Notable people who died on June 17 include: Uthman, Adeodatus, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, Tachibana no Kachiko, Fulk.

Notable Deaths on June 17

Q: What is Kate Smith known for?

Kate Smith, American singer (born 1907)

1986 — Kate Smith

American singer (born 1907)

June 17 has seen 103 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 656 – 2021. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · June 17 — Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 103 people 656 – 2021

Did you know

Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith became well known for her renditions of "God Bless America" and "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain"

Did you know

But as Smith became nationally known, she became more identified with the term

Did you know

She began to use the descriptor The Songbird of the South in the late 1920s, while performing on the stage

Did you know

By early 1929, she was being referred to that way on a regular basis: a version of the term, using "from" rather than "of," was seen in newspaper advertisements that promoted her stage performances

Did you know

Sunday Star noted, Smith was not really southern—born in Virginia, she had spent nearly all of her life in the D.C

Uthman

caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate (born 579)

Uthman ibn Affan was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate in Sunni Islam ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656. Uthman, was a second cousin, son-in-law, and senior companion of the Islamic prophet…

656

Adeodatus

pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Adeodatus II, sometimes called Deodatus, was the bishop of Rome from 672 to his death on 17 June 676. He devoted much of his papacy to improving churches and fighting monothelitism.

676

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro

Japanese shōgun (born 758)

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was a court noble, general and shōgun of the early Heian period of Japan. He served as Dainagon, Minister of War and Ukon'e no Taisho. He held the kabane of Ōsukune and the court rank of Junior…

811

Tachibana no Kachiko

Japanese empress (born 786)

Tachibana no Kachiko , also known as Empress Danrin , was a Japanese empress, the chief consort of Emperor Saga and the daughter of Tachibana no Kiyotomo. She was de facto ruler of the empire between 833 and 850.

850

Fulk

French archbishop and chancellor

Fulk the Venerable was archbishop of Reims from 883 until his death. He was a key figure in the political conflicts of the West Frankish kingdom that followed the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire in the late ninth…

900

Bolesław I the Brave

Polish king (born 967)

Bolesław I the Brave, less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025 and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia between 1003 and 1004 as Boleslaus IV. A member of the…

1025

Dirk V

count of Holland (born 1052)

Dirk V was Count of Holland from 1061 to 1091.

1091

Daoji

Chinese buddhist monk (born 1130)

Daoji, popularly known as Jigong, was a Chan Buddhist monk who lived in the Southern Song. He purportedly possessed supernatural powers through Buddhist practice, which he used to help the poor and stand up to…

1207

David of Scotland

8th Earl of Huntingdon

David of Scotland was a Scottish prince and Earl of Huntingdon. He was the grandson of David I and the younger brother of two Scottish kings, Malcolm the Maiden and William the Lion.

1219

Ingeborg of Norway

princess consort and regent of Sweden (born 1301)

Ingeborg of Norway was a Norwegian princess and by marriage a Swedish royal duchess with a position in the regency governments in Norway (1319–1327) and Sweden (1319–1326) during the minority of her son, King Magnus…

1361

Jan of Jenštejn

archbishop of Prague (born 1348)

Jan of Jenštejn was a Bohemian archbishop, composer and poet. From 1379 to 1396 he was the Archbishop of Prague. He studied in Bologna, Padua, Montpellier and Paris.

1400

Catherine of Portugal

Portuguese princess (born 1436)

Infanta Catarina ; was a Portuguese infanta (princess), daughter of King Edward of Portugal and Eleanor of Aragon.

1463

John I Albert

Polish king (born 1459)

John I Albert was King of Poland and Supreme Duke of Lithuania from 1492 to his death and Duke of Głogów from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty and the son of Casimir IV and…

1501

Ashikaga Yoshiteru

Japanese shōgun (born 1536)

Ashikaga Yoshiteru , also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the 13th shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was…

1565

Mumtaz Mahal

Mughal princess (born 1593)

Mumtaz Mahal was the empress of the Mughal Empire from 1628 to 1631 as the chief consort of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned…

1631

Injo of Joseon

Korean king (born 1595)

Injo, personal name Yi Jong, was the 16th monarch of Joseon. He was the eldest son of Prince Jeongwon and a grandson of King Seonjo, and ascended to the throne after leading a coup d'état against his uncle, Gwanghaegun.…

1649

Jijabai

Dowager Queen, mother of Shivaji (born 1598)

Jijabai, was the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Kingdom. She was a daughter of Lakhujirao Jadhav of Sindkhed Raja. He belonged to the lineage of Devagiri Yadavas.

