Did you know about Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician and military officer who served as the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.
Famous Birthdays on October 6
October 6 has 235 recorded notable births across history, from 649 to 2004. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1930 — Hafez al-Assad
Syrian general and politician, 20th President of Syria (died 2000)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Famous Birthdays
235 source records
649 – 2004
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Today in history
Major events on October 6
See what else happened on this day in history.
Did you know about Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Lobo played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process.
Did you know about Jazz Jennings
Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender.
Did you know about Adam Gemili
Adam Gemili is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, three-time European champion in the 4 × 100 metres relay, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold at the 2017 World Championships in the same event.
Did you know about Janet Gaynor
After signing with Fox Film in 1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the era.
More major people born on October 6
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1973
Rebecca Lobo
American basketball player and sportscaster
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin is an American television basketball analyst and former professional women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center position for much of her career. She played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. She has been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame twice: in 2017 for her individual playing career, and in 2026 as a member of the 1996 United States women's Olympic basketball team.
2000
Jazz Jennings
American internet personality
Jazz Jennings is an American media personality and LGBT rights activist. Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings received national attention in 2007 when an interview with Barbara Walters aired on 20/20, which led to other high-profile interviews and appearances. Christine Connelly, a member of the board of directors for the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth, stated, "She was the first young person who picked up the national spotlight, went on TV and was able to articulate her perspective and point of view with such innocence." Her parents noted that Jennings was clear on being female as soon as she could speak.
1993
Adam Gemili
English sprinter
Adam Ahmed Gemili is a British retired sprinter who was active from 2010 to 2026, and competing at the elite level between 2012 and 2023. He is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, three-time European champion in the 4 × 100 metres relay, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold at the 2017 World Championships in the same event. individually, at global level he finished fourth in the 200 m at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and fourth and fifth in separate editions of the World Championships in the same event. A former professional player who played as a defender, Gemili announced his return to football as a coach after his retirement from elite athletics in 2026. He is a sprint coach at Premier League club Chelsea.
1906
Janet Gaynor
American actress (died 1984)
Janet Gaynor was an American actress. She began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film in 1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the era. In 1929, she became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel (1928), the only occasion an actress won one Oscar for multiple film roles. Her success continued into the sound film era; for A Star Is Born (1937), she received a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
1990
Han Sun-hwa
South Korean singer and actress
Han Sun-hwa, also known mononymously as Sunhwa, is a South Korean actress and singer. She is a former member of the South Korean girl group Secret. She made her television debut in 2004 while participating in SBS' Superstar Survival as a finalist, and in 2009, she was a regular cast member on a variety show called Invincible Youth. Aside from music, she also ventured into acting. Some of her notable works include Marriage, Not Dating (2014), Work Later, Drink Now (2021–2023), A Letter from Kyoto (2022), My Sweet Mobster (2024), Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2 (2025), and We Are All Trying Here (2026).
1985
Sylvia Fowles
American basketball player
Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Portland Fire of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She previously played for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx during her WNBA career. She won the WNBA MVP Award in 2017 and the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times. She led the Lynx to win the WNBA Championship in 2015 and 2017, and she was named the MVP of the WNBA Finals both times. In 2020, Fowles overtook Rebekkah Brunson to become the WNBA's career leader in rebounds. In 2025, Fowles was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Hall of Fame.
1959
Walter Ray Williams
Jr., American bowler
Walter Ray Williams Jr. is an American professional tenpin bowler and competitive horseshoes pitcher. He has won 47 national PBA Tour career titles, the most in the tour’s history, and has earned over $5 million in total PBA earnings as of 2022. Among his 47 titles are eight major championships. Williams is a seven-time PBA Player of the Year, tied with Jason Belmonte for the most all-time in history, and is one of five bowlers to win the award in three consecutive seasons (1996–1998). Williams has the distinction of being the only bowler to win the PBA Player of the Year award in 4 different decades, and is also the oldest player to win the award. He won at least one PBA Tour title in a record 17 consecutive seasons.
1555
Ferenc Nádasdy
Hungarian noble (died 1604)
Count Ferenc II Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld was a Hungarian nobleman and a distinguished soldier. His family, the Nádasdy family, was one of the wealthiest and most influential of the era in Hungary. In 1571, when Ferenc was 16, his mother, Orsolya Nádasdy, using her association with many noble families in Hungary, organized a marriage to the young Elizabeth Báthory, daughter of the Count György Báthory of Ecsed and his wife and cousin, Baroness Anna Báthory of Somlyó (1539–1570). The Báthory family were as rich and illustrious as the Nádasdy family, though older and more influential, since they had several relatives who had the charge of Nádor (palatine) of Hungary. Among them, included a cardinal, a King of Poland-Lithuania, and a Prince of Transylvania.
