Notable Deaths on January 2

January 2 has 90 recorded notable deaths across history, from 951 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Pete Postlethwaite

2011 — Pete Postlethwaite

English actor (born 1946)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 90 source records 951 – 2025

Major events on January 2

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1818 The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president. Source
  2. 1955 Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered. Source

Did you know about Pete Postlethwaite

After various stage and minor television appearances, Postlethwaite's first major success arose through the film Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), directed by Terence Davies.

Did you know about Anne Francis

Forbidden Planet marked a first in in-color, big-budget, science fiction-themed motion pictures.

Did you know about Nancy Kelly

A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time, and appeared in several films in the late 1920s.

Did you know about Elmo Zumwalt

Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. was a United States Navy officer and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations.

Did you know about Sebastian Haffner

As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was not only impossible with Adolf Hitler but also impossible with the German Reich with which Hitler had gambled.


More major people who died on January 2

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

2011 Anne Francis

Anne Francis

American actress (born 1930)
Anne Lloyd Francis was an American actress known for her pioneering roles in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet (1956) and the television action-drama series Honey West (1965–1966). Forbidden Planet marked a first in in-color, big-budget, science fiction-themed motion pictures. Nine years later, Francis challenged female stereotypes in Honey West, in which she played a perky blonde private investigator who was as quick with body slams as with witty one-liners. She earned a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nomination for her performance.
1995 Nancy Kelly

Nancy Kelly

American actress (born 1921)
Nancy Kelly was an American actress in film, theater, and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time, and appeared in several films in the late 1920s. She became a leading lady upon returning to the screen in the late 1930s, while still in her teens, and made two dozen movies between 1938 and 1946, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), which also featured Henry Fonda, and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone, later that same year. After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 1955 stage production and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film adaptation, her last film role. Kelly worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for several months. She returned to television for a handful of appearances in the mid-1970s.
2000 Elmo Zumwalt

Elmo Zumwalt

American admiral (born 1920)
Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. was a United States Navy officer and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in United States military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A decorated war veteran, Zumwalt reformed United States Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions. After he retired from a 32-year navy career, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the United States Senate.
1999 Sebastian Haffner

Sebastian Haffner

German journalist and author (born 1907)
Raimund Pretzel, better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was not only impossible with Adolf Hitler but also impossible with the German Reich with which Hitler had gambled. Peace could be secured only by rolling back history and restoring Germany to a network of smaller states. As a journalist in West Germany, Haffner's independence and penchant for provocation precipitated breaks with editors both liberal and conservative. His intervention in the Spiegel affair of 1962, and his contributions to the anti-fascist rhetoric of the student New Left, sharply raised his profile.
2025 Ágnes Keleti

Ágnes Keleti

Hungarian Olympic gymnast (born 1921)
Ágnes Keleti was a Hungarian and Israeli artistic gymnast and coach, who won multiple Olympic medals. She was the oldest living Olympic champion and medallist, reaching her 100th birthday on 9 January 2021. While representing Hungary at the Summer Olympics, she won 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals, and is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time. Keleti earned more Olympic medals than any other individual with Israeli citizenship, and more Olympic medals than any other Jew, except Mark Spitz. She was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
2017 Jean Vuarnet

Jean Vuarnet

French ski racer (born 1933)
Jean Raoul Célina André Vuarnet was an alpine ski racer from France. An Olympic gold medalist, he is known for inventing the "Tuck" skiing position, and was the first Olympian to win a gold medal using metal skis. Raised in Morzine, he had a childhood interest in skiing, which he pursued. He won a bronze medal in the downhill at the World Championships in 1958 at Bad Gastein, before winning gold in the same event in the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. Vuarnet was also the author of several books on skiing. He gave his name to the Vuarnet brand in 1961. In 1995, his wife Edith Bonlieu, a fellow Olympian, and their son Patrick both died in a mass murder-suicide of members of the Order of the Solar Temple.
1096 William de St-Calais

William de St-Calais

Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England
William de St-Calais was a medieval Norman monk, abbot of the abbey of Saint-Vincent in Le Mans in Maine, who was nominated by King William I of England as Bishop of Durham in 1080. During his term as bishop, St-Calais replaced the canons of his cathedral chapter with monks, and began the construction of Durham Cathedral. In addition to his ecclesiastical duties, he served as a commissioner for the Domesday Book of 1086. He was also a councillor and advisor to both King William I and his son, King William II, known as William Rufus. Following William Rufus' accession to the throne in 1087, St-Calais is considered by scholars to have been the new king's chief advisor.
1946 Joe Darling

