Did you know
Her signature role was Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, a 1934 play written for her by Margaret Kennedy
Notable Deaths on May 12
96 people
805 – 2024
May 12 has seen 96 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 805 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1986 — Elisabeth Bergner
German actress (born 1897)
Did you know
She played Gemma, first in London and then in the Broadway debut, and in a 1935 film version for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress
Did you know
Carrolls, for which she won the Distinguished Performance Medal from the Drama League.
Did you know
She played the title role in The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)
Did you know
She also starred in the American film Paris Calling (1941)
805
940
pope of the Catholic Church (born 946)
Pope Sylvester II, originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac, was a scholar and teacher who served as the bishop of Rome and ruled the Papal States from 999 to his death. He endorsed and promoted study of Moorish and…
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1003
pope of the Catholic Church (born 970)
Pope Sergius IV was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from 31 July 1009 to his death. His temporal power was eclipsed by the patrician John Crescentius. Sergius IV may have called for the…
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1012
duke of Carinthia
Liutold of Eppenstein was Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 1077 until his death.
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1090
Scottish nobleman
Fergus of Galloway was a twelfth-century Lord of Galloway. Although his familial origins are unknown, it is possible that he was of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. Fergus first appears on record in 1136, when he witnessed a…
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1161
king of Denmark (born 1131)
Valdemar I Knudsen, also known as Valdemar the Great, was King of Denmark from 1154 until his death in 1182. The reign of King Valdemar I saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its medieval zenith under his son King…
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1182
Benedictine abbot and scholar
Engelbert was Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Admont in Styria.
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1331
Despot of Morea (born 1409)
Thomas Palaiologos was Despot of the Morea from 1428 until the fall of the despotate in 1460, although he continued to claim the title until his death five years later. He was the younger brother of Constantine XI…
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1465
1490
7th Baroness Harington, English noblewoman (born 1460)
Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, 2nd Baroness Bonville was an English peer, who was also Marchioness of Dorset by her first marriage to Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Countess of Wiltshire by her…
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1529
Mughal prince (born 1570)
Murad Mirza was a Mughal prince and the second surviving son of Mughal Emperor Akbar. He was raised by Salima Sultan Begum until the age of 5. He was the maternal grandfather of Nadira Banu Begum, wife of Prince Dara…
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1599
English poet and playwright (born 1559)
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is…
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1634
1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1593)
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1640 he…
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1641
French physicist and priest (born 1620)
Edme Mariotte was a French physicist and priest (abbé). He is particularly well known for formulating Boyle's law independently of Robert Boyle. Mariotte is also credited with designing the first Newton's cradle.
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1684
Flemish painter (born 1626)
Lucas Achtschellinck was a Flemish landscape painter. He is counted among the landscape painters active in Brussels referred to as the School of Painters of the Sonian Forest who all shared an interest in depicting…
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1699
English poet, playwright, and critic (born 1631)
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point…
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1700
duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born 1658)
Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg, was the first Duke of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz, reigning from 1701 until his death. Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a part of the Holy Roman Empire.
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1708
English astronomer and academic (born 1692)
Thomas Lowndes was the founder of the Lowndean professorship of astronomy at Cambridge University, England.
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1748
French sculptor (born 1700)
Lambert-Sigisbert Adam was a French sculptor, born in 1700 in Nancy. The eldest son of sculptor Jacob-Sigisbert Adam, he was known as Adam l’aîné to distinguish him from his two sculptor brothers Nicolas-Sébastien Adam,…
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1759
Swiss zoologist and academic (born 1710)
Abraham Trembley was a Genevan naturalist. He is best known for being the first to study freshwater polyps or hydra and for being among the first to develop experimental zoology. His mastery of experimental method has…
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1784
French playwright and composer (born 1710)
Charles Simon Favart was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him.
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1792
Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (born 1734)
Prince Nikolai or Nicholas Vasilyevich Repnin was a Russian statesman and general from the Repnin princely family who played a key role in the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; the leading figure in the…
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1801
Belarusian-Polish painter (born 1799)
Walenty Wilhelm Wańkowicz was a Polish painter. He studied at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, the University of Wilno and the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. He produced, among other things, a well-known…
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1842
1845
French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (born 1786)
Jacques Philippe Marie Binet was a French mathematician, physicist and astronomer born in Rennes; he died in Paris, France, in 1856. He made significant contributions to number theory, and the mathematical foundations…
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1856
Russian author and academic (born 1791)
Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov was a 19th-century Russian literary figure remembered for his semi-autobiographical tales of family life, as well as his books on hunting and fishing.
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1859
English architect, designed Upper Brook Street Chapel and the Palace of Westminster (born 1795)
Sir Charles Barry was an English architect best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens. He…
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1860
American general (born 1833)
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a Confederate cavalry general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his…
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1864
German archaeologist and academic (born 1795)
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard was a German archaeologist. He was co-founder and secretary of the first international archaeological society.
