Did you know
Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004
Notable Deaths on March 14
71 people
840 – 2025
March 14 has seen 71 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 840 – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2016 — Suranimala Rajapaksha
Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (born 1949)
Did you know
He was also appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015
Did you know
Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha was a Sri Lankan politician
Did you know
At the time of his death he acted as the special envoy (representative) to the Prime Minister
Did you know
His younger son Kanishka Rajapaksha was also appointed as the Coordinating Assistant to the Prime Minister after the death of Rajapaksha
840
Saxon queen (born c. 896)
Matilda of Ringelheim, also known as Saint Matilda, was a Saxon noblewoman who became queen of Germany. Her husband, Henry the Fowler, was the first king from the Ottonian dynasty, and their eldest son, Otto the Great,…
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968
English writer, the author of Le Morte d'Arthur
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of Le Morte d'Arthur, the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular…
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1471
1st Earl of Bedford (born 1485)
John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, was an English royal minister in the Tudor era. He served variously as Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal. Among the lands and property he was given by Henry VIII after the…
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1555
Prince of Orange (born 1584)
Frederick Henry was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from his older half-brother's death on 23 April 1625 until his death on 14…
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1647
2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (born 1584)
Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was an English politician and army officer who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He was a commander in the Parliamentarian army in the…
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1648
1696
Swedish statesman (born 1622)
Claes Rålamb was a Swedish statesman. In 1660 he was appointed Governor of Uppland County and in 1664 he served in the Privy Council. Between 1673 and 1678, he served as the Governor of Stockholm.
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1698
Irish field marshal and politician (born 1673)
Field Marshal George Wade was a British army officer and politician who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance. He went on to be a…
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1748
British admiral and politician, 11th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (born 1704)
Admiral of the Blue John Byng was a Royal Navy officer and politician who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro…
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1757
German historian and critic (born 1725)
Johann Salomo Semler was a German church historian, biblical commentator, and critic of ecclesiastical documents and of the history of dogmas. He is sometimes known as "the father of German rationalism".
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1791
German poet (born 1724)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was a German poet. His best known works are the epic poem Der Messias and the poem Die Auferstehung, with the latter set to music in the finale of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2. One of his…
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1803
3rd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1735)
Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He is one of a handful of dukes who have served as prime minister.
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1811
French general and politician, French Minister of War (born 1739)
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French military officer, minister of Foreign Affairs, minister of War in a Girondin cabinet and army general during the French Revolutionary War. Dumouriez is one of the names…
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1823
Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (born 1802)
Karl Ritter von Ghega or Karl von Ghega was an Austrian-Albanian nobleman and the designer of the Semmering Railway from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag. During his time, he was the most prominent of Austrian railway…
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1860
Argentinian general and politician, 17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (born 1793)
Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio, nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Born…
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1877
1883
Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finances (born 1827)
Quintino Sella was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer.
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1884
Bernard Ryan was one of six men hanged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin on 14 March 1921. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and part of the Dublin Brigade's Active Service Unit. He was one of The Forgotten…
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1921
Charlie Daly, born in Castlemaine, County Kerry, was the second son of Con. W. Daly, of Knockaneacoolteen, Firies, County Kerry. He went to school, first to Ballyfinnane National School, and later to the Christian…
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1923
Finnish politician (born 1876)
Anders Anshelm Kannisto was a Finnish trade unionist and politician who was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1907 to 1911. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Mikkeli Province. A member of…
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1930
American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (born 1854)
George Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography,…
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1932
American historian (born 1861)
Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thesis. He…
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1932
Swedish mathematician (born 1863)
Lars Edvard Phragmén was a Swedish mathematician who made contributions to complex analysis, voting theory, and actuarial science. He succeeded Sofia Kovalevskaia as professor of mathematical analysis at Stockholm…
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1937
English historian (born 1887)
Charles Robert Mowbray Fraser Cruttwell was a British historian and academic who served as dean and later principal of Hertford College, Oxford. His field of expertise was modern European history, his most notable work…
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1941
Czechoslovak Communist politician and 4th President of Czechoslovakia (born 1896)
Klement Gottwald was a Czech communist revolutionary and politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953 – titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman…
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1953
Cypriot activist (born 1938)
Evagoras Pallikarides was a Greek-Cypriot poet and revolutionary who was a member of EOKA during the anticolonial 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus. He was arrested on 18 December 1956 while transporting…
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1957
American tennis player (born 1879)
Marion Jones Farquhar was an American tennis player. She won the women's singles titles at the 1899 and 1902 U.S. Championships. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.
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1965
German historian and academic (born 1892)
Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian whose work represents a high point in the modern academic study of iconography, including his hugely influential Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art and his seminal Early…
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1968
1969
American computer scientist and engineer (born 1900)
Howard Hathaway Aiken was an American physicist and a pioneer in computing. He was the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I, the United States' first programmable computer.
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1973
American cartoonist (born 1901)
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name and signature.…
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1973
American actress (born 1917)
Susan Hayward was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories.
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1975
American director and choreographer (born 1895)
Berkeley William Enos, known professionally as Busby Berkeley, was an American film director and musical choreographer, best known for his collaboration with Warner Brothers in the early to mid-1930s. Berkeley devised…
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1976
American activist and philanthropist (born 1917)
Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting and women's rights activist, community organizer, and leader of the civil rights movement. She was the vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the…
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1977
Australian businessman (born 1908)
Francis Gerard McEncroe was an Australian publican, caterer, dairy farmer and food manufacturer. He is known for his invention of the Australian fast food phenomenon that became known as the Chiko Roll.
