Did you know
He was also Minister of Agriculture under Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984, and became one of Canada's best-known politicians
Notable Deaths on February 19
87 people
197 – 2020
February 19 has seen 87 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 197 – 2020. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2013 — Eugene Whelan
Canadian farmer and politician, 22nd Canadian Minister of Agriculture (born 1924)
Did you know
Regardless, Whelan is likely the only MP to hold that post and have his name remembered because of it
Did you know
Eugene Francis "Gene" Whelan was a Canadian politician, sitting in the House of Commons from 1962 to 1984, and in the Senate from 1996 to 1999
Did you know
During his career, he would meet Queen Elizabeth II, help Canada beat U.S
Did you know
president Richard Nixon to the punch in "opening up" China, and play a catalyzing role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War
Roman usurper (born 150)
Decimus Clodius Albinus was a Roman imperial pretender between 193 and 197. He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania after the murder of Pertinax in 193. Initially Albinus cooperated with another…
Read More
197
446
Byzantine wife of Alexios I Komnenos (born 1066)
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena was a Byzantine empress by marriage to the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She was the mother of Emperor John II Komnenos and the historian Anna Komnene. She was initially heavily…
Read More
1133
Sufi philosopher and poet (born 1177)
Sayyid Uthman al-Marwandi , popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, was a Sufi saint and poet who is revered in South Asia.
Read More
1275
General of the Dominican Order
Munio of Zamora, O.P., was a Spanish Dominican friar who became the seventh Master General of the Dominican Order in 1285, and later a bishop.
Read More
1300
5th Baron Bardolf, English rebel
Thomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf was an English baron who was the Lord of Wormegay in Norfolk, of Shelford and Stoke Bardolph in Nottinghamshire, and of Hallaton (Hallughton) in Leicestershire, among others, and was "a…
Read More
1408
Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1353)
Thomas Arundel was an English clergyman who served as Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York during the reign of Richard II, as well as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken…
Read More
1414
queen of Portugal (born 1402)
Eleanor of Aragon was Queen of Portugal from 1433 to 1438 as the spouse of King Edward. After Edward's death, she served as regent in 1438-1440 for her son Afonso V. She was the daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and…
Read More
1445
1491
German astronomer and mathematician (born 1511)
Erasmus Reinhold was a German astronomer and mathematician, considered to be the most influential astronomical pedagogue of his generation. He was born and died in Saalfeld, Saxony.
Read More
1553
Duke of Mercœur (born 1558)
Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur and of Penthièvre was a French soldier, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire and a prominent member of the Catholic League, who fought for Breton political independence from…
Read More
1602
Italian composer (born 1550)
Orazio Vecchi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He is most famous for his madrigal comedies, particularly L'Amfiparnaso.
Read More
1605
English scholar and politician (born 1549)
Sir Henry Savile was an English scholar and mathematician, Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton. He endowed the Savilian chairs of Astronomy and of Geometry at Oxford University, and was one of the…
Read More
1622
English-American minister, theologian, and academic (born 1592)
Charles Chauncy was an Anglo-American Congregational clergyman, educator, and secondarily, a physician who served as the second president of Harvard College from 1654 to 1672.
Read More
1672
Japanese shōgun (born 1646)
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the fifth shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada,…
Read More
1709
Norwegian author and poet (born 1634)
Dorothe Engelbretsdatter was a Norwegian author. She principally wrote hymns and poems which were strongly religious. She has been described as Norway's first recognized female author as well as Norway's first feminist…
Read More
1716
1785
American lawyer and politician, 7th Governor of Delaware (born 1738)
Nicholas Van Dyke was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He served in the Delaware General Assembly, in the Continental Congress, where he signed the…
Read More
1789
French mathematician, physicist, and sailor (born 1733)
Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda was a French mathematician, physicist, and Navy officer.
Read More
1799
English poet and translator (born 1717)
Elizabeth Carter was an English poet, classicist, writer, translator, and linguist. As one of the Bluestocking Circle that surrounded Elizabeth Montagu, she earned respect for the first English translation of the…
Read More
1806
German-Swiss poet and playwright (born 1813)
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. His…
Read More
1837
English bishop and philosopher (born 1756)
Thomas Burgess was an English author, philosopher, Bishop of St Davids and Bishop of Salisbury, who was greatly influential in the development of the Church in Wales. He founded St David's College, Lampeter, was a…
Read More
1837
1887
German mathematician and academic (born 1815)
Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school teacher, eventually…
Read More
1897
Indian philosopher and politician (born 1866)
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was an Indian political leader and a social reformer during the Indian independence movement, and political mentor of Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi. Gokhale was a senior leader of the…
Read More
1915
Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher (born 1838)
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher who contributed to the understanding of the physics of shock waves. The ratio of the speed of a flow or object to that of sound is named the…
Read More
1916
Austrian composer and educator (born 1847)
Robert Fuchs was an Austrian composer and music teacher. As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime.
