Notable Deaths on December 15

Vallabhbhai Patel, commonly known as Sardar Patel, was an Indian independence activist, lawyer and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and India's political integration. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar meaning "chief". He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British and American author and journalist. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. Hitchens's epistemological razor, which states that "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence", is used in philosophy and law.

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress best known for her film roles during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. Their rivalry was well documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police accompanied by U.S. officers and supported by U.S. troops on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.

Charles Laughton was an English actor and director. Over his career he received an Academy Award and a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two BAFTAs and a Golden Globe. He earned a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.

Blake Edwards was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater. He received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.

Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forces. His civilian band, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, was one of the most popular and successful bands of the 20th century and the big-band era.

Basil II Porphyrogenitus, given the epithet The Bulgar-Slayer, was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but they were too young to rule. The throne thus went to two generals, Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes before Basil became senior emperor, though his influential great-uncle Basil Lekapenos remained as the de facto ruler until 985. His reign of 49 years and 11 months was the longest of any Roman emperor.

Selim II, also known as Selim the Blond or Selim the Drunkard, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle". The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter.

Ustad Zakir Hussain Qureshi was an Indian tabla player, composer, arranger, percussionist, music producer and film actor who was based for much of his career in the San Francisco Bay Area. The eldest son of esteemed tabla player Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain was widely regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation and one of its finest percussionists. He produced music across multiple genres and contributed to popularizing Indian classical music to a global audience.

Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church from 1936 until his transfer to the United Methodist church in 1968, a controversial relationship that ended in 1987 when his credentials were revoked. He is considered one of the forerunners of the Charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev was a Soviet sniper who served in World War II. Between 22 September and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 265 enemy soldiers

Alp Arslan was the son of Chaghri Beg, a co-founder of the Seljuk Empire. In 1063, he defeated his rivals to ascend the throne, ruling as the Seljuk sultan until his death in 1072. He had previously served as the Seljuk malik of Khorasan from 1060 to 1063. Renowned for his justice, great military leadership and prowess as a warrior, Alp Arslan earned such epithets as Sultan al-Adil, Abu'l Feth, Sultan al-Azam, Abu Shuja, and Adud al-Dawla. Additionally, due to the vastness of the territories he ruled, he was also known as Sultan al-Alem . Alp Arslan greatly expanded Seljuk territories and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south, east, and northwest.

Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the stride style were widely influential among musicians. A popular performer in the Jazz Age and swing era, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known songs, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999 respectively.

Robert William Andrew Feller, nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American professional baseball player who was a pitcher for 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians between 1936 and 1956. In a career spanning 570 games, Feller pitched 3,827 innings and posted a win–loss record of 266–162, with 279 complete games, 44 shutouts, and a 3.25 earned run average (ERA). His career 2,581 strikeouts were third all-time upon his retirement.

Arthur Llewellyn Jones, known by his pen name Arthur Machen, was a Welsh author and mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror; Stephen King described it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." He is also known for "The Bowmen", a short story that was widely read as fact, creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.

Digunai, also known by his sinicised name Wanyan Liang and his formal title Prince of Hailing, was the fourth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was the second son of Wanyan Zonggan, the eldest son of the dynastic founder Wanyan Aguda. He came to power in 1150 after overthrowing and murdering his predecessor, Emperor Xizong, in a coup d'état. During his reign, he moved the Jin capital from Shangjing to Yanjing, and introduced a policy of sinicisation. In 1161, after the Jin dynasty lost the Battle of Caishi against the Southern Song dynasty, Digunai's subordinates rebelled against him and assassinated him. After his death, even though he ruled as an emperor during his lifetime, he was posthumously demoted to the status of a prince – "Prince Yang of Hailing" (海陵煬王) – in 1162 by his successor, Emperor Shizong. However, in 1181, Emperor Shizong further posthumously demoted him to the status of a commoner, hence he is also known as the "Commoner of Hailing" (海陵庶人).

Gianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni was a Swiss racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from 1970 to 1980. Regazzoni was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1974 with Ferrari, and won five Grands Prix across 11 seasons.

Craig Graham Sager was an American sports reporter who covered an array of sports for CNN and its sister stations TBS and TNT, from 1981 until his death in late 2016.

Shneur Zalman of Liadi, commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya, and his Siddur Torah Ohr, compiled according to the Nusach Ari.

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, often known as SSR or Chacha ("uncle"), was a Mauritian physician and statesman who led Mauritius to independence from the United Kingdom. He was the colony's chief minister from 1961 and premier from 1964, the first prime minister of independent Mauritius from 1968 to 1982, and governor-general from 1983 until his death. He is widely known in Mauritius as the "Father of the Nation".

