Notable Deaths on February 3

February 3 has 92 recorded notable deaths across history, from 6 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

John of Gaunt

1399 — John of Gaunt

Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (born 1340)

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Notable Deaths 92 source records 6 – 2025

Major events on February 3

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1994 Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle. Source
  2. 1830 The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence. Source

Did you know about John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was an English prince, military leader and statesman.

Did you know about Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable-type printing press.

Did you know about Joe Alaskey

In 2004, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for voicing the title role in the animated series Duck Dodgers.

Did you know about Kristoff St. John

Kristoff St. John was an American actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1991 until his death in 2019.

Did you know about Coloman

Coloman the Learned, also the Book-Lover or the Bookish, was King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1097 until his death.


More major people who died on February 3

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

1468 Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg

German publisher, invented the printing press (born 1398)
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press enabled a much faster rate of printing. The printing press later spread across the world, and led to an information revolution and the unprecedented mass-spread of literature throughout Europe. It had a profound impact on the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, and humanist movements.
2016 Joe Alaskey

Joe Alaskey

American actor (born 1952)
Joseph Francis Alaskey III was an American actor and comedian. He was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his death. He alternated with Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Jim Cummings, Bob Bergen, Maurice LaMarche and Billy West in voicing Warner Bros. cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Taz, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, among many others. He also voiced Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures from 1990 to 1995. Alaskey was the second actor to voice Grandpa Lou Pickles on Nickelodeon's Rugrats. He would later reprise his role in the spin-off series All Grown Up!. In 2004, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for voicing the title role in the animated series Duck Dodgers.
2019 Kristoff St. John

Kristoff St. John

American actor (born 1966)
Kristoff St. John was an American actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1991 until his death in 2019. Playing the role of Neil earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards from eleven nominations, and ten NAACP Image Awards. He was also known for his role as Adam Marshall in the NBC soap opera Generations, for which he received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations; and his role as a young Alex Haley on the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.
1116 Coloman

Coloman

king of Hungary
Coloman the Learned, also the Book-Lover or the Bookish, was King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1097 until his death. Because Coloman and his younger brother Álmos were underage when their father Géza I died, their uncle Ladislaus I ascended the throne in 1077. Ladislaus prepared Coloman—who was "half-blind and humpbacked", according to late medieval Hungarian chronicles—for a church career, and Coloman was eventually appointed bishop of Eger or Várad in the early 1090s. The dying King Ladislaus preferred Álmos to Coloman when nominating his heir in early 1095. Coloman fled from Hungary but returned around 19 July 1095 when his uncle died. He was crowned in early 1096; the circumstances of his accession to the throne are unknown. He granted the Hungarian Duchy—one-third of the Kingdom of Hungary—to Álmos.
2015 Charlie Sifford

Charlie Sifford

American golfer (born 1922)
Charles Luther Sifford was an American professional golfer. Early in his career, he won a number of All-Negro events, winning the United Golf Association's National Negro Open six times. Later in his career, he was permitted to play on the PGA Tour, winning two events, the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open. His huge influence was later acknowledged by Tiger Woods: without Sifford, "I probably wouldn't be here. My dad would have never picked up the game. Who knows if the clause would still exist or not? But he broke it down."
1963 Benjamin R. Jacobs

Benjamin R. Jacobs

American biochemist (born 1879)
Benjamin Ricardo Jacobs was born at the American Consulate in Lima, Peru, to Rosa Mulet Jacobs of Valparaíso, Chile, a French-Chilean, and Washington Michael Jacobs of South Carolina in the United States. Originally christened on April 5, 1879 as Ricardo Benjamin Jacobs, he later changed his name, once by reversing the order of his first and middle name, and then in some records by anglicizing the name Ricardo to Richard. His mother was the accomplished and well-educated daughter of a noted French merchant in Valparaíso. At the time of his birth, his father was the American vice-consul to Peru. A businessman with many interests in the United States, including mining, his father also was engaged in mining in several countries in South America and he published the Imprenta Americana and a semi-weekly newspaper, El Tumbes.
2013 Cardiss Collins

Cardiss Collins

American politician (born 1931)
Cardiss Hortense Collins was an American politician from Illinois who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the fourth African-American woman in Congress and the first to represent the Midwest. Collins was elected to Congress in the June 5, 1973 special election to replace her husband, George, who had died in the December 8, 1972 United Airlines Flight 553 plane crash a month after being elected to a second term. The seat had been renumbered and combined from the 6th district to the 7th, and had been redrawn to include the Loop. She had previously worked as an accountant in various state government positions.
639 K'inich Yo'nal Ahk I

