Died on Monday, 1st December – Famous Deaths

01/12/2024

Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player and coach (born 1947)

Terence Martin Griffiths was a Welsh professional snooker player, coach, and commentator. He won several amateur championships, including the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and consecutive English Amateur Championship titles in 1977 and 1978, before turning professional in 1978 at the age of 30.

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Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach (born 1941)

Ian Ritchie Redpath MBE was an Australian international cricketer who played in 66 Test matches and five One Day Internationals between 1964 and 1976. Greg Chappell said he was one of only two players he knew who would kill to get into the Australian Test team, the other being Rod Marsh.

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01/12/2023

Sandra Day O'Connor, first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1981–2006) (born 1930)

Sandra Day O'Connor was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. A moderate conservative, she was considered a swing vote. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an Arizona state judge and earlier an elected legislator in Arizona, serving as the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate.

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01/12/2022

Gaylord Perry, American baseball player and coach (born 1938)

Gaylord Jackson Perry was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for eight teams from 1962 to 1983, becoming one of the most durable and successful pitchers in history. A five-time All-Star, Perry was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. He won the American League (AL) award in 1972 after leading the league with 24 wins with a 1.92 earned run average (ERA) for the fifth-place Cleveland Indians and took the National League (NL) award in 1978 with the San Diego Padres after again leading the league with 21 wins; his Cy Young Award announcement just as he turned the age of 40 made him the oldest to win the award, which stood as a record for 26 years. He and his older brother Jim Perry, who were Cleveland teammates in 1974–1975, became the first brothers to both win 200 games in the major leagues and remain the only brothers to both win Cy Young Awards.

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01/12/2020

Arnie Robinson, American athlete (born 1948)

Arnie Paul Robinson Jr. was an American athlete. He won a bronze medal in the long jump at the 1972 Olympics and a gold medal in 1976.

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01/12/2019

Paula Tilbrook, English actress (born 1930)

Paula Tilbrook was an English actress who played Betty Eagleton in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale from 1994 to 2015.

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01/12/2018

Vivian Lynn, New Zealand artist (born 1931)

Vivian Isabella Lynn was a New Zealand artist.

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Ken Berry, American actor, dancer, and singer (born 1933)

Kenneth Ronald Berry was an American actor, comedian, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series F Troop (1965–1967), Mayberry R.F.D. (1968–1971) and Mama's Family (1983–1990). He also appeared on Broadway in The Billy Barnes Revue, headlined as George M. Cohan in the musical George M! and provided comic relief for the medical drama Dr. Kildare with Richard Chamberlain in the 1960s.

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01/12/2015

Rob Blokzijl, Dutch physicist and computer scientist (born 1943)

Robert "Rob" Blokzijl was a Dutch physicist and computer scientist at the National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NIKHEF), and an early internet pioneer. He was founding member and chairman of RIPE, the Réseaux IP Européens, the European Internet Registrar organisation.

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Joseph Engelberger, American physicist and engineer (born 1925)

Joseph Frederick Engelberger was an American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur. Often regarded as the "Father of Robotics". Licensing the original patent awarded to inventor George Devol, Engelberger developed the first industrial robot in the United States, the Unimate, in the 1950s. Later, he worked as entrepreneur and vocal advocate of robotic technology beyond the manufacturing plant in a variety of fields, including service industries, health care, and space exploration.

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Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (born 1930)

James Loscutoff Jr. was a professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A forward, Loscutoff played on seven Celtics championship teams between 1956 and 1964.

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Trevor Obst, Australian footballer and coach (born 1940)

Trevor Obst was an Australian rules footballer who played with Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) during the 1960s and 1970s.

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01/12/2014

Mario Abramovich, Argentinian violinist and composer (born 1926)

Mario Abramovich was an Argentine violinist and composer, considered an important figure linked to the music of tango.

