Did you know about Irv Gotti
Irv Gotti co-founded the record label Murder Inc. Records with his brother Chris in 1999, which was an imprint of Def Jam.
Notable Deaths on February 5
February 5 has 87 recorded notable deaths across history, from 523 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2025 — Irv Gotti
American record producer, co-founded Murder Inc Records (born 1970)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
87 source records
523 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on February 5
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1985 Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years. Source
- 1917 The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Source
Did you know about El Santo
El Santo is the most famous and iconic of the Mexican professional wrestlers, and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports".
Did you know about Johannes Blaskowitz
After joining the Imperial German Army in 1901, Blaskowitz served throughout World War I, where he earned the Iron Cross for bravery.
Did you know about George Arliss
George Arliss specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932).
Did you know about Inayat Khan
At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorisation at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism in London in 1914.
More major people who died on February 5
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1984
El Santo
Mexican professional wrestler (born 1917)
Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, best known by his ring name El Santo, was a Mexican professional wrestler and actor. He is the most famous and iconic of the Mexican professional wrestlers, and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports". His wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in luchador films and comic books telling fictionalized stories of El Santo fighting for justice. He starred or co-starred in at least 53 movies between 1958 and 1982.
1948
Johannes Blaskowitz
German general (born 1883)
Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz was a German Generaloberst during World War II. After joining the Imperial German Army in 1901, Blaskowitz served throughout World War I, where he earned the Iron Cross for bravery. During World War II, Blaskowitz led the 8th Army during the Invasion of Poland and was the Commander in Chief of occupied Poland from 1939 to 1940. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He commanded Army Group G during the Allied invasion of Southern France and Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Blaskowitz later commanded the remnants of Army Group H as it withdrew to Northern Netherlands before surrendering to Allied forces.
1946
George Arliss
English actor and playwright (born 1868)
George Arliss was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won in the Best Actor category for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor of any category to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932).
1927
Inayat Khan
Indian mystic and educator (born 1882)
Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan, was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the sarasvati vina, poet, philosopher, writer, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorisation at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published.
1989
Joe Raposo
American pianist and composer (born 1937)
Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH was an American composer and songwriter. He is best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, and several notable songs, including "Bein' Green", "C Is For Cookie" and "Sing". He also wrote music for other television shows including The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcoms Three's Company and The Ropers, including their theme songs. Additionally, he composed scores for three Dr. Seuss television specials produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises: Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977), Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980), and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982).
2010
Brendan Burke
Canadian ice hockey player and activist (born 1988)
Brendan Gilmore Burke was an athlete and student manager at Miami University for the RedHawks men's ice hockey team. The youngest son of Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, longtime executive of various other NHL teams and of the US Olympic hockey team, in November 2009, he made international headlines for coming out, advocating for tolerance and speaking out against homophobia in professional sports. Burke's coming out was widely praised and supported by sports news outlets and fans, generating multiple discussions about homophobia in sports, and in hockey in particular. He was viewed as a pioneer in advocacy against homophobia in hockey, described as "the closest person to the NHL ever to come out publicly and say that he is gay."
2015
Herman Rosenblat
Polish-American author (born 1929)
Herman A. Rosenblat was a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and American author, known for writing a fictitious Holocaust memoir titled Angel at the Fence, purporting to tell the story of a girl who passed him food through the barbed-wire fence at the Schlieben sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in World War II. The book was planned to be published in 2009 by Berkley Books, but was cancelled after it turned out that many elements of his memoir were fabricated and some were contrary to verifiable historical facts. Rosenblat later admitted to lying on purpose with the intention of "bringing joy".
1983
Margaret Oakley Dayhoff
American chemist and academic (born 1925)
Margaret Belle (Oakley) Dayhoff was an American biophysicist and a pioneer in the field of bioinformatics. Dayhoff was a professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and a noted research biochemist at the National Biomedical Research Foundation, where she pioneered the application of mathematics and computational methods to the field of biochemistry. She dedicated her career to applying the evolving computational technologies to support advances in biology and medicine, most notably the creation of protein and nucleic acid databases and tools to interrogate the databases. She originated one of the first substitution matrices, point accepted mutations (PAM). The one-letter code used for amino acids was developed by her, reflecting an attempt to reduce the size of the data files used to describe amino acid sequences in an era of punch-card computing.
2015
Val Logsdon Fitch
American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)
Val Logsdon Fitch was an American nuclear physicist who, with co-researcher James Cronin, was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment using the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory that proved that certain subatomic reactions do not adhere to fundamental symmetry principles. Specifically, they proved, by examining the decay of K-mesons, that a reaction run in reverse does not retrace the path of the original reaction, which showed that the reactions of subatomic particles are not indifferent to time. Thus the phenomenon of CP violation was discovered. This demolished the faith that physicists had that natural laws were governed by symmetry.
