Died on Wednesday, 16th April – Famous Deaths

16/04/2025

Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist (born 1953)

Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, known professionally as Nora Aunor, was a Filipino actress, producer and singer. Known for her leading roles with patriotic, feminist and socio-political themes, she has appeared in more than 170 motion pictures throughout her career that spanned over five decades. Regarded as the most awarded Filipino actress in history, she was known as the Philippines' "Superstar" and was conferred as a National Artist of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022.

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16/04/2024

Carl Erskine, American baseball player (born 1926)

Carl Daniel Erskine, nicknamed "Oisk", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1948 through 1959. He was a pitching mainstay on Dodger teams which won five National League pennants and the 1955 World Series.

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Bob Graham, American lawyer, author, and politician, 38th governor of Florida (born 1936)

Daniel Robert Graham was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1987 to 2005. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

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16/04/2021

Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (born 1939)

Andrew Sharp Peacock was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions, leading the party to defeat at the 1984 and 1990 elections.

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Helen McCrory, British actress (born 1968)

Helen Elizabeth McCrory was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

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Liam Scarlett, British choreographer (born 1986)

Liam Scarlett was a British choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black, Miami City Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, the BalletBoyz, English National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Polish National Ballet, and the Royal Ballet School.

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John Dawes, Welsh rugby union player (born 1940)

Sydney John Dawes was a Welsh rugby union player, playing at centre, and later coach. He captained London Welsh, Wales, the 1971 British Lions and the Barbarians. He is credited with being a major influence in these teams' success, and in the attractive, attacking, free-flowing rugby they played. Dawes also had considerable success as a coach with Wales, and coached the 1977 British Lions. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1972 New Year Honours List for services as Lions captain.

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16/04/2018

Harry Anderson, American actor and magician (born 1952)

Harry Laverne Anderson was an American actor, comedian, and magician. He is best known for his role as Judge Harold "Harry" T. Stone on the NBC sitcom Night Court (1984–1992). He later played Dave Barry on the CBS sitcom Dave's World (1993–1997).

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16/04/2015

Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (born 1948)

Valery Konsantinovich Belousov was a Russian professional ice hockey coach and player.

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Stanislav Gross, Czech lawyer and politician, fifth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (born 1969)

Stanislav Gross was a Czech lawyer and politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party from 2004 until 2005 when he resigned as a result of his financial irregularities. He previously served as minister of the Interior in cabinets of Miloš Zeman and Vladimír Špidla from 2000 to 2004. Gross was Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1992 to 2004.

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16/04/2014

Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (born 1949)

Charles Gyude Bryant was a Liberian politician and businessman. He served as the Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia from 14 October 2003 to 16 January 2006. The installation of the transitional government was part of the peace agreement to end the country's second civil war, which had raged since the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebelled against President Charles Taylor in 1999. Bryant was previously a businessman and was chosen as chairman because he was seen as politically neutral and therefore acceptable to each of the warring factions, which included LURD, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), and loyalists of former President Taylor. He was a prominent member of the Episcopal Church of Liberia, and was critical of the governments of both Samuel Doe (1980–90) and Charles Taylor (1997–2003).

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Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (born 1929)

Taavi Aulis Rytkönen was a Finnish footballer. He became the country's first professional player when he signed for France's Toulouse FC in 1952.

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Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (born 1923)

Ernst Florian Winter was an American historian and political scientist, the first director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna after World War II, and chairman of the International Council of the Austrian Service Abroad.

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16/04/2013

Charles Bruzon, Gibraltarian politician (born 1938)

Charles Arthur Bruzon was a Gibraltarian politician and former Roman Catholic priest. He was affiliated with the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP). In the general elections of 2011, he was elected to the Gibraltar Parliament and appointed Minister for Housing and the Elderly.

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Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (born 1928)

Ali Kafi was an Algerian politician who was Chairman of the High Council of State and acting President from 1992 to 1994.

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Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (born 1926)

Siegfried Ludwig was an Austrian politician and Governor of Lower Austria from 1981 to 1992.

