Did you know
Easily recognizable for his beard and headband, Sócrates became the "symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters"
Notable Deaths on December 4
101 people
749 – 2024
December 4 has seen 101 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 749 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2011 — Sócrates
Brazilian footballer and manager (born 1954)
Did you know
In 1983, he was named South American Footballer of the Year
Did you know
In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players
Did you know
Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, simply known as Sócrates, was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder
Did you know
His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with style and quality of his play, earned him the nickname "Doctor Socrates"
Syrian priest and saint (born 676)
John of Damascus or John Damascene, born Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn, was a Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus c. AD 675 or AD 676; the precise date and place of his…
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749
Frankish king (born 751)
Carloman I, German Karlmann, Karlomann, was king of the Franks from 768 until his death in 771. He was the second surviving son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon and was a younger brother of Charlemagne. His death…
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771
Irish bishop
Suairlech ind Eidnén mac Ciaráin was an Irish abbot and bishop. Little is known about him, but he is mentioned in the Annals of Inisfallen as the abbot of Bennchor. He was also known to have been Abbot of Clonard at…
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870
1075
Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (born 1048)
Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) was a Persian poet and polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian literature. He was born in Nishapur, Iran and lived during the Seljuk era, around…
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1131
Scottish king (born 1143)
William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, 'the Rough', reigned as King of Alba from 1165 to 1214. His almost 49-year-long reign was the longest for a Scottish monarch before the…
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1214
1260
Theobald II was King of Navarre and also, as Theobald V, Count of Champagne and Brie, from 1253 until his death. He was the son and successor of Theobald I and the second Navarrese monarch of the House of Blois. After…
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1270
Pope John XXII, born Jacques Duèze, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by the Conclave of Cardinals, which was…
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1334
English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (born 1292)
Henry Burghersh, was Bishop of Lincoln (1320-1340) and served as Lord Chancellor of England (1328–1330). He was a younger son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh, and a nephew of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st…
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1340
1341
wife of Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans
Valentina Visconti was a countess of Vertus, and duchess consort of Orléans as the wife of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of King Charles VI of France. As duchess of Orléans, she was at court and acquired…
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1408
1456
Count of Holstein (born 1401)
Adolphus XI of Schauenburg, as Adolph I Duke of Schleswig, and as Adolph VIII Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, was the mightiest vassal of the Danish realm.
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1459
Austrian-Slovak mathematician and cartographer (born 1514)
Georg Joachim de Porris, also known as Rheticus, was a mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his trigonometric tables and…
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1576
Scottish minister and reformer (born 1515)
John Willock was a Scottish reformer. He appears to have been a friar of the Franciscan House at Ayr. Having joined the party of reform before 1541, he fled for his life to England. There he became noted as a zealous…
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1585
Flemish painter and draughtsman (born 1532)
Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos was a Flemish painter, known mainly for his history and allegorical paintings and portraits. He was, together with the brothers Ambrosius Francken I and Frans…
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1603
Scottish poet (born 1560)
Alexander Hume was a Scottish poet who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in the early 17th century.
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1609
English trader (born 1592)
Nicholas Ferrar was an English scholar, courtier and businessman, who was ordained a deacon in the Church of England. He lost much of his fortune in the Virginia Company and retreated with his extended family in 1626 to…
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1637
French cardinal and politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (born 1585)
Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu, commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religious affairs. He became known as the Red…
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1642
1649
English philosopher and theorist (born 1588)
Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher and political theorist, best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered to be one of the…
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1679
Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (born 1616)
Thomas Bartholin was a Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian. He discovered the lymphatic system in humans and advanced the theory of refrigeration anesthesia, being the first to describe it scientifically.
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1680
Okiko , posthumously honored as Empress Meishō , was the 109th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Her reign lasted from 1629 to 1643. Her reign officially began when she was five years…
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1696
English politician (born c. 1671)
Richard Ferrier was an English Tory politician who served as MP for Great Yarmouth from 1708 till 1715.
