Did you know
Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period
Notable Deaths on July 20
105 people
518 – 2025
July 20 has seen 105 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 518 – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1923 — Pancho Villa
Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (born 1878)
Did you know
When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza
Did you know
After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza
Did you know
Villa served as provisional governor of Chihuahua from 1913 to 1914.
Did you know
Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and politician
518
833
antipope of Rome
Antipope Boniface VII, otherwise known as Franco Ferrucci, was a Catholic prelate who claimed the Holy See in 974 and from 984 until 985. A popular tumult compelled him to flee to Constantinople in 974; he carried off a…
Read More
985
1031
Fatimid vizier (born c. 1086)
Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Fatak, better known as al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi, was a senior official of the Fatimid Caliphate in the early 12th century, during the reign of al-Amir.
Read More
1128
1156
1320
1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland
Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray was a soldier and diplomat in the Wars of Scottish Independence, who later served as regent of Scotland. He was a nephew of Robert the Bruce, who created him as the first Earl of Moray. He…
Read More
1332
1387
4th Earl of March, Welsh nobleman (born 1374)
Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 6th Earl of Ulster was a great-grandson of King Edward III, descended from his second surviving son Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, and was considered the heir presumptive to…
Read More
1398
Earl of Buchan, fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland (approximate, b. 1343)
Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, called the Wolf of Badenoch, was a Scottish royal prince, the fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland by his first wife Elizabeth Mure. He was Justiciar of Scotia and held large…
Read More
1405
French historian and author (born 1400)
Enguerrand de Monstrelet was a French chronicler. He was born in Picardy, most likely into a family of the minor nobility.
Read More
1453
1454
Transylvanian peasant revolt leader (born 1470)
György Dózsa was a Székely man-at-arms from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility during the reign of King Vladislaus II of Hungary. The rebellion was…
Read More
1514
1524
Spanish explorer (born 1490)
The Loaísa expedition was an early 16th-century Spanish voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, commanded by García Jofre de Loaísa and ordered by King Charles I of Spain to colonize the Spice Islands in the East…
Read More
1526
English courtier (born 1520)
Sir William More, of Loseley, Surrey, was the son of Sir Christopher More. The great house at Loseley Park was built for him, which is still the residence of the More Molyneux family. Of Protestant sympathies, as…
Read More
1600
Earl of Tyrone, Irish nobleman and rebel soldier (born 1550)
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone was an Irish lord and key figure of the Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl", he led the confederacy of Irish lords against the English Crown's conquest of Ireland during the…
Read More
1616
English-American farmer and soldier (born 1620)
Peregrine White was the first boy born on the Pilgrim ship the Mayflower in the harbour of Massachusetts, the second baby born on the Mayflower's historic voyage, and the first known English child born to the Pilgrims…
Read More
1704
German-English composer and theorist (born 1667)
Johann Christoph Pepusch, also known as John Christopher Pepusch and Dr Pepusch, was a German-born Baroque composer who spent most of his working life in England.
Read More
1752
French-American dancer and actress (born c. 1760)
Anna Gardie was a French Saint-Domingue-born American stage actress and dancer who was known for her roles in ballet-pantomimes such as La Foret Noire and Sophia of Brabant. She was considered one of the first ballet…
Read More
1798
Russian poet and politician (born 1743)
Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally considered literary classicism, his best…
Read More
1816
German mathematician and academic (born 1826)
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was a German mathematician who made profound contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rigorous…
Read More
1866
English poet and author (born 1820)
Jean Ingelow was an English poet and novelist, who gained sudden fame in 1863. She also wrote several stories for children.
Read More
1897
English poet and critic (born 1840)
William Cosmo Monkhouse was a British poet and critic.
Read More
1901
1903
Greek businessman and author, first IOC president (born 1835)
Demetrios Vikelas was a Greek businessman and writer; he was the co-founder and first president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), from 1894 to 1896.
Read More
1908
German geophysicist and seismologist (born 1881)
Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz was a German geophysicist who made important contributions to seismology, in particular the formulation of the Zoeppritz equations.
