Did you know
He first attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1946, but was too slow
Notable Deaths on May 31
115 people
455 – 2025
May 31 has seen 115 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 455 – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1998 — Charles Van Acker
Belgian-American race car driver (born 1912)
Did you know
In 1948, he finished 11th in the Indy 500 and tenth in the National Championship
Did you know
1949 saw him crash ten laps into the Indy 500 and struggle to qualify much of the rest of the season
Did you know
He attempted the 1950 Indianapolis 500 but failed to qualify in what would be his last Championship Car appearance
Did you know
In 1947, he made the race and finished in 29th after a crash on lap 24
Roman emperor (born 396)
Petronius Maximus was Roman emperor of the West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Aëtius, and the…
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455
930
Japanese statesman (born 909)
Fujiwara no Morosuke , also known as Kujō-dono or Bōjō-udaijin, was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the middle Heian period. Considered a learned scholar and well-versed in the customs of the court,…
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960
1076
archbishop of Cologne
Sigwin von Are, called the Pious, was Archbishop of Cologne from 1078 to his death.
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1089
1162
1321
2nd Baron Berkeley (born 1271)
Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, The Magnanimous, feudal baron of Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England, was a peer. He rebelled against King Edward II and the Despencers. His epithet, and…
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1326
Italian statesman and writer (born 1261)
Albertino Mussato (1261–1329) was a statesman, poet, historian and playwright from Padua. He is credited with providing an impetus to the revival of literary Latin, and is characterized as an early humanist. He was…
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1329
English politician (born 1297)
Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell, English baron, belonged to a Lincolnshire family which had lands also in Cumberland, being the son of John Wake, 1st Baron Wake of Liddell, and the grandson of Baldwin Wake, both…
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1349
1370
Japanese shōgun (born 1358)
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the third shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his…
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1408
Spanish king (born 1356)
Martin the Humane, also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409. He failed to secure the accession of his…
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1410
Engelbert II of Nassau, Engelbrecht in Dutch, was count of Nassau and Vianden and lord of Breda, Lek, Diest, Roosendaal, Nispen and Wouw. He was a soldier and courtier, for some time leader of the Privy council of the…
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1504
English general and diplomat (born 1505)
Sir Philip Hoby PC was a 16th-century English Ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and Flanders.
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1558
Belgian pastor and theologian (born 1522)
Guido de Bres was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and theologian, a student of John Calvin and Theodore Beza in Geneva. He was born in Mons, County of Hainaut, Southern Netherlands, and was executed at…
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1567
Italian painter and educator (born 1518)
Jacopo Robusti, best known as Tintoretto, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticised the speed with which he painted and the unprecedented boldness of his…
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1594
Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (born 1547)
Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg was the archbishop-elector of Cologne from 1577 to 1588. After pursuing an ecclesiastical career, he won a close election in the cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst of Bavaria. After…
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1601
Safavid princess (date of birth unknown)
Zeynab Begum was the fourth daughter of Safavid king (shah) Tahmasp I, is considered to be one of the most influential and powerful princesses of the Safavid era. She lived during the reigns of five successive Safavid…
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1640
Dutch painter (born 1597)
Pieter Jansz. Saenredam was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem (1636) and Interior of the…
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1665
German theologian and educator (born 1650)
Joachim Neander was a German Reformed (Calvinist) Church teacher, theologian and hymnwriter whose most famous hymn is Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.
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1680
Frederick William I, known as the Soldier King, was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel.
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1740
German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1686)
Count Andrey Ivanovich Ostermann was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia and served until the accession of the Tsesarevna Elizabeth in 1741. He based his foreign policy on…
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1747
Austrian pianist and composer (born 1732)
Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was pivotal in the evolution of chamber music forms like the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be…
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1809
French general (born 1769)
Jean Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, Prince of Siewierz, was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
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1809
English architect and engineer (born 1757)
Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Bentham was an English mechanical engineer and naval architect credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons. He was the only surviving…
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1831
French mathematician and theorist (born 1811)
Évariste Galois was a French mathematician and political activist. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a…
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1832
English actor, comedian and dancer (born 1779)
Joseph Grimaldi was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. In the early 19th century, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed…
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1837
German pastor and philosopher (born 1780)
Philip Konrad Marheineke was a German Protestant theologian and church leader within the Evangelical Church in Prussia.
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1846
Scottish minister and economist (born 1780)
Thomas Chalmers, was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest…
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1847
French author (born 1805)
Eugénie de Guérin was a French writer and the sister of the poet Maurice de Guérin.
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1848
Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer (born 1818)
Stefanos Koumanoudis was a Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer of the 19th century.
