Did you know
After the war he began a collaboration with Noble Sissle with whom he wrote Shuffle Along (1921), one of the first Broadway musicals written and directed by African Americans
Notable Deaths on February 12
104 people
821 – 2022
February 12 has seen 104 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 821 – 2022. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1983 — Eubie Blake
American pianist and composer (born 1887)
Did you know
Blake began his career in 1912, and during World War I he worked in partnership with the singer, drummer, and comedian Broadway Jones
Did you know
When his collaboration with Sissle ended in 1927, he resumed a partnership with Jones which lasted until either 1932 or 1933
Did you know
He reunited with Sissle briefly for Shuffle Along of 1933, and later the pair worked together in the United Service Organizations during World War II
Did you know
The 1978 Broadway musical Eubie! showcased his works, and in 1981, President Ronald Reagan awarded Blake the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
French monk and saint (born 747)
Benedict of Aniane, born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer who had a substantial impact on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire. His feast day is either…
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821
890
901
914
941
1247
Italian saint
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order were seven men of the town of Florence who became bound to each other in a spiritual friendship and started the Servite Order in the 13th century. They felt called by Mary,…
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1266
Catherine was Queen of Navarre from 1483 until 1517. She was also Duchess of Gandia, Montblanc, and Peñafiel, Countess of Foix, Bigorre, and Ribagorza, and Viscountess of Béarn.
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1517
German painter, engraver, and architect (born 1480)
Albrecht Altdorfer was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg, Bavaria. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main representative of the…
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1538
English son of Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland (born 1536; executed)
Lord Guildford Dudley was an English nobleman who was married to Lady Jane Grey. She occupied the English throne from 10 July until 19 July 1553, having been declared the heir of King Edward VI. Guildford Dudley had a…
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1554
de facto monarch of England and Ireland for nine days (born 1537; executed)
Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned until she…
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1554
English politician and diplomat (born 1515)
Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and later Scotland. He played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots.
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1571
Iranian princess (born 1548)
Pari Khan Khanum was an Iranian princess, daughter of the second Safavid shah, Tahmasp I, and his Circassian consort, Sultan-Agha Khanum. She was her father's favourite child and allowed to partake in court activities,…
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1578
French lawyer and author (born 1524)
François Hotman was a French lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' in English. His surname…
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1590
Knight Banneret of Bishop's Stortford, English soldier, privateer and adventurer (born 1547)
Sir Edward Denny, Knight Banneret, of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, was a soldier, privateer and adventurer during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
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1600
Flemish cartographer (born 1563)
Jodocus Hondius was a Flemish engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder to distinguish him from his son Jodocus Hondius II. Hondius is best known for his early maps of the New World and…
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1612
Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist, founded George Heriot's School (born 1563)
George Heriot was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as the founder of George Heriot's School, a large independent school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to Heriot-Watt…
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1624
Mughal emperor (born 1664)
Jahandar Shah was the ninth Mughal emperor briefly from 1712 to 1713. He was the son of Emperor Bahadur Shah I, and the grandson of Emperor Aurangzeb.
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1713
Italian priest and composer (born 1653)
Agostino Steffani was an Italian bishop, polymath, diplomat and composer.
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1728
French author and playwright (born 1688)
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist.
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1763
King of Sweden (born 1710)
Adolf Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death in 1771. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. He was an uncle of Catherine the…
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1771
American farmer, general, and politician (born 1738)
Ethan Allen was an American farmer, writer, military officer, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War, and was…
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1789
German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (born 1724)
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher. Born in Königsberg in the Kingdom of Prussia, he is considered one of the central thinkers of the Enlightenment. His comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology,…
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1804
German philosopher and scholar (born 1768)
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher was a German Reformed theologian, pastor, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant…
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1834
English-American painter and illustrator (born 1846)
Randolph Caldecott was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were promptly and…
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1886
German pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1830)
Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishing the successes…
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1894
French composer and academic (born 1811)
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas Mignon (1866) and Hamlet (1868).
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1896
Norwegian physician (born 1841)
Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen was a Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae in 1873 as the etiologic agent of leprosy. His distinguished work was recognized at the…
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1912
French pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1837)
Charles Émile Waldteufel was a French composer, pianist, and conductor known for his numerous popular salon pieces. Among his best known works is "Les Patineurs" (1882), known as "The Skater's Waltz".
