Notable Deaths on October 2

Q: Who died on October 2?

Notable people who died on October 2 include: Athalaric, Michael II, Eberhard of Franconia, Gilbert, Pope Urban IV (born c. 1200).

Q: What is David Tonkin known for?

David Tonkin, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (born 1929)

79 people 534 – 2024

October 2 has seen 79 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 534 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · October 2 — Wikipedia

2000 — David Tonkin

Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (born 1929)

Did you know

He became the leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1975, replacing Bruce Eastick

Did you know

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

Did you know

David Oliver Tonkin was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982

Did you know

He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983

Did you know

Following the 1980 Norwood by-election the Tonkin government was reduced to a one-seat majority

Athalaric

king of the Ostrogoths in Italy

Athalaric was the king of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuintha, the youngest daughter of Theodoric the Great, whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526. Athalaric was…

534

Michael II

Byzantine emperor

Michael II, called the Amorian and the Stammerer, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 25 December 820 to his death on 2 October 829, the first ruler of the Amorian dynasty.

829

Eberhard of Franconia

Eberhard, a member of the Conradine dynasty, was Duke of Franconia, succeeding his elder brother, King Conrad I, in December 918. From 926 to 928, he also acted as ruler of Lotharingia.

939

Gilbert

Duke of Lorraine

Gilbert was son of Reginar and the brother-in-law of Emperor Otto I. He was duke of Lotharingia until 939. Gilbert was also lay abbot of Echternach, Stablo-Malmedy, St Servatius of Maastricht, and St Maximin of Trier.

939

Pope Urban IV (born c. 1200)

Pope Urban IV, born James Pantaleon, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death three years later. He was elected pope without being a cardinal; he was the first to be…

1264

Jacquet of Mantua

French-Italian composer (born 1483)

Jacquet of Mantua was a French composer of the Renaissance, who spent almost his entire life in Italy. He was an influential member of the composers between Josquin and Palestrina, and represents well the developments…

1559

Diego Sarmiento de Acuña

1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish academic and diplomat (born 1567)

Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, referred to simply as Count Gondomar, was a Spanish nobleman and diplomat. He twice served as Spain's ambassador to England and later held an informal but influential…

1626

Antonio Cifra

Italian composer (born 1584)

Antonio Cifra was an Italian composer of the Roman School of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the significant transitional figures between the Renaissance and Baroque styles, and produced music in…

1629

Pierre de Bérulle

French cardinal and theologian (born 1575)

Pierre de Bérulle was a French Catholic priest, cardinal and statesman in 17th-century France. He was the founder of the French school of spirituality and counted among his disciples Vincent de Paul and Francis de…

1629

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…

1674

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…

1678

Anne Jules de Noailles

French general (born 1650)

Anne Jules de Noailles, 2nd Duke of Noailles was one of the chief generals of France towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV, and, after raising the regiment of Noailles in 1689, he commanded in Spain during both the…

1708

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…

1709

François-Timoléon de Choisy

French historian and author (born 1644)

François-Timoléon de Choisy was a French abbé, writer, and member of the Académie Française. He is known for his memoirs, historical and religious writings, and travel accounts. His posthumously published…

1724

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…

1746

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…

1764

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…

1780

Charles Lee

English-born American general (born 1732)

Charles Lee was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He also served earlier in the British Army during the Seven Years War. He sold…

1782

Augustus Keppel

1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (born 1725)

Admiral 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,…

1786

Samuel Adams

American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (born 1722)

Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, a signatory of the…

1803

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

French engineer (born 1725)

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor who built the world's first full-size and working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle, the "Fardier à vapeur" – effectively the world's first automobile.

1804

Vasil Aprilov

Bulgarian educator, merchant and writer (born 1789)

Vasil Evstatiev Aprilov was a Bulgarian educator, merchant, philanthropist, writer and a national activist. Aprilov was a leading figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. He contributed to the establishment of secular…

1847

Sarah Biffen

English painter (born 1784)

Sarah Biffin, also known as Sarah Biffen, Sarah Beffin or by her married name Mrs E. M. Wright, was an English painter born in Somerset.

1850

François Arago

French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and politician (born 1786)

Dominique François Jean Arago, known simply as François Arago, was a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, freemason, supporter of the Carbonari revolutionaries, and politician.

1853

Max Bruch

German composer and conductor (born 1838)

Max Bruch was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.

