Notable Deaths on May 26

Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films, he received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and six BAFTA Awards in a career spanning more than 40 years.

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher whose work was central to the development of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He has had significant influence within subsequent philosophy, social sciences and humanities, and theology.

Edmund I or Eadmund I was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death in 946. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. Edmund was crowned king after his eldest half-brother, King Æthelstan, died childless in 939. He had two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, who were young children when he was killed in a brawl with an outlaw at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire. Edmund was succeeded by his younger brother Eadred, who died in 955 and was followed by Edmund's sons in succession.

Bayezid II was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne to his son, Selim I. Bayezid evacuated Sephardi Jews from Spain following the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the proclamation of the Alhambra Decree and resettled them throughout Ottoman lands, especially in Salonica.

Bede, OSB, also known as the Venerable Bede or Bede the Venerable, was an English Benedictine monk, author and scholar. He was one of the best known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the title "The Father of English History". He served at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.

Edsel Bryant Ford was an American business executive and philanthropist, who was the only child of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford. He was the president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 until his death in 1943.

Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is now most renowned for the diary he kept for almost a decade. It is considered one of the most notable diaries ever written, particularly for its detailed personal accounts of his everyday life, the Great Plague of London and the Fire of London. For historians it is an important primary source of the Stuart Restoration and of upper-middle class London life at the time.

Donald George Revie was an English football player and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the England national football team manager for three years.

Zbigniew Kazimierz "Zbig" Brzeziński was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzeziński belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman, while elements of liberal idealism have also been identified in his outlook. Brzeziński was the primary organizer of the Trilateral Commission.

Edward Albert Heimberger was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Mehmed I, also known as Mehmed Çelebi or Kirişçi, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of Sultan Bayezid I and his concubine Devlet Hatun, he fought with his brothers over control of the Ottoman realm in the Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413). Starting from the province of Rûm he managed to bring first Anatolia and then the European territories (Rumelia) under his control, reuniting the Ottoman state by 1413, and ruling it until his death in 1421. Called "The Restorer", he reestablished central authority in Anatolia, and he expanded the Ottoman presence in Europe through the conquest of Dobruja in 1419. Venice destroyed his fleet off Gallipoli in 1416 when the Ottomans lost a naval war.

Andrew John Fletcher, also known as Fletch, was an English musician and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In 2020, he and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as initially the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, followed by the claim to be both the promised Messiah and Mahdi, in regard to Islamic prophecies regarding the end times, as well as being Krishna, an Avatar of Vishnu, for the Hindus.

Anne Ryan Haney was an American character actress. She appeared in small supporting roles in around 50 film and television productions and was best known for her roles as Mrs. Sellner in Mrs. Doubtfire, Mrs. Chapil in The American President and Greta in Liar Liar.

James Charles Rodgers was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Known as Jimmie Rodgers and widely regarded as the "Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive yodeling. Rodgers was known as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler". He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, and he has been inducted into multiple halls of fame.

Augustine of Canterbury was a Christian monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He was the prior of a Benedictine monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory I chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent from Anglo-Saxon paganism.

Alberto Ascari was an Italian racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1955. Ascari won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in 1952 and 1953 with Ferrari, and won 13 Grands Prix across six seasons. In endurance racing, Ascari won the Mille Miglia in 1954 with Lancia.

Alan White was an English drummer, best known for his almost 50-year tenure in the progressive rock band Yes. He joined Yes in 1972 as a replacement for original drummer Bill Bruford. He was the longest-serving member of the band, and one of just two members whose tenure ceased only with his death.

Jacob August Riis was a Danish-American social reformer, "muck-raking" journalist, and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in the United States of America at the turn of the 20th century. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography.

Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons (WB) on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total, he created more than 300 cartoons.

Arthur Gordon Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, which aired on NBC radio and television for 19 years. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942.

George Brent was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor. He is best remembered for the eleven films he made with Bette Davis, which included Jezebel and Dark Victory.

Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, succeeding his father, Musa al-Kazim, in 799 CE. He is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufi orders. He was known for his piety and learning, and a number of works are attributed to him, including Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah, Sahifah of al-Ridha, and Fiqh al-Rida. Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha by Ibn Babawayh is a comprehensive collection that includes his religious debates and sayings, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his tomb. He is buried in Mashhad, Iran, site of a large shrine.

Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din, known as Emir Abdelkader or ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Hasani al-Jazaʾiri, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers from 1831 to 1847.

Christian Wirth was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer and leading Holocaust perpetrator who was one of the primary architects of the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard. His nicknames included Christian the Cruel, Stuka, and The Wild Christian due to the extremity of his behaviour among the SS and Trawniki guards and to the camp inmates and victims.

Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith was a British naval officer and politician. Serving in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of admiral in the Royal Navy. Smith was known for his outspoken character and penchant for acting on his own initiative, which caused a great deal of friction with many of his superiors and colleagues.

Zeb-un-Nissa was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi.

Allan Haines Lockheed was an American aviation engineer and businessman. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead, which became Lockheed Corporation.

Victor August Herbert was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I. He was also prominent among the Tin Pan Alley composers and was later a founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). A prolific composer, Herbert produced two operas, a cantata, 43 operettas, incidental music to 10 plays, 31 compositions for orchestra, nine band compositions, nine cello compositions, five violin compositions with piano or orchestra, 22 piano compositions and numerous songs, choral compositions and orchestrations of works by other composers, among other music.

Ferdinand Maria was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1651 to 1679. The Elector modernized the army and introduced Bavaria's first government code. Besides encouraging agriculture and industry, he also improved building and restoration works on churches and monasteries since the damage caused during the Thirty Years' War.

Aloysius Harry Simmons was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Bucketfoot Al", he had his best years with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics during the late 1920s and early 1930s, winning two World Series with the team. Simmons also played for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Boston Bees, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox. After his playing career, Simmons served as a coach for the Athletics and Cleveland Indians. A career .334 hitter, Simmons was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

Charles II was Elector Palatine from 1680 to 1685. He was the son of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the House of Wittelsbach, and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.

Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. His best known work, Patriarcha, published posthumously in 1680, was the target of numerous Whig rebuttals, including Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government, James Tyrrell's Patriarcha Non Monarcha and John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Filmer also wrote critiques of Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, Hugo Grotius and Aristotle.

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, nicknamed "the Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was Canadian football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. He was also a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926. In hockey, he won the Memorial Cup in 1920, and the Stanley Cup twice: with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1934 and the Montreal Maroons in 1935. Additionally, he won wrestling, boxing and lacrosse championships during his playing career. He is one of three players, including Joe Miller and Carl Voss, to have their names engraved on both the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup.

Charles Horace Mayo was an American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother William James Mayo, Augustus Stinchfield, Christopher Graham, Edward Star Judd Jr., Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet, and Donald Balfour.

Kathleen Winsor was an American author. She is best known for her first work, the 1944 historical novel Forever Amber. The novel, racy for its time, became a runaway bestseller even as it drew criticism from some authorities for its depictions of sexuality. She wrote seven other novels, none of which matched the success of her debut.

Alfonso Carrasquel Colón, better known as Chico Carrasquel, was a Venezuelan professional baseball player, coach, scout and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1950 to 1959, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox where he became the first Latin American in MLB history to start in an All-Star Game in 1951. A four-time All-Star known for his exceptional defensive skills, Carrasquel was the first in a long line of Major League shortstops from Venezuela including, Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepción, Ozzie Guillén and Omar Vizquel among others. He also played for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles.

Miodrag (Misha) Radulovacki, was a Serbian American scientist and inventor. He was professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Radulovacki's research accomplishments include: (1) the Adenosine Sleep Theory, and (2) pioneering pharmacological studies for the treatment of sleep apnea, together with research collaborator, David W. Carley,. Radulovacki and Carley invented several drug therapies for the treatment of sleep apnea which have been patented by the UIC. The UIC recognized them as the 2010 "Inventors of the Year." Radulovacki published more than 170 scientific papers. Radulovacki was also a Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Horatio William Bottomley was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine John Bull, and for his nationalistic oratory during the First World War. His career came to a sudden end when, in 1922, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

Otto Muehl was an Austrian convicted sex criminal and artist, who was known as one of the co-founders as well as a main participant of Viennese Actionism and for founding the Friedrichshof Commune.

