Notable Deaths on April 13

April 13 has 115 recorded notable deaths across history, from 548 to 2026. This page lists every one of them, with the best-known people first.

John A. Bennett

1961 — John A. Bennett

American soldier (born 1936)

By · — Wikipedia · Report an error

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. 1943 World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility. Source

Did you know about John A. Bennett

John A. Bennett remains the only American serviceman to have been executed for rape committed during peacetime.

Did you know about Jean Marsh

Jean Marsh co-created and starred in the ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975), for which she won the 1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Rose Buck.

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 Henry Darger

Henry Darger gained recognition only after his death for his vast body of visual art and writing.

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".


More major people who died on April 13

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

2025 Jean Marsh

Jean Marsh

English actress and screenwriter (born 1934)
Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh was an English actress and writer. She co-created and starred in the ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975), for which she won the 1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Rose Buck. She reprised the role in the BBC's revival of the series (2010–2012).
2018 Art Bell

Art Bell

American radio host (born 1945)
Arthur William Bell III was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly, now hosted weeknights by George Noory. Bell's past shows from 1994 to 2002 are repeated on Premiere Networks on Saturday evenings. They are retitled Somewhere in Time with Art Bell.
1973 Henry Darger

Henry Darger

American janitor and author (born 1892)
Henry Joseph Darger Jr. was an American janitor and hospital worker. He gained recognition only after his death for his vast body of visual art and writing. Darger was raised by his disabled father in Chicago. Frequently in fights, he was put into a charity home as his father's health declined, and in 1904 was sent to the then-named Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children in Lincoln, Illinois, officially due to his masturbation. He began making escape attempts after his father's death in 1908, and in 1910 was able to escape, walking much of the way to Chicago. As an adult he did menial jobs for several hospitals, interrupted by a brief stint in the United States Army during World War I. He spent much of his life in poverty and in later life was a recluse in his apartment. A devout Catholic, Darger attended Mass multiple times each day and collected religious memorabilia. Retiring in 1963 due to chronic pain, he was moved into a charity nursing home in late 1972, shortly before his death. During this move, his landlords Kiyoko and Nathan Lerner discovered his artwork and writings, which he had created and kept secret over the course of decades.
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".
1612 Sasaki Kojirō

Sasaki Kojirō

Japanese samurai (born 1585)
Sasaki Kojirō was a Japanese swordsman who 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.
2025 Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage

American diplomat and government official (born 1945)
Richard Lee Armitage was an American diplomat and government official. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Armitage served as a U.S. Navy officer in three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a riverine warfare advisor. After leaving active duty, he served in a number of civil-service roles under Republican administrations. He worked as an aide to Senator Bob Dole before serving in various posts in the Defense Department and State Department.
1868 Tewodros II of Ethiopia (born 1818)

Tewodros II of Ethiopia (born 1818)

Tewodros II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to the decentralized Zemene Mesafint.
2026 Moya Brennan

Moya Brennan

Irish singer-songwriter and harp player (born 1952)
Moya Brennan, also known as Máire Brennan, was an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist. She began performing professionally in 1970 when her family formed the band Clannad. Brennan released her first solo album in 1992 called Máire, a successful venture. In 1999, she collaborated with Chicane on the single "Saltwater", which reached the top ten in multiple countries and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
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".
1605 Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov

Tsar of Russia (born 1551)
Boris Feodorovich Godunov was the de facto regent of Russia from 1585 to 1598 and then tsar from 1598 to 1605 following the death of Feodor I, the last of the Rurik dynasty. After the end of Feodor's reign, Russia descended into the Time of Troubles.
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.
1978 Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Nigerian educator and women's rights activist (born 1900)
Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, also known as Funmilayo Aníkúlápó-Kuti, was a Nigerian educator, political organizer, and women's rights advocate who intellectually engaged with anti-imperialist, Pan-Africanist, and feminist ideologies. Ransome-Kuti also identified herself as an African Socialist.
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 that 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".
1993 Wallace Stegner

Wallace Stegner

American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (born 1909)
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American novelist, writer, environmentalist, and historian. He was often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.
1695 Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine

French author and poet (born 1621)
Jean de La Fontaine was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, as well as in French regional languages.
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.
1975 Larry Parks

