Notable Deaths on April 13

April 13 has 115 recorded notable deaths across history, from 548 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Art Bell

2018 — Art Bell

American radio host (born 1945)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 115 source records 548 – 2026

Major events on April 13

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1960 The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system. Source
  2. 1849 Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly. Source

Did you know about Art Bell

Bell's past shows from 1994 to 2002 are repeated on Premiere Networks on Saturday evenings.

Did you know about Mario Vargas Llosa

In 2010, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for "his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".

Did you know about John Archibald Wheeler

John Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist.

Did you know about Grey Owl

Grey Owl has been called one of the first Canadian "Pretendians".

Did you know about Angus Lewis Macdonald

Angus Lewis Macdonald served as the Liberal premier of Nova Scotia from 1933 to 1940, when he became the federal minister of defence for naval services.


More major people who died on April 13

Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.

2025 Mario Vargas Llosa

Mario Vargas Llosa

Peruvian novelist and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1936)
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist, and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists and one of the leading writers of his generation. Some critics consider him to have had a more substantial international impact and worldwide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom. In 2010, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for "his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".
2008 John Archibald Wheeler

John Archibald Wheeler

American physicist and academic (born 1911)
John Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr to explain the basic principles of nuclear fission. Together with Gregory Breit, Wheeler explored positron-electron pair production from the collision of two photons, now known as the Breit–Wheeler process. He is known for popularizing the term "black hole" to describe the gravitationally completely collapsed objects predicted by general relativity. He also coined "quantum foam", "neutron moderator", "wormhole" and "it from bit", and hypothesized the "one-electron universe". Stephen Hawking called Wheeler the "hero of the black hole story".
1938 Grey Owl

Grey Owl

English-Canadian environmentalist and author (born 1888)
Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, commonly known as Grey Owl, was a popular Canadian writer, public speaker and conservationist. Born an Englishman, he immigrated to Canada and, in the latter years of his life, passed as half-Indigenous, falsely claiming he was the son of a Scottish man and an Apache woman. With books, articles and public appearances promoting wilderness conservation, he achieved fame in the 1930s. Shortly after his death in 1938, his real identity as the Englishman Archie Belaney was exposed. He has been called one of the first Canadian "Pretendians".
1954 Angus Lewis Macdonald

Angus Lewis Macdonald

Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (born 1890)
Angus Lewis Macdonald was a Canadian lawyer, law professor and politician from Nova Scotia. He served as the Liberal premier of Nova Scotia from 1933 to 1940, when he became the federal minister of defence for naval services. He oversaw the creation of an effective Canadian navy and Allied convoy service during World War II. After the war, he returned to Nova Scotia to become premier again. In the election of 1945, his Liberals returned to power while their main rivals, the Conservatives, failed to win a single seat. The Liberal rallying cry, "All's Well With Angus L.," was so effective that the Conservatives despaired of ever beating Macdonald. He died in office in 1954.
1882 Bruno Bauer

Bruno Bauer

German historian and philosopher (born 1809)
Bruno Bauer was a German philosopher, theologian, and historian. Initially a student of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, he became a radical rationalist critic of the Bible and Christianity, and a prominent member of the Young Hegelians. Bauer was a central figure in the intellectual circles of the Vormärz, the period preceding the Revolutions of 1848, and his philosophical work was a major influence on, and target of critique for, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, with whom he had a close but tumultuous relationship.
1942 Henk Sneevliet

Henk Sneevliet

Dutch politician (born 1883)
Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Henk Sneevliet or by the pseudonym "Maring", was a Dutch communist politician who was active in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As a functionary of the Communist International, Sneevliet guided the formation of both the Communist Party of Indonesia in 1914, and the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. In his native country, he was the founder, chairman, and only Representative for the Revolutionary Socialist (Workers') Party (RSP/RSAP). He took part in the communist resistance against the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II by Nazi Germany, for which he was executed by the Germans in April 1942.
1635 Fakhr-al-Din II

Fakhr-al-Din II

Ottoman prince (born 1572)
Fakhr al-Din Ma'n, commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II, was the paramount Druze emir of Mount Lebanon from the Ma'n dynasty, an Ottoman governor of Sidon-Beirut and Safed, and ruler over much of the Levant from the 1620s to 1633. For uniting modern Lebanon's constituent parts and communities, especially the Druze and the Maronites, under a single authority for the first time in history, he is generally regarded as the country's founder. Although he ruled in the name of the Ottomans, he acted with considerable autonomy and developed close ties with European powers in defiance of the Ottoman imperial government.
2022 Michel Bouquet

Michel Bouquet

French stage and film actor (born 1925)
Michel François Pierre Bouquet was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for Toto the Hero in 1991 and two Best Actor Césars for How I Killed My Father (2001) and The Last Mitterrand (2005). He also received the Molière Award for Best Actor for Les côtelettes in 1998, then again for Exit the King in 2005. In 2014, he was awarded the Honorary Molière for the sum of his career. He received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 2018.
1962 Culbert Olson

