1669 – Reyer Anslo, writer/poet, dies at about 42
1691 – Jacob Leisler, becomes 1st American colonist hanged for treason
1703 – Charles Perrault, French author and fairy tale writer (Tales of Mother Goose), dies at 75
1782 – Daniuel Charles Solander, botanist, dies
1805 – Christiaan Brunings, Dutch hydraulic engineer, dies at 68
1938 – Joseph Strauss, American civil engineer (chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge), dies at 68
1952 – Frances Benjamin Johnston, American pioneering female photographer
1996 – Jeremy Boorda, U.S. Navy admiral (25th Chief of Naval Operations), commits suicide at 56
2013 – Paul Shane, English comedian and actor, dies at 72
2020 – Arthur Summons, Australian rugby union fly-half (10 Tests; Gordon RFC) and rugby league five-eighth (9 Tests; Western Suburbs RLFC), dies at 84
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 15th May 2023
1698 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (Fête de Vénus), dies at 56
1782 – Richard Wilson, Welsh landscape painter, dies at 67
1940 – Willem Adriaan Bonger, Dutch criminologist (Race and Crime), suicide at 63
1967 – Jaromír Fiala, Czech composer, dies at 74
1977 – Modibo Keïta, 1st President of Mali (1960-68), dies at 61
1994 – Frederik von Pallandt, Danish-Dutch pop singer and guitarist (Nina and Frederik), murdered in the Philippines at 60
1998 – John Hawkes, American writer (2nd Skin), dies at 72
2010 – Diether de la Motte, German composer and music theorist, dies at 82
2011 – Bob Flannigan, American jazz singer (The Four Freshmen), dies at 84
2012 – Jean Craighead George, American writer (Julie of the Wolves), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 14th May 2023
1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)
1887 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
1889 – Volney E. Howard, American politician, dies at 79
1935 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and gay rights advocate, dies of a heart attack at 67
2001 – Gil Langley, Australian cricketer (Australian wicket-keeper 1951-56), dies at 81
2006 – James Botten, South African cricketer (all-rounder in 1965 South African series v England), dies at 67
2010 – Goh Keng Swee, former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918)
2012 – Derek Hammond-Stroud, English operatic baritone, dies at 86
2021 – Ester Mägi, Estonian composer ‘First Lady of Estonian music’, dies at 99
2021 – Sándor Balassa, Hungarian composer (Requiem for Lajos Kassák; The Third Planet), and educator (Liszt Ferenc Academy, 1981-95), dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 13th May 2023
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch lawyer and statesman, beheaded at 71
1732 – Theodor Schwartzkopff, German composer, dies at 72
1831 – Christian Gottfried Körner, German lawyer, dies at 74
1939 – Stanislaw Lesniewski, Polish logician and mathematician (Warsaw School of Logic), dies at 53
1962 – Frank Jenks, American stage and screen actor (Colonel Flack, Zombies on Broadway), dies of cancer at 59
1962 – Franz Kline, American abstract expressionist painter, dies of heart failure at 51
1971 – Valerian Mikhaylovich Bogdanov-Berezovsky, Russian composer, dies 67
1994 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish racing driver, dies at 74
1999 – Meg Greenfield, American Pulitzer Prize winning editorial writer (Washington Post; Newsweek), dies of cancer at 68
2005 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer (b. 1921)
Famous Deaths for 12th May 2023
1003 – Gerbert, French scholar, dies in Rome
1649 – Isaac Doreslaer, English lawyer/diplomat, murdered
1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist, dies at 81
1820 – Jacob Andries van Braam, Dutch merchant and colonial administrator (Suriname), dies at 49
1864 – J.E.B. Stuart [James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart], Confederate General in the American Civil War, killed in action at 31
1906 – Gabriel C. Wharton, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 81
1924 – Henri Maréchal, French composer and music critic, dies at 82
1976 – Rudolf Kempe, German conductor (Tonhalle Orch 1965-72), dies at 65
1989 – Joe Valdez Caballero, American creator of hard taco, shell, dies at 81
1990 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian member of Central Committee of Communist Party, dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 11th May 2023
1947 – Ture Rangström, Swedish composer, dies at 62
1962 – Hans Luther, German politician (Chancellor, 1925-6), dies at 83
1970 – Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist, dies at 62
1976 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (Finlandia House) and designer, dies at 78
1994 – Alfred James Broomhall, British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, dies at 82
