Died on Tuesday, 30th December – Famous Deaths

30/12/2025

Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi Politician, Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Begum Khaleda Zia was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second female prime minister in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto. She was the wife of the former president of Bangladesh and army chief, Ziaur Rahman. She was the longest serving chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 1984 until her death in 2025.

---

30/12/2023

Bryan Ansell, British role-playing and wargame designer (born 1955)

Bryan Charles Ansell was a British role-playing and wargame designer. In 1985, he became managing director of Games Workshop, and eventually bought the company from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Ansell moved Games Workshop from London to Nottingham and refocused the company from role-playing games to Warhammer wargame and miniature products, which became very popular.

---

Tom Wilkinson, English actor (born 1948)

Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson was an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2005, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

---

Aki Yashiro, Japanese singer (born 1950)

Aki Yashiro , real name Akiyo Masuda , née Hashimoto , was a Japanese enka singer and painter. Her stage name "Yashiro" was adopted from her hometown Yatsushiro.

---

30/12/2022

Barbara Walters, American journalist, producer, and author (born 1929)

Barbara Jill Walters was an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, she appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including Today, the ABC Evening News, 20/20, and The View. Walters was a working journalist from 1951 until her retirement in 2014. Walters was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NATAS in 2000 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.

---

30/12/2020

Dawn Wells, American actress, (born 1938)

Dawn Elberta Wells was an American actress. She was best known for her role as Mary Ann Summers in the sitcom Gilligan's Island.

---

30/12/2017

Erica Garner, American civil rights activist (born 1990)

Erica Garner-Snipes was an American activist who advocated for police reform, particularly in the use of force during arrests. Garner became involved in activism following the 2014 killing of her father, Eric Garner, after a New York City police officer placed him in a lethal chokehold during an arrest.

---

30/12/2015

Doug Atkins, American football player (born 1930)

Douglas Leon Atkins was an American professional football defensive end who played for the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, and New Orleans Saints in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers under head coach Robert Neyland. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Atkins was also drafted to the NBA in the 17th round by the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1953 NBA draft.

---

Howard Davis, Jr., American boxer and trainer (born 1956)

Howard Edward Davis Jr. was an American professional boxer. Growing up on Long Island as the eldest of 10 children, Davis first learned boxing from his father. After being inspired by a movie about Muhammad Ali, Davis embarked on his amateur career. He won the 1976 Olympic gold medal one week after his mother died. He was also awarded the Val Barker Trophy at the Olympics, beating out such boxers as Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks and Leon Spinks.

---

Mangesh Padgaonkar, Indian poet, playwright, and translator (born 1929)

Mangesh Keshav Padgaoankar was a legendary Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India.

---

Howard Pawley, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Premier of Manitoba (born 1934)

Howard Russell Pawley was a Canadian politician and professor who was the 18th premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988. Prior to his premiership, Pawley served in various ministerial positions.

---

30/12/2014

Terry Becker, American actor, director, and producer (born 1921)

Terry Becker was an American film and television actor, director and producer.

---

Jim Galloway, Scottish-Canadian clarinet player and saxophonist (born 1936)

James Braidie Galloway was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player. He based his career in Canada after emigrating from Scotland in the mid-1960s.

---

Luise Rainer, German-born American-British actress (born 1910)

Luise Rainer was a German-born film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient, a superlative that has not been exceeded, as of 2026.

---

30/12/2013

Kinnaird R. McKee, American admiral (born 1929)

Kinnaird Rowe McKee was an American United States Navy four star admiral who served as Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion from 1982 to 1988. He also served as Superintendent, United States Naval Academy from 1975 to 1978.

---

José María Maguregui, Spanish footballer and manager (born 1934)

José María Maguregui Ibarguchi was a Spanish football midfielder and coach.

---

Eiichi Ohtaki, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer (born 1948)

Eiichi Ohtaki was a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He first became known as a member of the rock band Happy End, but was better known for his solo work which began in 1972. In 2003, Ohtaki was ranked by HMV at number 9 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. Patrick Macias referred to Ohtaki as Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, George Martin and Joe Meek "synthesized into a single human being," and called his work "an encyclopedia of everything that was great about pop music in the 20th century."

