Notable Deaths on December 31

Q: Who died on December 31?

Notable people who died on December 31 include: Quintus Fabius Maximus, Commodus, Pope Sylvester I, Li Shiji, Ibn Hawshab.

Q: What is Floyd Cramer known for?

Floyd Cramer, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1933)

129 people 45 BC – 2024

December 31 has seen 129 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 45 BC – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · December 31 — Wikipedia

1997 — Floyd Cramer

American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1933)

Did you know

Floyd Cramer was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks

Did you know

As a studio musician, he became one of a cadre of elite players dubbed the Nashville A-Team and he performed on scores of hit records.

Did you know

His signature playing style was a cornerstone of the pop-oriented "Nashville sound" of the 1950s and 1960s

Did you know

His sound became popular to the degree that he stepped out of his role as a sideman and began touring as a solo act

Did you know

In 1960, his piano instrumental solo, "Last Date" went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart and sold over one million copies

Quintus Fabius Maximus

consul suffectus

Quintus Fabius Maximus was a general and politician of the late Roman Republic who became suffect consul in 45 BC.

-45

Commodus

Roman emperor (born 161)

Commodus was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end of the Pax…

192

Pope Sylvester I

Pope Sylvester I was the bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 until his death on 31 December 335. He filled the See of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, though very little is known of his life.

335

Li Shiji

Chinese general (born 594)

Li Shiji, courtesy name Maogong, posthumously known as Duke Zhenwu of Ying, was a Chinese military general and politician who lived in the early Tang dynasty. His original family name was Xú, but he was later given the…

669

Ibn Hawshab

founder of the Isma'ili community in Yemen

Abu'l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan ibn Faraj ibn Ḥawshab ibn Zādān al-Najjār al-Kūfī, better known simply as Ibn Ḥawshab, or by his honorific of Manṣūr al-Yaman, was a senior Isma'ili missionary from the environs of Kufa. In…

914

Ahmad Maymandi

Persian statesman, vizier of the Ghaznavid Empire

Abuʾl-Ḥasan al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Ḥasan Maymandī was a Persian vizier of the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni and the latter's son Mas'ud I of Ghazni.

1032

Ottokar III of Styria (born 1124)

Ottokar III was Margrave of Styria from 1129 until 1164.

1164

Leopold V

Duke of Austria (born 1157)

Leopold V, known as the Virtuous was a member of the House of Babenberg who reigned as Duke of Austria from 1177 and Duke of Styria within the Holy Roman Empire from 1192 until his death. The Georgenberg Pact resulted…

1194

Humphrey de Bohun

3rd Earl of Hereford, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (born 1249)

Humphrey (VI) de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex, was an English nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I over the Confirmatio Cartarum. He was also an active participant in the…

1298

Margaret

Countess of Anjou (born 1273)

Margaret ; was Countess of Anjou and Maine in her own right and Countess of Valois, Alençon and Perche by marriage. Margaret's father was King Charles II of Naples, whilst her husband was Charles, Count of Valois, and…

1299

Frederick III

Duke of Lorraine (born 1238)

Frederick III was the Duke of Lorraine from 1251 to his death. He was the only son and successor of Matthias II and Catherine of Limburg.

1302

John Wycliffe

English philosopher, theologian, and translator (born 1331)

John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, Christian reformer, Catholic priest, and a theology professor at the University of Oxford. Wycliffe is traditionally believed to have advocated for or made a…

1384

Johanna of Bavaria

Queen of Bohemia (born c. 1362)

Joanna of Bavaria, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Queen of Germany from 1376 and Queen of Bohemia from 1378 until her death, by her marriage with the Luxembourg king Wenceslaus.

1386

Thomas Beaufort

Duke of Exeter (born 1377)

Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter was an English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, and briefly Chancellor of England. He was the third of the four children born to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his…

1426

Margaret Holland

English noblewoman (born 1385)

Margaret Holland was a medieval English noblewoman and a member of the powerful Holland family. Through her marriages she became Countess of Somerset and Duchess of Clarence. She was "at the very centre of royal power…

1439

Richard Neville

5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (born 1400)

Richard Neville, jure uxoris 5th Earl of Salisbury was a fifteenth-century English northern magnate. He was the eldest son by the second wife of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, from whom he inherited vast…

1460

Bianca Maria Sforza

Holy Roman Empress (born 1472)

Bianca Maria Sforza was Queen of Germany and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire as the third spouse of Maximilian I. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his second wife, Bona…

1510

William Skeffington

English-Irish politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland (born 1465)

Sir William Skeffington was an English knight who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland.

