Died on Sunday, 7th December – Famous Deaths
On 7th December, 121 remarkable people passed away — from -43 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
Doudou Adoula, the Congolese atalaku and composer who brought traditional rhythms to contemporary audiences, died on this date in 2024 after a career spanning nearly six decades. His work represents a significant chapter in Central African music history, preserving and innovating musical traditions that might otherwise have faded from public consciousness. Similarly, Benjamin Zephaniah, the British writer and dub poet, left an enduring mark on literature when he died two years earlier in 2023. Zephaniah’s fusion of spoken word with reggae rhythms challenged conventional literary boundaries and brought poetry to audiences far beyond academic circles. These figures, though working in different continents and genres, shared a commitment to artistic authenticity and cultural expression that transcended commercial pressures.
On Sunday, 7th December 2025, the weather shows partly cloudy conditions with a temperature of 8 degrees Celsius. The moon is in the waning crescent phase, and those born under the sign of Sagittarius continue their month of influence during this period. Such atmospheric conditions characterise early December in the northern hemisphere, where shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures dominate the seasonal cycle.
The deaths recorded throughout history on this date span from ancient Rome to the modern era, reflecting humanity’s diverse contributions to art, science, politics and exploration. From Cicero in 43 BC to contemporary artists, this date marks the passing of countless individuals who shaped their respective fields. DayAtlas provides comprehensive information on weather patterns, historical events, notable births and deaths for any selected date and location, making it a useful resource for those researching specific chronological periods or understanding the context of particular moments in time.
See who passed away today 12th April.
07/12/2024
Doudou Adoula, Congolese atalaku and composer (born 1965)
Antoine Pierre-Emmanuel Adoula Monga, professionally known as Doudou Adoula, was a Congolese singer-songwriter, atalaku and composer, best known for his longstanding role in Zaïko Langa Langa.
07/12/2023
Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and dub poet (born1958)
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to literature, education, and the arts. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. In his work, Zephaniah drew on his lived experiences of incarceration, racism and his Jamaican heritage.
Refaat Alareer, Palestinian professor and writer (born1979)
Refaat Alareer was a Palestinian writer, poet, professor, and activist from the Gaza Strip.
Emiko Miyamoto, Japanese volleyball player (born 1937)
Emiko Miyamoto was a Japanese volleyball player. She was a member of the Japanese winning teams, Oriental Witches, at the 1962 World Championships and 1964 Summer Olympics. Miyamoto died from sepsis in Takahagi, on December 7, 2023, at the age of 86.
07/12/2020
Dick Allen, American baseball player and tenor (born 1942)
Richard Anthony Allen, nicknamed "Crash" and "the Wampum Walloper", was an American professional baseball player. During his 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played as a first baseman and third baseman, most notably for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, and was one of baseball's top sluggers of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Chuck Yeager, American aviator (born 1923)
Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.
07/12/2019
Remilia, American professional gamer (born 1995)
Maria Creveling, better known as Remilia, was an American professional League of Legends player. She was the first woman and first transgender person to compete in the North American League of Legends Championship Series, debuting in the 2016 spring split as the support for Renegades. However, she took a sudden hiatus from professional play a few weeks into her debut season due to onstage pressure and online harassment. During her career she was particularly known for her mastery of the character Thresh, which earned her the nicknames "Thresh Queen" and "MadWife".
Ron Saunders, English football player and manager (born 1932)
Ronald Saunders was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving into management. He managed seven clubs in 20 years, and he was the first manager to have taken charge of Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, the three rival clubs based in and around the city of Birmingham.
07/12/2017
Steve Reevis, Native American actor (born 1962)
Steve Reevis was a Native American (Blackfeet) actor who had roles in the films Fargo, Last of the Dogmen, and Dances with Wolves.
07/12/2016
Junaid Jamshed, Pakistani recording artist, television personality, fashion designer, occasional actor, singer-songwriter and preacher. (born 1964)
Junaid Jamshed Khan was a Pakistani Islamic preacher, singer-songwriter and television personality. Jamshed first gained nationwide and international recognition as the vocalist of Vital Signs. Their 1987 album, Vital Signs 1 included the hit singles "Dil Dil Pakistan", and "Tum Mil Gaye". The commercial success of the album helped develop Pakistan's rock music industry.
