Notable Deaths on February 21

February 21 has 81 recorded notable deaths across history, from 4 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Malcolm X

1965 — Malcolm X

American minister and activist (born 1925)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 81 source records 4 – 2026

Major events on February 21

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". Source
  2. 1925 The New Yorker publishes its first issue. Source

Did you know about Malcolm X

Malcolm X discovered the new religious movement the Nation of Islam (NOI) while in prison and served as a spokesperson from 1952 until he transitioned to Sunni Islam in 1964.

Did you know about James I of Scotland (born 1394; assassinated)

The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and his wife Annabella Drummond.

Did you know about Nutan

Nutan was the recipient of seven Filmfare Awards, including a then-record five Filmfare Awards for Best Actress.

Did you know about Duncan Edwards

Duncan Edwards was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid-1950s, playing 177 matches for the club.

Did you know about Clint Hill

Hill is best known for his act of bravery on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.


More major people who died on February 21

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

1437 James I of Scotland (born 1394; assassinated)

James I of Scotland (born 1394; assassinated)

James I was King of Scots from 1406 to 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and his wife Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Rothesay died under suspicious circumstances while being detained by their uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany. His other brother, Robert, died young. Fears for James's safety grew through the winter of 1405/6 and plans were made to send him to France. In February 1406, James was forced to take refuge in the castle of the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth after his escort was attacked by supporters of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas. He remained there until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France. On 22 March, English pirates captured the ship and delivered the prince to Henry IV of England. The ailing Robert III died on 4 April, and the 11-year-old James, now the uncrowned King of Scotland, would not regain his freedom for another eighteen years.
1991 Nutan

Nutan

Indian actress (born 1936)
Nutan Samarth-Bahl, known mononymously as Nutan was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. Regarded as one of the finest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, Nutan was noted for her naturalistic acting in parts of conflicted women often deemed unconventional. In a career spanning four decades, she appeared in more than 80 films, that ranged in genre from urban romances to socio-realist dramas. She was the recipient of seven Filmfare Awards, including a then-record five Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. In 1974, Nutan received the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.
1958 Duncan Edwards

Duncan Edwards

English footballer (born 1936)
Duncan Edwards was an English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid-1950s, playing 177 matches for the club. He was noted for his physical strength, toughness, and level of authority on the pitch, and has been ranked amongst the toughest players of all time. One of eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster, he survived initially but succumbed to his injuries in hospital two weeks later. Many of his contemporaries have described him as one of the best, if not the best, players with whom they had played.
2025 Clint Hill

Clint Hill

American Secret Service agent (born 1932)
Clinton Jerome Hill was a United States Secret Service agent who served under five U.S. presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gerald Ford. Hill is best known for his act of bravery on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. During the assassination, Hill ran into the line of fire from the Secret Service follow-up car, leaped onto the back of the presidential car, and shielded the stricken president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy with his own body as the car raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. His act was documented in film footage by Abraham Zapruder. Hill was the last surviving person who was inside the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963.
1994 Johannes Steinhoff

Johannes Steinhoff

German general and pilot (born 1913)
Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff was a Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II, German general, and NATO official. He was one of very few Luftwaffe pilots who survived to fly operationally through the whole of the war period 1939–45 until he was severely burned during a failed take-off. Steinhoff was also one of the highest-scoring pilots with 176 victories, and one of the first to fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in combat as a member of the Jagdverband 44 squadron led by Adolf Galland. Steinhoff was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, and later received the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and several foreign awards including the American Legion of Merit and the French Legion of Honour. He played a role in the so-called Fighter Pilots' Revolt late in the war, when several senior air force officers confronted Hermann Göring.
1934 Augusto César Sandino

Augusto César Sandino

Nicaraguan rebel leader (born 1895)
Augusto César Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, founder of the militant group EDSN, and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United States occupation of Nicaragua. Despite being referred to as a "bandit" by the United States government, his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to American imperialism. Sandino drew units of the United States Marine Corps into an undeclared guerrilla war. The United States troops withdrew from the country in 1933 after overseeing the election and inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa, who had returned from exile.
1999 Gertrude B. Elion

Gertrude B. Elion

American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drug, azathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.
1715 Charles Calvert

Charles Calvert

3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (born 1637)
Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore was an English colonial administrator. He inherited the province of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. He had been his father's Deputy Governor since 1661 when he arrived in the colony at the age of 24. However, Charles left Maryland for England in 1684 and would never return. The events following the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 would cost Calvert his title to Maryland; in 1689 the royal charter to the colony was withdrawn, leading to direct rule by the British Crown. Calvert's political problems were largely caused by his Roman Catholic faith which was at odds with the established Church of England.
1590 Ambrose Dudley

