Did you know about Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson rose to prominence with the book Hell's Angels (1967), for which he lived a year among the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences.
Notable Deaths on February 20
February 20 has 95 recorded notable deaths across history, from 789 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2005 — Hunter S. Thompson
American journalist and author (born 1937)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
95 source records
789 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on February 20
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1943 The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms. Source
- 1865 End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance. Source
Did you know about Alexander Haig
In 1973, Haig became the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army's history.
Did you know about Charles Emmanuel III
Charles Emmanuel III was Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from his father's abdication on 3 September 1730 until his death in 1773.
Did you know about David Boren
A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994.
Did you know about Kenji Eno
Kenji Eno gained a reputation as a maverick during the mid-1990s for creating unorthodox games like Real Sound and is perhaps best remembered today for his rebellious marketing techniques.
More major people who died on February 20
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
2010
Alexander Haig
American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (born 1924)
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. was an American politician, diplomat, and military officer who served as the 59th United States secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan and previously as the 5th White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, as well as United States Deputy National Security Advisor under President Nixon. A member of the Republican Party, he was a general in the U.S. Army prior to and in between these cabinet-level positions, serving first as the vice chief of staff of the Army and then as Supreme Allied Commander Europe. In 1973, Haig became the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army's history.
1773
Charles Emmanuel III
King of Sardinia (born 1701)
Charles Emmanuel III was Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from his father's abdication on 3 September 1730 until his death in 1773. He was the paternal grandfather of the last three mainline kings of Sardinia. In the War of the Polish Succession, he initially gained Lombardy but later ceded it for smaller territorial gains. During the War of the Austrian Succession, he defended Piedmont against a Franco-Spanish army, winning the Battle of Assietta. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored lost lands and expanded his territory. He strengthened ties with Spain through marriage alliances. He chose not to get involved in the Seven Years War and instead focused on administrative reforms and maintaining a well-disciplined army.
2025
David Boren
American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma (born 1941)
David Lyle Boren was an American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.
2013
Kenji Eno
Japanese game designer and composer (born 1970)
Kenji Eno was a Japanese musician and video game designer. He gained a reputation as a maverick during the mid-1990s for creating unorthodox games like Real Sound and is perhaps best remembered today for his rebellious marketing techniques. Outside of his homeland he was best known for his survival horror video games, D and Enemy Zero. Apart from creating video games, Eno was also a well-regarded electronic musician and he created the scores for several of his games. Eno founded the video game development companies EIM, Warp, and From Yellow to Orange. He also worked in a variety of fields apart from video games and music including the automotive, cellphone, tobacco, and hotel industries.
1194
Tancred
King of Sicily (born 1138)
Tancred was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was born in Lecce, an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia by his mistress Emma, a daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce. He is often referred to as Tancred of Lecce because by the reign of William II he had become count of Lecce and lord of a wide cluster of dominions in southern Apulia, sometimes also described in the sources as the "principality of Taranto". Recent scholarship has stressed that, long before he seized the throne, Tancred was already one of the most prominent nobles in southern Apulia, closely tied to the royal court and active in the government of the mainland provinces. Due to his short stature and unhandsome visage, he was mocked by his critics as "The Monkey King".
1778
Laura Bassi
Italian physicist and scholar (born 1711)
Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva", she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second woman in the world to earn the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Working at the University of Bologna, she was the first salaried female teacher in a university. At one time the highest paid employee of the university, by the end of her life Bassi held two other professorships. She was also the first female member of any scientific establishment, when she was elected to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in 1732 at 21.
2012
Katie Hall
American educator and politician (born 1938)
Katie Beatrice Hall was an American educator in Gary, Indiana, and a politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1982 to 1985. When Hall was sworn into federal office on November 2, 1982, she became the first black woman from Indiana to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hall represented Indiana's 1st Congressional District in the final months of the 97th Congress and an entire two-year term in the 98th Congress from 1983 to 1985. She is best known for sponsoring legislation and leading efforts on the floor of the U.S. House in 1983 to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday after previous efforts had failed. H.R. 3706 to establish the third Monday in January as a federal holiday in King's honor was introduced in July 1983 and passed in the House on August 2, 1983. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on November 2, 1983.
1871
Paul Kane
Irish-Canadian painter (born 1810)
Paul Kane was an Irish-born Canadian painter whose paintings and especially field sketches were known as one of the first visual documents of Western indigenous life. Paul Kane grew up in York, Upper Canada, and trained himself by copying European masters on a "Grand Tour" study trip through Europe. He undertook two voyages through the Canadian northwest in 1845, and from 1846 to 1848. The first trip took him from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie and back. Having secured the support of the Hudson's Bay Company, he set out on a second, much longer voyage from Toronto across the Rocky Mountains to Fort Vancouver and Fort Victoria.