Larry Parks

American actor and singer (born 1914)
Samuel Lawrence Klusman Parks was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it virtually ended when he admitted to having been a member of a Communist Party cell, which led to his blacklisting by all Hollywood studios. His best known role was Al Jolson, whom he portrayed in two films: The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949).
814 Krum

Krum

khan of the Bulgarian Khanate
Krum, often referred to as Krum the Fearsome, was the Khan of First Bulgarian Empire from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and developed the rudiments of state organization.
1794 Nicolas Chamfort

Nicolas Chamfort

French playwright and poet (born 1741)
Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort, was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's sister Madame Élisabeth, and of the Jacobin club.
1966 Abdul Salam Arif

Abdul Salam Arif

Iraqi colonel and politician, 2nd President of Iraq (born 1921)
Abdul Salam Mohammed ʿArif Al-Jumaili was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the second president of Iraq from 1963 until his death in a plane crash in 1966. He played a leading role in the 14 July Revolution, in which the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was overthrown on 14 July 1958.
1945 Ernst Cassirer

Ernst Cassirer

Polish-American philosopher and academic (born 1874)
Ernst Alfred Cassirer was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science.
2015 Eduardo Galeano

Eduardo Galeano

Uruguayan journalist and author (born 1940)
Eduardo Germán María Hughes Galeano was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "a literary giant of the Latin American left" and "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters".
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.
1886 John Humphrey Noyes

John Humphrey Noyes

American religious leader, founded the Oneida Community (born 1811)
John Humphrey Noyes was an American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and utopian socialist. He founded utopian communities at Putney, Vermont; Oneida, New York; and Wallingford, Connecticut, and is credited with coining the term complex marriage.
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.
1999 Willi Stoph

Willi Stoph

German engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of East Germany (born 1914)
Wilhelm Stoph was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. He also served as chairman of the State Council from 1973 to 1976.
1880 Robert Fortune

Robert Fortune

Scottish botanist and author (born 1812)
Robert Fortune was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter, and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, and North America. He also played a role in the development of the tea industry in India in the 19th century.
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.
2005 Johnnie Johnson

Johnnie Johnson

American pianist and songwriter (born 1924)
Johnnie Clyde Johnson was an American pianist who played jazz, blues, and rock and roll. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for breaking racial barriers in the military as a Montford Point Marine, where he endured racism and inspired social change while integrating the previously all-white Marine Corps during World War II.
2017 Dan Rooney

Dan Rooney

American football executive and former United States Ambassador to Ireland (born 1932)
Daniel Milton Rooney was an American professional football executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers' founder, Art Rooney. He held various roles within the organization, most notably as president, owner and chairman.
1275 Eleanor of England (born 1215)

Eleanor of England (born 1215)

Eleanor of England was the youngest child of John, King of England and Isabella of Angoulême. She married Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester.
1975 François Tombalbaye

François Tombalbaye

Chadian soldier, academic, and politician, 1st President of Chad (born 1918)
François Tombalbaye, also known as N'Garta Tombalbaye, was a Chadian politician who served as the first President of Chad from the country's independence in 1960 until his overthrow in 1975. A dictatorial leader, his divisive policies as president led to factional conflict and a pattern of authoritarian leadership and political instability that is still relevant in Chad today.
2014 Ernesto Laclau

Ernesto Laclau

Argentinian-Spanish philosopher and theorist (born 1935)
Ernesto Laclau was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher. He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1966 Carlo Carrà

Carlo Carrà

Italian painter (born 1881)
Carlo Carrà was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number of books concerning art. He taught for many years in the city of Milan.
1971 Michel Brière

Michel Brière

Canadian ice hockey player (born 1949)
Michel Edouard Brière was a Canadian professional ice hockey player for one season in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1969–70. Following his rookie season with the Penguins, Brière was involved in a car accident in which he suffered major head trauma. After multiple brain surgeries and 11 months in a coma, he died as a result of his injuries at the age of 21.
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 the Dutch fleet which landed at Torbay, Devon on 5 November 1688, which initiated the Glorious Revolution.
1992

Daniel Pollock

Australian actor (born 1968)
Daniel John Pollock was an Australian film actor. He was perhaps best known for his role as Davey in the 1992 drama film Romper Stomper.
2014 Michael Ruppert

