Did you know about June Carter Cash
In 2009, she was posthumously inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and in 2025, she was named a posthumous inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Notable Deaths on May 15
May 15 has 94 recorded notable deaths across history, from 392 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2003 — June Carter Cash
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (born 1929)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
94 source records
392 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on May 15
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1934 A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima. Source
- 1963 Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone. Source
Did you know about Fred Willard
Fred Willard is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016).
Did you know about Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes was often named as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won.
Did you know about Garo Yepremian
During his nine seasons with the Dolphins, Yepremian led the league in scoring in 1971, received two Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro honors, and helped the Dolphins win back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
Did you know about Dick Irvin
Dick Irvin also served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
More major people who died on May 15
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
2020
Fred Willard
American actor, comedian, and writer (born 1933)
Frederic Charles Willard was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). He also appeared in supporting roles in the comedy films Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), American Wedding (2003), and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). On television, Willard received several Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family.
2012
Carlos Fuentes
Mexican novelist and essayist (born 1928)
Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican novelist, essayist and ambassador to France. Among his works are The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), Aura (1962), Terra Nostra (1975), The Old Gringo (1985) and Christopher Unborn (1987). In his obituary, The New York Times described Fuentes as "one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world" and an important influence on the Latin American Boom, the "explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and '70s", while The Guardian called him "Mexico's most celebrated novelist". His many literary honors include the Miguel de Cervantes Prize as well as Mexico's highest award, the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor (1999). He was often named as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won.
2015
Garo Yepremian
Cypriot-American football player (born 1944)
Garabed Sarkis "Garo" Yepremian was an Armenian-Cypriot American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Miami Dolphins. During his nine seasons with the Dolphins, Yepremian led the league in scoring in 1971, received two Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro honors, and helped the Dolphins win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. Yepremian's first championship victory in Super Bowl VII occurred as a member of the 1972 Dolphins, the only team to complete a perfect season in NFL history. He also played for the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 1981.
1957
Dick Irvin
Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1892)
James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin Jr. was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played for professional teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League, and the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1916 to 1928, when he had to retire from repeated injuries. Irvin was one of the greatest players of his day, balancing a torrid slap shot and tough style with gentlemanly play. For his playing career, Irvin was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958. After playing, Irvin built a successful career as a coach in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens. He coached his teams to the Stanley Cup Finals 16 times in 26 years as a full-time head coach, winning one Stanley Cup coaching Toronto and three coaching Montreal, finishing with over 600 wins as a coach. He also served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
1989
Johnny Green
American composer and conductor (born 1908)
John Waldo Green was an American songwriter, composer, musical arranger, conductor and pianist. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleague Conrad Salinger. His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul" from the revue Three's a Crowd. Green won four Academy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film, and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1980
Gordon Prange
American historian and author (born 1910)
Gordon William Prange was the author of several World War II historical manuscripts which were published by his co-workers after his death in 1980. Prange was a professor of history at the University of Maryland from 1937 to 1980 with a break of nine years (1942–1951) of military service in the United States Navy during World War II, and in the postwar military occupation of Japan, when he was the Chief Historian on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. It was during this time that Prange collected material from and interviewed many Japanese military officers, enlisted men, and civilians, with the information later being used in the writing of his books. Several became New York Times bestsellers, including At Dawn We Slept, The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor and Miracle at Midway.
1937
Philip Snowden
1st Viscount Snowden, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1864)
Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC was a British politician. A strong speaker, he became popular in trade union circles for his denunciation of capitalism as unethical and his promise of a socialist utopia. He was the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931. He broke with Labour policy in 1931, and was expelled from the party and excoriated as a turncoat, as the party was overwhelmingly crushed that year by the National Government coalition that Snowden supported. He was succeeded as chancellor by Neville Chamberlain.
1585
Niwa Nagahide
Japanese samurai (born 1535)
Niwa Nagahide , also known as Gorōzaemon (五郎左衛門), his other legal alias was Hashiba Echizen no Kami (羽柴越前守), was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi-Momoyama periods of the 16th century. He served as senior retainer to the Oda clan, and was eventually a daimyō in his own right. Going on to fight in the Oda clan's major campaigns, including Mino Campaign 1567, Omi Campaign 1568, the Honganji Campaign from 1570 to 1580, and Iga Campaign 1581, he was named one of the administrators of Kyoto after Nobunaga entered that city in 1568.
