Died on Friday, 5th December – Famous Deaths

05/12/2025

Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect and designer (b. 1929)

Frank Owen Gehry was a Canadian and American architect and designer known for his postmodern designs and use of unconventional forms and materials. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. His most famous works include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. These buildings are characterized by their sculptural, often undulating exteriors and innovative use of materials such as titanium and stainless steel.

---

Michael Annett, American Former NASCAR Driver (b. 1986)

Michael Wayne Annett was an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports.

---

05/12/2024

Jacques Roubaud, French poet, writer, and mathematician (born 1932)

Jacques Roubaud was a French poet, writer, and mathematician.

---

05/12/2023

Norman Lear, American screenwriter and producer (born 1922)

Norman Milton Lear was an American screenwriter and producer who wrote and produced more than 100 television shows during a career that lasted over 70 years. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including All in the Family (1971–1979), Maude (1972–1978), Sanford and Son (1972–1977), One Day at a Time (1975–1984), The Jeffersons (1975–1985), and Good Times (1974–1979). His works introduced political and social themes to the sitcom format.

---

05/12/2022

Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer (born 1951)

Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. From 1997 to 2000, Alley starred as the lead in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. On film, she played Mollie Jensen in Look Who's Talking (1989) and its two sequels, Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993).

---

05/12/2021

Bob Dole, American politician (born 1923)

Robert Joseph Dole was an American politician, attorney, and U.S. Army officer who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure, including three non-consecutive years as Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Prior to his 27 years in the Senate, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969. Dole was also the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 presidential election and the vice presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election.

---

05/12/2020

Peter Alliss, English professional golfer (born 1931)

Peter Alliss was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, as lead golf analyst for the BBC and an analyst for ABC Sports, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of golf". In 2012 he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category.

---

05/12/2019

Robert Walker, American actor (born 1940)

Robert Hudson Walker Jr. was an American actor who appeared in films including Easy Rider (1969). He was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s.

---

05/12/2017

Michael I of Romania, fifth and last king of Romania (born 1921)

Michael I was the last king of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.

---

August Ames, Canadian American pornographic actress (born 1994)

Mercedes Grabowski, known professionally as August Ames, was a Canadian pornographic actress. She appeared in more than 100 films, including a non-pornographic film in 2016, and was nominated for several AVN Awards. With a self-disclosed history of sexual abuse and mental illness, Ames died by suicide in 2017 at the age of 23 after a social media backlash following a tweet she posted, due to some perceiving the tweet as homophobic.

---

05/12/2016

Tyruss Himes ("Big Syke"), American rapper (born 1968)

Tyruss Gerald Himes, better known by his stage names Big Syke and Mussolini, was an American rapper best known for his work with the American hip-hop groups Thug Life and Outlawz. His stage name "Big Syke" is a revision of his childhood nickname "Little Psycho". He died at his home in Hawthorne, California, on December 5, 2016.

---

05/12/2015

Vic Eliason, American clergyman and radio host, founded VCY America (born 1936)

Victor Carl "Vic" Eliason was an American evangelical clergyman who founded the VCY America Radio Network, a conservative Christian broadcasting ministry, based in Milwaukee, along with Milwaukee television station WVCY-TV.

---

Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1929)

Tibor "Ted" Rubin was a Hungarian-American Army Corporal. A Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the U.S. in 1948, he fought in the Korean War and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war, as a combatant and a prisoner of war (POW).

---

Chuck Williams, American businessman and author, founded Williams Sonoma (born 1915)

Charles Edward Williams was the American founder of Williams Sonoma and author and editor of more than 100 books on the subject of cooking. Williams is credited for playing a major role in introducing French cookware into American kitchens through his retail and mail-order business. He became a centenarian in October 2015 and died two months later on December 5, 2015, in San Francisco, California.

---

05/12/2014

Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (born 1931)

Ernest Cary Brace was the longest-held civilian prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War. A decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot and mustang, Brace was court-martialed in 1961 for attempting to fake his own death. He flew as a civilian contract pilot before being captured in Laos in 1965 while flying supplies for USAID. He spent almost eight years as a POW and upon his release received a Presidential pardon in light of his good conduct.

---

Fabiola, Queen of Belgium (born 1928)

Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Baudouin from their marriage in 1960 until his death in 1993. The couple had no children, as all five of Fabiola's pregnancies resulted in miscarriage, so the Crown passed to her husband's younger brother, King Albert II.

