1674 – Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter, dies at 53
1708 – Herman Witsius [Wits], Dutch reformed theologist, dies at 72
1927 – Ross Youngs, American Baseball HOF right fielder (World Series 1921, 22; NY Giants), dies of Bright’s disease at 30
1966 – Hewlett Johnson [Red Dean of Canterbury], English bishop, dies at 92
1973 – Pablo Casals [Pau Casals i Defilló], Spanish cellist, conductor and composer, dies at 96
1982 – Savitri Devi [Maximiani Portas], Greek French Nazi writer, dies at 77
1985 – Viorica Ursuleac, Romanian operatic soprano, dies at 91
1994 – David Buchan, Scottish ethno-musicologist, dies at 55
1998 – Eric Ambler, English author of thrillers and spy novels (Epitaph for a Spy), dies at 89
2017 – George Young, Scottish-Australian musician, songwriter and record producer (the Easybeats, Flash and the Pan), dies at 70
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 21st October 2023
1221 – Alix of Thouars, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)
1623 – William Wade, English statesman and diplomat (b. 1546)
1943 – Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), dies at 66
1969 – Oscar “TV Slim” Wills, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (“Flatfoot Sam”), dies in a car wreck at 53
1969 – Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet of the Beat Generation (On the Road, Mexico Blues), dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 47
1996 – Eric Halsall, English TV presenter and sheepdog trial commentator (One Man and His Dog), dies at 76
1998 – Alexander Cairncross, Scottish economist (Chancellor of Glasgow University), dies at 87
1998 – Alan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury, British business executive, dies at 96
2016 – Manfred Krug, German actor (Boxer), dies at 79
2021 – Nils Einár Grönberg, Swedish rapper (“Första klass”; “Katten i trakten”), shot to death in suspected gang-related incident at 19
Famous Deaths for 20th October 2023
1268 – Conrad Hohenstaufen/Conradin, last Duke of Swabia, beheaded in Naples aged 16
1676 – Christopher Gibbons, British composer, dies at 61
1870 – Michael William Balfe, Irish violinist and composer (The Bohemian Girl), dies at 62
1927 – Mikhail Ivanov, Russian composer, dies at 78
1977 – Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 29
1983 – Yves Thériault, French Canadian author, dies at 67
2003 – Čkalja [Miodrag Petrović], Serbian actor and one of the most popular comedians of former Yugoslavia, dies at 79
2005 – Chalmers Goodlin, US test pilot (XS-1), dies at 85
2007 – Paul Raven, British bass-player (Killing Joke, Ministry), dies of a heart attack at 46
2012 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician (1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for bone marrow transport), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 19th October 2023
1608 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist, dies at 57
1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (Tess of the Storm Country), dies from the flu at 31
1926 – Victor Babeş, Romanian physician and bacteriologist, dies at 72
1932 – Lindley M. Garrison, American lawyer and 46th U.S. Secretary of War (1913-16), dies at 67
1932 – Arthur Friedheim, Russian composer, dies at 72
1992 – Maurice Le Roux, French conductor and film score composer (Kamouraska), dies at 69
2007 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch sculptor and novelist (Brief American), dies at 81
2008 – Doreen Wilber, American archer (Olympic gold individual 1972), dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 78
2020 – Tony Lewis, British rock singer-songwriter and bass player (The Outfield – “Your Love”), dies at 62
2022 – Joanna Simon, American mezzo-soprano (1962-86), and Emmy Award-winning arts journalist (PBS, 1986-92), dies of thyroid cancer at 85
Famous Deaths for 18th October 2023
1744 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, close friend of Queen Anne of Great Britain, dies at 84
1840 – Pierre-Gabriel Gardel, French ballet dancer and choreographer (In L’Offrande à la Liberté), dies at 82
1871 – Charles Babbage, British mathematician and inventor (calculating machine) considered the “father of the computer”, dies of renal failure at 79
1938 – Karl Kautsky, Austrian philosopher and Marxist theorist (Socialist journal Neue Zeit), dies at 83
1945 – Fred Hovey, American tennis player (US Nationals 1895), dies at 77
1972 – Esma Cannon, Australian-born actress (Sailor Beware!), dies at 66
1982 – John Robarts, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario (b. 1917)
1983 – Vijay Manjrekar, Indian cricket batsman (55 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 189no; Bombay, Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra), dies at 52
1994 – WiIlliam Faure, South African film producer (Shaka Zulu), dies of kidney failure at 45