1995 – Tibor Sarai, Hungarian composer, dies at 76
1995 – Ivo Samkalden, Dutch Minister of Justice (PvdA), Mayor of Amsterdam (1967-77), dies at 82
2013 – Oliver “Ollie” Mitchell, American musician and bandleader (The Wrecking Crew), dies of cancer at 86
2019 – Harold Lederman, American boxing judge and analyst (HBO), dies of cancer at 79
2020 – Jerry Stiller, American comedian (Seinfield – “Frank Constanza”; King of Queens -“Arthur”; Stiller and Meara), dies of natural causes at 92
Famous Deaths for 10th May 2023
1764 – Picander [Christian Henrici], German writer (Die Weiberprobe), dies
1818 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and patriot who alerted the colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, dies at 83
1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer and concentration camp administrator, committed suicide at 56
1955 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer, dies of a heart attack at 73
1968 – Philippa Bevans, British actress (Notorious Landlady, World of Henry Orient), dies at 55
1970 – Mari Blanchard, American actress and femme fatale (Kathy-Klondike), dies of cancer at 47
1982 – Peter Weiss, German author and playwright (Marat/Sade), dies at 65
2002 – Lynda Lyon Block, convicted murderer (b. 1948)
2021 – Tony Armatrading, British stage and screen actor (Colour Blind; Notting Hill), dies of cancer at 59
2022 – Glyn Shaw, Welsh rugby union prop (12 caps; Neath RFC), and rugby league prop (7 caps Wales, 1 GB; Widnes RLFC, Wigan RLFC), dies at 71
Famous Deaths for 9th May 2023
1760 – Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Austrian-born German religious and social reformer, dies at 59
1864 – John Sedgwick, American Major General (Union Army), is shot in battle after claiming “they couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance” at 50
1880 – Johann Hermann Berens, German-born Swedish Romantic composer, dies at 54
1915 – François Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist (Tour de France 1909), killed in action by gunshot wounds at 28
1970 – Walter P. Reuther, American worker’s union leader and president of the CIO, dies in a plane crash at 62
1977 – Walter Kraft, German organist and composer, dies at 71
1979 – Cyrus Eaton, Canadian-American financier, industrialist and steel magnate, dies at 95
2004 – Alan King [Irwin Kniberg], American comedian and actor (Anderson Tapes, Memories of Me), dies at 76
2015 – Kenan Evren, Turkish soldier and politician, (President of Turkey 1980-1989 by military coup), dies at 97
2016 – John Warr, English cricket bowler (avg 281) and president (MCC), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 8th May 2023
1725 – John Lovewell, American ranger and Native Indian scalper, dies fighting against Abenaki Indians at 33
1846 – Giacomo Cordella, Italian composer, dies at 59
1941 – Heinrich Zöllner, German composer, dies at 86
1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
1967 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (Pulitzer-Street Scene) and novelist, dies at 74
1979 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist, dies at 76
1990 – Tomas O’Fiach [Tomas Seamus Fee], Irish cardinal-archbishop, dies of a heart attack at 66
1994 – George Peppard, American actor (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Banacek, A-Team, Blue Max), dies at 65
2006 – Viola Mae Wilkerson, American pop singer (“Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now”), dies of cancer at 69
2017 – Robert Gutter, American conductor and teacher (founded International Institute for Conductors, 1996), dies at 78
Famous Deaths for 7th May 2023
1800 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian classical, opera, and sacred music composer (Roland; Buona Figliuola), dies at 72
1876 – Franz Graf von Pocci, German founding director of the Munich Marionette Theatre (Punch and Judy), poet, and illustrator of children’s literature (Viola Tricolor: In Picture and Rhyme), dies at 69
1925 – William Hesketh Lever, First Viscount Leverhulme (b. 1851)
1928 – Alexander Spendiaryan, Armenian-Soviet conductor and composer (Three Palms; Yerevan Sketches), dies at 56
1941 – David Wijnkoop, Dutch revolutionary socialist, dies
2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (British Open 1979, 84, 88, US Masters 1980, 83), dies of brain cancer at 54
2015 – Sir Samuel “Sam” Edwards, Welsh physicist (condensed matter physics), dies at 87
2016 – Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer, commits suicide at 27
2018 – Maurane [Claudine Luypaerts], Belgian Francophone jazz and chanson singer, dies at 57
2020 – Mike Storen, American sports executive (Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks; ABA Commissioner 1973-76), dies from cancer at 84