Notable people who died on May 26 include: Augustine of Canterbury, Bede, Ali al-Ridha, Yuan Xingqin, Edmund I.

Notable Deaths on May 26

Q: What is Lionel Conacher known for?

Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (born 1900)

112 people 604 – 2022

May 26 has seen 112 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 604 – 2022. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · May 26 — Wikipedia

1954 — Lionel Conacher

Canadian football player and politician (born 1900)

Did you know

His first passion was Canadian football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts

Did you know

He was also a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926

Did you know

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

Did you know

Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports

Did you know

Additionally, he won wrestling, boxing and lacrosse championships during his playing career

Augustine of Canterbury

Benedictine monk and archbishop

Augustine of Canterbury was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597.

604

Bede

English monk, historian, and theologian

Bede, also known as the Venerable Bede or Bede the Venerable, was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the best known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History…

735

Ali al-Ridha

8th of The Twelve Imams

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…

818

Yuan Xingqin

Chinese general and governor

Yuan Xingqin (元行欽), known as Li Shaorong (李紹榮) c. 915–926, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Yan and Jin/Later Tang states. He was initially a trusted general…

926

Edmund I

king of England (born 921)

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…

946

Berenguer Ramon I

Spanish nobleman (born 1005)

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

1035

Adalbert

margrave of Austria

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.

1055

Peter I

duke of Brittany

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…

1250

Aldona Ona

queen of Poland

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.

1339

Louis I

king of Naples (born 1320)

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.

1362

Mehmed I

Ottoman sultan (born 1389)

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…

1421

Bayezid II

Ottoman sultan (born 1447)

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.…

1512

Francesco Berni

Italian poet (born 1498)

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.

1536

Sebastian Münster

German cartographer and cosmographer (born 1488)

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,…

1552

Vincent Voiture

French poet and author (born 1597)

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…

1648

Robert Filmer

English theorist and author (born 1588)

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 attempts at rebuttal,…

1653

Ferdinand Maria

Elector of Bavaria (born 1636)

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…

1679

Charles II

German elector palatine (born 1651)

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.

1685

Zeb-un-Nissa

Mughal princess and poet (born 1638)

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.

1702

Samuel Pepys

English politician (born 1633)

Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is most remembered today for the diary he kept for almost a decade. Though he had no…

1703

Pylyp Orlyk

Ukrainian diplomat (born 1672)

Pylyp Stepanovych Orlyk was a Zaporozhian Cossack statesman, diplomat and member of Cossack starshyna. Described as the first Ukrainian political emigrant, he served as the hetman in exile from 1710 to 1742. He was a…

1742

Thomas Southerne

Irish playwright (born 1660)

Thomas Southerne was an Irish dramatist.

1746

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten

German philosopher and academic (born 1714)

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten was a German philosopher. He established aesthetics as a philosophical discipline.

1762

James Burnett

Lord Monboddo, Scottish linguist, biologist, and judge (born 1714)

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…

1799

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly

Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (born 1761)

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

1818

Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza

Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader (born 1785)

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

1818

Capel Lofft

English lawyer (born 1751)

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

1824

Sidney Smith

English admiral and politician (born 1764)

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.…

1840

Jakob Bernays

German philologist and academic (born 1824)

Jacob Bernays was a German philologist and philosophical writer.

1881

Abdelkader El Djezairi

Algerian ruler (born 1808)

Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din, known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abd al-Qadir al-Hassani al-Jaza'iri, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers in the…

1883

Almon Brown Strowger

American soldier and inventor (born 1839)

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

1902

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya movement (born 1835)

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…

1908

Jacob August Riis

Danish-American journalist, photographer, and reformer (born 1849)

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…

1914

Victor Herbert

Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor, founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (born 1859)

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…

1924

William H. Shockley

American mining engineer, amateur photographer, and hobbyist botanist (born 1855)

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…

1925

Srečko Kosovel

Slovenian poet (born 1904)

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…

1926

Horatio Bottomley

English financier, journalist, and politician (born 1860)

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…

1933

Jimmie Rodgers

American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1897)

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…

1933

Charles Horace Mayo

American physician, co-founded Mayo Clinic (born 1865)

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…

1939

Edsel Ford

American businessman (born 1893)

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…

1943

Alice Tegnér

Swedish organist, composer, and educator (born 1864)

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.

