Notable Deaths on April 21

Pope Francis was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from his election in 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first pope born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He has been praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature". Twain's novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel". He also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and cowrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Henry VII, also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.

John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, was an English economist. His writings formed the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, as well as its various offshoots. Originally trained in mathematics, he built on and refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles. His ideas, further developed after his death as New Keynesianism, are seen as foundational to mainstream macroeconomics. He has been referred to as the "father of macroeconomics" and is considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th century.

Nina Simone was an American composer, concert pianist, singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title the High Priestess of Soul. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice. Rolling Stone named Simone one of the greatest singers on various lists.

Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English musician who is best known for her work with the folk rock band Fairport Convention during the late 1960s. She has been described as "arguably the pre-eminent British folk-rock singer/songwriter of her time".

Sir Muhammad Iqbal was an Islamic philosopher and poet. His poetry in Urdu is considered among the greatest of the 20th century, and his vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British India is widely regarded as having animated the impulse behind the Pakistan Movement. The honorific commonly refers to him as Allamah and is widely considered one of the most important and influential Muslim thinkers and Islamic religious philosophers of the 20th century.

François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician, dictator and physician who served as president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971.

Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path.

Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano, better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished feldmarschall in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. Renowned as one of the greatest military commanders of his era, Prince Eugene also rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna, spending six decades in the service of three emperors.

Shakuntala Devi was an Indian mental calculator, astrologer, and writer, popularly known as the "Human Computer". Her talent earned her a place in the 1982 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. However, the certificate for the record was given posthumously on 30 July 2020, despite Devi achieving her world record on 18 June 1980 at Imperial College, London. Devi was a precocious child, and she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore without any formal education.

Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, logician, theologian, composer, and poet, regarded as one of the most brilliant and controversial theologians of his time. Born at Pallet, near Nantes, he became a popular lecturer in Paris, but his academic career was cut short after his love affair with his student and eventual wife, Héloïse d'Argenteuil. Their relationship and philosophical exchange later became the aspect of his life for which he is best known in history and popular culture.

Jean-Baptiste Racine was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie. He did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young.

Milton "Gummo" Marx was an American vaudeville performer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the fourth-born of the five Marx Brothers. Born in Manhattan, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, leaving the act when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1918 during World War I and replaced by his brother Zeppo. He had no desire for an acting career, never appeared in any of his brothers' films, and became a successful businessman.

Tancredo de Almeida Neves was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, President of the Council of Ministers from 1961 to 1962, Minister of Finance in 1962, and as Governor of Minas Gerais from 1983 to 1984. He was elected President of Brazil in 1985, but died before taking office; the vice-president-elect, José Sarney, took office as president in his place.

Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Aosta after his birthplace and Anselm of Bec after his monastery, was a Benedictine abbot, philosopher and theologian who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.

Aldo Leopold was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, professor, conservationist, and environmentalist. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949), which has been translated into fifteen languages and has sold more than two million copies.

Cosimo I de' Medici was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. He built the Uffizi (office) to organize his administration, and conquered Siena to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He expanded the Pitti Palace and most of the Boboli Gardens were also laid out during his reign.

Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr., also known colloquially as “Apung Dadong”, was the ninth president of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965. He served as the 5th vice president from 1957 to 1961 under Carlos P. Garcia. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970. He was the father of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who followed his path as President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010. Diosdado Macapagal Sr is one of the few presidents with doctoral degrees, earning a Doctors of Civil Law degree and a PHD in Economics degree from University of Santo Tomas.

Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and postmodern art, literature and critical theory, music, film, time and memory, space, the city and landscape, the sublime, and the relation between aesthetics and politics. He is best known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition. Lyotard was a key personality in contemporary continental philosophy and authored 26 books and many articles. He was a director of the International College of Philosophy founded by Jacques Derrida, François Châtelet, Jean-Pierre Faye, and Dominique Lecourt.

Ugochukwu Ehiogu was an English professional football coach and player who played as a centre-back. After retiring, he became a record executive, jointly founding the successful record label, Dirty Hit. Ehiogu was the head coach of the Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s from 2014 until his death in 2017.

Pope Alexander II, born Anselm of Baggio, was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1061 to his death in 1073. Born in Milan, Anselm was deeply involved in the Pataria reform movement. Elected according to the terms of his predecessor's bull, In nomine Domini, Anselm's was the first election by the cardinals without the participation of the people and minor clergy of Rome. He also authorized the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Walter Slezak was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood productions.

Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until his abdication and subsequent end of the dynasty on 11 December 220.

Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse, often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henrik Ibsen. Duse achieved a unique power of conviction and verity on the stage through intense absorption in the character, "eliminating the self" as she put it, and letting the qualities emerge from within, not imposed through artifice.

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, was a Japanese tea master considered the most important influence on the Japanese tea ceremony, particularly the tradition of wabi-cha. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects of the ceremony, including rustic simplicity, directness of approach and honesty of self. Originating from the Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods, these aspects of the tea ceremony persist.

Romain de Tirtoff, known by the pseudonym Erté, was a Russian-born French artist and designer. He worked in several fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume, set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor.

