Died on Wednesday, 1st April – Famous Deaths

01/04/2025

Val Kilmer, American actor (born 1959)

Val Edward Kilmer was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including comedies, dramas, action adventures, westerns, historical films, crime dramas, science fiction films, and fantasy films. Films in which Kilmer appeared grossed more than $3.85 billion worldwide. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it".

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Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter (born 1938)

Johnny Tillotson was an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop, country, and adult contemporary Billboard charts, including "Poetry in Motion", the self-penned "It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin'", "Talk Back Trembling Lips" and "Without You".

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01/04/2024

Lou Conter, American naval commander (born 1921)

Louis Anthony Conter was an American naval officer who was a lieutenant commander and naval aviator in the United States Navy. At the time of his death, he was the last living survivor of the sinking of the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

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Vontae Davis, American football player (born 1988)

Vontae Ottis Davis was an American professional football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft. Davis also played for the Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills. He made two Pro Bowls in his career.

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Joe Flaherty, American actor, writer, and comedian (born 1941)

Joseph Flaherty was an American actor, writer, and comedian. In television, Flaherty starred on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV from 1976 to 1984 and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks (1999). His film roles include the heckler in Happy Gilmore (1996).

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Sami Michael, Iraqi-born Israeli writer and human rights activist (born 1926)

Sami Michael was an Iraqi-Israeli author, having migrated from Iraq to Israel at the age of 23. From 2001, Michael was the President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).

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Ed Piskor, American comic book artist (born 1982)

Edward R. Piskor Jr. was an American alternative comics cartoonist. Piskor was known primarily for his work on Hip Hop Family Tree, X-Men: Grand Design, and the Red Room trilogy. Piskor also co-hosted the YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe with fellow Pittsburgh native cartoonist Jim Rugg. In March 2024, Piskor was accused via social media of sexual misconduct. Piskor died on April 1, 2024, at the age of 41, hours after posting a suicide note via social media, defending himself against the allegations leveled against him.

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Mohammad Reza Zahedi, Iranian senior military officer (born 1960)

Mohammad Reza Zahedi was an Iranian military officer. A senior figure within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he had previously commanded the IRGC Aerospace Force and the IRGC Ground Forces, and was commanding the Quds Force unit 18000 in Lebanon and Syria at the time of his death.

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01/04/2019

Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (born 1948)

Vonda Neel McIntyre was an American science fiction writer and biologist.

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01/04/2018

Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (born 1943)

Steven Ronald Bochco was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, mostly crime dramas, including Hill Street Blues; L.A. Law; Doogie Howser, M.D.; Cop Rock; and NYPD Blue.

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01/04/2017

Lonnie Brooks, American blues singer and guitarist (born 1933)

Lonnie Brooks was an American blues singer and guitarist. The musicologist Robert Palmer, writing in Rolling Stone, stated, "His music is witty, soulful and ferociously energetic, brimming with novel harmonic turnarounds, committed vocals and simply astonishing guitar work." Jon Pareles, a music critic for the New York Times, wrote, "He sings in a rowdy baritone, sliding and rasping in songs that celebrate lust, fulfilled and unfulfilled; his guitar solos are pointed and unhurried, with a tone that slices cleanly across the beat. Wearing a cowboy hat, he looks like the embodiment of a good-time bluesman." Howard Reich, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote, "...the music that thundered from Brooks' instrument and voice...shook the room. His sound was so huge and delivery so ferocious as to make everything alongside him seem a little smaller."

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Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet and Russian poet and writer (born 1932)

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko was a Soviet and Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, publisher, actor, editor, university professor, and director of several films.

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01/04/2015

Nicolae Rainea, Romanian footballer and referee (born 1933)

Nicolae Rainea, nicknamed The Locomotive of the Carpathians, was a Romanian football referee and player. Among the most highly regarded referees of his generation, he is considered one of the best international officials of the 70s and 80s and, arguably, the finest Romanian referee of all time.

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01/04/2014

King Fleming, American pianist and bandleader (born 1922)

Walter "King" Fleming was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.

