Did you know about Conrad Hilton
From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disillusioned with the "inside deals" of politics.
Notable Deaths on January 3
January 3 has 96 recorded notable deaths across history, from 236 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1979 — Conrad Hilton
American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (born 1887)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
96 source records
236 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on January 3
See what else happened on this day in history.
Did you know about Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce was an American clairvoyant who reported and chronicled an ability to diagnose diseases and recommend treatments for ailments while asleep.
Did you know about Princess Alice
Princess Alice was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, the sister-in-law of Queen Mary, and the first cousin of Queen Mary's husband, King George V, and was the sister of Charles Edward the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Did you know about Edward Brooke
Edward Brooke was the first African-American since Reconstruction in 1874 to have been elected to the United States Senate and he was the first African-American since 1881 to have held a United States Senate seat.
Did you know about Kuriakose Elias Chavara
Kuriakose Elias Chavara is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church.
More major people who died on January 3
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1945
Edgar Cayce
American psychic and author (born 1877)
Edgar Cayce was an American clairvoyant who reported and chronicled an ability to diagnose diseases and recommend treatments for ailments while asleep. During thousands of transcribed sessions, Cayce answered questions on subjects including healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis, and future events. Cayce said he was a devout Christian and was not a spiritualist or communicating with spirits. Cayce is regarded as a founder of the New Age movement and a principal source of many of the movement's characteristic beliefs.
1981
Princess Alice
Countess of Athlone (born 1883)
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, was a member of the British royal family. She was the longest-lived princess of the blood royal, and one of the longest-lived British royals. Princess Alice was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, the sister-in-law of Queen Mary, and the first cousin of Queen Mary's husband, King George V, and was the sister of Charles Edward the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Princess served as Viceregal Consort of both the Union of South Africa and of Canada.
2015
Edward Brooke
American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (born 1919)
Edward William Brooke III was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was the first African American elected to the United States Senate by popular vote. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served as the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1963 until 1967. Edward Brooke was the first African-American since Reconstruction in 1874 to have been elected to the United States Senate and he was the first African-American since 1881 to have held a United States Senate seat. Brooke was also the first African-American U.S. senator to ever be re-elected. He was the longest-serving African-American U.S. senator at twelve years until surpassed by Tim Scott in 2025.
1871
Kuriakose Elias Chavara
Indian priest and saint (born 1805)
Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, CMI was an Indian Catholic priest, religious, philosopher and social reformer. He is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church. He was the co-founder and first Prior General of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first religious congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. The Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC), originally known as the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites (TOCD), was founded by St Kuriakose Elias Chavara in 1866 in Kerala.
1705
Luca Giordano
Italian painter and illustrator (born 1634)
Luca Giordano was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Giordano was one of the most celebrated artists of the Neapolitan Baroque, whose vast output included altarpieces, mythological paintings and many decorative fresco cycles in both palaces and churches. He moved away from the dark manner of early 17th-century Neapolitan art as practised by Caravaggio and his followers and Jusepe de Ribera, and, drawing on the ideas of many other artists, above all the 16th-century Venetians and Pietro da Cortona, he introduced a new sense of light and glowing colour, of movement and dramatic action. He was internationally successful and travelled widely, working in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
2012
Winifred Milius Lubell
American author and illustrator (born 1914)
Winifred Milius Lubell was an American illustrator, artist and writer. In her early adult years, Milius was active in the Communist Party of the United States and an advocate for social justice. She began her artistic career creating pen and ink portraits of victims of the Great Depression, before proceeding to examine the struggles of the working poor in the towns of the Eastern United States through woodcuts, as well as producing drawings from the sit down strikes in Chicago. An artist and an illustrator, Milius' most notable publications include the illustrations for Dorothy Sterling's Cape Cod natural history book The Outer Lands. In her eighties she wrote and illustrated the women's studies exploration of feminism, sexuality and mythology: The Metamorphosis of Baubo, Myths of Woman's Sexual Energy. She died on January 3, 2012, of congestive heart failure. She was 97.
2004
Des Corcoran
Australian politician, 37th Premier of South Australia (born 1928)
James Desmond Corcoran was an Australian politician who served as the 37th premier of South Australia between February and September 1979, following the resignation of Don Dunstan. During his brief premiership Corcoran also served as state treasurer. Born at Millicent in the southeast of the state, he served in the Australian Army in the Korean War and Malayan Emergency, reaching the rank of captain, and being twice mentioned in despatches. Following his discharge in 1961, Corcoran was elected to the House of Assembly, succeeding his father Jim Corcoran – who retired at the 1962 election – as the member for the electoral district of Millicent representing the Australian Labor Party.
