1624 – Dirck van Baburen, Dutch painter (Sepulture), dies at about 28
1823 – Charles Wolfe, Irish poet, dies at 31
1842 – Wojciech Żywny, Polish pianist, composer and Chopin’s first piano teacher, dies at 85
1919 – Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (1901-19), murdered at 46
1948 – Frederick Lamond, Scottish pianist and composer, dies at 80
1992 – Franc Holden, British astronomer (Binary Stars), dies
1993 – Dick White, British intelligence officer (Director General of MI5 1953–1956; Head of the Secret Intelligence Service 1956–1968), dies at 86
1997 – Michael Hollings, British Catholic priest/crusader, dies at 75
2015 – Bruce Sinofsky, American documentary film director (Brother’s Keeper), dies at 58 from diabetes complications
2016 – Roger Chorley [Baron Chorley), English accountant and peer (Chorley Report, President of the Royal Geographical Society), dies at 85
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 20th February 2024
1431 – Pope Martin V [Oddo Colonna] dies, (b. 1368)
1771 – Jean Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist, dies at 92
1779 – Johannes Burman, Dutch botanist, plant author and physician, dies at 71
1803 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (Iphigénie en Aulide), dies at 90
1904 – Gustav Adolf Heinze, Dutch composer, dies at 83
1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint and youngest witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fátima, dies in the flu epidemic at 9
1964 – R T Stanyforth, English cricket wicket-keeper (South Africa 1927-28), dies
1987 – Adrian Cruft, British composer, dies at 66
2010 – Alexander Haig Jr, American General and 59th Secretary of State (1981-82), dies from a staphylococcal infection at 85
2022 – Joni James [Joan Babbo], American pop singer (“Why Don’t You Believe Me?”; “How Important Can It Be?”), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 19th February 2024
1553 – Erasmus Reinhold, German mathematician (calculated planetary table), dies at 41
1864 – William Edwin Baldwin, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in a horse accident at 36
1887 – Multatuli [Eduard Douwes Dekker], Dutch writer (Max Havelaar), dies at 66
1962 – Georgios Papanicolaou, Greek-American doctor, cytopathologist, and inventor of the Pap smear, dies at 78
1997 – Stan Pearson, English soccer inside forward (8 caps; Manchester United, Bury, Chester), dies at 76
1998 – (Louis) “Grandpa” Jones, American country music singer and banjo wizard (Hee Haw), dies at 84
2001 – Stanley Kramer, American producer/director (Inherit the Wind), dies at 87
2013 – Donald Richie, American-born author and (Japanese) film critic, dies at 88
2020 – Heather Couper, British astronomer and presenter (The Sky at Night), dies at 70
2023 – Greg Foster, American athlete (3 x World C’ship gold 110m hurdles; Olympic silver 1984), dies from amyloidosis at 64
Famous Deaths for 18th February 2024
1778 – Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
1790 – Wilhelm Gottfried Enderle, German composer and violinist, dies at 67
1799 – Maurus Haberhauer, Czech composer, dies at 52
1833 – Georg Johann Schinn, German composer, dies at 64
1900 – Eugenio Beltrami, Italian mathematician (non-Euclidean geometry), dies at 64
1977 – Andy Devine, American character actor (Roy Roger’s sidekick – “Cookie”; Stagecoach; Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, 1951-58), dies of leukemia at 71
1999 – Noam Pitlik, American character actor (Hogan’s Heroes; Shnford and Son; The Bob Newhart Show – “Mr. Gianelli”) and Emmy Award-winning director (Barney Miller; Wings; Mr. Belvedere), dies at 66
2011 – Marshall Stoneham, British physicist, dies at 70
2021 – Juan Pizarro, Puerto Rican baseball pitcher (MLB All-Star 1963, 64 Chicago White Sox; World Series 1957 Milwaukee Braves), dies at 84
2023 – George T. Miller, Scottish-Australian film and television director (The Man from Snowy River; Zeus and Roxanne), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 17th February 2024
1694 – Antoinette du Ligier de la Guard Deshoulieres, French poet and literary figure, dies at 56
1732 – Louis Marchand, French Baroque organist and composer, dies at 63
1854 – Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais, French Catholic priest and writer (L’avenir), dies at 71
1874 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian astronomer, mathematician and sociologist (body mass index scale), dies at 77
1924 – Oskar Merikanto [Ala-Kanto], Finnish pianist, organist, and composer, dies at 55
1934 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player, chess writer, and chess teacher, dies at 71
1966 – Hans Hofmann, German-American painter (Search for the Real), dies at 85
1970 – Shmuel Agnon, Israeli writer (Day Before Yesterday, Nobel Prize for Literature 1966), dies at 81
1971 – Teddy Hart, American actor (After the Thin Man, 3 Men on a Horse), dies at 73
2001 – Khalid Abdul Muhammed, American Nation of Islam spokesman (b. 1948)
Famous Deaths for 16th February 2024
1247 – Heinrich Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (b. 1204)
1653 – Johannes Schultz, German composer, dies at 70
