Did you know
Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s
Notable Deaths on April 8
102 people
217 – 2025
April 8 has seen 102 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 217 – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2002 — María Félix
Mexican actress (born 1914)
Did you know
Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, her strong personality and taste for finesse garnered her the title of diva early in her career
Did you know
She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her as a wedding gift by her second husband, Agustín Lara
Did you know
Her acting career consists of 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, and Argentina.
Did you know
María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was a Mexican actress and singer
217
622
Frankish king (born 607)
Charibert II, a son of Clotaire II and his junior wife Sichilde, was the first King of Aquitaine from 629 to his death, with his capital at Toulouse. There are no direct statements about when Charibert was born exactly,…
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632
894
Chinese emperor
Wang Yanxi, known as Wang Xi (王曦) during his reign, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Jingzong of Min (閩景宗), was an emperor of Min during China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He became Min's ruler…
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944
956
Buyid emir (born 915)
Ahmad ibn Buya, after 945 better known by his laqab of Mu'izz al-Dawla, was the first of the Buyid emirs of Iraq, ruling from 945 until his death.
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967
Byzantine emperor (born 1087)
John II Komnenos or Comnenus was Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good", he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina and the second emperor…
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1143
duchess of Bohemia (born 1118)
Gertrude of Babenberg, a member of the House of Babenberg, was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 1140 until her death, by her marriage to the Přemyslid duke Vladislaus II.
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1150
Italian-Franciscan missionary (born c. 1255)
Thomas of Tolentino, OFM was an Italian Franciscan missionary who was martyred with his three companions in Thane, India, for blaspheming Muhammad. His relics were removed to Quanzhou, China, and Tolentino, Italy, by…
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1321
1338
1364
Korean king (born 1397)
Sejong, commonly known as Sejong the Great, was the fourth monarch of the Koreanic state Joseon. He ruled from 1418 to his death in 1450. He is widely regarded as the greatest king in Korean history, and is remembered…
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1450
German mathematician and astronomer (born 1423)
Georg von Peuerbach was an Austrian astronomer, poet, mathematician and instrument maker, best known for his streamlined presentation of Ptolemaic astronomy in the Theoricae Novae Planetarum. Peuerbach was instrumental…
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1461
Italian ruler (born 1449)
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, was an Italian statesman, de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lorenzo held the balance…
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1492
Japanese warlord (born 1510)
Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese daimyō and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga, the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy shugo (Shugodai) of lower…
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1551
Lutheran theologian and reformer (born 1522)
Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation German, Evangelical Lutheran, Christian theologian, and a Protestant reformer, churchman, and confessor. In the Evangelical Lutheran tradition he is known as Alter…
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1586
English noble (born 1538)
Magdalen Dacre, Viscountess Montagu was an English noblewoman. She was the daughter of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and the second wife of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Magdalen, a Roman Catholic,…
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1608
Anne Catherine of Brandenburg was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1597 to 1612 as the first spouse of King Christian IV of Denmark.
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1612
Italian architect, designed the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (born 1611)
Carlo Rainaldi was an Italian architect of the Baroque period.
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1691
Norwegian-Danish admiral (born 1629)
Admiral Niels Juel was a Danish naval officer who served as supreme commander of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy during the late 17th century and oversaw its development into a blue-water navy. His victory against Sweden…
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1697
German orientalist and philologist (born 1624)
Hiob or Job Ludolf, also known as Job Leutholf, was a German orientalist, born at Erfurt. Edward Ullendorff rates Ludolf as having "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship".
