Did you know
He was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date
Notable Deaths on July 5
90 people
905 – 2024
July 5 has seen 90 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 905 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2006 — Kenneth Lay
American businessman (born 1942)
Did you know
Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing
Did you know
Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial
Did you know
Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron
Did you know
A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease
905
905
905
905
905
936
967
Icelandic bishop (born 1006)
Ísleifur Gissurarson, an Icelandic clergyman, became the first bishop of Iceland, following the adoption of Christianity in 1000 AD.
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1080
German abbot
William of Hirsau was a Benedictine abbot and monastic reformer. He was abbot of Hirsau Abbey, for whom he created the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses, based on the uses of Cluny, and was the father of the Hirsau Reforms,…
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1091
1316
French nobleman (born 1337)
Charles III of Alençon was a French nobleman of the Capetian House of Valois. He was count of Alençon and Perche from 1346 until 1361, when he became a Dominican friar, and archbishop of Lyon from 1365 until his death.
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1375
Ottoman prince and co-ruler
Musa Çelebi was an Ottoman prince and a co-ruler of the empire for three years during the Ottoman Interregnum.
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1413
1507
Italian saint (born 1502)
Anthony Maria Zaccaria, CRSP was an Italian Catholic priest and early leader of the Counter-Reformation. He was the founder of the Barnabites and a promoter of devotion to the Passion of Christ and the Eucharist and of…
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1539
1st Baronet
Sir Hugh Speke, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1661.
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1661
1666
Swedish field marshal and politician (born 1613)
Fältmarskalk Carl Gustaf Wrangel was a Swedish statesman and military commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War, as well as the Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars.
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1676
1715
3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (born 1641)
General Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, 1st Duke of Leinster, KG, was a German-born military officer and peer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1691. He spent the majority of his military…
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1719
Portuguese historian and philologist (born 1719)
Francisco José Freire was a Portuguese historian and philologist.
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1773
English admiral and politician (born 1744)
Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, was a Royal Navy officer and politician. Cornwallis took part in a number of decisive battles including the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, when he was 14, and the Battle of the Saintes but…
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1819
English politician, founded Singapore (born 1782)
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles was a British colonial official who served as the governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. Raffles was…
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1826
French inventor, created the first known photograph (born 1765)
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor and one of the pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving products of a photographic process. In the…
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1833
French physicist and engineer (born 1777)
Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour was a French engineer and physicist.
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1859
German geologist and paleontologist (born 1800)
Heinrich Georg Bronn was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was the first to translate Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species into German in 1860, although not without introducing his own interpretations, as…
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1862
Confederate general (born 1817)
Lewis Addison Armistead was a career United States Army officer who became a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. On July 3, 1863, as part of Pickett's Charge during the Battle…
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1863
1884
1908
German painter and sculptor (born 1857)
Max Klinger was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of graphic arts and printmaking in…
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1920
German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853)
Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel was a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his work in determining the chemical…
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1927
American sergeant (born 1897)
William Henry Johnson, commonly known as Henry Johnson, was a United States Army soldier who performed heroically in the first African American unit of the United States Army to engage in combat in World War I. On watch…
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1929
Russian poet and author (born 1880)
Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg, better known as Sasha Chorny or Cherny, was a Russian poet, satirist and children's writer.
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1932
Swiss captain and sailor (born 1870)
Bernard Alexandre George Edmond de Pourtalès was a Swiss infantry captain and sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
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1935
American golfer (born 1884)
Daniel Edward "Ned" Sawyer was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.
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1937
Polish actor (born 1880)
Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski was a Polish stage and film actor. He was a legendary figure in Polish cinema who had appeared in the earliest Polish films in 1902. Junosza-Stępowski was killed while trying to protect his…
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1943
Swedish actress, director, and producer (born 1873)
Karin Swanström was a Swedish actress, producer and director.