---

Talât Sait Halman, Turkish poet, translator, and historian (born 1931)

Talât Sait Halman, GBE was a Turkish poet, translator and cultural historian. He was the first Minister of Culture of Turkey. From 1998 onward, he taught at Bilkent University as the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters.

---

Jackie Healy-Rae, Irish hurdler and politician (born 1931)

John Patrick Healy, known as Jackie Healy-Rae, was an Irish independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry South constituency from 1997 to 2011.

---

Silvio Zavala, Mexican historian and author (born 1909)

Silvio Arturo Zavala Vallado was a Mexican historian who was considered to be a pioneer in law history studies and Mexico’s institutions.

---

05/12/2013

Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (born 1917)

Fred Bassetti was a Pacific Northwest architect and teacher. His architectural legacy includes some of the Seattle area's more recognizable buildings and spaces. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) described his role as a regional architect and activist as having made significant contributions to "the shape of Seattle and the Northwest, and on the profession of architecture."

---

William B. Edmondson, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Africa (born 1927)

William Brockway Edmondson was an American diplomat in the United States Foreign Service, who served as the United States Ambassador to South Africa from 1978-1981.

---

Nelson Mandela, South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His administration focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation, a national peace accord and eventual multiracial democracy. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.

---

05/12/2012

Dave Brubeck, American pianist and composer (born 1920)

David Warren Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities, and combining different styles and genres, such as classical, jazz, and blues.

---

Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (born 1909)

Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch, Lady Murdoch, also known as Elisabeth, Lady Murdoch, was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the wife of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.

---

Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and Cathedral of Brasília (born 1907)

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

---

Ignatius IV of Antioch, Syrian patriarch (born 1920)

Patriarch Ignatius IV was the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All The East from 1979 to 2012.

---

05/12/2011

Peter Gethin, English racing driver (born 1940)

Peter Kenneth Gethin was a British racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One from 1970 to 1974. Gethin won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix with BRM.

---

Gennady Logofet, Russian footballer and manager (born 1942)

Gennady Olegovich Logofet was a Soviet and Russian football player and football coach.

---

05/12/2010

Alan Armer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Alan A. Armer was an American television producer, best known for his Emmy Award winning tenure as the producer of The Fugitive. He also produced The Invaders, The Untouchables and the first year of Cannon.

---

Don Meredith, American football player, sportscaster, and actor (born 1938)

Joseph Donald Meredith, nicknamed "Dandy Don", was an American football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played as a quarterback for nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 1960 NFL draft, which took place in November 1959. This draft occurred before the Dallas Cowboys were officially established in January 1960. The Cowboys later acquired Meredith's rights through a trade, allowing them to sign him. He was the second starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, following Eddie LeBaron, and is the first major franchise quarterback in Cowboys history. Under the mentorship of head coach Tom Landry, Meredith led the Cowboys to three straight postseason appearances from the 1966 to 1968 seasons, including back-to-back NFL Championship Game appearances in the 1966 and 1967 seasons. He was selected a second-team All-Pro in 1966 and made three straight Pro Bowls from 1966 to 1968.

---

05/12/2009

William Lederer, American soldier and author (born 1912)

William Julius Lederer, Jr. was an American author and naval officer.

---

05/12/2008

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (born 1929)

Patriarch Alexy II was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

---

George Brecht, American chemist and composer (born 1926)

George Brecht, born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil. He was a key member of, and influence on, Fluxus, the international group of avant-garde artists centred on George Maciunas, having been involved with the group from the first performances in Wiesbaden 1962 until Maciunas' death in 1978.

---

Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (born 1924)

Nina Foch was an American actress who later became a drama instructor. Her career spanned 6 decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television credits. She was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Foch established herself as a dramatic actress in the late 1940s, often playing cool, aloof sophisticates.

---

Beverly Garland, American actress and businesswoman (born 1926)

Beverly Lucy Garland was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action and science-fiction movies; however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular television series.

---

Anca Parghel, Romanian singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1957)

Anca Parghel was a Romanian jazz singer, composer, arranger, pianist, choir conductor, and music teacher. As a jazz vocalist, she excelled in scat, vocal percussion, and improvisation. Her voice had a four octave range, this being one of the reasons she was compared to Yma Sumac in the Romanian music press. She had an exceptional ability to interpret songs in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese.