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1704
1st Earl of Romney, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1641)
Lieutenant-General Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney was an English Army officer and Whig politician who served as Master-General of the Ordnance from 1693 to 1702. He is best known as one of the Immortal Seven, a group…
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1704
German nobleman (born 1641)
Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen was a German nobleman. From 1668 until his death he was the ruler of the county of Castell-Remlingen, sharing power with his brother Friedrich Magnus of Castell-Remlingen. He also…
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1709
1725
Hungarian prince (born 1676)
Francis II Rákóczi was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–1711 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also…
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1735
Italian composer (born 1797)
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer, best known for his over 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first…
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1848
Hungarian statesman and reformer (born 1791)
Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and writer. Widely considered one of the greatest statesmen in his nation's history, within Hungary he is still known to many…
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1860
American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (born 1811)
Elisha Graves Otis was an American industrialist and founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1853, he invented a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails. On March 23, 1857, he…
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1861
Belgian violinist and composer (born 1802)
Charles Auguste de Bériot was a Belgian violinist, artist and composer.
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1870
Portuguese physician and naturalist (born 1806)
Bernardino António Gomes was a Portuguese physician and scientist. He is perhaps most widely remembered for his pioneering work in Portugal in the field of anaesthesiology, as the first physician in the country to use…
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1877
Indian journalist, author, and poet (born 1838)
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a Bengali novelist, poet, essayist and journalist.
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1894
German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (born 1850)
Auguste Deter was a German woman notable for being the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
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1906
Hungarian physicist, academic, and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (born 1848)
Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény, also called Baron Roland von Eötvös in English literature, was a Hungarian physicist. He is remembered today largely for his work on gravitation and surface tension, and the…
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1919
American pianist and composer (born 1884)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his later works make him the…
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1920
Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864)
Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söderblom,…
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1931
Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1876)
Robert Bárány was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.
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1936
Czech poet and novelist (born 1873)
Božena Benešová, née Zapletalová, was a Czech author and poet whose work is considered to have been at the forefront of psychological prose. The greater part of her youth was spent in Uherské Hradiště and Napajedla,…
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1936
French novelist and playwright (born 1862)
Marcel Prévost was a French author and dramatist.
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1941
Greek guitarist and composer (born 1880)
Kostas Skarvelis was a Greek composer of popular music, of the rembetiko (ρεμπέτικο) genre. He also wrote the lyrics for his songs and was an excellent guitar player, having participated in many recordings.
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1942
Norwegian target shooter (born 1862)
Olaf Emil Frydenlund was a Norwegian sport shooter who competed in the early 20th century in rifle shooting. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won the silver medal with the Norwegian…
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1947
Polish dancer and choreographer (born 1890)
Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He is often associated with the Ballets Russes and its…
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1950
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens (born 1913)
Marios Makrionitis, SJ was a Greek Jesuit prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Athens from 1953 until 1959, when he died from injuries caused by an automobile accident.
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1959
Australian public servant (born 1885)
Joseph Aloysius Carrodus was a senior Australian public servant.
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1961
Spanish bullfighter (born 1892)
Juan Belmonte García was a Spanish bullfighter. He fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting. He had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to design new…
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1962
Swedish actor (born 1886)
Lars Mauritz Hanson was a Swedish film and stage actor, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era.
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1965
Ukrainian astronomer (born 1900)
Zinaïda Mikolaïevna Aksentieva was a Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer and geophysicist.
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1969
Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1881)
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for…
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1973
Canadian cardinal (born 1894)
James Charles McGuigan was a Canadian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the longest-serving Archbishop of Toronto, serving for almost 37 years from 1934 to 1971. He became the first English-speaking cardinal from…
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1974
American short story writer (born 1952)
Breece Dexter John Pancake was an American short story writer, called "one of the greatest authors you've never heard of" in an article on his work in Study Breaks. Pancake was a native of West Virginia. Several of his…
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1979
American general (born 1893)
Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. He was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and oversaw the U.S.…
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1981
Japanese actor and director (born 1904)
Isamu Kosugi was a Japanese actor and film director.
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1983
Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1894)
Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa or Peter Kapitza was a leading Soviet Russian physicist and Nobel laureate, whose research focused on low-temperature physics.