Greg Lake, English musician (born 1947)
Gregory Stuart Lake was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP).
07/12/2015
Gerhard Lenski, American sociologist and academic (born 1924)
Gerhard Emmanuel "Gerry" Lenski, Jr. was an American sociologist known for contributions to the sociology of religion, social inequality, and introducing the ecological-evolutionary theory. He spent much of his career as a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as chair of the Department of Sociology, 1969–72, and as chair of the Division of Social Sciences, 1976–78.
Hyron Spinrad, American astronomer and academic (born 1934)
Hyron Spinrad was an American astronomer. His research has ranged from the study of planet atmospheres to the evolution of galaxies. From 2010 until his death in late 2015 he was an emeritus professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Peter Westbury, English race car driver (born 1938)
Peter Westbury was a British racing driver from England. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring no championship points. In 1969, he raced a Formula 2 Brabham-Cosworth, driving in his first Grand Prix in the 1969 German Grand Prix. He finished ninth on the road, fifth in the F2 class. The following year, he failed to qualify for the 1970 United States Grand Prix driving a works BRM, after an engine failure.
Shirley Stelfox, English actress (born 1941)
Shirley Rosemary Stelfox was a British actress, known for her portrayal of the character Edna Birch, a moralising busybody in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, and as Rose, the vampy sister of the snobby and overbearing Hyacinth Bucket in the first series of the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances.
07/12/2014
Mark Lewis, American author and educator (born 1954)
Mark Lewis was an American storyteller, actor, and teacher.
07/12/2013
Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1928)
Édouard Molinaro was a French film director and screenwriter.
Chick Willis, American singer and guitarist (born 1934)
Robert Lee "Chick" Willis was an American blues singer and guitarist, who performed and recorded from the 1950s to the 2000s.
07/12/2012
Roelof Kruisinga, Dutch physician and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence (born 1922)
Roelof Johannes Hendrik Kruisinga was a Dutch politician of the defunct Christian Historical Union (CHU) party and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and physician.
Ralph Parr, American colonel and pilot (born 1924)
Colonel Ralph Sherman Parr, Jr. was an American double-flying ace of the Korean War. He was credited with a total of ten downed enemy aircraft. He also flew in World War II and the Vietnam War, and is the only person to have been awarded both the United States Army Distinguished Service Cross and the corresponding decoration used by the United States Air Force once it became an independent branch of service, the Air Force Cross.
Marty Reisman, American table tennis player and author (born 1930)
Martin Reisman was an American table tennis player and author. He won the U.S. Men's Singles Championship in 1958 and 1960 and the U.S. Hardbat Championship in 1997. He advocated the traditional hardbat style of table tennis.
Saul Steinberg, American businessman and financier (born 1939)
Saul Phillip Steinberg was an American businessman and financier. He became a millionaire before his 30th birthday and a billionaire before his 40th birthday. He started a computer leasing company (Leasco), which he used in an audacious and successful takeover of the much larger Reliance Insurance Company in 1968. He was best known for his unsuccessful attempts to take over Chemical Bank in 1969 and Walt Disney Productions in 1984.
07/12/2011
Harry Morgan, American actor (born 1915)
Harry Morgan was an American actor whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both December Bride (1954–1959) and Pete and Gladys (1960–1962); Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967–1970); Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey (1972–1974); and his starring role as Colonel Sherman T. Potter in M*A*S*H (1975–1983) and AfterMASH (1983–1985). Morgan also appeared as a supporting player in more than 100 films.
07/12/2010
Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and author (born 1949)
Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards was an American attorney, author, and health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
Kari Tapio, Finnish singer (born 1945)
Kari Tapani Jalkanen, better known by his stage name Kari Tapio, was a Finnish schlager and country & western singer. During his career, he was the most popular singer in Finland for decades; having sold estimately over a million certified records, he is the best-selling soloist in the country. Kari Tapio was born in Suonenjoki, Finland. In the 1960s he performed in his home town Pieksämäki with the local bands ER-Quartet and Jami & The Noisemakers. In 1966 he took singing lessons from Ture Ara.
