1759 – Thomas Philip Wallrad de Hénin-Liétard d’Alsace, Cardinal- Archbishop of Mechelen, Belgium, dies at 79
1762 – Elizabeth of Russia [Elizaveta Petrovna], Empress of Russia (1741-62) and daughter of Peter the Great, dies at 52
1788 – Johann Schneider, German composer and pupil of Bach, dies at 85
1965 – Nell Craig, American actress (Dr. Kildare (films); The Queen of Sheba), dies at 73
1973 – Cor of Dis sr. [Cornelis Nicolas of Dis sr.], Dutch politician (SGP), dies at 79
1987 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-born Canadian cross-country skier (b. 1875)
1989 – Philip Herschkowitz, Romanian composer, dies at 82
1993 – Westley Allan Dodd, American serial murderer and sex offender, dies in 1st hanging in US since 1965 at 31
2018 – Jerry Van Dyke, American actor (My Mother the Car, Coach), dies at 86
2022 – Olga Szabó-Orbán, Romanian fencer (World C’ship gold women’s foil individual 1962, team 1969; Olympic silver individual 1956, bronze team 1968, 72), dies at 83
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 4th January 2024
1761 – Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist and inventor (first person to measure blood pressure), dies at 83
1987 – Peggy Bacon, American author and illustrator (Off With Their Heads), dies at 91
1990 – Robert Adams, American sci-fi author (Castaways in Time), dies at 57
1991 – Leo Wright, American jazz saxophone and flute player (Dizzy Gillespie; “Blues Shout”; “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”), dies of a heart attack at 57
1994 – R. D. Burman, Indian film score composer (1942: A Love Story), dies at 54
2003 – Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b. 1919)
2004 – Joan Aiken, English writer of children’s books (The Whispering Mountain), dies at 79
2012 – Rod Robbie, Canadian architect and planner (Roger’s Centre/Sky Dome, Toronto), dies at 83
2017 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center (Stanley Cup 1939, 41; Boston Bruins) and coach/GM (Stanley Cup 1970, 72; Boston Bruins), dies from a stroke at 98
2022 – Rolf-Dieter Amend, German canoeist (Olympic gold GDR C-2 slalom 1972), dies at 72
Famous Deaths for 3rd January 2024
1552 – Henry II of Bavaria, Bishop of Utrecht (1524-29), Worms (1523-52) and Freising (1541-52), dies at 64
1767 – Luca Antonio Predieri, Italian composer and violinist, dies at 78
1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman (Currier and Ives), dies at 70
1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American railroad engineer (Transcontinental Railroad-Union Pacific) and Major General (Union Army), dies at 84
1945 – Théodore “Fyodor” Akimenko, Ukrainian composer, dies at 68
1965 – Julius Tannen, American vaudeville comedian, dies at 84
1974 – Arthur Daley, American sportswriter (NY Times-Pulitzer 1956), dies from a heart attack at 69
1999 – Jerry Quarry, American boxer (famous bouts v world champions Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Ken Norton), dies of chronic traumatic encephalopathy at 53
2007 – William Verity Jr., United States Secretary of Commerce 1987-1989 (b. 1917)
2012 – Gene Bartow, American College Basketball Hall of Fame coach (US National Team 1974; Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA), dies of stomach cancer at 81
Famous Deaths for 2nd January 2024
1983 – Harriet Parsons, American film producer (Susan Slept Here), dies at 76 of cancer
2004 – Doralyn “Lynn” Cartwright, American character actress (A League of Their Own), dies at 76
2006 – Osa Massen [Aase Madsen Iversen], Dutch actress (Jack London, Rocketship X-M), dies at 91
2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-born technology pioneer and professor, dies at 55
2007 – Robert C. Solomon, American scholar of continental philosophy, dies at 64
2010 – Oscar Sala, Italian-born Brazilian nuclear physicist, dies at 87
2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English novelist, dies at 90
2019 – Julia Grant [prev George Roberts], transgender activist featured in “A Change of Sex”, dies at 64
2022 – Larry Biitner, American MLB baseball outfielder, 1970-83 (Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and 2 other teams), dies of cancer at 75
2022 – Bob Halloran, American sportscaster (CBS Sports NY) and event organiser (MGM Mirage), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 1st January 2024
1554 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador and first royal governor of Chile, dies at 56
1796 – Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde, French mathematician, dies at 60
1942 – Jaroslav Ježek, Czechoslovakian composer, dies at 35
1969 – Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver pole vault and bronze javelin 1906; bronze pole vault 1908; popularized bowling in Sweden), dies at 87
1982 – Margot Grahame [Margaret Clark], British actress (The Three Musketeers, Criminal Lawyer), dies from chronic bronchitis at 70
1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (WW II, Solomon Islands, Navy Cross), dies at 94
2007 – Tad Jones, American jazz music historian, dies at 54
2012 – Kiro Gligorov, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (1991-99), dies at 94
