Notable Deaths on March 15

Q: Who died on March 15?

Notable people who died on March 15 include: Julius Caesar, Cao Cao, Odoacer, Romanos II, Siegfried I (the Older).

Q: What is Kazim al-Samawi known for?

Kazim al-Samawi, Iraqi poet (born 1925)

2010 — Kazim al-Samawi

Iraqi poet (born 1925)

March 15 has seen 86 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 44 BC – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · March 15 — Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 86 people 44 BC – 2025

Did you know

Al-Samawi published his first poetry collection in 1950 and was as a result was persecuted by the Nuri al-Said government

Did you know

From the 1950s, he spent more than half of his life in exile as a political refuge and was known by title "The Elder of the Iraqi exiles" or "The Shaykh of Exiles"

Did you know

He studied in Baghdad and graduated from the Rural Teachers’ House in 1940, continued his higher studies in Hungary and graduated from the Faculty of Arts in 1956

Did you know

He worked for a while in journalism in Baghdad with a progressive tendency, founded The Humanity in 1956, a twice-weekly leftist newspaper

Did you know

Al-Samawi died at the age of 85 in Stockholm and was buried in Sulaymaniyah.

Julius Caesar

Roman general and statesman (born 100 BC)

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the…

-44

Cao Cao

Chinese general, warlord and statesman

Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty, ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation…

220

Odoacer

first king of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (born 433)

Odoacer, also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who was an officer of the Roman army and deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus to become the…

493

Romanos II

Byzantine emperor

Romanos II was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His wife Theophano helped their sons Basil II and…

963

Siegfried I (the Older)

German nobleman

Siegfried I the Elder, Count of Walbeck and Möckerngau, son of Lothar II the Old, Count of Walbeck, and Mathilde von Arneburg.

990

Ernulf

Bishop of Rochester

Ernulf was a French Benedictine monk who became prior of Christ Church in Canterbury, abbot of Peterborough, and bishop of Rochester in England. A jurist and an architect as well, he was responsible for greatly…

1124

Isabella of Hainault

queen of Philip II of France (born 1170)

Isabella of Hainault was a Queen of France as the first wife of King Philip II. She was also formally ruling Countess of Artois de jure between 1180 and 1190.

1190

Walter V

Count of Brienne

Walter V of Brienne was Duke of Athens from 1308 until his death. The only son of Hugh of Brienne and Isabella de la Roche, he was the heir to large estates in France, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Peloponnese. Between…

1311

Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha

Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1493)

Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, was the first grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire appointed by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

1536

Annibale Padovano

Italian organist and composer (born 1527)

Annibale Padovano was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance Venetian School. He was one of the earliest developers of the keyboard toccata.

1575

Salvator Rosa

Italian painter and poet (born 1615)

Salvator Rosa is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticised landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the…

1673

Eusebio Kino

Italian priest and missionary (born 1645)

Eusebio Francisco Kino, SJ, often referred to as Father Kino, was an Italian Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer born in the Bishopric of Trent, Holy Roman Empire.

1711

Clement Mary Hofbauer

Austrian priest and saint (born 1751)

Clement Mary Hofbauer was a Moravian hermit and later a priest of the Redemptorist congregation. He established his congregation, founded in Italy, north of the Alps. For this, he is considered a co-founder of the…

1820

Luigi Cherubini

Italian composer and theorist (born 1760)

Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest living composer…

1842

Johan Jakob Nervander

Finnish poet, physicist and meteorologist (born 1805)

Johan Jakob Nervander was a Finnish poet, physicist, and meteorologist.

1848

Joseph Bazalgette

English engineer and academic (born 1819)

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB was a British civil engineer. As Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of the London Main Drainage, the sewerage system for…

1891

James Joseph Sylvester

English mathematician and academic (born 1814)

James Joseph Sylvester was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership role in American…

1897

Henry Bessemer

English engineer and businessman (born 1813)

Sir Henry Bessemer was an English inventor, whose steel-making process was the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years. He played a significant role in…

1898

Talaat Pasha

Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1874)

Mehmed Talât Pasha, commonly known as Talaat Pasha or Talat Pasha, was a Turkish activist, revolutionary, politician, and convicted war criminal who served as the de facto leader of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1918.…

1921

Sam Dreben

American soldier and mercenary (born 1878)

Samuel Dreben, sometimes misspelled "Drebben" or "Drebin", and known as "The Fighting Jew", was a highly decorated soldier in the US Army and a mercenary who fought in a variety of wars and revolutions.