---

Johnny Orr, American basketball player and coach (born 1927)

John Michael Orr was an American basketball player and coach, best known as the head coach of men's basketball at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Michigan, and at Iowa State University. In the 1975–76 season, Orr was named National Coach of the Year.

---

Paul Sally, American mathematician and academic (born 1933)

Paul Joseph Sally, Jr. was a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he was the director of undergraduate studies for 30 years. His research areas were p-adic analysis and representation theory.

---

30/12/2012

Philip Coppens, Belgian-American journalist and author (born 1971)

Philip Coppens was a Belgian author, radio host, and commentator whose writings, speeches and television appearances focused on areas of fringe science and alternative history.

---

Beate Sirota Gordon, Austrian-American director and producer (born 1923)

Beate Sirota Gordon was an Austrian and American performing arts presenter and women's rights advocate. Born in Vienna, Austria, she moved to the Empire of Japan in 1929 with her father, the pianist Leo Sirota. After graduating from the American School in Japan, she moved to Oakland, California, where she enrolled at Mills College. Being one of the few people not of Japanese descent who was fluent in Japanese, she obtained work at the Office of War Information in the Foreign Broadcast Information Service of the Federal Communications Commission.

---

Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1909)

Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF).

---

Carl Woese, American microbiologist and biophysicist (born 1928)

Carl Richard Woese was an American microbiologist and biophysicist. Woese is famous for defining the Archaea in 1977 through a pioneering phylogenetic taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA, a technique that has revolutionized microbiology. He also originated the RNA world hypothesis in 1967, although not by that name. Woese held the Stanley O. Ikenberry Chair and was professor of microbiology at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.

---

Dennis Ferguson, Australian sex offender (born 1948)

Dennis Raymond Ferguson was an Australian sex offender convicted of child sexual abuse. In 1988, he kidnapped and sexually abused three children, and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Ferguson was forced by public hostility and news media attention to relocate his residence on numerous occasions, from various locations in New South Wales and Queensland.

---

30/12/2011

Ronald Searle, English-French cartoonist (born 1920)

Ronald William Fordham Searle was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's School and for his collaboration with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth series.

---

30/12/2010

Bobby Farrell, Dutch dancer and performer from Aruba (born 1949)

Roberto Alfonso "Bobby" Farrell was an Aruban dancer, singer and DJ. He was a member of the 1970s and 1980s disco group Boney M.

---

30/12/2009

Rowland S. Howard, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1959)

Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the post-punk group The Birthday Party and his subsequent solo career.

---

Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian journalist and politician, fourth President of Indonesia (born 1940)

Abdurrahman Wahid, more colloquially known as Gus Dur, was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indonesia, from his election in 1999 until he was removed from office in 2001. A long time leader within the Nahdlatul Ulama organization, he was the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB). He was the son of former Minister of Religious Affairs Wahid Hasyim, and the grandson of Nahdatul Ulama founder Hasyim Asy'ari. Due to a visual impairment caused by glaucoma, he was blind in the left eye and partially blind in his right eye. He was the first president of Indonesia to have had physical disabilities. He is also the first president to be almost fully blind.

---

30/12/2006

Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, fifth President of Iraq (born 1937)

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Ba'ath Party, he was a proponent of Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and ideologies he championed are collectively known as Saddamism, a right-wing variant of Ba'athism.

---

Terry Peck, Falkland Islander police officer and spy (born 1938)

Terence John Peck was a member of the Falkland Islands Defence Force who during the 1982 Falklands War became a war hero by spying on the Argentine invaders, subsequently escaping to British lines, acting as a scout for 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and taking part in the fighting for Mount Longdon. A fiercely patriotic Islander, he vehemently opposed Argentina's claim to the Islands. He later met and befriended an Argentine conscript who served during the war.