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1899
Canadian author, poet, and politician (born 1839)
Louis-Honoré Fréchette was a Canadian poet, politician, playwright and short story writer. For his prose, he would be the first Quebecois to receive the Prix Montyon from the Académie française, and the first Canadian…
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1908
Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (born 1852)
Thomas Price served as the South Australian United Labor Party's first Premier of South Australia. He formed a minority government at the 1905 election and was re-elected with increased representation at the 1906…
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1909
English-American physician and educator (born 1821)
Elizabeth Blackwell was an English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United…
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1910
Canadian cardinal (born 1866)
Félix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927.
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1931
German author and illustrator (born 1864)
Willy Stöwer was a German artist, illustrator, and author during the Imperial Period. He is best known for nautical paintings and lithographs. Many of his works depict historical maritime events such as the sinking of…
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1931
Italian-Austrian SS officer (born 1904)
Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globočnik was a Nazi Party official and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. A high-ranking member of the SS, Globočnik was the leader of Operation Reinhard, the organized murder of around one and a half…
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1945
Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (born 1873)
Antonis Benakis (1873–1954) was a Greek art collector and the founder of the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, the son of politician and magnate Emmanuel Benakis and the brother of author Penelope Delta. He is the hero…
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1954
Greek general and politician (born 1890)
Stefanos Sarafis was an officer of the Hellenic Army and Major General in EAM-ELAS, who played an important role during the Greek Resistance.
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1957
Polish poet and academic (born 1878)
Leopold Henryk Staff was a Polish poet; an artist of European modernism twice granted the Degree of Doctor honoris causa by universities in Warsaw and in Kraków. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature…
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1957
Flemish author and poet (born 1882)
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder was a Belgian writer and poet who wrote under the pseudonym Willem Elsschot. One of the most prominent Flemish authors, his most famous work, Cheese (1933) is the most translated…
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1960
German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (born 1890)
Walther Immanuel Funk was a German economist, Nazi official and convicted war criminal who served as Reichsminister for the Economy from 1938 to 1945 and president of the Reichsbank from 1939 to 1945. Funk oversaw the…
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1960
American lawyer and politician (born 1874)
Henry Fountain Ashurst was an American Democratic politician and one of the first two senators from Arizona. Largely self-educated, he served as a district attorney and member of the Arizona Territorial legislature…
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1962
American pianist and composer (born 1915)
William Thomas Strayhorn was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the 'A'…
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1967
Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1929)
Terrance Gordon Sawchuk was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings, and…
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1970
English sculptor and author (born 1885)
Clare Consuelo Sheridan was an English sculptor, journalist and writer, known primarily for creating busts for famous sitters and keeping travel diaries. She was a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, with whom she had…
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1970
French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)
Jacques Lucien Monod was a French biochemist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis"
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1976
American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1914)
William Castle was an American filmmaker and actor. He was best known as a director of horror and thriller B-movies in the 1950s and '60s, for which he devised innovative and distinctive promotional gimmicks.
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1977
Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1925)
József Bozsik was a Hungarian footballer who played as a central midfielder. He spent his entire club career at his hometown club, Budapest Honvéd. Bozsik was a key member of the legendary Golden Team as he represented…
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1978
Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (born 1914)
Barbara Mary Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of the world…
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1981
Italian mountaineer and explorer (born 1930)
Carlo Mauri was an Italian mountaineer and explorer. Mauri was born in Lecco. Among his early climbs in the Alps two stand out: the first winter ascent of the via Comici route on the northern face of Cima Grande di…
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1982
American boxer and lieutenant (born 1895)
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. He is ranked sixth on The Ring…
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1983
French mountaineer and author (born 1921)
Gaston Rébuffat was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the great north faces of the…
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1985
American painter and sculptor (born 1918)
Jane Schenthal Frank was an American multidisciplinary artist, known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, illustrator, and textile artist. Her landscape-like, mixed-media abstract paintings are included in public…
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1986
American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)
Leo James Rainwater was an American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei.
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1986
Indian director and screenwriter (born 1937)
John Abraham was an Indian filmmaker, short story writer and screenwriter who worked mainly in Malayalam cinema. His film Amma Ariyan (1986) was the only South Indian feature film to make the list of "Top 10 Indian…
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1987
Trinidadian journalist and historian (born 1901)
Cyril Lionel Robert James, who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist, Trotskyist activist, and Marxist writer. His works are influential in various theoretical,…
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1989
American author and academic (born 1900)
Owen Lattimore was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of Pacific…
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1989
or, Spuds MacKenzie, Bud Light Bull Terrier mascot (born 1983)
Spuds MacKenzie is a bull terrier dog character used for an extensive advertising campaign marketing Bud Light beer in the late 1980s. The Spuds MacKenzie mascot and campaign was the idea of a 23-year-old art director,…
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1993
Turkish actor, producer, and composer (born 1969)
Rony Uzay Heparı was a Turkish musician, composer, producer, arranger, and actor. Heparı received classical music training as a child. In the mid-1980s, during his high school years, he joined the Istanbul Gelişim…
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1994
Italian-American soprano (born 1909)
Herva Nelli was an Italian and American operatic soprano.