1925

Hector Rason

English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of Western Australia (born 1858)

Sir Cornthwaite Hector William James Rason, better known as Hector Rason, was the seventh Premier of Western Australia.

1927

H. P. Lovecraft

American short story writer, editor, and novelist (born 1890)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American writer of weird, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos, but his legacy is also apparent in terms like "Lovecraftian…

1937

Alexej von Jawlensky

Russian-German painter (born 1864)

Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky, surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expressionist painter active in Germany. He was a key member of the New Munich Artist's Association, Der Blaue Reiter group, and later…

1941

Rachel Field

American author and poet (born 1894)

Rachel Lyman Field was an American novelist, poet, and children's fiction writer. She is best known for her work Hitty, Her First Hundred Years. Field also won a National Book Award, a Newbery Honor award and two of her…

1942

Imanuel Lauster

German engineer (born 1873)

Imanuel Lauster was a German engineer and businessman, who worked for Rudolf Diesel and drew up Diesel’s design for the first Diesel engine, Motor 250/400. He also served as the head of M.A.N.'s board of directors from…

1948

Lester Young

American saxophonist and clarinet player (born 1909)

Lester Willis Young, nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.

1959

Arthur Compton

American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892)

Arthur Holly Compton was an American physicist who shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics with C. T. R. Wilson for his discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic…

1962

Abe Saperstein

American basketball player and coach (born 1902)

Abraham Michael Saperstein was the founder, owner and earliest coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. Saperstein was a leading figure in black basketball and baseball from the 1920s through the 1950s, primarily before those…

1966

Miles Malleson

English actor and screenwriter (born 1888)

William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, best remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Toward the end of his career, he also appeared in cameo roles in several…

1969

Tarjei Vesaas

Norwegian author and poet (born 1897)

Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II.

1970

Aristotle Onassis

Greek-Argentinian businessman (born 1906)

Aristotle Socrates Onassis was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was married to Athina Mary…

1975

Hubert Aquin

Canadian author and activist (born 1929)

Hubert Aquin was a Quebec writer, filmmaker and intellectual. He is particularly known for his novel Next Episode. He is also an important figure in the history of the Quebec independence movement, to which he…

1977

Antonino Rocca

Italian-American wrestler and referee (born 1921)

Antonino Biasetton was an Italian-Argentine professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Antonino Rocca. He innovated the "high-flying" style of wrestling in the United States, and was best known for his work…

1977

René Clair

French director and screenwriter (born 1898)

René Clair, born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films which often featured fantasy comedy themes. He went on to make…

1981

Philip Testa

Italian-American mobster (born 1924)

Philip Charles Testa, also known as "The Chicken Man", was an Italian-American mobster known for his brief leadership of the Philadelphia crime family of the Italian-American Mafia. He became boss of the Philadelphia…

1981

Rebecca West

English author and critic (born 1892)

Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield, known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books for The Times, the…

1983

Alan A. Freeman

English record producer (born 1920)

Alan Albert Freeman, known professionally as Alan A. Freeman was an English record producer who worked with Petula Clark, Max Miller, Tony Hancock, Nöel Coward, Morecambe and Wise, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and…

1985

Dmitri Polyakov

Ukrainian general and spy (born 1921)

Dmitri Fyodorovich Polyakov was a major general in the Soviet GRU during the Cold War. According to former high-level KGB officer Sergey Kondrashev, Polyakov acted as a KGB disinformation agent at the FBI's New York…

1988

Farzad Bazoft

Iranian-English journalist (born 1958)

Farzad Bazoft was an Iranian journalist who settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. He worked as a freelance reporter for The Observer. He was arrested by Iraqi authorities and executed in 1990 after being…

1990

Tom Harmon

American football player and sportscaster (born 1919)

Thomas Dudley Harmon, nicknamed "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster.

1990

Bud Freeman

American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (born 1906)

Lawrence "Bud" Freeman was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet.

1991

Gail Davis

American actress (born 1925)

Gail Davis was an American actress and singer, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television series Annie Oakley.

1997

Victor Vasarely

Hungarian-French painter (born 1906)

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement.