---

Michel Plasse, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1948)

Michel Pierre Plasse was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League from 1970 to 1982. He was selected first overall in the 1968 NHL Amateur Draft by the Montreal Canadiens.

---

30/12/2005

Eddie Barlow, South African cricketer and coach (born 1940)

Edgar John Barlow was a South African cricketer. Barlow was born in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, and played first-class cricket for Transvaal and Eastern Province from 1959–60 to 1967–68 before moving to Western Province for the seasons from 1968–69 to 1980–81. During this time he also played three seasons with Derbyshire in the English County Championship from 1976 – 1978. He completed his first-class career in Boland in 1982–83. Barlow was named as one of the six South African Cricket Annual players of the year in 1962.

---

Rona Jaffe, American novelist (born 1932)

Rona Jaffe was an American novelist who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan.

---

30/12/2004

Artie Shaw, American clarinet player, composer, and bandleader (born 1910)

Artie Shaw was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and author of both fiction and non-fiction.

---

30/12/2003

John Gregory Dunne, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (born 1932)

John Gregory Dunne was an American writer. He began his career as a journalist for Time magazine before expanding into writing criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. He often collaborated with his wife, Joan Didion.

---

30/12/2002

Mary Brian, American actress (born 1906)

Mary Brian was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films.

---

Eleanor J. Gibson, American psychologist and academic (born 1910)

Eleanor Jack Gibson was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her first works on research conducted as an undergraduate student. Gibson was able to circumvent the many obstacles she faced due to the Great Depression and gender discrimination, by finding research opportunities that she could meld with her own interests. Gibson, with her husband James J. Gibson, created the Gibsonian ecological theory of development, which emphasized how important perception was because it allows humans to adapt to their environments. Perhaps her most well-known contribution to psychology was the "visual cliff," which studied depth perception in both human and animal species, leading to a new understanding of perceptual development in infants. Gibson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1971, the National Academy of Education in 1972, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977. In 1992, she was awarded the National Medal of Science.

---

Mary Wesley, English author (born 1912)

Mary Aline Siepmann CBE, known by the pen name Mary Wesley, was an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including ten bestsellers in the last twenty years of her life.

---

30/12/2000

Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter and producer (born 1909)

Julius J. Epstein was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for his screenplay, written with his twin brother, Philip, and Howard E. Koch, of the film Casablanca (1942), for which the writers won an Academy Award. It was adapted from an unpublished play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, written by Murray Bennett and Joan Alison.

---

30/12/1999

Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (born 1915)

Joff Ellen, was an Australian entertainer, TV pioneer, actor and comedian.

---

Fritz Leonhardt, German engineer, co-designed the Cologne Rodenkirchen Bridge and Fernsehturm Stuttgart (born 1909)

Fritz Leonhardt was a German structural engineer who made major contributions to 20th-century bridge engineering, especially in the development of cable-stayed bridges. His book Bridges: Aesthetics and Design is well known throughout the bridge engineering community.

---

Des Renford, Australian swimmer (born 1927)

Desmond Robert Renford MBE was an Australian long-distance swimmer who swam the English Channel 19 times from 19 attempts. This was a record for successful crossings by an Australian until it was overtaken by Chloe McCardel in 2016. From 1975 to 1979 and for a period in 1980 he held the title of King of the Channel. At the time of his death, only two other people had swum the Channel more often, Alison Streeter and Michael Read.

---

Sarah Knauss, American supercentenarian (born 1880)

Sarah DeRemer Knauss was an American supercentenarian. She is the oldest person ever from the United States and, on April 16, 1998, became the world's oldest living person. She is the third-oldest verified person ever, living to the age of 119 years and 97 days. Her birthdate has been independently verified through numerous census and other records.

---

30/12/1998

Sam Muchnick, American wrestling promoter, co-founded the National Wrestling Alliance (born 1905)

Samuel Muchnick was an American professional wrestling promoter, long based in St. Louis, Missouri. He is often regarded as wrestling's equivalent of Pete Rozelle, and he was instrumental in establishing the National Wrestling Alliance, which became the industry's top governing body, in 1948. Muchnick served as the NWA's president from 1950 to 1960 and again from 1963 to 1975. He operated the St. Louis Wrestling Club, one of the primary members of the NWA, based in St. Louis.