2016 – Tony Lane, American art director (Rolling Stone magazine), and Grammy Award-winning album cover art designer (Carly Simon – Boys in the Trees; Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water; Michael Jackson – Bad), dies of brain cancer at 71
2023 – Art McNally, American Pro Football HOF referee and executive (NFL Head of Officiating 1968-91), dies at 97
Famous Deaths for 31st December 2023
1302 – Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
1535 – William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
1877 – Alberto Mazzucato, composer, dies at 64
1907 – Jules de Trooz, Belgium politician and Prime Minister of Belgium (1907), dies in office at 50
1948 – Malcolm Campbell, British motor racer (world land and water speed record holder), dies of a stroke at 63
1968 – George Lewis [Joseph Zenon], American jazz clarinetist and bandleader (Bunk Johnson; Preservation Hall Jazz Band; “Burgundy Street Blues”), dies at 68
1996 – Wesley Addy, American actor (Kiss Me Deadly, Bostonians, Loving), dies at 83
1997 – Dominique de Menil, French-American arts patron (Menil Collection Houston) and human rights advocate, dies at 89
2015 – Dal Richards, Canadian musician, bandmaster and composer (discovered Michael Bublé), dies at 96
2022 – Benedict XVI [Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger], German Catholic Pope (2005-13), dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 30th December 2023
1662 – Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria and Regent of the Tyrol, dies at 34
1769 – Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)
1896 – José Rizal, Filipino nationalist and novelist (‘Noli Me Tángere’, ‘El Filibusterismo’), executed by firing squad at 35
1899 – James Paget, English surgeon (disease of Paget), dies at 85
1966 – Christian Herter, American Republican politician, 59th Governor of Massachusetts (1953-57) and US Secretary of State (1959-61), dies at 71
1999 – Sarah Knauss, American, once considered the world’s oldest living person (b. 1880)
2010 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor (b. 1927)
2012 – Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist (Nobel 1986), dies at 103
2018 – Larry Austin, American classical and electronic composer and educator, dies at 88
2022 – Barbara Walters, American broadcast journalist and 1st female nightly network news anchor (Today; 20/20; ABC-TV; The View), dies at 93
Famous Deaths for 29th December 2023
1170 – Thomas Becket, English Archbishop of Canterbury (1162-70), assassinated by 4 knights of King Henry II at 52
1737 – Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
1871 – Ferdinand Marcucci, Italian harpist and composer, dies at 71
1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (Tensor of Kronecker), dies at 68
1915 – C. B. Hawley, American organist and composer, dies at 57
1993 – Yvonne Desportes, French composer (Seven Abstract Poems), dies at 86
1997 – Pat Clarke, British cyclist, dies at 82
2003 – Dinsdale Landen, British actor (The Mask of Janus), dies at 71
2014 – Ivor Richardson, New Zealand judge (NZ Court of Appeals), dies at 84
2020 – Phyllis McGuire, American pop vocalist (McGuire Sisters – “Sincerely”; “Sugartime”), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 28th December 2023
1503 – Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici [Piero the Unfortunate], Italian ruler of Florence (1492-94), dies at 31
1891 – Alfred Cellier, British conductor (Glibert and Sullivan) and composer (Dorothy), dies at 47
1915 – Gerrit Jan van Heek, Dutch textile manufacturer and politician, dies at 78
1919 – Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (Rydberg formula), dies at 65
1976 – Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman, dies at 73
1980 – Jersey calf, lived 222 days with an artificial heart
1993 – Howard Caine [Cohen], American actor (Hogan’s Heroes), dies at 67
2007 – Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami, Iran national basketball team player (b. 1982)
2015 – John “Brad” Bradbury, British ska drummer and record producer (The Specials), dies at 62
2019 – Erzsébet Szőnyi, Hungarian composer, dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 27th December 2023
975 – Balderik, bishop of Utrecht (918-75), dies
1737 – William Bowyer, English printer (b. 1663)
1800 – Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (b. 1718)
1914 – Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and inventor, dies at 51
1987 – Rewi Alley, New Zealand writer (Americans in China, dies at 90
1997 – Ewart Abner, American record label executive, President of Motown Records, manager of Stevie Wonder), dies at 74
2002 – George Roy Hill, American Academy Award-winning film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; The Sting; Slap Shot; A Little Romance; The World According to Garp), dies from complications of Parkinson’s disease at 81
2007 – Benazir Bhutto, 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan and 1st female leader of a Muslim nation, assassinated in Rawalpindi by a suicide bomber at 54
2019 – Garrett List, American classical and jazz composer and trombonist (Julliard Ensemble), dies at 76
2020 – José Luiz Carbone, Brazilian soccer midfielder (6 caps; São Paulo, Internacional, Botafogo) and coach (Fluminense, Guarani), dies from liver cancer at 74