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Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1925)

Pentti Alexander Lund was a Finnish Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played for the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Lund was often credited as being the first Finnish player in the NHL. Albert Pudas, however, played four games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1926–27. Although Pudas was born in Finland, he had Canadian citizenship.

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George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (born 1909)

George Beverly Shea was a Canadian-born American gospel singer and hymn composer. Shea was often described as "America's beloved gospel singer" and was considered "the first international singing 'star' of the gospel world," as a consequence of his solos at Billy Graham Crusades and his exposure on radio, records and television. Because of the large attendance at Graham's Crusades, it is estimated that Shea sang live before more people than anyone else in history.

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Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (born 1930)

George Allen "Pat" Summerall was an American professional football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announced 16 Super Bowls on network television, 26 Masters Tournaments, and 21 US Opens. He contributed to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts on CBS Radio as a pregame host or analyst.

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Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (born 1919)

Pedro Ramírez Vázquez was a Mexican architect. He was persuaded to study architecture by writer and poet Carlos Pellicer.

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16/04/2012

Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (born 1914)

Sári Barabás was a Hungarian operatic soprano, particularly associated with coloratura roles.

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Marian Biskup, Polish author and academic (born 1922)

Marian Biskup was a Polish historian, author and academic, who specialized in the history of the Baltics, Pomerelia, Teutonic Order, Prussia, Toruń and Copernicus. He was a member of the International Commission for the study of the Teutonic Order.

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Alan Hacker, English clarinet player and conductor (born 1938)

Alan Ray Hacker was an English clarinettist, conductor, and music professor.

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George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (born 1956)

George Kunda was a Zambian lawyer and politician who was the 11th vice-president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011. He served as the vice-president under President Rupiah Banda until the 2011 election.

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Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (born 1913)

Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was a Danish shipping magnate. He was a longtime figure at A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, which was founded by his father.

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Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (born 1948)

Carlo Petrini was an Italian professional football player and coach.

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16/04/2011

Gerry Alexander, Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (born 1928)

Franz Copeland Murray Alexander OD, known as Gerry Alexander, was a Jamaican cricketer who played 25 Test matches for the West Indies. He was a wicket-keeper who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances and, though his batting average was around 30 in both Test and first class cricket, his only first-class century came in a Test on the 1960–61 tour of Australia.

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Allan Blakeney, Canadian scholar and politician, tenth Premier of Saskatchewan (born 1925)

Allan Emrys Blakeney was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982. Originally from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, and worked in the province's civil service before running for office with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) under Tommy Douglas. Blakeney became leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1970. Altogether, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1960 to 1988.

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Sol Saks, American screenwriter and producer (born 1910)

Sol Saks was an American screenwriter best known as the creator of the television sitcom Bewitched.

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16/04/2010

Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (born 1949)

Rasim Delić was the chief of staff of the Bosnian Army. He was a career officer in the Yugoslav Army but left it during the breakup of Yugoslavia and was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for failing to prevent and punish crimes committed by the El Mujahid unit under his command. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

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Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (born 1926)

Daryl Francis Gates was an American police officer who served as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. Gates is often credited with the creation of police SWAT teams and also co-founded the Drug Abuse Resistance Education ("D.A.R.E.") program.

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16/04/2009

Michael Martin Dwyer, Irish security guard (born 1984)

Michael Dwyer was an Irish security guard and paramilitary, shot dead in 2009 by the Bolivian Police Special Forces in the Las Americas Hotel, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia in disputed circumstances.

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Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, Bolivian-Hungarian-Croatian mercenary, journalist, and actor (born 1960)

Eduardo Rózsa-Flores was a Bolivian-Hungarian-Croatian soldier, journalist, actor and alleged intelligence agent.

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16/04/2008

Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (born 1917)

Edward Norton Lorenz was an American mathematician and meteorologist who established the theoretical basis of weather and climate predictability, as well as the basis for computer-aided atmospheric physics and meteorology. He founded modern chaos theory, a branch of mathematics focusing on the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions.

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16/04/2007

Frank Bateson, New Zealand astronomer (born 1909)

Frank Maine Bateson was a New Zealand astronomer who specialised in the study of variable stars.

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Gaétan Duchesne, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1962)

Gaétan Joseph Pierre Duchesne was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played with the Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League (NHL). He retired in 1995, then returned in 1996 and became a player-coach with the Quebec Rafales of the International Hockey League and later after retiring again in 1998, an assistant coach with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

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Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (born 1915)

Maria Emma Hulga Lenk was a Brazilian swimmer, the first South American woman to participate in the Summer Olympic Games, in 1932.

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Chandrabose Suthaharan, Sri Lankan journalist

Chandrabose Suthaharan was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil editor of the Tamil magazine, Nilam, and also wrote for other Tamil news media. He had earlier worked for Virakesari. He was shot and killed on 16 April 2007, in Thirunavatkulam in Vavuniya.

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16/04/2005

Kay Walsh, English actress, singer, and dancer (born 1911)

Kathleen Walsh was an English actress, dancer, and screenwriter. Her film career prospered after she met her future husband, film director David Lean, with whom she worked on productions such as In Which We Serve and Oliver Twist.

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16/04/2003

Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (born 1930)

Graham Powley Jarvis was a Canadian character actor in American films and television from the 1960s to the early 2000s.

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Graham Stuart Thomas, English horticulturalist and author (born 1909)

Graham Stuart Thomas was an English horticulturist, who is likely best known for his work with garden roses, his restoration and stewardship of over 100 National Trust gardens and for writing 19 books on gardening, many of which remain classics today. However, as he states in the Preface to his outstanding book, The Rock Garden and its Plants: From Grotto to Alpine House, "My earliest enthusiasms in gardening were for....alpines." p8

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16/04/2002

Billy Ayre, English footballer and manager (born 1952)

William Ayre was an English footballer who played for three clubs in a sixteen-year professional career, making over three hundred League appearances in the process. After retiring from the playing side of the game, he became a manager, and took the helm at five clubs between 1984 and 2000. He guided Blackpool to two successive play-off finals, in 1991 and 1992, during his four years in charge of the club.

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Ruth Fertel, American businesswoman, founded Ruth's Chris Steak House (born 1927)

Ruth Ann Udstad Fertel was a Louisiana businesswoman best known as the founder of Ruth's Chris Steak Houses, which was founded in 1965.

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Robert Urich, American actor (born 1946)

Robert Michael Urich was an American film, television, and stage actor and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series.

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16/04/2001

Robert Osterloh, American actor (born 1918)[better source needed]

Robert Osterloh was an American actor. In a career spanning 20 years, he appeared in films such as The Dark Past (1948), The Wild One (1953), I Bury the Living (1958), and Young Dillinger (1965).

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Michael Ritchie, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938)

Michael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director, producer, and writer of films with comical or satirical leanings, such as The Candidate (1972) and Smile (1975). He scored commercial successes directing sports films like Downhill Racer (1969) and The Bad News Bears (1976), and comedies like Chevy Chase's Fletch (1985) and Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child (1986).

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Alec Stock, English footballer and manager (born 1917)

Alec William Alfred Stock was an English football player and manager. He briefly managed AS Roma, between long spells at Leyton Orient and Queens Park Rangers. At QPR, he won successive promotions, leading the club to the First Division for the first time, and winning the League Cup. Among managers for whom accurate statistics exist, he is the fourth most experienced manager of all time.

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16/04/1999

Skip Spence, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1946)

Alexander "Skip" Spence was a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only solo album, Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and was the drummer on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. He has been described on the AllMusic website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights"; however, his career was plagued by drug addiction coupled with mental health problems, and he has been described by a biographer as a man who "neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out."

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16/04/1998

Alberto Calderón, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic (born 1920)

Alberto Pedro Calderón was an Argentine mathematician. His name is associated with the University of Buenos Aires, but first and foremost with the University of Chicago, where Calderón and his mentor, the analyst Antoni Zygmund, developed the theory of singular integral operators. This created the "Chicago School of (hard) Analysis".

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Fred Davis, English snooker player (born 1913)

Fred Davis was an English professional player of snooker and English billiards. He was an eight-time World Snooker Championship winner from 1948 to 1956, and a two-time winner of the World Billiards Championship. He was the younger brother of 15-time world snooker champion Joe Davis; the pair were the only two players to win both snooker and English billiards world championships, and Fred is second on the list of those holding most world snooker championship titles, behind Joe.