2021 – Colin Powell, American General and 1st Black US Secretary of State (2001-05), dies from complications of COVID-19, blood cancer, and Parkinson’s disease at 84
Famous Deaths for 17th October 2023
1836 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (b. 1782)
1889 – N.G. [Nikolay Gavrilovich] Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher (What Is to Be Done?), dies at 61
1910 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet (Battle Hymn of the Republic), author, abolitionist, and women’s suffragist, dies of pneumonia at 91
1966 – Wieland Wagner, German opera director, dies
1979 – Karel Reiner, Czech pianist, composer, and Theresienstadt concentration camp survivor, dies at 69
1982 – Peterus van Doorne, Dutch industrialist, dies at 47
1992 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (b. 1912)
1992 – Ton Hasebos, cameraman/TV director (Gnome Hasebos), dies
2006 – Daniel Emilfork, French actor (b. 1924)
2007 – Joey Bishop [Gottlieb], American TV talk show host (Joey Bishop Show) and member of the “Rat Pack” group of entertainers, dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 16th October 2023
1591 – Gregory XIV [Niccolo Sfondrati], Italian Pope, dies in office from a gallstone at 56
1628 – François de Malherbe, French poet and critic (b. 1555)
1690 – Margaretha M Alacoque, French mystic/saint, dies at 43
1694 – Samuel Freiherr von Pufendorf, German lawyer, dies at 62
1791 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman and favorite of Catherine the Great, dies at 52
1810 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of Breslov Hasidut, dies at 38
1865 – Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, philosopher, and sociologist (b. 1781)
1944 – John Eigenhuis, Dutch writer (The Dike), dies at 78
1956 – Jules Rimet, French football administrator (3rd President of FIFA 1921-54), dies at 83
1996 – Anthony Griffin, British Royal Navy admiral (Controller of the Navy, 1971–75; chairman of British Shipbuilders 1977–80). dies at 75
Famous Deaths for 15th October 2023
1512 – Antoon Keldermans, Brabant builder (Middelburg town hall), dies at 72
1889 – Edward Aylesworth Perry, American soldier and politician (General under Lee for Confederate Army, 14th Governor of Florida 1885-89), dies of a stroke at 58
1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English writer (Punch), dies at 54
1891 – William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 54
1910 – Larkin Goldsmith Mead, American sculptor who worked in Florence, dies at 75
1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese film score composer (Rashomon; Seven Samurai), dies of tuberculosis at 41
1969 – Abdirashid Shermake, President of Somali Republic, shot by one of his bodyguards at 50
1978 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (Saipan, Walk to Paradise Garden), dies of a stroke at 59
2006 – Derek Bond, British actor (Nicholas Nickelby, Armchair Theatre), dies at 86
2013 – Gloria Lynne [Wilson], American jazz vocalist (Dell Tones), dies of a heart attack at 83
Famous Deaths for 14th October 2023
1092 – Aboe Ali Hasan ibn Nizam al-Moelk, writer (Sijasetname), assassinated
1790 – William Hooper, American attorney and signer of U.S. Declaration of Independence, dies at 48
1976 – Edith Evans, English actress (Tom Jones, Scrooge, Chalk Garden), dies at 88
1998 – Cleveland Amory, American animal rights activist and TV critic (TV Guide), dies at 81
1999 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician and 1st President of Tanzania (1964-1985), dies at 77
2003 – Patrick Dalzel-Job, English soldier and inspiration for James Bond (b. 1913)
2007 – Raymond Pellegrin, French actor (Woman of Rome), dies at 82
2008 – Barrington J. Bayley, English sci-fi author (Collision Course), dies at 71
2010 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor (Falcon Crest, Manimal), dies of bowel cancer at 58
2022 – Stanislav Kropilák, Slovak basketball power forward-center (4 × FIBA European Selection; 5 × Czech Player of the Year; BK Inter Bratislava), dies at 67
Famous Deaths for 13th October 2023
1687 – Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer (b. 1633)
1855 – Gottfried Rieger, Czech composer, dies at 91
1919 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1857)
1965 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist (1948 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering effects of DDT), dies at 66
1981 – Nils Asther ‘the male Greta Garbo’, Swedish actor (Son of Lassie, Wild Orchids), dies at 84
1991 – Daniel Oduber Quiros, president of Costa Rica (1974-1978), dies at 70
1993 – Gwen Wells, American actress (Nashville), dies of cancer at 42
1997 – Adil Carcani, prime minister of Albania (1982-91), dies
2009 – Stephen Barnett, American legal scholar who opposed the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 (b. 1935)
2012 – Marc Awodey, American artist and writer, dies at 51