Culbert Olson

American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of California (born 1876)
Culbert Levy Olson was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943. A member of the Democratic Party, Olson was previously elected to both the Utah State Senate and California State Senate, serving one term in each. During his term as governor, Olson struggled to pass New Deal legislation due to hostility from the California legislature. He also supported the internment and removal of Japanese Americans from California after the United States entered World War II. He was the first atheist governor of an American state.
1716 Arthur Herbert

Arthur Herbert

1st Earl of Torrington, English admiral and politician (born 1648)
Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington was an English naval officer and politician. Dismissed by James II of England in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Catholics from holding public office in England, he brought the Invitation to William to William of Orange at The Hague, disguised as a simple sailor. As a reward William made him the nominal commander of Dutch fleet which landed at Torbay, Devon on 5 November 1688, which initiated the Glorious Revolution.
585 Hermenegild

Hermenegild

Visigothic prince and saint
Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild, was the son of King Liuvigild of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. He fell out with his father in 579, then revolted the following year. During his rebellion, he converted from Arianism to Catholicism. Hermenegild was defeated in 584 and exiled. His death was later celebrated as a martyrdom due to the influence of Pope Gregory I's Dialogues, in which he portrayed Hermenegild as a "Catholic martyr rebelling against the tyranny of an Arian father."
2022 Gloria Parker

Gloria Parker

American musician and bandleader (born 1921)
Gloria Parker was an American musician and bandleader who had a radio show during the big band era. The Gloria Parker Show was broadcast nightly from 1950 to 1957, coast to coast on WABC. She played the marimba, organ, and singing glasses. Dubbed Princess of the Marimba, she conducted the 21-piece Swingphony from the Kelly Lyceum Ballroom in Buffalo, New York. This was the largest big band led by a female bandleader. Edgar Battle and Walter Thomas were arrangers for the Swingphony.
1918 Lavr Kornilov

Lavr Kornilov

Russian general (born 1870)
Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov was a Russian military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. He served as Supreme Commander of the Russian Army and as the military leader of the Whites in the Russian Civil War. He is particularly remembered for the Kornilov Affair, an unsuccessful coup d’etat against the Provisional Government led by Alexander Kerensky. The event became a significant turning point in the Russian Revolution, strengthening the Bolsheviks' position and influence.
1941 Annie Jump Cannon

Annie Jump Cannon

American astronomer and academic (born 1863)
Annie Jump Cannon was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, which was the first serious attempt to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures and spectral types. She was nearly deaf throughout her career after 1893, as a result of scarlet fever. She was a suffragist and a member of the National Women's Party.
1793 Pierre Gaspard Chaumette

Pierre Gaspard Chaumette

French botanist, lawyer, and politician (born 1763)
Pierre Gaspard Anaxagore Chaumette was a French politician of the Revolutionary period who served as the president of the Paris Commune and played a leading role in the establishment of the Reign of Terror. He was a leader of the radical Hébertistes of the revolution, an ardent critic of Christianity who was one of the leaders of the dechristianization of France. His radical positions resulted in his alienation from Maximilien Robespierre, and he was arrested and executed.
1956 Emil Nolde

Emil Nolde

Danish-German painter and educator (born 1867)
Emil Nolde was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early 20th century to explore color. He is known for his brushwork and expressive choice of colors. Golden yellows and deep reds appear frequently in his work, giving a luminous quality to otherwise somber tones. His watercolors include vivid, brooding storm-scapes and brilliant florals.
1612 Sasaki Kojirō

Sasaki Kojirō

Japanese samurai (born 1585)
Sasaki Kojirō was a Japanese swordsman who may have lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods and is known primarily for the story of his duel with Miyamoto Musashi in 1612, where Sasaki was killed. Although he suffered defeat as well as death at the hands of Musashi, he is a revered and respected warrior in Japanese history and culture. Later, Miyamoto proclaimed that Sasaki Kojirō was the strongest opponent he faced in his life.
1961 John A. Bennett

John A. Bennett

American soldier (born 1936)
John Arthur Bennett was a U.S. Army soldier who remains the last person to be executed after a court-martial by the United States Armed Forces. The 18-year-old private was convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria. Despite last minute appeals for clemency and pleas to President John F. Kennedy by the victim and her family to spare his life, Kennedy refused. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1961.
1966 Georges Duhamel

Georges Duhamel

French soldier and author (born 1884)
Georges Duhamel was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published Confession de minuit, the first of a series featuring the anti-hero Salavin. In 1935, he was elected as a member of the Académie Française. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twenty-seven times. He was also the father of the musicologist and composer Antoine Duhamel.

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