Notable Deaths on December 23

Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era, continuing to write through the reign of James I and into the reign of Charles I. Many of his works consisted of historical poetry. He…

François Maynard, sometimes seen as "de Maynard" was a French poet who spent much of his life in Toulouse.

César de Choiseul, 1st Duke of Choiseul, comte du Plessis-Praslin was a Marshal of France and French diplomat, generally known for the best part of his life as the Maréchal (Marshal) du Plessis-Praslin.

Alastair Roy MacDonell of Glengarry (ca 1725–1761; Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair Ruadh MacDomhnaill, was the 13th chief of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry. Brought up as a Catholic and largely educated in France, he was…

Vice-Admiral Augustus John Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, PC was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He commanded the sixth-rate HMS Phoenix at the Battle of Minorca in May 1756 as well as the third-rate HMS Dragon at…

General Sir Henry Clinton, KB was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1772 and 1795. He is best known for his service as a general during the American War of…

Thomas Robert Malthus was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.

Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden was an English writer, poet and philosopher. She studied, wrote and lectured on philosophy and science, alongside publishing two volumes of poetry. Several collected works were…

Frederick Temple was an English academic, teacher and churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902).

Otto Karl Friedrich Schoetensack was a German industrialist and later professor of anthropology, having retired from the chemical firm which he had founded. During a 1908 archeological dig, he oversaw the worker Daniel…

Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay was a Turkish military officer and teacher. He is a symbolic figure of the series of events known as the Kubilay Incident, which began with the killing of lieutenant Kubilay, guard Hasan, and guard…

Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such as the…

Kenji Doihara was a Japanese general and intelligence officer. He was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo.

General Seishirō Itagaki was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and War Minister from 1938 to 1939.

Iwane Matsui was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the commander of the expeditionary force sent to China in 1937. He was convicted of war crimes and executed by the Allies for his involvement in the…

Hideki Tojo was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings…

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph Stalin's secret police chiefs, serving as head of the NKVD from 1938 to 1945 during the country's…

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey was an American children's author.

Charles Sherman Ruggles was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of…

Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was a Russian and later Soviet aeronautical engineer known for his pioneering aircraft designs as the director of the Tupolev Design Bureau.

John Randolph Webb was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise, which he created. He was also the founder of his own production…

Joan à Beckett Weigall, Lady Lindsay was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist. Trained in her youth as a painter, she published her first literary work in 1936 at age forty under a pseudonym,…

Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, theatre director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his seven-decade career, he appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions.

Joseph Orlando was an Italian-American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics, where he edited…

Børge Rosenbaum, known professionally as Victor Borge, was a Danish-American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and…

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, and statesman from the Indian National Congress who served as the prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first person from…

Yao Wenyuan was a Chinese literary critic, politician, and member of the Gang of Four during China's Cultural Revolution.

Timothy John Tobias was an American composer and musician. He died aged 54 of lymphoma.

William Francis Ganong Jr. was an American physiologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and was one of the first scientists to trace how the brain controls important internal functions of the body.

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards,…

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was a Tibetan senior official who assumed various military and political responsibilities both before and after 1951 in Tibet. He is often known simply as Ngapoi in English sources.

Major Fred Hargesheimer was a former pilot of the United States Army Air Forces who was shot down during World War II over Papua New Guinea in June 1943. He later became a philanthropist who helped out the village that…

Aydın Menderes was a Turkish politician. He was a deputy, who represented various parties from 1977 to 2002. He was the youngest son of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.

Eduardo "Morpheus" Maiorino was a Brazilian professional kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He was a three time Brazilian Heavyweight Muay Thai Champion, the K-1 Brazil 2004 Tournament finalist and champion, and a…

Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements,…

William Riser III, better known as Ricky Lawson or Ricky Remo, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Michael…

Robert Warne Wilson was an American hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and art collector.

Robert Vincent Hogg was an American statistician and professor of statistics of the University of Iowa. Hogg is known for his widely used textbooks on statistics and on mathematical statistics. Hogg has received…

Donald Howe was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his playing career. He…

Saim Bülend Ulusu was a Turkish admiral who was Prime Minister of Turkey from the time of the 1980 military coup to the time that elections were allowed in 1983.

Leslie Abel West was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain. West was named the 245th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling…

Brandon Montrell, known professionally as Boogie B, was a comedian from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Shyam Benegal was an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as a pioneer of parallel cinema, he is considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received several…

Sophie Anna Hediger was a Swiss snowboarder. She competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, in women's snowboard cross, and in the mixed team snowboard cross.