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1867
Bulgarian activist (born 1843)
Georgi Benkovski was the pseudonym of Gavril Gruev Hlatev, a Bulgarian revolutionary and leading figure in the organization and direction of the Bulgarian anti-Ottoman April Uprising of 1876 and apostle of its 4th…
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1876
French chemist and academic (born 1795)
Anselme Payen was a French chemist known for discovering the enzyme diastase, and the carbohydrate cellulose.
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1878
Czech composer and educator (born 1824)
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded in his…
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1884
Finnish journalist, playwright, and activist (born 1844)
Minna Canth was a Finnish writer and social activist. Canth began to write while managing her family draper's shop and living as a widow raising seven children. Her work addresses issues of women's rights, particularly…
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1897
Swedish merchant, ironmaster and industrialist (born 1819)
Göran Fredrik Göransson was a Swedish merchant, ironmaster and industrialist. He was the founder of the company Sandvikens Jernverks AB and was the first person to implement the Bessemer process successfully on an…
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1900
French author and critic (born 1848)
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans. He is most famous for the novel À rebours. He supported himself by way of a 30-year career in the…
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1907
Scottish-born Irish socialist and rebel leader (born 1868)
James Connolly was a Scottish-born Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland. He remains an important figure both for the Irish…
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1916
American poet and critic (born 1874)
Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
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1925
Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1858)
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as his former student Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
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1931
Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland (born 1867)
Józef Klemens Piłsudski[a] was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland. In the aftermath of World War I, he became an increasingly dominant figure in Polish politics…
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1935
1944
English author, poet, and critic (born 1863)
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was an English writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900…
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1944
German-American illustrator (born 1894)
Hans Waldemar Wessolowski was a German-American artist best known under the pseudonym "Wesso" for his many cover illustrations for pulp magazines in the 1930s and early 1940s.
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1948
American actor and singer (born 1895)
Carl Henry Vogt, known by his stage name Louis Calhern, was an American actor. Described as a “star leading man of the theater and a star character actor of the screen,” he appeared in over 100 roles on the Broadway…
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1956
Spanish bobsledder and racing driver (born 1928)
Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Ángel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE, best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and…
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1957
Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (born 1885)
Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. His 1924 film Greed,…
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1957
German footballer and manager (born 1878)
Richard Girulatis was a German football manager.
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1963
Irish-Canadian sprinter and coach (born 1882)
Robert Kerr was an Irish Canadian sprinter. He won the gold medal in the 200 metres and the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
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1963
Scottish medical doctor (born 1875)
Agnes Forbes Blackadder Savill was a Scottish medical expert and doctor, sometimes regarded as a polymath. Blackadder became the first female graduate of the University of St Andrews when she gained her M.A. degree on…
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1964
Russian-German SS officer (born 1896)
Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served in the Waffen-SS, the combat branch of the SS, and commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded the…
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1966
English poet and author (born 1878)
John Edward Masefield, OM was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon-on-Thames. Among his best known works…
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1967
German poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891)
Nelly Sachs was a German–Swedish poet and playwright. Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of her fellow…
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1970
American baseball player and coach (born 1901)
Henry Emmett Manush, nicknamed "Heinie", was an American baseball outfielder. He played professional baseball for 20 years from 1920 to 1939, including 17 years in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers…
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1971
American screenwriter, novelist and journalist (born 1888)
Frances Marion was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. During the course of…
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1973
American race car driver (born 1927)
Artle Lee Pollard Jr., was an American racecar driver.
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1973
Provisional IRA hunger striker (born 1956)
Francis Joseph Sean Hughes was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his arrest…
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1981
Singaporean professor and politician, second President of Singapore (born 1907)
Benjamin Henry Sheares was a Singaporean obstetrician, gynaecologist, and academic who served as the second president of Singapore between 1971 until his death in 1981.
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1981
French painter and sculptor (born 1901)
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor of the École de Paris. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he…
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1985
Greek poet and songwriter (born 1911)
Nikos Gatsos was a Greek poet, translator and lyricist.
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1992
American actor (born 1932)
Robert Reed was an American actor. He played Kenneth Preston on the legal drama The Defenders from 1961 to 1965 alongside E. G. Marshall, and is best known for his role as patriarch Mike Brady, opposite Florence…
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1992
1993
German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (born 1902)
Erik Homburger Erikson was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis.
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1994
Scottish-English lawyer and politician, Labour Party leader, Leader of the Opposition (born 1938)
John Smith was a British politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death in May 1994. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East.
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1994
Argentine footballer and manager (born 1918)
Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera was an Argentine football player and coach. Nicknamed "El Maestro", he was widely considered to be one of the best world football players in the 1940s and one of the greatest Argentine players…
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1995
Romanian-American illustrator (born 1914)
Saul Steinberg was a Romanian-born American artist, best known for his work for The New Yorker, most notably View of the World from 9th Avenue. He described himself as "a writer who draws".
