1498 – Vespasiano da’ Bisticci, Italian book seller/writer, dies at about 77
1720 – Johann Samuel Welter, German composer, dies at 69
1833 – William Bainbridge, American naval officer, dies at 59
1938 – Catherine Wolfe Donohue, American watch dial painter, dies of radium poisoning at 35
1942 – William Matthew Finders Petrie, Egyptologist, dies
1958 – Claire Chennault, American aviator and military leader (Flying Tigers), dies at 64
1995 – Rick Ferrell, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (8 x MLB All Star; Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators), dies of arrhythmia at 89
2005 – Al Held, American painter and sculptor (hard edge-style), dies at 76
2016 – James Alan MacPherson, American writer, 1st black writer to win Pulitzer Prize, dies at 72
2017 – Sam Shepard Ill, American actor and playwright (Frances; Crimes of the Heart), dies at 73
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 26th July 2023
1611 – Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1542)
1863 – Sam Houston, 1st President of Republic of Texas (1836-38, 1841-44) who helped bring Texas into the United States as a constituent state, dies at 70
1919 – Edward Poynter, British painter, President of the Royal Academy, dies at 83
1937 – Gerda Taro (Gerta Pohorylle), German-born war photojournalist, dies covering Spanish Civil War aged 26
1967 – Matthijs Vermeulen, Dutch classical composer, critic, and musicologist dies at 79
1988 – Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani modernist scholar, dies at 68
1992 – Ron Webber, dies of cancer at 60
1998 – (David Allan) “Chico” Ryan, American rock bassist and singer (Sha Na Na, 1973-98), dies at 50
2009 – Marcey Jacobson, American photographer (b. 1911)
2021 – Ivan Toplak, Serbian soccer striker (1 cap; Red Star Belgrade) and manager (Red Star Belgrade, San Jose Earthquakes, Yugoslavia), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 25th July 2023
1681 – Urian Oakes, English-born President of Harvard University (b. 1631)
1790 – Johann Bernhard Basedow, German educational reformer, dies at 66
1955 – Isaak Iosifovich Dunayevsky, Soviet operetta and film composer, dies at 55
1991 – Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin, dies at 97
1998 – Sal Santen, Dutch writer (You Are Jewish People), dies at 82
1998 – Tal Farlow, American jazz guitarist, dies at 77
2007 – Jesse Marunde, American Strongman competitor, dies at 27
2008 – Hiram Bullock, American jazz, funk, and fusion guitarist (The World’s Most Dangerous Band), dies of cancer at 52
2014 – Carlo Bergonzi, Italian operatic tenor, dies at 90
2020 – Lou Henson, American College Basketball Hall of Fame coach (all-time leader in victories University of Illinois and New Mexico State), dies of lymphoma at 88
Famous Deaths for 24th July 2023
446 – St Proclus, patriarch and archbishop of Constantinople, dies
1846 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer/choir master, dies at 81
1862 – Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States (Democrat: 1837-41), dies of heart failure at 79
1990 – Alan Clarke, director (Elephant, Road, Scum, Firm), dies at 54
1997 – Andrew Cunanan, American serial killer (Gianni Versace), commits suicide at 27
2000 – Anatoli Firsov, Russian ice hockey left wing (Olympic gold 1964, 68, 72; 8 x World C’ship gold), dies at 59
2008 – Norman Dello Joio [Nicodemo DeGioio], American classical composer (Choreography: Three Dances for Strings), dies at 95
2012 – John Atta Mills, Ghanaian President, dies at 68
2020 – Naazim Richardson, American boxing trainer (Bernard Hopkins, “Sugar” Shane Mosley), dies of stroke complications at 55
2020 – Eric Sweeney, Irish contemporary composer (The Green One), dies at 72
Famous Deaths for 23rd July 2023
1773 – George Edwards, English naturalist and ornithologist (father of British ornithology), dies at 79
1844 – Christian Gobrecht, 4th US chief engraver (1840-44), dies in office
1951 – Philippe Pétain, French marshal and Chief of the French State (1940-44), dies at 95
1996 – Jean Muir, American actress (Fugitive in the Sky, The Aldrich Family) and the 1st performer to be blacklisted for being an alleged communist sympathizer, dies at 85
1996 – John Corner, scientist, dies at 80
2004 – Mehmood [Ali], Indian actor, singer, director and producer (Do Phoo!, Vardaan), dies at 71
2006 – Jean-Paul Desbiens, Quebec writer and journalist (b. 1927)
2014 – Heinz Martin Lonquich, German pianist, conductor, composer (The Silence of John of Nepomuk; Where year and day don’t count), and clergyman, dies at 77
2020 – Jean Brankart, Belgian cyclist (Tour de France 1955, Giro d’Italia 1958 runner-up; Belgium national track pursuit champion 1956, 58, 59), dies at 90