Michael Ruppert

American journalist and author (born 1951)
Michael Craig Ruppert was an American writer and musician, Los Angeles Police Department officer, investigative journalist, political activist, and peak oil awareness advocate known for his 2004 book Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.
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.
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.
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.
1971 Juhan Smuul

Juhan Smuul

Estonian author, poet, and screenwriter (born 1921)
Juhan Smuul was an Estonian writer. Until 1954 he used the given name Johannes Schmuul. Smuul was one of the most recognized writers in Soviet Estonia and was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR, chairman of the Estonian Writers' Union, secretary of the board of the Union of Soviet Writers.
799 Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon

Italian monk and historian (born 720)
Paul the Deacon, also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefridus, Barnefridus, or Winfridus, and sometimes suffixed Cassinensis, was a Benedictine monk, scribe, and historian of the Lombards of Latin language.
2000 Frenchy Bordagaray

Frenchy Bordagaray

American baseball player and manager (born 1910)
Stanley George "Frenchy" Bordagaray was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and third baseman for the Chicago White Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Yankees between 1934 and 1945. He had a .283 batting average with 14 home runs and 270 runs batted in over 930 major league games for his career.
1213 Guy of Thouars

Guy of Thouars

regent of Brittany
Guy of Thouars was Duke of Brittany from 1199 to 1201 as the third husband of Constance, Duchess of Brittany. They married in Angers, County of Anjou, between August and October 1199 after her son Arthur entered Angers to be recognized as count of the three countships of Anjou, Maine and Touraine. He was an Occitan noble, a member of the House of Thouars.
2015 Herb Trimpe

Herb Trimpe

American author and illustrator (born 1939)
Herbert William Trimpe was an American comics artist and occasional writer, best known as the seminal 1970s artist on The Incredible Hulk and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who later became a breakout star of the X-Men.
1890 Samuel J. Randall

Samuel J. Randall

American captain, lawyer, and politician, 33rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1828)
Samuel Jackson Randall was an American politician from Pennsylvania who represented the Queen Village, Society Hill, and Northern Liberties neighborhoods of Philadelphia from 1863 to 1890 and served as the 29th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1876 to 1881. He was a contender for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in 1880 and 1884.
1978 Jack Chambers

Jack Chambers

Canadian painter and director (born 1931)
John Richard Chambers was an artist and filmmaker. Born in London, Ontario, Chambers' painting style shifted from surrealist-influenced to photo-realist-influenced. He used the term "Perceptual Realism" and later "perceptualism" to describe his style. He began working with film in the 1960s, completing six by 1970. Stan Brakhage proclaimed Chambers' The Hart of London as "one of the greatest films ever made."
2026 Dave McGinnis

Dave McGinnis

American football player and coach (born 1951)
David McGinnis was an American professional football coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2000 to 2003 and assistant head coach of the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams from 2012 to 2016.
2005

Phillip Pavia

American painter and sculptor (born 1912)
Philip Pavia (1911-2005) was a culturally influential American artist of Italian descent, known for his scatter sculpture and figurative abstractions, and the debate he fostered among many of the 20th century's most important art thinkers. A founder of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, he "did much to shift the epicenter of Modernism from Paris to New York," both as founding organizer of The Club and as founder, editor and publisher of the short-lived but influential art journal It Is: A Magazine for Abstract Art. Reference to the magazine appears in the archives of more than two dozen celebrated art figures, including Picasso, Peggy Guggenheim, and art critic Clement Greenberg. The Club is credited with inspiring art critic Harold Rosenberg’s influential essay “The American Action Painters" and the historic 9th Street Show.
1722 Charles Leslie

Charles Leslie

Irish priest and theologian (born 1650)
Charles Leslie was a former Church of Ireland priest who became a leading Jacobite propagandist after the 1688 Glorious Revolution. One of a small number of Irish Protestants to actively support the Stuarts after 1688, he is best remembered today for his role in publicising the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe.
1855 Henry De la Beche

Henry De la Beche

English geologist and palaeontologist (born 1796)
Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the first President of the Palaeontographical Society. He was also a slave plantation owner in Jamaica.
1912 Takuboku Ishikawa