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Jacques Le Goff, French historian and author (born 1924)

Jacques Le Goff was a French historian and prolific author specializing in the Middle Ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries.

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Rolf Rendtorff, German theologian and academic (born 1925)

Rolf Rendtorff was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg from 1963 to 1990. He was one of the more significant German Old Testament scholars from the latter half of the twentieth-century and published extensively on various topics related to the Hebrew Bible. Rendtorff was especially notable for his contributions to the question of the origins of the Pentateuch, his adoption of a "canonical approach" to Old Testament theology, and his concerns over the relationship between Jews and Christians.

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01/04/2013

Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (born 1947)

Moses Zeh Blah was a Liberian politician. He served as the 28th vice president of Liberia under President Charles Taylor and became the 23rd president of Liberia on 11 August 2003, following Taylor's resignation. He served as president for two months, until 14 October 2003, when a United Nations-backed transitional government, headed by Gyude Bryant, was established.

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Karen Muir, South African swimmer and physician (born 1952)

Karen Muir was a South African competitive swimmer. Born and raised in Kimberley, she attended the Diamantveld High School, where she matriculated in 1970.

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01/04/2012

Lionel Bowen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (born 1922)

Lionel Frost Bowen AC was an Australian politician. He was the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1977 to 1990 and served as the sixth deputy prime minister of Australia in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1990.

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Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian-American soccer player and radio host (born 1947)

Giorgio Chinaglia was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to play for Massese, Internapoli and S.S. Lazio in 1969. Chinaglia led Lazio to the club's first league championship in the 1973–74 season, during which he was also the league's leading scorer. He played international football for Italy, making 14 appearances and scoring 4 goals between 1972 and 1975, including two appearances at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Chinaglia was the first player in Italian football history to be called up internationally from the second division.

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Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican banker, academic, and politician, 52nd President of Mexico (born 1934)

Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado was a Mexican politician and lawyer affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 59th president of Mexico from 1982 to 1988.

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01/04/2010

John Forsythe, American actor (born 1918)

John Lincoln Forsythe was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, and drama teacher whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows and as a panelist on numerous game shows.

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Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1927)

Tzannis Tzannetakis was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989. He also served as a submarine commander in the Hellenic Navy.

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01/04/2006

In Tam, Cambodian general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Cambodia (born 1916)

In Tam was a Cambodian politician who once served as the prime minister of the Khmer Republic. He served in that position from 6 May 1973 to 9 December 1973, and had a long career in Cambodian politics.

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01/04/2005

Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b 1925)

Paul Lazaro Bomani was a Tanzanian politician and ambassador to the United States and Mexico.

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Robert Coldwell Wood, American political scientist and academic (born 1923)

Robert Coldwell Wood was an American political scientist, academic and government administrator, and professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1965 to 1969, Wood served as the Under Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and for two weeks as the Secretary at the end of the Johnson Administration.

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01/04/2004

Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (born 1952)

Giannis Kyrastas was a Greek footballer and a later manager.

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Carrie Snodgress, American actress (born 1945)

Caroline Louise Snodgress was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as well as winning two Golden Globes and two Laurel Awards.

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01/04/2003

Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor (born 1956)

Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing was a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential cultural icons in the Sinophone world, Cheung was known for his debonair demeanor, flamboyant screen characters, and avant-garde, androgynous stage presence. Throughout his 26-year career, he released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films.

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01/04/2002

Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (born 1905)

Simo Häyhä, often referred to by his nickname The White Death, was a Finnish military sniper during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in World War II. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. Häyhä is believed to have killed more than 500 enemy soldiers during the conflict, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war. Consequently, he is generally regarded as the deadliest sniper in history.

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01/04/2001

Trịnh Công Sơn, Vietnamese guitarist and composer (born 1939)

Trịnh Công Sơn was a Vietnamese musician, songwriter, painter and poet. He is widely considered to be Vietnam's best songwriter. His music explores themes of love, loss, and anti-war sentiments during the Vietnam War, for which he was censored by both the southern Republic of Vietnam and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many performing artists, most notably Khánh Ly, Hồng Nhung, Trinh Vinh Trinh, and some overseas singers such as Tuan Ngoc, Le Quyen, Le Thu, and Ngoc Lan, have gained popularity in their own right from covering Sơn's songs.