1943

Christian Wirth

German SS officer (born 1885)

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…

1944

Torsten Bergström

Swedish actor and director (born 1896)

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

1948

Lincoln Ellsworth

American explorer (born 1880)

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

1951

Alberto Ascari

Italian racing driver (born 1918)

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…

1955

Al Simmons

American baseball player and coach (born 1902)

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…

1956

Philip Kassel

American gymnast (born 1876)

Philip Kassel was an American gymnast and track and field athlete who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in the German Empire. In 1904 he won the gold medal in the team event. He was also 6th in…

1959

Ruben Oskar Auervaara

Finnish fraudster (born 1906)

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…

1964

Elizabeth Dilling

American author and activist (born 1894)

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…

1966

Paul Hawkins

Australian racing driver (born 1937)

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…

1969

Allan Haines Loughead

American engineer, co-founded the Lockheed Corporation (born 1889)

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.

1969

Silvio Moser

Swiss racing driver (born 1941)

Silvio Moser was a racing driver from Switzerland.

1974

Martin Heidegger

German philosopher and academic (born 1889)

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

1976

Cybele Andrianou

Greek actress (born 1887)

Cybele Andrianou was a Greek actress.

1978

George Brent

Irish-American actor (born 1904)

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.

1979

Elizabeth Peer

American journalist (born 1936)

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.…

1984

Don Revie

English footballer and manager (born 1927)

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…

1989

Sonny Sharrock

American guitarist (born 1940)

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

1994

Friz Freleng

American animator, director, and producer (born 1906)

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…

1995

Ralph Horween

American football player and coach (born 1896)

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.…

1997

Paul Sacher

Swiss conductor and philanthropist (born 1906)

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…

1999

Waldo Semon

American chemist and engineer (born 1898)

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

1999

Vittorio Brambilla

Italian racing driver (born 1937)

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.

2001

Anne Haney

American actress (born 1934)

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…

2001

Moven Mahachi

Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (born 1952)

Moven Enock Mahachi served as the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Zimbabwe. He was a close ally of Robert Mugabe within Z.A.N.U.-P.F. Before becoming Defence Minister Mahachi served as M.P. for Makoni West.

2001

Dona Massin

Canadian actress and choreographer (born 1917)

Dona Massin was a film choreographer best known for her work on the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz. Dona Massin appeared in over 100 films throughout her career.

2001

Mamo Wolde

Ethiopian runner (born 1932)

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.

2002

Kathleen Winsor

American journalist and author (born 1919)

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…

2003

Nikolai Chernykh

Russian astronomer (born 1931)

Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh was a Russian-born Soviet astronomer and discoverer of minor planets and comets at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea.

2004

Eddie Albert

American actor (born 1906)

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.

2005

Chico Carrasquel

Venezuelan baseball player and manager (born 1928)

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…

2005

Ruth Laredo

American pianist and educator (born 1937)

Ruth Laredo was an American classical pianist.

2005

Leslie Smith

English businessman, co-founded Lesney Products (born 1918)

Leslie Charles Smith, OBE, was a co-founder of Lesney Products, the company famous for making Matchbox cars.

2005

Édouard Michelin

French businessman (born 1963)

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.

2006

Kevin O'Flanagan

Irish footballer and physician (born 1919)

Kevin Patrick O'Flanagan was an Irish sportsman, physician and sports administrator. An outstanding all-rounder, he represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. He was also a noted sprinter and long jumper…

2006

Jack Edward Oliver

English illustrator (born 1942)

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

2007

Howard Porter

American basketball player (born 1948)

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

2007

Sydney Pollack

American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1934)

Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer, and actor. Pollack is known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films. During his 40-year career, he received numerous accolades,…

2008

Zita Urbonaitė

Lithuanian cyclist (born 1973)

Zita Urbonaitė was a female road racing cyclist from Lithuania.

2008

Mihalis Papagiannakis

Greek journalist and politician (born 1941)

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.