Takuboku Ishikawa

Japanese poet and author (born 1886)
Takuboku Ishikawa was a Japanese poet. Well known as both a tanka and "modern-style" or "free-style" poet, he began as a member of the Myōjō group of naturalist poets but later joined the "socialistic" group of Japanese poets and renounced naturalism. He died of tuberculosis.
1853 Leopold Gmelin

Leopold Gmelin

German chemist and academic (born 1788)
Leopold Gmelin was a German chemist. Gmelin was a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He worked on the red prussiate and created Gmelin's test, and wrote his Handbook of Chemistry, which over successive editions became a standard reference work still in use.
1980 Markus Höttinger

Markus Höttinger

Austrian racing driver (born 1956)
Markus Höttinger was an Austrian racing driver who died after an accident at Germany's Hockenheimring during the third lap of the second round of the 1980 European Formula Two Championship, on 13 April 1980. He was 23 years old at the time.
1954 Samuel Jones

Samuel Jones

American high jumper (born 1880)
Samuel Symington Jones was an American athlete who competed mainly in the high jump. He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the high jump where he won the gold medal.
1997 Dorothy Frooks

Dorothy Frooks

American author and actress (born 1896)
Dorothy Frooks was an American writer, publisher, military officer, lawyer, and suffragist. She also ran for Congress twice, in 1920 as a member of the Prohibition Party and in 1934 on the Law Preservation ticket for New York's At-large congressional district.
548 Lý Nam Đế

Lý Nam Đế

Vietnamese emperor (born 503)
Lý Nam Đế, personal name Lý Bôn or Lý Bí (李賁), was the founding emperor of the Early Lý dynasty of Vietnam, ruling from 544 to 548. He was originally a magistrate of the Chinese Liang dynasty in Jiaozhou.
1927 Sabás Reyes Salazar

Sabás Reyes Salazar

Mexican Catholic priest (born 1888)
Sabás Reyes Salazar was a Mexican Catholic vicar and one of many priests martyred during the Cristero War. Reyes was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 21 May 2000 as one the Martyrs of the Cristero War.
1936 Konstantinos Demertzis

Konstantinos Demertzis

Greek politician 129th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1876)
Konstantinos Demertzis was a Greek academic and politician. He was the 49th Prime Minister of Greece from November 1935 to April 1936. Demertzis died during his mandate, of a heart attack, on April 13, 1936.
1999 Ortvin Sarapu

Ortvin Sarapu

Estonian-New Zealand chess player and author (born 1924)
Ortvin Sarapu, known in New Zealand as "Mr Chess", was an Estonian-born chess player who emigrated to New Zealand and won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1952 to 1990.
1983 Theodore Stephanides

Theodore Stephanides

Greek physician, author, and poet (born 1896)
Theodore Philip Stephanides was a Greek-British doctor and polymath, best remembered as the friend and mentor of Gerald Durrell. He was also known as a naturalist, biologist, astronomer, poet, writer and translator.
1992 Feza Gürsey

Feza Gürsey

Turkish mathematician and physicist (born 1921)
Feza Gürsey was a Turkish mathematician and physicist. Among his contributions to theoretical physics, his work on the chiral model and on SU(6) symmetry of the quark model are the most well-known.
1138 Simon I

Simon I

Duke of Lorraine (born 1076)
Simon I was the duke of Lorraine from 1115 to his death, the eldest son and successor of Theodoric II and Hedwig of Formbach and a half-brother of Emperor Lothair III.
1592 Bartolomeo Ammannati

Bartolomeo Ammannati

Italian architect and sculptor (born 1511)
Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence, Italy. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.
1826 Franz Danzi

Franz Danzi

German cellist, composer, and conductor (born 1763)
Franz Ignaz Danzi was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi (1730–1798) and brother of the noted singer Franziska Danzi.
1910 William Quiller Orchardson

William Quiller Orchardson

Scottish-English painter and educator (born 1832)
Sir William Quiller Orchardson was a Scottish portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75.
1992 Maurice Sauvé

Maurice Sauvé

Canadian economist and politician (born 1923)
Maurice Sauvé was a Canadian economist, politician, cabinet minister and businessman. He was the husband of Jeanne Sauvé, who served as 23rd Governor General of Canada.
2012