1997

Benjamin Spock

American pediatrician and author (born 1903)

Benjamin McLane Spock, widely known as Dr. Spock, was an American pediatrician, Olympic athlete, and left-wing political activist. His book Baby and Child Care (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the 20th…

1998

Ann Sothern

American actress and singer (born 1909)

Ann Sothern was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920s in bit parts in films. In 1930 she made her…

2001

Thora Hird

English actress (born 1911)

Dame Thora Hird was an English actress. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 films, as well as many television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution.

2003

Paul Stojanovich

American television producer, created World's Wildest Police Videos (born 1955)

Paul John Stojanovich was an American television producer who created reality television police shows. His notable creations include Cops (1989–2009), American Detective (1991–1993) and World's Wildest Police Videos…

2003

Philippe Lemaire

French actor (born 1927)

Philippe Lemaire was a French actor. He appeared in more than 90 films from 1946 to 2004.

2004

Bill Pickering

New Zealand-American scientist and engineer (born 1910)

William Hayward Pickering was a New Zealand-born aerospace engineer who headed Pasadena, California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for 22 years, retiring in 1976. He was a senior NASA luminary and pioneered the…

2004

John Pople

English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1925)

Sir John Anthony Pople was a British theoretical chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Walter Kohn in 1998 for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry.

2004

Otar Korkia

Georgian basketball player (born 1923)

Otar Korkia was a Georgian professional basketball player and coach. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players, in 1991. He was also named the Best Georgian Basketball Player of the 20th Century, and the Best…

2005

Georgios Rallis

Greek lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (born 1918)

Georgios Ioannou Rallis, anglicised to George Rallis, was a Greek conservative politician and Prime Minister of Greece from 1980 to 1981.

2006

Red Storey

Canadian football player and referee (born 1918)

Roy Alvin "Red" Storey was a Canadian athlete, referee and broadcaster. He played football, lacrosse and ice hockey. While active as an athlete, he turned to officiating in all three sports, and continued as an official…

2006

Charles Harrelson

American murderer (born 1938)

Charles Voyde Harrelson was an American contract killer and organized crime figure who was convicted of assassinating federal judge John H. Wood Jr., the first federal judge assassinated in the 20th century. Charles…

2007

Stuart Rosenberg

American director and producer (born 1927)

Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director. He was most noted for his collaborations with actor Paul Newman, whom he directed in Cool Hand Luke (1967), WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972), and The…

2007

Mikey Dread

Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (born 1954)

Michael George Campbell, better known as Mikey Dread, was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster.

2008

G. David Low

American astronaut and engineer (born 1956)

George David Low was an American aerospace executive and a NASA astronaut. With undergraduate degrees in physics and mechanical engineering and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics, he worked in the Jet…

2008

Sarla Thakral

First Indian woman to earn a pilot's license. (born 1914)

Sarla Thukral was among the first Indian women to fly aircraft.

2008

Ron Silver

American actor, director, and producer (born 1946)

Ronald Arthur Silver was an American actor, director, producer, radio host, and activist. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded the 1988 Tony Award for Best Actor…

2009

Nate Dogg

American rapper (born 1969)

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. He gained recognition for providing soulful choruses and other guest vocals on several notable hip-hop songs…

2011

Smiley Culture

English singer and DJ (born 1963)

David Victor Emmanuel, better known as Smiley Culture, was a British reggae singer and DJ known for his "fast chat" style. During a relatively brief period of fame and success, he produced two of the most critically…

2011

Mervyn Davies

Welsh rugby player (born 1946)

Thomas Mervyn Davies, often known as "Merv the Swerve", was a Welsh rugby union player who won 38 caps for Wales as a No. 8.

2012

Dave Philley

American baseball player and manager (born 1920)

David Earl Philley was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, he debuted on September 6, 1941 and played his final game on August 6,…

2012

Booth Gardner

American businessman and politician, Governor of Washington (born 1936)

William Booth Gardner was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Washington, from 1985 to 1993. He also served as the ambassador of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT. A member of the…

2013

Terry Lightfoot

English clarinet player (born 1935)

Terence John Lightfoot was a British jazz clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen.

2013

Leverne McDonnell

Australian actress (born 1963)

Leverne Ann McDonnell was an Australian actress.