Read More
1927
American lawyer and businessman (born 1856)
George Howard Earle Jr. was an American lawyer and businessman from Philadelphia who worked as a receiver and rescued multiple businesses from financial hardship. He was a political reformer and a member of the…
Read More
1928
American general and pilot (born 1879)
William Lendrum Mitchell was a United States Army officer who had a major role in the creation of the United States Air Force.
Read More
1936
American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1916)
John Basilone was a United States Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Navy Cross posthumously for…
Read More
1945
French novelist, essayist, and dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869)
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author whose writing spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his beginnings in the symbolist…
Read More
1951
Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859)
Knut Hamsun was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective and environment. He…
Read More
1952
British businessman (born 1864)
Captain Richard Boswell Rushall was a British sea captain and businessman who served as mayor of Rangoon, Burma, during the 1930s. He was the first Englishman to hold this position. Born in Braunston, Northamptonshire,…
Read More
1953
Italian-French cyclist (born 1871)
Maurice-François Garin was an Italian-French road bicycle racer best known for winning the inaugural Tour de France in 1903, and for being stripped of his title in the second Tour in 1904 along with eight others, for…
Read More
1957
American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1877)
Willard Dwight Miller was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Spanish–American War.
Read More
1959
Greek-American pathologist, invented the Pap smear (born 1883)
Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou was a Greek physician, zoologist and microscopist who was a pioneer in cytopathology and early cancer detection, and inventor of the pap smear for detection of cervical cancer.
Read More
1962
American actress (born 1899)
Madge Blake was an American character actress best remembered for her role as Larry Mondello's mother, Margaret Mondello, on the CBS/ABC sitcom Leave It to Beaver, as Flora MacMichael on the ABC/CBS sitcom The Real…
Read More
1969
US Senator from Vermont (born 1890)
Ralph Edward Flanders was an American mechanical engineer, industrialist and politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Vermont. He grew up on subsistence farms in Vermont and Rhode Island and…
Read More
1970
Scottish director and producer (born 1898)
John Grierson was a Scottish filmmaker, film theorist, and critic, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J.…
Read More
1972
American trumpet player and composer (born 1938)
Edward Lee Morgan was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s and a cornerstone of the Blue Note label, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording with…
Read More
1972
1973
English author and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (born 1918)
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book The Future of…
Read More
1977
Cuban baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1890)
Miguel Ángel González Cordero was a Cuban catcher, coach and interim manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the first half of the 20th century. Along with Adolfo Luque, González was one of the first Cubans or…
Read More
1977
1980
American actress (born 1904)
Alice White was an American film actress. She first came to the public’s attention during the late silent era as a rival to Clara Bow, before starring in First National/Warner Brothers films Broadway Babies, Naughty…
Read More
1983
French-American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1895)
André Frédéric Cournand was a French-American physician and physiologist.
Read More
1988
American wrestler and manager (born 1927)
Harold Watanabe, better known by his ring name Tojo Yamamoto, was an American professional wrestler.
Read More
1992
English director and set designer (born 1942)
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English artist, film maker, stage designer, writer, gardener, and gay rights activist, regarded as one of the most influential figures associated with the new queer cinema. Trained…
Read More
1994
American businessman (born 1918)
Charles Oscar Finley, nicknamed "Charlie O" or "Charley O", was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas City, moving it…
Read More
1996
Polish-American author and academic (born 1908)
Leo Calvin Rosten was an American writer and humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography.
Read More
1997
Chinese politician, paramount leader and 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1904)
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1978 to 1989. Emerging as China's most influential figure after…
Read More
1997
American singer-songwriter and banjo player (born 1913)
Louis Marshall Jones, known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and old time/country music singer. He was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978.
Read More
1998
Iraqi cleric (born 1943)
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammed al-Sadr was a prominent Iraqi Twelver Shiite cleric and marja'. He called for government reform and the release of detained Shia leaders during the rule of Saddam Hussein. The growth of…
Read More
1999
Austrian-New Zealand painter and illustrator (born 1928)
Friedrich Stowasser, better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection. He emigrated to…
Read More
2000
Belgian, transgender, hardcore DJ (born 1958)
Liza Néliaz, known by her stage name Liza 'N' Eliaz, was a Belgian hardcore techno producer and disc jockey. Described as a "spiritual leader" in the free party movement in France, she was a DJ noted for her skill and…
Read More
2001
American director and producer (born 1913)
Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message films" and a liberal movie icon. As an independent producer and director, he brought…
Read More
2001
French singer-songwriter (born 1913)
Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics for nearly 1,000 songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These songs include "Boum!"…
Read More
2001
American transgender LGBT activist (born 1951)
Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag queen for most of her life and later as a transgender…
Read More
2002
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1938)
Johnny Paycheck was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is a notable figure in the outlaw movement in country music.
Read More
2003
American actress and singer (born 1921)
Janet Blair was an American big-band singer who later became a popular film and television actress.
Read More
2007
English-Canadian dancer and director, founded the National Ballet of Canada (born 1921)
Celia Franca was a co-founder of The National Ballet of Canada (1951) and its artistic director for 24 years.