07/12/2008
Herbert Hutner, American banker and lawyer (born 1908)
Herbert Loeb Hutner was an American private investment banker, attorney and philanthropist.
07/12/2006
Jeane Kirkpatrick, American academic and diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (born 1926)
Jeane Duane Kirkpatrick was an American diplomat and political scientist who played a major role in the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. An ardent anti-Communist, she was a longtime Democrat who became a neoconservative and switched to the Republican Party in 1985. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 presidential campaign, she became the first woman to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
07/12/2005
Bud Carson, American football player and coach (born 1931)
Leon H. "Bud" Carson was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1967 to 1971, compiling a record of 27–27. Carson then coached in the National Football League (NFL), mostly as a defensive coordinator. He was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Pittsburgh Steelers and one losing team with the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s. Carson served as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1989 until he was fired midway through the 1990 season. He is credited with developing the Steel Curtain. He created the Cover 2 defense, and coached two of the NFL's all time great defenses, the 1976 Steelers and 1991 Philadelphia Eagles.
07/12/2004
Frederick Fennell, American conductor and educator (born 1914)
Frederick Fennell was an American conductor and one of the primary figures who promoted the Eastman Wind Ensemble as a performing group. He was also influential as a band pedagogue, and greatly affected the field of music education in the US and abroad. In Fennell's New York Times obituary, colleague Jerry F. Junkin was quoted as saying "He was arguably the most famous band conductor since John Philip Sousa."
Jerry Scoggins, American singer and guitarist (born 1913)
Jerry Scoggins was an American country/western singer, guitarist, and band leader. He performed on radio, in movies, and on television from the 1930s thru the 1980s. He was noted for his work with Gene Autry and Bing Crosby and especially for singing "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme song to the 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
Jay Van Andel, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Amway (born 1924)
Jay Van Andel was an American billionaire businessman, best known as co-founder of the Amway Corporation, along with Richard DeVos.
07/12/2003
Carl F. H. Henry American journalist and theologian (born 1913)
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who provided intellectual and institutional leadership to the neo-evangelical movement in the mid-to-late 20th century. He was ordained in 1942 after graduating from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and went on to teach and lecture at various schools and publish and edit many works surrounding the neo-evangelical movement. His early book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947), was influential in calling evangelicals to differentiate themselves from separatist fundamentalism and claim a role in influencing the wider American culture. He was involved in the creation of numerous major evangelical organizations that contributed to his influence in Neo-evangelicalism and lasting legacy, including the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Theological Seminary, Evangelical Theological Society, Christianity Today magazine, and the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies. The Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity International University seek to carry on his legacy. His ideas about Neo-evangelism are still debated to this day and his legacy continues to inspire change in American social and political culture.
Azie Taylor Morton, American educator and politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (born 1933)
Azie Taylor Morton was the Treasurer of the United States during the Carter administration from September 12, 1977, to January 20, 1981. She remains the only African American to hold that office. Her signature was printed on U.S. currency during her tenure.
07/12/1998
John Addison, English-American composer and conductor (born 1920)
John Mervyn Addison was a British composer best known for his film scores.
Martin Rodbell, American biochemist and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1925)
Martin Rodbell was an American biochemist and molecular endocrinologist who is best known for his discovery of G-proteins. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alfred G. Gilman for "their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells."
George Wilson, American comics artist (born 1921)
George Davis Wilson Jr. was an American painter best known for his work in the comics industry as a cover artist for Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from the 1950s to the early 1980s.
07/12/1997
Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1942)
William John Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stamina. He played for Leeds United from 1959 to 1976, serving as captain from 1965, in the most successful period in the club's history.
07/12/1995
Kathleen Harrison, English actress (born 1892)
Kathleen Harrison was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-class family's misadventures, The Huggetts. She later played the charwoman Mrs. Dilber opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film Scrooge and a Cockney charwoman who inherits a fortune in the television series Mrs Thursday (1966–67).
07/12/1993
Abidin Dino, Turkish-French painter and illustrator (born 1913)
Abidin Dino was a Turkish artist and a well-known painter.
Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian physician and politician, 1st President of Ivory Coast (born 1905)
Félix Houphouët-Boigny, affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was a politician and physician who served as the first president of Ivory Coast, from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he worked as a medical aide, union leader, and planter before being elected to the French Parliament in 1945. He served in several ministerial positions within the Government of France before leading Ivory Coast following independence in 1960. Throughout his life, he played a significant role in politics and the decolonisation of Africa.
07/12/1992
Richard J. Hughes, American politician, 45th Governor of New Jersey, and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court (born 1909)
Richard Joseph Hughes was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. A Democrat, he served as the 45th governor of New Jersey from 1962 to 1970, and as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979. Hughes is the only person to have served New Jersey as both governor and chief justice. Hughes was also the first Roman Catholic governor in New Jersey's history.
07/12/1990
Joan Bennett, American actress (born 1910)
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film, and television actress, one of three acting sisters from a show-business family. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the era of silent films, well into the sound era. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's films—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming at the 20th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968.
Jean Paul Lemieux, Canadian painter and educator (born 1904)
Jean Paul Lemieux, was one of the foremost twentieth century painters in Canada. He worked in several different styles, as represented by his five artistic periods. His career is deeply connected to Quebec City, where Lemieux lived, taught, and painted.
07/12/1989
Haystacks Calhoun, American wrestler and actor (born 1934)
William Dee Calhoun was an American professional wrestler, who used the professional name "Haystack" or "Haystacks" Calhoun.
Hans Hartung, French-German painter (born 1904)
Hans Hartung was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the Legion d'honneur.
07/12/1985
J. R. Eyerman, American photographer and journalist (born 1906)
J. R. Wharton Eyerman was an American photographer and photojournalist.
Robert Graves, English poet, novelist, critic (born 1895)
Robert Ranke Graves, whose second name is sometimes given as von Ranke, was an English poet, novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology.
Potter Stewart, American soldier and jurist (born 1915)
Potter Stewart was an American lawyer and judge who was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to criminal justice reform, civil rights, access to the courts, and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.
07/12/1984
Jack Mercer, American voice actor (born 1910)
Winfield Bennett Mercer, known professionally as Jack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudeville and Broadway performers, he also performed on the vaudeville and legitimate stages.
LeeRoy Yarbrough, American race car driver (born 1938)
Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough was an American stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, had 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211. During his entire career from 1960–1972, he competed in 198 races, scoring fourteen wins, 65 finishes in the top-five, 92 finishes in the top-ten, and ten pole positions. Yarbrough also competed in open-wheel racing, making 5 starts in the USAC Championship cars, including 3 Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of 3rd at Trenton Speedway in 1970. His racing number was 98. When asked about his passion, Yarbrough described racing as "what I call my life."
07/12/1980
Darby Crash, American punk rock vocalist and songwriter (born 1958)
Jan Paul Beahm was an American singer who, along with longtime friend Pat Smear, co-founded the punk rock band the Germs and was best known as their lead vocalist. In 1980, he died by suicide by deliberately overdosing on heroin.
07/12/1979
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (born 1900)
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist. Her work on the cosmic makeup of the universe and the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics.
07/12/1978
Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist and paleontologist (born 1886)
Frank Alexander Wetmore was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist. He was the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was also an elected member of both the American Philosophical Society and the United States National Academy of Sciences.
07/12/1977
Paul Gibb, English cricketer and umpire (born 1913)
Paul Antony Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, Yorkshire and Essex, as a right-handed opening or middle order batsman and also kept wicket in many matches.
Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-American engineer (born 1906)
Peter Carl Goldmark was a Hungarian-American engineer who, during his time with Columbia Records, was instrumental in developing the long-playing microgroove 331⁄3 rpm phonograph disc, the standard for incorporating multiple or lengthy recorded works on a single disc for two generations. The LP was introduced by Columbia's Goddard Lieberson in 1948. Lieberson was later president of Columbia Records from 1956–1971 and 1973–1975. According to György Marx, Goldmark was one of The Martians.
Georges Grignard, French race car driver (born 1905)
Auguste Georges Paul Grignard was a racing driver from France. He raced in Formula One from 1947 to 1953, participating in one World Championship Grand Prix on 28 October 1951. He also participated in numerous non-Championship races, including winning the 1950 Paris Grand Prix.