Vittorio Brambilla was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1980. Nicknamed "the Monza Gorilla", Brambilla won the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix with March.

Leslie Royston Johnson AM was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and held ministerial office in the Whitlam government, serving as Minister for Housing (1972–1973), Works (1973), Housing and Construction (1973–1975), and Aboriginal Affairs (1975). He represented the Division of Hughes in New South Wales for 25 years from 1955 to 1966 and from 1969 to 1983. He later served as High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1984 to 1985, cutting short his term due to his daughter's ill health.

Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling was an American writer and political activist. In 1934, she published The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots, which catalogs over 1,300 people Dilling stated were suspected communists or fellow travelers. Her books and lecture tours established her as the pre-eminent female right-wing activist of the 1930s, and one of the most outspoken critics of the New Deal, which she referred to as the "Jew Deal". In the mid-to-late 1930s, Dilling praised Nazi Germany.

Sebastian Münster was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, Cosmographia, sold well and went through 24 editions. Its influence was widely spread by a production of woodcuts created of it by a variety of artists.

Kalasuri Arisen Ahubudu was a Sri Lankan writer, orator, scholar, playwright, teacher (Guru), Sinhala lyricist, author and poet. He is a member of the Hela Havula. He has received three government awards for literary works, the title of Kalasuri from the Government of Sri Lanka, and the Sarasaviya Awards film award for best composer. As a composer, he is especially noted for writing music performed by W.D. Amaradeva, such as Gilem Obe Guna.

William Hillman Shockley was an American engineer, photographer, and botanist. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Shockley worked as a mining engineer in Florida and Nevada, collecting plant specimens during his time in the American West. Fluent in multiple languages, Shockley's engineering work took him to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America. Across these regions, he took thousands of photographs documenting both local mining and society.

Robert Paul Hawkins was an Australian motor racing driver. The son of a racing motorcyclist-turned-church minister, Hawkins was a capable single-seater driver but really made his mark as an outstanding sports car competitor driving Ford GT40s and Lola T70s. In 1969 Hawkins was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, an elite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.

Ray Anderson Barnhart was an American businessman and politician who served as Federal Highway Administrator from 1981 to 1987. He started his career as City Councilman in Pasadena, Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives 100th district from and served from January 9, 1973 to January 14, 1975. He was an Eagle Scout. He also served as Chairman of the Texas State Republican Party.

Srečko Kosovel was a Slovenian poet, now considered one of central Europe's major modernist poets. He was labeled an impressionistic poet of his native Karst region, a political poet resisting forced Italianization of the Slovene areas annexed by Italy, an expressionist, a dadaist, a satirist, and as a voice of international socialism, using avant-garde constructivist forms. He is now considered a Slovenian poetic icon.

Elizabeth Clow Peer Jansson was an American journalist who worked for Newsweek from 1958 until her death in 1984. She began her career at Newsweek as a copy girl, at a time when opportunities for women were limited. Osborn Elliott promoted her to writer in 1962; two years later she would be dispatched to Paris as Newsweek's first female foreign correspondent.

Peter I, also known as Peter Mauclerc and Peter of Dreux, reigned as Duke of Brittany alongside his wife Alix from 1213 to 1221, and was regent of the duchy for his minor son John I from 1221 to 1237. As duke he was also 1st Earl of Richmond from 1218 to 1235.

Robert Paul Kraft was an American astronomer. He performed pioneering work on Cepheid variables, stellar rotation, novae, and the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. His name is also associated with the Kraft break: the abrupt change in the average rotation rate of main sequence stars around spectral type F8.

Vincent Voiture, French Mannerist and Baroque Précieuses poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him to Brussels and Lorraine on diplomatic missions.

