Died on Tuesday, 17th February – Famous Deaths

17/02/2026

Jesse Jackson, American civil rights leader, activist, and politician (born 1941)

Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, he became one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and an ardent advocate and early supporter of LGBTQ rights in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow United States senator for the District of Columbia.

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Shinya Yamada, Japanese musician (born 1970)

Shinya Yamada was a Japanese musician, media personality and businessman. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Luna Sea from 1989 to their disbandment in 2000, and again from their 2010 reunion until his death from cancer in 2026.

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17/02/2025

Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer, songwriter and actress (born 1947)

Francisca Viveros Barradas, known professionally as Paquita la del Barrio, was a Mexican singer. She was a Grammy-nominated performer of rancheras, boleros and other traditional and contemporary Mexican musical genres.

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Frits Bolkestein, Dutch politician (born 1933)

Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein was a Dutch politician and energy executive who served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 1990 to 1998 and European Commissioner for Internal Market from 1999 until 2004 under Romano Prodi.

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Rick Buckler, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (born 1955)

Paul Richard Buckler was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band the Jam.

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James Harrison, Australian blood plasma donor (born 1936)

James Christopher Harrison was an Australian blood donor known as the "Man with the Golden Arm" for his prolific history of donations, 1,173 times between the ages 18 to 81.

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17/02/2024

Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Sri Lankan politician (born 1941)

Mallawa Arachchige Gamini Jayawickrama Perera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was a United National Party member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the Kurunegala District between 1994 and 2020, and had previously represented Katugampola in the National State Assembly from 1977 to 1989. Perera served many cabinet positions in various Sri Lankan governments, including being the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Minister of Wayamba Development, Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, Minister of Food Security and the Minister of Irrigation and Water Management. Perera also briefly left national politics to become the Chief Minister of the North Western Province and serve in the North Western Provincial Council. Perera helped represent Sri Lanka's interests internationally as the chairman of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a position he was elected to in April 2016. Furthermore, he held the position of chairman of the United National Party during a significant period of his career.

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Josette Molland, WWII French Resistance member and artist (born 1923)

Josette Molland, also known as Josette Molland-Ilinsky, was a painter and member of the French Resistance in World War II.

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17/02/2021

Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author (born 1951)

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations from 1988 until his death in 2021.

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Seif Sharif Hamad, Tanzanian politician (born 1943)

Seif Sharif Hamad was a Tanzanian politician who served as the First Vice President of Zanzibar and as Party Chairman of ACT Wazalendo.

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17/02/2017

Robert H. Michel, American politician (born 1923)

Robert Henry Michel was an American Republican Party politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 38 years. He represented central Illinois's 18th congressional district and was the GOP leader in the House, serving as House Minority Leader during his last 14 years in Congress, 1981 to 1995.

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Michael Novak, American Roman Catholic theologian (born 1933)

Michael John Novak Jr. was an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982). In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate at Universidad Francisco Marroquín due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which included a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He wrote books and articles focused on capitalism, religion, and the politics of democratization.

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17/02/2016

Andy Ganteaume, Trinidadian cricketer (born 1921)

Andrew Gordon Ganteaume was a Trinidadian cricketer who played one Test match for the West Indies in 1948 as a batsman. He scored 112 in his only Test innings which left him with the highest Test batting average in history until it was surpassed by Kurtis Patterson. Ganteaume played for Trinidad from a young age and was chosen to play in a Test match against England following his good batting form in 1948. However, his slow scoring probably cost him his place and he never played another Test, although he toured England with the West Indies in 1957. At the time of his death, Ganteaume was the oldest surviving West Indies Test cricketer.

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Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Egyptian journalist (born 1923)

Mohamed Hassanein Heikal was an Egyptian journalist. For 17 years (1957–1974), he was editor-in-chief of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram and was a commentator on Middle East affairs for more than 50 years.

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Claude Jeancolas, French historian, author, and journalist (born 1949)

Claude Jeancolas was a French writer, art historian, and journalist. He is best known for his work on Arthur Rimbaud.

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Tony Phillips, American baseball player (born 1959)

Keith Anthony Phillips was an American professional baseball utility player who had an 18-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career from 1982 to 1999. He played regularly at second base, but also had significant time as a shortstop and third baseman. In addition, Phillips showed his versatility with over 100 game appearances in the outfield corners and as a designated hitter.

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Andrzej Żuławski, Polish film director (born 1940)

Andrzej Żuławski was a Polish film director and writer best known for his 1981 psychological horror film Possession. Żuławski often went against mainstream commercialism in his films, and enjoyed success mostly with European art-house audiences.

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17/02/2015

John Barrow, American-Canadian football player and manager (born 1935)

John B. Barrow was an American college and professional football player who was an offensive and defensive tackle in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for fourteen seasons in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Barrow played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as an All-American. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, and was later inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

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Cathy Ubels-Veen, Dutch politician (born 1928)

Catharina "Cathy" Ubels-Veen was a Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands between 1982 and 1986 for the Evangelical People's Party.

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Liu Yudi, Chinese general and pilot (born 1923)

Liu Yudi was a MiG-15 pilot of the People's Liberation Army Air Force of China. According to Chinese state source Xinhua, Liu was a flying ace during the Korean War, with 6 shootdowns. He later served as commander of the Beijing Military Region Air Force, and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1988.

