Did you know
He first entered military service in 1788 and fought against the Turks
Notable Deaths on October 15
97 people
55 BC – 2025
October 15 has seen 97 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 55 BC – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1820 — Karl Philipp
Prince of Schwarzenberg (born 1771)
Did you know
He had to fight for Napoleon in the battles of Gorodechno and Wolkowisk (1812) against the Russians and won
Did you know
During the Napoleonic Wars, he fought in the Battle of Wagram (1809), which the Austrians lost decisively against Napoleon
Did you know
During the War of the Sixth Coalition, he was in command of the allied army that decisively defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig (1813)
Did you know
He participated in the Battle of Paris (1814), which forced Napoleon to abdicate.
-55
Patriarch of Alexandria
Theophilus of Alexandria was the 23rd Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark from 385 to 412. He is remembered as a pivotal figure in late antique Christianity, known for his assertive role in…
Read More
412
Abbasid caliph
Abu’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muʿtamid ʿalā’Llāh, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtamid ʿalā 'llāh, was the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 to 892. His reign marks the end of the…
Read More
892
Lambert was the King of Italy from 891, Emperor, co-ruling with his father from 892, and Duke of Spoleto and Camerino from his father's death in 894. He was the son of Guy III of Spoleto and Ageltrude, born in San…
Read More
898
Spanish emir (born 844)
Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman was the seventh emir of Córdoba, reigning from 888 to 912 in Al-Andalus.
Read More
912
925
caliph of Córdoba
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil al-Marwānī al-Umawī al-Qurashī, or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad Emir…
Read More
961
Duke of Burgundy (born 946)
Henry I, called the Great, was Duke of Burgundy from 965 to his death and Count of Nevers through his first marriage. He is sometimes known as Odo-Henry or Otto-Henry, since his birth name was "Odo" and he only adopted…
Read More
1002
Rudolf of Rheinfelden was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 1079. Initially a follower of his brother-in-law, the Salian emperor Henry IV, his election as German anti-king in 1077 marked the outbreak of the Great Saxon Revolt…
Read More
1080
Petronilla, whose name is also spelled Petronila or Petronella, was Queen of Aragon (1137–1164) from the abdication of her father, Ramiro II, in 1137 until her own abdication in 1164. After her abdication she acted as…
Read More
1173
sultan of Delhi (born 1205)
Raziyyat-Ud-Dunya Wa Ud-Din, popularly known as Razia Sultan, was the Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate from 1236 until her deposition in 1240. She was the first female Muslim ruler of the Indian Subcontinent, and the only…
Read More
1240
Polish saint (born 1174)
Hedwig of Silesia, a member of the Bavarian comital House of Andechs, was Duchess of Silesia from 1201 and of Greater Poland from 1231 as well as High Duchess consort of Poland from 1232 until 1238. She was canonized by…
Read More
1243
bishop and Lord High Treasurer of England, and his brother Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician.
Walter Stapeldon was an English cleric and administrator who was Bishop of Exeter from 1308 and twice served as Lord High Treasurer of England, in 1320 and from 1322 to 1325. He founded what became Exeter College,…
Read More
1326
Metropolitan of Moscow
Saint Dionysius I was the metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1384 to 1385.
Read More
1385
Pope Urban VI, born Bartolomeo Prignano, was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside the College of Cardinals. His pontificate began shortly…
Read More
1389
French princess (born 1344)
Marie of France was the sixth child and second daughter of John II of France and Bonne of Bohemia.
Read More
1404
1496
Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (born 1514)
Andries van Wezel, Latinized as Andreas Vesalius, was an anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, which is considered one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major…
Read More
1564
English poet (born 1591)
Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and Anglican cleric. He is best known for Hesperides, a book of poems. This includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", with the first line…
Read More
1674
French historian, philosopher and lawyer (born 1626)
Géraud de Cordemoy was a French philosopher, historian and lawyer. He is mainly known for his works in metaphysics and for his theory of language.
Read More
1684
Spanish painter and illustrator (born 1622)
Juan de Valdés Leal was a Spanish painter and etcher of the Baroque era.