1920

Svante Arrhenius

Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859)

Svante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize…

1927

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…

1938

John Evans

English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (born 1855)

Sir John William Evans, CMG was an Australian politician, a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly and Premier of Tasmania from 11 July 1904 to 19 June 1909.

1943

John Marin

American painter (born 1870)

John Marin was an early American modernist visual artist. He is known for his abstract landscape paintings and watercolors.

1953

Émilie Busquant

French anarcho-syndicalist, sewed the first Flag of Algeria (born 1901)

Émilie Busquant (1901–1953) was a French feminist, anarcho-syndicalist and anti-colonial activist who was married to the Algerian nationalist leader Messali Hadj. She is notable for her involvement in the creation of…

1953

William R. Orthwein

American swimmer and water polo player (born 1881)

William Robert Orthwein was an American sportsman, attorney, business executive and political activist. He was an Olympic bronze medalist in both water polo and the 4x50 freestyle swimming relay at the 1904 St. Louis…

1955

Marcel Duchamp

French painter and sculptor (born 1887)

Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was a French American artist, chess player, and inventor who played a key role in the development of the avant-garde in the United States and in New York City, where he spent the last 25…

1968

Jessie Arms Botke

American painter (born 1883)

Jessie Hazel Arms Botke was an Illinois and California painter noted for her bird images and use of gold leaf highlights.

1971

Paul Hartman

American actor and dancer (born 1904)

Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television actor.

1973

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…

1973

Vasily Shukshin

Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1929)

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin was a Soviet and Russian writer, actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altai region who specialized in rural themes. A prominent member of the Village Prose movement, he began writing…

1974

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…

1975

Harry Golden

American journalist and author (born 1902)

Harry Lewis Golden was an American writer and newspaper publisher.

1981

Hazel Scott

Trinidadian-American activist, actress, and musician (born 1920)

Hazel Dorothy Scott was an American jazz and classical pianist and singer. An outspoken critic of racial discrimination and segregation, she used her influence to improve the representation of Black Americans in film.

1981

Rock Hudson

American actor (born 1925)

Rock Hudson was an American actor. One of the most popular film stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades, and was a prominent figure in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

1985

Madeleine Carroll

English actress (born 1906)

Edith Madeleine Carroll was an English actress, popular both in Britain and in America in the 1930s and 1940s. At the peak of her success in 1938, she was the world's highest-paid actress.

1987

Peter Medawar

Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)

Sir Peter Brian Medawar was a British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants.…

1987

Alec Issigonis

English car designer, designed the Mini (born 1906)

Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of the 20th century…

1988

Hamengkubuwono IX

Indonesian politician, 2nd vice president of Indonesia (born 1912)

Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, 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…

1988

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…

1991

Demetrios I of Constantinople (born 1914)

Demetrios I of Constantinople, also Dimitrios I or Demetrius I, born Demetrios Papadopoulos, was the 269th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 16 July 1972 to 2 October 1991, serving as the spiritual leader of…

1991

Robert Bourassa

Canadian lawyer and politician, Premier of Quebec (born 1933)

Robert Bourassa was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just under 15 years as…

1996

Andrey Lukanov

Bulgarian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (born 1938)

Andrey Karlov Lukanov was a Bulgarian politician. Between February and November 1990, Lukanov was the final Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. He was murdered in 1996.

1996

Gene Autry

American actor, singer, and guitarist (born 1907)

Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry, nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner. He largely gained fame by singing in a crooning style on radio, in…

1998

Heinz G. Konsalik

German journalist and author (born 1921)

Heinz G. Konsalik was a German novelist. Konsalik was his mother's maiden name.

1999

Franz Biebl

German composer and academic (born 1906)

Franz Xaver Biebl was a German composer of classical music. Most of his compositions were for choral ensembles.

2001

Heinz von Foerster

Austrian-American physicist and philosopher (born 1911)

Heinz von Foerster was an Austrian-American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of second-order cybernetics. He was twice a Guggenheim fellow and also was a fellow of the…

2002

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…

2003

Nipsey Russell

American comedian and actor (born 1918)

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…

2005

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…

2005

Helen Chenoweth-Hage

American politician (born 1938)

Helen Margaret Palmer Chenoweth-Hage was an American politician from the U.S. state of Idaho, serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001. She remains one of two women to ever represent…

2006

Paul Halmos

Hungarian-American mathematician (born 1916)

Paul Richard Halmos was a Hungarian-born American mathematician and probabilist who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, operator theory, ergodic theory, and functional…

2006

Tex Coulter

American football player (born 1924)

DeWitt Echoles "Tex" Coulter was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union for the Montreal Alouettes. Coulter…

2007

George Grizzard

American actor (born 1928)

George Cooper Grizzard Jr. was an American actor. He was the recipient of a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, among other accolades.

