Did you know about Nick Adams
Nick Adams was noted for his roles in several Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s, including Rebel Without a Cause along with his starring role in the ABC television series The Rebel (1959–1961).
Notable Deaths on February 7
February 7 has 84 recorded notable deaths across history, from 199 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1968 — Nick Adams
American actor and screenwriter (born 1931)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
84 source records
199 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on February 7
See what else happened on this day in history.
Did you know about Alexander Kolchak
When he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a military dictatorship, which ruled over the territory of the former Russian Empire controlled by the Whites.
Did you know about Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic literature, journalist and newspaper proprietor.
Did you know about Dean Smith
Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time.[a] Smith had the ninth-highest winning percentage of any men's college basketball coach (77.6%).
Did you know about Elihu Root
Elihu Root also served as a United States Senator from New York and received the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.
More major people who died on February 7
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1920
Alexander Kolchak
Russian admiral and explorer (born 1874)
Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. When he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a military dictatorship, which ruled over the territory of the former Russian Empire controlled by the Whites. He was a proponent of Russian nationalism and militarism, and opposed democracy as a principle which he believed was tied to pacifism, internationalism, and socialism.
1873
Sheridan Le Fanu
Irish author (born 1814)
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic literature, journalist and newspaper proprietor. Le Fanu is considered by literary critics to be among the greatest ghost story writers of the Victorian era, as several of his works were central to the development of the genre. He was the author of Gothic short stories and macabre poems, novels such as Uncle Silas (1864), and the collection of five stories In a Glass Darkly (1872), in which the novella Carmilla (1872) is significant as a foundational work of vampire literature.
2015
Dean Smith
American basketball player and coach (born 1931)
Dean Edwards Smith was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time.[a] Smith had the ninth-highest winning percentage of any men's college basketball coach (77.6%). Smith's career total of 879 wins lasted until 2005 when Pat Summitt surpassed him with her 880th victory. During his tenure as head coach, North Carolina won two national championships and appeared in 11 Final Fours. Smith played college basketball at the University of Kansas, where he won a national championship in 1952 playing for Hall of fame coach Phog Allen.
1937
Elihu Root
American lawyer and politician, 38th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845)
Elihu Root was an American lawyer, Republican politician, and statesman who served as the 41st United States Secretary of War under presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt and the 38th United States Secretary of State, also under Roosevelt. In both positions as well as a long legal career, he pioneered the American practice of international law. Root is sometimes considered the prototype of the 20th-century political "wise man", advising presidents on a range of foreign and domestic issues. He also served as a United States Senator from New York and received the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.
2017
Hans Rosling
Swedish academic (born 1948)
Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, academic, and public speaker. He was a professor of international health at Karolinska Institute and was the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software system. Widely regarded as one of the most influential physicians and geographers in the modern world, he held presentations around the world, including several TED Talks in which he promoted the use of data to explore development issues. His posthumously published book Factfulness, coauthored with his daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund and son Ola Rosling, became an international bestseller.
2015
Marshall Rosenberg
American psychologist and author (born 1934)
Marshall Bertram Rosenberg was an American psychologist, mediator, author, and teacher. Starting in the early 1960s, he developed nonviolent communication, a process for supporting partnership and resolving conflict within people, relationships, and society. He worked worldwide as a peacemaker, and in 1984 founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international nonprofit organization for which he served as Director of Educational Services. Rosenberg's motivation for developing nonviolent communication was based on his own experiences at the Detroit race riot of 1943, as well as the antisemitism that he experienced in his early life.
1864
Vuk Karadžić
Serbian philologist and linguist (born 1787)
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the modern Serbian language. Vuk Karadžić was a versatile scholar and the founder of several Serbian academic disciplines, with a significant contribution to historiography. For his collection and preservation of Serbian folktales, Encyclopædia Britannica labelled Karadžić "the father of Serbian folk-literature scholarship." He was also the author of the first Serbian dictionary in the new reformed language. In addition, he translated the New Testament into the reformed form of the Serbian spelling and language.
1994
Witold Lutosławski
Polish composer and conductor (born 1913)
Witold Roman Lutosławski was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanowski, and possibly the greatest Polish composer since Chopin". His compositions—of which he was a notable conductor—include representatives of most traditional genres, aside from opera: symphonies, concertos, orchestral song cycles, other orchestral works, and chamber works. Among his best known works are his four symphonies, the Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), and his cello concerto (1970).