Read More
1690
English mathematician and philosopher (born 1675)
Humphry Ditton was an English mathematician. He was the author of several influential works.
Read More
1715
Scottish-Russian admiral (born 1735)
Samuel Greig, also known as Samuil Karlovich Greig, was a British-born Russian naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, Russo-Turkish War and Russo-Swedish War. His son Aleksey Greig also served in the Imperial…
Read More
1788
American captain and judge (born 1755)
Alfred Moore was an American judge, lawyer, planter and military officer who became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Historic District in…
Read More
1810
English painter and politician (born 1735)
Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet was a British painter and politician.
Read More
1811
Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (born 1746)
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and Belarus. He fought in the Polish–Lithuanian…
Read More
1817
Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (born 1744)
Count Sergey Kuzmich Vyazmitinov was a Russian general and statesman.
Read More
1819
Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (born 1760)
Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev was a Russian statesman. He was also a poet associated with the sentimentalist movement in Russian literature.
Read More
1837
English poet and novelist (born 1802)
Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. Her first major breakthrough came with The Improvisatrice and she developed the metrical romance towards the Victorian ideal…
Read More
1838
1891
Czech pianist and composer (born 1850)
Zdeněk Fibich was a Czech composer of classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works, symphonic poems, three symphonies, at least seven operas, melodramas including the substantial trilogy Hippodamia,…
Read More
1900
American boxer (born 1886)
Stanisław Kiecal, better known in the boxing world as Stanley Ketchel, was an American professional boxer who became one of the greatest World Middleweight Champions in history. He was nicknamed "The Michigan Assassin."…
Read More
1910
1917
Indian guru and saint (born 1838)
Sai Baba of Shirdi, also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian spiritual master considered to be a saint, and revered by both Hindu and Muslim devotees during and after his lifetime.
Read More
1918
Mexican revolutionary (born 1848?)
Dolores Jiménez y Muro was a Mexican revolutionary, schoolteacher, poet, and military commander. Born in Aguascalientes, Jiménez and her family moved to San Luis Potosí when she was young. She did not receive a formal…
Read More
1925
Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (born 1866)
Herbert Henry Dow was an American chemical industrialist who founded the American multinational conglomerate Dow Chemical. A graduate of the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, he was a prolific inventor…
Read More
1930
French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (born 1860)
Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to political and…
Read More
1934
Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (born 1882)
Lluís Companys i Jover was a Catalan politician from Spain who served as president of Catalonia from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War.
Read More
1940
French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France, convicted Vichy collaborator (born 1883)
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy France. After the war, Laval was tried as…
Read More
1945
German general and Nazi politician, convicted Nuremburg war criminal (born 1893)
Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, aviator, military commander, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945. He also…
Read More
1946
American actress (born 1863)
Edythe Chapman was an American stage and silent film actress.
Read More
1948
Japanese composer (born 1914)
Fumio Hayasaka was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores.
Read More
1955
Turkish poet and author (born 1907)
Asaf Halet Çelebi was a Turkish mystical poet. Although not very widely known, due to his erudite and often foreign-influenced style, he is considered to be Turkey's first surrealist poet.
Read More
1958
British geologist, academic, and physicist (born 1908)
Frances Elizabeth Somerville Alexander was a British geologist, academic, and physicist, whose wartime work with radar and radio led to early developments in radio astronomy and whose post-war work on the geology of…
Read More
1958
Ukrainian soldier and politician (born 1909)
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B.
Read More
1959
Hungarian mathematician and academic (born 1880)
Lipót Fejér was a Hungarian mathematician.
Read More
1959
American actress and producer (born 1890)
Clara Kimball Young was an American film actress who was popular in the early silent film era.
Read More
1960
Indian poet and author (born 1896)
Suryakant Tripathi was an Indian poet, writer, composer, and sketch artist who wrote in Hindi. He is considered one of the four major pillars of the Chhayavad period in Hindi literature. He is renowned with the epithet…
Read More
1961
American golfer and captain (born 1908)
Horton Smith was an American professional golfer, best known as the winner of the first and third Masters Tournaments.
Read More
1963
American composer and songwriter (born 1891)
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in Hollywood films.
Read More
1964
German-Israeli mathematician and academic (born 1891)
Abraham Fraenkel was a German-born Israeli mathematician. He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is known for his contributions to axiomatic set theory,…
Read More
1965
1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (born 1876)
Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, CBE was a British Labour Party politician.
Read More
1966
American author and illustrator (born 1909)
Virginia Lee Burton, also known by her married name Virginia Demetrios, was an American illustrator and children's book author. She wrote and illustrated seven children's books, including Mike Mulligan and His Steam…
Read More
1968
Italian-American mob boss (born 1902)
Carlo Gambino was a Sicilian crime boss who was the leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Following the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took…
Read More
1976
American photojournalist (born 1918)
William Eugene Smith was an American photojournalist. He has been described as "perhaps the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay." His major photo essays include…
Read More
1978
Norwegian businessman (born 1899)
Rolf Kristian Eckersberg Stenersen was a Norwegian businessman, non-fiction writer, essayist, novelist, playwright and biographer. He was also a track and field athlete and art collector.
Read More
1978
Russian physicist and mathematician (born 1900)
Mikhail Alekseyevich Lavrentyev was a Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist.
Read More
1980
Greek footballer and volleyball player (born 1896)
Apostolos Nikolaidis was a Greek athlete, football manager and businessman. He was a leading board member and president of Panathinaikos A.O.
Read More
1980
American actor (born 1899)
William Joseph Patrick O'Brien was an American film actor with more than 100 screen credits. Of Irish descent, he often played Irish and Irish-American characters and was referred to as "Hollywood's Irishman in…
Read More
1983
Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (born 1949)
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist and Pan-Africanist revolutionary who, following his takeover in a coup, remained in power as the first President of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his…
Read More
1987
American author and poet (born 1908)
Donald Albert Wandrei was an American science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction writer, poet and editor. He was the older brother of science fiction writer and artist Howard Wandrei. He had fourteen stories in Weird…
Read More
1987
English composer, music critic, pianist and writer (born 1892)
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer. His music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to works lasting several hours. One of the most…
Read More
1988
Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. (born 1935)
Danilo Kiš was a Yugoslav and Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. His best known works include Hourglass, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich and The Encyclopedia of the Dead.
Read More
1989
French actress and director (born 1932)
Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film Last Year at Marienbad, and later acted in films by Chantal Akerman, Luis Buñuel,…
Read More
1990
Turkish historian and academic (born 1913)
Aydın Sayılı was a Turkish historian of science. Sayılı's portrait is depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 5 lira banknote issued in 2009. He was the first PhD recipient in the world in the field of the history of…
Read More
1993
1994
Swedish ice hockey player (born 1967)
Bengt Ture Åkerblom was a Swedish professional ice hockey player.
Read More
1995
Brazilian racing driver, only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series (born 1976)
Marco Antônio Ferreira Campos was a Brazilian racing driver. He died in an accident in a Formula 3000 race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, making him the only driver to be fatally injured in the International…
Read More
1995
British-Irish soldier, policeman, tenor and actor (born 1917)
Joseph McLaughlin, known professionally as Josef Locke, was an Irish tenor. He was successful in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s.
Read More
1999
Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912)
Konrad Emil Bloch was a German-American biochemist. Bloch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1964 for discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.
Read More
2000
American journalist and critic (born 1924)
Vincent Canby was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for The New York Times from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. He reviewed…
Read More
2000
Chinese general and warlord (born 1901)
Zhang Xueliang, also known by the epithet "Young Marshal" in contrast to his father "Old Marshal" Zhang Zuolin, was a Chinese general. He is best known for his role in the Xi'an Incident in 1936, in which he arrested…
Read More
2001
Canadian journalist and activist (born 1919)
Eustace Bennett Metcalfe was a Canadian journalist who, in 1972, became the first chairman of Greenpeace.
Read More
2003
Danish poet (born 1928)
Per Højholt was a Danish poet. Højholt had his debut in 1948 when he published "De nøgne", a series of poems which appeared in the magazine Heretica. His first collection was Hesten og solen, featuring religiously…
Read More
2004
American basketball player (born 1977)
Jason Jeffrey Collier was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Read More
2005
Finnish lawyer and politician (born 1945)
Matti Ossian Wuori was a Finnish lawyer, politician, and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Green League in 1999–2004.
