1708 – Jacques Danican Philidor, French composer, dies at 51
1887 – Coenraad Johannes van Houten, Dutch chemist and cocoa manufacturer (Dutch process chocolate), dies at 86
1947 – Ed Konetchy, American MLB player, dies at 61
1972 – Roy K. Marshall, American astronomer, TV host (Nature of Things), and first director of Morehead Planetarium, dies at 64
1986 – Gaston Duribreux, Flemish writer (Sour Dove), dies at 82
1995 – László Kalmár, Hungarian composer (Triangles), dies at 63
1995 – Ulysses Kay, American neoclassical composer (Of New Horizons: Overture), dies of Parkinson’s disease complications at 78
2007 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon and known as “Father of the Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon.”, dies at 87
2014 – Helma Sanders-Brahms, German director and writer (Apple Trees; Germany, Pale Mother), dies of cancer at 73
2020 – Larry Kramer, American playwright and AIDS activist, dies at 84
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 26th May 2026
604 – Augustine of Canterbury, 1st Archbishop of Canterbury and apostle to England, dies (or 605)
1421 – Mehmed I, Ottoman Sultan (1413-21). B. 1389.
1871 – Aimé Maillart, French opera composer (Les Dragons de Villars), dies at 54
1944 – Jacob J. Hage, Dutch farmer and WW II resistance fighter, executed at 23
1947 – Nellie Neilson, PhD, American historian, first woman published in the American Historical Review, and the first female president of the American Historical Association, dies at 74
1954 – Franz Pfemfert, German journalist and writer, dies at 74
1995 – Severn Darden, American actor (Luv; The President’s Analyst; Saturday the 14th), dies at 65
1997 – Jack Jersey [de Nijs], Dutch pop singer (The Four Sweeters; Jack and Woody; The Losers), songwriter, and record producer, dies of cancer at 55
2004 – Dullah Omar, South African attorney and UDF-leader, dies at 69
2020 – Stanley Ho, Chinese casino tycoon who transformed Macao, dies at 98
Famous Deaths for 25th May 2026
1510 – Georges d’Amboise, French Roman Catholic cardinal, minister of state and viceroy in North Italy, dies at 49
1741 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German Protestant theologian, dies at 80
1919 – Madam C. J. Walker [Sarah Breedlove], African American entrepreneur (First American self-made female millionaire, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company), dies of kidney failure complications at 51
1983 – Black Jack Stewart, Canadian NHL hockey player (b. 1917)
1992 – Viktor Grishin, Soviet communist hardliner, dies at 78
1992 – Johan Polak, Dutch essayist (Bloom of Decadence), publisher, and patron of the arts, dies at 62
2008 – David Gahr, American photographer noted for his work with folk, jazz and rock musicians (Time Magazine; Folkways albums), dies at 85
2020 – Marvin Luster, American CFL Hall of Fame defensive back (6 x CFL All Star; Toronto Argonauts, Montreal Alouettes), dies at 82
2023 – Frank Handlen, American artist of marine subjects, dies at 106
2023 – Denny Stolz, American college football coach (Alma College, Michigan State University, Bowling Green State Uni, San Diego State Uni), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 24th May 2026
1843 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician, dies at 78
1844 – William Crockford, clubman/gambler, dies
1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist, social reformer and publisher (The Liberator), dies at 73
1979 – Ernest Bullock, British organist (Exeter Cathedral, 1917-28; Westminster Abbey, 1928-41), composer, and academic (Director of Royal College of Music, 1952-60), dies at 88
1988 – Tom Burtt, New Zealand cricketer (NZ slow left-arm bowler in 11 Tests 1947-53), dies at 73
1996 – John Abbott, British actor (The Jungle Book, Gigi, Smogasboard), dies from cancer at 90
1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (Knight Rider), dies of lung cancer at 74
2005 – Vivian Liberto, first wife of Johnny Cash (b. 1934)
2007 – David Renton, British politician (one of the final National Liberal MPs), dies at 98
2019 – Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist who predicted quarks (1969 Nobel Prize for Physics for theory of elementary particles), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 23rd May 2026
1524 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia, converted Iran from Sunni to Shi’ah, dies at 36
1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer who improved measuring instruments (moon crater “Auzout”), dies at 69
1752 – William Bradford, English-born printer (Pennsylvania’s first printing press), dies at 89
1927 – Henry Edwards Huntington, American railroad executive (owned Pacific Electric Railway), dies at 77
1954 – H R Bromley-Davenport, cricketer (batted in 4 Tests for England), dies
1966 – Ruth Gates, American actress (Aunt Jenny-Mama), dies at 79
1969 – Peter Alma, Dutch painter and graphic artist, dies at 83
1981 – Rayner Heppenstall, English novelist (The Blaze of Noon), dies at 70
2003 – Csaba Szabo. Hungarian composer, dies at 67
2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean politician (16th President of the Republic of Korea 2003-8), commits suicide at 62
Famous Deaths for 22nd May 2026
748 – Genshō, 44th Empress of Japan (715-24) and 5th woman to rule Japan, dies at 67 or 68 (b. 680)
1545 – Sher Shah Suri, Afghan Emperor of Bihar and Hindustan, established Sur Dynasty, dies in battle (b. 1472 or 1486)