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English natural philosopher, poet, fiction writer, and playwright. She was a prolific writer, publishing over a dozen original texts under her name at a time when women were largely excluded from publishing.

Edward William Proxmire was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. He holds the record for being the longest-serving senator from Wisconsin.

Jess Myron Willard was an American world heavyweight boxing champion billed as the Pottawatomie Giant. He won the world heavyweight title in 1915 by knocking out Jack Johnson.

Ottokar I was Duke of Bohemia periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of King of Bohemia, first in 1198 from Philip of Swabia, later in 1203 from Otto IV of Brunswick and in 1212 from Frederick II. Ottokar was the first hereditary King of Bohemia; although two previous Bohemian monarchs had held the title of King, in each case the title was awarded only for the life of the recipient. He was an eminent member of the Přemyslid dynasty.

Izaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler (1653), he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.

Mary Eva Comerford was an Irish republican from County Wexford. As a member of Cumann na mBan she witnessed the events of 1916 to 1923 and took an active part in the Irish War of Independence. She opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. During the Irish Civil War she fought against the Irish Free State, being imprisoned and wounded by gunfire, and went on hunger strike. She was later a journalist for The Irish Press. Comerford remained an opponent of partition and the Free State until her death. Her memoir of the Irish revolutionary period, On Dangerous Ground, was published posthumously in 2021. The British newspaper, The Daily Mail, called her "the Jeanne d'Arc of the Republican cause".

Joseph Martin Kraus, was a German-Swedish composer in the Classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Holy Roman Empire. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm. He has been referred to as "the Swedish Mozart", although his music is rarely performed today. He is best known for having been a sacred music composer, while his symphonic output was much higher than is extant today. He composed in a wide array of forms, and took his greatest aesthetic influence from Haydn and Mozart. His competency and artistic skills were praised almost universally during his time.

Olga Zubarry was an Argentine actress who appeared in film between 1943 and 1997. She made over 60 appearances in film, spanning six decades of Argentine cinema, but is best known for her work during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema. Throughout the course of her career, she received four Silver Condor Awards, two Martín Fierro Awards, a Konex Foundation Award and several others for her films and television performances. She is credited with starring in the first film in Argentina which featured nudity, though only her back was shown and she stated repeatedly that she wore a flesh-colored mesh and was not truly nude.

Louis Victor de Rochechouart, 2nd Duke of Mortemart and Duke of Vivonne was a French military officer and nobleman who was a member of the ancient House of Rochechouart. His father, Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart, was a childhood friend of Louis XIII. His older sister was Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart, a celebrated beauty of the era; another sister was Madame de Montespan, the mistress of Louis XIV. Louis de Rochechouart commanded the French fleet in the Battle of Palermo. He was made a Marshal of France.

Calestous Juma was a Kenyan scientist and academic, specializing in sustainable development. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa (1 December 1948 – 15 December 2012) was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2010 to 2012. He was appointed deputy governor of Kaduna State in July 2005, following the death of Stephen Shekari and was elected in 2007. He was sworn in as governor on 20 May 2010, replacing governor Namadi Sambo who had been sworn in as vice president the day before. Yakowa successfully ran for election as Kaduna Governor in the 26 April 2011 polls.

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington was a British architect and politician often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Earl of Cork, Burlington never took more than a passing interest in politics despite his position as a Privy Counsellor and a member of both the British and Irish upper chambers.

William Joseph Bauer was an American judge who was a senior circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago from 1974 until his death, having been nominated to the position by President Gerald Ford. He previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1971 until 1975, having been nominated by President Richard Nixon. He was known for presiding over the Amoco Cadiz oil spill case.

Julia May Carson was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th congressional district from 1997 until she died in 2007. Carson was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis in the U.S. Congress. She was also the second African American woman elected to Congress from Indiana, after Katie Hall, and her grandson André Carson succeeded to her seat following her death.

Crawford Vaughan was an Australian politician, and the Premier of South Australia from 1915 to 1917. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1905 to 1918, representing Torrens (1905–1915) and Sturt (1915–1918). Elected for the United Labor Party, he served as Treasurer in the Verran government, succeeded Verran as Labor leader in 1913, and was elected Premier after the Labor victory at the 1915 state election.

Alfred Bird was an English food manufacturer and chemist. He was born in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, England in 1811 and was later a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham. He was the inventor of a series of food products, most notably egg-free custard and baking powder. His father was a lecturer in astronomy at Eton College. His son Alfred Frederick Bird continued to develop the business after his father's death.