2017
H. S. Mahadeva Prasad
Indian politician (born 1958)
Halahalli Shreekantha Shetti Mahadeva Prasad was an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka and five-time Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Gundlupet constituency of the Chamarajanagar district. He first won the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections in 1994 while representing Janata Dal. He was re-elected in five straight subsequent elections in 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2013. Throughout his political career he had been member of Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular) and the Indian National Congress. At the time of his death in January 2017, he was the incumbent state minister for Cooperation and Sugar in the Government of Karnataka led by Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister.
1098
Walkelin
Norman bishop of Winchester
Walkelin was the first Norman Bishop of Winchester. He began the construction of Winchester Cathedral in 1079 and had the Old Minster demolished. He reformed the cathedral's administration, although his plan to replace the monks with priests was blocked by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc. Walkelin was important in beginning St Giles's Fair in Winchester and was greatly active in national politics. For example, he signed the Accord of Winchester, was involved in the Council of London in 1075, and sought to resolve a conflict between Anselm of Canterbury and William II. He was regent of England for a few months at the end of his life.
1641
Jeremiah Horrocks
English astronomer and mathematician (born 1618)
Jeremiah Horrocks, sometimes given as Jeremiah Horrox, was an English astronomer. He was the first person to demonstrate that the Moon moved around the Earth in an elliptical orbit; and he was the only person to predict the transit of Venus of 1639, an event which he and his friend William Crabtree were the only two people to observe and record. Most remarkably, Horrocks correctly asserted that Jupiter was accelerating in its orbit while Saturn was slowing and interpreted this as due to mutual gravitational interaction, thereby demonstrating that gravity's actions were not limited to the Earth, Sun, and Moon.
1437
Catherine of Valois
Queen Consort of Henry V (born 1401)
Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of King Charles VI of France, she married King Henry V of England and was the mother of King Henry VI. Catherine's marriage was part of a plan to eventually place Henry V on the throne of France, and perhaps end what is now known as the Hundred Years' War. But, although her son Henry VI was later crowned in Paris, the war continued.
1785
Baldassare Galuppi
Italian composer (born 1706)
Baldassare Galuppi was a Venetian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. P. E. Bach, whose works are emblematic of the prevailing galant music that developed in Europe throughout the 18th century. He achieved international success, spending periods of his career in Vienna, London and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments.
1923
Jaroslav Hašek
Czech journalist and author (born 1883)
Jaroslav Hašek was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist, bohemian, first anarchist and then communist, and commissar of the Red Army against the Czechoslovak Legion. He is best known for his novel The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, an unfinished novel about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures. The novel has been translated into about 60 languages, making it the most translated novel in Czech literature.
2015
Martin Anderson
American economist and academic (born 1936)
Martin Anderson was an American academic, economist, author, policy analyst, and adviser to U.S. politicians and presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. In the Nixon administration, Anderson was credited with helping to end the military draft and creating the all-volunteer armed forces. Under Reagan, Anderson helped draft the administration's original economic program that became known as “Reaganomics.” A political conservative and a strong proponent of free-market capitalism, he was influenced by libertarianism and opposed government regulations that limited individual freedom.
2013
Ivan Mackerle
Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (born 1942)
Ivan Mackerle was a Czech cryptozoologist, author, design engineer and explorer. He organized expeditions to search for the Loch Ness monster of Scotland, the Tasmanian tiger in Australia, and the elephant bird in Madagascar. He was most notable for his search of the Mongolian death worm, and he conducted three trips to Mongolia in 1990, 1992, and 2004. He authored numerous books and publications and from 1998 until 2002 he was chief editor of the Czech paranormal magazine Fantastická fakta.
2016
Paul Bley
Canadian-American pianist and composer (born 1932)
Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano recordings of the 2000s.
2003
Sid Gillman
American football player and coach (born 1911)
Sidney Gillman was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or wide receivers at the sides of the line of scrimmage, was instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today. He was inducted as a coach into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989.
2012
Josef Škvorecký
Czech-Canadian author and publisher (born 1924)
Josef Škvorecký was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. He spent half of his life in Canada, publishing and supporting banned Czech literature during the communist era. Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country. Škvorecký's fiction deals with several themes: the horrors of totalitarianism and repression, the expatriate experience, and the miracle of jazz.
1967
Reginald Punnett
British scientist (born 1875)
Reginald Crundall Punnett FRS was a British geneticist who co-founded, with William Bateson, the Journal of Genetics in 1910. Punnett is probably best remembered today as the creator of the Punnett square, a tool still used by biologists to predict the probability of possible genotypes of offspring. His Mendelism (1905) is sometimes said to have been the first textbook on genetics; it was probably the first popular science book to introduce genetics to the public.