Read More
1908
Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (born 1863)
Andrew Dawson, usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician and unionist who served as the 14th premier of Queensland for one week from 1 to 7 December 1899. This short-lived premiership was the first…
Read More
1910
Galician architect (born 1858)
Ignaz Stanislaus Sowinski was a Polish architect and journalist who was active in Galicia from the middle of the 1880s and until the outbreak of World War I.
Read More
1917
Russian mathematician and theorist (born 1856)
Andrey Andreyevich Markov was a Russian mathematician celebrated for his pioneering work in stochastic processes. He extended foundational results—such as the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem—to…
Read More
1922
Soviet educator and politician of Belarusian origin (born 1877)
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, nicknamed Iron Felix, was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first three Soviet secret police organizations—the Cheka,…
Read More
1926
king of Romania (born 1865)
Ferdinand I, nicknamed the Unifier, was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal,. His family was…
Read More
1927
Greek poet and author (born 1896)
Kostas Karyotakis is considered one of the most representative Greek poets of the 1920s and one of the first poets to use iconoclastic themes in Greece.
Read More
1928
French author and academic (born 1853)
René François Nicolas Marie Bazin was a French novelist.
Read More
1932
Austrian mathematician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (born 1882)
Olga Hahn-Neurath was an Austrian mathematician and philosopher. She is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle. She was sister of the mathematician Hans Hahn.
Read More
1937
Italian physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess, was an Italian radio-frequency engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This led to his being…
Read More
1937
American actor and producer (born 1867)
Lew Fields was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer. Partnering with Joe Weber, they formed the comedy double-act of Weber and Fields. He also produced shows on his own and starred…
Read More
1941
German general (born 1880)
Ludwig August Theodor Beck was a German general who served as Chief of the German General Staff from 1933 to 1938. Beck was one of the main conspirators of the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Read More
1944
American actress (born 1901)
Mildred Harris was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. She began her career in the film industry as a child actress at age 10. She was also the first wife of…
Read More
1944
French author and poet (born 1871)
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction, his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events.
Read More
1945
king of Jordan (born 1882)
Abdullah I was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 25 May 1946, after which he was king of an independent Jordan. As a…
Read More
1951
Haitian lawyer and politician, 33rd President of Haiti (born 1900)
Léon Dumarsais Estimé was a Haitian politician and President of the Haitian Republic from August 16, 1946, to May 10, 1950.
Read More
1953
English author and hymn-writer (born 1901)
Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek, an English writer remembered for her character Mrs. Miniver and a number of hymns, such as "Lord of All…
Read More
1953
Armenian businessman and philanthropist (born 1869)
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first…
Read More
1955
Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (born 1868)
James Alexander Calder was a Canadian politician.
Read More
1956
American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (born 1875)
William Daniel Leahy was an American naval officer and was the most senior United States military officer on active duty during World War II; he held several titles and exercised considerable influence over foreign and…
Read More
1959
Indian activist (born 1910)
Batukeshwar Dutta was an Indian socialist and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded two bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi on 8 April…
Read More
1965
American historian and author (born 1886)
Bray Hammond was an American financial historian and assistant secretary to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1944–1950. He won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for History for Banks and Politics in America…
Read More
1968
English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1913)
Iain Norman Macleod was a British Conservative Party politician.
Read More
1970
Indian singer and actress (born 1930)
Geeta Dutt was an Indian classical and playback singer. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema and is considered as one of the best playback singers of all time in Hindi…
Read More
1972
1973
American photographer and sculptor (born 1938)
Robert Smithson was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is…
Read More
1973
American actor and singer (born 1900)
Allen Curtis Jenkins was an American character actor, voice actor and singer who worked on stage, film, and television. He may be best known to some audiences as the voice of Officer Charlie Dibble in the Hanna-Barbera…
Read More
1974
Bengali music director, composer and folk artist. (born 1912)
Kamal Dasgupta (later Kamal Uddin Ahmed) (28 July 1911 – 20 July 1974), was a Bengali (later Bangladeshi) music director, lyricist, composer and folk artist active in Hindi and Bengali cinema especially in pre-partition…
Read More
1974
American captain and cryptanalyst (born 1900)
Joseph John Rochefort was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst. He was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of Midway.…
Read More
1976
American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (born 1939)
Gary Kellgren was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone.