Cecil Chaudhry

Pakistani pilot, academic, and activist (born 1941)
Cecil Chaudhry SJ SBt PP was a Pakistani academic, human rights activist, and a veteran fighter pilot. As a flight lieutenant, he fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and as a squadron leader in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. During the 1965 war, Chaudhry and three other pilots, under the leadership of Wing Commander Anwar Shamim, attacked the Amritsar Radar Station in a difficult operation. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat for his actions during that mission.
1984

Dionysis Papagiannopoulos

Greek actor (born 1912)
Dionysis Papagiannopoulos was a Greek actor. He was born in Diakopto in the northeastern part of Achaea in 1912. He studied at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece in Athens and made his stage debut in 1938, appearing as the Knight in William Shakespeare's King Lear. He excelled in Shakespeare's Hamlet as the Grave Digger and in Dimitris Psathas' Fonazei o Kleftis as General Solon Karaleon.
2013

Stephen Dodgson

English composer and educator (born 1924)
Stephen Cuthbert Vivian Dodgson was a British composer and broadcaster. Dodgson's prolific musical output covered most genres, ranging from opera and large-scale orchestral music to chamber and instrumental music, as well as choral works and song. Three instruments to which he dedicated particular attention were the guitar, harpsichord and recorder. He wrote in a mainly tonal, although sometimes unconventional, idiom. Some of his works use unusual combinations of instruments.
1941

William Twaits

Canadian soccer player (born 1879)
William Twaits was a Canadian amateur soccer player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Twaits was born in Galt, Ontario. In 1904 he was a member of the Galt F.C. team, which won the gold medal in the soccer tournament. He played all two matches as a forward.
862

Donald I

king of the Picts (born 812)
Domnall mac Ailpín, anglicised sometimes as Donald MacAlpin and known in most modern regnal lists as Donald I, was King of the Picts from 858 to 862. He followed his brother Kenneth I to the Pictish throne. He was posthumously given the epithet "Drechruaidh" by the Duan Albanach.
1964

Kristian Krefting

Norwegian footballer and chemical engineer (born 1891)
Kristian August Krefting was a Norwegian footballer, military officer, chemical engineer and company owner. He was Norwegian champion with the club Lyn in 1910 and 1911, and was on the Norway national football team at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
1996

Leila Mackinlay

English author and educator (born 1910)
Leila Antoinette Sterling Mackinlay was a British writer of romance novels from 1930 to 1979 as Leila S. Mackinlay or Leila Mackinlay and also under the pseudonym Brenda Grey. Some of her novels are based on real people like Madame Vestris, Lola Montez or Jane Elizabeth Digby; she also wrote Musical Productions, a musical book. She was the daughter of the musician and writer Malcolm Sterling Mackinlay and granddaughter of the vocalist Antoinette Sterling.
2012

Shūichi Higurashi

Japanese illustrator (born 1936)
Shūichi Higurashi (日暮修一) was a Japanese manga illustrator and magazine artist. Higurashi was the cover artist for Big Comic, a Japanese manga magazine, for more than forty years, from 1970 until fall 2011.
1035

Herbert I

Count of Maine
Herbert I, called Wakedog, was the count of Maine from 1017 until his death. He had a turbulent career with an early victory that may have contributed to his later decline.
1984

Ralph Kirkpatrick

American harpsichordist and musicologist (born 1911)
Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings.
989

Bardas Phokas

Byzantine general
Bardas Phokas was a Byzantine general who took a conspicuous part in three revolts for and against the ruling Macedonian dynasty.
1093 Vsevolod I of Kiev (born 1030)

Vsevolod I of Kiev (born 1030)

Vsevolod I Yaroslavich was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1078 until his death in 1093.
1113 Ida of Lorraine

Ida of Lorraine

saint and noblewoman (born c. 1040)
Ida of Lorraine was a saint and noblewoman.
1367 John Tiptoft

John Tiptoft

2nd Baron Tibetot (born 1313)
John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot, English nobleman, was the son of Pain Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tibetot and Agnes de Ros.
1638 Henri

Henri

Duke of Rohan (born 1579)
Henri II de Rohan, Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a Breton-French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots.
1641

