1328 – Charles IV, the Handsome, King of France (1322-28), dies at 33
1590 – Lawrence Humphrey, English clergyman and educator, dies at 63
1839 – Giuseppe Valadier, Italian architect and archaeologist, dies at 76
1873 – Matthew Maury, American oceanographer, dies at 67
1928 – Hughie Jennings, American Baseball Hall of Fame infielder (Baltimore Orioles) and manager (Detroit Tigers 1907-20), dies of meningitis at 58
1997 – Herb Caen, American columnist (SF Chronicle), dies of lung cancer, at 80
2003 – Rick D. Husband, American astronaut and member of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), dies at 45
2003 – Laurel Clark, American astronaut and member of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), dies at 41
2007 – Ahmad Abu Laban, Danish Muslim leader, dies at 60
2009 – Jay Uzzell, American RandB singer (Corsairs), dies at 66
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 31st January 2024
1606 – Guy Fawkes, English Catholic conspirator convicted in the “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up the British Parliament, hanged at 35
1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch navigator and explorer (1st European to discover Easter Island), dies at 69
1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral and naval commander during the American War for Independence, dies at 82 or 83
1844 – Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general and engineer, dies at 70
1940 – René Schickele, German-French writer, sometimes under nom de plume ‘Sascha’ (Erbe am Rhein), poet, and magazine editor (Weissen Blätter), dies at 56
2000 – Anne Cox Chambers, American media owner (Cox Enterprises) and US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81), dies at 100
2014 – Christopher Jones, American actor, dies from cancer at 72
2014 – Paul Humphrey, American jazz, RandB, and rock session and touring drummer, dies at 78
2017 – Deke [Roger] Leonard, Welsh rock musician (Man), dies at 72
2020 – Johnny Bumphus, American boxer (WBA super lightweight title 1984), dies at 59
Famous Deaths for 30th January 2024
1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders, dies at 53
1788 – Bonnie Prince Charlie [Charles Edward Stuart], English pretender to throne (Jacobite rebellion), dies of a stroke at 67
1797 – Johann Abraham Sixt, German organist, harpsichord player, and composer, dies at 40
1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, German automotive engineer (Volkswagen Beetle; Mercedes-Benz SS) and founder of the Porsche car company, dies at 75
1970 – Malcolm Keen, British actor (The Lodger, The Manxman, The Murder Party), dies at 82
1976 – Beau De Glen “Mance” Lipscomb, American blues singer and guitarist (“Shine On, Harvest Moon”), dies of a stroke at 80
1983 – Joan Valerie, American actress (Pier 13), dies of pneumonia at 71
2002 – Carlo Karges, German guitarist and songwriter (Nena – “99 Luftballons”), dies of liver failure at 50
2007 – Nikos Kourkoulos, Greek actor and artistic director (b. 1934)
2020 – Jörn Donner, Finnish director (Anna, Tenderness), dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 29th January 2024
1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist dies at about 67
1942 – Bion J. Arnold, American electrical engineer and inventor (railroad electrification), dies at 80
1980 – Antonio Molina, Filipino composer, conductor and music administrator (Ana Maria, Hatinggabi), dies at 85
2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian actor (Best Years of Our Life, Dogtown), dies from a heart attack at 88
2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand writer (An Angel at My Table, Care, Owls Do Cry), dies at 79
2004 – Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrian actor (Helden, Ich suche dich), dies of kidney disease at 88
2009 – (Bennie Ross) “Hank” Crawford, American saxophonist, arranger and songwriter (Help Me Make It Through the Night), dies of complications from a stroke at 74
2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian President (1992-99), dies at 93
2020 – Larry Eisenhauer, American football defensive end (AFL All-Star 1962, 63, 64, 66; Boston Patriots), dies at 79
2021 – Hilton Valentine, British rock guitarist (Animals – “House of the Rising Sun”), dies at 77
Famous Deaths for 28th January 2024
1271 – Isabella of Aragon, wife of Philip III and Queen consort of France (1270-1), dies of complications from childbirth at 22 or 23
1844 – Johannes van den Bosch, Dutch colonial administrator (Governor-General of Dutch East Indies 1830-33), dies at 63
1893 – Samuel S. Carroll, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 60
1959 – Viktor Josef Keldorfer, Austrian composer, dies at 85
1965 – Jef van Durme, Belgian composer, dies at 57
1972 – Dino Buzzati, Italian writer (The Tartar Steppe), dies at 67
1986 – Dick Scobee, US Air Force officer and astronaut, dies in the Challenger disaster at 46
1986 – Christa McAuliffe, American teacher, dies in the Challenger space shuttle disaster at 37
2020 – Bob Nave, American rock and blues Hammond B-3 organist (Lemon Pipers – “Green Tambourine”), jazz radio DJ, and philanthropist, dies at 75
2023 – Lisa Loring [DeCinces], American actress (The Addams Family – “Wednesday”; As the World Turns, 1980-83 – “Cricket”), dies following a stroke at 64