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1728
1732
Italian physician, physicist, and philosopher (born 1737)
Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher who studied animal electricity. In 1780, using a frog, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an…
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1798
2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1770)
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. Before becoming prime minister he had been foreign secretary, home…
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1828
Irish–American merchant (born 1757)
John Leamy was an Irish-born American merchant who pioneered Philadelphia's trade with the Spanish colonies in the Americas. He was a founder of the Insurance Company of North America and the Hibernian Society. As an…
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1839
Welsh-English physician and academic (born 1777)
David Daniel Davis M.D. F.R.C.P. was a British physician.
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1841
Scottish soldier and explorer (born 1786)
Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and con man who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to…
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1845
English physicist, invented the electric motor (born 1783)
William Sturgeon was an English electrical engineer and inventor who made the first electromagnet and the first practical electric motor.
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1850
Irish-English physicist and chemist (born 1820)
John Tyndall (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the…
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1893
Welsh conductor (born 1834)
Griffith Rhys Jones, commonly known as Caradog, was a Welsh conductor of the famous 'Côr Mawr' of some 460 voices, which twice won first prize at The Crystal Palace choral competitions in London in 1872 and 1873.
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1897
American journalist and publisher, co-founded the Dow Jones & Company (born 1851)
Charles Henry Dow was an American journalist who co-founded Dow Jones & Company with Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser.
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1902
Slovenian painter (born 1861)
Ivana Kobilca was a Slovene painter, and is considered the most prominent painter and a key figure of Slovene cultural identity. She was a realist painter who studied and worked in Vienna, Munich, Paris, Sarajevo,…
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1926
Polish doctor (born 1906)
Edmund Antoni Wojtyła was a Polish doctor who died of scarlet fever a few years after graduating. He was the elder brother of Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II.
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1932
German-Swiss poet and translator (born 1868)
Stefan Anton George was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literary circle…
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1933
Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1864)
Johan Halvorsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist.
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1935
French physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1850)
Charles Robert Richet was a French physiologist at the Collège de France and immunology pioneer. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Richet devoted many…
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1935
Norwegian pianist, composer and music critic (born 1865)
Borghild Holmsen was a Norwegian pianist, teacher, music critic and composer. She is thought to be the first Norwegian woman to perform a concert featuring only her own compositions.
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1938
Japanese sumo wrestler, the 32nd Yokozuna (born 1903)
Tamanishiki San'emon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kōchi. He was the sport's 32nd yokozuna. He won a total of nine top division yūshō or tournament championships from 1929 to 1936, and was the dominant…
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1938
Estonian politician, 3rd Head of State of Estonia (born 1885)
Juhan (Johann) Kukk was an Estonian politician.
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1942
Jewish Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (born 1883)
Fritz Löhner-Beda, born Bedřich Löwy, was an Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer. Once nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remain popular today. He was murdered in Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration…
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1942
American baseball player and manager (born 1879)
Roger Philip Bresnahan, nicknamed "the Duke of Tralee", was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a major-league player, Bresnahan competed for the Washington Senators (1897),…
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1944
American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866)
Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome…
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1945
Hungarian Olympic champion wrestler (born 1879)
Richárd Weisz was a Hungarian heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler. He competed at the 1906 Intercalated Games and at the 1908 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in 1908.
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1945
American physicist and engineer (born 1883)
Frank Albert Benford Jr. was an American electrical engineer and physicist best known for rediscovering and generalizing Benford's Law, an earlier statistical statement by Simon Newcomb, about the occurrence of digits…
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1948
1st African-American Naval aviator (born 1926)
Jesse LeRoy Brown was a United States Navy officer. He was the first African-American aviator to complete the United States Navy's basic flight training program, the first African-American naval officer killed in the…
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1950
1st Baron Shepherd (born 1881)
George Robert Shepherd, 1st Baron Shepherd PC, was a British Labour politician.
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1954
Hungarian-American engineer (born 1881)
József Galamb was a Hungarian mechanical engineer, most known as main-engineer for designing the Ford Model T.
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1955
Australian psychologist (born 1882)
Constance Muriel Davey was an Australian psychologist who worked in the South Australian Department of Education, where she introduced the state's first special education classes.