2013

Peter Worsley

English sociologist (born 1924)

Peter Maurice Worsley was a noted British sociologist and social anthropologist. He was a major figure in both anthropology and sociology, and is noted for introducing the term Third World into English. He not only…

2013

Scott Asheton

American drummer (born 1949)

Scott Randolph Asheton was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band the Stooges.

2014

David Brenner

American comedian, actor, and author (born 1936)

David Norris Brenner was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author. The most frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s and 1980s, Brenner "was a pioneer of observational comedy." His…

2014

Bo Callaway

American soldier and politician, United States Secretary of the Army (born 1927)

Howard Hollis "Bo" Callaway was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967 and as the United States secretary of…

2014

Clarissa Dickson Wright

English chef, author, and television personality (born 1947)

Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Johnston Dickson Wright was an English celebrity cook, television personality, writer, businesswoman, and barrister. She was best…

2014

Collins Chabane

South African politician (born 1960)

Ohm Collins Chabane was a South African Minister of Public Service and Administration. At the age of 17, he went into exile and joined the African National Congress (ANC) underground military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe…

2015

Robert Clatworthy

English sculptor and educator (born 1928)

Robert Ernest Clatworthy RA was a British sculptor and teacher of art. He was head of the fine art department at the Central School of Art and Design in London from 1971 to 1975, and was elected a fellow of the Royal…

2015

Sally Forrest

American actress and dancer (born 1928)

Sally Forrest was an American film, stage and TV actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She studied dance from a young age and shortly out of high school was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

2015

Curtis Gans

American political scientist and author (born 1937)

Curtis Bernard Gans was an American activist, writer, and expert on American voting patterns.

2015

Mike Porcaro

American bass player (born 1955)

Michael Joseph Porcaro was an American bass player known for his work with the rock band Toto. He retired from touring in 2007 as a result of being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

2015

Sylvia Anderson

English voice actress and television and film producer (born 1927)

Sylvia Beatrice Anderson was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981.

2016

Asa Briggs

English historian and academic (born 1921)

Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the Victorian era, and the foremost historian of broadcasting in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his long and…

2016

Seru Rabeni

Fijian rugby player (born 1978)

Ratu Seru Rabeni was a Fijian rugby union player. He played as a centre or wing. At both club and international level, his physicality and heavy tackles earned him the nickname "Rambo".

2016

Larry DiTillio

American film and TV series writer (born 1948)

Lawrence G. DiTillio was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword and the award-winning Masks of Nyarlathotep.

2019

Vittorio Gregotti

Italian architect (born 1927)

Vittorio Gregotti was an Italian architect, born in Novara. He was seen as both a member of the Neo-Avant Garde and a key figure in 1970s Postmodernism.

2020

Barbara Maier Gustern

American vocal coach and singer (born 1935)

Barbara Joan Gustern was an American vocal coach and singer. She had many noted students, including Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Taylor Mac, Justin Vivian Bond, Diamanda Galás, and Kathleen Hanna.

2022

Wings Hauser

American actor (born 1947)

Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser was an American actor, screenwriter, film director and musician. A prolific character actor, he appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once called "the…

2025

Nita Lowey

American politician (born 1937)

Nita Sue Lowey was an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 until 2021. She was a member of the Democratic Party. Lowey also served as co-dean of the New York congressional…

2025

Rajnikumar Pandya

Indian writer (born 1938)

Rajnikumar Pandya was an Indian Gujarati language writer and journalist from Gujarat. He was known for his short stories, novels, biographical essays, and columns. He had a significant contribution to Gujarati…

2025

March 15 in the Blog

Mongol Conquest of Baghdad — March 15, 1258

Hulagu Khan's 1258 siege claims 200,000 lives in Baghdad, Iraq, as the Caliphate falls

Read the full story

Notable deaths

Who died on March 15?

Kazim al-Samawi — Iraqi poet and journalist (1925–2010)

FeaturedKazim al-Samawi

Death year2010

Known forFrom the 1950s, he spent more than half of his life in exile as a political refuge and was known by title "The Elder of the Iraqi exiles" or "The Shaykh of Exiles"

Deaths on this date86 (44 BC – 2025)

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2026

Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military. Wikipedia →

2022

The 2022 Sri Lankan protests begins amidst Sri Lanka's economic collapse. Wikipedia →

2019

Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings. Wikipedia →

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Notable Deaths on March 15

2010 — Kazim al-Samawi

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