1964
Mark Field
German-English lawyer and politician
Mark Christopher Field is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cities of London and Westminster from 2001 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2017 to 2019. Field's extra-marital affair between 2004 and 2005 with Liz Truss led to Field's divorce from Michele Acton and an attempt to prevent Truss standing as a parliamentary candidate at the 2010 general election by members of her constituency association. A prominent supporter of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union during the Brexit referendum and of Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 Conservative leadership election, he left his post as a Foreign Office Minister when Boris Johnson's premiership began. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2019 general election.
1961
Ben Summerskill
English businessman and journalist
Ben Jeffrey Peter Summerskill is chair of The Silver Line and director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, a consortium of 135 charities working across the GB criminal justice pathway. He was the chief executive of the UK-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality organisation Stonewall, the largest LGBTQ+ equality body in Europe, from 2003 to 2014. He has also worked as a businessman and journalist. Summerskill is an occasional contributor to The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Observer, The Times, Time Out and other publications. In 2015 he won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British LGBT Awards In 2017, he was appointed by the UK government to the council (Board) of ACAS, the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service. He was first appointed a trustee of the Silver Line in 2017.
1916
Otto Djaya
Indonesian painter (died 2002)
Otto Djajasoentara, better known as Otto Djaya, was an Indonesian painter. Born to a civil servant, Djaya followed his elder brother Agus into art as a member of the Indonesian Painters Association. During the Japanese occupation, Djaya was a member of the Cultural Centre and received training with the Defenders of the Homeland. After time fighting with the People's Security Army in the Indonesian National Revolution, Otto was dispatched with Agus to the Netherlands, where they exhibited Indonesian art. Djaya returned to Indonesia in 1950, and after marriage he focused more on raising his family moved than on his art. In the 1990s, Djaya began to dedicate himself to painting, holding exhibitions in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
1921
Joseph Lowery
American minister and activist (died 2020)
Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and others, serving as its vice president, later chairman of the board, and its third president from 1977 to 1997. Lowery participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued his civil rights work into the 21st century. He was called the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement". In 2009, Lowery received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama.
1986
Meg Myers
American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Janice Sue Meghan Myers, known professionally as Meg Myers, is an American singer-songwriter. Originally from Tennessee, Myers moved to Los Angeles to pursue music and met Doctor Rosen Rosen, who signed her to his production company. In 2012, Myers released her first EP, Daughter in the Choir. Later that year, she signed to Atlantic Records, with which she released the Make a Shadow EP (2014) and her debut album, Sorry (2015). She later departed Atlantic for 300 Entertainment and released Take Me to the Disco, her second album, in 2018. Her third album TZIA was released in 2023 on Sumerian Records.
1744
James McGill
Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded McGill University (died 1813)
James McGill was a Scottish-born businessman, politician, slaveholder, and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West and appointed to the Executive Council of Lower Canada in 1792. He was an honorary lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion, Montreal Militia, a predecessor unit of The Canadian Grenadier Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique and one of the original founding members of the Beaver Club. His summer home stood within the Golden Square Mile.
1971
Emily Mortimer
English actress
Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer is an English actress and filmmaker. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Lovely and Amazing. She is also known for playing Mackenzie McHale in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). She co-created and co-wrote the series Doll & Em (2014–2015) and wrote and directed the miniseries The Pursuit of Love (2021), the latter of which earned her a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.
1959
Brian Higgins
American politician
Brian Michael Higgins is an American former politician who was the U.S. representative for New York's 26th congressional district, from 2005 until 2024. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 and as the 26th from 2013 to 2024, included Buffalo and Niagara Falls, along with some surrounding urban and suburban areas. Higgins is a member of the Democratic Party, and of several congressional committees and caucuses. He was born and raised Buffalo, New York, before obtaining a bachelor's and master's from Buffalo State College and an MPA from Harvard University.
1934
Marshall Rosenberg
American psychologist and author (died 2015)
Marshall Bertram Rosenberg was an American psychologist, mediator, author, and teacher. Starting in the early 1960s, he developed nonviolent communication, a process for supporting partnership and resolving conflict within people, relationships, and society. He worked worldwide as a peacemaker, and in 1984 founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international nonprofit organization for which he served as Director of Educational Services. Rosenberg's motivation for developing nonviolent communication was based on his own experiences at the Detroit race riot of 1943, as well as the antisemitism that he experienced in his early life.
1982
Will Butler
American musician and composer
William Pierce Butler is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is best known as a former member of the indie rock band Arcade Fire, with whom he recorded six studio albums. Butler was a member of the band for eighteen years, between 2003 and 2021, and played synthesizer, bass, guitar and percussion. He is known for his spontaneity, energy and antics during live performances and is the younger brother of Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler. In 2010, he won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year as part of Arcade Fire.
1738
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (died 1789)
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria was the second child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. As a child, and for a time the eldest surviving child, she was heiress presumptive, but she suffered from ill health and physical disability, and did not marry. In 1766 she became abbess of the Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies in Prague. Soon thereafter she moved to Klagenfurt and remained there for the rest of her life. Her palace in Klagenfurt, the Mariannengasse, now houses the Episcopal Palace.