Did you know
Pol Pot was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 until his overthrow in 1979 during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
Notable Deaths on April 15
1998 — Pol Pot
Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1925)
April 15 has 113 recorded notable deaths across history, from 628 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
113 source records
628 – 2026
Today in history
Major events on April 15
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1960 At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Source
- 1861 President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War. Source
- 1922 U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal. Source
- 1755 Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London. Source
Did you know
A writer, as well as a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, he was among the most prominent American passengers aboard RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage.
Did you know
Arrigoni was the first foreign national to have been involved in such an incident in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007.
Did you know
(1934) for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Did you know
In 1421, Brunelleschi became the first person to receive a patent in the Western world.
More major people who died on April 15
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1912
Victims of the Titanic disaster:
John Jacob Astor IV was an American business magnate, real estate developer, and investor who was a member of the Astor family and also the Livingston family.
2011
Vittorio Arrigoni
Italian journalist, author, and activist (born 1975)
Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian journalist and activist. He worked with the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM), through which he arrived in the Gaza Strip in 2008.
1949
Wallace Beery
American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1885)
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor.
1446
Filippo Brunelleschi
Italian sculptor and architect (born 1377)
Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, commonly known as Filippo Brunelleschi and also nicknamed Pippo by Leon Battista Alberti, was an Italian architect, designer, goldsmith, and sculptor.
1632
George Calvert
1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (born 1580)
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore was an English politician. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I.
1912
Victims of the Titanic disaster:
Archibald Willingham DeGraffenreid Clarendon Butt was an American Army officer and aide to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.
1962
Arsenio Lacson
Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (born 1912)
Arsenio Hilario Sison Lacson Sr. was a Filipino lawyer, journalist and politician who gained widespread attention as the 17th Mayor of Manila and the first to be democratically elected.
2022
Bilquis Edhi
Pakistani philanthropist and wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi (born 1947)
Bilquis Bano Edhi was a Pakistani nurse who helped save the lives of over 16,000 children. During her career as a nurse and marriage to Abdul Sattar Edhi, she was one of the most active philanthropists in Pakistan.
1764
Peder Horrebow
Danish astronomer and mathematician (born 1679)
Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow (Horrebov) was a Danish astronomer. Born in Løgstør, Jutland to a poor family of fishermen, Horrebow entered the University of Copenhagen in 1703.
2024
Josip Manolić
Croatian politician, prime minister, and speaker of the Chamber of Counties (born 1920)
Josip "Joža" Manolić was a Croatian politician and communist revolutionary during World War II in Yugoslavia.
2014
John Houbolt
American engineer and academic (born 1919)
John Cornelius Houbolt was an aerospace engineer credited with leading the team behind the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, a concept that was used to successfully land humans on the Moon and return them to…
1967
Totò
Italian comedian (born 1898)
Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò, or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed il principe della risata, was an Italian…
1944
Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin
Russian general (born 1901)
Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin was a Soviet military commander during World War II who was responsible for many Red Army operations in the Ukrainian SSR as the commander of the Southwestern Front, and of the Voronezh Front…
2012
Dwayne Schintzius
American basketball player (born 1968)
Dwayne Kenneth Schintzius was an American basketball player who played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1938
César Vallejo
Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (born 1892)
César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist.
1980
Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905)
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and…
1984
Tommy Cooper
Welsh comedian and magician (born 1921)
Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian, actor, entertainer and magician. He was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and habitually wore a red fez when performing.
1988
Kenneth Williams
English actor and screenwriter (born 1926)
Kenneth Charles Williams was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist.
1765
Mikhail Lomonosov
Russian chemist and physicist (born 1711)
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science.