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1915
German mathematician, philosopher, and academic (born 1831)
Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind was a German mathematician who made important contributions to number theory, abstract algebra, and the axiomatic foundations of arithmetic. His best known contribution is the definition…
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1916
English singer and actress (born 1853)
Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe, known as Lillie Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer.
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1929
Azerbaijani-Russian general and politician, 3rd Azerbaijani Minister of Defense (born 1855)
Samad bey Sadykh bey oghlu Mehmandarov was an Azerbaijani General of the Artillery in the Russian Imperial Army, a member of the Independence faction of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the Minister…
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1931
French chef and author (born 1846)
Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularised and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoine Carême, one…
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1935
Irish-English lieutenant and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1909)
Lieutenant-Commander Eugene Esmonde, was a distinguished Irish pilot in the Fleet Air Arm who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to members…
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1942
Polish-Israeli militant leader (born 1907)
Avraham Stern, alias Yair (יאיר), was one of the leaders of the Jewish paramilitary organization Irgun. In September 1940, he founded a breakaway militant Zionist group named Lehi, called the "Stern Gang" by the British…
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1942
American painter and academic (born 1891)
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American artist and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic (1930), which has become…
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1942
Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (born 1866)
Moses Gomberg was a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and served as president of the American Chemical Society.
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1947
Egyptian educator, founded the Muslim Brotherhood (born 1906)
Hassan Ahmed Abd al-Rahman Muhammed al-Banna, known as Hassan al-Banna, was an Egyptian schoolteacher and Imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential global Islamist…
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1949
Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (born 1896)
Denis Arkadyevich Vertov, better known as Dziga Vertov, was a Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsreel director, as well as a cinema theorist. His filming practices and theories influenced the cinéma vérité style of…
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1954
English mathematician and physicist (born 1897)
Douglas Rayner Hartree was an English mathematician and physicist most famous for the development of numerical analysis and its application to the Hartree–Fock equations of atomic physics and the construction of a…
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1958
Bulgarian-German mathematician and academic (born 1887)
Oskar Johann Viktor Anderson was a Russian-German mathematician of Baltic German descent. He is best known for his work on mathematical statistics and econometrics.
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1960
American author and illustrator (born 1903)
Clare Turlay Newberry was an American writer and illustrator of 17 published children's books, who achieved fame for her drawings of cats, the subject of all but three of her books. Four of her works were named…
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1970
American businessman and philanthropist, founded J. C. Penney (born 1875)
James Cash Penney Jr. was an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the JCPenney stores in 1902.
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1971
Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (born 1895)
Carl Lutz was a Swiss diplomat. He served as the Swiss Vice-Consul in Budapest, Hungary, from 1942 until the end of World War II. He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews during the Second World War in possibly the…
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1975
Irish Republican died on hunger strike (born 1941)
Frank Stagg was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger striker from County Mayo, Ireland who died in 1976 in Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire, England after 62…
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1976
1976
Dutch philosopher and scholar (born 1894)
Herman Dooyeweerd, also spelled Herman Dooijeweerd, was a professor of law and jurisprudence at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1926 to 1965. He was also a philosopher and principal founder of Reformational…
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1977
French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894)
Jean Renoir was a French filmmaker, actor, producer and author. His La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greatest films ever made. In 2002, he was ranked…
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1979
American poet and activist (born 1913)
Muriel Rukeyser was an American poet, essayist, biographer, novelist, screenwriter, and political activist. She wrote across genres and forms, addressing issues related to racial, gender, and class justice, war and war…
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1980
Canadian-American actor (born 1902)
Victor Jory was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)…
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1982
Polish-American woman, who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (born 1896)
Anna Anderson was an impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas II and Alexandra, was murdered along with…
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1984
Belgian-Argentinian author and poet (born 1914)
Julio Florencio Cortázar was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an entire…
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1984
American actor and director (born 1924)
Nicholas Colasanto was an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as Ernie Pantusso in the American television sitcom Cheers (1982–1985).