Read More
2005
Dutch jurist and politician (born 1933)
Pieter Jan (Piet) Boukema was a Dutch jurist and politician. He was a member of the Provinciale Staten of North Holland from 1966 to 1970, of the Senate of the Netherlands from 1970 to 1976 and of the Raad van State…
Read More
2007
American actress and singer (born 1927)
Edie Adams was an American comedian, actress, singer and businesswoman who was prominent in the second half of the 1900s. She earned a Tony Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Read More
2008
Turkish soldier and poet (born 1914)
Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca was one of the most prolific Turkish poets of the Turkish Republic with more than 60 collections of his poems published as of 2007. He was a laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath…
Read More
2008
2008
Dutch-German footballer (born 1939)
Heinz Versteeg was a Dutch professional footballer active primarily in Germany. Versteeg played as a striker for Meidericher SV and Hamborn 07.
Read More
2009
American photographer (born 1912)
Richard Crump Miller was an American photographer best known for his vintage carbro prints, photos of celebrities, and work documenting the Hollywood Freeway.
Read More
2010
American physician and activist (born 1926)
Mildred Fay Jefferson was an American physician and anti-abortion activist. The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, the first woman to graduate in surgery from Harvard Medical School, and the…
Read More
2010
American actor (born 1931)
Johnny Sheffield was an American actor who, between 1939 and 1947, portrayed Boy in the Tarzan film series and, between 1949 and 1955, played Bomba, the Jungle Boy.
Read More
2010
English actress, singer, and author (born 1920)
Betty Mary Driver was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played for 42 years from 1969 to 2011, appearing in 2,732…
Read More
2011
French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1920)
Claude Cheysson was a French Socialist politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of Pierre Mauroy from 1981 to 1984.
Read More
2012
Turkish actor and screenwriter (born 1933)
Erol Günaydın was a Turkish theater and film actor, as well as a renowned showman famous particularly for his portrayal of Nasreddin Hoca and his performances in the traditional Turkish meddah.
Read More
2012
Greek-English computer scientist and academic (born 1953)
Maria Petrou FREng was a Greek-born British scientist who specialised in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine vision. She developed a number of novel image recognition techniques, taught at Surrey…
Read More
2012
Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1922)
Norodom Sihanouk was King, Chief of State and Prime Minister of Cambodia. He is known as Samdech Euv. During his lifetime, Cambodia was under various regimes, from French colonial rule, a Japanese puppet state (1945),…
Read More
2012
2013
Italian philosopher and historian (born 1931)
Giovanni Reale was an Italian historian of philosophy.
Read More
2014
Filipino theater, movie & television actor (born 1950)
Ramón "Chinggoy" Alonzo was a Filipino actor in theater, movies, and television. He was nominated for FAMAS Award Best Supporting Actor in Ikaw Naman ang Iiyak (1996).
Read More
2017
co-founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, owner of the Seattle Seahawks (born 1953)
Paul Gardner Allen was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the microcomputer revolution of…
Read More
2018
British politician, member of Parliament for Southend West (born 1952)
Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess was a British politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 38 years, serving Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021. He previously served as MP for Basildon from 1983…
Read More
2021
English general (born 1944)
General Sir Michael David Jackson was a British Army officer and one of its most high-profile generals since the Second World War. Originally commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1963, he transferred to the…
Read More
2024
New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1935)
James Brendan Bolger was a New Zealand politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997.
Read More
2025
Advertisement
Notable deaths
Who died on October 15?
Karl Philipp — Austrian nobleman and field marshal
FeaturedKarl Philipp
Death year1820
Known forHe first entered military service in 1788 and fought against the Turks
Deaths on this date97 (55 BC – 2025)
Explore October 15
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on October 15 in History
2018
13-year-old American girl, Jayme Closs, is kidnapped from her Barron, Wisconsin home after her parents were both murdered. Wikipedia →
2016
One hundred and ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons. Wikipedia →
2013
See all events on October 15
The 7.2 Mw Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 were killed. Wikipedia →
Advertisement