Category: Famous Deaths

1577 – Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b. 1513)
1638 – Johannes Althusius [Althaut], German lawyer, dies at about 81
1675 – Karl Rabenhaupt, German-Dutch baron of Sucha/army leader, dies at 73
1864 – Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)
1948 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (b. 1871)
2008 – Donald Erb, American composer known for large orchestral works, dies at 81
2010 – Richie Hayward, American drummer (Little Feat), dies of liver cancer at 64
2010 – Isaac Bonewits, founder of U.S. Druid organization Ar Ndraiocht Fein (b. 1949)
2020 – Bill Yeoman, American College Football Hall of Fame coach (University of Houston 1962-86; record 160–108–8), dies from kidney failure and pneumonia at 92
2022 – Ricardo Perdomo, Uruguayan soccer midfielder (6 caps; Club Nacional de Football, Rayo Vallecano, Unión Española) and coach (Miramar Misiones, Plaza Colonia), dies at 62

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1494 – Hans Memling [John Memlinc], Flemish painter (Passietaferelen), dies
1937 – Edith Wharton, American Pulitzer prize-winning novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth), dies at 75
1942 – Richard Heinrich Stein, German composer, and music theorist (La musica moderna), dies at 60
1980 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
1995 – Wilbur Stark, American film screenwriter, director, and producer (Vmpire; Circus The Thing), dies at 83
1995 – (Wonga) Phil Harris], American singer, actor (The Jungle Book; The Aristocrats; Robin Hood), comedian, and orchestra leader (The Jack Benny Program; The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show), dies of a heart attack at 91
1996 – Mel Taylor, American rock drummer (The Ventures, 1962-73 and 1979-96), dies of cancer at 63
1998 – Benjamin “Benny” Waters, American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, dies at 96
2010 – Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Scottish Conservative politician (1959-2001), dies at 86
2011 – Jani Lane [John Oswald], American heavy metal rock songwriter, and singer (Warrant – “Cherry Pie”), dies of acute alcohol poisoning at 47

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794 – Fastrada, 3rd wife of French King Charles the Great, dies at 30
1723 – Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and statesman, dies at 66
1973 – Douglas Kennedy, American actor (Dark Passage, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold), dies of cancer at 57
1977 – Vince Barnett, American actor (Star is Born, Human Jungle), dies at 75
1979 – John Nicholas “Dick” Foran, American actor (OK Crackerby, Fort Apache, Winners of the West), dies at 69
1986 – Don McRae, New Zealand cricket medium pace bowler (1 Test; Canterbury CA) and soccer goalkeeper (1 cap; Nomads United FC), dies at 71
1992 – Aribert Heim, Austrian SS physician (served at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Mauthausen, known as Dr. Death), dies at 78
1994 – Leendert-John Schalm, Dutch banker on Curacao, murdered at 58
2000 – Gilbert Parkhouse, Welsh cricket batsman (7 Tests England, 2 x 50; Glamorgan CCC, MCC), dies at 74
2022 – Abdul Wadud [Ronald DeVaughn], American jazz, avant-garde, and classical cellist (Camille; By Myself), dies at 75

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1250 – King Eric IV of Denmark (1241-1250), beheaded after being betrayed by his brother (b. 1216)
1898 – Gardner Quincy Colton, American lecturer who was the first to use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic in dentistry, dies at 84
1962 – Lowell Stockman, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon, dies at 61
1975 – Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (The Gadfly; The Nose), dies of lung cancer at 68
1986 – Jef Scherens, Belgian track cyclist (World C’ships gold sprint 1932-37, 47), dies at 77
1996 – Kenneth Fleetwood, English fashion designer (Hardy Amies, dressed Queen Elizabeth II), dies at 65
2005 – Judith Rossner, American novelist (“Looking for Mr. Goodbar”; “August”), dies at 70
2006 – James van Allen, American physicist (discovered Van Allen radiation belts), dies at 91
2006 – Philip E. High, English sci-fi author, dies at 92
2007 – Joe O’Donnell, American documentary photographer and photojournalist, dies at 85

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1824 – Friedrich August Wolf, German philologist (Prolegomena), dies at 65
1940 – Johnny Dodds, American early jazz clarinetist, dies at 48
1947 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (led anti-Bolshevik White forces during Russian Civil war), dies at 73
1967 – Jaromir Weinberger, Czech-American composer (Czech Rhapsody), dies at 71
1982 – Kurt Edelhagen, West German jazz pianist, dies at 62
1982 – Eric Brandon, British auto racer (closely associated with development Cooper Car Company), dies at 62
1989 – Irv Cottler, American session and touring drummer (Frank Sinatra; Dinah Shore), dies of a heart attack at 71
1992 – Lou Krugman, American actor (I Want to Live), dies of cancer at 78
1998 – Mahmoud Saremi, Iranian journalist, killed by the Taliban at about 30
2005 – Ilse Werner [Ilse Charlotte Still], Dutch-German actress (Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow), dies at 84