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1985
Austrian playwright and author (born 1931)
Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, isolation,…
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1989
American bass player (born 1968)
Roger Patterson was an American bass player known for his work in the Florida technical death metal band Atheist. His playing style is characterized by its speed and complexity. Alex Webster, bassist with Cannibal…
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1991
Dutch boxer (born 1907)
Lambertus "Bep" van Klaveren was a Dutch boxer, who won the gold medal in the featherweight division at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Van Klaveren remains the only Dutch boxer to have won an Olympic gold medal.…
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1992
American painter and sculptor (born 1928)
Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism. In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic…
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1994
American bass player (born 1952)
Philip Taylor Kramer was an American bass guitar player for the rock group Iron Butterfly and associated groups between 1974 and 1980. He later became a computer engineering executive and inventor. He disappeared in…
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1995
American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (born 1915)
Hugh Gardner Ackley was an American economist and diplomat.
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1998
American football player and coach (born 1924)
Thomas Wade Landry was an American professional football coach, player, and World War II bomber pilot. Regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the…
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2000
American cartoonist, created Peanuts (born 1922)
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Peanuts, featuring the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
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2000
Swedish-German actress and producer (born 1912)
Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum was a Swedish-German film actress, film producer, and photographer. She performed in Nazi-era films made by a German state-controlled production company, several of them directed by…
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2001
Danish footballer (born 1957)
John Hartmann Eriksen was a Danish professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 319 league goals over the course of 15 seasons. He played in four countries, namely his native Denmark, the Netherlands,…
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2002
American-Brazilian nun and missionary (born 1931)
Dorothy Mae Stang, SNDdeN, was an American-born Brazilian Catholic Religious Sister and missionary. She was murdered in Anapu, Pará, in the Amazon Basin in 2005. Stang had been outspoken in her efforts on behalf of the…
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2005
American writer and dance critic (born 1905)
Ann Barzel was an American writer, critic and lecturer on dance.
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2007
American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1905)
Peggy Gilbert, born Margaret Fern Knechtges, was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader.
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2007
American actor (born 1939)
David Lawrence Groh was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Joe Gerard in the 1970s television series Rhoda, opposite Valerie Harper.
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2008
Colgan Air Flight 3407 was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, on February 12, 2009. Approaching Buffalo, the Bombardier Q400, entered an aerodynamic stall from which it did not…
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2009
American historian and activist (born 1942)
Alison Des Forges was an American historian and human rights activist who specialized in the African Great Lakes region, particularly the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At the time of her death, she was a senior advisor for the…
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2009
American activist (born 1951)
Beverly Eckert was an American activist and advocate for the creation of the 9/11 Commission. She was one of the members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission. Eckert's husband, Sean Rooney, died…
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2009
Dutch accordion player (born 1924)
Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts, was a Dutch jazz accordionist.
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2009
American guitarist (born 1974)
Coleman Mellett was an American jazz guitarist in Chuck Mangione's band. He had been scheduled to play with Mangione and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on February 13, 2009, but was killed the night before in the…
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2009
American saxophonist (born 1943)
Gerry Niewood, born Gerard Joseph Nevidosky, was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist who worked often with Chuck Mangione. Like Mangione, Niewood was born in Rochester, New York, and graduated from the Eastman…
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2009
Georgian luger (born 1988)
Nodar Kumaritashvili was a Georgian luge athlete who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics competition in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on the day of the opening ceremony. He…
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2010
Austrian singer and actor (born 1926)
Peter Alexander Ferdinand Maximilian Neumayer, commonly known as Peter Alexander, was an Austrian actor, singer and one of the most popular entertainers in the German-language world between the 1950s and his retirement.…
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2011
American actress, singer, and dancer (born 1919)
Betty Garrett was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She originally performed on Broadway, and was then signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She appeared in several musical films, then…
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2011
American actor and comedian (born 1935)
Kenneth Mars was an American actor. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in The Producers (1967) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in Young Frankenstein…
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2011
American actress, dancer, and choreographer (born 1945)
Zina Bianca Bethune was an American actress, dancer, and choreographer. She was the daughter of actress Ivy Bethune.