1674

Philip Howard

English cardinal (born 1629)

Philip Howard was an English Roman Catholic cardinal.

1694

John III Sobieski

Polish king (born 1629)

John III Sobieski was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696.

1696

Joseph Addison

English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (born 1672)

Joseph Addison was a British writer and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator…

1719

Claude Louis Hector de Villars

French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (born 1653)

Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis then (1st) Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun was a French military commander and an illustrious general of Louis XIV. He was one of only six Marshals to have…

1734

Sir William Wyndham

3rd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1687)

Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet was a British Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1710 to 1740. He served as Secretary at War in 1712 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1713 during the…

1740

Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

French poet and playwright (born 1674)

Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon was a French poet and tragedian.

1762

Daskalogiannis

Greek rebel leader (born 1722)

Ioannis Vlachos, better known as Daskalogiannis, was a wealthy shipbuilder and shipowner who led a Cretan revolt against Ottoman rule in the 18th century.

1771

John Pitcairn

Scottish-English soldier (born 1722)

Major John Pitcairn was a British military officer. Born in Dysart, Fife, he enlisted in the Chatham Marine Division of the British Naval Service at the age of 23. He served in North America during the French and Indian…

1775

Mohammad Khan Qajar

Persian tribal chief (born 1742)

Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah, was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, ruling as Shah from 1789 to 1797, after reunifying the country and establishing Tehran as its…

1797

Charles Middleton

1st Baron Barham, Scottish-English admiral and politician (born 1726)

Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, PC was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the Seven Years' War. Middleton was given command of a guardship at the Nore, a Royal…

1813

Martín Miguel de Güemes

Argentinian general and politician (born 1785)

Martín Miguel de Güemes was a military leader and popular caudillo who defended northwestern Argentina from the Spanish royalist army during the Argentine War of Independence.

1821

Lord William Bentinck

English general and politician, 14th Governor-General of India (born 1774)

Lieutenant-General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck,, known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British military commander and politician who served as the governor of the Bengal presidency from 1828 to 1834 and the…

1839

Joseph Méry

French poet and author (born 1798)

Joseph Méry was a French writer, journalist, novelist, poet, playwright and librettist.

1866

Lozen

Chiracaua Apache warrior woman (born ~1840)

Lozen was a warrior and prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the Chihenne band during the 1840s, Lozen was, according to legends, able to use her powers…

1889

Edward Burne-Jones

English soldier and painter (born 1833)

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter.

1898

Nikolay Bobrikov

Russian soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (born 1839)

Nikolay Ivanovich Bobrikov was a Russian general and politician. He served as Governor-General of Finland and the Finnish Military District from 29 August [O.S. 17 August] 1898 until his death, during the early reign of…

1904

Julien Félix

French military officer and aviator (born 1869)

Major Julien-Alexandre Félix was the director of manoeuvres in the French Military Aviation School, École militaire de Pau. He set the altitude record on August 5, 1911 in Étampes in France by climbing to 11,330 feet in…

1914

Julius Seljamaa

Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1883)

Julius Friedrich Seljamaa was an Estonian politician, diplomat and journalist. From 1933 to 1936, he was the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

1936

Allen Sothoron

American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1893)

Allen Sutton Sothoron was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. As a player, he was a spitball pitcher who spent 11 years in the major leagues playing for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox,…

1939

Eugen Weidmann

German criminal (born 1908)

Eugen Weidmann was a German criminal and serial killer who was executed by guillotine in France in June 1939, the last public execution in France, an execution witnessed by the 17-year-old Christopher Lee who was…

1939

Arthur Harden

English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865)

Sir Arthur Harden, FRS was a British biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative…

1940

Johan Wagenaar

Dutch organist and composer (born 1862)

Johan Wagenaar was a Dutch composer and organist.