---

30/12/1997

Shinichi Hoshi, Japanese author and illustrator (born 1926)

Shin’ichi Hoshi was a Japanese novelist and science fiction writer best known for his "short-short" science fiction stories, often no more than three or four pages in length, of which he wrote over 1000. He also wrote mysteries and won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mōsō Ginkō in 1968.

---

30/12/1996

Lew Ayres, American actor (born 1908)

Lewis Frederick Ayres III was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948).

---

30/12/1995

Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1914)

Ralph Elias Flenniken, known professionally as Ralph Flanagan, was an American big band leader, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, and Alvino Rey.

---

Doris Grau, American voice actor and script supervisor (born 1924)

Doris Grau was an American actress and script supervisor from Brooklyn. After moving to Hollywood in 1940, she began her career supervising film and television scripts. She continued to do this until the 1990s and worked on films such as Point Blank and King Kong and television shows such as Cheers and The Tracey Ullman Show. Grau did some acting in her later years, playing live-action and animated roles. On the sitcom The Simpsons, she worked as a script supervisor and provided the voice of Lunchlady Doris and other minor characters.

---

30/12/1994

Dmitri Ivanenko, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (born 1904)

Dmitri Dmitrievich Ivanenko was a Soviet theoretical physicist of Ukrainian origin who made great contributions to the physical science of the twentieth century, especially to nuclear physics, field theory, and gravitation theory. He worked in the Poltava Gravimetric Observatory of the Institute of Geophysics of NAS of Ukraine, was the head of the Theoretical Department Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute in Kharkiv, Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Kharkiv Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Professor of University of Kharkiv, Professor of Moscow State University.

---

30/12/1993

İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, Turkish lawyer and politician, 20th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1908)

İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil was a Turkish politician and diplomat who served as Acting President of Turkey in 1980, from the Justice Party. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs three times in the 1960s and 1970s.

---

Irving "Swifty" Lazar, American talent agent (born 1907)

Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was an American lawyer, talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors.

---

Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian-French physicist and academic (born 1907)

Giuseppe Paolo Stanislao "Beppo" Occhialini was an Italian experimental physicist who contributed to the discovery of the pion or pi-meson decay in 1947 with César Lattes and Cecil Powell, the latter winning the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. At the time of this discovery, they were all working in the H. H. Wills Laboratory at the University of Bristol.

---

30/12/1992

Romeo Muller, American actor, screenwriter, for screenplays like the 1964, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special) (born 1928)

Romeo Earl Muller, Jr. was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays for the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.

---

30/12/1990

Raghuvir Sahay, Indian author, poet, and critic (born 1929)

Raghuvir Sahay was an Indian Hindi poet, short-story writer, essayist, literary critic, translator, and journalist. He remained the chief-editor of the political-social Hindi weekly, Dinmaan, 1969–82. He obtained a Master of Arts in English literature from the University of Lucknow in 1951.

---

30/12/1988

Yuli Daniel, Russian author and poet (born 1925)

Yuli Markovich Daniel was a Russian writer and Soviet dissident known as a defendant in the Sinyavsky–Daniel trial in 1966.

---

Isamu Noguchi, American sculptor and landscaper (born 1904)

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, Akari light sculptures, and furniture pieces, many of which are still manufactured and sold. His work is displayed at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York City as well as many other museums.

---

30/12/1986

Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (born 1905)

Era Bell Thompson was an American writer and editor.

---

30/12/1983

Violette Cordery, English race car driver (born 1900)

Violette Cordery was a British racing driver and long distance record breaker.

---

30/12/1982

Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (born 1896)

Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez was a Peruvian-American painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists and one of the pioneers of airbrush art. Numerous Vargas paintings have sold and continue to sell for tens of thousands of dollars around the world.

---

30/12/1979

Richard Rodgers, American playwright and composer (born 1902)

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the best-known American composers of the 20th century, and his work significantly influenced popular music.

