraits of the Kven and Sami people), dies at 44
1941 – Al Bowlly, South African-British dance band vocalist (“Midnight, The Stars, And You”), and bandleader, dies in a German bombing raid of London at 43
1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and leader, Second President of India (1962-67), dies at 86
1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American rock music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist (Mountain – “Mississippi Queen”), shot and killed by his wife, Gail, at 43
1992 – Arthur “Skeets” Herfurt, American jazz and session saxophonist and clarinetist (Dorsey Brothers; Benny Goodman; Lawrence Wlek), dies at 80
2004 – [Andrew] Bruce Boa, Canadian actor (The Empire Strikes Back), dies of cancer at 73
2008 – Danny Federici, American rock organist, accordionist, and glockenspieler (E Street Band), dies of melanoma at 58
2018 – Tom McBride, Irish traditional and country music singer-songwriter, and band leader (Big Tom and the Mainliners), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 16th April 2026
1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b. 1050)
1687 – George Villiers, 2nd duke of Buckingham, English statesman and poet, dies at 59
1993 – Jan Meefout, Dutch sculptor (Resting Woman, Elephant), dies at 77
1995 – Iqbal Masih, Pakistani child slave labourer, activist (b. 1982)
1997 – Ray Green, American composer and publisher, dies at 88
1999 – Nicholas Cayzer, British shipping magnate (British and Commonwealth Shipping), dies at 89
2002 – Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Louisiana), dies at 75
2010 – Daryl Gates, LAPD Chief, dies at 83
2011 – Harold Volkmer, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri, dies at 80
2016 – Peter Tolson, English rock guitarist (Pretty Things), dies at 64
Famous Deaths for 15th April 2026
1881 – Sophia Perovskaya, Soviet icon, aristocrat, and socialist revolutionary (Narodnaya Volya), who helped orchestrate the successful assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, executed by hanging at 27
1937 – Ned Hanlon, American Baseball HOF center fielder (NL pennant 1887 Detroit Wolverines) and manager (5 × NL pennant Baltimore Orioles, Brooklyn Superbas), dies at 79
1983 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author (The Hiding Place) and Holocaust survivor, dies at 91
1993 – Harry Alexander, Australian cricket fast bowler (1 Test, Bodyline series 1933, 1 wicket; Victoria), dies at 87
2005 – Ken Funston, South African cricket batsman (18 Tests, 5 x 50, HS 92; NE Transvaal, Transvaal, Orange Free State), dies at 79
2013 – Jo Roland [Rolando Bonardelli], Swiss pop singer and TV personality (Rendez-vous), known as the ‘Swiss Perry Como’, dies at 80
2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor (Anne of Green Gables), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 48
2017 – Sylvia Moy, American songwriter (“My Cherie Amour”; “This Old Heart Of Mine”; “It Takes Two”), dies of pneumonia at 79
2017 – Clifton James, American actor (Live and Let Die, Silver Streak), dies at 96
2019 – Owen Kay Garriott, American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut (Skylab 3, STS 9), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 14th April 2026
1345 – Richard Aungerville [Richard de Bury], English bishop, writer (The Philobiblon) and one of the first English book collectors, dies at 58
1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, consort of Mary I of Scotland
1865 – Rafael Carrera, Guatemalan military commander and Dictator of Guatemala (1844–48, 1851–65), dies at 50
1941 – Guillermo Kahlo, German-Mexican photographer and father of Frida Kahlo, dies at 69
1978 – Frank Raymond [F.R.] Leavis, British literary critic (Culture and Environment), dies at 82
1987 – Karl Höller, German composer, dies at 79
1992 – David Miller, American film director (Billy the Kid), dies of cancer at 82
2009 – Maurice Druon, French writer and journalist (Prix Goncourt), dies at 90
2015 – Percy Sledge, American soul singer (“When A Man Loves A Woman”), dies at 73
2018 – Daedra Charles, American Women’s Basketball HOF forward (NCAA C’ship 1989, 91 Uni of Tennessee; LA Sparks), dies at 49
Famous Deaths for 13th April 2026
1517 – Tuman bay II, last Mamelukken sultan of Egypt, dies at 40
1728 – Johann Christoph Schmidt, German composer, dies at 63
1794 – Nicolas Chamfort, French writer, dies at 53
1855 – Henry De la Beche, English geologist, dies at 59
1864 – Johann Schneider, German composer and organist, dies at 74
1882 – Bruno Bauer, German theologian, dies at 72
1911 – John McLane, American politician, dies at 59
1970 – William H. Johnson, African-American artist of the Harlem Renaissance (Flowers; Training for War), dies of pancreatic hemorrhage at 67
1997 – Foffie Williams, West Indian cricket all-rounder (4 Tests; 9 wickets, 1 x 50; Barbados), dies at 83
1997 – Ann Craft, British social worker, scholar, and advocate for disability rights (Ann Craft Trust), dies at 53
Famous Deaths for 12th April 2026
1687 – Ambrose Dixon, Virginia Colony pioneer
1795 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general, dies at 84
1845 – Hendrik Marcus de Kock, Dutch general and politician (Lieutenant Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies 1826-30), dies at 65
1942 – Johannes Evert Akkeringa, Dutch painter and etcher, dies at 81
1959 – Ernest Willem Mulder, Dutch conductor, composer, and teacher, dies at 60
1973 – Arthur Freed, American Academy Award-winning lyricist and film producer (An American in Paris; Gigi; Singin’ in the Rain), dies from heart attack at 78
1981 – Hans Chemin-Petit, German composer, dies at 78
2013 – Michael France, American screenwriter, dies from complications from diabetes at 51
2020 – John Horton Conway, British mathematician (cellular automaton Game of Life), dies of COVID-19 complications at 82
2020 – Stirling Moss, British auto racer (16 x F1 Grand Prix; World F1 Drivers C’ship runner-up 1955-58; 12 Hours of Sebring 1954) and broadcaster (ABC F1, NASCAR), dies at 90