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2012
Australian rugby player and coach (born 1928)
Denis Flannery, also known by the nickname of "Flag Pole", was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australian international and Queensland interstate representative winger, he…
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2012
Irish actor (born 1929)
David Kelly was an Irish actor who had regular roles in several film and television works from the 1950s onwards. One of the most recognisable voices and faces of Irish stage and screen, he was known for his roles as…
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2012
American illustrator (born 1921)
John Powers Severin was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, especially its war and Western…
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2012
Saudi Arabian prince (born 1941)
Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was a Saudi royal and politician who served as the governor of Riyadh Province from November 2011 until his death in February 2013. Before that he was the deputy governor of the province.
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2013
English journalist and author (born 1915)
Reginald George Turnill was the BBC's aviation correspondent for twenty years during the beginnings of crewed space exploration and the early jet age in aviation, including the breakthrough in supersonic passenger…
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2013
Ukrainian politician and diplomat, 2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ukraine (born 1931)
Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko was a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, was the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly (1997–1998) and a People's…
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2013
American actor and comedian (born 1922)
Isaac Sidney Caesar was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), which was a 90-minute…
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2014
English historian and author (born 1944)
John Victor Pickstone was a British historian of science and the Wellcome Research Professor in the Centre for the History of science, Technology and Medicine, in the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of…
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2014
American actress and singer (born 1916)
Maria Luisa Castaneda was an American actress and the second wife of actor Marlon Brando. In films, she played exotic women and singers, such as in Flying Down to Rio (1933) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). She was the…
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2015
Malaysian cleric and politician, 12th Menteri Besar of Kelantan (born 1931)
Nik Abdul Aziz bin Nik Mat was a Malaysian politician and Muslim cleric. He was the Menteri Besar of Kelantan from 1990 to 2013 and the Mursyidul Am or Spiritual Leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1991…
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2015
American radio host and voice actor (born 1934)
Gary Owens was an American disc jockey, voice actor, announcer and radio personality. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the…
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2015
Welsh singer (born 1959)
Stephen John Harrington, known professionally as Steve Strange, was a Welsh singer and nightclub host and promoter. Strange began his career in several short-lived punk bands of the late 1970s. Quickly becoming…
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2015
Italian-Belgian footballer and coach (born 1953)
Dominique Nicolas D'Onofrio was an Italian football coach, later chairman. He was born in Castelforte, Italy.
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2016
Greek cartoonist (born 1945)
Giannis Kalaitzis was a Greek cartoonist known for his editorial cartoons in various Greek daily newspapers.
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2016
2016
American singer (born 1940)
Alwin Lopez Jarreau was an American singer. His 1981 album Breakin' Away spent two years on the Billboard 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R&B sound. The album won Jarreau the…
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2017
first female American underwater archaeologist (born 1933)
Anna Marguerite McCann was an American art historian and archaeologist. She is known for being an early influencer—and the first American woman—in the field of underwater archaeology, beginning in the 1960s. McCann…
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2017
American author (born 1941)
Bill Crider was an American author of crime fiction among other work.
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2018
English footballer (born 1937)
Gordon Banks was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional career, and won 73…
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2019
American political activist (born 1922)
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy theorist and…
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2019
Puerto Rican professional wrestler and commentator (born 1942)
Pedro Antonio Morales was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) and the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
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2019
Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (born 1951)
Christie Marie Blatchford was a Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster. She published four non-fiction books.
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2020
Dutch social psychologist (born 1928)
Gerard Hendrik (Geert) Hofstede was a Dutch social psychologist, IBM employee, and Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, well known…
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2020
Slovak-Canadian actor, director, and producer (born 1946)
Ivan Reitman was a Canadian film director and producer. He was known for his comedy films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Reitman was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.
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2022
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Notable deaths
Who died on February 12?
Eubie Blake — American jazz pianist (1887–1983)
FeaturedEubie Blake
Death year1983
Known forBlake began his career in 1912, and during World War I he worked in partnership with the singer, drummer, and comedian Broadway Jones
Deaths on this date104 (821 – 2022)
Explore February 12
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on February 12 in History
2026
In the first general election since the July Revolution in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, wins a landslide victory upon returning to power after almost 19 years. A referendum held alongside was also approved by the majority of voters. Wikipedia →
2019
The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece. Wikipedia →
2016
See all events on February 12
Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054. Wikipedia →
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