Charles Edward "Buddy" Rogers was an American film actor and musician. During the peak of his popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was publicized as "America's Boyfriend".

Leslie James Banks was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered as Count Zaroff in The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and the star of Alfred Hitchcock's original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).

Zhang Chunqiao was a Chinese political theorist, writer, and politician. He came to the national spotlight during the late stages of the Cultural Revolution, and was a member of the ultra-Maoist group dubbed the "Gang of Four".

Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashion design as a social statement to advance sexual freedom, producing clothes that followed the natural form of the female body, freeing them from the constraints of high fashion.

Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1980 to 2001.

Abū al-Husayn Bajkam al-Mākānī, referred to as Bajkam, Badjkam or Bachkam, was a Turkish military commander and official of the Abbasid Caliphate. A former ghulam of the Ziyarid dynasty, Bajkam entered Abbasid service following the assassination of the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij in 935. During his five-year tenure at the Caliphate's court at Baghdad, he was granted the title of amir al-umara, consolidating his dominance over the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi and giving him absolute power over their domains. Bajkam was challenged throughout his rule by various opponents, including his predecessor as amir al-umara, Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, the Basra-based Baridis, and the Buyid dynasty of Iran, but he succeeded in retaining control until his death. He was murdered by a party of Kurds during a hunting excursion in 941, shortly after the accession of al-Muttaqi as Caliph. Bajkam was known both for his firm rule and for his patronage of Baghdad intellectuals, who respected and in some cases befriended him. His death led to a void in central power, resulting in a brief period of instability and fighting in Baghdad.

Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leovigildo was a Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population, his kingdom covered modern Spain down to Toledo and Portugal. Liuvigild ranks among the greatest Visigothic kings of the Arian period. He consolidated and expanded Visigothic power by defeating the Suebi, campaigning against the Byzantines in the south, and extending control over Basque territories. His legal reforms repealed prohibitions on intermarriage between Goths and Hispano-Romans, fostering greater unity within the kingdom.

Terry Alan Anderson was an American journalist and combat veteran. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken hostage by Shia Hezbollah militants of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon and held until 1991. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.

Robert Seymour Bridges was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is the author of many well-known hymns. It was through Bridges's efforts that the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins achieved posthumous fame.

Sir Arthur William Fadden was the 13th prime minister of Australia, serving from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He held office as the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958 and served as treasurer of Australia from 1940 to 1941 and 1949 to 1958.

Bardas was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister. As the brother of Empress Theodora, he rose to high office under Theophilos. Although sidelined after Theophilos's death by Theodora and Theoktistos, in 855 he engineered Theoktistos's murder and became the de facto regent for his nephew, Michael III. Rising to the rank of Caesar, he was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for ten years, a period which saw military success, renewed diplomatic and missionary activity, and an intellectual revival that heralded the Macedonian Renaissance. He was assassinated in 866 at the instigation of Michael III's new favourite, Basil the Macedonian, who a year later would usurp the throne for himself and install his own dynasty on the Byzantine throne.

Hristo Ivanov Prodanov, also known as Christo Prodanov was a Bulgarian mountaineer. Prodanov was the first Bulgarian to climb Mount Everest, doing it via the most difficult way—the West Ridge—as well as alone and without oxygen. Prodanov was the first person to climb Everest in April, when the weather conditions are generally too bad for an expedition, and also the thirteenth person to climb Everest without using bottled oxygen. Climbing the summit at 18:15 local time, he had to descend overnight and got lost shortly after that. On the next afternoon, he reported he had lost his gloves and soon would be unable to hold the radio button long enough to talk. His body was never found.

Abdul Hafeez Kardar PP, HI was a Pakistani cricketer, politician, and diplomat. He was the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team and one of only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan. Known as "The Skipper," Kardar led the Pakistan cricket team in its first 23 Test matches, spanning from 1952 to 1958, and later became the nation's foremost cricket administrator.

Catharina Joanna Maria Halkes was a Dutch theologian and feminist, notable for having been the first Dutch professor of feminism and Christianity, at the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1983 to 1986. A Roman Catholic who was originally schooled in Dutch language and literature, she became active in the women's movement within the church, and gained a measure of notoriety when she was forbidden to address Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Netherlands in 1985. She is considered the founding mother of feminist theology in the Netherlands.

Petrus Apianus, also known as Peter Apian, Peter Bennewitz, and Peter Bienewitz, was a German humanist, known for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. His work on "cosmography", the field that dealt with the earth and its position in the universe, was presented in his most famous publications, Astronomicum Caesareum (1540) and Cosmographicus liber (1524). His books were extremely influential in his time, with the numerous editions in multiple languages being published until 1609. The lunar crater Apianus and asteroid 19139 Apian are named in his honour.

Marcel Janco was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Constructivism in Eastern Europe. In the 1910s, he co-edited, with Ion Vinea and Tristan Tzara, the Romanian art magazine Simbolul. Janco was a practitioner of Art Nouveau, Futurism and Expressionism before contributing his painting and stage design to Tzara's literary Dadaism. He parted with Dada in 1919, when he and painter Hans Arp founded a Constructivist circle, Das Neue Leben.