---

05/12/2007

Andrew Imbrie, American composer and academic (born 1921)

Andrew Welsh Imbrie was an American contemporary classical music composer and pianist.

---

George Paraskevaides, Greek-Cypriot businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Joannou & Paraskevaides (born 1916)

George Paraskevaides was a Cypriot philanthropist and businessman who focused on the construction business in Europe and the Middle East. Paraskevaides was one of the co-founders of Joannou & Paraskevaides with fellow Cypriot, Stelios Ioannou.

---

Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer and academic (born 1928)

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, having been called the "father of electronic music", for introducing controlled chance into serial composition, and for musical spatialization.

---

05/12/2006

David Bronstein, Ukrainian-Belarusian chess player and theoretician (born 1924)

David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet and Russian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was one of the world's strongest players from the mid-1940s into the mid-1970s, and was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics. He was also a renowned chess writer; his book Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 is widely considered one of the greatest chess books ever written.

---

05/12/2005

Edward L. Masry, American lawyer and politician (born 1932)

Edward Louis Masry was an American lawyer, a partner in the law firm of Masry & Vititoe, and also a mayor and city councilman for the City of Thousand Oaks, California. With the help of his legal assistant Erin Brockovich, Masry built a case against the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) of California in 1993. Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert Finney as Masry.

---

05/12/2002

Roone Arledge, American sportscaster and producer (born 1931)

Roone Pinckney Arledge Jr. was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. He created many programs still airing today, such as Monday Night Football, ABC World News Tonight, Nightline and 20/20.

---

Ne Win, Burmese general and politician, 4th President of Burma (born 1911)

Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Burma's head of government from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974; and also as head of state from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma period of 1962 to 1988.

---

05/12/2001

Franco Rasetti, Italian-American physicist and academic (born 1901)

Franco Dino Rasetti was an Italian physicist, paleontologist and botanist. Together with Enrico Fermi, he discovered key processes leading to nuclear fission. Rasetti refused to work on the Manhattan Project on moral grounds.

---

05/12/1998

Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (born 1907)

Albert Arnold Gore Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 1953 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. representative from the state's 4th congressional district from 1939 to 1953. He was the father of Al Gore, who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 until 2001, and who held Tennessee's other U.S. Senate seat from 1985 to 1993. A native of Granville, Tennessee, Gore graduated from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College and taught school. From 1932 to 1936 he was superintendent of schools for Smith County. He attended the Nashville Y.M.C.A. Night Law School, now the Nashville School of Law, from which he graduated in 1936.

---

05/12/1997

Eugen Cicero, Romanian-German jazz pianist (born 1940)

Eugen Cicero, nicknamed "Mister Golden Hands", was a Romanian-German jazz pianist who performed in the mixed classical-swing style.

---

05/12/1995

L. B. Cole, American illustrator and publisher (born 1918)

Leonard Brandt Cole, commonly known as L. B. Cole, was a comic book artist, editor, and publisher who worked during the Golden Age of Comic Books, producing work in various genres. Cole was particularly known for his bold covers, featuring what he referred to as "poster colors"—the use of primary colors often over black backgrounds. In addition to his covers, Cole did interior art for comics published by Holyoke Publications, Gilberton, and Ajax/Farrell. He also worked as an editor for Holyoke in the 1940s.

---

Charles Evans, English mountaineer, surgeon, and educator (born 1918)

Sir Robert Charles Evans was a British mountaineer, surgeon, and educator. He was leader of the 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition and deputy leader of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, both of which were successful.

---

Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (born 1920)

Gwen Harwood was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes, and one of Australia's most significant poetry prizes, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize is named for her. Her work is commonly studied in schools and university courses.

---

Clair Cameron Patterson, American scientist (born 1922)

Clair Cameron Patterson was an American geochemist. Born in Mitchellville, Iowa, Patterson graduated from Grinnell College. He later received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and spent his entire professional career at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

---

05/12/1994

Harry Horner, Czech-American director, producer, and production designer (born 1910)

Harry Horner was a Czech-born American art director who made a successful career in Hollywood as an Oscar-winning art director and as a feature film and television director. He was the father of Academy Award-winning film composer James Horner.

---

05/12/1991

Richard Speck, American mass murderer (born 1941)

Richard Benjamin Speck was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago, residence by stabbing, strangling, slashing their throats, or a combination of the three on the night of July 13–14, 1966. Speck also raped one victim before killing her. A ninth potential victim, student nurse Corazon Amurao, survived by hiding beneath a bed.