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01/04/1999

Jesse Stone, American pianist, songwriter, and producer (born 1901)

Jesse Albert Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun. His best-known composition as Calhoun was "Shake, Rattle and Roll".

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01/04/1998

Rozz Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1963)

Rozz Williams was an American singer and songwriter known for his work with the bands Christian Death, Shadow Project, and the industrial project Premature Ejaculation. Christian Death is cited by some as a pioneer of the American gothic rock scene as well as deathrock, and is considered to be one of the most influential figures of the scene. However, Williams disliked the "goth" label and actively worked to shed it during the 1980s and 1990s by focusing on punk rock, hard rock, cabaret, and spoken word music. Williams was also involved with his groups Daucus Karota, Heltir, EXP, Bloodflag, and his own version of Christian Death, along with recording a handful of solo albums. In addition to music, Williams was also an avid painter, poet, and collage artist.

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01/04/1997

Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (born 1912)

Makar Mykhaylovych Honcharenko, was a Ukrainian football player and coach. During his career, he played as a forward for a number of clubs, but most noticeably for Dynamo Kyiv. Honcharenko is best known for being the last surviving player of The Death Match.

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01/04/1996

Mário Viegas, Portuguese actor and poetry reciter (born 1948)

António Mário Lopes Pereira Viegas was a Portuguese actor, theatre director and reciter. He is considered one of the best actors of his generation and one of Portugal's greatest poetry reciters.

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01/04/1995

H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer, journalist, and educator (born 1914)

Hubert Adams "Ad" Carter was an American mountaineer, language teacher and was editor of the American Alpine Journal for 35 years.

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Francisco Moncion, Dominican American ballet dancer, choreographer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (born 1918)

Francisco Monción was a Dominican-born American ballet dancer and choreographer who was a charter member of the New York City Ballet. Over the course of his long career, spanning some forty years, he created roles in major works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and others. He was also an amateur painter.

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Lucie Rie, Austrian-English potter (born 1902)

Dame Lucie Rie, was an Austrian-born, independent, British studio potter. She is known for her extensive technical knowledge, her meticulously detailed experimentation with glazes and with firing and her unusual decorative techniques.

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01/04/1994

Robert Doisneau, French photographer (born 1912)

Robert Doisneau was a French photographer. From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris. He was a champion of humanist photography and, with Henri Cartier-Bresson, a pioneer of photojournalism.

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01/04/1993

Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (born 1954)

Alan Dennis Kulwicki, nicknamed "Special K" and "the Polish Prince", was an American auto racing driver and team owner with Polish origin. He started racing at local short tracks in Wisconsin before moving up to regional stock car touring series. Kulwicki arrived at NASCAR, the highest and most expensive level of stock car racing in the United States, with no sponsor, a limited budget and only a racecar and a borrowed pickup truck. Despite starting with meager equipment and finances, he earned the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award over drivers racing for well-funded teams.

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01/04/1992

Michael Havers, Baron Havers, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1923)

Robert Michael Oldfield Havers, Baron Havers,, was a British barrister and Conservative politician. He was knighted in 1972 and appointed a life peer in 1987.

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01/04/1991

Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (born 1894)

Martha Graham was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer responsible for creating the Graham technique.

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Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (born 1946)

Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz was a Chilean constitutional law professor, politician, and founding member of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party. In the 1960s, he strongly opposed the University Reform movement and became an active organizer of the Gremialist movement. Guzmán vehemently opposed President Salvador Allende and later became a trusted advisor of General Augusto Pinochet and his dictatorship. As a professor of Constitutional Law, Guzmán played a significant role in drafting the 1980 Chilean Constitution. He briefly served as a senator during the transition to democracy before being assassinated in 1991 by members of the communist urban guerrilla organization, the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (Autonomous).

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01/04/1987

Henri Cochet, French tennis player (born 1901)

Henri Jean Cochet was a French tennis player. He was a world No. 1 ranked player, and a member of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

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01/04/1986

Erik Bruhn, Danish actor, director, and choreographer (born 1928)

Erik Belton Evers Bruhn was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author.