2009

Peter Zezel

Canadian ice hockey and soccer player (born 1965)

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

2009

Art Linkletter

Canadian-American radio and television host (born 1912)

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…

2010

Chris Moran

English air marshal and pilot (born 1956)

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.

2010

Kieran Phelan

Irish politician (born 1949)

Kieran Phelan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and member of Seanad Éireann on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

2010

Arisen Ahubudu

Sri Lankan scholar, author, and playwright (born 1920)

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…

2011

Arthur Decabooter

Belgian cyclist (born 1936)

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.

2012

Leo Dillon

American illustrator (born 1933)

Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the husband-and-wife team "a seamless amalgam of both their…

2012

Stephen Healey

Welsh captain and footballer (born 1982)

Captain Stephen James Healey was a British Army officer with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, and former professional footballer for Swansea City.

2012

Hiroshi Miyazawa

Japanese politician (born 1921)

Hiroshi Miyazawa was a Japanese politician who served as the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from 1973 to 1981 and the Minister of Justice from 1995 to 1996.

2012

Hans Schmidt

Canadian wrestler (born 1925)

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

2012

Jim Unger

English-Canadian illustrator (born 1937)

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.

2012

Ray Barnhart

American businessman and politician (born 1928)

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…

2013

John Bierwirth

American lawyer and businessman (born 1924)

John Cocks (Jack) Bierwirth was an American lawyer and businessman. Bierwirth was an attorney by education, and a banking and financial expert by trade. He was best known as the CEO of Grumman during the 1970s and…

2013

Roberto Civita

Italian-Brazilian businessman (born 1936)

Roberto F. Civita was a Brazilian businessman and publisher. Born in Italy, he emigrated at the age of two with his family to New York in 1938 to escape effects of the Race Laws. They moved again to Brazil in 1949,…

2013

Tom Lichtenberg

American football player and coach (born 1940)

Thomas Lichtenberg was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach also at Morehead State University (1979–1980), the University of Maine (1989), and Ohio University (1990–1994),…

2013

Otto Muehl

Austrian painter (born 1925)

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

2013

Jack Vance

American author (born 1916)

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

2013

Baselios Thoma Didymos I

Indian metropolitan (born 1921)

Baselios Marthoma Didymus I born C. T. Thomas was the primate of the Malankara Orthodox Church from 2005 to 2010. He was the 7th Catholicos of the Malankara since the Catholicate of the East was established India and…

2014

Miodrag Radulovacki

Serbian-American academic and neuropharmacologist (born 1933)

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…

2014

William R. Roy

American physician, journalist, and politician (born 1926)

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…

2014

Hooshang Seyhoun

Iranian-Canadian architect, sculptor, and painter (born 1920)

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

2014

Vicente Aranda

Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

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

2015

Les Johnson

Australian politician and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (born 1924)

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…

2015

Robert Kraft

American astronomer and academic (born 1927)

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:…

2015

João Lucas

Portuguese footballer (born 1979)

João Nuno Silva Cardoso Lucas was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

2015

Hedy Epstein

German-born American human rights activist and Holocaust survivor (born 1924)

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.

2016

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Polish-born American politician (born 1928)

Zbigniew "Zbig" Kazimierz 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…

2017

Prem Tinsulanonda

Former Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1920)

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

2019

Andy Fletcher

English musician (born 1961)

Andrew John Fletcher, also known as Fletch, was an English keyboardist 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.

2022

Ray Liotta

American actor (born 1954)

Raymond Allen Liotta was an American actor. He first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild (1986), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless…

2022

Alan White

English drummer (born 1949)

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…

2022

Notable deaths

Who died on May 26?

Lionel Conacher — Canadian athlete and politician (1900–1954)

FeaturedLionel Conacher

Death year1954

Known forVoted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports

Deaths on this date112 (604 – 2022)

Explore May 26

Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.

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Also on May 26 in History

2025

65 people are injured when a car rams into a crowd on Water Street, near Liverpool F.C.'s Premier League trophy parade. Wikipedia →

2021

Ten people are killed in a shooting at a VTA rail yard in San Jose, California, United States. Wikipedia →

2020

Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, later becoming widespread across the United States and around the world. Wikipedia →

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1954 — Lionel Conacher

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