2021
Örs Siklósi
Hungarian singer (born 1991)
AWS is a Hungarian post-hardcore band formed in early November 2006 by Örs Siklósi, Bence Brucker, Dániel Kökényes, Soma Schiszler and Áron Veress. Their music is characterized by diversity, powerful performances, and sudden changes, which utilizes metal, psychedelic rock, alternative and post-rock styles. Up to now, they have released five studio albums, two live albums and fourteen video clips. Their music videos often have juxtapositions of images of violence and celebrities in order to bring light to problems that the world faces, exhibiting what they call being "anti-celebrity". They represented Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Portugal with the song "Viszlát nyár".
1982
Neil Aggett
Kenyan-South African physician and union leader (born 1953)
Neil Hudson Aggett was a Kenyan and South African doctor and trade union organiser who died in detention, after being held for 70 days without trial, during which he was tortured by the Security Branch of the apartheid government's South African Police Service. An initial inquest carried out in 1982 cleared the police, but after continued and increased pressure by his sister Jill Burger, partner Liz Floyd, activists, and supporters, a second inquest was held by the High Court in 2020, ruling in December 2022 that Aggett did not die by suicide as claimed, but was killed by members of the Security Branch.
1981
Ella Grasso
American politician, 83rd Governor of Connecticut (born 1919)
Ella Rosa Giovianna Oliva Grasso was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 83rd governor of Connecticut from January 8, 1975, to December 31, 1980, after rejecting past offers of candidacies for Senate and governor. She was the first woman elected governor in Connecticut and the fourth woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state. She is also the first female governor to not be the spouse or widow of a former governor. She resigned as governor due to her battle with ovarian cancer.
1915
Ross Barnes
American baseball player and manager (born 1850)
Charles Roscoe Barnes was one of the stars of baseball's National Association (1871–1875) and the early National League (1876–1881), playing second base and shortstop. He played for the dominant Boston Red Stockings teams of the early 1870s, along with Albert Spalding, Cal McVey, George Wright, Harry Wright, Jim O'Rourke, and Deacon White. Despite playing for these star-studded teams, many claim that Ross was the most valuable to his teams. However, injuries limited his power in his peak and his professional career ended at the age of 31.
1993
Seán Flanagan
Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (born 1922)
Seán Flanagan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and Gaelic footballer who served as Minister for Health from 1966 to 1969, Minister for Lands from 1969 to 1973 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1965 to 1966. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Connacht–Ulster constituency from 1979 to 1989. He was as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo South constituency from 1951 to 1969 and for the Mayo East constituency from 1969 to 1977.
1997
Pamela Harriman
English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (born 1920)
Pamela Beryl Harriman, also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English political activist for the Democratic Party in the United States, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times: her first husband was Randolph Churchill, the son of prime minister Winston Churchill; her third husband was W. Averell Harriman, an American diplomat who also served as Governor of New York. Her only child, Winston Churchill, was named after his famous grandfather. She served as US ambassador to France from 1993 until her death in 1997.
1661
Shunzhi
Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty (born 1638)
The Shunzhi Emperor, personal name Fulin, was the second emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper. Upon the death of his father Hong Taiji, a committee of Manchu princes chose the 5-year-old Fulin as successor. The princes also appointed two co-regents: Dorgon, the 14th son of Nurhaci, and Jirgalang, one of Nurhaci's nephews, both of whom were members of the Aisin-Gioro clan. In November 1644, the Shunzhi Emperor was enthroned as emperor of China in Beijing.
2020
Kirk Douglas
American actor (born 1916)
Kirk Douglas was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war films. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films and was known for his explosive acting style. He was named by the American Film Institute the 17th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
1933
Josiah Thomas
English-Australian miner and politician (born 1863)
Josiah Thomas was an Australian politician. He was elected to the House of Representatives at the inaugural 1901 federal election, representing the Labor Party. Thomas served as a minister in Andrew Fisher's first two governments, as Postmaster-General and Minister for External Affairs (1911–1913). He joined the Nationalist Party after the 1916 Labor split and transferred to the Senate at the 1917 election, serving as a Senator for New South Wales from 1917 to 1923 and from 1925 to 1929.
2000
Claude Autant-Lara
French director and screenwriter (born 1901)
Claude Autant-Lara was a French film director, screenwriter, set designer and costume designer who worked in films for over 50 years. His films were often adapted from literary sources and sometimes expressed provocative attitudes. His career was frequently marked by controversy. In his late 80s he was elected to the European Parliament as a member for the far-right French National Front; he stepped down in the wake of outrage after he made antisemitic statements.