K'inich Yo'nal Ahk I

ruler of Piedras Negras
Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I, also known as Ruler 1, was an ajaw of Piedras Negras, an ancient Maya settlement in Guatemala. He ruled during the Late Classic Period, from 603–639 AD. It has been proposed that he began a new dynasty at Piedras Negras, following years of ineffective kings. As to how Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I came to power, a consensus has not yet been reached, although it is known that he waged several successful wars against Palenque and Sak Tzʼiʼ. He was succeeded by his son, Itzam Kʼan Ahk I, in 639 AD and left behind several monuments, including stelae at Piedras Negras and a large mortuary temple now known as Pyramid R-5.
456 Sihyaj Chan K'awiil II

Sihyaj Chan K'awiil II

ruler of Tikal
Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II, also known as Storm Sky and Manikin Cleft Sky, was an ajaw of the Maya city of Tikal. He took the throne on 26 November 411 and reigned until his death. He was a son of his predecessor Yax Nuun Ahiin I and Lady Kʼinich, and a grandson of Spearthrower Owl. Stela 31, erected during his reign, describes the death of his grandfather in 439; other monuments associated with Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II are Stelae 1 and possibly Stelae 28. Tikal Temple 33 was Sihyaj Chan Kʼawiil II's funerary pyramid and his tomb was located beneath it.
2004 Mrs. Ngô Bá Thành

Mrs. Ngô Bá Thành

Vietnamese lawyer, politician, and activist (born 1931)
Mrs. or Madame Ngo Ba Thanh was the professional name of Phạm Thị Thanh Vân, a Vietnamese lawyer, politician, and anti-war and women's rights activist. Born in the northern part of French Indochina, she married at 18 and completed her legal studies at the University of Paris, Columbia University, and the University of Barcelona. Returning to South Vietnam in 1963 during the Vietnam War, she first worked as the chief legal advisor to Ngo Dinh Diem's administration. After his assassination, she became a professor of law at Saigon University and was active in the feminist and peace movements.
1802 Pedro Rodríguez

Pedro Rodríguez

Spanish statesman and economist (born 1723)
Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes y Pérez Sorriba, 1st Count of Campomanes, was a Spanish statesman, economist, and writer who was Minister of the Treasury in 1760. He was an adherent of the position that the state held supremacy over the Catholic Church in Spain, often called Erastianism or Caesaropapism. Campomanes was part of the government of Charles III. A staunch anti-Jesuit, one of the biggest foes of the Society of Jesus, Campomanes was the main driving force behind their expulsion from the Spanish Empire.
2016 Balram Jakhar

Balram Jakhar

Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (born 1923)
Balram Jakhar was an Indian politician, who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Governor of Madhya Pradesh. He was also the longest serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha, whose tenure lasted 9 years and 329 days. Jakhar was among the popular faces of Jat politics in Rajasthan during 1980s. He served as the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare from 1991 to 1996 in Government of India. He was a member of Indian National Congress.
1975 Umm Kulthum

Umm Kulthum

Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (born 1904)
Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, known by her stage name Umm Kulthum, was an Egyptian singer and film actress. She was given the honorific title Kawkab el-Sharq. Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kulthum is a national icon in her native Egypt; she has been dubbed "The Voice of Egypt" and "Egypt's Fourth Pyramid". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Umm Kulthum at number 61 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
1924 Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856)
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only Democrat to serve as president during the Progressive Era, when Republicans dominated the presidency and legislative branches. As president, Wilson made significant economic reforms and led the United States through World War I. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonian idealism.
1967 Joe Meek

Joe Meek

English songwriter and producer (born 1929)
Robert George "Joe" Meek was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognised for his individual identity as an artist. Meek pioneered space age and experimental pop music, and assisted in the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation.
2019 Julie Adams

Julie Adams

American actress (born 1926)
Julie Adams was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams in her early career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles. She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River (1952), opposite James Stewart; and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Adams also had an extensive television career including roles as Paula Denning on the 1980s soap opera Capitol, and Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote.
1969 C. N. Annadurai

C. N. Annadurai

Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (born 1909)
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, also known as Perarignar Anna, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chief minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969, and then as the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days before his death in office. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post.
1952 Harold L. Ickes

Harold L. Ickes

American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1874)
Harold LeClair Ickes was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest-serving Cabinet member in U.S. history after James Wilson. Ickes and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins were the only original members of the Roosevelt Cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency.
2009 Sheng-yen

Sheng-yen

Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (born 1930)
Sheng Yen, born Zhang Baokang, was a Taiwanese Buddhist monk, religious scholar, and writer. He was one of the mainstream teachers of Chan Buddhism. He was a 57th generational dharma heir of Linji Yixuan in the Linji school and a third-generation dharma heir of Hsu Yun. In the Caodong lineage, Sheng Yen was a 52nd-generation Dharma heir of Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), and a direct Dharma heir of Dongchu (1908–1977).

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