Pauline Hélène "Polly" Higgins was a Scottish barrister, author, and environmental lobbyist, described by Jonathan Watts in her obituary in The Guardian as, "one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement". She left her career as a lawyer to focus on environmental advocacy, and unsuccessfully lobbied the United Nations Law Commission to recognise ecocide as an international crime. Higgins wrote three books, including Eradicating Ecocide, and started the Earth Protectors group to raise funds to support the cause.

Väinö Valtteri Linna was a Finnish author and a former soldier who fought in the Continuation War (1941–44). Linna gained literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas, and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla. Both have been adapted to a film format on several occasions; The Unknown Soldier was first adapted into a film in 1955 and Under the North Star in 1968 as Here, Beneath the North Star, both directed by Edvin Laine.

Meir Feinstein was an Irgun member in Mandatory Palestine, during the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. Feinstein, who was sentenced to death by the British authorities, is remembered for his suicide together with Moshe Barazani, a member of the group Lehi, under sentence of death; the two killed themselves embracing each other with a live grenade lodged between them hours before their scheduled hangings. He is memorialized in Israel today as one of 12 Olei Hagardom.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Winston was an American pioneer, politician and American Revolutionary War hero from Surry County, North Carolina, and the first cousin of statesman and Virginia governor Patrick Henry. He also served in the United States House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate. In 1766, Winston moved to the northern part of Rowan County, North Carolina, the area which subsequently became the current Stokes County, North Carolina.

Jan Boeckhorst or Johann Bockhorst was a German-born Flemish Baroque painter and draughtsman who worked most of his career in Antwerp. He was a versatile artist who produced history paintings, genre scenes and portraits in a style influenced by the trio of leading Antwerp painters Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Boeckhorst also worked as a designer of cartoons for tapestries.

Gustav Bergmann was an Austrian-American philosopher. He studied at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Circle. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers Moritz Schlick, Friedrich Waismann, and Rudolf Carnap, who were members of the Circle. In the United States, he was a professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Iowa.

Leopold Engleitner was an Austrian conscientious objector, as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a concentration camp survivor who spoke publicly and with students about his experiences. He was the subject of the documentary Unbroken Will. Before his death, Engleitner was the world's oldest known male Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor and the oldest male Austrian.

Gustav Lorentzen, also known by his stage name Ludvigsen, was a Norwegian singer-songwriter, best known from being half of the successful duo Knutsen & Ludvigsen, alongside Øystein "Knutsen" Dolmen. He went solo in 1986, winning four Spellemann awards and one nomination for his 5 albums.

Win Tin was a Burmese journalist, politician and political prisoner. He co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). He was imprisoned by the military government for 19 years (1989–2008) for his writings and his leadership position in the NLD.

Anthony Hamilton PC (Ire), also known as Antoine and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, his parents brought him to France in 1651 when Cromwell's army overran Ireland.

Sir Edward Victor Appleton was a British physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for his contributions to the knowledge of the ionosphere, which led to the development of radar and shortwave radio.

Thomas Wyatt Turner was an American civil rights activist, biologist, and educator. He was the first Black American to receive a Ph.D. in botany, and helped found both the NAACP and the Federated Colored Catholics.

George Harry Heilmeier was an American engineer, manager, and a pioneering contributor to liquid crystal displays (LCDs), for which he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Heilmeier's work is an IEEE Milestone.

Sohrab Sepehri was an Iranian poet and painter, who alongside Nima Youshij, Ahmad Shamlou, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Forough Farrokhzad is considered one of the most important figures in modern Persian poetry.

Emil Leon Post was an American mathematician and logician. He is best known for his work in the field that eventually became known as computability theory.

Philippe de La Hire was a French painter, mathematician, astronomer, and architect. According to Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, he was an "academy unto himself".

Marie of Montpellier was Lady of Montpellier and by her three marriages Viscountess of Marseille, Countess of Comminges and Queen of Aragon.

Frederick IV, called the Fighter, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1312 to his death in 1328.

Thomas Tickell was a minor English poet and man of letters.

Johann Friedrich Pfaff was a German mathematician. He is best known for his work on differential equations and as Carl Friedrich Gauss's doctoral advisor.

Ivan Aleksandrovich Nabokov was a Russian adjutant general and general of the infantry prominent during the Napoleonic Wars.

Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet DL was an Irish baronet, landowner and Conservative politician.

Maharaja RanaShri Vikramatji Khimojiraj Sahib was the ruler of Princely State of Porbandar belonging to Jethwa Rajput dynasty.

Friedrich Gustav Piffl was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church and Archbishop of Vienna.

Julius Carl Fritz Manteuffel was a German gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright, screenwriter, and 1935 winner of the Academy Award for Best Story for The Scoundrel (1935).

Alexander Ivanovich Oparin was a Soviet biochemist notable for his theories about the origin of life and for his book The Origin of Life.

Marjorie Lee Eaton was an American painter, photographer and character actress.

Muhammad Salah Eldin Bahgat Ahmad Helmy, known as Salah Jaheen was a leading Egyptian poet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist.