1734 – Roger North, English biographer, dies at 82
1879 – Joachim Heer, Swiss politician, dies at 54
1979 – Mustafa al-Barzani, Kurdish leader (KDP), dies at 75
1979 – Dolores Costello, American actress (Noah’s Ark, Expensive Women), dies at 73
1980 – John Jacob Niles, American composer and singer, dies at 87
1995 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist, murdered at 38
1995 – Earl Blackwell, American society impresario (Celebrity Register), dies at 85
2017 – Paula Fox, American writer (The Slave Dancer), dies at 92
2020 – Jack Welch, American businessman and CEO of General Electric (GE), dies of renal failure at 84
2022 – Warner Mark [McPherson], American country music singer-songwriter (Sittin’ on a Rock (Cryin’ in a Creek)); Talkin’ to the Wall), dies at 86
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 28th February 2025
1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
1876 – Charles Edward Horsley, English composer, dies at 53
1891 – George Hearst, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from California), dies at 70
1963 – Eppa Rixey Jr., American Baseball HOF pitcher (NL wins leader 1922; 266 career wins; Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds), dies at 71
1993 – Joyce Carey, British actress (Brief Encounter, The Cedar Tree), dies at 94
1993 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese film director and producer (Godzilla), dies at 81
2003 – Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author, dies at 82
2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, Librarian of Congress (1975-87) and author (“The Americans: The Democratic Experience” – 1974 Pulitzer Prize), dies at 89
2020 – Johnny Antonelli, American baseball pitcher (6 × MLB All-Star; World Series, NL ERA leader 1954; NY Giants), dies from colon cancer at 89
Famous Deaths for 27th February 2025
1779 – Jan Nepveu, Dutch governor of Suriname (1769-79), dies at 59
1844 – Nicholas Biddle, US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
1942 – Martha McChesney Berry, American educator who founded Berry School for Children, dies at 75
1950 – Ivan Goll, French-German writer (the Landless John), dies at 58
1968 – Johannes Tralow, German writer (Ottoman tetralogy), dies at 85
1985 – David Huffman, American actor (FIST, Jane Doe, Firefox, Onion Field), murdered at 39
1996 – Francois Chaumette, French actor (Le Bossu, They Never Slept, Christine), dies at 72
1996 – Sylvia Williams, American museum director and curator (National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution), dies from the effects of a brain aneurysm at 60
2007 – Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven, German soldier (b. 1914)
2015 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor (Star Trek – “Spock”‘; Mission Impossible, 1969-71), and director (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Three Men and a Baby), dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 83
Famous Deaths for 14th February 2025
869 – Saint Cyril [Constantine], Greek Byzantine Christian monk, missionary to the Slavs, scholar, linguist, and namesake of the Cyrillic alphabet, dies at about 42 (birthdate unconfirmed)27)
1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
1845 – Joseph Lakanal, French Politician and Educator, dies at 82
1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi-Assyrian communist leader (b. 1901)
1975 – Julian S. Huxley, English biologist, 1st director-general of UNESCO, dies at 87
2015 – Philip Levine, American poet (1995 Pulitzer prize), dies at 87
2022 – Sandy Nelson, American rock drummer (“Teen Beat”; “Let There Be Drums”), dies of stroke complications at 83
2023 – Friedrich Cerha, Austrian composer (Baal) and conductor (Ensemble Die Reihe), dies at 96
2023 – Charley Ferguson, American football tight end (AFL All-Star 1965; AFL C’ship 1964, 65; Buffalo Bills), dies at 83
2024 – Don Gullett, American MLB baseball pitcher, 1970-78 (3 x World Series Champion – Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees), dies at 73
Famous Deaths for 4th February 2025
708 – Sisinnius, Greek-Syrian pope (708, 20 days), dies
1844 – Willem de Clerq, Dutch merchant and leader of the protestant Réveil movement, dies at 49
1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor, dies at 63
1995 – Betty Davis, British dance teacher of Dame Margot Fonteyn, dies
2003 – Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)
2006 – Myron Waldman, American animator (Fleischer Studio), dies at 97
2010 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher, dies at 85
2013 – Donald Byrd, American jazz trumpeter (Black Byrd), dies at 80
2016 – Dave Mirra, American BMX rider (Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award 2005; 24 x Games medals), dies by suicide at 41
