Notable Deaths on August 15

Gerhard "Gerd" Müller was a German professional footballer. A prolific striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers and players in the history of the sport. With success at both the club level and the international level, he is one of eleven players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

William Penn Adair Rogers was a Cherokee-American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorist. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory, now part of Oklahoma, and is known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son". As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films, and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. By the mid-1930s, Rogers was hugely popular in the United States for his leading political wit and was one of the higher paid Hollywood film stars. He died in 1935 with aviator Wiley Post when their small airplane crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Barrow, Alaska.

Robert Stewart Trump was an American businessman and investor. He was the younger brother of Donald Trump and a loyal supporter of his political career. Donald was elected the 45th and 47th president of the United States.

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was a Soviet singer-songwriter, artist and actor who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and influential bands in the history of Russian music.

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurping the imperial office he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign. Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Seljuk Turks were the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne.

Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen, was the last grand prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first king of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his birth is uncertain, but many details of his life suggest that he was born in, or after, 975, in Esztergom. He was given the pagan name Vajk at birth, but the date of his baptism is unknown. He was the only son of Grand Prince Géza and his wife, Sarolt, who was descended from a prominent family of gyulas. Although both of his parents were baptized, Stephen was the first member of his family to become a devout Christian. He married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist, and diarist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he led the country as its president and prime minister from 1972 until his assassination in a coup d'état in 1975.

Roland was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became an epic hero and one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

Philippa of Hainault was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346, when her husband was away for the Hundred Years' War.

Honorius was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho, ruled the western half of the empire while his brother Arcadius ruled the eastern half. His reign over the Western Roman Empire was precarious and chaotic. In 410, Rome was sacked for the first time since the Battle of the Allia almost 800 years prior.

Clay LaVergne Shaw was an American businessman, military officer, and part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service (DCS) of the CIA. Shaw is best known for being the only person brought to trial for involvement in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, due to an investigation led by Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans. The jury ultimately acquitted Shaw after less than an hour's deliberation in 1969, though some conspiracy theorists continue to speculate on his possible involvement.

Lei Feng, born Lei Zhengxing, was a Chinese soldier in the People's Liberation Army who was the object of several major propaganda campaigns in China. The most well-known of these campaigns in 1963 promoted the slogan "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng." Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao Zedong. In the following years, Lei Feng was portrayed as a symbol and model of party revolution by both the Chinese Communist Party and Government of China. For decades, he was used to promote the "Learn from Lei Feng as a Model" in the media. Political ideology closely follows the Chinese Communist Party, actively helping others in work and daily life, practicing frugality and thrift, and upholding the socialist spirit of "one for all, all for one" which is known as the Lei Feng spirit. After Mao's death, Chinese state media continued to promote Lei Feng as a model of earnestness and service, and his image still appears in popular forms such as on T-shirts and memorabilia.

Gerald Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the time, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dire Straits, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. Wexler was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and in 2017 to the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

Ralph Pierre LaCock, better known by his stage name Peter Marshall, was an American game show host, television and radio personality, singer, and actor. He was the original host of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981 and had almost fifty television, movie, and Broadway credits.

Richard Joseph Rypien was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who was a forward for parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks from 2005 to 2011. After a major junior career of four years with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he was signed to a professional contract by the minor league Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2005. The following season, he signed with the Canucks. He spent six years with the organization, splitting time between the Canucks and Moose, their AHL affiliate. A fourth-line player in the NHL, he was known for his hitting and fighting abilities, though his size was not typical of an enforcer.

Horace Julian Bond was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1971, he co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and served as its first president for nearly a decade.

Harry Max Harrison was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Paul Lukas was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, as well as a Photoplay Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on the Broadway stage.

Libius Severus, sometimes enumerated as Severus III, was Western Roman emperor from November 19, 461 until his death. A native of Lucania, Severus was the fourth of the so-called "Shadow Emperors" who followed the deposition of the Valentinianic dynasty in 455. He ruled for just under four years, attaining the throne after his predecessor, Majorian, was overthrown by his magister militum, Ricimer. Severus was the first of a series of emperors who were highly dependent on the general, and it is often presumed that Ricimer held most of the de facto power during Severus's reign.

Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island [i.e. Sardinia] and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general". She was the first Italian woman to receive the prize, and only the second woman in general after Selma Lagerlöf was awarded hers in 1909.

Wiley Hardeman Post was an American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flying, he helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, he and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when his aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.

Hamid Gul was a Pakistani military officer and defence analyst. A three-star general, Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.

General Minoru Genda was an Imperial Japanese Navy flight-officer, JASDF general, and politician. Best known for helping to plan the Japanese 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he served from 1959 to 1962 as the third Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

Hyacinth was a Polish Dominican priest and missionary. He is venerated as a saint, who worked to reform the women's monasteries in his native Poland. Educated in Paris and Bologna, he was a Doctor of Sacred Studies. Saint Hyacinth's feast day is 17 August.