1910 – Jules Renard, French writer (Le plaisir the rompre), dies at 46
1922 – Ada Jane Jones, English-American popular singer, among the earliest female singers to be recorded, dies of kidney failure at 48
1928 – William Henry Temple Gairdner, British Christian missionary in Cairo, Egypt (Church Missionary Society). dies at 54
1943 – Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington’s cherry trees, dies at 81
1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet (Weary Blues), playwright (Mulatto), and librettist (Troubled Island), dies at 65
1971 – Frank Ottersen, Norwegian jazz violinist and saxophonist (Ding, Dong, Dang), dies at 50
2013 – Fusilier Lee Rigby, British Army soldier, murdered near the Royal Artillery Barracks in London by two Islamic terrorists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
2017 – (Granville) “Mickey” Roker, American jazz drummer (Art Farmer; Milt Jackson; Dizzy Gillespie), dies suffering from diabetes and lung cancer at 84
Famous Deaths for 21st May 2026
1703 – Roemer Vlacq, Dutch admiral, dies in battle
1789 – John Hawkins, English writer (A General History of the Science and Practice of Music; Life of Samuel Johnson), dies at 70
1858 – José de la Riva-Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru (1823), dies at 75
1994 – Johan Hendrik Weidner, Dutch-American resistance fighter (set up largest WWII underground network to smuggle people out of Nazi territory), dies at 81
2006 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer (Casbah; Stormy Weather), choreographer (Metroplitan opera, 1963; Joplin’s Treemonisha, 1972), and social activist, dies at 96
2015 – Louis Johnson, American rock bassist and vocalist (Brothers Johnson), dies at 60
2020 – Oliver Williamson, American economist (Nobel Prize for Economics 2009), dies at 87
2022 – Marco Cornez, Chilean soccer goalkeeper, (20 caps; FC Deportivo Palestino, Universidad Católica, Everton de Viña del Mar), dies from stomach cancer at 64
2025 – Nol de Ruiter, Dutch football coach (Netherlands, Egypt; FC Utrecht, ADO Den Haag), dies at 85
2025 – Robert Holton, American chemist credited with synthesizing the cancer drug Taxol, dies of emphysema at 81
Famous Deaths for 20th May 2026
1597 – Dutch commander Matthijs Heldt, dies in battle
1622 – Osman II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1618-22), dies at 17
1925 – Elias Ammons, American politician (Governor of Colorado, 1913-15), who sent the National Guard to settle coalminer strikes, precipitating the Ludlow Massacre, die at 64
1932 – Bipin Chandra Pal, Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, dies at 73
1985 – George Memmoli, American actor (Earl-Hello Larry), dies at 46
1996 – Jack Wyngaard, South African dancer (London City Ballet, 1986-96), dies of a heart attack at 37
2007 – Stanley Miller, American chemist (created ‘primordial soup’ experiment to show how life might have originated on earth), dies at 77
2012 – Robin Gibb, English rock-pop-disco singer-songwriter and producer (Bee Gees – Saturday Night Fever), dies from colon and liver cancer at 62
2020 – Emma Amos, American activist and artist (Tightrope, Will You Forget Me), dies of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at 83
2021 – Freddy Marks, English actor, singer and entertainer (Rod, Jane and Freddy), dies of cancer at 71
Famous Deaths for 19th May 2026
1895 – Jose Marti y Perez, Cuban poet (Versos sencillos) essayist and politician (fought for independence from Spain), dies fighting the Battle of Dos Rios at 42
1918 – Gervais Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace, dies at 33
1971 – Bernard Wagenaar, Dutch-American composer (3 Songs for Chinese), dies at 76
1993 – Ranga Sohoni, Indian cricket all-rounder (4 Tests, top score 29 no, 2 wickets), dies from a heart attack at 75
1994 – Luis Ocaña, Spanish road cyclist (Tour de France 1973; Vuelta a España 1970), commits suicide at 48
1997 – Millie, dog of US President George H. W. Bush (Millie’s Book), dies at 12
1999 – James Blades, British classical percussionist, and educator, dies at 97
2002 – John Gorton, Australian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (1968-71), dies at 90
2005 – Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b. 1921)
2025 – Alice Notley, American poet (Mysteries of Small Houses, Disobedience), dies of a cerebral haemorrhage at 79
Famous Deaths for 18th May 2026
1160 – Erik IX Helgi, King of Sweden, dies at ~40
1848 – William Leidesdorff, Mixed-race early Californian businessman, dies at 37
1952 – Rossetter Gleason Cole, American composer (Heroes of Freedom), dies at 86
1955 – Edwin Scharff, German sculptor, and educator, deemed “entartete” (degenerate) by Nazi regime, dies at 68
1959 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, British Antarctic explorer and survivor of the Terra Nova Expedition (The Worst Journey in the World), dies at 73
1961 – Henry O’Neill, American actor (“Lady Killer”; “Nothing But Trouble”), dies at 69
1974 – Tyree Glenn, American jazz and session trombonist and vibraphone player (Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong), dies of cancer at 61
2011 – Leonard Kastle, opera composer, librettist, director (The Passion of Mother Ann), and film maker (The Honeymoon Killers), dies at 82
2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (SWAT), dies at 87
2013 – Colin Webb, British Fleet Street editor and journalist (Press Association), dies at 74