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Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Greek epidemiologist, oncologist, and academic (born 1938)

Dimitrios Trichopoulos was a Mediterranean Diet expert and tobacco harms researcher. He was Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention and Professor of Epidemiology, and a past chair of the Department of Epidemiology, in the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

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Rocky Wood, New Zealand-Australian author (born 1959)

Rocky Wood was a New Zealand-born Australian writer and researcher. He was best known for his books about horror author Stephen King. He was a freelance writer for over 35 years, and became the first author from outside North America or Europe to hold the position of president of the Horror Writers Association. In October 2010, Wood was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and died from complications of the disease.

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01/12/2013

Richard Coughlan, English drummer (born 1947)

Richard Coughlan was an English musician who was best known as the drummer and percussionist of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Caravan. He was one of the founding members of the band in 1968 and remained with them until his death. AllMusic called Coughlan "one of art rock's longest tenured musicians".

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Stirling Colgate, American physicist and academic (born 1925)

Stirling Auchincloss Colgate was an American nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a professor emeritus of physics at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology from 1965 to 1974, of which he also served its president.

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Edward Heffron, American soldier (born 1923)

Edward James "Babe" Heffron was a private with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. Heffron was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Robin Laing. In 2007, Heffron wrote Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story with fellow veteran William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and journalist Robyn Post.

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Martin Sharp, Australian cartoonist and songwriter (born 1942)

Martin Ritchie Sharp was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker.

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01/12/2012

Jovan Belcher, American football player (born 1987)

Jovan Henry Allen Belcher was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire three-year career with the Kansas City Chiefs before murdering his girlfriend and committing suicide.

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Arthur Chaskalson, South African lawyer and judge, 18th Chief Justice of South Africa (born 1931)

Arthur Chaskalson SCOB, was President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2001 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 2001 to 2005. Chaskalson was a member of the defence team in the Rivonia Trial of 1963.

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Rick Majerus, American basketball player and coach (born 1948)

Richard Raymond Majerus was an American basketball coach and TV analyst. He coached at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), and Saint Louis University (2007–2012). Majerus's most successful season came at Utah in the 1997–98 season, when the Utes finished as runners-up in the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Majerus was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

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Ed Price, American soldier, pilot, and politician (born 1918)

Edgar Hilleary Price, Jr.,, was a World War II Bomber pilot, Florida legislator, community leader and agricultural manager who fought for civil rights and public education.

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Israel Keyes, American serial killer (born 1978)

Israel Keyes was an American serial killer, rapist, bank robber, burglar, arsonist, and kidnapper.

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01/12/2011

Christa Wolf, German author and critic (born 1929)

Christa Wolf was a German novelist and essayist. She is considered one of the most important writers to emerge from the former East Germany.

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01/12/2010

Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer and academic (born 1914)

Adriaan Blaauw was a Dutch astronomer.

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Hillard Elkins, American actor and producer (born 1929)

Hillard (Hilly) Elkins was an American theatre and film producer.

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01/12/2008

Paul Benedict, American actor (born 1938)

Paul Bernard Benedict was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and films, beginning in 1965. He was known for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show Sesame Street and as the English neighbor Harry Bentley on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons.

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Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (born 1917)

Joseph Bitner Wirthlin was an American businessman, religious leader and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained to the Twelve on October 4, 1986, and ordained an apostle on October 9, 1986, by Thomas S. Monson. He became an apostle following the death of church president Spencer W. Kimball. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Wirthlin was accepted by the church membership as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

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01/12/2007

Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player and footballer (born 1929)

Kenneth Bruce McGregor was an Australian tennis player from Adelaide who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally considered one of the greatest men's doubles teams of all time and won the doubles Grand Slam in 1951. McGregor was also a member of three Australian Davis Cup winning teams in 1950–1952. In 1953, Jack Kramer induced both Sedgman and McGregor to turn professional. He was ranked as high as World No. 3 in 1952.

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Anton Rodgers, British actor (born 1933)

Anthony Rodgers was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including Fresh Fields, its sequel French Fields, and May to December.