1535

Shimazu Tadayoshi

Japanese daimyō (born 1493)

Shimazu Tadayoshi was a daimyō of Satsuma Province during Japan's Sengoku period. He was born into the Mimasaka Shimazu family (伊作島津家), which was part of the Shimazu clan, but after his father Shimazu Yoshihisa died,…

1568

Pierino Belli

Italian commander and jurist (born 1502)

Pierino Belli was an soldier and jurist.

1575

Thomas Erastus

Swiss physician and theologian (born 1524)

Thomas Erastus was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians should be punished by the State, and that the Church should not withhold…

1583

Ludolph van Ceulen

German-Dutch mathematician and academic (born 1540)

Ludolph van Ceulen was a German-Dutch mathematician from Hildesheim known for the Ludolphine number, his calculation of the mathematical constant pi to 35 digits.

1610

Christian

Count of Waldeck-Wildungen, German count (born 1585)

Count Christian of Waldeck-Wildungen, German: Christian Graf von Waldeck-Wildungen, official titles: Graf zu Waldeck und Pyrmont, was since 1588 Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg and after the division with his brother in 1607…

1637

Dorgon

Chinese emperor (born 1612)

Dorgon was a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty. Born in the House of Aisin-Gioro as the 14th son of Nurhaci, Dorgon started his career in military campaigns against the Mongols, the Koreans, and the…

1650

Janusz Radziwiłł

Polish–Lithuanian politician (born 1612)

Prince Janusz Radziwiłł, also known as Janusz the Second or Janusz the Younger was a noble and magnate in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Throughout his life he occupied a number of posts in the state…

1655

Sir John Wray

2nd Baronet, English politicians and Roundheads supporter (born 1586)

Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.

1655

Oliver St John

English judge and politician, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (born 1598)

Sir Oliver St John was an English barrister, judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640-53. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.

1673

Giovanni Alfonso Borelli

Italian physiologist and physicist (born 1608)

Giovanni Alfonso Borelli was a Renaissance Italian physiologist, physicist, and mathematician who is often described as the father of biomechanics. He contributed to the modern principle of scientific investigation by…

1679

Robert Boyle

Anglo-Irish chemist and physicist (born 1627)

Robert Boyle was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and…

1691

Dudley North

English merchant and economist (born 1641)

Sir Dudley North was an English merchant, politician, economist and writer on free trade. He was also a member of the North family.

1691

Catherine of Braganza (born 1638)

Catherine of Braganza was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She was the daughter of John IV of Portugal, who…

1705

John Flamsteed

English astronomer and academic (born 1646)

John Flamsteed was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, Catalogus Britannicus, and a star atlas called Atlas Coelestis, both…

1719

Carlo Gimach

Maltese architect, engineer and poet (born 1651)

Carlo Gimach was a Maltese architect, engineer and poet who was active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Throughout his career, he worked in Malta, Portugal, and Rome, and he is mostly known for designing…

1730

Charles III Philip

Elector Palatine (born 1661)

Charles III Philip was Elector Palatine, Count of Palatinate-Neuburg, and Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1716 to 1742. Until 1728 he was also Count of Megen.

1742

Richard Montgomery

American general (born 1738)

Richard Montgomery was an Irish-born American army officer. First serving in the British Army, he later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. On 31 December 1775,…

1775

Jean-François Marmontel

French historian and author (born 1723)

Jean-François Marmontel was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement.

1799

Jean-Pierre Duport

French cellist (born 1741)

Jean-Pierre Duport was a cellist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Along with his brother, Jean-Louis Duport, he was active in the musical life of France and Germany. Jean-Pierre was the son of a dancing…

1818

Aleksis Kivi

Finnish author and playwright (born 1834)

Aleksis Kivi was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, Seitsemän veljestä, published in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 play, Nummisuutarit. Although Kivi was among the very…

1872

Catherine Labouré

French nun and saint (born 1806)

Catherine Labouré, DC was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the Miraculous…

1876

Gustave Courbet

French-Swiss painter and sculptor (born 1819)

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the…

1877

Samson Raphael Hirsch

German rabbi and scholar (born 1808)

Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed neo-Orthodoxy, his philosophy, together…

1888

Ion Creangă

Romanian author and educator (born 1837)

Ion Creangă was a Moldavian, later Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th-century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and…

1889

George Kerferd

English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of Victoria (born 1831)

George Briscoe Kerferd, Australian colonial politician, was the 10th Premier of Victoria.