---

30/12/1971

Jo Cals, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1914)

Jozef Maria Laurens Theo "Jo" Cals was a Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 14 April 1965 until 22 November 1966.

---

Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist and academic (born 1919)

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped to develop nuclear power in India. Often regarded as the "Father of Indian space program", Sarabhai was honored with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan (posthumously) in 1972.

---

30/12/1970

Sonny Liston, American boxer (born 1932)

Charles L. "Sonny" Liston, nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight champion. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Liston is known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and is widely regarded as one of the most intimidating men in boxing history.

---

30/12/1968

Trygve Lie, Norwegian journalist and politician, first Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1896)

Trygve Halvdan Lie was a Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Norwegian government in exile in London from 1940 to 1945. He was the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

---

30/12/1967

Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (born 1887)

Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as the 18th governor general of Canada from 1952 to 1959. Massey was the first governor general of Canada to be born in Canada.

---

30/12/1955

Rex Ingamells, Australian poet and author (born 1913)

Reginald Charles (Rex) Ingamells was an Australian poet, generally credited with being the leading light of the Jindyworobak Movement.

---

30/12/1954

Archduke Eugen of Austria (born 1863)

Archduke Eugen Ferdinand Pius Bernhard Felix Maria of Austria-Teschen was an Archduke of Austria and a Prince of Hungary and Bohemia. He was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from the Habsburg dynasty.

---

30/12/1947

Han van Meegeren, Dutch painter (born 1889)

Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World War II when it was revealed that he had sold a forged painting to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

---

Alfred North Whitehead, English-American mathematician and philosopher (born 1861)

Alfred North Whitehead was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology.

---

30/12/1945

Song Jin-woo, South Korean journalist and politician (born 1889)

Song Jin-woo was a Korean independence activist, journalist, and politician. His art name was Goha. He was the 3rd, 6th and 8th CEO of the Dong-a Ilbo and the founding leader of the Korea Democratic Party.

---

30/12/1944

Romain Rolland, French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866)

Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings".

---

30/12/1941

El Lissitzky, Russian photographer and architect (born 1890)

El Lissitzky was a Russian and Soviet artist, active as a painter, illustrator, designer, printmaker, photographer, and architect. He was an important figure of the avant-garde, helping develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works for the Soviet Union.

---

30/12/1940

Childe Wills, American engineer (born 1878)

Childe Harold Wills was an American engineer and businessman. He was an early associate of Henry Ford, one of the first employees of the Ford Motor Company, and the chief contributor to the design of the Model T. After leaving Ford, he began his own automobile company.

---

30/12/1937

Hans Niels Andersen, Danish businessman, founded the East Asiatic Company (born 1852)

Hans Niels Andersen was a Danish shipping magnate, businessman, diplomat and founder of the East Asiatic Company.

---

30/12/1928

Jean Collas, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (born 1874)

Jean Collas was a French rugby union player and tug of war competitor, who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal. He also participated in the tug of war competition and won a silver medal as a member of the French team.

---

30/12/1916

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (born 1869)

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire.

---

30/12/1908

Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician (born 1844)

Thomas-Alfred Bernier was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician.

---

30/12/1906

Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (born 1828)

Josephine Elizabeth Butler was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in British law, the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, the abolition of child prostitution and an end to human trafficking of young women and children into European prostitution.

---

30/12/1896

José Rizal, Filipino ophthalmologist, journalist, and author (born 1861)

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a national hero of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement in the 1880s, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.

---

30/12/1885

Martha Darley Mutrie, British painter (born 1824)

Martha Darley Mutrie was a British painter. Her paintings consisted mostly of fruit and flowers. She grew up in Manchester, England, and studied at the Manchester School of Design. Mutrie's works were shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Manchester Institution and other national and international exhibitions. Her works are among the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

---

30/12/1879

Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo, Brazilian poet and painter (born 1806)

Manuel José de Araújo Porto-Alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo, was a Brazilian Romantic writer, painter, architect, diplomat and professor, considered to be one of the first Brazilian editorial cartoonists ever. He is the patron of the 32nd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

---

30/12/1803

Francis Lewis, Welsh-American merchant and politician (born 1713)

Francis Lewis was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of New York in the Continental Congress.