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Ivo Rojnica, Croatian-Argentine war crimes suspect, businessman, diplomat, and intelligence agent (born 1915)

Ivo Rojnica was a Croatian Ustaše official and intelligence agent who was active in the World War II Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from 1941 to 1945. After the war, he escaped to Argentina, where he reinvented himself as a businessman and diplomat.

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01/12/2006

Claude Jade, French actress (born 1948)

Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade, was a French actress. She starred as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979). Jade acted in theatre, film and television. Her film work outside France, where she displays her talent in works such as My Uncle Benjamin (1969), The Boat on the Grass (1971) or The Pawn (1978), has Claude Jade included the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Japan. She was most famous on television as the heroine of the mysterious adventure series The Island of Thirty Coffins (1979). She was also the leading actress in the first French daily soap opera, Cap des Pins (1998–2000). Her last role was playing Célimène in the 2006 theatre play and film Célimène et le cardinal.

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Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and historian (born 1937)

Bruce Graham Trigger was a Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethnohistorian. He was appointed the James McGill Professor at McGill University in 2001.

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01/12/2005

Gust Avrakotos, American CIA officer (born 1938)

Gust Lascaris Avrakotos was an American case officer and the Afghanistan Task Force Chief at the Central Intelligence Agency.

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Mary Hayley Bell, English actress and playwright (born 1911)

Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills was an English actress and writer, married for 64 years to actor Sir John Mills. Her novel Whistle Down the Wind was adapted as a film, starring her teenaged daughter, actress Hayley Mills.

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Freeman V. Horner, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1922)

Freeman Victor Horner was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

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01/12/2004

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (born 1911)

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld was Prince of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen Juliana. They had four daughters together, including Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

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Bill Brown, Scottish footballer (born 1931)

William Dallas Fyfe Brown was a Scottish football goalkeeper.

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Norman Newell, English record producer and lyricist (born 1919)

Norman Newell was an English record producer and lyricist, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon.

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01/12/2003

Clark Kerr, American economist and academic (born 1911)

Clark Kerr was an American economist and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and twelfth president of the University of California.

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Eugenio Monti, Italian bobsledder (born 1928)

Eugenio Monti was an Italian bobsledder and alpine skier. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the bobsleigh, with ten World championship medals and 6 Olympic medals including two golds. He is known also for his acts of sportsmanship during the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, which made him the first athlete ever to receive the Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy.

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01/12/2002

Edward L. Beach Jr., American captain and author (born 1918)

Edward Latimer Beach Jr. was a United States Navy submarine officer and author.

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Dave McNally, American baseball player (born 1942)

David Arthur McNally was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from 1962 through 1975, most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League pennants and two World Series championships between 1966 and 1971. A three-time All-Star, McNally won 20 or more games for four consecutive seasons from 1968 through 1971. He was one of four 20-game winners for the 1971 Orioles, the last team as of 2025 to have four 20-win pitchers on the same roster.

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01/12/2001

Ellis R. Dungan, American director and producer (born 1909)

Ellis Roderick Dungan was an American film director, who was well known for working in Indian films, predominantly in Tamil cinema, from 1936 to 1950. He was an alumnus of the University of Southern California and moved to India in 1935. During his film career in South India, Dungan directed the debut films of several popular Tamil film actors, such as M. G. Ramachandran in Sathi Leelavathi, T. S. Balaiya, Kali N. Ratnam and N. S. Krishnan.

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01/12/1998

Janet Lewis, American poet and novelist (born 1899)

Janet Loxley Lewis was an American novelist, poet, and librettist. She was considered one of the finest American literary figures of the 20th century.

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01/12/1997

Michel Bélanger, Canadian banker and businessman (born 1929)

Michel Bélanger, was a Canadian businessman and banker.

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Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (born 1908)

Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

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Endicott Peabody, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (born 1920)

Endicott Howard Peabody was an American politician from Massachusetts. A Democrat, he served a single two-year term as the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1965. His tenure is probably best known for his categorical opposition to the death penalty and for signing into law the bill establishing the University of Massachusetts Boston. After losing the 1964 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Peabody made several more failed bids for office in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including failed campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1966 and 1986.