1889

Pancha Carrasco

Costa Rican soldier (born 1826)

Pancha Carrasco, born Francisca Carrasco Jiménez, was Costa Rica's first woman in the military. Carrasco is most famous for joining the defending forces at the Battle of Rivas in 1856 with a rifle and a pocketful of…

1890

Samuel Ajayi Crowther

Nigerian bishop and linguist (born 1809)

Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a Yoruba linguist, clergyman, and the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. Born in Osogun, he and his family were captured by Fulani slave raiders when he was about twelve years old.…

1891

Thomas Joannes Stieltjes

Dutch mathematician and academic (born 1856)

Thomas Joannes Stieltjes was a Dutch mathematician. He was a pioneer in the field of moment problems and contributed to the study of continued fractions. The Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics at Leiden…

1894

Spencer Trask

American financier and philanthropist (born 1844)

Spencer Trask was an American financier, philanthropist, and venture capitalist. Beginning in the 1870s, Trask began investing and supporting entrepreneurs, including Thomas Edison's commercial production of the…

1909

Archibald Hoxsey

American pilot (born 1884)

Archibald Hoxsey was an American aviator who worked for the Wright brothers.

1910

John Moisant

American pilot and engineer (born 1868)

John Bevins Moisant was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, flight instructor, businessman, and revolutionary. He was the first pilot to conduct passenger flights over a city (Paris), as well as across the…

1910

Boies Penrose

American lawyer and politician (born 1860)

Boies Penrose was an American politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who served as a Republican member of the United States Senate for Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1921. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House…

1921

Cornelia Clapp

American marine biologist (born 1849)

Cornelia Maria Clapp was an American educator and zoologist, specializing in marine biology. She earned the first Ph.D. in biology awarded to a woman in the United States from Syracuse University in 1889, and she would…

1934

Miguel de Unamuno

Spanish philosopher, author, and poet (born 1864)

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher and academic. His major philosophical essay was Tragic Sense of Life (1913), and his most famous novels were Abel Sánchez: The…

1936

Malcolm Campbell

English racing driver and journalist (born 1885)

Major Sir Malcolm Campbell was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called Blue Bird, including a 1921 Grand Prix…

1948

Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı

Turkish philosopher, poet, and politician (born 1869)

Rıza Tevfik Bey was an Ottoman and later Turkish philosopher, poet, politician of liberal signature and a community leader of the late-19th-century and early-20th-century. A polyglot, he is most remembered in Turkey for…

1949

Raimond Valgre

Estonian pianist and composer (born 1913)

Raimond Valgre was an Estonian composer and musician, whose songs have become some of the most well known in Estonia. During World War II, Valgre was conscripted into the Red Army and was a member of the orchestra for…

1949

Charles Koechlin

French composer and educator (born 1867)

Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin, commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. Among his better known works is Les Heures persanes, a set of piano pieces based on the novel Vers…

1950

Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri

Indian Muslim scholar (born 1868)

Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri (1868-1951) was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar. He was a disciple of Ashraf Ali Thanwi in the Chishti order of Sufism.

1951

Albert Plesman

Dutch businessman, founded KLM (born 1889)

Albert Plesman was a Dutch pioneer in aviation and the first administrator and later director of the KLM, the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name. Until his death, he was its CEO for over…

1953

Bobby Byrne

American baseball and soccer player (born 1884)

Robert Matthew Byrne was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1907 through 1917, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1907–1909), Pittsburgh Pirates (1909–1913), Philadelphia Phillies (1913–1917)…

1964

Ólafur Thors

Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1892)

Ólafur Tryggvason Thors was an Icelandic politician of the Independence Party, who served six times as prime minister of Iceland.

1964

Henry Maitland Wilson

English field marshal (born 1881)

Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson,, also known as Jumbo Wilson, was a senior British Army officer of the 20th century. He saw active service in the Second Boer War and then during the First World War…

1964

George Lewis

American clarinet player and composer (born 1900)

George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his highest profile in the later decades of his life.

