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
Category: Famous Deaths
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
Famous Deaths for 19th May 2025
1319 – Prince Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France, dies at 43
1786 – John Stanley, English blind composer and organist, dies at 74
1921 – Edward Douglass White, American politician and jurist (9th Chief Justice of the United States), dies at 75
1954 – Aart A. van Schelven, Dutch church historian (Willem of Orange), dies at 73
1970 – Ray Schalk, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (World Series 1917; Chicago White Sox) and manager (Chicago White Sox 1927-28), dies from cancer at 78
1988 – Virginia Farmer, actress (Cyrano de Bergerac), dies at 90
2002 – John Gorton, Australian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (1968-71), dies at 90
2011 – Tom West, American technologist featured in “The Soul of a New Machine”, dies at 71
2014 – Sante Kimes ‘Dragon Lady’, American convicted con artist and murderess, dies at 79
2016 – (Angus) “Alan” Young, British-Canadian-American actor (Mister Ed – “Wilbur”), and voice actor (Scrooge McDuck), dies of natural causes at 96
Famous Deaths for 18th May 2025
1812 – John Bellingham, English merchant who assassinated British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, executed by hanging at 42 or 43
1913 – Otto Reubke, German organist, conductor, and composer, dies at 70
1936 – Alexander “Alick” Maclean, British composer and conductor (Scarborough Spa Orchestra, 1912-35), dies at 63
1993 – Heinrich Albertz, German theologist and mayor of Berlin (1966-67), dies at 78
1995 – Elisha Cook Jr, American actor (Maltese Falcon, Shane, Magnum PI), dies at 91
1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican musician (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown), dies at 44
2000 – Steve Wolownik, American ethnomusicologist, balalaika player, arranger, and co-founder of the Balalaika and Domra Association of America, dies at 54
2003 – Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer, dies at 89
2017 – Jim McElreath, American auto racer (California 500, 1970), dies at 89
2024 – Jon Wysocki, American drummer (Staind, 1995-2011 – “It’s Been Awhile”; “Eyes Wide Open”), dies of liver issues at 53
Famous Deaths for 17th May 2025
1464 – Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, English politician, executed at 36
1809 – Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (invented percussion as a diagnostic technique), dies at 86
1822 – Armand-Emmanuel, Duc de Richelieu, Prime Minister of France (1815-18, 1820-21), dies at 55
1950 – Eduardo Fabini, composer, dies at 67
1955 – Camilla Wedgwood, English anthropologist (Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New Hebrides), dies of cancer at 54
1985 – Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) killed off on television soap opera “Dallas”
1992 – George Hurrell, Hollywood photographer, dies of cancer at 87
2001 – Ikuma Dan, Japanese composer (Yūzuru), dies at 77
2004 – Ezzedine Salim, leader of Iraqi Governing Council (b. 1943)
2016 – Guy Clark, American folk and country singer-songwriter (Heartbroke), dies of lymphoma at 74
Famous Deaths for 16th May 2025
1830 – Joseph Fourier, French mathematician (mathematical theory of heat conduction) and Egyptologist, dies at 62
1862 – Lev Mej, Russian dramatist and poet (The Tsar’s Bride), dies at 40 [O.S. 5/16]
1955 – James Agee, American author (African Queen, Death in Family), dies at 45
1956 – H. B. Reese, American businessman, candy maker, and inventor (Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), dies of a heart attack at 76
1958 – Jeroom Verten [Jozef Frans Vermetten], Flemish playwright, dies at 49
1963 – Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet military intelligence (GRU), dies at 44
1969 – Johnny Jordan, English cameraman (You Only Live Twice), dies at 44
1989 – Hassan Khaled, sheik of Lebanon, murdered
2004 – Marius Constant, Romanian-born French composer and conductor (founded Ars Nova), dies at 79
2021 – Rildo da Costa Menezes, Brazilian soccer defender (38 caps; Santos, CEUB, New York Cosmos), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 15th May 2025
913 – Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz
1621 – Henrick de Keyser, Dutch architect and sculptor (master builder of Amsterdam, Zuiderkerk church), dies at 56
1821 – John Wall Calcott, English composer, dies at 54
1873 – Alexandru Ioan Cuza, 1st Prince of united Romania (land reform, emancipated peasants), dies in exile at 53
1892 – Arthur Hodister, British ivory seller (Heart of Darkness), murdered at 44
1969 – Joe Malone, Canadian Hockey HOF center (only player in NHL history to score 7 goals in a single game 1920; Stanley Cup 1912, 13 Quebec Bulldogs; 1924 Montreal Canadiens), dies at 79
1986 – Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
1994 – Frederik von Pallandt, Danish-Dutch pop singer and guitarist (Nina and Frederik), murdered in the Philippines at 60
2007 – Jerry Falwell, American TV evangelist, founder of Liberty University, dies at 73
2020 – Fred Willard, American comedian and character actor (Fernwood 2-Night; Best In Show: Everyone Loves Raymond; Modern Family), dies at 86