1991
Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Malian ethnologist and author (born 1901)
Amadou Hampâté Bâ was a Malian writer, historian, and ethnologist. He was an influential figure in the twentieth-century African literature and cultural heritage. A champion of Africa's oral tradition and traditional knowledge, he is remembered for his 1960 address to the UNESCO General Conference in which he urged the preservation of Africa's oral traditions, declaring: "I consider the death of each of these traditionalists as the burning of an unexploited cultural fund". A later formulation using the word bibliothèque emerged during a 1962 UNESCO Executive Board exchange.
1991
Andreas Floer
German mathematician and academic (born 1956)
Andreas Floer was a German mathematician who made seminal contributions to symplectic topology, and mathematical physics, in particular the invention of Floer homology. Floer's first pivotal contribution was a solution to a special case of Arnold's conjecture on fixed points of a symplectomorphism. Because of his work on Arnold's conjecture and his development of instanton homology, he achieved wide recognition and was invited as a plenary speaker for the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Kyoto in August 1990. He received a Sloan Fellowship in 1989.
1634
Hendrick Avercamp
Dutch painter (born 1585)
Hendrick Avercamp was a Dutch painter during the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was one of the earliest landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting the Netherlands in winter. His paintings are colorful and lively, with carefully crafted images of the people in the landscape. His works give a vivid depiction of sport and leisure in the Netherlands in the beginning of the 17th century. Many of Avercamp's paintings feature people ice skating on frozen lakes.
1845
Braulio Carrillo Colina
Costa Rican lawyer and politician, Head of State of Costa Rica (born 1800)
Braulio Evaristo Carrillo Colina was a Costa Rican lawyer and statesman who served as the 3rd and 5th Head of State of Costa Rica from 1835 to 1837 and as a dictator from 1838 until 1842. His administrations implemented extensive legal, fiscal, administrative, and economic reforms that contributed to the consolidation of the Costa Rican state. Following its secession from the Federal Republic of Central America, Carrillo declared Costa Rica a sovereign and independent state on 14 November 1838.
1969
Joe Malone
Canadian ice hockey player (born 1890)
Maurice Joseph Cletus Malone was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens, and Hamilton Tigers from 1910 to 1924. Known for his scoring feats and clean play, Malone led the NHL in goals and points in 1918 and 1920, and the NHA in goals twice, in 1913 and 1917. He won the Stanley Cup with Quebec in 1912 and 1913.
1978
Robert Menzies
Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1894)
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was the 12th prime minister of Australia, serving from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. He held office as the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in his first term, and subsequently as the inaugural leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in his second. He was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Kooyong from 1934 to 1966. He is the longest-serving prime minister in Australian history.
1945
Kenneth J. Alford
English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (born 1881)
Frederick Joseph Ricketts was an English composer of marches for band. Under the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, he composed marches which are considered to be great examples of the art. He was a bandmaster in the British Army, and Royal Marines director of music. Conductor Vivian Dunn called him "The British March King". Alford's frequent use of the saxophone contributed to its permanent inclusion in military bands. His best known work is the "Colonel Bogey March".
1948
Edward J. Flanagan
Irish-American priest, founded Boys Town (born 1886)
Edward Joseph Flanagan was an Irish-born priest of the Catholic Church in the United States who served for decades in Nebraska. After serving as a parish priest in the Diocese of Omaha, he founded the orphanage and educational complex known as Boys Town, located west of the city in what is now Boys Town, Douglas County, Nebraska. In the 21st century, the complex also serves as a center for troubled youth.
1157
Yuri Dolgorukiy
Grand Prince of Kiev (born 1099)
Yuri I Vladimirovich, commonly known as Yuri Dolgorukiy, was a Monomakhovichi prince of Rostov and Suzdal, acquiring the name Suzdalia during his reign. Noted for successfully curbing the privileges of the landowning boyar class in Rostov-Suzdal and his ambitious building programme, Yuri transformed this principality into the independent power that would evolve into early modern Muscovy. Yuri Dolgorukiy was the progenitor of the Yurievichi, a branch of the Monomakhovichi.
1956
Austin Osman Spare
English painter and magician (born 1886)
Austin Osman Spare was an English artist and occultist who worked as a draughtsman, writer and painter. Influenced by symbolism and Art Nouveau, his art was known for its clear use of line and its depiction of monstrous and sexual imagery. In an occult capacity, he developed magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self.
1964
Vladko Maček
Croatian lawyer and politician (born 1879)
Vladimir Maček was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure until the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. As a leader of the HSS, Maček played a key role in establishment of the Banovina of Croatia, an autonomous banovina in Yugoslavia in 1939.