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1994
American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (born 1930)
Stanley Lawrence Elkin was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male-female relationships.
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1995
American psychologist and author (born 1920)
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". According to poet…
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1996
Bulgarian diplomat, 1st President of Bulgaria (born 1936)
Petar Toshev Mladenov was a Bulgarian communist diplomat and politician. He was the last leader of the Bulgarian People's Republic from 1989 to 1990, and briefly the first President of the Bulgarian Republic in 1990.
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2000
Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (born 1928)
Alfred Jeyaratnam Wilson was a Sri Lankan Tamil academic, historian and author. He began his academic career as a lecturer in economics and political science at the University of Ceylon and was the founding professor of…
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2000
American actress, talk show host, game show panelist, and television personality (born 1907)
Arlene Francis was an American game show panelist, actress, and radio and television talk show host. She was a pioneer for women in television, and is best known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television…
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2001
Indian cricketer (born 1929)
Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and Jim Laker pronounced him the best leg spinner they had seen.
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2002
Sri Lankan journalist (born 1954)
Aiyathurai Nadesan, a prominent and veteran minority Sri Lankan Tamil journalist was shot dead on 31 May 2004 on his way to work in eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa by gunmen belonging to an armed paramilitary…
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2004
American guitarist (born 1941)
Robert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist. A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown. Critic Mark Deming wrote that "Quine's eclectic style…
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2004
French screenwriter and composer (born 1941)
Étienne Roda-Gil was a songwriter and screenwriter. He was an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist.
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2004
Spanish sculptor (born 1933)
Miguel Ortiz Berrocal was a Spanish figurative and abstract sculptor. He is best known for his puzzle sculptures, which can be disassembled into many abstract pieces. These works are also known for the miniature…
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2006
American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914)
Raymond Davis Jr. was an American chemist and physicist. He is best known as the leader of the Homestake experiment in the 1960s-1980s, which was the first experiment to detect neutrinos emitted from the Sun; for this…
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2006
Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (born 1927)
Danny La Rue was an entertainer best known for on-stage theatrical productions, television shows and films where he customarily performed in drag.
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2009
American physician (born 1941)
George Richard Tiller was an American physician and abortion provider from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which, at the time, was one of only three…
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2009
French-American sculptor and painter (born 1911)
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of…
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2010
English photographer and producer (born 1933)
Brian Duffy was an English photographer and film producer, best remembered for his fashion and portrait photography of the 1960s and 1970s.
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2010
American director, producer, and cinematographer (born 1923)
William Ashman Fraker, ASC, BSC was an American cinematographer and director.
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2010
Argentinian singer-songwriter and bandoneón player (born 1947)
Rubén Juárez was an Argentine bandoneonist and singer-songwriter of tango.
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2010
New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1942)
Merata Mita was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, and writer, and a key figure in the growth of the Māori screen industry. Mita was the first indigenous woman and the first woman in New Zealand to solely write and…
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2010
American tennis player (born 1919)
Pauline May Betz Addie was an American professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions. Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he…
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2011
American fashion designer, co-founded the Lifted Research Group (born 1977)
Jonas Bevacqua was an American clothing designer and entrepreneur.
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2011
Virgin Islander lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (born 1941)
Derek Michael Hodge was an American Virgin Islander politician and lawyer who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of the United States Virgin Islands for two terms from 1987 to 1995 under Governor Alexander…
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2011
German-Dutch psychoanalyst and author (born 1909)
Hans Alex Keilson was a German-Dutch novelist, poet, psychoanalyst and child psychologist. He was best known for his novels set during the Second World War, during which he was an active member of the Dutch resistance.
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2011
English admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (born 1918)
Vice-Admiral Sir John Edward Ludgate Martin, was a Royal Navy officer and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.