1520
Alfonsina de' Medici
Regent of Florence (born 1472)
Alfonsina Orsini was a regent of Florence. She governed the Republic of Florence during the absences of her son, Lorenzo II de' Medici, in the period of 1515–1519. Her rule was feared as a sign of the end of republican government there. She was born from a noble family and raised in the royal court of Naples. She was the wife of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici from 1488, the mother of Lorenzo II de' Medici and two daughters. She helped restore the Medicis to power after they had been exiled, worked to secure a French royal marriage for her son, and was also influential at the court of Pope Leo X, her brother-in-law.
2012
Harry Keough
American soccer player and coach (born 1927)
Harry Joseph Keough was an American soccer defender who played on the United States national team in their 1–0 upset of England at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. He spent most of his club career in his native St. Louis, winning a national junior championship, two National Challenge Cup and seven National Amateur Cup titles. He coached the Saint Louis University men's soccer team to five NCAA Men's Soccer Championships. The Keough Award, named after him, his brother Bill, and his son Ty Keough, is presented each year to the outstanding St. Louis–based male and female professional or college soccer player.
1897
Galileo Ferraris
Italian physicist and engineer (born 1847)
Galileo Ferraris was an Italian university professor, physicist and electrical engineer, one of the pioneers of AC power system and inventor of the induction motor, although he never patented his work. Many newspapers touted that his work on the induction motor and power transmission systems was one of the greatest inventions of all ages. He published an extensive and complete monograph on the experimental results obtained with open-circuit transformers of the type designed by the power engineers Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs.
1963
Learco Guerra
Italian cyclist and manager (born 1902)
Learco Guerra was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1934 Giro d'Italia. He was born in San Nicolò Po, a frazione of Bagnolo San Vito in Lombardy, gained the nickname of "Human Locomotive" for his enduring quality in plain stages. After mediocre attempts to play football, Guerra became a professional cyclist in 1928, at 26. The following year he became Italian champion, racing as an independent or semi-professional.
1959
Guitar Slim
American singer and guitarist (born 1926)
Eddie Jones, known as Guitar Slim, was an American guitarist in the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song "The Things That I Used to Do", for Specialty Records. It is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Slim had a major impact on rock and roll and experimented with distorted tones on the electric guitar a full decade before Jimi Hendrix.
1942
Ivan Bilibin
Russian illustrator and stage designer (born 1876)
Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin was a Russian illustrator and stage designer who took part in the Mir iskusstva, contributed to the Ballets Russes, co-founded the Union of Russian Artists, and from 1937 was a member of the Artists' Union of the USSR. Ivan Bilibin gained popularity with his illustrations of Russian folk tales and Slavic folklore. Throughout his career he was inspired by the art and culture of medieval Russia.
1799
Qianlong Emperor of China (born 1711)
The Qianlong Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned officially from 1735 until his abdication and retirement in 1796, but retained ultimate power subsequently until his death in 1799, making him one of history's longest-reigning and longest-lived monarchs.
1979
Josef Mengele
German SS officer and physician (born 1911)
Josef Mengele, often dubbed the "Angel of Death", was a German military officer and physician during World War II at the Soviet front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. He conducted research and experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp, where he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be murdered in the gas chambers.
1986
Cheikh Anta Diop
Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (born 1923)
Cheikh Anta Diop was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. Diop's work is considered foundational to the theory of Afrocentricity, though he himself never described himself as an Afrocentrist. The questions he posed about cultural bias in scientific research contributed greatly to the postcolonial turn in the study of African civilizations.
2019
Frank Robinson
American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1935)
Frank Robinson, nicknamed "the Judge", was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the Cincinnati Reds (1956–1965), Baltimore Orioles (1966–1971), Los Angeles Dodgers (1972), California Angels (1973–1974), and Cleveland Indians (1974–1976). In 1975, Robinson became the first Black manager in big-league history, as the player-manager of the Indians.
1891
Marie Louise Andrews
American story writer and journalist (born 1849)
Marie Louise Andrews was an American author and editor from Indiana. She was a founder of the Western Association of Writers, and served as its secretary from its founding until June 1888, when she retired. She was prolific in both verse and prose, but she never published her works in book form, and little of her work has been preserved.