Rosalía Mera Goyenechea was a Spanish businesswoman and fashion designer. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Spain and the world's richest self-made woman according to Forbes. She was ranked #66 among the world's most powerful women by Forbes in 2013. In 1975, she co-founded the Zara retail chain with her then-husband Amancio Ortega Gaona. The company grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer.

Yesün Temür was a great-grandson of Kublai Khan and an emperor of the Yuan dynasty from 1323 to 1328. Apart from being Emperor of China, he is regarded as the 10th Khagan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire. In Chinese historiography, Yesün Temür, who was very fond of the traditional ways of the Mongols, is commonly known as the Taiding Emperor of Yuan based on his first era name. His name means "nine iron" in the Mongolian language.

Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished violinists of the 19th century.

Ernest Paul Bushmiller Jr. was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip character Nancy in 1933, now in print for over 90 years. His work is noted for its simple graphic style. In 1976, he received the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for his work on Nancy.

Ludwig Prandtl was a German fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlying the science of aerodynamics, which have come to form the basis of the applied science of aeronautical engineering. In the 1920s, he developed the mathematical basis for the fundamental principles of subsonic aerodynamics in particular; and in general up to and including transonic velocities. His studies identified the boundary layer, thin-airfoils, and lifting-line theories. The Prandtl number was named after him.

Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player of the middle Baroque era. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with the master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.

John Cameron Swayze was an American anchorman, news commentator, and game show panelist during the 1940s and 1950s. He later became best known as a product spokesman.

Artur Schnabel was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th century's most respected and important pianists, his playing displayed marked vitality, profundity and spirituality in the Austro-German classics, particularly the works of Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart.

Marich Man Singh Shrestha was a Nepali politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He was born in 1942 in Khalanga Bazar, Salyan, Nepal. He served as the Prime Minister of Nepal from 15 June 1986 to 6 April 1990, and is remembered as the last Prime Minister of the Panchayat period and the Prime Minister during the 1989 Indian economic blockade on Nepal. Prior to that, he was the speaker of the Rastriya Panchayat from 1981 to 1985. He is one of the only two non-Khas Prime Ministers of Nepal, both the exceptions having been Newar Shresthas. He is the first Newar to have assumed the full title of the Prime Minister of Nepal, second if Gehendra Bahadur Rajbhandari, who was acknowledged as an Acting Prime Minister, is counted.

Emperor Yizong of Tang, né Li Wen, later changed to Li Cui, was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 859 to 873. Emperor Yizong was the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong. After Emperor Xuanzong's death in 859, Emperor Yizong was placed on the throne by the eunuch Wang Zongshi (王宗實), who killed other eunuchs supporting another son of Emperor Xuanzong, Li Zi the Prince of Kui.

Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko was a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, corresponding member of USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), and member of The International Academy of Computer Science. She developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming, called the Address programming language. Over the period of her academic career, Yushchenko supervised 47 Ph.D. students. Further professional achievements include Yushchenko being awarded two USSR State Prizes, The USSR Council of Ministers Prize, The Academician Glushkov Prize, and The Order of Princess Olga. Yushchenko was the first woman in the USSR to become a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in programming.

Li Yu, before 961 known as Li Congjia (李從嘉), also known as Li Houzhu, was the third ruler of the Southern Tang state during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from 961 until 976, when his state was conquered by the Northern Song dynasty. Taken captive to the Song capital Bianjing, Li Yu was given the title Marquis of Disobedience (違命侯), reflecting Emperor Taizu of Song’s resentment over Li’s delayed surrender. In 978 he was executed by poisoning on the orders of Emperor Taizong of Song.

Mahadev Haribhai Desai was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to Gandhi's Socrates, as well as an Ānanda to Gandhi's Buddha".

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish chemist, physicist and mineralogist. Gadolin discovered a "new earth" containing the first rare-earth compound yttrium, which was later determined to be a chemical element. He is also considered the founder of Finnish chemistry research, as the second holder of the Chair of Chemistry at the Royal Academy of Turku. Gadolin was ennobled for his achievements and awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir and the Order of Saint Anna.

Servaas "Faas" Wilkes was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38 caps for the Netherlands national team, in which he scored 35 goals. However, for a prolonged period of his career, June 1949 through till March 1955, he was banned from the national team since the KNVB did not allow professional players to participate. He also played for the Netherlands at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Karl Sune Detlof Bergström was a Swedish biochemist. In 1975, he was appointed to the Nobel Foundation Board of Directors in Sweden, and was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University, together with Bengt I. Samuelsson. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Bengt I. Samuelsson and John R. Vane in 1982, for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances.

Bulcsú was a chieftain of the Hungarians and military leader in the 10th century. He held the title of harka. Despite not being a member of the ruling Árpád dynasty, he was one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. He led military campaigns in the direction of the northwest, west, and south during the 930–950s.