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Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian super-centenarian (born 1880)

Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur was a Canadian supercentenarian. She is the oldest validated Canadian ever and upon the death of longevity world record holder Jeanne Calment, became the world's oldest recognized living person.

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16/04/1997

Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (born 1921)

María Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid was a Colombian politician, suffragist and the first woman elected to the Senate of Colombia, serving from 1958 to 1961.

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Roland Topor, French actor, director, and painter (born 1938)

Roland Topor was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, who was known for the surreal black comedy nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewish origin. His parents were Jewish émigrés from Warsaw, Poland. He spent the early years of his life in Savoy, where his family hid him from the Gestapo.

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16/04/1996

Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (born 1917)

Lucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.

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16/04/1994

Paul-Émilien Dalpé, Canadian labor unionist (born 1919)

Paul-Émilien Dalpé C.M., also known as Paul-Émile Dalpé, was a Canadian labour unionist and nurse.

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Ralph Ellison, American novelist and critic (born 1913)

Ralph Waldo Ellison was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.

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16/04/1992

Neville Brand, American actor (born 1920)

Lawrence Neville Brand was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas and films noir, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954).

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Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy and activist (born 1915)

Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime. Active until 1961, he was one of the most recognizable leaders of violent political repression.

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Andy Russell, American singer and actor (born 1919)

Andy Russell was an American popular singer, actor, and entertainer. He specialized in traditional pop and Latin music. He sold 8 million records in the 1940s wherein he sang bilingually in English and Spanish. His most successful songs included "Bésame Mucho", "Amor", and "What a Diff'rence a Day Made". He made appearances and performed on radio programs, most notably Your Hit Parade, in several movies, and on television.

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16/04/1991

David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1908)

Sir David Lean was an English filmmaker and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of British cinema. He directed the large-scale epics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970), and A Passage to India (1984). He also directed the film adaptations of Charles Dickens novels Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), as well as the romantic drama Brief Encounter (1945).

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16/04/1989

Jocko Conlan, American baseball player and umpire (born 1899)

John Bertrand "Jocko" Conlan was an American baseball umpire who worked in the National League (NL) from 1941 to 1965. He had a brief career as an outfielder with the Chicago White Sox before entering umpiring. He umpired in five World Series and six All-Star Games. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 by the Veterans Committee.

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Kaoru Ishikawa Japanese author and educator (born 1915)

Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese organizational theorist and a professor in the engineering faculty at the University of Tokyo who was noted for his quality management innovations. He is considered a key figure in the development of quality initiatives in Japan, particularly the quality circle. He is best known outside Japan for the Ishikawa or cause and effect diagram, often used in the analysis of industrial processes.

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Miles Lawrence, English cricketer (born 1940)

John Miles Lawrence played first-class cricket for Somerset in 18 matches between 1959 and 1961.

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Hakkı Yeten, Turkish footballer, manager and president (born 1910)

Hakkı Yeten was a Turkish football player and president of the Istanbul-based football club Beşiktaş J.K., which he also coached. He is one of the most important names in Beşiktaş history.

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16/04/1988

Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (born 1935)

Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir was a Palestinian leader and co-founder of the nationalist party Fatah. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fatah's military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fatah's armed wing al-Assifa.

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Youri Egorov, Russian pianist (born 1954)

Youri Aleksandrovich Egorov was a Soviet and Dutch classical pianist.

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16/04/1985

Scott Brady, American actor (born 1924)

Scott Brady was an American film and television actor best known for his roles in Western films and as a ubiquitous television presence. He played the title role in the television series Shotgun Slade (1959–1961).

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16/04/1980

Morris Stoloff, American composer (born 1898)

Morris W. Stoloff was an American composer. He worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Dinah Shore, Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra.

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16/04/1978

Lucius D. Clay, American officer and military governor in occupied Germany (born 1898)

Lucius Dubignon Clay was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1945; deputy military governor, Germany, in 1946; Commander in Chief, United States Forces in Europe and military governor of the United States Zone, Germany, from 1947 to 1949. Clay orchestrated the Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) when the USSR blockaded West Berlin.