1941

Đorđe Bogić

protopresbyter of the Serbian Orthodox Church, victim of Genocide of Serbs (born 1911)

Georgije Bogić was a Serbian Orthodox protopresbyter and the parish priest of the Orthodox church in Našice; who was martyred by the Ustaše during the Second World War, for which he was canonized as Saint George of…

1941

Charles Fitzpatrick

Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Chief Justice of Canada (born 1853)

Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Justice of Canada, as Chief Justice of Canada and then as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

1942

Jack Parsons

American chemist and engineer (born 1914)

John Whiteside Parsons was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Aerojet. He invented the first rocket…

1952

Danny Cedrone

American guitarist and bandleader (born 1920)

Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954.

1954

Percival Perry

1st Baron Perry, English businessman (born 1878)

Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry, 1st Baron Perry KBE was an English motor vehicle manufacturer who served as chairman of Ford Motor Company Limited in Britain for 20 years from its incorporation in 1928, completing almost…

1956

Paul Rostock

German surgeon and academic (born 1892)

Paul Rostock was a German physician, official, and university professor. He was chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research under Third Reich Commissioner and war criminal Karl Brandt and a full professor,…

1956

Bob Sweikert

American race car driver (born 1926)

Robert Charles Sweikert was an American racing driver, best known as the winner of the 1955 Indianapolis 500 and the 1955 National Championship, as well as the 1955 Midwest Sprint car championship – the only driver in…

1956

Dorothy Richardson

English journalist and author (born 1873)

Dorothy Miller Richardson was a British author and journalist. Author of Pilgrimage, a sequence of 13 semi-autobiographical novels published between 1915 and 1967—though Richardson saw them as chapters of one work—she…

1957

J. R. Williams

Canadian-American cartoonist (born 1888)

James Robert Williams was a Canadian cartoonist who signed his work J. R. Williams. He was best known for his long-run daily syndicated panel Out Our Way. As noted by Coulton Waugh in his 1947 book The Comics, anecdotal…

1957

Jeff Chandler

American actor (born 1918)

Jeff Chandler was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was one of Universal Pictures'…

1961

Aleksander Kesküla

Estonian politician (born 1882)

Aleksander Eduard Kesküla was an Estonian politician and revolutionary.

1963

José Nasazzi

Uruguayan footballer and manager (born 1901)

José Nasazzi Yarza was a Uruguayan footballer who played as a right-back or centre-back. He captained his country when they won the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.

1968

Refik Koraltan

Turkish lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (born 1889)

Refik Koraltan was a Turkish politician, having served as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) from 22 May 1950 to 27 May 1960.

1974

James Phinney Baxter III

American historian and academic (born 1893)

James Phinney Baxter III was an American historian, educator, and academic, who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book Scientists Against Time (1946). He was also the author of The Introduction of the…

1975

Hubert Ashton

English cricketer and politician (born 1898)

Sir Hubert Ashton was an English first-class cricketer, footballer and politician.

1979

Duffy Lewis

American baseball player and manager (born 1888)

George Edward "Duffy" Lewis was an American professional baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and the Washington Senators from 1910 to 1921.

1979

Richard O'Connor

Indian-English general (born 1889)

General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War. He was the…

1981

Zerna Sharp

American author and educator (born 1889)

Zerna Addas Sharp was an American educator and book editor who is best known as the creator of the Dick and Jane series of beginning readers for elementary school-aged children. Published by Scott, Foresman and Company…

1981

Roberto Calvi

Italian banker (born 1920)

Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close business dealings with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of…

1982

Peter Mennin

American composer and educator (born 1923)

Peter Mennin was a prominent American composer, teacher and administrator. In 1958, he was named Director of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and in 1962 became President of the Juilliard School, a position he…

1983

John Boulting

English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1913)

John Edward Boulting and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting, known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and…

1985

Dick Howser

American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1936)

Richard Dalton Howser was an American Major League Baseball shortstop, coach, and manager who was best known as the manager of the Kansas City Royals during the 1980s and for guiding them to the franchise's first World…

1987

Thomas Kuhn

American historian and philosopher (born 1922)

Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was influential in both academic and popular circles, popularizing the term paradigm shift,…

1996

Curt Swan

American illustrator (born 1920)

Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through…

1996

Basil Hume

English cardinal (born 1923)

George Basil Hume was an English Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 until his death in 1999. A member of the Benedictines, he was made a cardinal in 1977.

1999

Ismail Mahomed

South African lawyer and jurist, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (born 1931)

Ismail Mahomed SCOB SC was a South African lawyer and jurist who served as the first non-white Chief Justice of South Africa from January 1997 until his death in June 2000. He was also the Chief Justice of Namibia from…

2000

Donald J. Cram

American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1919)

Donald James Cram was an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of…

2001

Thomas Winning

Scottish cardinal (born 1925)

Thomas Joseph Winning was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death. Winning was…

2001

Willie Davenport

American sprinter and hurdler (born 1943)

William D. Davenport was an American sprint runner.

2002

Fritz Walter

German footballer (born 1920)

Friedrich "Fritz" Walter was a German footballer who spent his entire senior career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He usually played as an attacking midfielder or inside forward. In his time with the Germany and West Germany…

2002

Gerry McNeil

Canadian ice hockey player (born 1926)

Joseph Gerald George McNeil was a professional ice hockey goaltender who won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens between 1947 and 1956.

2004

Bussunda

Brazilian comedian (born 1962)

Cláudio Besserman Vianna, commonly known as Bussunda, was a Brazilian humorist and TV comedian, member of the Casseta & Planeta troupe. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, where he lived and worked, having started his career…

2006

Gianfranco Ferré

Italian fashion designer (born 1944)

Gianfranco Ferré was an Italian fashion designer also known as "the architect of fashion" for his background and his original attitude toward creating fashion design.

2007

Serena Wilson

American dancer and choreographer (born 1933)

Serena Wilson, often known just as "Serena", was a well-known dancer, choreographer, and teacher who helped popularize belly dance in the United States. Serena's work also helped legitimize the dance form and helped it…

2007

Cyd Charisse

American actress and dancer (born 1922)

Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.

2008

Ralf Dahrendorf

German-English sociologist and politician (born 1929)

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and analysing…

2009

Darrell Powers

American sergeant (born 1923)

Darrell Cecil "Shifty" Powers was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Powers was portrayed in the HBO…

2009

Rex Mossop

Australian rugby player and sportscaster (born 1928)

Rex Peers "Moose" Mossop was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – a dual-code international, and an Australian television personality from 1964 until 1991.

2011

Stéphane Brosse

French mountaineer (born 1971)

Stéphane Brosse was a French ski mountaineer.

2012

Patricia Brown

American baseball player (born 1931)

Patricia Irene Brown was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5' 5", 135 lb., she batted and threw right handed.

2012

Nathan Divinsky

Canadian mathematician and chess player (born 1925)

Nathan Joseph Harry Divinsky was a Canadian mathematician, university professor, chess master, writer, and politician. Divinsky was also known for being the former husband of the 19th Prime minister of Canada, Kim…

2012

Rodney King

American victim of police brutality (born 1965)

Rodney Glen King was an African American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for…

2012

Fauzia Wahab

Pakistani actress and politician (born 1956)

Fauzia Wahab was a Pakistani politician who served as the senior ex officio member and the secretary-general of the central executive committee of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

2012

Michael Baigent

New Zealand-English theorist and author (born 1948)

Michael Baigent was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is known best as a co-author of the book The Holy Blood and the…

2013

Atiqul Haque Chowdhury

Bangladeshi playwright and producer (born 1930)

Atiqul Haque Chowdhury was a prominent media personality in Bangladesh. He significantly contributed to the development of Bangladesh television and radio.

2013

Pierre F. Côté

Canadian lawyer and civil servant (born 1927)

Pierre-Ferdinand Côté, was a Canadian civil servant and lawyer. Côté served as the first Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec from 1978 until 1997. The Chief Electoral Officer is the official responsible for the…

2013

Bulbs Ehlers

American basketball player (born 1923)

Edwin Sheffield "Bulbs" Ehlers was an American professional basketball player. Standing 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) and weighing 198 pounds (90 kg), he played the Shooting Guard positions. Ehlers was drafted third overall in the…

2013

James Holshouser

American politician, 68th Governor of North Carolina (born 1934)

James Eubert Holshouser Jr. was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 68th Governor of North Carolina from 1973 to 1977. He was the first Republican candidate to be elected as governor of the state since…

2013

Patsy Byrne

English actress (born 1933)

Patricia Anne Thirza Byrne was an English actress, best known for her role as "Nursie" in Blackadder II as well as Malcolm's domineering Mother, Mrs Stoneway in all seven series of the ITV comedy Watching between 1987…

2014

Éric Dewailly

Canadian epidemiologist and academic (born 1954)

Éric Dewailly was a Canadian epidemiologist and medical researcher from Quebec. He was particularly notable for his research into human toxicology and the effect of contaminants on the environment in the Arctic. A…

2014

Stanley Marsh 3

American businessman and philanthropist (born 1938)

Stanley Marsh 3 was an American artist, businessman, philanthropist, and prankster from Amarillo, Texas. He is perhaps best known for having been the sponsor of the Cadillac Ranch, an unusual public art installation off…

2014

Arnold S. Relman

American physician and academic (born 1923)

Arnold Seymour Relman — known as Bud Relman to intimates — was an American internist and professor of medicine and social medicine. He was editor of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from 1977 to 1991, where he…

2014

Larry Zeidel

Canadian-American ice hockey player and sportscaster (born 1928)

Lazarus "Larry The Rock" Zeidel was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman, most notably for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, for whom he played nine seasons, and in the National Hockey League for…

2014

Ron Clarke

Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (born 1937)

Ronald William Clarke was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for setting seventeen…

2015

John David Crow

American football player and coach (born 1935)

John David Crow Sr. was an American professional football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback playing for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played in…

2015

Süleyman Demirel

Turkish engineer and politician, 9th President of Turkey (born 1924)

Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel was a Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the president of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the prime minister of Turkey seven times between 1965 and…

2015

Roberto M. Levingston

Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (born 1920)

Roberto Marcelo Levingston Laborda was an Argentine Army general who was the 36th President of Argentina from 1970 to 1971. His presidency was marked by a protectionist economic policy amid the country's financial…

2015

Clementa C. Pinckney

American minister and politician (born 1973)

Clementa "Clem" Carlos Pinckney was an American politician and pastor who served as a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his assassination in 2015. He was…

2015

Baldwin Lonsdale

president of Vanuatu (born 1948)

Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale was a Vanuatuan politician and Anglican priest who served as the president of Vanuatu from 22 September 2014 until his death in 2017.

2017

Gloria Vanderbilt

American artist, author actress, fashion designer, heiress and socialite (born 1924)

Gloria Laura Vanderbilt was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite.

2019

Mohamed Morsi

Egyptian professor and politician, first elected president of Egypt after Egyptian revolution (born 1951)

Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-Ayyat was an Egyptian politician, engineer, and professor who served as the 5th president of Egypt from 2012 to 2013, when General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi removed him from office in a coup…

2019

Jean Kennedy Smith

American activist, humanitarian, author and diplomat (United States Ambassador to Ireland, 1993–1998) (born 1928)

Jean Ann Kennedy Smith was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. A member of the Kennedy family, Kennedy was the eighth of nine…

2020

Kenneth Kaunda

Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (born 1924)

Kenneth Kaunda, also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the campaign for independence from the British Empire, though he would…

2021

Notable deaths

Who died on June 17?

Kate Smith — American contralto (1907–1986)

FeaturedKate Smith

Death year1986

Known forReferred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith became well known for her renditions of "God Bless America" and "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain"

Deaths on this date103 (656 – 2021)

Explore June 17

Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.

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2021

Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Wikipedia →

2017

A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. Wikipedia →

2015

Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Wikipedia →

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1986 — Kate Smith

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