Ambrose Dudley

3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (born 1528)
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Their father was John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, who led the English government from 1550-1553 under King Edward VI and unsuccessfully tried to establish Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death in July 1553. For his participation in this venture, Ambrose Dudley was imprisoned in the Tower of London and condemned to death. Reprieved, his rehabilitation came after he fought for King Philip in the Battle of St. Quentin.
1938 George Ellery Hale

George Ellery Hale

American astronomer and academic (born 1868)
George Ellery Hale was an American astrophysicist best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots. He was also a key figure in the planning and construction of several world-leading telescopes: the 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory; the 60-inch Hale and 100-inch Hooker reflecting telescopes, both at Mount Wilson Observatory; and the 200-inch Hale reflecting telescope at Palomar Observatory. He played a key role in the foundation of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research and the National Research Council, and in developing the California Institute of Technology into a leading research university.
1821 Georg Friedrich von Martens

Georg Friedrich von Martens

German jurist and diplomat (born 1756)
Georg Friedrich von Martens was a German jurist and diplomat. Educated at the universities of Göttingen, Regensburg and Vienna, he became professor of jurisprudence at Göttingen in 1783 and was ennobled in 1789. He was made a counsellor of state by the King of Westphalia in 1808, and in 1810 was president of the financial section of the council of state of the kingdom of Westphalia. In 1814 he was appointed privy cabinet-councillor by the king of Hanover, and in 1816 went as representative of the king to the diet of the new German Confederation at Frankfort.
1974 Tim Horton

Tim Horton

Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, co-founded Tim Hortons (born 1930)
Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He spent the majority of his career playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, later playing with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. Horton was a four-time Stanley Cup Champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967 with the Maple Leafs. In 2017, Horton was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history. He died at age 44 following a single-vehicle crash in which drugs and alcohol were involved.
2025 Lynne Marie Stewart

Lynne Marie Stewart

American actress (born 1946)
Lynne Marie Stewart was an American actress. She was widely known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, "the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land," originating the role in the 1981 stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show. She continued to play Miss Yvonne on the CBS television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, the 2010 Los Angeles stage revival, and the Broadway production which opened in November 2010 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Stewart was also known for her recurring role on the FX/FXX television series, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Charlie Kelly's mother, Bonnie.
1846 Emperor Ninkō of Japan (born 1800)

Emperor Ninkō of Japan (born 1800)

Emperor Ninkō was the 120th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Ninkō's reign spanned the years from 1817 until his death in 1846, and saw further deterioration of the power of the ruling shōgun. Disasters, which included famine, combined with corruption and increasing Western interference, helped to erode public trust in the bakufu government. Emperor Ninkō revived certain court rituals and practices upon the wishes of his father. However, it is unknown what role, if any, the Emperor had in the turmoil which occurred during his reign.
1824 Eugène de Beauharnais

Eugène de Beauharnais

French general (born 1781)
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais was a French statesman and military officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marriage of his mother, Joséphine de Beauharnais, he was the stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte. Under the French Empire, he also became Napoleon's adopted son. Consequently, he signed his name "Eugène Napoléon". He was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy under his stepfather, from 1805 to 1814, and commanded the Army of Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. Historians consider him one of Napoleon's most able relatives.
2026 Rondale Moore

Rondale Moore

American football player (born 2000)
Rondale DaSean Moore was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers, earning consensus All-American honors as a freshman. Moore was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft and spent three seasons with the team. He also played for the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings, though he did not appear in any regular-season games due to preseason injuries.
1677 Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza

Dutch philosopher and scholar (born 1632)
Baruch (de) Spinoza, also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin who was born and lived in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Enlightenment, Spinoza significantly influenced modern biblical criticism, 17th-century rationalism, and Dutch intellectual culture, establishing himself as one of the most important and radical philosophers of the early modern period. Influenced by Stoicism, Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, and heterodox Christians, Spinoza was a leading philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age.
2013 Hasse Jeppson

Hasse Jeppson

Swedish footballer (born 1925)
Hans Olof "Hasse" Jeppson was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a striker. He was known for his impressive goals to games ratio at several clubs, and represented Kungsbacka IF) Örgryte, Djurgården, Charlton Athletic, Atalanta, Napoli and Torino during a career that spanned between 1946 and 1957. A full international between 1949 and 1950, he won 12 caps and scored nine goals for the Sweden national team and helped them to a third-place finish at the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
1829 Kittur Chennamma

Kittur Chennamma

Indian queen and freedom fighter (born 1778)
Chennamma of Kittur was the Queen of the princely state of Kittur in present-day Karnataka. She led a rebellious armed resistance against the British East India Company, in order to retain control over her dominion. She defeated the British army in the first war, but died as a prisoner after a second war. As one of the first and few female rulers to lead kittur forces against British colonisation, she continues to be remembered as a folk heroine in Karnataka.

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