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16/04/1973

István Kertész, Hungarian conductor and educator (born 1929)

István Kertész was a Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor who led many of the world's orchestras, including the Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Francisco and Minnesota Orchestras in the United States, as well as the London Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, and L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

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16/04/1972

Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899)

Yasunari/Kōsei Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and are still widely read.

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Frank O'Connor, Australian public servant (born 1894)

Francis Alexander O'Connor was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Supply and Shipping (1946–1948) and later the Department of Supply (1953–1959).

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16/04/1970

Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designed the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (born 1892)

Richard Joseph Neutra was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most notable works include the Kaufmann Desert House, in Palm Springs, California.

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Péter Veres, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (born 1897)

Péter Veres was a Hungarian politician and writer, who served as Minister of Defence from 1947 to 1948.

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16/04/1969

Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator and painter (born 1904)

Mom Luang Hem Vejakorn was a Thai artist and writer. He is best known for his illustrations for the covers of 10-satang pulp novels, which have in turn influenced subsequent generations of Thai artists and illustrators, and also his ghost stories. It is estimated that he produced more than 50,000 pieces of art, including pen and pencil drawings, watercolors, posters and oil paintings. He portrayed rural life, Thai history and figures from Thai classical literature. His works have been reproduced on Thai postage stamps and featured in art galleries.

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16/04/1968

Fay Bainter, American actress (born 1893)

Fay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1885)

Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace (1958), which also received a film adaptation in 1960. She helped adapt her short story "Old Man Minick", published in 1922, into a play (Minick) and it was thrice adapted to film, in 1925 as the silent film Welcome Home, in 1932 as The Expert, and in 1939 as No Place to Go.

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16/04/1966

Eric Lambert, Australian author (born 1918)

Eric Frank Lambert was an Australian author and a sometime member of the Communist Party of Australia.

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16/04/1965

Francis Balfour, English soldier and colonial administrator (born 1884)

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour was a British military officer and colonial administrator.

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Sydney Chaplin, English actor, comedian, brother of Charlie Chaplin (born 1885)

Sydney John Chaplin was an English actor. Chaplin was the elder half-brother of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin and in later life, served as his business manager.

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16/04/1961

Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (born 1912)

Carl Iver Hovland was a psychologist working primarily at Yale University and for the US Army during World War II who studied attitude change and persuasion. He first reported the sleeper effect after studying the effects of the Frank Capra propaganda film Why We Fight on soldiers in the Army. In later studies on this subject, Hovland collaborated with Irving Janis who would later become famous for his theory of groupthink. Hovland also developed social judgment theory of attitude change. Carl Hovland thought that the ability of someone to resist persuasion by a certain group depended on your degree of belonging to the group.

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16/04/1960

Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director (born 1884)

Mihály Fekete was a Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director.

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16/04/1958

Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist and academic (born 1920)

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Although her works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, Franklin's contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were largely unrecognised during her life, for which Franklin has been variously referred to as the "wronged heroine", the "dark lady of DNA", the "forgotten heroine", a "feminist icon", and the "Sylvia Plath of molecular biology". James Watson believed that, had she not died, Franklin would have been awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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16/04/1957

Pieter van der Hoog, Dutch bacteriologist, dermatologist, and Islamicist (born 1888)

Pieter Henricus van der Hoog, also known after converting to Islam as Mohammed Abdul-Ali, was a Dutch bacteriologist, dermatologist, and Islamicist. Born in The Hague, van der Hoog was pressured by his father to enter the Dutch military, for which he served as a doctor. During his time with the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in the Dutch East Indies from 1913 through 1921, he practised in several areas but was censured and arrested. Returning to the Netherlands, he earned a doctoral degree from the University of Leiden in 1922. After some time practising medicine in the Netherlands, in 1926 he was sent to Curaçao; he was ultimately blacklisted by the Ministry of the Colonies for his continued attacks on the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles.

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16/04/1955

David Kirkwood, Scottish engineer and politician (born 1872)

David Kirkwood, 1st Baron Kirkwood, PC, was a Scottish politician, trade unionist and socialist activist from the East End of Glasgow, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for nearly 30 years, and was as a leading figure of the Red Clydeside era.