2021 – Jessie Smith, American session and touring vocalist (Ike and Tina Turner Revue; The Mirettes; Dr. John), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 19th January 2025
1479 – Johan II, king of Aragon/Navarra, dies at 81
1862 – Felix Zollicoffer, American journalist and Confederate Brigadier General, killed in action at the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky at 49
1925 – Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen consort of the Two Sicilies, dies at 83
1945 – Ernest-Bernard Allo, French Dominican theologist, dies at 71
1964 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist who twice won the Tour de France (1919, 1922), dies at 77
1993 – Kees Scherer, Dutch photographer (World Press Photo), dies at 72
2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricket all-rounder, captain (NZ 12 Tests @ 31.22, 16 wickets), dies at 84
2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (The Birds; The Bob Newhart Show – “Emily”), dies at 70
2011 – Ernest McCulloch, Canadian stem cell research pioneer, dies at 84
2023 – David Sutherland, Scottish cartoonist (Beano – Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 7th January 2025
1721 – Rochus Aerts, Flemish sculptor, dies [or 1739]
1730 – Árni Magnússon, Icelandic scholar and collector of manuscripts (Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection), dies at 66
1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician, dies at 74
1872 – James Fisk, American financier “Barnum of Wall Street”, dies at 38
1882 – Jim Fisk, American financier and “robber baron” of the Gilded Age known as Big Jim, dies of an abdominal wound a day after being shot twice by business associate Edward Stiles Stokes at 36
1948 – Raoul Auernheimer, Austrian American writer, dies at 71
1972 – John Berryman, American poet (The Dream Songs), dies at 57
1987 – Larry Carr, American pianist (Flight to Rhythm), dies at 72
1991 – Charlotte Wynters, American stage and screen actress, dies at 91
2005 – Eileen Desmond, Irish politician (b. 1932)
Famous Deaths for 5th January 2025
1066 – Edward the Confessor, King of England (1042-66) and the last King from the House of Wessex, dies at around 60 to 63
1713 – Jean Chardin, French explorer (Middle East and India), dies at 69
1880 – Benjamin J. Hill, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 54
1966 – George Duckworth, English cricket wicket-keeper (24 Tests, 60 dismissals), dies at 64
1972 – Gerald Kelly, British painter, dies at 92
1994 – Tip O’Neill, American politician and 47th speaker of the house (D-Ma: 1977-86), dies of cancer at 81
1998 – Ken Forssi, American musician (Love) (b. 1943)
2013 – Bruce McCarty, American architect, dies at 92
2021 – Bob Brett, Australian tennis coach (Boris Becker, Goran Ivanišević, Marin Čilić), dies from cancer at 67
2024 – (Derek) “Del” Palmer, English session and touring bassist, and sound engineer (Kate Bush), dies at 71
Famous Deaths for 29th December 2024
1689 – Olfert Dapper, Amsterdam historian/geographer, buried
1737 – Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
1877 – Willem Sassen, Dutch attorney general on Curacao (Affair-S), dies
1924 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger (Benny Goodman Orchestra), dies at 55
2003 – Bob Monkhouse, English comedian (Bonkers!) and game show host (The Golden Shot; Celebrity Squares), dies of prostate cancer at 75
2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1938)
2019 – Norma Tanega, American folk and pop singer-songwriter, guitarist (“Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog”; “You’re Dead”), percussionist, and painter, dies of colon cancer at 80
2020 – Claude Bolling, French jazz and classical cross-over pianist and composer (Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 21st December 2024
1889 – Friedrich August Quenstedt, German geologist and paleontologist, dies at 80
1972 – Horace Mann Bond, American educator, administrator (President of Lincoln University (Pa), 1945-57), and historian, dies at 68
1974 – Richard Long, American actor (Prof-Nanny and the Professor), dies at 47
1976 – Edward Bartlett, cricketer (WI Test batsman in 5 Tests 1928-31), dies
1992 – Philip Farkas, American classical horn player (Chicago Symphony) and educator (University of Indiana), dies at 78
1992 – Stella Adler, American actress (Love on Toast; My Girl Tisa), and teacher (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), dies at 91
1993 – Philip Christison, British general (Rangoon), dies at 100
1997 – Michael Lyne, British Air Vice-Marshal, dies at 78
2006 – Sydney Wooderson, English athlete dubbed “The Mighty Atom” (world record 1937), dies at 92
2017 – Bruce McCandless II, American aviator, electrical engineer and astronaut who made the 1st untethered space walk (STS 41B, STS-31), dies at 80