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1984
American pianist and composer (born 1897)
John Frederick Coots, better known as J. Fred Coots or Fred Coots, was an American songwriter. He composed more than 700 popular songs and more than a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then…
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1985
American activist, inspired the Ryan White Care Act (born 1971)
Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnosis of AIDS.
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1990
1991
Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)
Daniel Bovet was a Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of drugs that block the actions of specific neurotransmitters. He is best known for his…
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1992
American operatic singer (born 1897)
Marian Anderson was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and…
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1993
1994
American actor and stuntman (born 1918)
Francis Benjamin Johnson Jr. was an American film and television actor, stuntman, and world-champion rodeo cowboy. Johnson brought authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his droll manner and expert horsemanship.
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1996
Argentinian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1906)
León Klimovsky Dulfán was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer notable for his work during the classical era of Argentine cinema. He was known mainly for his work in Spanish cinema during the 1960s and…
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1996
Australian politician (born 1936)
Michael Jerome Young was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974…
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1996
American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1947)
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had…
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1997
Czech motorcycle racer (born 1927)
František Šťastný was a Czech Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
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2000
American actress (born 1910)
Claire Trevor was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Key Largo (1948), and received nominations for her roles…
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2000
American painter (born 1937)
Harvey Quaytman was a geometric abstraction painter best known for large modernist canvases with powerful monochromatic tones, in layered compositions, often with hard edges - inspired by Malevich and Mondrian. He had…
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2002
German actor (born 1921)
Werner Schumacher was a German actor. From 1971 until 1986 he starred in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk version of the popular television crime series Tatort.
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2004
Canadian choreographer and dancer (born 1922)
Onna White was a Canadian choreographer and dancer, nominated for eight Tony Awards.
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2005
Dutch author and poet (born 1923)
Gerard Kornelis van het Reve was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one…
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2006
American painter and sculptor (born 1928)
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism.
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2007
Japanese painter (born 1924)
Kazuo Shiraga was a Japanese abstract painter and the first-generation member of the postwar artists collective Gutai Art Association (Gutai). As a Gutai member, he was a prolific, inventive, and pioneering…
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2008
American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (born 1922)
Richard de Mille was an American author. He was the son of screenwriters Lorna Moon and William C. deMille and the adopted son of director Cecil B. DeMille. He was briefly a member of the Scientology movement during the…
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2009
Polish mountaineer (born 1976)
Piotr Morawski was a Polish mountaineer. He achieved the first successful winter ascent together with Simone Moro of Shishapangma on 14 January 2005. Morawski died aged 32 during an international Dhaulagiri/Manaslu…
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2009
English philosopher and academic (born 1923)
Antony Garrard Newton Flew was an English philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught philosophy at…
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2010
English singer-songwriter (born 1946)
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English fashion designer, entrepreneur and music manager. He was a promoter and a manager for punk rock and new wave bands such as New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, and…
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2010
Dutch singer (born 1926)
Dorothea Margaretha "Teddy" Scholten was a Dutch singer and television presenter. She is known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song "Een beetje", representing the Netherlands.
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2010
Romanian-American painter and photographer (born 1910)
Hedda Sterne was a Romanian-born American artist who was an active member of the New York School of painters. Her work is often associated with Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism. She was also the only woman to…
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2011
American football player and coach (born 1961)
Blair Armstrong Kiel was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Arena Football League (AFL). He was a four-year starting…
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2012
Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (born 1928)
Jack Tramiel was a Polish-American businessman and Holocaust survivor, best known for founding Commodore International. The PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 are some home computers produced while he was running the…
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2012
Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (born 1921)
Janusz Kazimierz Zawodny was a Polish-American historian, political scientist, and World War II soldier and resistance fighter of the Polish Underground State.