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01/12/1996

Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (born 1928)

Peter Frederick Bronfman OC was a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur, born in Montreal, and member of the Toronto branch of Canada's wealthy Bronfman family. He attended Selwyn House School in Montreal and the elite Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, one of the oldest prep schools in America, and received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1952.

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01/12/1995

Hopper Levett, English cricketer (born 1908)

William Howard Vincent "Hopper" Levett was an English cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Kent County Cricket Club between 1930 and 1947.

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Colin Tapley, New Zealand-English actor (born 1907)

Colin Edward Livingstone Tapley was a New Zealand actor in both American and British films. Born in New Zealand, he served in the Royal Air Force and an expedition to Antarctica before winning a Paramount Pictures talent contest and moving to Hollywood. He acted in a number of films before moving to Britain during the Second World War as a flight controller with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

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Maxwell R. Thurman, American general (born 1931)

Maxwell Reid Thurman was a United States Army general, who served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army and commander of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.

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01/12/1993

Ray Gillen, American singer-songwriter (born 1959)

Raymond Arthur Gillen was an American rock singer. He is best known for his work with Badlands, in addition to his stint with Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s and recording most of the vocals on Phenomena's Dream Runner album.

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01/12/1991

Pat O'Callaghan, Irish athlete (born 1906)

Patrick O'Callaghan was an Irish hammer thrower and double Olympic gold medallist. He was the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag.

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George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)

George Joseph Stigler was an American economist. He was the 1982 laureate in Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and is considered a key leader of the Chicago school of economics.

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01/12/1990

Carla Lehmann, Canadian-English actress (born 1917)

Carla Lehmann was a Canadian stage, film and television actress.

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01/12/1989

Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (born 1931)

Alvin Ailey Jr. was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.

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01/12/1988

J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (born 1904)

John Vernon McGee was an American ordained Presbyterian minister, pastor, Bible teacher, theologian, and radio minister.

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01/12/1987

James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (born 1924)

James Arthur Baldwin was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels. His 1955 essay collection Notes of a Native Son helped establish his reputation as a voice for human equality. His 1965 debate with William Buckley is regarded as one of the most influential debates on race in the United States. Baldwin was an influential public figure and orator, especially during the civil rights movement in the United States.

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Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (born 1918)

George "Punch" Imlach was a Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager best known for his association with the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom he was with from 1958 to 1969, and again from 1979 to 1981, and the Buffalo Sabres, whom he was with from 1970 to 1978. With Toronto he won the Stanley Cup four times, from 1962 to 1964 and again in 1967. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

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01/12/1986

Frank McCarthy, American general and film producer (born 1912)

Frank McCarthy was the secretary of the General Staff of the United States Department of War during World War II; briefly United States Assistant Secretary of State for Administration in 1945; and later a distinguished film producer, whose production Patton won the 1970 Academy Award for Best Picture.

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01/12/1984

Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter and photographer (born 1911)

Roelof Frankot was a Dutch painter.

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01/12/1981

Russ Manning, American author and illustrator (born 1929)

Russell George Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2006.

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01/12/1975

Nellie Fox, American baseball player and coach (born 1927)

Jacob Nelson Fox was an American professional baseball player. Fox was one of the best second basemen of all time, and the third-most difficult hitter to strike out in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. Fox played in the big leagues from 1947 through 1965 and spent the majority of his career as a member of the Chicago White Sox; his career was bookended by multi-year stints for the Philadelphia Athletics and, later, the Houston Astros.

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Ernesto Maserati, Italian race car driver and engineer (born 1898)

Ernesto Maserati was an Italian automotive engineer and racer, with Maserati of Modena since its inception in Bologna on 14 December 1914, together with his brothers Alfieri Maserati (leader), Ettore Maserati, Bindo Maserati and others.

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Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist (born 1906)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Halsted was an American writer who worked as a newspaper editor and in public relations. Halsted also wrote two children's books published in the 1930s. She was the eldest child and only daughter of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Halsted assisted her father as his advisor during World War II.