Famous Deaths for 27th January 2024
1740 – Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France, dies at 47
1773 – Philippe Buache, French geographer and cartographer (pioneered use of contour lines), dies at 72
1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars, dies at 92
1850 – Philipp Roth, German composer, dies at 70
1936 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (PGA C’ship 1922, 26, 27 3rd; Ryder Cup 1927, 29 [3-0-0 record]; 9 x PGA Tour titles), dies of pneumonia at 39
1995 – Geoffrey Parsons, Australian-British concert pianist, accompanist, and harpsichord player. dies of cancer at 65
2009 – John Updike, American Novelist (b. 1932)
2012 – Kevin White, American politician, dies at 82
2022 – Charanjit Singh, Indian field hockey captain (Olympic gold 1964, silver 1960), dies from a heart attack at 90
2023 – Sylvia Syms, English actress (Asylum, Moonraker, Shirley Valentine), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 26th January 2024
1844 – John Wedgwood, British ceramicist and founder of the Royal Horticultural Society, dies at 77
1850 – Francis Jeffrey, Baron Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic, dies (b. 1773)
1952 – André Cheron [Duval], French-American silent and sound screen character actor (The King of Kings; Anna Karenina; Wife vs. Secretary), dies at 71
1953 – Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet and linguistic (spelling), dies at 58
1963 – Ole Olsen, American comedian (Olsen and Johnson), dies at 70
1975 – Lubov Orlova, Russian actress (Moscow Laughs; Man of Music; Tanya), dies at 74
1978 – Leo Genn, British lawyer and actor (Mourning Becomes Electra, Moby-Dick, Affair in Monte Carlo), dies at 72
1990 – Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
2013 – Edwin London, American horn player, conductor (Cleveland Chamber Orchestra; Ineluctable Modality Choir), and composer (Dream Thing on Biblical Episodes), dies at 83
2023 – Keith Thomson, New Zealand cricket batsman (2 Tests, 1 x 50; Canterbury) and field hockey centre-half (28 Tests; Canterbury), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 25th January 2024
1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
1906 – Pierre-Lambert Goossens, Belgian archbishop of Mechelen and Cardinal Primate of Belgium, dies at 78
1973 – Masao Ohba, Japanese boxer (WBA flyweight champion 1970-73), dies in a car accident at 23
1998 – Attila Zoller, Hungarian-American jazz guitarist, educator (Vermont Jazz Center, 1974-98), and inventor (bi-directional pickup), dies at 70
1999 – Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany, American author and teacher, dies at 109
2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
2013 – Zekkariyas [Cecil Womack], American soul songwriter, singer, and record producer (Womack and Womack – “Teardrops”), dies at 64
2017 – Robert Garcia, American politician hit by Wedtech scandal (Rep-D-NY, 1978-83), dies at 84
2021 – Barry Heywood, British director of the British Antarctic Survey, dies at 83
2023 – B. V. [Balkrishna] Doshi, Indian architect (Pritzker Prize 2- 018), dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 24th January 2024
1924 – Thephilo Braga, Portuguese poet and politician, dies at 80
1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer of up to 100 women during the 1970s, executed by electric chair in Florida at 42
1992 – John Bleifer, American actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 90
1998 – Walter Bishop, Jr, American bebop jazz pianist, music theorist, and educator, dies of a heart attack at 70
2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese Forces militia commander (b. 1956)
2005 – June Bronhill, Australian stage and opera singer, dies at 75
2006 – Schafik Handal, Salvadoran politician
2020 – Rob Rensenbrink, Dutch soccer left winger or forward (46 caps; Anderlecht), dies of progressive muscular atrophy at 72
2021 – Jóhannes Eðvaldsson, Icelandic soccer defender (34 caps; Celtic, Tulsa Roughnecks, Hannover 96, Motherwell), dies from COVID-19 at 70
2021 – George Armstrong, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame centre (Stanley Cup 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs; 7 x NHL All Star), dies from heart complications at 90
Famous Deaths for 23rd January 2024
1549 – Johannes Honter, Transylvanian Saxon humanist and theologian (b. 1498)
1926 – Joseph Carl Breil, American lyric tenor, and composer – one of the first to write for film (Les amours de la reine Élisabeth; Birth of a Nation; Intolerance), dies of heart disease at 55
1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (The Scream), dies at 80, bequeathing all of his work to the city of Oslo
1957 – Willie Edwards, US African American, murdered by KKK at 25
1973 – Alexander Onassis, Greek heir of the Onassis family (b. 1948)
1976 – Aleksey Vasilyevich Sorokin, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 44
1980 – Babs Gonzales [Lee Brown], American be-bop jazz vocalist, poet, and songwriter (“Oop-Pop-A-Da”), dies of cancer at 60
1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic (b. 1912)
1997 – Audie Pitre, American bass guitarist (Acid Bath), killed by a drunk driver at 26
2003 – Nell Carter, American actress (Gimme A Break; Lobo), dies at 54