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16/04/1950

Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, and critic (born 1905)

Eduard Oja was an Estonian composer, conductor, music teacher and critic. His father was a forest warden. Between 1919 and 1925 he studied at Tartu Teachers' College at Tartu University, where he met Eduard Tubin, and he also worked for some time as a school teacher. He was not a particularly prolific composer, composing mainly orchestral and ensemble works and choral music. He was however much appreciated during his lifetime, and received awards and acclaim for several of his works. He also worked as a conductor, leading the Tartu Women's Singing Society's Women's Choir between 1930 and 1934, as well as a teacher of music theory at Tartu Higher School of Music. In addition, he was himself a practising violinist. A number of his works such as the opera Oath Redeemed and the choral work The Return Home have been lost, although the majority of his work has survived, and is valued in museums in Estonia today. The Eduard Tubin Museum of Alatskivi Castle contains exhibits related to him and his fellow students under Heino Eller, known as the "Tartu school", such as Eduard Tubin, Alfred Karindi, Olav Roots and Karl Leichter.

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Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (born 1867)

Anders Peter Nielsen was a Danish sport shooter who competed in the late 19th century and early 20th century in rifle shooting. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won three silver medals in the military rifle in the kneeling, prone, and 3 positions categories.

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16/04/1947

Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (born 1900)

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he lived under a false name until discovered by the British, who then turned him over to Polish authorities. Höss was convicted in Poland and executed for war crimes committed on the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp and for his role in the Holocaust.

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16/04/1946

Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-American racing driver and engineer (born 1884)

Arthur Chevrolet was an American racing driver and automobile manufacturer.

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16/04/1942

Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1878)

Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was princess consort of Hohenlohe-Langenburg from her husband Ernst II's accession as prince in 1913 until her death in 1942. The fourth child and third daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, she was also a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

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Denis St. George Daly, Irish polo player (born 1862)

Denis St George Daly was an Irish polo player in the 1900 Summer Olympics.

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16/04/1941

Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, English economist and civil servant (born 1880)

Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp was an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England and chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

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16/04/1940

Tony D'Arcy, Irish Republican died while on hunger strike (born 1908)

Tony D'Arcy was an Irish Republican militant and activist. A senior leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he died on 16 April 1940 after a 52-day hunger strike, at the age of 32.

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16/04/1938

Steve Bloomer, English footballer and manager (born 1874)

Stephen Bloomer was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem "Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at every Derby home game and there is a bust of him at the Pride Park Stadium. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame.

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16/04/1937

Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, third Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (born 1870)

Jay Johnson Morrow was an American military engineer who was Chief Engineer of the United States First Army and Deputy Chief Engineer of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I and Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1921 to 1924.

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16/04/1935

Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (born 1884)

Panait Istrati (Romanian: [panaˈit isˈtrati]; sometimes rendered as Panaït Istrati; was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans. Istrati appears to be the first Romanian author explicitly depicting a homosexual character in his work.

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16/04/1930

José Carlos Mariátegui, Peruvian journalist, philosopher, and activist (born 1894)

José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira, sometimes referred to in Peru as El Amauta, was a Peruvian writer, sociologist, historian, journalist, politician, and Marxist philosopher. A prolific author despite his early death, Mariátegui is considered one of the greatest scholars of Latin America. His Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928), a synthesis of his thought, became a reference work for the intelligentsia of the continent.

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16/04/1928

Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Henry Birks and Sons (born 1840)

Henry Birks was a Canadian businessman and founder of Henry Birks and Sons, a chain of high-end Canadian jewellery stores.

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Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (born 1900)

Roman Steinberg, was an Estonian Greco-Roman wrestling bronze medal winner in middleweight class at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Steinberg was also three times Estonian wrestling champion 1921–1923, coached by Robert Oksa. He died after contracting tuberculosis, age 39, and was buried at Alexander Nevsky Cemetery, Tallinn.

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16/04/1925

Stefan Nerezov, Bulgarian general (born 1867)

Stefan Mikhailov Nerezov was a Bulgarian General and Chief of the Bulgarian Army Staff.