2013
David S. McKay
American biochemist and geologist (born 1936)
David Stewart McKay was the chief scientist for Astrobiology at the Johnson Space Center. During the Apollo program, McKay provided geology training to the first men to walk on the Moon in the late 1960s. McKay was the first author of a scientific paper postulating past life on Mars based on evidence in Martian meteorite ALH 84001, which had been found in Antarctica. Despite there being no convincing evidence of Martian life, the initial paper caused enormous scientific and public attention. The NASA Astrobiology Institute was founded partially due to community interest in this paper and related topics. He was a native of Titusville, Pennsylvania.
2017
Mildred Dresselhaus
American physicist (born 1930)
Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus, known as the "Queen of Carbon Science", was an American physicist, materials scientist, and nanotechnologist. She was an Institute Professor and professor of both physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also served as the president of the American Physical Society, the chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the director of science in the US Department of Energy under the Bill Clinton Government. Dresselhaus won numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Kavli Prize and the Vannevar Bush Award.
1771
Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan
French geophysicist and astronomer (born 1678)
Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan was a French natural philosopher (physicist), born in the town of Béziers on 26 November 1678. De Mairan lost his father, François d'Ortous, at age four and his mother twelve years later at age sixteen. Over the course of his life, de Mairan was elected into numerous scientific societies and made key discoveries in a variety of fields, including ancient texts and astronomy. His observations and experiments also inspired the beginning of what is now known as the study of biological circadian rhythms. At the age of 92, de Mairan died of pneumonia in Paris on 20 February 1771.
2009
Larry H. Miller
American businessman and philanthropist (born 1944)
Larry H. Miller was an American businessman. He owned the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Utah Jazz and the Salt Lake Bees, a minor league baseball team. Miller and his companies, now known as the Larry H. Miller Company, also owned more than 60 automotive dealerships throughout the western United States, and a variety of other ventures, including Prestige Financial Services, Jordan Commons, Megaplex Theatres, KJZZ-TV, Miller Motorsports Park, the advertising agency Saxton Horne, and the Delta Center. The Fanzz chain of sports apparel stores was also owned by LHM Group until its sale to Ames Watson Capital in 2018.
1900
Washakie
American tribal leader (born 1798)
Washakie was a prominent leader of the Shoshone people during the mid-19th century. He was first mentioned in 1840 in the written record of the American fur trapper, Osborne Russell. In 1851, at the urging of trapper Jim Bridger, Washakie led a band of Shoshones to the council meetings of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Essentially from that time until his death, he was considered the head of the Eastern Shoshones by the representatives of the United States government. In 1979, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
2017
Vitaly Churkin
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (born 1952)
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin was a Russian diplomat. He served as Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2006 until his death in 2017. Previously he was Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (2003–2006), Ambassador to Canada (1998–2003), Ambassador to Belgium and Liaison Ambassador to NATO and WEU (1994–1998), Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation to the talks on Former Yugoslavia (1992–1994), and Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR/Russian Federation (1990–1992).
2025
Jerry Butler
American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1939)
Jerry Butler Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 Billboard Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including "He Will Break Your Heart," "Let It Be Me," and "Only the Strong Survive." He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.
1961
Percy Grainger
Australian-American pianist and composer (born 1882)
Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens".
1972
Walter Winchell
American journalist and actor (born 1897)
Walter Winchell was an American syndicated newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and columnist for New York tabloids. He rose to national celebrity in the 1930s with Hearst newspaper chain syndication and a popular radio program. He was known for an innovative style of gossipy staccato news briefs, jokes, and Jazz Age slang. Biographer Neal Gabler said that his popularity and influence "turned journalism into a form of entertainment".
1996
Audrey Munson
American model (born 1891)
Audrey Marie Munson was an American artist's model and film actress, considered to be "America's first supermodel." In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Pacific Girl", the "Exposition Girl" and "American Venus." She was the model or inspiration for more than twelve statues in New York City, and many others elsewhere. Munson appeared in four silent films, including unclothed in Inspiration (1915). She was one of the first American actresses to appear nude in a non-pornographic film.
1920
Jacinta Marto
Portuguese saint (born 1910)
Francisco de Jesus Marto and Jacinta de Jesus Marto were siblings from Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who, with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos (1907–2005), reportedly witnessed three apparitions of the Angel of Peace in 1916, and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria in 1917. The title Our Lady of Fátima was given to the Virgin Mary as a result, and the Sanctuary of Fátima became a major centre of global Catholic pilgrimage.