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Edwin Boston, English clergyman, author, and railway preservationist

Edwin Richard Boston, known as Teddy Boston, was a Church of England clergyman and author. He built a narrow gauge railway in the grounds of his Rectory at Cadeby, Leicestershire, and was immortalised as the "Fat Clergyman" in The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry.

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01/04/1984

Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (born 1939)

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Commonly referred to as the "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul", he helped to shape the sound of Motown and soul music in the 1960s and 1970s. A cultural icon, Gaye is often considered one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time.

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Elizabeth Goudge, English author (born 1900)

Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge FRSL was an English writer of fiction and children's books. She won the Carnegie Medal for British children's books in 1946 for The Little White Horse. Goudge was long a popular author in the UK and the US and regained attention decades later. In 1993 her book The Rosemary Tree was plagiarised by Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen; the "new" novel set in India was warmly reviewed in The New York Times and The Washington Post before its source was discovered. In 2001 or 2002, J. K. Rowling identified The Little White Horse as one of her favourite books and one of few to have a direct influence on the Harry Potter series.

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01/04/1981

Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai singer-songwriter and bandleader (born 1910)

Eua Suntornsanan was a singer, Thai composer and bandleader of the Suntaraporn Band. He was a pioneer in introducing Western music into Thai culture. He started the trend of international style Thai music, or Phleng Thai Sakon. He composed over 2,000 songs that have been popular until today, for example, Rumwong Loy Kratong, many Songkran and New Year songs, and other Thai traditional songs. In 1975, he was given an insignia by the king. In 1981 he died of cancer. In 2007, the Ministry of Culture of Thailand nominated Kru Eua for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization (UNESCO) to honor Kru Eua Suntornsanan as Personality of the Year on the list of Anniversary of World Personalities and Historic Events 2010-2011, which was granted in 2010. Received the honor of being Burapasilpin in the performing arts category in 2015.

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01/04/1976

Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor (born 1891)

Max Ernst was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst is noted for his unconventional drawing methods as well as for creating novels and pamphlets using the method of collages. He served as a soldier for four years during World War I, which left him shocked, traumatised and critical of the modern world. During World War II he was designated an "undesirable foreigner" while living in France.

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01/04/1971

Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and prison reformer (born 1903)

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale was an Irish crystallographer, pacifist, and prison reform activist. She proved, in 1929, that the benzene ring is flat by using X-ray diffraction methods to elucidate the structure of hexamethylbenzene. She was the first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene in 1931. During her career she attained several firsts for female scientists, including being one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945, first female professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

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01/04/1968

Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908)

Lev Davidovich Landau was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and made seminal contributions to all branches of physics. He is credited with laying the foundations of twentieth century condensed matter physics, and is also considered arguably the greatest Soviet theoretical physicist.

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01/04/1966

Brian O'Nolan, Irish author (born 1911)

Brian O'Nolan, whose pen names included Flann O'Brien, was an Irish Civil Service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is regarded as a key figure in modernist and postmodern literature. His four English-language novels, including At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman, were published under the pen name Flann O'Brien. His many satirical columns in The Irish Times and an Irish-language novel, An Béal Bocht, were written under the name Myles na gCopaleen.

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01/04/1965

Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman (born 1870)

Helena Rubinstein was a Polish-American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated cosmetics company, which made her one of the world's richest women.

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01/04/1963

Agnes Mowinckel, Norwegian actress (born 1875)

Agnes Mowinckel was a Norwegian actress and theatre director. Born in Bergen into a distinguished family, she became Norway's first professional stage director. A pioneer in bringing painters to the theatre, she used light as an artistic element, and engaged contemporary composers. She took part in theatrical experiments, worked at small stages in Oslo, and founded her own theatre.

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01/04/1962

Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish captain and businessman (born 1910)

Uuno Johannes (Jussi) Kekkonen was a Finnish major, CEO and the younger brother of President of Finland Urho Kekkonen. Jussi Kekkonen fought successfully in the Winter War in the direction of Kuhmo but lost his sight when he was wounded in the early stages of the Continuation War.