2007

Dan Keating

Irish Republican Army volunteer (born 1902)

Daniel Keating was a lifelong Irish republican and former president of the Republican Sinn Féin. At the time of his death, he was Ireland's oldest man and the last surviving veteran of the Irish War of Independence.

2007

Kwa Geok Choo

Singaporean lawyer and scholar (born 1920)

Kwa Geok Choo was a Singaporean lawyer. She was the wife of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore and the mother of Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Hsien Yang, and Lee Wei Ling.

2010

Nguyễn Chí Thiện

Vietnamese-American poet and activist (born 1939)

Nguyễn Chí Thiện was a North Vietnamese dissident, activist and poet who spent a total of twenty-seven years as a political prisoner of the communist governments of both North Vietnam and of post-1975 Vietnam, before…

2012

Charles Roach

Trinidadian-Canadian lawyer and activist (born 1933)

Charles Conliff Mende Roach was a Canadian civil rights lawyer and an activist in the Black community in Toronto.

2012

J. Philippe Rushton

English-Canadian psychologist, theorist, academic (born 1943)

John Philippe Rushton was a Canadian psychologist and author. He taught at the University of Western Ontario until the early 1990s, and became known to the general public during the 1980s and 1990s for promoting…

2012

Abraham Nemeth

American mathematician and academic (born 1918)

Abraham Nemeth was an American mathematician. He was professor of mathematics at the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit, Michigan. Nemeth was blind and is known for developing Nemeth Braille, a system for blind…

2013

Robert Flower

Australian footballer (born 1955)

Robert Alan Flower was an Australian rules footballer with Melbourne Football Club. His first game was against Geelong in 1973 and he captained the team from 1981 until his final game in 1987. He held the record for the…

2014

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…

2015

Coleridge Goode

Jamaican-English bassist and composer (born 1914)

George Coleridge Emerson Goode was a British Jamaican-born jazz bassist best known for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a member of Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet throughout its…

2015

Johnny Paton

Scottish footballer and coach (born 1923)

John Aloysius Paton was a Scottish professional football player, manager, coach, scout and later a professional snooker referee. He began his career in Scotland with Celtic and played in the Football League for Chelsea,…

2015

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…

2016

Tom Petty

American musician (born 1950)

Thomas Earl Petty was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was the leader and frontman of the rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling…

2017

Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi journalist (born 1958)

Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist and editor. Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the…

2018

Anne-Marie Hutchinson

British lawyer (born 1957)

Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE QC (Hon) was an Irish lawyer known for her work in the UK concerning children's rights, particularly forced marriage and international child abduction.

2020

Jack Biondolillo

American bowler (born 1940)

Jack Joseph Biondolillo was an American professional bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA).

2021

Sacheen Littlefeather

American actress, model and activist for Native American civil rights (born 1946)

Maria Louise Cruz, better known as Sacheen Littlefeather, was an American-born actress and activist for Native American civil rights. After her death, she was accused by family members and journalists of falsely…

2022

Francis Lee

English footballer (born 1944)

Francis Henry Lee, also known as Franny Lee, was an English professional footballer and businessman. He was also later the chairman and main shareholder of Manchester City, as well as briefly a racehorse trainer and…

2023

Susie Berning

American professional golfer (born 1941)

Suzanne Maxwell Berning was an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1964 and won four major championships and eleven LPGA Tour victories in all. She also competed under her maiden name…

2024

Marissa Haque

Indonesian politician (born 1962)

Marissa Grace was an Indonesian actress and politician of Madurese, Dutch, Pakistani, and French descent. The eldest of the Haque family, she was the older sibling of Indonesian model and actor Soraya Haque, and…

2024

Notable deaths

Who died on October 2?

David Tonkin — Australian politician (1929 – 2000)

FeaturedDavid Tonkin

Death year2000

Known forHe was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983

Deaths on this date79 (534 – 2024)

Explore October 2

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

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Also on October 2 in History

2025

2 people are killed and at least 4 others injured in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, UK, during Yom Kippur. Wikipedia →

2019

A privately owned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress conducting a living history exhibition flight crashes shortly after takeoff from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, killing seven. Wikipedia →

2018

The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Wikipedia →

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Notable Deaths on October 2

2000 — David Tonkin

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