Richard Montagu

English bishop (born 1577)
Richard Montagu was an English cleric and prelate.
1853 James Iredell

James Iredell

Jr., American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of North Carolina (born 1788)
James Iredell Jr. was the 23rd governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina between 1827 and 1828.
1878

Bezalel HaKohen

Russian rabbi (born 1820)
Bezalel Ben Moses HaKohen was a rabbi and Talmudist at Vilnius, then in the Russian Empire.
1909 Whitley Stokes

Whitley Stokes

Anglo-Irish lawyer and scholar (born 1830)
Whitley Stokes, CSI, CIE, FBA was an Irish lawyer and Celtic scholar.
1911 George Washington Glick

George Washington Glick

American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Kansas (born 1827)
George Washington Glick was the ninth governor of Kansas.
1911 John McLane

John McLane

Scottish-American politician, 50th Governor of New Hampshire (born 1852)
John McLane was a Scottish-American furniture maker and politician who served as the 50th governor of New Hampshire from 1905 to 1907.
1917 Diamond Jim Brady

Diamond Jim Brady

American businessman and philanthropist (born 1856)
James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady, was an American businessman, financier and philanthropist of the Gilded Age.
1920 Stefanos Streit

Stefanos Streit

Greek jurist, banker and politician (born 1896)
Stefanos Streit was a Greek jurist, banker and politician. He served as chairman of the National Bank of Greece and Minister of Finance.
1927 Georg Voigt

Georg Voigt

German politician, Mayor of Frankfurt (born 1866)
Georg Philipp Wilhelm Voigt was a German politician. Voigt was the mayor of Rixdorf, Barmen, Frankfurt, and Marburg.
1942

Anton Uesson

Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (born 1879)
Anton Uesson was an Estonian politician and engineer.
1944 Cécile Chaminade

Cécile Chaminade

French pianist and composer (born 1857)
Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade was a French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer.
1959 Eduard van Beinum

Eduard van Beinum

Dutch pianist, violinist, and conductor (born 1901)
Eduard Alexander van Beinum was a Dutch conductor.
1967

Nicole Berger

French actress (born 1934)
Nicole Berger was a French actress.
1969 Alfred Karindi

Alfred Karindi

Estonian pianist and composer (born 1901)
Alfred Karindi was an Estonian organist and composer.
1969 Ambrogio Gianotti

Ambrogio Gianotti

Italian partigiano and priest (born 1901)
Don Antonio Ambrogio Gianotti was a Catholic priest and member of the Italian resistance movement.
1983 Gerry Hitchens

Gerry Hitchens

English footballer (born 1934)
Gerald Archibald Hitchens was an English footballer who played as a centre forward.
1988 Jean Gascon

Jean Gascon

Canadian actor and director (born 1920)
Jean Gascon was a Canadian opera director, actor, and administrator.
1997

Alan Cooley

Australian public servant (born 1920)
Sir Alan Sydenham Cooley, was a senior Australian Public Service official and policymaker.
1997 Bryant Bowles

Bryant Bowles

American soldier and white supremacist, founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People (born 1920)
Bryant William Bowles Jr. was a white supremacist bitterly opposed to racial integration of public schools in the United States.
1997 Voldemar Väli

Voldemar Väli

Estonian wrestler (born 1903)
Voldemar Väli was an Estonian two-time Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling.
1998

Patrick de Gayardon

French skydiver and base jumper (born 1960)
Patrick de Gayardon was a French skydiver, skysurfer and a BASE jumper.
2000 Giorgio Bassani

Giorgio Bassani

Italian author and poet (born 1916)
Giorgio Bassani was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and intellectual.
2004 Caron Keating

Caron Keating

Northern Irish television host (born 1962)
Caron Louisa Keating was a British television presenter.
2006 Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark

Scottish novelist, poet, and critic (born 1918)
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist.
2015 Günter Grass

Günter Grass

German novelist, poet, playwright, and illustrator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927)
Günter Wilhelm Grass was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
2024 Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold

American artist and author (born 1930)
Faith Ringgold was an American painter, author, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, and intersectional activist, perhaps best known for her narrative quilts.

History runs on facts, and this project runs on coffee!

Your support is incredibly helpful and genuinely appreciated.

Support with a coffee ☕