Notable Deaths on March 4

William Carlos Williams was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His Spring and All (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922). In his five-volume poem Paterson (1946–1958), he took Paterson, New Jersey as "my 'case' to work up. It called for a poetry such as I did not know, it was my duty to discover or make such a context on the 'thought.'" Some of his best-known poems, "This Is Just to Say" and "The Red Wheelbarrow", are reflections on the everyday. Other poems reflect the influence of the visual arts. He, in turn, influenced the visual arts; his poem "The Great Figure" inspired the painting I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth. Williams was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962).

Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely recognized as a major figure of the European avant-garde, he had a particularly strong influence on twentieth-century theatre through his conceptualization of the Theatre of Cruelty. Known for his raw, surreal and transgressive work, his texts explored themes from the cosmologies of ancient cultures, philosophy, the occult, mysticism and indigenous Mexican and Balinese practices.

Roy Edward Ayers Jr. was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped to pioneer jazz-funk. He was a key figure in the acid jazz movement, and has been described as "The Godfather of Neo Soul". He was best known for his compositions "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", "Running Away", and "Freaky Deaky" and others that charted in the 1970s. At one time, Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers.

Casimir Jagiellon was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The second son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was tutored by Johannes Longinus, a Polish chronicler, diplomat, and priest. After his elder brother Vladislaus was elected as King of Bohemia in 1471, Casimir became the heir apparent. At the age of 13, Casimir participated in the failed military campaign to install him as King of Hungary. He became known for his piety, devotion to God, and generosity towards the sick and poor. He became ill and died at the age of 25. He was buried in Vilnius Cathedral. His canonization was initiated by his brother King Sigismund I the Old in 1514 and the tradition holds that he was canonized in 1521. Saint Casimir the Prince is the patron saint of Poland, Lithuania and Lithuanian youth and the only saint with this name.

William Francis Unsoeld was an American mountaineer who was a member of the first American expedition to summit Mount Everest. The American Mount Everest Expedition was led by Norman Dyhrenfurth, and included Unsoeld, Jim Whittaker, Lute Jerstad, Barry Bishop and Tom Hornbein. Whittaker, with Sherpa Nawang Gombu, reached the summit on May 1, 1963. Unsoeld, Hornbein, Bishop and Jerstad reached the top on May 22, 1963. Unsoeld and Hornbein's climb was the first ascent from the peak's west ridge, and the first major traverse of a Himalayan peak. His subsequent activities included working as a U.S. Forest Service smokejumper, Peace Corps director in Nepal, speaker for Outward Bound, faculty member at Oregon State University and The Evergreen State College and mountaineering guide. He died on Mount Rainier in an avalanche.

Stephen III was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1162 and 1172. He was crowned king in early June 1162, shortly after the death of his father, Géza II. However, his two uncles, Ladislaus and Stephen, who had joined the court of the Byzantine Empire, challenged his right to the crown. Only six weeks after his coronation, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos launched an expedition against Hungary, forcing the Hungarian lords to accept Ladislaus' rule. Stephen sought refuge in Austria, but returned and seized Pressburg. Ladislaus, who died on 14 January 1163, was succeeded by Stephen's younger uncle and namesake, Stephen IV, without resistance, but his rule was unpopular. The young Stephen defeated his uncle on 19 June 1163 and expelled him from Hungary.

Anatol E. Baconsky, also known as A. E. Bakonsky, Baconschi or Baconski, was a Romanian modernist poet, essayist, translator, novelist, publisher, literary and art critic. Praised for his late approach to poetry and prose, which transgresses the genres and introduces an aestheticized, original and progressively dark perspective to Romanian literature, he was also criticized for his early commitment to Socialist Realism and communism. Much of his work belongs to the field of travel literature, recording his experiences in the Eastern Bloc, the Far East and Soviet Union, and finally Central Europe. He was also a critically acclaimed translator of foreign works, including the Mahābhārata and poems by Jorge Semprún, Artur Lundkvist and others, the author of world literature anthologies, and the editor of monographs on Romanian and foreign painters.