1710 – Esprit Fléchier, French writer and Bishop of Nîmes, dies at 77
1823 – Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, French Romantic painter and draughtsman – allegorical paintings and portraits, dies at 64
1966 – Hendrik Tilanus, Dutch artillery officer and political leader (CHU 1939-63), dies at 81
1973 – Pieter Van der Bijl, South African cricket batsman (5 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 125; Western Province, Oxford University CC), dies at 65
1979 – Mehdi Rahimi, Iranian general and military governor of Tehran under the Shah of Iran, executed by a firing squad during the Islamic Revolution at around 57
1986 – Howard Da Silva [Silverblatt], American actor (1776, The Lost Weekend, The Blue Dahlia), dies from lymphoma at 76
2006 – Ernie Stautner, American Pro Football HOF defensive end (Super Bowl 1971, 77; 4 × All-Pro First Team; 9 × Pro Bowl; Pittsburgh Steelers), dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 80
2014 – Michael Shea, American sci-fi author (World Fantasy Award: Nifft the Lean, Growlimb), dies at 67
Famous Deaths for 15th February 2024
1597 – Pieter J Kies, Dutch mayor of Haarlem (1572-73), dies at about 66
1660 – Klaas Geritsz Compaen, Dutch buccaneer and merchant, dies at 72
1772 – Christian Gottlieb Ziegler, German organist, kapellmeister, and composer, dies at 69
1844 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1801-04), dies at 86
1921 – Hans Haym, German conductor, dies at 60
1973 – Tim Holt [Charles John Holt III], American actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), dies of bone cancer at 54
1990 – Jack Fletcher, American actor (Calucci’s Department, Once Upon a Mattress), dies of a heart attack at 68
1992 – William Schuman, American composer (Pulitzer Prize, 1943), and administrator (Juilliard, 1945-61; Lincoln Center, 1961-68), dies at 81
2005 – Pierre Bachelet, French singer and songwriter, dies of lung cancer at 60
2010 – Art Van Damme, American jazz accordionist (Chicago Jazz), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 14th February 2024
1820 – Cosme Argerich, Argentine physician and founder of the Medicine School of Buenos Aires, dies at 61
1846 – Cornelis Felix van Maanen, Dutch Minister of Justice (1807-42), dies at 76
1884 – Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt, dies of Bright’s disease at 22
1891 – Giulio Roberti, Italian composer, dies at 61
1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, French-Belgian mathematician (worked on continued fractions, descriptive geometry, number theory and combinatorics), dies at 79
1969 – Wolfe Barzell, Polish-born actor (Blue Angel), dies of a heart attack at 72
1980 – Luitkonwar Rudra Baruah, Assamese composer and actor
1990 – Graeme Hole, Australian cricket batsman (18 Tests, 6 x 50; NSW CA), dies from cancer at 59
1995 – U Nu, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (1948-56, 1960-62), dies at 87
2011 – George Shearing, British-American blind jazz pianist (Lullaby of Birdland), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 13th February 2024
1896 – Carl Martin Reinthaler, German composer, dies at 73
1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), dies at 73
1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist, one of the main organizers of Nazi Germany’s T-4 Euthanasia Program, dies at 61
1989 – Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)
1990 – Ken Lynch, American actor (Paratroop Command, Legend of Tom Dooley), dies at 79
1995 – Wilton “Bogey” Gaynair, Jamaican jazz saxophonist, dies at 68
2002 – Pauline Trigère, French-American fashion designer (Bell Bottoms), dies at 93
2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, Air Marshal, Royal Air Force (b. 1922)
2014 – Piero d’Inzeo, Italian equestrian rider (Olympic silver individual and team jumping 1956, 60; bronze 1956, 60, 64, 72), dies at 90
2022 – Johnny Whiteley, English rugby league back rower (15 Tests GB, 1 England; Hull RLFC 417 games) and coach (GB, England, Hull RLFC, Hull KR), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 12th February 2024
1684 – Pietro Andrea Ziani, Italian composer and organist, dies at 67
1834 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologist and philosopher, dies at 65
1907 – Muriel Robb, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1902), dies of lymphadenoma at 28
1954 – Dziga Vertov [Denis Kaufman], Russian influential film director (Man with a Movie Camera, 3 Songs of Lenin), dies at 58
1971 – George Shelton, American actor (It Pays to be Ignorant), dies at 86
1976 – Sal Mineo, American actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause), stabbed at 37
1984 – Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (Blow-Up, Underground Game), dies at 69
2011 – Elizabeth “Betty” Garrett, American actress, comedian, singer and dancer (All in the Family), dies of an aortic aneurysm at 91
2015 – David Carr, American journalist (New York Times), dies of cancer at 58
2016 – Johnny Lattner, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1953, Notre Dame; Pro Bowl 1954, Pittsburgh Steelers), dies from mesothelioma at 83