1968

Cyril Scott

English composer, writer, and poet (born 1879)

Cyril Meir Scott was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrote around 20…

1970

Roberto Clemente

Puerto Rican-American baseball player and Marine (born 1934)

Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December 31, 1972,…

1972

Henry Gerber

German-American activist, founded the Society for Human Rights (born 1892)

Henry Gerber was an early gay rights activist in the United States. Inspired by the work of Germany's Magnus Hirschfeld and his Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and by the organisation Bund für Menschenrecht by…

1972

Basil Wolverton

American illustrator (born 1909)

Basil Wolverton was an American cartoonist and illustrator known for his intricately detailed grotesques of bizarre or misshapen people. Wolverton was described as "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People…

1978

Marshall McLuhan

Canadian philosopher and theorist (born 1911)

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge.…

1980

Raoul Walsh

American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1887)

Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent cinema actor George Walsh. He portrayed John Wilkes Booth in the…

1980

Sevim Burak

Turkish author and playwright (born 1931)

Zeliha Sevim Burak was a Turkish author and playwright.

1983

Ricky Nelson

American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1940)

Eric Hilliard "Ricky" or “Rick” Nelson was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In 1957, he began a long…

1985

Jerry Turner

American journalist (born 1929)

Jerry Jackson Joiner, known professionally as Jerry Turner, was an American television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland.

1987

Nicolas Calas

Greek-American poet and critic (born 1907)

Nicolas Calas was the pseudonym of Nikos Kalamaris, a Greek-American poet and art critic. While living in Greece, he also used the pseudonyms Nikitas Randos and M. Spieros.

1988

George Allen

American football player and coach (born 1918)

George Herbert Allen was an American football coach. He served as the head coach for two teams in the National Football League (NFL), the Los Angeles Rams from 1966 to 1970 and the Washington Redskins from 1971 to 1977.…

1990

Vasily Lazarev

Russian physician, colonel, and astronaut (born 1928)

Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch on 5 April 1975.

1990

Giovanni Michelucci

Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (born 1891)

Giovanni Michelucci was an Italian architect, urban planner, and designer. He is known for projects such as the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station and the San Giovanni Battista church on the Autostrada del Sole.

1990

Zviad Gamsakhurdia

Georgian anthropologist and politician, 1st President of Georgia (born 1939)

Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian politician, human rights activist, dissident, professor of English language studies and American literature at Tbilisi State University, and writer who became the first…

1993

Brandon Teena

American murder victim (born 1972)

Brandon Teena was an American transgender man who was raped and, along with Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska, by John Lotter and Tom Nissen. His life and death are the subject of the films…

1993

Big Bertha

Irish cattle and twice Guinness World Record holder (oldest cow, cow with most offspring) (born 1945)

Big Bertha was an Irish cow who held two Guinness World Records: she was the oldest cow recorded, dying just three months short of her 49th birthday, and she also held the record for lifetime breeding, having produced…

1993

Woody Strode

American football player, wrestler, and actor (born 1914)

Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode was an American athlete, actor, and author. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National Football League (NFL) in the postwar era.…

1994

Wesley Addy

American actor (born 1913)

Robert Wesley Addy was an American actor of stage, television, and film.

1996

Billie Dove

American actress (born 1903)

Lillian Bohny, known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.

1997

Ted Glossop

Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1934)

Ted Glossop was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach.

1998

Elliot Richardson

American lawyer and politician, 69th United States Attorney General (born 1920)

Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 and 1977. A member of the Republican Party, Richardson is one of two persons to…

1999

Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi

Indian Muslim scholar and author (born 1914)

Syed Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi was a leading Indian Islamic scholar, thinker, writer, preacher, reformer and a Muslim public intellectual of 20th century India and the author of numerous books on history, biography,…

1999

Alan Cranston

American journalist and politician (born 1914)

Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from California from 1969 to 1993, and as President of the World Federalist Association from 1949 to 1952.

2000

José Greco

Italian-American dancer and choreographer (born 1918)

José Greco was an Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer known for popularizing Spanish dance on the stage and screen in America mostly in the 1950s and 1960s.