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1943
Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1885)
John Curtin was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most notable…
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1945
French soldier and author (born 1888)
Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defeatism. He…
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1948
American actress (born 1919)
Carole Landis was an American actress. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C. from United Artists. She was…
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1948
Dutch politician (born 1871)
Petrus Josephus Mattheus "Piet" Aalberse Sr. was a Dutch politician of the General League of Roman Catholic Electoral Associations, later the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic…
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1948
English swimmer and water polo player (born 1872)
Thomas William Burgess was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the English Channel after Matthew Webb, following sixteen attempts. Burgess was British but spent most of his life in France, and won a…
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1950
Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar (born 1887)
Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian, and one of the architects of modern Bihar. He served as the first Deputy Chief Minister…
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1957
Dominican race car driver, polo player, and diplomat (born 1909)
Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza was a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier and polo player. He was a supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was rumored to be a political assassin under his regime. Rubirosa made his…
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1965
Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1885)
George Charles de Hevesy was a Hungarian radiochemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of radioactive tracers to study chemical processes such as in the…
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1966
German pianist and educator (born 1884)
Wilhelm Backhaus was a German pianist and pedagogue. He was particularly well known for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. He was also much admired as a chamber musician.
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1969
German architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and Werkbund Exhibition (born 1883)
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of Bauhaus in Weimar and…
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1969
Kenyan politician, 1st Kenyan Minister of Justice (born 1930)
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He led the negotiations for…
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1969
American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1898)
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, including the critically acclaimed Duck Soup, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Going My Way, The…
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1969
Italian soprano and actress (born 1892)
Gilda Dalla Rizza was an important Italian soprano.
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1975
American soccer player and referee (born 1910)
Walter John Giesler was an American soccer administrator, and coach best known for coaching the United States men's national soccer team in the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
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1976
American trumpet player and actor (born 1916)
Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but shortly…
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1983
Canadian politician, 2nd Mayor of Mississauga (born 1914)
Charles Myron "Chic" Murray was a Canadian politician who served as the second Mayor of the Town of Mississauga, before it amalgamated with several surrounding towns to form the current City of Mississauga.
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1984
American poet and essayist (born 1920)
Howard Nemerov was an American poet. Nemerov was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of English and Distinguished Poet in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He was twice Poet…
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1991
Estonian actor and screenwriter (born 1919)
Jüri Järvet, born Georgi Kuznetsov, was an Estonian actor.
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1995
Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (born 1936)
Arunasalam Thangathurai was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.
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1997
American football player (born 1916)
Sidney Luckman was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his 12 seasons with the Bears, he led them to four…
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1998
Mexican actress (born 1924)
María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García, known professionally as Katy Jurado, was a Mexican actress. She followed in the footsteps of earlier Mexican actresses in Hollywood, including Dolores Del Rio, Lupe Velez,…
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2002
American baseball player and manager (born 1918)
Theodore Samuel Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960;…
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2002
Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (born 1923)
Hugh Lawson Shearer was a Jamaican trade unionist and politician, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1967 to 1972. He was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade…
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2004
American race car driver and sportscaster (born 1921)
Rodger Morris Ward was an American racing driver best known for his open-wheel career. He is generally regarded as one of the finest drivers of his generation, and is best known for winning two National Championships,…
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2004
American admiral (born 1923)
James Bond Stockdale was a U.S. Navy vice admiral, aviator, and Stoic philosopher who received the Medal of Honor in 1976 for his leadership as a POW for more than seven years during the Vietnam War.
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2005
Swedish canoe racer (born 1919)
Gert Fridolf Fredriksson was a Swedish sprint canoeist. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won eight medals including six golds, one silver, and one bronze. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Fredriksson was head…
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2006
Indian poet and scholar (born 1924)
Thirunalloor Karunakaran was a poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India.
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2006
American actress (born 1919)
Amzie Ellen Strickland was an American character actress who began in radio, made some 650 television appearances, had roles in two dozen films, appeared in numerous television movies, and also worked in TV commercials.