---

05/12/1990

Alfonso A. Ossorio, Filipino-American painter and sculptor (born 1916)

Alfonso Angel Yangco Ossorio was a Filipino American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he moved to the United States. Ossorio attended Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island, graduating in 1934. From 1934 to 1938, he studied fine art at Harvard University and then continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. He became an American citizen in 1933 and served as a medical illustrator in the United States Army during World War II.

---

05/12/1989

John Pritchard, English conductor and director (born 1921)

Sir John Michael Pritchard, was an English conductor. He was known for his interpretations of Mozart operas and for his support of contemporary music.

---

05/12/1986

Edward Youde, Welsh-Chinese sinologist and diplomat, 26th Governor of Hong Kong (born 1924)

Sir Edward Youde was a British administrator, diplomat, and Sinologist. He served as Governor of Hong Kong from 20 May 1982 until his death on 5 December 1986.

---

05/12/1984

Cecil M. Harden, American politician (born 1894)

Cecil Murray Harden was an American educator who became a Republican politician and an advocate of women's rights. She served five terms in the U.S. Representative representing Indiana's 6th congressional district. Harden was the only Republican woman elected to represent Indiana in the U.S. Congress until 2012.

---

05/12/1983

Robert Aldrich, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1918)

Robert Burgess Aldrich was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick auteur working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones. His most notable credits include Vera Cruz (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956), Attack (1956), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).

---

05/12/1979

Jesse Pearson, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (born 1930)

Jesse Pearson was an American actor, singer, director, and writer.

---

05/12/1977

Katherine Milhous, American author and illustrator (born 1894)

Katherine Milhous (1894–1977) was an American artist, illustrator, and writer. She is known best as the author and illustrator of The Egg Tree, which won the 1951 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration. Born into a Quaker family active in the printing industry in Philadelphia, Milhous is also known for her graphic designs for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Her work has been exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

---

Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Russian marshal and politician, Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (born 1895)

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, he served as the chief of the General Staff and deputy Minister of Defense, and later served as Minister of Defense from 1949 to 1953.

---

05/12/1975

Constance McLaughlin Green, American historian and author (born 1897)

Constance Winsor Green, best known as Constance McLaughlin Green, was an American historian. She who won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for History for Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878 (1962).

---

05/12/1973

Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, invented the radar (born 1892)

Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt was a Scottish radio engineer and pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.

---

05/12/1969

Claude Dornier, German engineer and businessman, founded Dornier Flugzeugwerke (born 1884)

Claude (Claudius) Honoré Désiré Dornier was a Franco-German airplane designer and founder of Dornier GmbH. His notable designs include the 12-engine Dornier Do X flying boat, for decades the world's largest and most powerful airplane. He also made several other successful aircraft.

---

Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip of the United Kingdom (born 1885)

Princess Alice of Battenberg was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, and paternal grandmother of King Charles III. After marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903, she adopted the style of her husband, becoming Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

---

05/12/1968

Fred Clark, American actor (born 1914)

Frederick Leonard Clark was an American movie and television character actor, often playing in authoritative roles.

---

05/12/1965

Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, neuroscientist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)

Joseph Erlanger was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. Together with Herbert Spencer Gasser, he identified several varieties of nerve fiber and established the relationship between action potential velocity and fiber diameter. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for these achievements.

---

05/12/1964

V. Veerasingam, Sri Lankan educator and politician (born 1892)

Visuvalingam Veerasingam MBE was a Ceylon Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

---

05/12/1963

Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer and educator (born 1905)

Karl Amadeus Hartmann was a German composer. A major figure of the musical life of post-war Germany, he has been described as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century.

---

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan (born 1892)

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the fifth prime minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and before that as the prime minister of Bengal from 1946 to 1947. In Pakistan he is regarded as a patron of separate homeland for South Asian Muslims, for which he is revered as one of the leading founding statesmen of Pakistan; and also as the pioneer of the Bengali civil rights movement in Bangladesh.

---

05/12/1961

Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (born 1878)

Emil Edwin "Judge" Fuchs was a German-born American baseball owner and executive.

---

05/12/1955

Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (born 1886)

Glenn Luther Martin was an early American aviation pioneer. He designed and built his own aircraft and was an active pilot, as well as an aviation record-holder. He founded an aircraft company in 1912 which through several mergers amalgamated into what is today known as Lockheed Martin.