Alexander Agricola was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance writing in the Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the Grande chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He composed music in all of the important sacred and secular styles of the time.

Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio was a Czech theologian and philosopher. In 1355 he was appointed a rector of the University of Paris. He wrote the Tractatus de communione, a treatise on confession and the offering of the eucharist by laymen. He is also known for introducing the ideas of John Wycliff to Bohemia.

Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson was a British architect, also active as an interior designer, an artist, and a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain. From 1976 to 1984, he was president of the Royal Academy.

Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos was a distinguished Hellenic Army Lieutenant General who served in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, World War II and the Greek Civil War, rising to become Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff. He also served as Greece's Ambassador to Yugoslavia.

Samuel Patterson Smyth Pollock, was a Canadian sports executive who was general manager of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens for 14 years during which they won nine Stanley Cups. Pollock also was chairman and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club.

Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec was a French military leader, a knight of the Order of St. Michael and grand seneschal of Guyenne. As Marshal of France, he commanded the campaign to conquer Naples, but died from the typhus in 1528.

Lehel, a member of the Árpád dynasty, was a Magyar chieftain and, together with Bulcsú, one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. After the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld, he was executed in Regensburg.

Euclides da Cunha was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is Os Sertões, a non-fictional account of the military expeditions promoted by the Brazilian government against the rebellious village of Canudos, known as the War of Canudos.

Konrad Vilhelm Mägi was an Estonian painter, who was one of the first modernist painters in Estonia and the Nordic countries. He only worked for sixteen years, yet the total volume of his oeuvre is estimated to be around 400 paintings.

Linda Jane Laubenstein was an American physician and early HIV/AIDS researcher. She was among the first doctors in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s; she co-authored the first article linking AIDS with Kaposi's sarcoma.

Lancelot Lionel Ware OBE was an English barrister and biochemist. He co-founded Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people, with the Australian barrister Roland Berrill in 1946. It was originally called the "High IQ Club".

John V of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest son of Duke Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg and Adelheid of Pomerania-Stolp, daughter of Duke Bogislaus VIII of Pomerania-Stolp. He succeeded his father in 1463 as duke of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a German Jesuit, astronomer and instrument-maker. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

Pierre Bouguer was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture". In optics, he is known for making the first numerical photometric measurement.

Mary Catherine Lamb was an American textile artist, whose quilts reframed traditional Roman Catholic iconography. Recycling vintage textiles popular during the mid-20th century, she both honored and affectionately skewered her Catholic upbringing.

Carol Ryrie Brink was an American writer of over thirty juvenile and adult books. Her novel Caddie Woodlawn won the 1936 Newbery Medal and a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958.

Marie of France was a daughter of Philip II of France and his disputed third wife Agnes of Merania. She was a member of the House of Capet.

Anatole von Hügel was a son of an Austrian nobleman who lived in England and was curator of the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology, 1883 – 1921.

Raymond Alfred Palmer was an American author and magazine editor. Influential in the first wave of science fiction fandom, his first fiction stories were published in 1935.

Amarsinh Bhilabhai Chaudhary was an Indian politician. He became the first adivasi to serve as the Chief Minister of Gujarat when he took office in 1985.

Victor "Vic" Anthony Toweel was a South African boxer and former Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion. He was the first South African to hold a world title.

John William Gofman was an American scientist and advocate. He was professor emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Thomas J. Higgins was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War who was a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Vicksburg.

Robert de Sorbon was a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France, and founder of the Sorbonne college in Paris.

Lorenzo Tiepolo was doge of the Republic of Venice from 1268 until his death.

Isabella of Portugal was Queen of Castile and León between 1447 and 1454 as the second wife of King John II.

Hermann of Wied was the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1515 to 1546.

John Barclay was a Scottish writer, satirist and Neo-Latin poet.

Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.

Giuseppe Parini was an Italian satirist and Neoclassical poet.

Paul Victor Jules Signac was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism.

Korechika Anami was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II who was War Minister during the surrender of Japan.

Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell was a Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize laureate in medicine.

John Robert "Jock" Taylor was a Scottish World Champion motorcycle sidecar racer.

Wouter "Wout" Wagtmans was a Dutch road bicycle racer.

Ida Gerhardt was a classicist and Dutch poet of a post-symbolist tradition.

Dame Te Atairangikaahu reigned as Māori Queen from 1966 until her death in 2006. Her reign was the longest of any Māori monarch.

Richard James Bradshaw was a British opera conductor and the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in Toronto.

Robert Wayne Birch was an American musician, best known as the bass player for Elton John.

Sławomir Mrożek was a Polish playwright.

Felicia Albanese was an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini,

Gunnar Birkerts was a Latvian American architect who, for the most of his career, was based in the metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan.