Notable Deaths on October 2

October 2 has 79 recorded notable deaths across history, from 534 to 2024. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Nipsey Russell

2005 — Nipsey Russell

American comedian and actor (born 1918)

By · — Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 79 source records 534 – 2024

Major events on October 2

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1996 The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton. Source
  2. 1971 South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is re-elected in a one-man election. Source

Did you know about Nipsey Russell

Julius "Nipsey" Russell was an American entertainer best known for his appearances as a panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, including Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, and Pyramid.

Did you know about K. Kamaraj

Later, he became the founder and president of the Indian National Congress (O).

Did you know about August Wilson

Plays in the series include Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), each of which won Wilson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988).

Did you know about John André

In September 1780, André negotiated with Continental Army general Benedict Arnold, who secretly offered to turn over control of the American fort at West Point, New York, to the British.

Did you know about Paavo Nurmi

Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1,500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his 12 events in the Summer Olympic Games.

More major people who died on October 2

Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.

1975 K. Kamaraj

K. Kamaraj

Indian lawyer and politician (born 1903)
Kumaraswami Kamaraj, popularly known as Kamarajar, was an Indian independence activist, politician, social reformer, and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Madras from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963. He also served as the president of the Indian National Congress from 1964 to 1967 and was responsible for the elevation of Lal Bahadur Shastri and later Indira Gandhi to the position of Prime Minister of India, because of which he was widely acknowledged as the "Kingmaker" in Indian politics during the 1960s. Later, he became the founder and president of the Indian National Congress (O).
Wikipedia source
2005 August Wilson

August Wilson

American author and playwright (born 1945)
August Wilson was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle , which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Plays in the series include Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990), each of which won Wilson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988). In 2006, Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Wikipedia source
1780 John André

John André

English soldier (born 1750)
Major John André was a British Army officer who served as the head of Britain's intelligence operations during the American War for Independence. In September 1780, André negotiated with Continental Army general Benedict Arnold, who secretly offered to turn over control of the American fort at West Point, New York, to the British. Due to a series of mishaps and unforeseen events, André was forced to try to return to British lines from a meeting with Arnold through American-controlled territory while wearing civilian clothes.
Wikipedia source
1973 Paavo Nurmi

Paavo Nurmi

Finnish runner (born 1897)
Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" because he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1,500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his 12 events in the Summer Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated for 121 races at distances from 800 m upwards. Throughout his 14-year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 metres.
Wikipedia source
1709 Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Mazepa

Ukrainian diplomat (born 1639)
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa was a Ukrainian military, political and civic leader who served as hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687–1709. His long and stable rule was marked by economical and political recovery from the Ruin. A loyal subject of Russia during most of his rule, Mazepa's close relationship with Tsar Peter I deteriorated as a result of the latter's administrative reforms, which increasingly deprived Mazepa and the Hetmanate of their autonomy. In 1708, Mazepa abandoned his alliance with Peter I and sided with Charles XII of Sweden after the Tsar refused to protect the Hetmanate against the advancing Swedes, instead ordering that much of Ukraine be burned to prevent the Swedes from gaining access to supplies and winter quarters.
Wikipedia source
1987 Peter Medawar

Peter Medawar

Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)
Sir Peter Brian Medawar was a Brazilian-born biologist and writer of Lebanese-British descent who, from a succession of research and teaching posts, and senior U.K. biomedical leadership positions, contributed seminal discoveries in immunology, including one honoured by a Nobel Prize to him and Australian Mac Burnet in 1960. Medawar's works on the discovery of acquired immune tolerance, and on graft rejection, have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants. For his scientific work, he has been termed the "father of transplantation". He is remembered, as well, for his wit, both in person and in his popular writings. Richard Dawkins referred to him as "the wittiest of all scientific writers"; Stephen Jay Gould as "the cleverest man I have ever known".
Wikipedia source
2000 David Tonkin

David Tonkin

Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (born 1929)
David Oliver Tonkin was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983. He became the leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1975, replacing Bruce Eastick. Initially leading the party to defeat at the 1977 election against the Don Dunstan Labor government, his party won the 1979 election against the Des Corcoran Labor government. Following the 1980 Norwood by-election the Tonkin government was reduced to a one-seat majority. His government's policy approach combined economic conservatism with social progressivism. The Tonkin Liberal government was defeated after one term at the 1982 election by Labor led by John Bannon.
Wikipedia source
1991 Hazen Argue

