Category: Famous Deaths

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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1769 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, dies at 80
1869 – Alexandrine Tinne, Dutch explorer and photographer, murdered trying to cross the Sahara at 33
1876 – “Wild Bill” Hickok [James Butler Hickok], American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind at 39 by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8’s)
1903 – Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (Louis Pasteur Institute), dies at 53
1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican conductor and composer (Sinfonía India), dies at 79
1982 – Rudolf Maros, Hungarian composer (Sirato/Lament; Euphonies), and pedagogue, dies at 65
1995 – Brian Smith, Canadian sportscaster and NHL player, dies at 54 after being shot the previous day
2003 – Charles Kerruish, Manx politician and President of Tyndwald Isle of Man, dies at 86
2015 – Forrest Bird, American aviator and inventor (1st respirators and ventilators), dies at 94
2022 – Ray Majors, British rock guitarist (Mott the Hoople, 1975-76; British Lions, 1977-78), dies at 73

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371 – St Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop (b. c. 283)
1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
1857 – Charles Turner, engraver, dies
1911 – Konrad Duden, German linguist (the Duden dictionary), dies at 82
1911 – Edward Austin Abbey, American painter (Quest of the Holy Grail mural at Boston Public Library), dies at 59
1917 – Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)
1922 – Vaclav Juda Novotny, Czech music writer, composer, and libretti translator, dies at 72
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer, pedagogue (Venice Liceo Musicale, 1932-52), and musicologist (Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi). s at 91
1993 – Alfred Manessier, French painter (glass-in-lead), dies in car crash at 81
1995 – Loudi Nijhoff, Dutch actress (Alicia, Van Geluk Gesproken), dies

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1396 – William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)
1693 – Willem Kalf, Dutch ‘Golden Age’ painter (Still life with nautilus beaker and porcelain lidded bowl), dies at 73 or 74 [exact birthday in 1619, unknown]
1750 – John V, King of Portugal (1706-50), dies at 60
1784 – Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher (Encyclopédie), dies at 70
1864 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (Librairie Hachette), dies at 64
1871 – Phoebe Cary, American poet (Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary), dies at 46
1952 – N B F “Tufty” Mann, cricketer (South African slow lefty 1947-51), dies
1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist (Nobel 1938-work on carotenoids and vitamins), dies at 66
1978 – Carleton Percy Hobbs, actor (I Claudius, Dark Places), dies at 80
2022 – Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and 12th President of the Philippines (1992-98), dies at 94

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1540 – Thomas Abel, English priest (martyred)
1652 – Charles Amédée de Savoie, 6th Duc de Nemours, French soldier (b. 1624)
1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain, queen of Louis XIV of France, dies at 44
1889 – Charles Absolom, English cricketer (Test for England), dies in a port accident at 43
1980 – Charles McGraw [Butters], American actor (Spartacus, The Birds, The Killers, Smith Family), dies after falling through a glass shower door at 66
1995 – Biggie Tembo [Rodwell Marasha], Zimbabwean musician (Bhundu Boys), takes his own life at 36
1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith [Robert Emil Schmidt], American TV host (Howdy Doody), dies of cancer at 80
2007 – Bill Walsh, American Pro Football HOF coach (Super Bowl 1981, 84, 88; NFL Coach of the Year 1981; SF 49ers; Stanford University 1977–78), dies of leukemia at 75
2010 – Otto Joachim, German-Canadian composer, dies at 99
2022 – [Grace] Nichelle Nichols, American actress (Star Trek – “Lt. Uhura”) and singer (Down To Earth; “Fly Me To The Moon”), dies at 89

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