Read More
2007
Russian singer-songwriter (born 1964)
Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Civil Defense, as well as the founder of the conceptual art avant-garde project…
Read More
2008
Chinese-Hong Kong actress and singer (born 1945)
Lydia Shum Din-ha or Lydia Sum Tin-ha was a Hong Kong comedian, emcee, actress and singer. Known for her portly figure, signature dark-rimmed glasses and bouffant hairstyle, she was affectionately known to peers and…
Read More
2008
English singer and bass player (born 1945)
Kelly Groucutt was an English musician best known as the bassist and secondary vocalist for the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) between 1974 and 1982.
Read More
2009
American sprinter and football player (born 1930)
Ollie Genoa Matson II was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional football player. He played as a halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1966 primarily for…
Read More
2011
American philosopher and logician (born 1921)
Ruth Barcan Marcus was an American academic philosopher and logician best known for her work in modal and philosophical logic. She developed the first formal systems of quantified modal logic and in so doing introduced…
Read More
2012
Czech author and songwriter (born 1932)
Jaroslav Velinský was a Czech science fiction and detective writer, publisher, songwriter and musician. In the folk arena and among sci-fi friends and fans he was known as Kapitán Kid.
Read More
2012
Russian politician, 27th Prime Minister of Russia (born 1926)
Vitaly Ivanovich Vorotnikov was a Soviet politician and diplomat who was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR between 1988 and 1990.
Read More
2012
American economist and academic (born 1914)
Armen Albert Alchian was an American economist who made major contributions to microeconomic theory and the theory of the firm. He spent almost his entire career at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and…
Read More
2013
South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1948)
Park Chul-soo was a South Korean film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. He was one of the most active filmmakers in Korean cinema in the 1980s and '90s.
Read More
2013
American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1937)
Robert Coleman Richardson was an American experimental physicist whose area of research included sub-millikelvin temperature studies of helium-3. Richardson, along with David Lee, as senior researchers, and then…
Read More
2013
American-Japanese author and critic (born 1924)
Donald Richie was an American author, journalist, and film critic. He was known for writing about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a…
Read More
2013
Danish footballer and manager (born 1946)
Kresten Bjerre was a Danish footballer, who played professionally for Houston Stars in the United States, and European clubs PSV Eindhoven and R.W.D. Molenbeek.
Read More
2014
American captain and astronaut (born 1948)
Dale Allan Gardner was a NASA astronaut, and naval flight officer who flew two Space Shuttle missions during the mid 1980s.
Read More
2014
Russian engineer and astronaut (born 1935)
Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 19, and commanded Soyuz 36 in the Intercosmos programme. On 21 July…
Read More
2014
American boxer (born 1928)
Harold Johnson was an American professional boxer. He held the NYSAC, NBA/WBA, and The Ring light heavyweight titles from 1962 to 1963.
Read More
2015
Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1947)
Nirad Narayan Mohapatra was an Indian film director. Mohapatra was born in the Indian state of Odisha. He directed the Oriya language film Maya Miriga, television soap operas and documentaries.
Read More
2015
American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1984)
Harris Lee Wittels was an American comedian. He was a writer for The Sarah Silverman Program, a writer and executive producer for Parks and Recreation, and a recurring guest on Comedy Bang! Bang!
He coined the word…
Read More
2015
Italian novelist, literary critic, and philosopher (born 1932)
Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a…
Read More
2016
American author (born 1926)
Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist whose 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his…
Read More
2016
Japanese anime screenwriter (born 1959)
Chiaki Morosawa was a Japanese anime screenwriter and the creator of the fictional universe of "Cosmic Era", the setting for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and its related series. She was born in Urawa, Saitama, in…
Read More
2016
Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (born 1923)
Samuel Willenberg, nom de guerre Igo, was a Polish-born Jewish Holocaust survivor, artist, and writer. He was a Sonderkommando at the Treblinka extermination camp and participated in the unit's planned revolt in August…
Read More
2016
American jazz guitarist (born 1943)
Larry Coryell was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock music. Coryell was also a music teacher and a writer,…
Read More
2017
German fashion designer (born 1933)
Karl Otto Lagerfeld, also called Kaiser Karl, was a German fashion designer, photographer, and creative director.
Read More
2019
Brazilian filmmaker, actor, composer, screenwriter, and television horror host (born 1936)
José Mojica Marins was a Brazilian filmmaker, actor, composer, screenwriter, and television horror host. Marins is also known for creating and playing the character Coffin Joe in a series of horror films; the character…
Read More
2020
Advertisement
Notable deaths
Who died on February 19?
Eugene Whelan — Canadian politician
FeaturedEugene Whelan
Death year2013
Known forHe was also Minister of Agriculture under Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984, and became one of Canada's best-known politicians
Deaths on this date87 (197 – 2020)
Explore February 19
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on February 19 in History
2021
Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. Wikipedia →
2020
Nine people are killed in two domestic terrorist shootings in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. Wikipedia →
2012
See all events on February 19
Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. Wikipedia →
Advertisement