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16/04/1915

Nelson W. Aldrich, American businessman and politician (born 1841)

Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich was a prominent American politician and a leader of the Republican Party in the United States Senate, where he represented Rhode Island from 1881 to 1911. By the 1890s, he was one of the "Big Four" key Republicans who largely controlled the major decisions of the Senate, along with Orville H. Platt, William B. Allison, and John Coit Spooner. Because of his impact on national politics and central position on the pivotal Senate Finance Committee, he was referred to by the press and public alike as the "general manager of the Nation", dominating tariff and monetary policy in the first decade of the 20th century.

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16/04/1914

George William Hill, American astronomer and mathematician (born 1838)

George William Hill was an American astronomer and mathematician. Working independently and largely in isolation from the wider scientific community, he made major contributions to celestial mechanics and to the theory of ordinary differential equations. The importance of his work was explicitly acknowledged by Henri Poincaré in 1905. In 1909 Hill was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal, "on the ground of his researches in mathematical astronomy". Hill is remembered for the Hill differential equation, along with the Hill sphere.

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16/04/1904

Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (born 1888)

Maximilian Kronberger, known familiarly as Maximin, was a German poet and a significant figure in the literary circle of Stefan George.

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Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (born 1812)

Samuel Smiles was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His primary work, Self-Help (1859), promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism" and had lasting effects on British political thought.

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16/04/1899

Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and activist (born 1875)

Emilio Jacinto y Dizon was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution. He was one of the highest-ranking officers in the Philippine Revolution and was one of the highest-ranking officers of the revolutionary society Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, or simply and more popularly called Katipunan, being a member of its Supreme Council. He was elected Secretary of State for the Haring Bayang Katagalugan, a revolutionary government established during the outbreak of hostilities. He is popularly known in Philippine history textbooks as the Brains of the Katipunan while some contend he should be rightfully recognized as the "Brains of the Revolution". Jacinto was present in the so-called Cry of Pugad Lawin with Andrés Bonifacio, the Supremo of the Katipunan, and others of its members which signaled the start of the Revolution against the Spanish government in the islands.

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16/04/1888

Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (born 1845)

Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski was a Polish physicist and chemist. Together with Karol Olszewski, he was the first scientist in the world to liquify nitrogen in 1883.

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16/04/1879

Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (born 1844)

Bernadette Soubirous, SCN, also known as Bernadette of Lourdes, was a miller's daughter from Lourdes, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto. These apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".

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16/04/1859

Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1805)

Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, was a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both, he analyzed the living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's travels in the United States and is today considered an early work of sociology and political science.

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16/04/1850

Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (born 1761)

Anna Maria "Marie" Tussaud, commonly known as Madame Tussaud, was a French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum she founded in London.

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16/04/1846

Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (born 1763)

Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti was an Italian double bass virtuoso and composer with a three string double bass. He stayed for thirty years in his hometown of Venice, Republic of Venice and worked at the Opera Buffa, at the Chapel of San Marco and at the Grand Opera in Vicenza. By that time he had become notable throughout Europe and had turned down several opportunities, including offers from the Tsar of Russia. In 1794, he finally moved to London to play in the orchestra of the King's Theatre, and settled there for the remainder of his life. In fifty years, he became a prominent figure in the musical events of the English capital, performing at the concerts of the Philharmonic Society of London as well as in more private events, where he would meet the most influential persons in the country, like the Prince Consort and the Duke of Leinster. He was acquainted with composers Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he visited on several occasions in Vienna, and to whom he showed the possibilities of the double bass as a solo instrument. His ability on the instrument also demonstrated the relevance of writing scores for the double bass in the orchestra separate from that of the cello, which was the common rule at the time. He is also remembered today for the Dragonetti bow, which he developed throughout his life.

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16/04/1828

Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and illustrator (born 1746)

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Goya is often referred to as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art.

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16/04/1788

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author (born 1707)

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des plantes.

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16/04/1783

Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (born 1719)

Christian Mayer was a Moravian-German Catholic priest, astronomer and teacher.