07/12/1976
Paul Bragg, American nutritionist (born 1895)
Paul Chappuis Bragg was an American alternative health food advocate and fitness enthusiast. Bragg's mentor was Bernarr Macfadden. He wrote on subjects such as detoxification, dieting, fasting, longevity, orthopathy and physical culture. Medical experts criticized Bragg as a food faddist and promoter of quackery.
07/12/1975
Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (born 1897)
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day.
Hardie Albright, American actor (born 1903)
Hardie Hunter Albright was an American actor.
07/12/1970
Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, sculptor, and author (born 1883)
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
07/12/1969
Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player and manager (born 1897)
Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul was an American professional baseball player and manager. Though he spent eleven seasons in Major League Baseball, most notably for the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies, he is best known for his career in the Pacific Coast League, where he was a star player and a successful manager. His .349 career batting average is the sixth highest in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Eric Portman, English actor (born 1903)
Eric Harrison Portman was an English stage and screen actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in three films for Powell and Pressburger during the 1940s. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Separate Tables.
07/12/1962
Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian opera singer (born 1895)
Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the longstanding General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera said, "I have given America two great gifts — Caruso and Flagstad."
07/12/1960
Ioannis Demestichas, Greek admiral and politician (born 1882)
Ioannis Demestichas was a Hellenic Navy officer. He is best known for his participation in the Macedonian Struggle under the nom de guerre of Kapetan Nikiforos. He held various senior commands in the Greek Navy, including thrice as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff, and also served briefly in cabinet positions.
07/12/1956
Huntley Gordon, Canadian-American actor (born 1887)
Huntley Ashworth Gordon was a Canadian actor who began his career in the Silent Film era.
Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Turkish author and playwright (born 1889)
Reşat Nuri Güntekin was a Turkish novelist, storywriter, and playwright. His best known novel, Çalıkuşu is about the destiny of a young Turkish female teacher in Anatolia. This work is translated into Persian by Seyyed Borhan Ghandili. His other significant novels include Dudaktan Kalbe, and Yaprak Dökümü. Many of his novels have been adapted to cinema and television. Because he visited Anatolia with his duty as an inspector, he knew Anatolian people closely. In his works he dealt with life and social problems in Anatolia; reflects people in the human-environment relationship.
07/12/1949
Rex Beach, American author, playwright, and water polo player (born 1877)
Rex Ellingwood Beach was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player.
07/12/1947
Tristan Bernard, French author and playwright (born 1866)
Tristan Bernard was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer.
Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
Nicholas Murray Butler was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the late James S. Sherman's replacement as William Howard Taft’s running mate in the 1912 United States presidential election. The New York Times printed his Christmas greeting to the nation for many years during the 1920s and 1930s.
07/12/1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Mervyn Sharp Bennion was a United States Navy captain who served during World War I and was killed while he was in command of battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage, and complete disregard of his own life."
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the last US Naval vessel lost in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Julius Ellsberry was an American killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first Alabamian killed in World War II, and one of the first Americans to die in the Pacific during World War II. He was killed while aboard.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Ensign John Charles England was an officer in the United States Navy. He died on USS Oklahoma after it was torpedoed and sank in the Japanese Empire's attack on Pearl Harbor. The circumstances of his death have been described as heroic, and he is the namesake of two U.S. Navy vessels. He was also awarded a Purple Heart. His remains were identified and returned home after seven decades and an intense inquiry.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Edwin Joseph Hill, was a United States Navy sailor who was stationed on the USS Nevada (BB-36) during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Hollis (DE-794/APD-86) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1956. She was scrapped in 1975.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Herbert Charpiot Jones was an officer in the United States Navy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Isaac Campbell Kidd was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. He was the father of Admiral Isaac C. Kidd Jr. Kidd Sr. was killed on the bridge of USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The highest-ranking casualty at Pearl Harbor, he became the first U.S. Navy flag officer killed in action in World War II as well as the first killed in action against any foreign enemy.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Leopold (DE-319) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Ensign Robert Lawrence Leopold, to date it is the only United States Navy vessel to bear the name.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Menges (DE-320) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Thomas James Reeves, born in Thomaston, Connecticut, December 9, 1895, was a US Navy radioman who became the namesake of the destroyer escort USS Reeves. Reeves was killed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and posthumously received the Medal of Honor.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Father Aloysius H. Schmitt was a Roman Catholic priest at the Archdiocese of Dubuque, who served as a chaplain in the United States Navy at the beginning of World War II.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Robert Raymond Scott was a United States Navy sailor who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Petar Herceg 'Tonić' was a United States Navy sailor of Herzegovinian Croat descent who received the United States military's highest award, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Uhlmann (DD-687) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1950 to 1972. She was scrapped in 1974.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Franklin Van Valkenburgh was an American naval officer who served as the last captain of the USS Arizona (BB-39). He was killed when the Arizona exploded and sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Wyman (DE-38) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy during World War II. She was promptly sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft. She performed dangerous work, including participating in the sinking of two Japanese submarines, and was awarded six battle stars.