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1963
1967
American Black Panthers activist (born 1948)
Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. was an African American activist and revolutionary socialist. He came to prominence in his late teens and early 20s in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and chair…
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1969
Japanese-American monk and educator, founded the San Francisco Zen Center (born 1904)
Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside Asia. Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen Center…
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1971
German-American historian, theorist, and academic (born 1906)
Hannah Arendt was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century.
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1975
American guitarist and songwriter (born 1951)
Thomas Richard Bolin was an American rock guitarist and songwriter who played with Zephyr, the James Gang and Deep Purple, in addition to maintaining a career as a solo artist and session musician, notably for Billy…
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1976
English pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1913)
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten,, was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and…
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1976
Irish soldier, lawyer, and politician (born 1886)
William Frederick McCoy was an Ulster Unionist member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for South Tyrone who went on to become an early supporter of Ulster nationalism.
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1976
Portuguese lawyer and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1934)
Francisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro was a Portuguese politician, who was one of the founders and the first leader of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal for eleven months during…
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1980
Polish-American runner (born 1911)
Stanisława Walasiewicz, also known as Stefania Walasiewicz, and Stella Walsh, was a Polish-American track and field athlete, who became a women's Olympic champion in the 100 metres. Born in Poland and raised in the…
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1980
Canadian football player (born 1948)
Don Warrington was a running back who played ten seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Edmonton Eskimos. In his career, Warrington was a part of four Grey Cup championship teams. He was nicknamed "Jeep".…
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1980
American psychologist (born 1923)
Jeanne Lavonne Humphrey Block was an American psychologist and expert on child development. She conducted research on sex-role socialization and theories of personality. Block was a fellow of the American Association…
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1981
American animator, screenwriter, voice actor, and singer (born 1910)
Winfield Bennett Mercer, known professionally as Jack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudeville and Broadway…
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1984
American author and illustrator (born 1933)
Arnold Stark Lobel was an American author and illustrator of children's books, including the Frog and Toad series (1970–79) and Mouse Soup (1977). He also authored Fables, a 1981 Caldecott Medal winner for…
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1987
Armenian-American director and screenwriter (born 1897)
Rouben Zachary Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theater director.
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1987
Polish chemist and academic (born 1899)
Osman Achmatowicz was a Polish chemist of Lipka Tatar descent, who studied alkaloid natural products. His son, Osman Achmatowicz Jr., is credited with the Achmatowicz reaction in 1971.
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1988
American lawyer and author (born 1905)
Henry Christian Clausen was an American lawyer, and investigator. He authored the Clausen Report, an 800-page report on the Army Board's Pearl Harbor Investigation. He traveled over 55,000 miles over seven months in…
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1992
American missionary and author (born 1903)
Margaret Landon was an American writer known for Anna and the King of Siam, her best-selling 1944 novel of the life of Anna Leonowens which eventually sold over a million copies and was translated into more than twenty…
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1993
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1940)
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, conductor, actor, satirist, filmmaker, and activist. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral…
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1993
American academic and judge, 25th Chief Justice of California (born 1936)
Rose Elizabeth Bird was the 25th Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. She was the first female law clerk of the Nevada Supreme Court, the first female deputy public defender in Santa Clara County, the first…
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1999
Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (born 1936)
Henck Alphonsus Eugène Arron was a Surinamese politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Suriname after it gained independence in 1975. A member of the National Party of Suriname, he served from 24 December…
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2000
American race car driver (born 1916)
Egnatius "Iggy" Katona was an American stock car racing driver from Willis, Michigan. He is most famous for his performance in the ARCA series in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, where he won six championships and 79 races,…
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2003
2004
New Zealand soldier and author (born 1924)
Errol Freeman Brathwaite was a New Zealand author.
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2005
American film producer (born 1963)
Gregg Hoffman was a film producer responsible for developing Saw and Saw II. He studied communications, law and economics at American University in Washington, D.C. Hoffman was working on Saw III and Crawlspace when he…
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2005
Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (born 1938)
Kanagasabai Ganeshalingam was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician. He was Mayor of Colombo.
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2006
American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1987)
Ross Andrew McGinnis was a United States Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the United States' highest decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Iraq War.