---

30/12/1788

Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian painter and academic (born 1702)

Giacomo Francesco Zuccarelli was an Italian artist of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He is considered to be the most important landscape painter to have emerged from his adopted city of Venice during the mid-eighteenth century, and his Arcadian views became popular throughout Europe and especially in England where he resided for two extended periods. His patronage extended to the nobility, and he often collaborated with other artists such as Antonio Visentini and Bernardo Bellotto.

---

30/12/1777

Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (born 1727)

Maximilian III Joseph, also known by his epithet "the much beloved" was a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777. He was the last of the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach and because of his death, the War of Bavarian Succession broke out.

---

30/12/1769

Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Irish-Austrian soldier and courtier (born 1685)

Feldmarschall Nicholas Taaffe, Graf von Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe and 6th Baron of Ballymote, was an Irish-born courtier and soldier who served the Habsburgs in Lorraine and Austria.

---

30/12/1662

Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria (born 1628)

Ferdinand Charles was the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1632 to 1662. He was the firstborn son of Archduke Leopold V of Further Austria and Claudia de' Medici. Until 1646, his mother Claudia served as regent and de facto ruler. Ferdinand Charles was a patron of the arts with Italian opera performed at his court. Despite this, he was a poor ruler and lived an extravagant lifestyle, drained the treasury, and held illegal executions.

---

30/12/1644

Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist, physiologist, and physician (born 1577)

Jan Baptist van Helmont was a chemist, physiologist, and physician from Brussels. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and the rise of iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to be "the founder of pneumatic chemistry". Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his 5-year willow tree experiment, his introduction of the word "gas" into the vocabulary of science, and his ideas on spontaneous generation.

---

30/12/1643

Giovanni Baglione, Italian painter and historian of art (born 1566)

Giovanni Baglione was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. Although a prolific painter, Baglione is best remembered for his encyclopedic collection of biographies of the other artists working in Rome during his lifetime, and particularly his acrimonious relationship with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio through his art and writings.

---

30/12/1640

John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (born 1597)

John Francis Regis, SJ, commonly known Saint Regis, was a French Jesuit priest who was canonized in 1737. A tireless preacher and social reformer, Regis is best known for his work with at-risk women and orphans.

---

30/12/1621

Job of Manyava, Ukrainian monk and saint (born 1550)

Job of Maniava, born Ivan Knyahynytskyi and named as a monk Ezekiel, was a Ukrainian Orthodox saint and an Orthodox clerical activist. He was a founder of Manyava Skete, a famous cell monastery in Ukraine.

---

30/12/1606

Heinrich Bünting, German priest and cartographer (born 1545)

Heinrich Bünting was a German Protestant pastor and theologian. He is best known for his book of woodcut maps titled Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae first published in 1581.

---

30/12/1591

Pope Innocent IX (born 1519)

Pope Innocent IX, born Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 October to 30 December 1591.

---

30/12/1573

Giovanni Battista Giraldi, Italian author and poet (born 1504)

Giovanni Battista Giraldi was an Italian novelist and poet. He appended the nickname Cinthio to his name and is commonly referred to by that name.

---

30/12/1572

Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (born 1512)

Galeazzo Alessi was an Italian architect from Perugia, known throughout Europe for his distinctive style based on his enthusiasm for ancient architecture. He studied drawing for civil and military architecture under the direction of Giovanni Battista Caporali.

---

30/12/1525

Jakob Fugger, German banker and businessman (born 1459)

Jakob Fugger of the Lily, also known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II, was a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg. He was born and later also elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg. Within a few decades, he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. He began his education at the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At the same time, he was a cleric and held several prebends. American journalist Greg Steinmetz has estimated his overall wealth to be around 2% of the GDP of Europe at that time, the equivalent of around $400 billion adjusted to 2015.