Read More
1977
San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) potter (born 1887)
Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez was a Pueblo artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez, her husband Julian, and other family members, including her son Popovi Da, examined traditional Pueblo pottery…
Read More
1980
Greek-Romanian footballer (born 1913)
Kostas Choumis was a Greek-Romanian football player who played as a striker. He is often regarded in Greece and Romania as one of the greatest strikers from the 1930s.
Read More
1981
American soldier and journalist (born 1923)
Frank James Reynolds was an American television journalist for CBS and ABC News.
Read More
1983
American soldier and actor (born 1921)
Richard Egan was an American actor. After beginning his career in 1949, he subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for his performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). He went on…
Read More
1987
American judge and politician, 17th Governor of Montana (born 1913)
Forrest Howard Anderson was an American politician, attorney, and judge who served as the 17th Governor of Montana from 1969 to 1973. Prior to this, he served as the Attorney General of Montana from 1957 to 1969 and as…
Read More
1989
American police officer (born 1907)
Herbert Turner Jenkins was an American law enforcement official and the longest-serving police chief of Atlanta.
Read More
1990
American US army officer, stamp collector, and royalist mercenary general in the North Yemen civil war.
Bruce Conde was a US Army officer, stamp collector, royal imposter, and a general for Royalist forces during the North Yemen Civil War.
Read More
1992
American lawyer and political figure (born 1945)
Vincent Walker Foster Jr. was an American attorney who served as deputy White House counsel during the first six months of the Clinton administration.
Read More
1993
Belgian painter (born 1897)
Paul Delvaux was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, although he only…
Read More
1994
Sri Lankan politician (born 1939)
Mohamed Ehuttar Hadjiar Maharoof was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament.
Read More
1997
American wrestler (born 1922)
DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley, better known by her ring name June Byers, was an American women's professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the Women's World Championship for ten years and is a member…
Read More
1998
American actress (born 1916)
Sandra Gould was an American actress, known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom Bewitched. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season.
Read More
1999
Greek footballer (born 1946)
Michalis Kritikopoulos was a Greek professional footballer who played as a striker.
Read More
2002
English author (born 1927)
Nicolas Freeling, was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the "Van der Valk" series of detective novels. A television series based on the character, Van der Valk, was produced for the British ITV…
Read More
2003
2004
Lithuanian footballer and coach (born 1965)
Valdemaras Martinkėnas was a Soviet and Lithuanian professional footballer and coach.
Read More
2004
Canadian-American actor (born 1920)
James Montgomery Doohan was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish chief engineer of the Starship…
Read More
2005
Norwegian journalist and politician (born 1926)
Finn Gustavsen was a Norwegian socialist politician active from 1945 to the late 1970s. He was noted for his uncompromising style and willingness to take contrarian stands.
Read More
2005
American director and cinematographer (born 1958)
Kayo Hatta was an American filmmaker, writer, and community activist. She directed and co-wrote the independent dramatic feature-length film Picture Bride, which won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 1995 for…
Read More
2005
2006
French actor, director, and producer (born 1919)
Gérard Oury was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now... We're Being…
Read More
2006
American Christian evangelist and talk show host (born 1942)
Tamara Faye Messner was an American evangelist. She co-founded the televangelist program The PTL Club with her then-husband Jim Bakker in 1974. They had hosted their own puppet-show series for local programming in the…
Read More
2007
American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (born 1943)
Arthur Roy Traum was an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Traum's work appeared on more than 35 albums. He produced and recorded with The Band, Arlen Roth, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony Levin, John…
Read More
2008
Croatian concentration camp commander (born 1921)
Dinko Šakić was a Croatian Ustaše official, and convicted war criminal, who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II.
Read More
2008
Turkish footballer (born 1945)
Vedat Okyar was a Turkish international footballer who later became a sports journalist.