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2012
Russian journalist (born 1958)
Mikhail Vasilyevich Beketov was a Russian journalist who came to widespread attention when he was attacked in an assault thought to be connected with his coverage of the planned destruction of the Khimki Forest to make…
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2013
American actress and singer (born 1942)
Annette Joanne Funicello was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. In her teenage years, Funicello…
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2013
Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (born 1928)
María Antonia Abad Fernández, known professionally as Sara Montiel, also Sarita Montiel, was a Spanish actress and singer. She began her career in the 1940s and became the most internationally popular and highest paid…
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2013
Spanish economist and author (born 1917)
José Luis Sampedro Sáez was a Spanish economist and writer who advocated an economy "more humane, more caring, able to help develop the dignity of peoples".
Academician of the Real Academia Española since 1990, he was…
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2013
English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1925)
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the…
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2013
Iraqi patriarch (born 1927)
Mar Emmanuel III Delly was an Iraqi Catholic prelate who served as Patriarch of Baghdad and primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church.
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2014
German author and activist (born 1924)
Karl Heinrich Leopold Deschner was a German researcher and writer who achieved public attention in Europe for his trenchant and fiercely critical treatment of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in…
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2014
New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (born 1930)
Ivan Mercep was a New Zealand architect. He received the NZIA Gold Medal in 2008.
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2014
Indian journalist and author (born 1934)
D. Jayakanthan, popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he joined the…
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2015
Hong Kong chemist and academic (born 1920)
Rayson Lisung Huang,, was a Hong Kong chemist, who was an expert on radicals. He was the first Chinese Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, a position in which he served from 1972 until 1986.
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2015
Ukrainian kick-boxer (born 1987)
Serhiy Lashchenko, also spelled as Sergii Lashchenko and Sergei Lascenko, was a Ukrainian kickboxer. He was a K-1 and Superkombat Heavyweight.
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2015
American journalist and publisher (born 1933)
David Abram Laventhol was an American newspaper editor and publisher at The Washington Post, Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. He was known for his work designing newspapers, most notably as first editor of the Style…
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2015
Canadian cardinal (born 1936)
Jean-Claude Turcotte was a Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal from 1990 to 2012.
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2015
Romanian-born American art curator (born 1926)
Josine Ianco-Starrels was a Romanian-born American art curator who worked as a museum director in Los Angeles, California.
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2019
2020
Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (born 1930)
Abdul Momin Imambari was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, teacher and politician. He was the former president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh.
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2020
Jewish Austrian secretary (born 1915)
Mimi Reinhardt was an Austrian Jewish secretary. She worked for Oskar Schindler and typed his list of Jewish workers to recruit for his factory.
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2022
Welsh-Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1934)
William Keith Barnes AM, also known by the nickname of "Golden Boots", was a Welsh-born Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was a fullback…
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2024
British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929)
Peter Ware Higgs was a British theoretical physicist, professor at the University of Edinburgh, and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the mass of subatomic particles.
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2024
American Army officer, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1926)
Ralph Puckett Jr. was a United States Army officer. He led the Eighth Army Ranger Company during the Korean War and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on November 25, 1950, when his company of…
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2024
Dominican politician, governor of Monte Cristi (born 1982)
Nelsy Milagros Cruz Martínez was a Dominican politician who served as governor of Monte Cristi Province from 2020 until her death in 2025. A member of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), she died after a nightclub…
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2025
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April 8 in the Blog
Titanic Sinking — April 8, 1912
Discover the story of Titanic Sinking on April 14-15, 1912 in North Atlantic Ocean.
Read the full storyNotable deaths
Who died on April 8?
María Félix — Mexican actress and singer (1914–2002)
FeaturedMaría Félix
Death year2002
Known forAlong with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s
Deaths on this date102 (217 – 2025)
Explore April 8
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on April 8 in History
2026
Operation Eternal Darkness: Hours after a ceasefire to the Iran war, Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least 357 and injures more than 1200 people in the largest airstrikes of the Lebanon war. Wikipedia →
2024
Solar eclipse: A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America. Wikipedia →
2020
See all events on April 8
Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. Wikipedia →
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