---

30/12/1460

Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Irish politician, Lord Chancellor of Ireland (born 1443)

Edmund, Earl of Rutland, was the fourth child and second surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He was a younger brother of Edward, Earl of March, the future King Edward IV who came to the throne in 1461, the year after Edmund's death. He was born in Rouen, then the capital of English-occupied France and his father held the office of Lieutenant of France. He was killed at the age of 17 either during or shortly after the Battle of Wakefield, during the Wars of the Roses.

---

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (born 1411)

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Plantagenet by virtue of being a direct male-line descendant of Edmund of Langley, King Edward III's fourth surviving son. However, it was through his mother, Anne Mortimer, a descendant of Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp, that Richard inherited his strongest claim to the throne, as the opposing House of Lancaster was descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of Edward III. He also inherited vast estates and served in various offices of state in Ireland, France and England, a country he ultimately governed as Lord Protector due to the mental instability of King Henry VI.

---

30/12/1436

Louis III, Elector Palatine (born 1378)

Louis III, was an Elector Palatine of the Rhine from the house of Wittelsbach in 1410–1436.

---

30/12/1435

Bonne of Berry, Regent of Savoy (born 1362)

Bonne of Berry was a French countess. She was Countess of Savoy by marriage to Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy. When she was widowed, she unsuccessfully claimed the regency during her son's minority against her mother-in-law in 1391–93. As niece of King Charles V of France, she played a key role in French diplomatic maneuvers intended to consolidate the alliances of the kingdom of France.

---

30/12/1331

Bernard Gui, inquisitor (born 1261 or 1262)

Bernard Gui, also known as Bernardo Gui or Bernardus Guidonis, was a Limousin Dominican friar, Bishop of Lodève, and a papal inquisitor during the later stages of the Medieval Inquisition.

---

30/12/1115

Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine

Theodoric II, called the Valiant, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1070 to his death. He was the son and successor of Gerhard and Hedwige of Namur. He is sometimes numbered Theodoric I if the Dukes of the House of Ardennes, who ruled in Upper Lorraine from 959 to 1033, are ignored in favour of the dukes of Lower Lorraine as predecessors of the later Dukes of Lorraine.

---

30/12/0925

Wang Shenzhi, founder of Min (born 862)

Wang Shenzhi, courtesy name Xintong (信通) or Xiangqing (詳卿), posthumous name Prince Zhongyi of Min (閩忠懿王) and also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Min (閩太祖), was the founding monarch of Min during China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, reigning as prince but posthumously promoted to the rank of emperor. He was from Gushi in modern-day Henan.

---

30/12/0903

Tian Jun, Chinese warlord (born 858)

Tian Jun, courtesy name Dechen (德臣), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord during the late medieval Tang dynasty, who ruled Ningguo Circuit at its military governor (jiedushi) from 892 to his death in 903. He was a childhood friend of the major warlord Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit, served under Yang during various campaigns, and continued to be Yang's vassal after he became a military governor. However, he eventually became angry at Yang's refusal to support him in his own campaigns of expansion. In 903, he rebelled against Yang in conjunction with An Renyi (安仁義) the military prefect of Run Prefecture and, for some time, posed a major threat to Yang's continued rule of Huainan, but was soon defeated by Yang's officer Tai Meng (臺濛) and killed in battle.

---

30/12/0717

Egwin of Evesham, bishop of Worcester

Egwin of Evesham was a Benedictine monk and, later, the third Bishop of Worcester in England. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.

---

30/12/0274

Pope Felix I

Pope Felix I was the bishop of Rome from 5 January 269 to his death on 30 December 274. Born in Rome, he succeeded Pope Dionysius and is noted for his theological contributions, particularly a significant dogmatic letter addressing the unity of Christ’s person. During his papacy, Felix I confronted the heresy of Paul of Samosata, who denied the divinity of Christ. The intervention of Emperor Aurelian, prompted by Felix, led to Paul’s deposition from the bishopric of Antioch, reinforcing orthodox Christological doctrine.

---