2000

Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane

American-Israeli rabbi and scholar (born 1966)

Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane or Benyamin Zeev Kahane, sometimes called Benjamin Ze’ev Kahana was an American and Israeli Orthodox far-right rabbi and follower of his father Meir Kahane, who started the ultra-nationalist…

2000

Eileen Heckart

American actress (born 1919)

Anna Eileen Heckart was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Heckart won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Emmy Awards, as well as was nominated for three Tony Awards.…

2001

Kevin MacMichael

Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (born 1951)

Kevin Scott Macmichael was a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known for being a member of the 1980s UK-based pop-rock band, Cutting Crew, who had a number-one hit in 1986 with "(I Just) Died in…

2002

Arthur R. von Hippel German-American physicist and author (born 1898)

Arthur Robert von Hippel was a German American materials scientist and physicist. Von Hippel was a pioneer in the study of dielectrics, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials, and semiconductors and was a codeveloper…

2003

Gérard Debreu

French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921)

Gérard Debreu was a French-born economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in…

2004

Enrico Di Giuseppe

American tenor and educator (born 1932)

Enrico Di Giuseppe was a celebrated American operatic tenor who had an active performance career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He spent most of his career performing in New York City, juggling concurrent…

2005

Phillip Whitehead

English screenwriter, producer, and politician (born 1937)

Phillip Whitehead was a British Labour politician, television producer and writer.

2005

Ya'akov Hodorov

Israeli footballer (born 1927)

Ya'akov "Yankele" Hodorov was an Israeli football goalkeeper in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is one Israel's best goalkeepers of all time and the leading goalkeeper of his generation.

2006

Seymour Martin Lipset

American sociologist, author, and academic (born 1922)

Seymour Martin Lipset was an American sociologist and political scientist. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of…

2006

George Sisler

Jr., American businessman (born 1917)

George Harold Sisler Jr. was an American professional baseball player and executive. The son of Hall of Fame first baseman and two-time .400 hitter George Sisler and the brother of two Major League Baseball players,…

2006

Roy Amara

American scientific researcher (born 1925)

Roy Charles Amara was an American researcher, scientist, futurist and president of the Institute for the Future best known for coining Amara's law on the effect of technology. He held a BS in Management, an MS in the…

2007

Michael Goldberg

American painter and educator (born 1924)

Michael Goldberg was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. A retrospective show, "Abstraction Over Time: The Paintings of…

2007

Bill Idelson

American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1919)

Bill Idelson was an American actor, writer, director and producer widely known for his teenage role as Rush Gook on the radio comedy Vic and Sade and his recurring television role as Herman Glimscher on The Dick Van…

2007

Milton L. Klein

Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1910)

Milton Lowen Klein, was a Montreal lawyer, a member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons, and a figure in the Jewish-Canadian community.

2007

Ettore Sottsass

Austrian-Italian architect and designer (born 1917)

Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and product designer. He was known for his designs of furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, homeware and office supplies, and also worked on numerous buildings and interiors,…

2007

Donald E. Westlake

American author and screenwriter (born 1933)

Donald Edwin Westlake was an American writer with more than one hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction…

2008

Cahal Daly

Irish cardinal and philosopher, Archbishop of Armagh (born 1917)

Cahal Brendan Daly KGCHS was a Roman Catholic cardinal, theologian and writer from County Antrim.

2009

Justin Keating

Irish surgeon, journalist, and politician, Minister for Industry and Commerce (born 1930)

Justin Pascal Keating was an Irish Labour Party politician, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer and veterinary surgeon. In later life he was president of the Humanist Association of Ireland.

2009

Raymond Impanis

Belgian cyclist (born 1925)

Raymond Impanis was a Belgian professional cyclist from 1947 to 1963. He won Paris–Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, Gent–Wevelgem and three stages in Tour de France.

2010

Per Oscarsson

Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film Hunger, which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.

2010

Tarak Mekki

Tunisian businessman and politician (born 1958)

Tarak Mekki was a Tunisian businessman and political figure. He declared himself as an opponent to the president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and a candidate to his succession. Mekki was one of the few political opponents…

2012

Jovette Marchessault

Canadian author and playwright (born 1938)

Jovette Marchessault was a Canadian writer and artist from Quebec, who worked in a variety of literary and artistic domains including novels, poetry, drama, painting and sculpture. An important pioneer of lesbian and…

2012

Günter Rössler

German photographer and journalist (born 1926)

Günter Rössler was a German photographer who made a name for himself especially in the field of nude art photography. A pioneer of nude photography in East Germany and notable fashion photographer, Rössler was often…

2012

James Avery

American actor (born 1945)

James La Rue Avery was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Judge Michael Conover on L.A. Law, Steve Yeager in The Brady Bunch Movie, and Dr. Crippen on The…

2013

Roberto Ciotti

Italian guitarist and composer (born 1953)

Roberto Ciotti was an Italian blues musician, composer and guitarist.