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2011
American football player and manager (born 1925)
Andrew Richard Robustelli was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants. He played college football at Arnold…
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2011
English cinematographer (born 1919)
Christopher George Joseph Challis BSC, FRPS was an English cinematographer. He was well-known for his collaborations with the directing duo of Powell and Pressburger, and worked on more than 70 feature films from the…
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2012
American lawyer and judge (born 1916)
Randall Blair Kester was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 69th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1957 to 1958. He later taught at what became the Lewis & Clark Law School…
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2012
German race car driver and publisher (born 1911)
Paul Pietsch was a racing driver, journalist and publisher from Germany, who founded the magazine Das Auto and published many other as his Motor Presse Stuttgart became the largest publisher in the European market for…
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2012
American basketball player and coach (born 1959)
Orlando Vernada Woolridge was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1994. He was known for his scoring ability, especially on slam dunks. He played college…
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2012
American physicist and academic (born 1926)
Gerald Edward Brown was an American theoretical physicist who worked on nuclear physics and astrophysics. Since 1968 he had been a professor at the Stony Brook University. He was a distinguished professor emeritus of…
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2013
Scottish author and educator (born 1933)
Frederic Lindsay was a Scottish crime writer, who was born in Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh. He was a full-time writer from 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant. He was active in a…
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2013
American author and poet (born 1930)
Miguel Méndez was the pen name for Miguel Méndez Morales, a Mexican American author best known for his novel Peregrinos de Aztlán. He was a leading figure in the field of Chicano literature.
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2013
American engineer and storm chaser (born 1957)
Timothy Michael Samaras, was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers. He died in the 2013 El Reno tornado that occurred…
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2013
Costa Rican environmentalist (born 1987)
Jairo Mora Sandoval was a Costa Rican environmentalist who was murdered while attempting to protect leatherback turtle nests. Just before midnight on May 30, 2013, Mora and four female volunteers were abducted by a…
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2013
American actress (born 1923)
Jean Stapleton was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton is best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Archie Bunker, on the 1970s…
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2013
American journalist (born 1928)
Marilyn Beck was a syndicated Hollywood columnist and author.
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2014
Brazilian footballer and coach (born 1952)
Francisco das Chagas Marinho, generally known as Marinho Chagas or Francisco Marinho, was a Brazilian professional footballer. One of the best left-backs of his era, he is best known for his flowing curly blond hair and…
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2014
American race car driver (born 1935)
Charles Everett "Hoss" Ellington was an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He married Betty Frances Hunt on April 17, 1959, at the Mount Pleasant Methodist Parsonage. They had three daughters: Monica Dale Ellington,…
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2014
American actress (born 1924)
Martha Hyer was an American actress who played Gwen French in Some Came Running (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, Finding My Way: A Hollywood…
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2014
American businessman and philanthropist (born 1942)
Lewis Katz was an American businessman, philanthropist, and newspaper publisher, who was a co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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2014
Baroness Soames, English author (born 1922)
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames was an English author. The youngest of the five children of Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, she worked for public organisations including the Red Cross and the Women's Voluntary…
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2014
Canadian author and publisher (born 1917)
Gladys Taylor was a Canadian writer and publisher.
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2015
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) (born 1947)
Mohamed Abdelaziz ben Khalili ben Mohamed al-Bachir Er-Rguibi was the 3rd Secretary General of the Polisario Front, from 1976, and the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from 1982, until his death in 2016.
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2016
American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (born 1938)
Janice Wendell Crouch was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973.
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2016
English television writer (born 1928)
Romana Barrack, known by the pseudonym Carla Lane, was an English screenwriter and animal rights campaigner. Lane was known for creating or co-creating successful British sitcoms such as The Liver Birds (1969–1979),…
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2016
German journalist and humanitarian (born 1939)
Rupert Neudeck was a German theologian, journalist and aid worker, especially with refugees.
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2016
American concept artist and director (born 1932)
Colin James Cantwell was an American concept artist and director known for his work on films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and WarGames, as well as the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th…
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2022
Indian singer (born 1968)
Krishnakumar Kunnuth Puthiyaveettil, popularly known as KK, was an Indian playback singer. KK is regarded as one of the most prolific playback singers in India. Noted for his versatility in a variety of music genres, he…
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2022
Colombian drug lord (born 1939)
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was a Colombian drug lord and one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Orejuela formed the cartel with his brother, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Hélmer Herrera. The…
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2022
2022
Canadian serial killer (born 1949)
Robert William Pickton, also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, was a Canadian pig farmer and serial killer. He is believed to have murdered at least 26 women, many of them sex workers from Vancouver's…
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2024
mother of Michelle Obama (born 1937)
Marian Lois Robinson was the mother of Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States, and Craig Robinson, a basketball executive. She was the mother-in-law of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United…
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2024
Israeli-American economist (born 1943)
Stanley Fischer was an American and Israeli economist who served as the 20th vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017. Fischer previously served as the 8th governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 to 2013.…
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2025
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Notable deaths
Who died on May 31?
Charles Van Acker — Belgian–American racing driver (1912–1998)
FeaturedCharles Van Acker
Death year1998
Known forHe first attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1946, but was too slow
Deaths on this date115 (455 – 2025)
Explore May 31
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on May 31 in History
2019
A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured. Wikipedia →
2017
A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463. Wikipedia →
2016
See all events on May 31
Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launch the Manbij offensive, in order to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Wikipedia →
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