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1979
Indonesian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Indonesia (born 1902)
Mohammad Hatta was an Indonesian statesman, nationalist, and independence activist who served as the country's first vice president as well as the third prime minister. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of…
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1980
Spanish environmentalist (born 1928)
Félix Samuel Rodríguez de la Fuente was a Spanish naturalist and broadcaster. He is best known for the highly successful and influential television series El Hombre y la Tierra (1974–1980). A graduate in medicine and…
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1980
1984
Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (born 1892)
Zita of Bourbon-Parma was the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, in addition to other titles. She ascended to these titles when her husband, Charles I, became the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. She was…
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1989
American playwright and composer (born 1950)
Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright, lyricist, and stage director. He is most widely known for his work on feature films for Walt Disney Animation Studios, for which Ashman wrote the lyrics and Alan Menken…
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1991
Irish Republican, political activist and Hunger Striker (born 1899)
Sheila Humphreys, also known as Sighle Humphreys, was an Irish republican and member of Cumann na mBan.
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1994
American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)
William Alfred Fowler (August 9, 1911 – March 14, 1995) was an American astrophysicist. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in…
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1995
Austrian-American director and producer (born 1907)
Alfred Zinnemann was an Austrian and American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Austria-Hungary and educated in France and Germany, Zinnemann began his career in Europe before emigrating to the US,…
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1997
1999
American author (born 1913)
John Broome, who additionally used the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Meritt, was an American comic book writer for DC Comics. Along with Gil Kane, he co-created the supervillain Sinestro and the Green Lantern Guy…
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1999
Canadian-American painter (born 1945)
Jack Goldstein was a Canadian born, California and New York-based performance and conceptual artist turned post-conceptual painter in the 1980s.
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2003
French engineer and businessman (born 1928)
Jean-Luc Lagardère was a French businessman, CEO of the Lagardère Group, one of the largest French conglomerates.
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2003
Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (born 1929)
Lennart Georg Meri was an Estonian writer, film director, and statesman. He was the country's foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 and President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001.
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2006
French educator and activist (born 1912)
Lucie Samuel, known as Lucie Aubrac, was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A history teacher by occupation, she earned a history agrégation in 1938, a highly uncommon achievement for a woman at that…
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2007
Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (born 1920)
Chiara Lubich was an Italian teacher and Catholic author who founded the Focolare Movement, which aims to bring unity among people and promote universal family.
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2008
American actor (born 1926)
Peter Graves was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973 and in its revival from 1988 to 1990. His elder brother was actor James Arness. Graves also…
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2010
French director and screenwriter (born 1928)
Pierre Schoendoerffer was a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician. He was president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts…
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2012
Maltese general and politician, 4th President of Malta (born 1913)
Vincent "Ċensu" Tabone, was the fourth president of Malta who also served as Minister and Nationalist MP.
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2012
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1930)
Jack Henry Greene was an American country musician. Nicknamed the "Jolly Greene Giant" due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Greene is…
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2013
Armenian poet and author (born 1936)
Aramais Sahakyan was an Armenian poet, humorist, publicist and translator.
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2013
Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, Cambodian Minister for Foreign Affairs (born 1925)
Ieng Sary was the co-founder and a senior member of the Khmer Rouge and one of the main architects of the Cambodian genocide. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea led by Pol Pot…
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2013
English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (born 1925)
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member…
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2014
2014
German-American metallurgist and academic (born 1928)
John Werner Cahn was an American scientist and recipient of the 1998 National Medal of Science. Born in Cologne, Weimar Germany, he was a professor in the department of metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of…
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2016
English composer and conductor (born 1934)
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
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2016
2018
Brazilian politician and human rights activist (born 1979)
Marielle Franco was a Brazilian politician, sociologist, feminist, socialist and human rights activist. Franco served as a city councillor of the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro for the Socialism and Liberty Party…
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2018
English physicist and author (born 1942)
Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he…
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2018
Irish uileann piper (born 1945)
Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn was an Irish uilleann piper and Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Kate Bush, Mark…
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2018
American skateboarder and Thrasher editor-in-chief (born 1962)
James Kendall "Jake" Phelps was an American skateboarder and magazine editor. Phelps led the magazine Thrasher as editor-in-chief for 27 years.
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2019
British motorsport director (born 1952)
Charles Whiting was a British mechanic. He served as the FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Technical Department, in which capacities he managed the logistics of each F1…
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2019
Canadian politician (born 1928)
Douglas Haig Young was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Harbour Grace in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1972 to 1989. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative…
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2019
American wrestler (born 1958)
Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Razor…
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2022
United States senator from Wyoming (born 1931)
Alan Kooi Simpson was an American politician from Wyoming. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives representing Park County, Wyoming from 1965 to 1977 and as a…
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2025
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March 14 in the Blog
Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Announcement - March 14, 1915
1915 Theory of General Relativity announced in Berlin, Germany, revolutionizing physics
Read the full storyNotable deaths
Who died on March 14?
Suranimala Rajapaksha — Sri Lankan politician
FeaturedSuranimala Rajapaksha
Death year2016
Known forRajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004
Deaths on this date71 (840 – 2025)
Explore March 14
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on March 14 in History
2021
Burmese security forces kill at least 65 civilians in the Hlaingthaya massacre. Wikipedia →
2019
Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1,000 deaths. Wikipedia →
2017
See all events on March 14
A naming ceremony for the chemical element nihonium takes place in Tokyo, with then Crown Prince Naruhito in attendance. Wikipedia →
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