2013

Bob Grant

American radio host (born 1929)

Robert Ciro Gigante, known as Bob Grant, was an American radio host. A veteran of broadcasting in New York City, Grant is considered a pioneer of the conservative talk radio format and was one of the early adopters of…

2013

Irina Korschunow

German author and screenwriter (born 1925)

Irina Korschunow was a German writer. Her oeuvre comprises short stories, novels theatrical works and film scripts. Born in Stendal, she started her career as a journalist and writer for children's books and young adult…

2013

Edward Herrmann

American actor (born 1943)

Edward Kirk Herrmann was an American actor, director, and writer. He was best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and 1982 film musical Annie, Richard…

2014

Abdullah Hussain

Malaysian author (born 1920)

Datuk Abdullah Hussain PJN, DSDK was a Malaysian novelist and writer. He received the Malaysian National Laureate in 1996 which made him the 8th recipient of the award.

2014

Norm Phelps

American author and activist (born 1939)

Norm Phelps was an American animal rights activist, vegetarian and writer. He was a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV), and a former outreach director of the Fund for Animals. He…

2014

S. Arthur Spiegel

American captain, lawyer, and judge (born 1920)

S. Arthur Spiegel was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

2014

Valerian Wellesley

8th Duke of Wellington, British soldier and politician (born 1915)

Brigadier Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, styled Marquess of Douro between 1943 and 1972, was a British peer and army officer. His main residence was Stratfield Saye House in Hampshire.

2014

Natalie Cole

American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1950)

Natalie Maria Cole was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable…

2015

Wayne Rogers

American actor and investor (born 1933)

William Wayne McMillan Rogers III was an American actor, known for playing the roles of Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in the CBS television series M*A*S*H and of Dr. Charley Michaels on House Calls (1979–1982).

2015

William Christopher

American actor (born 1932)

William Christopher was an American actor and comedian, best known for playing Private Lester Hummel on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. from 1965 to 1968 and Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H…

2016

Kader Khan

Indian actor (born 1937)

Kader Khan was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film producer. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his acting debut in the film Daag in 1973, starring Rajesh Khanna, as a prosecuting attorney. He…

2018

Betty White

American actress, comedian and producer (born 1922)

Betty Marion Ludden was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vast number of television appearances, acting in sitcoms, sketch…

2021

Pope Benedict XVI

German Roman Catholic cardinal and theologian, pope (2005–2013) and archbishop of Munich and Freising (1977–1982) (born 1927)

Pope Benedict XVI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Following his resignation, he chose to be known as "pope emeritus", a title he held until his…

2022

Barry Lane

English golfer (born 1960)

Barry Douglas Lane was an English professional golfer. He won five official European Tour events between 1988 and 2004. He played in the 1993 Ryder Cup and won the inaugural Andersen Consulting World Championship of…

2022

Cale Yarborough

American Hall of Fame racing driver and founder of Cale Yarborough Motorsports, NASCAR Cup Series champion (1976, 1977, 1978) (born 1939)

William Caleb Yarborough was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1976,…

2023

Arnold Rüütel

Estonian politician, 3rd President of Estonia (born 1928)

Arnold Rüütel was an Estonian politician. He was the third President of Estonia from 8 October 2001 to 9 October 2006. Rüütel was the second president of the country after the end of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, and…

2024

Johnnie Walker

British radio DJ (born 1945)

Peter Waters Dingley, known professionally as Johnnie Walker, was an English radio disc jockey and broadcaster. He began his career in 1966 on pirate radio station Swinging Radio England before joining Radio Caroline.…

2024

Notable deaths

Who died on December 31?

Floyd Cramer — American pianist (1933–1997)

FeaturedFloyd Cramer

Death year1997

Known forHe was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Deaths on this date129 (45 BC – 2024)

Explore December 31

Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.

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Also on December 31 in History

2020

The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine. Wikipedia →

2019

The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wikipedia →

2018

Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia. Wikipedia →

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Notable Deaths on December 31

1997 — Floyd Cramer

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Also on December 31 in History

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