---

05/12/1953

William Sterling Parsons, American admiral (born 1901)

William Sterling "Deak" Parsons was an American naval officer who worked as an ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He is best known for being the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. To avoid the possibility of a nuclear explosion if the aircraft crashed and burned on takeoff, he decided to arm the bomb in flight. While the aircraft was en route to Hiroshima, Parsons climbed into the cramped and dark bomb bay, and inserted the powder charge and detonator. He was awarded the Silver Star for his part in the mission.

---

05/12/1951

Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player and manager (born 1887)

Joseph Jefferson Jackson, nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 20th century. His .356 career batting average is one of the highest in major-league history. Jackson is often remembered for his association with the Black Sox Scandal in which eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox participated in a conspiracy to fix the World Series. As a result, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis permanently banned Jackson and the other seven players from professional baseball after the 1920 season. During the World Series in question, Jackson had led both teams in several statistical categories and set a World Series record with 12 base hits, including, during the last game, the only home run in that World Series. Jackson's role in the scandal, banishment from the game, and exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame have been fiercely debated. In 2025, Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Jackson and other deceased players from the MLB's permanently ineligible list, thus lifting the ban and making him once again eligible for the hall of fame.

---

Abanindranath Tagore, Indian painter, author, and academic (born 1871)

Abanindranath Tagore was an Indian painter who was the principal artist and creator of the Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1907. He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art. He founded the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern Indian painting. He was also a noted writer, particularly for children. Popularly known as 'Aban Thakur', his books Rajkahini, Buro Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul were landmarks in Bengali language children's literature and art.

---

05/12/1946

Louis Dewis, Belgian-French painter and educator (born 1872)

Louis Dewis (1872–1946) was the pseudonym of Belgian Post-Impressionist painter Louis DeWachter, who was also an innovative and highly successful businessman. He helped organize and managed the first department store chain.

---

05/12/1942

Jock Delves Broughton, English captain (born 1883)

Sir Henry John Delves Broughton, 11th Baronet, DL, was a British baronet who is chiefly known for standing trial for the murder of the 22nd Earl of Erroll. The event was the basis of the film White Mischief and of the British television drama The Happy Valley, both from 1987.

---

05/12/1941

Amrita Sher-Gil, Hungarian-Pakistani painter (born 1913)

Amrita Sher-Gil was a Hungarian–Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started formal lessons at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her 1932 oil painting Young Girls. Sher-Gil depicted everyday life of the people in her paintings.

---

05/12/1940

Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist and composer (born 1880)

Jan Kubelík was a Czech violinist and composer.

---

05/12/1933

Alexander Atabekian, Armenian physician and anarchist publisher (born 1869)

Alexander Movsesi Atabekian was an Armenian physician, publisher and anarchist communist.

---

05/12/1931

Vachel Lindsay, American poet (born 1879)

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.

---

05/12/1926

Claude Monet, French painter (born 1840)

Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of Impressionism who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise, which was exhibited in 1874 at the First Impressionist Exhibition, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists as an alternative to the Salon.

---

05/12/1925

Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1867)

Władysław Stanisław Reymont was a Polish novelist and the laureate of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known work is the award-winning four-volume novel Chłopi.

---

05/12/1918

Schalk Willem Burger, South African commander, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of the South African Republic (born 1852)

Schalk Willem Burger was a South African military leader, lawyer, politician, and statesman who was acting president of the South African Republic from 1900 to 1902, whilst Paul Kruger was in exile. At the age of 21, Burger worked as a clerk in the office of the field coronet. He married his wife, Alida Claudina de Villiers, during this time.

---

05/12/1891

Pedro II of Brazil (born 1825)

Dom Pedro II, known as "the Magnanimous", was the second and final emperor of the Empire of Brazil. He reigned from 1831 until his deposition in the military coup of 1889, presiding over the longest and most stable reign in Brazilian history.

---

05/12/1887

Eliza R. Snow, American poet and songwriter (born 1804)

Eliza Roxey Snow was one of the many wives of Joseph Smith and then Brigham Young after Smith's death. In the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she was a well-known and significant figure. She wrote poetry, chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine. Snow was the second Relief Society general president of the LDS Church, which she reestablished in the Utah Territory in 1866. She was also the older sister of Lorenzo Snow, the LDS Church's fifth president.