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2006
French soprano (born 1927)
Régine Crespin was a French soprano who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano…
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2007
English singer-songwriter and critic (born 1926)
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for The Observer; he also lectured on art history, with an emphasis on…
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2007
Turkish businessman (born 1956)
Hasan Doğan was the 37th president of the Turkish Football Federation. He died of a heart attack in Bodrum, a popular tourist destination in the southwest Turkish Riviera, where he was on vacation. He was incumbent for…
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2008
Canadian ice hockey player and radio host (born 1965)
Robert Alan Probert was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Probert played for the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. While a successful player by some measures, including being…
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2010
American-Italian painter, sculptor, and photographer (born 1928)
Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. was an American painter, sculptor, and photographer.
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2011
2012
Dutch author, poet, and playwright (born 1944)
Gerrit Jan Komrij was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s, writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his…
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2012
Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, English businessman and politician (born 1933)
Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords.
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2012
Dutch actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938)
Ruud van Hemert was a Dutch film director known especially for (dark) comedy. In the 1970s he helped produce and direct TV shows on VPRO before starting a career as a film director.
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2012
2013
American politician, 22nd Governor of New Mexico (born 1929)
David Francis Cargo was an American attorney and politician who served as the 22nd governor of New Mexico between 1967 and 1971.
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2013
American engineer, first African-American man to graduate from Oregon State University (born 1925)
William Henry Tebeau in 1948 became the first African-American man to graduate from Oregon State College (OSU). He was an engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for 36 years. A residence hall at OSU…
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2013
South African admiral (born 1939)
Vice Admiral Lambert Jackson Woodburne was Chief of the South African Navy from 1 July 1990 to 31 August 1992. He is one of only two people to have been awarded the Van Riebeeck Decoration, which he received for Special…
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2013
American actress (born 1925)
Rosemary Murphy was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her stage work, as well as two Emmy Awards for television work, winning once, for her performance in…
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2014
Ukrainian metropolitan (born 1935)
Metropolitan Vladimir was the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of Ukraine in the Patriarchate of Moscow, and, ex officio, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) from 1992 to 2014. He was styled "His…
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2014
German historian and academic (born 1931)
Hans-Ulrich Wehler was a German left-liberal historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th-century Germany.
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2014
American soccer player (born 1983)
Brett Valenciano Wiesner was an American soccer player.
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2014
Danish mathematician and academic (born 1949)
Uffe Valentin Haagerup was a mathematician from Denmark.
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2015
Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921)
Yoichiro Nambu was a Japanese-American physicist and professor at the University of Chicago.
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2015
Canadian actor and singer (born 1978)
Nicholas Eduardo Alberto Cordero was a Canadian actor and singer. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Cheech in the 2014 Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway and…
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2020
Italian singer, dancer, television presenter and actress (born 1943)
Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni, known professionally as Raffaella Carrà and sometimes mononymously as Raffaella, was an Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model. Widely considered a pop culture…
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2021
American film director (born 1930)
Richard Donner was an American filmmaker. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the most financially successful films of the 1970s and 1980s. His career…
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2021
American film producer (born 1960)
Jon Landau was an American film producer. Best known for his collaborations with filmmaker James Cameron, he co-produced Cameron's Titanic (1997)—for which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture—as well as Cameron's…
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2024
Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934)
Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson was a Swedish biochemist. He shared with Sune K. Bergström and John R. Vane the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances.
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2024
2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on July 5?
Kenneth Lay — Founder of Enron Corporation (1942–2006)
FeaturedKenneth Lay
Death year2006
Known forHe was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date
Deaths on this date90 (905 – 2024)
Explore July 5
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on July 5 in History
2024
Keir Starmer is appointed Prime Minister by Charles III, becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown in 2010 and the first one to win a general election since Tony Blair at the 2005 general election Wikipedia →
2023
The last Ariane 5 rocket is launched, carrying the Heinrich Hertz and Syracuse 4B satellites. Wikipedia →
2022
See all events on July 5
British government ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resign from the second Johnson ministry, beginning the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis. Wikipedia →
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