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01/12/1973

David Ben-Gurion, Israeli politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (born 1886)

David Ben-Gurion was the primary national founder and first prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he was the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led the movement for an independent Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine.

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01/12/1968

Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer, composer, and conductor (born 1887)

Nicolae Bretan was a Romanian opera composer, baritone, conductor, and music critic.

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Darío Moreno, Turkish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1921)

David Arugete, commonly known under his stage name Dario Moreno, was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, an accomplished composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He attained fame and made a remarkable career centred in France which also included films, during the 1950s and the 1960s. He became famous with his 1961 song Brigitte Bardot.

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01/12/1964

J. B. S. Haldane, English-Indian geneticist and biologist (born 1892)

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-born scientist who later moved to India and acquired Indian citizenship. He worked in the fields of physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biology, he was one of the founders of neo-Darwinism. Despite his lack of an academic degree in the field, he taught biology at the University of Cambridge, the Royal Institution, and University College London. Renouncing his British citizenship, he became an Indian citizen in 1961 and worked at the Indian Statistical Institute until his death in 1964.

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Charilaos Vasilakos, Greek runner (born 1877)

Charilaos Vasilakos was a Greek athlete and the first man to win a marathon race. He also won a silver medal for a second place finish in marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

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01/12/1958

Elizabeth Peratrovich, American civil rights activist (born 1911)

Elizabeth Peratrovich was an American civil rights activist, Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and a Tlingit who worked for equality on behalf of Alaska Natives. In the 1940s, her advocacy was credited as being instrumental in the passing of Alaska's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, the first state or territorial anti-discrimination law enacted in the United States.

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01/12/1954

Fred Rose, American pianist, composer, and publisher (born 1898)

Knowles Fred Rose was an American musician, Hall of Fame songwriter, and music publishing executive.

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01/12/1950

Ernest John Moeran, English pianist and composer (born 1894)

Ernest John Smeed Moeran was an Anglo-Irish composer whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His oeuvre includes orchestral pieces, concertos, chamber and keyboard works, and a number of choral and song cycles as well as individual songs.

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01/12/1947

Aleister Crowley, English magician, poet, and mountaineer (born 1875)

Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

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G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and theorist (born 1877)

Godfrey Harold Hardy was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of population genetics.

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01/12/1944

Charlie Kerins, Irish Republican executed by hanging (born 1918)

Charlie Kerins was a physical force Irish Republican, and Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Kerins was one of six IRA men who were executed by the Irish State between September 1940 and December 1944. After spending two years on the run he was captured by the police in 1944. Following his subsequent trial and conviction for the 1942 murder of Garda Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien, Kerins was hanged at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.

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01/12/1943

Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian and educator (born 1862)

Prince Tisavarakumara, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab was the founder of the modern Thai educational system as well as the modern provincial administration. He was an autodidact, a (self-taught) historian, and one of the most influential Thai intellectuals of his time.

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01/12/1942

Leon Wachholz, Polish scientist and medical examiner (born 1867)

Leon Jan Wachholz (Wacholz) (June 20, 1867 – December 1, 1942) was a Polish scientist and medical examiner. He researched and taught as a professor of forensic and social medicine at the Jagiellonian University between 1896 and 1933 and published formative works on forensics.

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01/12/1935

Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German optician, invented the Schmidt camera (born 1879)

Bernhard Woldemar Schmidt was an Estonian optician. In 1930 he invented the Schmidt telescope, which corrected for the optical errors of spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism, making possible for the first time the construction of very large, wide-angled reflective cameras of short exposure time for astronomical research.

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01/12/1934

Sergey Kirov, Russian engineer and politician (born 1886)

Sergei Mironovich Kirov was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Kirov became an Old Bolshevik and personal friend to Joseph Stalin, rising through the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ranks to become head of the party in Leningrad and a member of the Politburo.

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01/12/1933

Pekka Halonen, Finnish painter (born 1865)

Pekka Halonen was a Finnish painter of landscapes and people in the national romantic and Realist styles.