---

05/12/1870

Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (born 1802)

Alexandre Dumas, also known as Alexandre Dumas père, was a French novelist and playwright.

---

05/12/1854

Henry Ross, Canadian-Australian gold miner (born 1829)

Henry Ross was a Canadian-Australian gold miner who died in the Eureka Rebellion at the Ballarat gold fields in the British Colony of Victoria, now the state of Victoria in Australia. Ross is particularly remembered for his part in the creation of the rebel miners' flag, since named the Eureka Flag.

---

05/12/1819

Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg, German poet and lawyer (born 1750)

Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg, was a German lawyer, and translator. He was also a poet of the Sturm und Drang and early Romantic periods.

---

05/12/1791

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer and musician (born 1756)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Classical composer and musician. In his brief life, he completed more than 800 works including outstanding examples of most of the genres of his time: symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera, and choral music.

---

05/12/1784

Phillis Wheatley, Senegal-born slave, later American poet (born 1753)

Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly, was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

---

05/12/1770

James Stirling, Scottish mathematician and surveyor (born 1692)

James Stirling was a Scottish mathematician. He was nicknamed "The Venetian".

---

05/12/1758

Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (born 1688)

Johann Friedrich Fasch was a German violinist and composer. Much of his music is in the Baroque-Classical transitional style known as galant.

---

05/12/1749

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, Canadian commander and explorer (born 1685)

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye was a military officer, fur trader, and explorer. In the 1730s, he and his four sons explored the area west of Lake Superior and established trading posts there. They were part of a process that added Western Canada to the original New France territory that was centred along the Saint Lawrence basin.

---

05/12/1663

Severo Bonini, Italian organist and composer (born 1582)

Severo Bonini was an Italian composer, organist, and writer on music.

---

05/12/1654

Jean François Sarrazin, French author and poet (born 1611)

Jean François Sarasin was a French writer.

---

05/12/1624

Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist and physician (born 1560)

Gaspard Bauhin or Caspar Bauhin, was a Swiss botanist whose Pinax theatri botanici (1623) described thousands of plants and classified them in a manner that draws comparisons to the later binomial nomenclature of Linnaeus. He was a disciple of the famous Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale and he also worked on human anatomical nomenclature.

---

05/12/1570

Johan Friis, Danish politician (born 1494)

Johan Friis was a Danish statesman. He served as Chancellor under King Christian III of Denmark.

---

05/12/1560

Francis II of France (born 1544)

Francis II was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King of Scotland as the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.

---

05/12/1355

John III, Duke of Brabant (born 1300)

John III was Duke of Brabant, Lothier (1312–1355) and Limburg, the last Brabant male to rule them.

---

05/12/1244

Joan, Countess of Flanders and Hainault (born 1199 or 1200)

Joan, often called Joan of Constantinople, ruled as Countess of Flanders and Hainaut from 1205 until her death. She was the elder daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, and Marie of Champagne.

---

05/12/1212

Dirk van Are, bishop and lord of Utrecht

Dirk van Are, also Dietrich II of Are, was bishop and lord of Utrecht in the thirteenth century. He appears to be one of those martial churchmen who were better qualified for the camp than the choir. He was Bishop of Utrecht from 1198 until 1212.

---

05/12/1082

Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona (born 1053)

Ramon Berenguer II the Towhead or Cap de estopes was Count of Barcelona from 1076 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, and Almodis de La Marche. The Chronicle of San Juan de la Pena called him, "… exceeding brave and bold, kind, pleasant, pious, joyful, generous, and of an attractive appearance". Because of the extremely thick hair he had on top of his head, he was known as Cap d'Estop."

---

05/12/0902

Ealhswith, queen consort and wife of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex

Ealhswith or Ealswitha was the wife of King Alfred the Great. She was the mother of King Edward the Elder who succeeded King Alfred to the Anglo-Saxon throne. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family and her lineage was one of the primary reasons for Alfred taking Ealhswith as his wife. She founded the nunnery of Nunnaminster.

---

05/12/0334

Li Ban, emperor of Cheng Han (born 288)

Li Ban (李班) (288–334), courtesy name Shiwen (世文), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Ai of Cheng (Han) (成(漢)哀帝), was briefly an emperor of the Di-led Cheng-Han dynasty of China.

---

01/01/1970

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura, Roman politician (born 114 BC)

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura was one of the chief figures in the Catilinarian conspiracy. He was also the step-father of the future triumvir Mark Antony.

---