Donald Ray Mincher was an American Major League Baseball first baseman and longtime minor league executive. He played in the majors from 1960 to 1972 for the "original" Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, California Angels, Seattle Pilots, Oakland Athletics, and the expansion Washington Senators and Texas Rangers, all of the American League. The native of Huntsville, Alabama, batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 205 pounds (93 kg). He was a member of the last editions of each of Washington's two 20th Century American League teams and their first-year squads in their new locales, Minneapolis–Saint Paul (1961) and Dallas–Fort Worth (1972). Based on his popularity in his hometown, he would gain the nickname of Mr. Baseball of Huntsville.

Raymond Robert (Ray) Hatton was an English educator, author, and long-distance runner. Born in England, Hatton moved to the United States in 1956 to attend college, earning degrees in education and geography from University of Idaho and the University of Oregon. He was an award-winning college geography professor for many years. Hatton wrote ten books on Oregon geography, history, and climatology. In the 1970s and 1980s, he won numerous Masters level running championships and set American records in several long-distance running events. Ran a Masters WR in the Mile at 4:26.0 in 1972. Hatton was inducted into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2001.

Clayton Keith Yeutter, ONZM was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of Agriculture under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1991 before serving as counselor to the president in 1992. He served as United States Trade Representative from 1985 to 1989 and as chairman for the Republican National Committee from 1991 until 1992. Yeutter was employed as a senior advisor at the international law firm Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. He additionally founded the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university subsequently published his biography, Rhymes with Fighter.

Jack Kinzler was a NASA engineer, the former chief of the Technical Services Center at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, known within the agency as Mr. Fix It. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for creating the solar shield that saved Skylab after the original micrometeoroid shield was lost during launch of the station. His other contributions included the flagstaff and plaques used on the Moon for all six of the Apollo program Moon landings and the special six iron golf club head with which Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard made his two famous golf drives on the Moon.

Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon was the son of Louis Alexandre de Bourbon and his wife Marie Victoire de Noailles. He was therefore a grandson of Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. From birth he was known as the Duke of Penthièvre. He also possessed the following titles: Prince of Lamballe ; Prince of Carignano; Duke of Rambouillet; Duke of Aumale (1775); Duke of Gisors; Duke of Châteauvillain; Duke of Arc-en-Barrois; Duke of Amboise; Count of Eu; Count of Guingamp. He was the father in law of Philippe Égalité.

Harold Edward Stassen was an American Republican Party politician, military officer, and attorney who was the 25th governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 1948. Though he was considered for a time to be the front-runner, he lost the nomination to New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. He thereafter regularly continued to run for the presidency and other offices, such that his name became most identified with his status as a perennial candidate.

Sir Charles Scott Sherrington was a British neurophysiologist and academic. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a system involving connected neurons, and how signal transmission between neurons can be potentiated or depotentiated. Sherrington himself coined the word "synapse" to define the connection between two neurons. His book The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906) is a synthesis of this work, in recognition of which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1932.

Purno Agitok Sangma was an Indian politician who served as the 11th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998 and the 4th Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990. He served as a member of the Lok Sabha from Tura in Meghalaya from 2014 to 2016, 1991 to 2008 and from 1977 to 1989 and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Rao ministry from 1995 to 1996. He was the co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party and founder of the National People's Party.

Shane Keith Warne was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire, the Melbourne Stars and Australia. Warne is regarded by many cricket players, statisticians and sporting analysts as not just the greatest ever leg spinner, but one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket. Warne also played for and coached the Rajasthan Royals, including captaining the team to victory in the inaugural season of the IPL.

Ira Remsen was an American chemist who introduced organic chemistry research and education in the United States along the lines of German universities where he received his early training. He was the first professor of chemistry and the second president of Johns Hopkins University. He founded the American Chemical Journal, which he edited from 1879 to 1914. The discovery of saccharin was made in his laboratory by Constantine Fahlberg who worked in collaboration with Remsen but patented the synthesis on his own, earning the ire of Remsen.

George Anderson McAfee was an American professional football halfback, defensive back and return specialist who played for the Chicago Bears from 1940 to 1941 and 1945 to 1950 in the National Football League (NFL). As an undergraduate at Duke University, McAfee starred in baseball and track and field as well as college football. McAfee was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As of 2018, he still holds the NFL record for punt return average in a career.

Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, the McGovern campaign was humiliated, and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.