Notable Deaths on December 5

December 5 has 106 recorded notable deaths across history, from 63 BC to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Shoeless Joe Jackson

1951 — Shoeless Joe Jackson

American baseball player and manager (born 1887)

By · — Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 106 source records 63 BC – 2025

Major events on December 5

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1991 Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine. Source
  2. 1936 The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR. Source

Did you know about Shoeless Joe Jackson

During the World Series in question, Jackson had led both teams in several statistical categories and set a World Series record with 12 base hits, including, during the last game, the only home run in that World Series.

Did you know about Claude Monet

During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting.

Did you know about Bob Dole

Robert Joseph Dole was an American politician, attorney, and Army officer who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996.

Did you know about Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry's most famous works include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.

Did you know about Don Meredith

Don Meredith was the second starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, following Eddie LeBaron, and is the first major franchise quarterback in Cowboys history.

More major people who died on December 5

Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.

1926 Claude Monet

Claude Monet

French painter (born 1840)
Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of Impressionism who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise, which was exhibited in 1874 at the First Impressionist Exhibition, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists as an alternative to the Salon.
Wikipedia source
2021 Bob Dole

Bob Dole

American politician (born 1923)
Robert Joseph Dole was an American politician, attorney, and Army officer who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure, including three non-consecutive years as Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Prior to his 27 years in the Senate, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969. Dole was also the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 presidential election and the vice presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election.
Wikipedia source
2025 Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Canadian-American architect and designer (b. 1929)
Frank Owen Gehry was a Canadian and American architect and designer known for his postmodern designs and use of unconventional forms and materials. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. His most famous works include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. These buildings are characterized by their sculptural, often undulating exteriors and innovative use of materials such as titanium and stainless steel.
Wikipedia source
2010 Don Meredith

Don Meredith

American football player, sportscaster, and actor (born 1938)
Joseph Donald Meredith, nicknamed "Dandy Don", was an American football player, sports commentator, and actor. He was a quarterback for nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 1960 NFL draft, which took place in November 1959. This draft occurred before the Dallas Cowboys were officially established in January 1960. The Cowboys later acquired Meredith's rights through a trade, allowing them to sign him. He was the second starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, following Eddie LeBaron, and is the first major franchise quarterback in Cowboys history. Under the mentorship of head coach Tom Landry, Meredith led the Cowboys to three straight postseason appearances from the 1966 to 1968 seasons, including back-to-back NFL Championship Game appearances in the 1966 and 1967 seasons. He was selected a second-team All-Pro in 1966 and made three straight Pro Bowls from 1966 to 1968.
Wikipedia source
2012 Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and Cathedral of Brasília (born 1907)
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Wikipedia source
1983 Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich

American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1918)
Robert Burgess Aldrich was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick auteur working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones. His most notable credits include Vera Cruz (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956), Attack (1956), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).
Wikipedia source
1998 Albert Gore

Albert Gore

Sr., American lawyer and politician (born 1907)
Albert Arnold Gore Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 1953 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. representative from the state's 4th congressional district from 1939 to 1953. He was the father of Al Gore, who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 until 2001, and who held Tennessee's other U.S. Senate seat from 1985 to 1993. A native of Granville, Tennessee, Gore graduated from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College and taught school. From 1932 to 1936 he was superintendent of schools for Smith County. He attended the Nashville Y.M.C.A. Night Law School, now the Nashville School of Law, from which he graduated in 1936.
Wikipedia source
1963 Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan (born 1892)
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the fifth prime minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and before that as the prime minister of Bengal from 1946 to 1947. He is regarded as a patron of a Two-Nation Theory for the creation of Pakistan, for which he is revered as one of the leading founding member of Pakistan; and also as the pioneer of the Bengali civil rights movement in Bangladesh. Also he was the political mentor of Bangladesh's founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Wikipedia source
1951 Abanindranath Tagore

Abanindranath Tagore

Indian painter, author, and academic (born 1871)
Abanindranath Tagore was an Indian painter who was the principal artist and creator of the Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1907. He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art. He founded the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern Indian painting. He was also a noted writer, particularly for children. Popularly known as 'Aban Thakur', his books Rajkahini, Buro Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul were landmarks in Bengali language children's literature and art.
Wikipedia source
1953 William Sterling Parsons

William Sterling Parsons

American admiral (born 1901)
William Sterling "Deak" Parsons was an American naval officer who worked as an ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He is best known for being the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. To avoid the possibility of a nuclear explosion if the aircraft crashed and burned on takeoff, he decided to arm the bomb in flight. While the aircraft was en route to Hiroshima, Parsons climbed into the cramped and dark bomb bay, and inserted the powder charge and detonator. He was awarded the Silver Star for his part in the mission.
Wikipedia source
1990 Alfonso A. Ossorio

Alfonso A. Ossorio

Filipino-American painter and sculptor (born 1916)
Alfonso Angel Yangco Ossorio was a Filipino American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he moved to the United States. Ossorio attended Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island, graduating in 1934. From 1934 to 1938, he studied fine art at Harvard University and then continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. He became an American citizen in 1933 and served as a medical illustrator in the United States Army during World War II.
Wikipedia source
2006 David Bronstein

David Bronstein

Ukrainian-Belarusian chess player and theoretician (born 1924)
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet and Russian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was one of the world's strongest players from the mid-1940s into the mid-1970s, and was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics. He was also a renowned chess writer; his book Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 is widely considered one of the greatest chess books ever written.
Wikipedia source
1977 Katherine Milhous

Katherine Milhous

American author and illustrator (born 1894)
Katherine Milhous (1894–1977) was an American artist, illustrator, and writer. She is known best as the author and illustrator of The Egg Tree, which won the 1951 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration. Born into a Quaker family active in the printing industry in Philadelphia, Milhous is also known for her graphic designs for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Her work has been exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Wikipedia source
2013 Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
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2022 Kirstie Alley

Kirstie Alley

American actress and producer (born 1951)
Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. From 1997 to 2000, Alley starred as the lead in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. On film, she played Mollie Jensen in Look Who's Talking (1989) and its two sequels, Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993).
Wikipedia source
2014 Ernest C. Brace

Ernest C. Brace

American captain and pilot (born 1931)
Ernest Cary Brace was the longest-held civilian prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War. A decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot and mustang, Brace was court-martialed in 1961 for attempting to fake his own death. He flew as a civilian contract pilot before being captured in Laos in 1965 while flying supplies for USAID. He spent almost eight years as a POW and upon his release received a Presidential pardon in light of his good conduct.
Wikipedia source
2002 Roone Arledge

Roone Arledge

American sportscaster and producer (born 1931)
Roone Pinckney Arledge Jr. was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. He created many programs still airing today, such as Monday Night Football, ABC World News Tonight, Nightline and 20/20.
Wikipedia source
2008 George Brecht

George Brecht

American chemist and composer (born 1926)
George Brecht, born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil. He was a key member of, and influence on, Fluxus, the international group of avant-garde artists centred on George Maciunas, having been involved with the group from the first performances in Wiesbaden 1962 until Maciunas' death in 1978.
Wikipedia source
1784 Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

Senegal-born slave, later American poet (born 1753)
Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly, was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.
Wikipedia source

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