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16/04/1756

Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (born 1677)

Jacques Cassini was a French astronomer, son of the famous Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. He was known as Cassini II.

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16/04/1742

Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and translator (born 1672)

Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino was an Italian poet and opera librettist. He was the son of the composer Carlo Pallavicino (1630?-1688).

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16/04/1689

Aphra Behn, English author and playwright (born 1640)

Aphra Behn was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a probable brief stay in debtors' prison, she began writing for the stage. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester. Behn wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astrea. During the turbulent political times of the Exclusion Crisis, she wrote an epilogue and prologue that brought her legal trouble; she thereafter devoted most of her writing to prose genres and translations. A staunch supporter of the Stuart line, Behn declined an invitation from Bishop Burnet to write a welcoming poem to the new king William III. She died shortly after.

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16/04/1687

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire (born 1628)

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 19th Baron de Ros was an English statesman and poet who exerted considerable political power during the reign of Charles II of England.

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16/04/1645

Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (born 1569)

Tobias Hume was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.

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16/04/1640

Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (born 1579)

Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau was a French abbess. She was the fourth daughter of William the Silent and his third spouse Charlotte of Bourbon.

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16/04/1587

Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (born 1497)

Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of their nephew King Edward VI. The Duchess was briefly the most powerful woman in England. During her husband's regency she unsuccessfully claimed precedence over the queen dowager, Catherine Parr.

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16/04/1496

Charles II, Duke of Savoy (born 1489)

Charles II or Charles John Amadeus, was the Duke of Savoy from 1490 to 1496 but his mother Blanche of Montferrat (1472–1519) was the actual ruler as a regent. In 1485 his father Charles I had received the hereditary rights to the Kingdoms of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia which were inherited by young Charles.

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16/04/1375

John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (born 1347)

John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, was a fourteenth-century English nobleman and soldier. He also held the titles of Baron Abergavenny and Lord of Wexford. He was born in Sutton Valence, the son of Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Agnes Mortimer, Countess of Pembroke. His father died when John Hastings was around one year old, and he became a ward of King Edward III while remaining in his mother's care. The King arranged for John to marry Edward's daughter Margaret in 1359, which drew John into the royal family. However, Margaret died two years later. John Hastings inherited his father's earldom, subsidiary titles and estates in 1368. The same year, he made a second marriage, to Anne, daughter of Walter, Lord Mauny. The following year, Pembroke began the career in royal service that continued for the rest of his life.

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16/04/1234

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (born 1191)

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon his brother's death on 6 April 1231.

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16/04/1198

Frederick I, Duke of Austria (born 1175)

Frederick I, known as Frederick the Catholic, was the duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.

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16/04/1118

Adelaide del Vasto, regent of Sicily, mother of Roger II of Sicily, queen of Baldwin I of Jerusalem

Adelaide del Vasto was countess of Sicily as the third spouse of Roger I of Sicily, and Queen consort of Jerusalem by marriage to Baldwin I of Jerusalem. She served as regent of Sicily during the minority of her son Roger II of Sicily from 1101 until 1112.

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16/04/1113

Sviatopolk II of Kiev (born 1050)

Sviatopolk II Iziaslavich was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1093 to 1113. He was not a popular prince, and his reign was marked by incessant rivalry with his cousin Vladimir Monomakh.

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16/04/1090

Sikelgaita, duchess of Apulia (born c. 1040)

Sikelgaita was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno and second wife of Duke Robert Guiscard of Apulia. Her heritage made her a vital asset to Robert's governance in Southern Italy, legitimizing his reign and that of his successors. Sikelgaita frequently accompanied Robert on campaigns and is noted for leading troops in battle. She continued to be a significant source of support for her primary heir, Roger Borsa, and remained actively involved in politics until her death.

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16/04/0665

Fructuosus of Braga, French archbishop and saint

Fructuosus of Braga was the Bishop of Dumio and Archbishop of Braga, also known for being a great founder of monasteries. The son of a Visigothic dux in the region of Bierzo, at a young age he accompanied his father on official trips over his estates. After a period spent as a hermit, he established a monastery at Complutum and became its first abbot.

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16/04/0069

Otho, Roman emperor (born AD 32)

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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