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2006
2007
Irish singer, actor, and guitarist (born 1935)
Liam Clancy was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's first pop stars. They achieved global…
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2009
American wrestler (born 1937)
Curtis Piehu Iaukea III was an American professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in various tag team…
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2010
Haitian-Dominican activist (born 1965)
Solange Pierre, known as Sonia Pierre, was a human rights advocate in the Dominican Republic who worked to end antihaitianismo, which is discrimination against individuals of Haitian origin either born in Haiti or in…
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2011
American singer and guitarist (born 1931)
Hubert Charles Sumlin was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band.…
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2011
Russian author, poet, and playwright (born 1932)
Vasily Ivanovich Belov was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–1980s derevenschiki movement,…
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2012
American colonel, lawyer, and politician (born 1922)
Jack Bascom Brooks was an American Democratic Party politician from the state of Texas who served 42 years in the United States House of Representatives, initially representing Texas's 2nd congressional district from…
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2012
Colombian footballer and manager (born 1971)
Miguel Ángel Calero Rodríguez was a Colombian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 50 times for the Colombia national team between 1995 and 2007.
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2012
English general (born 1917)
Major-General Anthony John Deane-Drummond, CB, DSO, MC & Bar was an officer of the Royal Signals in the British Army, whose career was mostly spent with airborne forces.
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2012
Spanish author and poet (born 1913)
Joana Raspall i Juanola was a Spanish writer and librarian. She was born in Barcelona and died in Sant Feliu de Llobregat.
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2013
American poet and academic (born 1957)
Claudia Emerson was an American poet. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Late Wife, and was named the Poet Laureate of Virginia by Governor Tim Kaine in 2008.
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2014
Indian lawyer and judge (born 1914)
Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and politician.
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2014
American lawyer and judge (born 1921)
Vincent Lee McKusick was an American attorney and Chief Justice of Maine. At the time of his death McKusick worked at the firm Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine, as of Counsel.
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2014
English lawyer and politician (born 1929)
John Jeremy Thorpe was a British politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon from 1959 to 1979 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of…
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2014
Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (born 1932)
William Richards Bennett, was a Canadian politician who was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986.
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2015
American actor and director (born 1930)
Salvatore "Robert" Loggia was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jagged Edge (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for Big (1988).
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2015
Israeli journalist and politician, 15th Israeli Minister of Education (born 1940)
Yossi Sarid was an Israeli politician and news commentator. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment, Ratz and Meretz between 1974 and 2006. A former Minister of Education and Minister of the Environment,…
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2015
British writer and WAAF officer (born 1921)
Patricia Robins was a British writer of short stories and over 80 novels, mainly romance, from 1934 to 2016. She also signed under the pseudonym Claire Lorrimer; she had sold more than ten million copies. She served as…
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2016
Indian actor (born 1938)
Shashi Kapoor was an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Hindi films. He is considered as one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema, and is a recipient of several accolades,…
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2017
American singer and actor (born 1932)
Robert Emmett McGrath was an American actor, singer, and children's author best known for playing original human character and music teacher Bob Johnson on the educational television series Sesame Street from 1969 to…
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2022
French race car driver (born 1949)
Patrick Daniel Tambay was a French racing driver, broadcaster and politician, who competed in Formula One from 1977 to 1986. Tambay won two Formula One Grands Prix across nine seasons.
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2022
Swedish royal (born 1937)
Princess Birgitta of Sweden was a member of the Swedish royal family. She was the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and an elder sister of King…
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2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on December 4?
Sócrates — Brazilian footballer (1954–2011)
FeaturedSócrates
Death year2011
Known forHis medical degree and his political awareness, combined with style and quality of his play, earned him the nickname "Doctor Socrates"
Deaths on this date101 (749 – 2024)
Explore December 4
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on December 4 in History
2025
Yasser Abu Shabab is assassinated near Rafah, Gaza Strip. Wikipedia →
2024
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed in Manhattan, New York City near the entrance of the New York Hilton Midtown. Wikipedia →
2021
See all events on December 4
Semeru on the Indonesian island of Java erupts, killing at least 68 people. Wikipedia →
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