Hazen Argue

Canadian politician (born 1921)
Hazen Robert Argue was a Canadian politician who served in the House of Commons and the Senate. He was first elected as a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Member of Parliament (MP) in 1945 and was the last leader of the party, from 1960 to 1961. He crossed the floor to the Liberal Party in 1962 and was defeated in 1963. In 1966 he was appointed to the Senate. He entered the federal cabinet in 1980, as the only Saskatchewan representative, with responsibilities for the Canadian Wheat Board. He is well known for being a strong proponent of the proposed Canadian annexation of the Turks and Caicos Islands. He was the first senator ever to have been charged with fraud, in 1989. The charges were eventually dropped.
Wikipedia source
1786 Augustus Keppel

Augustus Keppel

1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (born 1725)
Admiral of the White Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.
Wikipedia source
1938 Alexandru Averescu

Alexandru Averescu

Romanian military leader and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (born 1859)
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets. He first rose to prominence during the peasants' revolt of 1907, which he helped repress with violence. Credited with engineering the defense of Moldavia in the 1916–1917 Campaign, he built on his popularity to found and lead the successful People's Party, which he brought to power in 1920–1921, with backing from King Ferdinand I and the National Liberal Party (PNL), and with the notable participation of Constantin Argetoianu and Take Ionescu.
Wikipedia source
2003 John Thomas Dunlop

John Thomas Dunlop

American scholar and politician, United States Secretary of Labor (born 1914)
John Thomas Dunlop was an American administrator, labor economist, and educator. Dunlop was the United States Secretary of Labor between 1975 and 1976 under President Gerald Ford. He was Director of the United States Cost of Living Council from 1973 to 1974, Chairman of the United States Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations from 1993 to 1995, which produced the Dunlop Report in 1994. He was also arbitrator and impartial chairman of various United States labor-management committees, and a member of numerous government boards on industrial relations disputes and economic stabilization.
Wikipedia source
1803 Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams

American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (born 1722)
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents, and one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams. He founded the Sons of Liberty.
Wikipedia source
1674 George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen

George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen

officer in the Dutch Army (born 1606)
Prince George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, German: Georg Friedrich Prinz von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Prinz von Nassau, Graf zu Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was a count from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau. In 1664 he was elevated to the rank and title of prince. He served as an officer in the Dutch States Army, and was successively commander of Rheinberg and governor of Bergen op Zoom.
Wikipedia source
1678 Wu Sangui

Wu Sangui

Qing Chinese general (born 1612)
Wu Sangui, courtesy name Changbai (長白) or Changbo (長伯), was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty. In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is regarded as a disreputable Han Chinese traitor for his defection over to the Manchu invaders, suppression of the Southern Ming resistance and execution of the Yongli Emperor. Wu eventually double-crossed both of his masters, the Ming and the Qing dynasties.
Wikipedia source
1746 Josiah Burchett

Josiah Burchett

English admiral and politician (born 1666)
Josiah Burchett, of Hampstead, Middlesex, was a British naval administrator and Whig politician, who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1705 and 1741. He was Secretary of the Admiralty in England, a position he held for almost fifty years from 26 September 1694 to 14 October 1742. In addition to his administrative duties, he was the author of the first general history of the Royal Navy, published in 1720 and based on official Admiralty records.
Wikipedia source
1764 William Cavendish

William Cavendish

4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1720)
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the first son of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Catherine. He is also a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of King Charles III through the king's maternal great-grandmother, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
Wikipedia source
2016 Neville Marriner

Neville Marriner

British conductor (born 1924)
Sir Neville Marriner, was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner number 14 of the 18 "Greatest and Most Famous Conductors of All Time". He founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and his partnership with them is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor.
Wikipedia source
2015 Brian Friel

Brian Friel

Irish author, playwright, and director (born 1929)
Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.
Wikipedia source
1988 Hamengkubuwono IX

Hamengkubuwono IX

Indonesian politician, 2nd vice president of Indonesia (born 1912)
Hamengkubuwono IX, 9th Sri Sultan of Yogyakarta, often abbreviated as HB IX, was an Indonesian politician and Javanese royal who was the second vice president of Indonesia, the ninth sultan of Yogyakarta, and the first governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Hamengkubuwono IX was also the chairman of the first National Scout Movement Quarter and was known as the Father of the Indonesian Scouts.
Wikipedia source

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