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01/12/1928

José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian-American lawyer and poet (born 1888)

José Eustasio Rivera Salas was a Colombian lawyer and author primarily known for his national epic The Vortex.

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01/12/1923

Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (born 1836)

Virginie (Marie) Loveling was a Flemish author of poetry, novels, essays and children's stories. She also wrote under the pseudonym W. E. C. Walter. She did write sentimentally early in her career but her later novels dealt with difficult subjects directly.

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01/12/1916

Charles de Foucauld, French priest and martyr (born 1858)

Charles de Foucauld, born as Charles Eugène, vicomte de Foucauld de Pontbriand, in religion Charles of Jesus, was a French monk, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Algeria. He was also an explorer, geographer, ethnographer. Before joining the Trappists as a monk, he was a soldier in the 2nd Hussar Regiment. He was murdered by Bedouin bandits in 1916. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of a number of religious congregations inspired by his example. He was canonized in 2022.

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01/12/1914

Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (born 1840)

Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy (USN) officer and historian whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His 1890 book The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with the publication of its 1892 successor, The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812, he affirmed his status as a globally-known and regarded military strategist, historian, and theorist. Mahan's works encouraged the development of large capital ships—eventually leading to dreadnought battleships—as he was an advocate of the 'decisive battle' and of naval blockades.

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01/12/1913

Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet and author (born 1864)

Juhan Liiv was an Estonian poet who is regarded as one of Estonia's most famous poets and prose writers.

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01/12/1884

William Swainson, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (born 1809)

William Swainson became the second, and last, Attorney-General of the Crown colony of New Zealand and instrumental in setting up the legal system of New Zealand. He was the first Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council.

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01/12/1867

Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (born 1797)

Charles Gray Round was a barrister and the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for North Essex 1837–47. He also served as Recorder for Colchester, and as a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Essex, as well as being a substantial local landowner and notable.

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01/12/1866

George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (born 1790)

Sir George Everest, was a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.

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01/12/1865

Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss pastor, poet, and educator (born 1796)

Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich was a Swiss poet.

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01/12/1825

Alexander I, emperor and autocrat of Russia (born 1777)

Alexander I, nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars.

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01/12/1767

Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (born 1710)

Henry David Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan,, styled Lord Auchterhouse until 1745, was a Scottish peer.

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01/12/1755

Maurice Greene, English organist and composer (born 1696)

Maurice Greene was an English composer and organist. He was an admirer and friend of George Frideric Handel.

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01/12/1750

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (born 1671)

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr was a German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer.

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01/12/1729

Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician (born 1665)

Giacomo Filippo Maraldi was a French-Italian astronomer and mathematician. His name is also given as Jacques Philippe Maraldi. Born in Perinaldo he was the nephew of Giovanni Cassini, and worked most of his life at the Paris Observatory. He also is the uncle of Jean-Dominique Maraldi.

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01/12/1660

Pierre d'Hozier, French genealogist and historian (born 1592)

Pierre d'Hozier, seigneur de la Garde, was a French genealogist.

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01/12/1640

Miguel de Vasconcelos, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1590)

Miguel de Vasconcelos e Brito was a Portuguese politician who served as the Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Portugal in the final years of the Iberian Union. He was assassinated during the Portuguese revolt of 1640.

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01/12/1633

Isabella Clara Eugenia, infanta of Spain (born 1566)

Isabella Clara Eugenia, sometimes referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia, was sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands, and the Free County of Burgundy, from 1598 to 1621, ruling jointly with her husband Archduke Albert VII of Austria. After Albert's death, those regions were returned to the Spanish Habsburgs, and she continued to rule as governess of the Spanish Netherlands until her death.

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01/12/1581

Alexander Briant, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint (born 1556)

Alexander Briant, SJ was an English Jesuit and martyr, executed at Tyburn.

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Edmund Campion, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (born 1540)

Edmund Campion, SJ was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Campion was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on 1 December.