07/12/1918
Frank Wilson, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Western Australia (born 1859)
Frank Wilson, was the ninth Premier of Western Australia, serving on two separate occasions – from 1910 to 1911 and then again from 1916 to 1917.
07/12/1917
Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist and composer (born 1826)
Ludwig Minkus, also known as Léon Fyodorovich Minkus, was an Austrian composer of ballet music, a violinist and teacher of music.
07/12/1913
Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian cardinal (born 1828)
Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano was a cardinal of the Catholic Church in the late nineteenth century. He was Bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1896 until his death.
07/12/1906
Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1833)
Élie Ducommun was a Swiss peace activist. He was a Nobel laureate, awarded the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Charles Albert Gobat.
07/12/1902
Thomas Nast, German-American cartoonist (born 1840)
Thomas Nast was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
07/12/1899
Juan Luna, Filipino painter and sculptor (born 1857)
Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.
07/12/1894
Ferdinand de Lesseps, French businessman and diplomat, co-developed the Suez Canal (born 1805)
Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps was a French Orientalist diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869, joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times between Europe and East Asia.
07/12/1891
Arthur Blyth, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of South Australia (born 1823)
Sir Arthur Blyth was Premier of South Australia three times; 1864–65, 1871–72 and 1873–75.
07/12/1879
Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic scholar and politician, 1st Speaker of the Parliament of Iceland (born 1811)
Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.
07/12/1874
Constantin von Tischendorf, German theologian, scholar, and academic (born 1815)
Lobegott Friedrich Constantin (von) Tischendorf was a German biblical scholar. In 1844, he discovered the world's oldest and most complete Bible dated to around the mid-4th century and called Codex Sinaiticus after Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai.
07/12/1842
Thomas Hamilton, Scottish philosopher and author (born 1789)
Captain Thomas Hamilton was a British Army officer and writer.
07/12/1837
Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (born 1814)
Robert Nicoll was a Scottish poet and lyricist whose life, although short, left a lasting impact.
07/12/1817
William Bligh, English admiral and politician, 4th Governor of New South Wales (born 1745)
Vice-Admiral of the Blue William Bligh was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the mutiny on HMS Bounty, which occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command. The reasons behind the mutiny continue to be debated. After being set adrift in Bounty's launch by the mutineers, Bligh and those loyal to him stopped for supplies on Tofua, losing one man to native attacks. Bligh and his men reached Timor alive, after a journey of 3,618 nautical miles.
07/12/1815
Michel Ney, German-French general (born 1769)
Michel Ney, 1st Prince de la Moskowa, 1st Duke of Elchingen, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
07/12/1803
Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, Turkish admiral and politician (born 1757)
Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, also known as Tayazade Damat Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman and admiral who was Kapudan Pasha from 11 March 1792 to 7 December 1803. He was a damat ("bridegroom") to the Ottoman dynasty after he married an Ottoman princess, Esma Sultan.
07/12/1793
Joseph Bara, French soldier and drummer (born 1779)
François Joseph Bara was a French soldier best known for his death during the War in the Vendée. At the age of twelve, he joined the French Revolutionary Army as a drummer boy after the outbreak of French Revolutionary Wars, and was killed by Chouan rebels while defending a pair of horses he was leading. Bara was transformed after his death into a martyr for the French Revolution and has been depicted in several works of art.