Joe Darling

Australian cricketer and politician (born 1870)
Joseph Darling was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1,657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including three centuries. Darling toured England four times with the Australian team—in 1896, 1899, 1902 and 1905; the last three tours as captain. He was captain of the Australian cricket team in England in 1902, widely recognised as one of the best teams in Australian cricket history.
2011 Mia Bustam

Mia Bustam

Indonesian painter, writer, and political prisoner (born 1920)
Mia Bustam was an Indonesian painter, activist, and memoirist. The daughter of a minor nobleman, Mia was educated to be a kindergarten teacher but left school after her father lost his job. In 1943, she met and married the painter S. Sudjojono, with whom she had eight children. After the couple divorced in 1959, Mia took up painting, joining the Young Artists of Indonesia as well as the communist-aligned Institute for People's Culture. Her works were well received, with her style likened to that of her former husband.
1298 Lodomer

Lodomer

Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
Lodomer was a prelate in the Kingdom of Hungary in the second half of the 13th century. He was Archbishop of Esztergom between 1279 and 1298, and Bishop of Várad from 1268 till 1279. He was an opponent of Ladislaus IV of Hungary whom he excommunicated for failing to force the Cumans to adopt the Christian way of life. After Ladislaus' death, Lodomer and his suffragans were dedicated supporters of Andrew III of Hungary, who aimed to restore strong royal power against the rebellious lords and oligarchs.
1963 Jack Carson

Jack Carson

Canadian-American actor (born 1910)
John Elmer Carson, known as Jack Carson, was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) with Cary Grant. He appeared in such dramas as Mildred Pierce (1945), A Star Is Born (1954), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). He worked for RKO and MGM, but most of his notable work was for Warner Bros.
1763 John Carteret

John Carteret

2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (born 1690)
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, 7th Seigneur of Sark, commonly known by his earlier title Lord Carteret, was a British statesman and Lord President of the Council from 1751 to 1763 and worked closely with the Prime Minister of the country, Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, to manage the various factions of the Government. He was Seigneur of Sark from 1715 to 1720, when he sold the fief. He held the office of Bailiff of Jersey from 1715 to 1763.
1913 Léon Teisserenc de Bort

Léon Teisserenc de Bort

French meteorologist (born 1855)
Léon Philippe Teisserenc de Bort was a French meteorologist and a pioneer in the field of aerology. Together with Richard Assmann (1845-1918), he is credited as co-discoverer of the stratosphere, as both men announced their discovery during the same time period in 1902. Teisserenc de Bort pioneered the use of unmanned instrumented balloons and was the first to identify the region in the atmosphere around 8-17 kilometers of height where the lapse rate reaches zero, known today as the tropopause.
2012 William P. Carey

William P. Carey

American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey (born 1930)
William Polk Carey was an American philanthropist and businessman. He was the founder of W. P. Carey & Co., a corporate real estate financing firm headquartered in New York City. As a result of his donations, he is the namesake of several graduate schools, including the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business, and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
2019 Gene Okerlund

Gene Okerlund

American wrestling announcer (born 1942)
Eugene Arthur Okerlund was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Okerlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan. He was signed to a lifetime contract with WWE and later worked for promotional programs. He has been described by some journalists as the greatest interviewer in the history of professional wrestling.
1557 Pontormo

Pontormo

Italian painter and educator (born 1494)
Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci, usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance. He is famous for his use of twining poses, coupled with ambiguous perspective; his figures often seem to float in an uncertain environment, unhampered by the forces of gravity.
2018 Thomas S. Monson

Thomas S. Monson

American religious leader, 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1927)
Thomas Spencer Monson was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As president, he was considered by adherents of the religion to be a prophet, seer, and revelator. Monson's early career was as a manager at the Deseret News, a Utah newspaper owned by the LDS Church. He spent most of his life engaged in various church leadership positions and public service.
1514 William Smyth

William Smyth

English bishop and academic (born 1460)
William Smyth was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He became very wealthy and was a benefactor of a number of institutions. He was a co-founder of Brasenose College, Oxford and endowed a grammar school in the village of his birth in Lancashire.
1892 George Biddell Airy

George Biddell Airy

English mathematician and astronomer (born 1801)
Sir George Biddell Airy was an English mathematician and astronomer, as well as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 to 1828 and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the Earth, a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics and, in his role as Astronomer Royal, establishing Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian.

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