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Ralph Sherwin, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (born 1550)

Ralph Sherwin was an English Roman Catholic priest, executed in 1581. He is a Catholic martyr and saint.

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01/12/1580

Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (born 1509)

Giovanni Morone was an Italian cardinal. He was named Bishop of Modena in 1529 and was created Cardinal in 1542 by Pope Paul III. As a cardinal, he resided in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and was consulted by Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits.

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01/12/1530

Margaret of Austria, duchess of Savoy (born 1480)

Margaret of Austria was Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1507 to 1515 and again from 1519 until her death in 1530. She was the first of many female regents in the Netherlands. She was variously the Princess of Asturias, Duchess of Savoy, and was born an Archduchess of Austria.

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01/12/1521

Leo X, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1475)

Pope Leo X was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.

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01/12/1455

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian goldsmith and sculptor (born 1378)

Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, the later one called by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise. Trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, he established an important workshop for sculpture in metal. His book of Commentarii contains important writing on art, as well as what may be the earliest surviving autobiography by any artist.

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01/12/1433

Go-Komatsu, emperor of Japan (born 1377)

Emperor Go-Komatsu was the 100th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the sixth and final Emperor of the Northern Court.

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01/12/1374

Magnus Eriksson, king of Sweden (born 1316)

Magnus Eriksson was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360.

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01/12/1335

Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate (born 1305)

Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, also spelled Abusaid Bahador Khan, Abu Sa'id Behauder, was the ninth ruler of the Ilkhanate, a division of the Mongol Empire that encompassed the present day countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, as well as parts of Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. After his death in 1335, the Ilkhanate disintegrated.

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01/12/1255

Muhammad III of Alamut, Nizari Ismaili Imam

ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad III, more commonly known as ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, son of Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥasan III, was the 26th Nizāri Isma'ilism Imām. He ruled the Nizari Ismaili state from 1221 to 1255. By some accounts, he was considered a respected scholar and the spiritual and worldly leader of the Nisari Ismailis. The intellectual life of Persia has been described as having flourished during his 34-year reign. Allegedly, he was known for his tolerance and pluralism. His reign witnessed the beginnings of the Mongol conquests of Persia and the eastern Muslim world. He was assassinated by an unknown perpetrator on 1 December 1255, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Rukn al-Din Khurshah, in 1255.

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01/12/1241

Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress (born 1214)

Isabella of England was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet. She became Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Sicily, Italy and Germany from 1235 until her death as the third wife of Emperor Frederick II.

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01/12/1135

Henry I, king of England (born 1068)

Henry I, also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, thereby leaving Henry landless. He subsequently purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but his brothers deposed him in 1091. He gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William Rufus against Robert.

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01/12/1018

Thietmar of Merseburg, German bishop (born 975)

Thietmar, Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two of Thietmar's great-grandfathers, both referred to as Liuthar, were the Saxon nobles Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Lothar I, Count of Walbeck. They were both killed fighting the Slavs at the Battle of Lenzen.

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01/12/0969

Fujiwara no Morotada, Japanese statesman (born 920)

Fujiwara no Morotada was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period.

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01/12/0948

Gao Conghui, Chinese governor and prince (born 891)

Gao Conghui, might have been born with or used the name Zhu Conghui (朱從誨), also known by his posthumous name as the Prince Wenxian of Nanping (南平文獻王), courtesy name Zunsheng (遵聖), was a ruler of Jingnan during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China, reigning from 929 to 948.

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01/12/0660

Eligius, Frankish bishop and saint (born 588)

Eligius, venerated as Saint Eligius, was a Frankish goldsmith, courtier, and bishop who was chief counsellor to Dagobert I and later Bishop of Noyon–Tournai. His deeds were recorded in Vita Sancti Eligii, written by his friend Audoin of Rouen.

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01/12/0217

Yehudah HaNasi, 'Nasi', Rabbi and editor of the Mishnah (born 135)

Judah ha-Nasi or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He lived from approximately 135 to 217 CE. He was a key leader of the Jewish community in Roman-occupied Judea after the Bar Kokhba revolt.

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