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1999
American race car driver (born 1980)
Adam Kyler Petty was an American professional stock car racing driver. A member of the Petty racing family, he was the fourth generation from the Petty family to drive in races in the highest division of NASCAR racing,…
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2000
American singer and television host (born 1912)
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987.
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2001
2001
Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (born 1925)
Aleksey Andreevich Tupolev was a Soviet and Russian aircraft designer who led the development of the first supersonic passenger jet, the Tupolev Tu-144. He also helped design the Buran space shuttle and the long-range…
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2001
French-American diplomat (born 1933)
Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan was a French-born statesman and activist who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1966 to 1977. During his tenure, the agency expanded its operational focus to include…
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2003
Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1944)
Ömer Kavur was a Turkish film director, producer and screenwriter.
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2005
English author and scholar (born 1909)
Martin Lings, also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English writer, Islamic scholar, and philosopher. A student of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof Schuon and an authority on the work of William Shakespeare, he is…
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2005
Finnish physician and professor (born 1913)
Kai Martin Edvard Setälä was a Finnish physician and professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Helsinki. Through his daughter Christel, he was the maternal grandfather of Alexander Stubb, the 13th president…
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2005
Swedish actress (born 1937)
Monica Zetterlund was a Swedish jazz singer and actress. She represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the jazz ballad "En gång i Stockholm". Through her lifetime, she starred in over 10 Swedish film…
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2005
Libyan politician, Prime Minister of Libya (born 1918)
Hussein Yousef Maziq was a Libyan politician who was Prime Minister of Libya from 20 March 1965 to 2 July 1967. He was one of the most important men in the Kingdom era of Libya.
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2006
American painter and illustrator (born 1925)
Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg was an American painter and multi-media artist, whose work has been associated with numerous mid-20th century art movements including the New York School, Conceptual Art, Pop…
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2008
Polish nurse and humanitarian (born 1910)
Irena Stanisława Sendler, operating under the nom de guerre Jolanta, was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who served in the Polish Underground Resistance during World War II in German-occupied Warsaw.…
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2008
Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1957)
Antonio Vega Tallés was a Spanish pop singer-songwriter.
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2009
2012
Belgian illustrator (born 1920)
Edouard Paape, commonly known as Eddy Paape, was a Belgian comics artist best known for illustrating the science fiction comic series Luc Orient.
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2012
German political scientist, author, and academic (born 1946)
Gerd Langguth was a professor of political science at the University of Bonn and the author of biographies of Angela Merkel, Horst Köhler and of Rudi Dutschke
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2013
Lithuanian-German actress and singer (born 1925)
Cornell Borchers was a Lithuanian-German actress and singer, active in the late 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for her roles opposite Montgomery Clift in The Big Lift (1950) and Errol Flynn and Nat King Cole in…
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2014
2014
Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (born 1940)
Hans Ruedi Giger was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as "biomechanical". He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy…
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2014
Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1934)
Sarat Pujari was an Indian actor, director and producer in Odia film industry (Ollywood). He was originally from Jhaduapada, Sambalpur.
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2014
Mexican businessman and philanthropist (born 1944)
Lorenzo Hormisdas Zambrano Treviño was a Mexican businessman and philanthropist. He took over Cemex, a regional cement company founded by his grandfather, and transformed it into one of the largest cement producers in…
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2014
2015
Trinidadian sprinter (born 1935)
Michael George Raymond Agostini was a Trinidadian track and field athlete. He was the first athlete from his country to win a gold medal at what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, when he won the 100 yards final in…
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2016
Finnish banker and politician, ninth President of Finland (born 1923)
Mauno Henrik Koivisto was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1982. He was also…
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2017
Scottish serial killer (born 1945)
Dennis Andrew Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder,…
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2018
American funeral director and U.S. Supreme Court litigant (born 1960)
Aimee Stephens was an American funeral director known for her fight for civil rights for transgender people. She worked as a funeral director in Detroit and was fired for being transgender. Based on her court case, in a…
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2020
American film actor and producer (born 1933)
Mark Damon was an American film producer and actor. In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for his performance in Roger Corman's House of Usher, and later moved to Italy to work in Spaghetti…
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2024
American saxophonist (born 1945)
David William Sanborn was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 11 and…
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2024
American football executive (born 1949)
Albert J. Smith was an American professional football scout and executive. He served as a part-time scout for several NFL and USFL teams before joining the Buffalo Bills in 1986, serving as a scout and executive for…
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2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on May 12?
Elisabeth Bergner — German actress (1897–1986)
FeaturedElisabeth Bergner
Death year1986
Known forPrimarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris before she moved to London to work in films
Deaths on this date96 (805 – 2024)
Explore May 12
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on May 12 in History
2024
Middle/End of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms. Wikipedia →
2018
Paris knife attack: A man is fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others. Wikipedia →
2017
See all events on May 12
The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400,000 computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefónica computers. Wikipedia →
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