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1643 – Hendrik Brouwer, Dutch explorer and Governor of the Dutch East Indies (1632-36), dies on an expedition to Chile at 62
1798 – Johann Gottlieb Sollner, German composer and theologian, dies at 65
1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and merchant who invented the programmable loom (Jacquard loom), forerunner to today’s computers, dies at 82
1902 – Rudolf von Bennigsen, German lawyer and politician, dies at 78
1960 – Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian luxury shoe designer (Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.), dies at 62
1970 – Syd Buller, English cricket umpire (33 Tests 1956-69), dies at 60
1991 – Shapur Bahktiar, Iranian politician, Prime Minister of Iran (1979), assassinated at 77
1999 – Brion James, American actor (b. 1945)
2023 – William Friedkin, American film director, producer, writer (The Exorcist; The French Connection), dies of heart failure at 87
2023 – DJ Casper [William Perry Jr.], American club DJ and songwriter (“Cha Cha Slide”), dies of cancer at 58

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1272 – Stephen V, King of Hungary and Croatia (1270-72), son of Béla IV, dies at 32 or 33
1931 – (Leon Bismarck) “Bix” Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist – one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, pianist, and composer (In A Mist), dies of alcoholism exacerbated pneumonia at 28
1946 – Tony Lazzeri, American Baseball HOF second baseman (World Series x 5; only player to complete natural cycle with grand slam; NY Yankees), dies from a fall caused by a heart attack at 42
1973 – Fulgencio Batista, Dictator and President of Cuba (1933-44, 1952-59), dies of a heart attack at 72
1974 – Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (“The Happy Blues”), dies of bone cancer at 49
1987 – Sherwood Bailey, actor (Spud-Our Gang), dies
2001 – Larry Adler, American pop and classical harmonica player, and composer, dies of cancer at 87
2007 – Teizo Matsumura, Japanese composer (“Chinmoku / Silence”; “Hymn to Aurora”) and haiku poet, dies at 78
2009 – Willibrordus S. Rendra, Indonesian poet (Ballad orang-orang tertjina), dies at 73
2019 – Maurice Simon, American jazz saxophonist, dies at 90

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882 – King Louis III of France (b. 863)
1364 – Emperor Kōgon of Japan (Ashikaga Pretenders), 1st Northern Emperor, dies at 51
1799 – Richard Howe, British admiral, dies at 73
1923 – Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian scholar of Slavic studies, dies at 85
1978 – Queenie Smith, American actress/dancer (Funny Side), dies at 79
1991 – Soichiro Hondo, Japanese CEO and founder of Honda, dies of liver cancer at 84
1995 – Agha Hasan Abedi, Pakistani banker and felon (BCCI), dies at 73
2011 – Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician (Deputy Prime Minister of Poland), dies at 57
2013 – George Duke, American Grammy Award-winning jazz and funk keyboard player, and composer, dies from chronic lymphocytic leukemia at 67
2014 – Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, 11th US Surgeon General (1969-73), dies at 87

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1584 – John van Hembyze, Flemish Calvinist, dies at 71
1821 – William Floyd, American soldier who signed the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 86
1938 – Rudolf Georg Binding, German songwriter and writer (Legenden Der Zeit), dies at 70
1957 – Washington Luís, President of Brazil (1926-30), dies at 87
1976 – Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop
1982 – Bruce Goff, American Architect (b. 1904)
1995 – J. Howard Marshall [James Howard Marshall II], American businessman and husband of Anna Nicole Smith, dies at 90
2005 – Nick Perito, American pianist, accordion player, arranger and orchestra leader (Perry Como; Muzak; The Don Knotts Show), dies of pulmonary fibrosis at 81
2009 – Joe Maneri, American jazz composer, saxophone and clarinet player (Boston Microtonal Society), dies at 82
2012 – Arnie Risen, Basketball Hall of Fame center (NBA All-Star 1952-55; NBA C’ship 1951, 57; Rochester Royals, Boston Celtics), dies at 87

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1387 – Olaf V Haakonsson, King of Denmark (1376-87)/Norway (1380-87), dies
1460 – King James II of Scotland (b. 1430)
1712 – Joshua Barnes, English scholar (b. 1654)
1857 – Eugène Sue, French novelist (b. 1804)
1924 – Joseph Conrad, Polish-English novelist (Lord Jim; Heart of Darkness), dies at 66
1948 – Tommy Ryan, American boxer (World Welterweight, Middleweight champion), dies at 78
1957 – John Vernou “Black Jack” Bouvier, father of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies of cancer
2001 – Christopher Hewett, British actor (Mr. Belvedere; The Producers) and theater director, dies of complications from diabetes at 80
2017 – Robert Hardy, British actor (Harry Potter, All Creatures Great and Small), dies at 91
2022 – Raymond Damadian, American physician and inventor of the MRI scanning machine, dies at 86

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