07/12/1775
Charles Saunders, English admiral and politician (born 1715)
Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, KB was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He commanded the fourth-rate HMS Gloucester and at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in October 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession. After serving as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, English Channel, in charge of the Western Squadron between October 1758 and May 1759.
07/12/1772
Martín Sarmiento, Spanish monk, scholar, and author (born 1695)
Martín Sarmiento or Martiño Sarmiento, also Father Sarmiento was a Spanish scholar, writer and Benedictine monk, illustrious representative of the Enlightenment.
07/12/1725
Florent Carton Dancourt, French actor and playwright (born 1661)
Florent Carton aka Dancourt, French dramatist and actor, was born at Fontainebleau. He belonged to a family of rank, and his parents entrusted his education to Pere de la Rue, a Jesuit, who made earnest efforts to induce him to join the order. But he had no religious vocation and proceeded to study law.
07/12/1723
Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk and Karlova Koruna Chateau (born 1677)
Jan Blažej Santini Aichel was a Czech architect of Italian descent. His major works are representative of the unique Baroque Gothic style.
07/12/1683
Algernon Sidney, English philosopher and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (born 1623)
Algernon Sidney or Sydney was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of England, he opposed the king's execution. Sidney was later charged with plotting against Charles II, in part based on his most famous work, Discourses Concerning Government, which was used by the prosecution as a witness at his trial. He was executed for treason. After his death, Sidney was revered as a "Whig patriot—hero and martyr".
07/12/1680
Peter Lely, Dutch-English painter (born 1618)
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. He became a naturalised English subject and was knighted in 1680 by King Charles II.
07/12/1672
Richard Bellingham, English-American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (born 1592)
Richard Bellingham was a colonial magistrate, lawyer, and several-time governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the last surviving signatory of the colonial charter at his death. A wealthy lawyer in Lincolnshire prior to his departure for the New World in 1634, he was a liberal political opponent of the moderate John Winthrop, arguing for expansive views on suffrage and lawmaking, but also religiously somewhat conservative, opposing the efforts of Quakers and Baptists to settle in the colony. He was one of the architects of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, a document embodying many sentiments also found in the United States Bill of Rights.
07/12/1649
Charles Garnier, French missionary and saint (born 1606)
Charles Garnier, was a Jesuit missionary working in New France. He was killed by Iroquois in a Petun village on December 7, 1649.
07/12/1562
Adrian Willaert, Dutch-Italian composer and educator (born 1490)
Adrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there.
07/12/1498
Alexander Hegius von Heek, German poet (born 1433)
Alexander Hegius von Heek was a German humanist, so called from his birthplace Heek.
07/12/1383
Wenceslaus I, duke of Luxembourg (born 1337)
Wenceslaus I was the first Duke of Luxembourg from 1354. He was the son of John the Blind, King of Bohemia, and Beatrice of Bourbon.
07/12/1312
Michael II of Antioch, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch (r. 1292–1312)
Michael II was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1292 until his death in 1312.
07/12/1295
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, English officer (born 1243)
Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English magnate. He was also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare or "The Red Earl", probably because of his hair colour or fiery temper in battle. He held the Lordship of Glamorgan which was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships as well as over 200 English manors.
07/12/1279
Bolesław V, High Duke of Poland (born 1226)
Bolesław V the Chaste was Duke of Sandomierz in Lesser Poland from 1232 and High Duke of Poland from 1243 until his death, as the last male representative of the Lesser Polish branch of Piasts.
07/12/1254
Innocent IV, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1195)
Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
07/12/0983
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 955)
Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.
07/12/0881
Anspert, archbishop of Milan
Anspert was archbishop of Milan from 868 to 881.
07/12/0283
Eutychian, pope of the Catholic Church
Pope Eutychian, also called Eutychianus, was the bishop of Rome from 4 January 275 to his death on 7 December 283.
01/01/1970
Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (born 106 BC)
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, and writer who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises of the Roman Republic that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. The extensive writings of Cicero include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy, and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.