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01/04/1950

Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (born 1904)

Charles Richard Drew was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces' lives during the war. As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

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Recep Peker, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1889)

Mehmet Recep Peker was a Turkish military officer and politician. A heavy-handed modernist, he served in various ministerial posts and finally as the Prime Minister of Turkey between 1946 and 1947.

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01/04/1947

George II, king of Greece (born 1890)

George II was King of Greece from 27 September 1922 until 25 March 1924, and again from 25 November 1935 until his death on 1 April 1947.

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01/04/1946

Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (born 1882)

Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.

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01/04/1924

Jacob Bolotin, American physician (born 1888)

Jacob W. Bolotin was the world's first totally blind physician.

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Lloyd Hildebrand, English cyclist (born 1870)

Lloyd Augustin Biden Hildebrand was a British-born racing cyclist who competed in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Hildebrand was still a British citizen in 1900, although he lived in France for much of his life and married a Frenchwoman. He participated in cycling at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, winning the silver medal in the men's 25 kilometre race. as well as the bronze medal 1900 Track Cycling World Championships.

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Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (born 1876)

Stanley Rupert Rowley was an Australian sprinter who won four medals at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Young, New South Wales and died in Manly, New South Wales.

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01/04/1922

Charles I, emperor of Austria (born 1887)

Charles I and IV was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916 until the monarchy was abolished in November 1918. He was the last of the monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over Austria-Hungary. The son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, Charles became heir presumptive of Emperor Franz Joseph when his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914. In 1911, he married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

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01/04/1920

Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (born 1857)

Walter Simon was a German banker, councillor and philanthropist active in Königsberg and Tübingen.

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01/04/1917

Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (born 1868)

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.

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01/04/1914

Rube Waddell, American baseball player (born 1876)

George Edward "Rube" Waddell was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Orphans in the National League, as well as the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and raised in Prospect, Pennsylvania, Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

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Charles Wells, English founder of Charles Wells Ltd (born 1842)

Captain Charles Wells was the British founder of Charles Wells Ltd, which became the largest privately owned brewery in the United Kingdom, and the progenitor of the Wells Baronets of Felmersham.

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01/04/1890

David Wilber, American politician (born 1820)

David Wilber was a United States representative from New York.

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Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian soldier, pilot, and engineer (born 1825)

Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaysky was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, an aviation pioneer, and a researcher and designer of heavier-than-air craft.

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01/04/1878

John C.W. Daly, English-Canadian soldier and politician (born 1796)

Lieutenant-Colonel John Corry Wilson Daly was a Canadian politician, businessperson, militia officer, and the first Mayor of Stratford, Ontario.

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01/04/1872

Frederick Denison Maurice, English theologian and academic (born 1805)

John Frederick Denison Maurice, commonly known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded.

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01/04/1865

Antonios Kriezis, Greek Navy officer and Prime Minister of Greece (born 1796)

Antonios Kriezis was a captain of the Hellenic navy during the Greek War of Independence and a Prime Minister of Greece from 1849 to 1854.

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Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (born 1797)

Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Pasta was an Italian opera singer. A soprano, she has been compared to the 20th-century soprano Maria Callas.

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01/04/1839

Benjamin Pierce, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of New Hampshire (born 1757)

Benjamin Pierce was an American politician who twice served as the governor of New Hampshire from 1827 to 1828 and from 1829 to 1830. Pierce fought during the American Revolutionary War before becoming a Democratic-Republican Party politician. He was the father of Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States.

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01/04/1787

Floyer Sydenham, English scholar and academic (born 1710)

Floyer Sydenham was an English scholar of Ancient Greek.

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01/04/1682

Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bavarian bishop (born 1625)

Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg was a German count in the Holy Roman Empire. He was prime minister for the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, and at the same time worked for Louis XIV of France influencing affairs in the Empire. Franz eventually became Prince-Bishop of Strassburg.

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01/04/1621

Cristofano Allori, Italian painter and educator (born 1577)

Cristofano Allori was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Mannerist school, painting mostly portraits and religious subjects.