León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra, known in the Ecuadorian media as LFC or more simply Febres-Cordero, was an Ecuadorian politician who was the 35th President of Ecuador, serving a four-year term from 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988. During his presidency he sought to introduce market-oriented reforms, and also led a security crackdown on a small guerrilla group named ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!.

Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA was an Australian medical researcher who spent most of his career at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. In 1954 he received the Carden Fellowship from the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria; while he officially retired in 1996, he continued working and held his fellowship until his death in December 2014.

Eliza Atkins Gleason was the first African American to receive a doctorate in Library Science at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in 1940. In 1941, she established and became the first Dean of the School of Library Service at Atlanta University and created a library education program that trained 90 percent of all African-American librarians by 1986.

Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre, before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He received eight Grammy Award nominations during his lifetime.

Philip I, also Philip of Courtenay, held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283, although Constantinople had been reinstated since 1261 to the Byzantine Empire; he lived in exile and only held authority over Crusader States in Greece. He was born in Constantinople, the son of Baldwin II of Constantinople and Marie of Brienne.

Paul Pierre Lévy was a French mathematician who was active especially in probability theory, introducing fundamental concepts such as local time, stable distributions and characteristic functions. Lévy processes, Lévy flights, Lévy measures, Lévy's constant, the Lévy distribution, the Lévy area, the Lévy arcsine law, and the fractal Lévy C curve are named after him.

Charles d'Albert, 1st Duke of Luynes was a French courtier and a favourite of Louis XIII. In 1619, the king made him Duke of Luynes and a Peer of France, and in 1621, Constable of France. Luynes died of scarlet fever near the end of that year at the height of his influence.

Owoye Andrew Azazi GSS DSS MSS CMH was a Nigerian army general who served as National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, was Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of Nigeria, and Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Before his first service chief appointment (COAS), he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Kaduna State.

Jöns Bengtsson (Oxenstierna), in Latin known as Johannes Benedicti de Salista, was a Swedish clergyman, canon law scholar and statesman who served as Archbishop of Uppsala (1448–1467). He was also the regent of Sweden under the Kalmar Union in 1457, shared with Erik Axelsson (Tott), and alone from 1465 to 1466.

Li Siyuan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (後唐明宗), was the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 926 until his death. He was an ethnic Shatuo originally named, in the Shatuo language, Miaojilie (邈佶烈).

Saufatu Sopoanga was a Tuvaluan politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Tuvalu from 2 August 2002 to 27 August 2004. He drew international attention for his speeches warning about the effects of the rising sea level on Tuvalu and other low-lying island countries.

Keith Arlen Magnuson was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman from Wadena, Saskatchewan who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1969 and 1979.

Ling Jiefang, better known by his pen name Eryue He, was a Chinese historical fiction writer. He is best known for writing biographical novels of three Qing dynasty emperors, all of which have been adapted into award-winning television series.

Girma Wolde-Giorgis was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013. He was the second person to hold the office of president since the founding of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1995.

Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce.

Federigo, Vincenzo Antonio, Ludovico Zuccari was an Italian astronomer, professor of Astronomy at the Naples University, professor of Mathematical Geography at the Military Academy of Naples and director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples.

Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Lord of West-Souburg was a Flemish and Dutch writer and statesman, and the probable author of the text of the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus.

Harry Zvi Tabor was an Israeli physicist. He is known as the father of Israeli solar energy. He is generally credited with having brought Israel's solar energy program to international prominence.

Heinz Siegfried Wolff, was a German-born British scientist as well as a television and radio presenter. He was best known for the BBC television series The Great Egg Race.

Gaspar Fagel was a Dutch politician, jurist, and diplomat who authored correspondence from and on behalf of William III, Prince of Orange, during the English Revolution of 1688.

Major-General Robert Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War.

George Hickes was an English divine and scholar.

Daniel Rutherford was a Scottish physician, chemist and botanist who is known for the isolation of nitrogen in 1772.

Jacques Charles François Sturm was a Swiss and French mathematician, who made a significant addition to equation theory with his work, Sturm's theorem.

Murugesu Balasundaram was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

Antonio J. Barrette was a Canadian politician born in Joliette, Quebec, Canada, who served as the 18th premier of Quebec.

Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE, commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian and American filmmaker.

Wilfred Kitching CBE was a British Salvation Army officer who was their seventh General between 1954 and 1963.

Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.

Serge Lifar was a Ukrainian dancer. Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector.