Notable Deaths on June 6

June 6 has 53 recorded notable deaths across history, from 184 to 2016. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Robert F. Kennedy

1968 — Robert F. Kennedy

American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (born 1925)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 53 source records 184 – 2016

Major events on June 6

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1934 New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Source
  2. 1982 1982 Lebanon War: The war begins as forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. Source

Did you know about Robert F. Kennedy

A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy served as the 64th United States attorney general from 1961 to 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968.

Did you know about Carl Gustav Jung

Widely considered one of the most influential psychologists of all time, Jung's work has fostered not only scholarship, but also popular interest.

Did you know about J. Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty Sr. was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the longtime patriarch of the Getty family.

Did you know about Billy Preston

Additionally, Preston co-wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which became a hit for Joe Cocker.

Did you know about Esther Williams

Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco.


More major people who died on June 6

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

1961 Carl Gustav Jung

Carl Gustav Jung

Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (born 1875)
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. He was a prolific author of over twenty books, illustrator, correspondent, and academic, best known for his concept of archetypes. Widely considered one of the most influential psychologists of all time, Jung's work has fostered not only scholarship, but also popular interest. His work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies.
1976 J. Paul Getty

J. Paul Getty

American businessman, founded the Getty Oil Company (born 1892)
Jean Paul Getty Sr. was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the longtime patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pioneer oilman George Getty. In 1957, Fortune magazine named J. Paul Getty the wealthiest living American, while the 1966 Guinness Book of Records declared him to be the world's wealthiest private citizen, worth an estimated $1.2 billion. At the time of his death, he was worth more than $6 billion. A book published in 1996 ranked him as the 67th wealthiest American who ever lived.
2006 Billy Preston

Billy Preston

American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (born 1946)
William Everett Preston was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Reverend James Cleveland, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. He gained attention as a solo artist with hit singles "That's the Way God Planned It", the Grammy-winning "Outa-Space", "Will It Go Round in Circles", "Space Race", "Nothing from Nothing", and "With You I'm Born Again". Additionally, Preston co-wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which became a hit for Joe Cocker.
2013 Esther Williams

Esther Williams

American swimmer and actress (born 1921)
Esther Jane Williams was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold medal-winner and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. Williams caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, then with Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, and with future five-time co-star Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronised swimming and diving.
1916 Yuan Shikai

Yuan Shikai

Chinese general and politician, 2nd President of the Republic of China (born 1859)
Yuan Shikai was a Chinese general and statesman. As leader of the Beiyang Army, he played a decisive role in securing the abdication of the Qing court. He served as the second provisional president and the first formal president of the Republic of China, with his administration known as the Beiyang government. He declared himself Emperor of the Chinese Empire in December 1915 but was forced to abdicate in March 1916.
1991 Stan Getz

Stan Getz

American saxophonist and jazz innovator (born 1927)
Stan Getz was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as "one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists". Getz performed in bebop and cool jazz groups. Influenced by João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim, he also helped popularize bossa nova in the United States with the hit 1964 single "The Girl from Ipanema".
1861 Camillo Benso

Camillo Benso

Count of Cavour, Italian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (born 1810)
Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri, generally known as the Count of Cavour or simply Cavour, was an Italian politician, statesman, businessman, economist, and noble, and a leading figure in the movement towards Italian unification. He was one of the leaders of the Historical Right and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1852, a position he maintained until his death, throughout the Second Italian War of Independence and Giuseppe Garibaldi's campaigns to unite Italy. After the declaration of a united Kingdom of Italy, Cavour took office as the first Prime Minister of Italy; he died after only three months in office and did not live to see the Roman Question solved through the complete unification of the country after the Capture of Rome in 1870.
2016 Peter Shaffer

Peter Shaffer

English playwright and screenwriter; works included Equus and Amadeus (born 1926)
Sir Peter Levin Shaffer was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. His best-known works are the plays Equus (1973) and Amadeus (1979), both of which earned him the Tony Award for Best Play. They were later adapted for the screen by Shaffer himself in 1977 and 1984, respectively. He was nominated for an Academy Award for both screenplays, winning for Amadeus, which also earned him a Golden Globe Award. Shaffer also earned nominations for two BAFTA Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award.
1982 Kenneth Rexroth

Kenneth Rexroth

American poet and academic (born 1905)
Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine. Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
2009 Jean Dausset

Jean Dausset

French-Spanish immunologist and academic; awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of the genetic basis of immunological reaction (born 1916)
Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset was a French immunologist born in Toulouse, France. Dausset received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell for their discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex. Using the money from his Nobel Prize and a grant from the French Television, Dausset founded the Human Polymorphism Study Center (CEPH) in 1984, which was later renamed the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH in his honour. He married Rose Mayoral in 1963, with whom he had two children, Henri and Irène. Jean Dausset died on June 6, 2009, in Mallorca, Spain, at the age of 92.
1947 James Agate

James Agate

English author and critic (born 1877)
James Evershed Agate was an English diarist and theatre critic between the two world wars. He took up journalism in his late twenties and was on the staff of The Manchester Guardian in 1907–1914. He later became a drama critic for The Saturday Review (1921–1923), The Sunday Times (1923–1947) and the BBC (1925–1932). The nine volumes of Agate's diaries and letters cover the British theatre of his time and non-theatrical interests such as sports, social gossip and private preoccupations with health and finances. He published three novels, translated a play briefly staged in London, and regularly published collections of theatre essays and reviews.
1962 Yves Klein

Yves Klein

French painter (born 1928)
Yves Klein was a French artist and an important figure in postwar European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme, founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein was a pioneer in the development of performance art, and is seen as an inspiration to and as a forerunner of minimal art, as well as pop art. He developed and used International Klein Blue.
1134 Norbert of Xanten

Norbert of Xanten

German bishop and saint (born 1060)
Norbert of Xanten, also known as Norbert Gennep, was a German Catholic bishop who was the Archbishop of Magdeburg, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Norbert was canonized by Pope Gregory XIII in the year 1582, and his statue appears above the Piazza colonnade of St. Peter's Square in Rome.
1962 Tom Phillis

Tom Phillis

Australian motorcycle racer (born 1934)
Thomas Edward Phillis was an Australian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He won the 1961 125cc motorcycle road racing World Championship and was the first person to lap the Isle of Man TT mountain circuit at over 100 mph on a pushrod-engined motorcycle. He was also the first person to win a World Championship motorcycle race on a Japanese machine.
1548 João de Castro

João de Castro

Portuguese soldier and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (born 1500)
Dom João de Castro was a Portuguese nobleman, scientist, writer and colonial administrator, who served as the fourth Portuguese Viceroy of India from 1545 to 1548. He was called Strong Castro by the poet Luís de Camões. De Castro was the second son of Álvaro de Castro, the civil governor of Lisbon. His wife was Leonor Coutinho.
1881 Henri Vieuxtemps

Henri Vieuxtemps

Belgian violinist and composer (born 1820)
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century. He is also known for playing what is now known as the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, a violin of superior workmanship.
1955 Max Meldrum

Max Meldrum

Scottish-Australian painter and educator (born 1875)
Duncan Max Meldrum was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwar period. He also won fame for his portrait work, winning the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1939 and 1940.
2005 Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft

American film actress; winner of the 1963 Academy Award for Best Actress for The Miracle Worker (born 1931)
Anne Bancroft was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
1994 Barry Sullivan

Barry Sullivan

American film actor (born 1912)
Patrick Barry Sullivan was an American actor of film, television, theatre, and radio. In a career that spanned over 40 years, Sullivan appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s, primarily as a leading actor after establishing himself in the industry, and later as a character actor.

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