Ruben Oskar Auervaara was a notorious Finnish conman and thief. He became famous by cheating money from women he met through newspaper announcements, by pretending to intend to marry them. His surname has become an archetypal name in the Finnish language, meaning a deceptive charming trickster.

Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death, Sacher was the majority shareholder of the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company and was considered the third richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion.

William Robert Roy, also known as Bill Roy, was a United States representative from Kansas, a physician, and a columnist for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the Democratic nominee for U.S Senator from Kansas in the 1974 and 1978 senate elections, but lost both races.

Guy Larose, better known by his ring name Hans Schmidt, was a Canadian professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and 1960s. His gimmick of a German pseudo-Nazi heel gained him considerable notoriety, and popularized the proliferation of similar gimmicks through Canadian and American wrestling.

Ralph Horween was an American football player and coach. He played fullback and halfback and was a punter and drop-kicker for the unbeaten Harvard Crimson football teams of 1919 and 1920, which won the 1920 Rose Bowl. He was voted an All-American.

James Burnett, Lord Monboddo was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics. In 1767, he became a judge in the Court of Session.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Hugh Moran, was a fast jet pilot and later a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of Air Command at the time of his unexpected death.

Louis I of Naples, also known as Louis of Taranto, was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou who reigned as King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, and Prince of Taranto.

Mihalis Papayiannakis was a Greek politician. He was born in Kalamata; his father was executed by the Nazis during World War II. He died on 26 May 2009 after a long battle with cancer.

Alice Charlotta Tegnér was a Swedish music teacher, poet and composer. She is the foremost composer of Swedish children's songs during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Degaga "Mamo" Wolde was an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competed in track, cross-country, and road running events. He was the winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Adalbert, known as Adalbert the Victorious, was the Margrave of Austria from 1018 until his death in 1055. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.

Francesco Berni was an Italian poet. He is credited for beginning what is now known as "Bernesque poetry", a serio-comedic type of poetry with elements of satire.

James Frederick Unger was a British-born Canadian cartoonist, best known for his syndicated comic strip Herman which ran for 18 years in 600 newspapers in 25 countries.

Aldona was Queen consort of Poland (1333–1339), and a princess of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She was the daughter of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Édouard Michelin was managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group. He was the great-grandson of Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), a co-founder of the company.

Berenguer Ramon I, called the Crooked or the Hunchback, was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1018 to his death.

Thomas Southerne was an Irish dramatist.

Manuel Xavier Rodríguez Erdoíza was a Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader, considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Rodríguez was of Basque descent.

Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly was a Russian field marshal who figured prominently in the Napoleonic Wars.

Capel Lofft was a British lawyer, writer and amateur astronomer.

Almon Brown Strowger was an American inventor for whom the Strowger switch, an electromechanical telephone exchange technology, is named.

Torsten Lars Herman Jamte Bergström was a Swedish film director and theater and film actor.

Lincoln Ellsworth was an American polar explorer, engineer, surveyor, and writer. He led the first Arctic and Antarctic air crossings.

Silvio Moser was a racing driver from Switzerland.

Cybele Andrianou was a Greek actress.

Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. His first wife was singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed.

Waldo Lonsbury Semon was an American inventor born in Demopolis, Alabama. He is credited with inventing methods for making polyvinyl chloride useful.

Ruth Laredo was an American classical pianist.

Howard Porter was an American professional basketball player. He played as a power forward and a center.

Jack Edward Oliver was a British cartoonist. He is more usually known as J. Edward Oliver.

Peter Zezel was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1984 to 1999.

Arthur Decabooter was a Belgian professional racing cyclist, active as a professional between 1959 and 1967. Cyclist Walter Godefroot is his wife's brother-in-law.

John Holbrook Vance was an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries. He wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen.

Houshang Seyhoun was an Iranian architect, sculptor, painter, scholar and professor.

Vicente Aranda Ezquerra was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.

Hedy Epstein was a German-born Jewish-American political activist and Holocaust survivor known for her support of the Palestinian cause through the International Solidarity Movement.

Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th prime minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1988.