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01/04/1580

Alonso Mudarra, Spanish guitarist and composer (born 1510)

Alonso Mudarra was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance, and also played the vihuela, a guitar-shaped string instrument. He was an innovative composer of instrumental music as well as songs, and was the composer of the earliest surviving music for the guitar.

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01/04/1548

Sigismund I, king of Poland (born 1467)

Sigismund I the Old was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. He was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and younger brother of Kings John I Albert and Alexander I Jagiellon. He was nicknamed "the Old" in later historiography to distinguish him from his son and successor, Sigismund II Augustus. Before ascending to the Polish and Lithuanian thrones, he was Duke of Głogów from 1499, Duke of Opava from 1501, and governor of Silesia from 1504 on behalf of his brother, King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary.

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01/04/1528

Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer (born 1470)

Francisco de Peñalosa was a Spanish composer of the middle Renaissance.

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01/04/1455

Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish cardinal and statesman (born 1389)

Zbigniew Oleśnicki, known in Latin as Sbigneus, was a high-ranking Roman Catholic clergyman and an influential Polish statesman and diplomat. He served as Bishop of Kraków from 1423 until his death in 1455. He took part in the management of the country's most important affairs, initially as a royal secretary under King Władysław II Jagiełło and later as the effective regent during King Władysław III's minority. In 1439 he became the first native Polish cardinal.

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01/04/1441

Blanche I, queen of Navarre and Sicily (born 1387)

Blanche I was Queen of Navarre from the death of her father, King Charles III, in 1425 until her own death. She had been Queen of Sicily from 1402 to 1409 by marriage to King Martin I, serving as regent of Sicily from 1404 to 1405 and from 1408 to 1415.

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01/04/1431

Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general (born 1360)

Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, OCarm, known as Constable of Portugal, was a Portuguese general who played a decisive role in the 1383–1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile. He later became a mystic and was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1918, and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

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01/04/1282

Abaqa Khan, ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate (born 1234)

Abaqa Khan, was the second Mongol ruler (Ilkhan) of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin and the grandson of Tolui, he reigned from 1265 to 1282 and was succeeded by his brother Ahmed Tekuder. Much of Abaqa's reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as those between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde, and the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia. Abaqa also engaged in unsuccessful attempts at invading Syria under the Mamluk Sultanate, which included the Second Battle of Homs.

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01/04/1205

Amalric II, king of Cyprus and Jerusalem

Aimery of Lusignan, erroneously referred to as Amalric in earlier scholarship, was the first king of Cyprus from 1196 and the king of Jerusalem as the husband of Queen Isabella I from 1198 to his death. He was a capable ruler whose reign was a period of peace and stability in both kingdoms, and the progenitor of the Lusignan dynasty of the Kingdom of Cyprus.

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01/04/1204

Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England (born 1122)

Eleanor of Aquitaine was duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As the reigning duchess of Aquitaine, she ruled jointly with her husbands and two of her sons, Kings Richard I and John of England. As the heiress of the House of Poitiers, which controlled much of southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages.

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01/04/1132

Hugh of Châteauneuf, French bishop (born 1053)

Hugh of Châteauneuf, also called Hugh of Grenoble, was the Bishop of Grenoble from 1080 to his death. He was a partisan of the Gregorian reform and opposed to the Archbishop of Vienne, later Pope Callixtus II.

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01/04/1085

Shen Zong, Chinese emperor (born 1048)

Emperor Shenzong of Song, personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after he acceded to the throne. He reigned from 1067 until his death in 1085 and is best known for supporting Wang Anshi's New Policies. He was a particularly active monarch concerned with expanding Song territory and solving its fiscal, bureaucratic, and military problems through major reforms, but his reign remains controversial due to military failures and the varied effects of his changes.

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01/04/0996

John XV, pope of the Catholic Church

Pope John XV was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from August 985 until his death. A Roman by birth, he was the first pope who canonized a saint. The origins of the investiture controversy stem from John XV's pontificate, when the dispute about the deposition of Archbishop Arnulf of Reims soured the relationship between the Capetian kings of France and the Holy See.

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