2020 – Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian politician, President of Tanzania (1995-2005), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 22nd July 2023
1461 – Charles VII, King of France (1422-61), dies at 58
1525 – Richard Wingfield, English diplomat
1786 – Vaclav Kalous [Simon à Scto Bartholomaeo], Czech composer, dies at 71
1920 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1849)
1952 – August Balthazar, Belgian politician, dies at 58
1970 – George Johnston, Australian journalist and novelist (b. 1912)
1988 – Duane Jones, American actor (Night of the Living Dead), and theater director, dies of cardiopulmonary arrest at 51
1992 – Souleiman Franjieh, president Lebanon (1970-76), dies
2004 – (Jean-Baptiste) Illinois Jacquet, American jazz saxophonist (“Flying Home”), dies of a heart attack at 81
2018 – Rene Portland, American college basketball coach (Penn State 1980-2007), dies of cancer at 65
Famous Deaths for 21st July 2023
1683 – Lord William Russell, English politician and plotter against Charles II, beheaded at 43
1889 – Nelson Dewey, American politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1813)
1972 – Jigme Dori Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (1952-72), dies of a heart condition at 45
1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British ambassador to Ireland, assassinated by the IRA at 54
1993 – Robert Glass, American film sound engineer (ET), is murdered at 53
1995 – Elleston Trevor, English author (The Flight of the Phoenix), dies at 75
1996 – John Kevin Moorhouse, British test pilot, dies in a plane crash during an air show at 50
1996 – Macha Rosenthal, American critic and poet (Poetry as Confession), dies at 79
1999 – David Ogilvy ‘Father of Advertising’, English advertising whiz (founded Ogilvy and Mathers), dies at 88
2002 – John Cunningham, British Royal Air Force night fighter ace (WW II), dies at 84
Famous Deaths for 20th July 2023
1897 – Philip Dale Roddey, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 71
1959 – William D. Leahy, American admiral and chief of staff during WWII, dies at 84
1964 – Anna Vyrubova, Russian lady-in-waiting, the best friend and confidante of Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna, dies at 80
1986 – Helen Craig, American actress (Snake Pit, They Live by Night), dies at 74
1989 – Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, commander (French resistance), dies
1995 – Natalia Dmitrevna Shpiller, Czech-Russian lyric soprano, dies at 85
1998 – June Byers, American professional wrestler (b. 1922)
2008 – Artie Traum, American folk guitarist, songwriter, producer, and filmmaker, dies of ocular cancer at 65
2017 – Chester Bennington, American singer and songwriter (Linkin Park), commits suicide at 41
2021 – Chuck E. Weiss, American blues and rock songwriter, vocalist, and muse (Rickie Lee Jones; Tom Waits), dies of cancer at 76
Famous Deaths for 19th July 2023
1906 – Ferdinand Brunetière, French writer and critic, dies at 57
1940 – Samuel H Chang, US newspaper magnate, murdered in Shanghai
1944 – Carl Bock, Danish Gestapo agent, liquidated
1951 – Max Ettinger, Jewish-German composer (Jiddische Requiem), dies at 77
1972 – Hezekiah M. Washburn, American Presbyterian Congo missionary, dies at 88
1992 – Allen Newell, American computer scientist (Logic Theory Machine, General Problem Solver, Turing Award), dies at 65
2007 – A. K. Faezul Huq, Lawyer, politician, and freelance journalist (b. 1945)
2007 – Roberto Fontanarrosa, Argentine cartoonist (b. 1944)
2010 – Andy Hummell, American rock bassist (Big Star, 1971-73), dies of cancer at 59
2015 – Sybren Polet [Sijbe Minnema], Dutch writer and poet (Mannekino), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 18th July 2023
1814 – Matthew Flinders, English explorer, navigator and cartographer who was 1st to circumnavigate Australia, dies from kidney disease at 40
1938 – Fernando Canon, Filipino revolutionary general, poet, and the Philippines 1st National Chess Champion, dies at 77
1952 – Paul Saintenoy, Belgian architect (b. 1862)
1958 – John Gobau, Flemish actor (Electricity, Hostage Rights, The Cross-Patch), dies at 67
1961 – Kit Guard, Danish actor (El Diablo Rides, Kid Courageous), dies of cancer at 67
1963 – A H C Cooper, South African cricketer (Test v England 1914), dies
1982 – Lionel Daunais, French Canadian singer and composer, dies at 80
1985 – Shahnawaz Bhutto, son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
1986 – Stanley Rous, British soccer official, 6th President of FIFA (1961-74), dies at 91
2004 – Paul Foot, British journalist (b. 1937)