Read More
2009
American psychologist and academic (born 1922)
Mark Richard Rosenzweig was an American research psychologist whose research on neuroplasticity in animals indicated that the adult brain remains capable of anatomical remodelling and reorganization based on life…
Read More
2009
German-English painter and illustrator (born 1922)
Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, who is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists.
Read More
2011
English journalist (born 1928)
Sir James William Alexander Burnet, known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, who had a career working in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with Independent…
Read More
2012
American hurdler (born 1930)
Jack Wells Davis was an American track and field hurdler, silver medalist in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics over 110-meter hurdles. Davis lost to Harrison Dillard in 1952 with the same time as the winner, and lost to Lee…
Read More
2012
Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (born 1919)
José Hermano Saraiva GCIH • GCIP was a Portuguese professor, historian and jurist. He was most known as a television personality in Portugal, having been the author and presenter of several documentary series of…
Read More
2012
French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (born 1926)
Pierre Jacques Louis Fabre was a French pharmaceutical and cosmetics executive and pharmacist, who founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre in 1962. Fabre, a rugby enthusiast, was also the owner of Castres Olympique, a French…
Read More
2013
Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (born 1919)
Khurshed Alam Khan was an Indian politician and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress political party.
Read More
2013
Canadian physician and politician (born 1920)
Augustus Taylor Rowe was a Canadian physician and politician. He served as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Carbonear from 1971 to 1975. He also spent three years as the province's health…
Read More
2013
American journalist and author (born 1920)
Helen Amelia Thomas was an American reporter and author, and a long-serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from the beginning of the…
Read More
2013
American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (born 1923)
Victor George Atiyeh was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Oregon from 1979 to 1987. He was also the first elected governor of Middle Eastern descent and of Syrian and Lebanese descent in the…
Read More
2014
Romanian sculptor and educator (born 1923)
Constantin Lucaci was a Romanian contemporary sculptor, best known for his monumentalist sculptures and his kinetic fountains most made from stainless steel, among which those from the Romanian cities of Reșița and…
Read More
2014
American football player (born 1931)
John Robert McNamara was an American football all-star running back in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the American Football League (AFL).
Read More
2014
German archaeologist and academic (born 1953)
Klaus Schmidt was a German archaeologist and prehistorian who led the excavations at Göbekli Tepe from 1996 to 2014.
Read More
2014
American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1943)
Wayne Carson, sometimes credited as Wayne Carson Thompson, was an American country musician, songwriter, and record producer. He played percussion, piano, guitar, and bass. His most famous songs as a writer include "The…
Read More
2015
2015
Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (born 1944)
Dieter Moebius was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia.
Read More
2015
Romanian actor, director, and essayist (born 1918)
Radu Beligan was a Romanian actor, director, and essayist, with an activity of over 70 years in theatre, film, television, and radio. On 15 December 2013, confirmed by Guinness World Records, the actor received the…
Read More
2016
American singer (born 1976)
Chester Charles Bennington was an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various…
Read More
2017
political commentator (born 1983)
Michael Jamal Brooks was an American talk show host, writer, left-wing political commentator, and comedian. While co-hosting The Majority Report with Sam Seder, he launched The Michael Brooks Show in August 2017 and…
Read More
2020
American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist (born 1943)
Jerry Miller was an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He was also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which…
Read More
2024
American novelist (born 1936)
Jill Schary Robinson was an American novelist, essayist, and teacher. Based in Los Angeles, her memoirs contended with the themes of addiction, recovery, and growing up during the golden age of Hollywood.
Read More
2024
American actor (born 1970)
Malcolm-Jamal Warner was an American actor, musician and poet. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding…
Read More
2025
Advertisement
Notable deaths
Who died on July 20?
Pancho Villa — Mexican revolutionary general and politician (1878–1923)
FeaturedPancho Villa
Death year1923
Known forHe was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, which forced out President and dictator Porfirio Díaz, subsequently ending the Porfiriato, and brought Francisco I
Deaths on this date105 (518 – 2025)
Explore July 20
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on July 20 in History
2021
American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin. Wikipedia →
2019
Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Wikipedia →
2017
See all events on July 20
O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas. Wikipedia →
Advertisement