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17/02/2014

Bob Casale, American guitarist, keyboard player, and producer (born 1952)

Robert Edward Casale Jr., or "Bob 2", was an American musician, composer and record producer. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as the rhythm guitarist and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, which released a Top 20 hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It". The band has maintained a cult following throughout its existence. He was the younger brother of their co-founder and bass guitarist Gerald Casale.

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Peter Florin, German politician and diplomat, President of the United Nations General Assembly (born 1921)

Peter Florin was an East German politician and diplomat.

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Wayne Smith, Jamaican singer (born 1965)

Wayne Smith was a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician best known for his 1985 hit "Under Me Sleng Teng", which is regarded as the track which initiated the digital era of reggae.

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17/02/2013

Richard Briers, English actor (born 1934)

Richard David Briers was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.

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Shmulik Kraus, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (born 1935)

Shmuel 'Shmulik' Kraus was an Israeli pop-rock singer, composer, and actor. Kraus, one of the pioneers of Israeli music, underwent various personal crises in the course of his career. He appeared in several films, including Rocking Horse and Hole in the Moon, and composed songs for other performers, such as Shalom Hanoch. He was also known for his music for children based on the lyrics of Miriam Yalan-Shteklis.

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Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (born 1925)

Sophie Kurys was a former second basewoman who played from 1943 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), 115 lb (52 kg), Kurys batted and threw right-handed.

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Mindy McCready, American singer-songwriter (born 1975)

Malinda Gayle McCready was an American country music singer. Active from 1995 until her suicide in 2013, she recorded a total of five studio albums. Her debut album, 1996's Ten Thousand Angels, was released on BNA Records and was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA, while 1997's If I Don't Stay the Night was certified Gold. 1999's I'm Not So Tough, her final album for BNA, was less successful, and she left the label. A self-titled fourth album followed in 2002 on Capitol Records. McCready's fifth and final studio album, I'm Still Here, was released in March 2010 on Iconic Records.

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17/02/2012

Robert Carr, English engineer and politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1916)

Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later served in the House of Lords as a life peer.

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Michael Davis, American singer-songwriter and bass player (born 1943)

Michael Davis was an American bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer, best known as a member of the MC5.

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Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, Dutch mathematician and theorist (born 1918)

Nicolaas Govert "Dick" de Bruijn was a Dutch mathematician, noted for his many contributions in the fields of analysis, number theory, combinatorics and logic.

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Ulric Neisser, German-American psychologist and academic (born 1928)

Ulric Richard Gustav Neisser (December 8, 1928 – February 17, 2012) was a German-American psychologist, Cornell University professor, and member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He has been referred to as the "father of cognitive psychology". Neisser researched and wrote about perception and memory. He posited that a person's mental processes could be measured and subsequently analyzed.

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17/02/2010

Kathryn Grayson, American actress and singer (born 1922)

Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and coloratura soprano.

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17/02/2009

Conchita Cintrón, Chilean bullfighter and journalist (born 1922)

Concepción Cintrón Verrill, also known as Conchita Cintrón or La Diosa de Oro, was a Chile-born Peruvian torera, perhaps the most famous in the history of bullfighting. In the ring Cintrón was said to display particular grace, style and bravado, a combination known as duende.

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17/02/2006

Ray Barretto, American drummer (born 1929)

Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga, Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible". His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006. He is the father of American vocalist and saxophonist Chris Barretto, best known for being the former singer of progressive metal bands Monuments and Periphery.

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17/02/2005

Dan O'Herlihy, Irish-American actor (born 1919)

Daniel Peter O'Herlihy was an Irish actor. His best-known roles included his Oscar-nominated portrayal of the title character in Luis Buñuel's Robinson Crusoe (1954), Brigadier General Warren A. Black in Fail Safe (1964), Marshal Ney in Waterloo (1970), Conal Cochran in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Grig in The Last Starfighter (1984), "The Old Man" in RoboCop (1987) and its 1990 sequel, and Andrew Packard in the television series Twin Peaks (1990–91).

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Omar Sívori, Argentinian footballer and manager (born 1935)

Enrique Omar Sívori was an Argentine-Italian football player and manager who played as a forward. At club level, he is known for his successful time with Italian side Juventus during the late 1950s and early 1960s, where he won three Serie A titles among other trophies; he also played for River Plate in Argentina and Napoli in Italy.

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17/02/2004

José López Portillo, Mexican lawyer and politician, 51st President of Mexico (born 1920)

José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco was a Mexican writer, lawyer, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982. López Portillo was the only official candidate in the 1976 presidential election, being the only president in recent Mexican history to win an election unopposed.

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17/02/2003

Steve Bechler, American baseball player (born 1979)

Steven Scott Bechler was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles.

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17/02/1998

Ernst Jünger, German soldier, philosopher, and author (born 1895)

Ernst Jünger was a German author, soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. A prolific writer of over forty books, Jünger wrote particularly in the furtherance of conservatism and against what he perceived as the spiritual oppression of man.

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17/02/1994

Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (born 1951)

Randy Shilts was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations. In the 1980s, he was noted for being the first openly gay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.

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17/02/1990

Jean-Marc Boivin, French mountaineer, skier, and pilot (born 1951)

Jean-Marc Boivin was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, film maker and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paragliding, the creator of numerous first ascents and first ski descents in the Alps, a member of the team that broke the record for a sub-glacial dive and the first person to paraglide from the summit of Mount Everest, Boivin was a pioneer of extreme sports. He died from injuries incurred after BASE jumping off Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world.

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17/02/1989

Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (born 1908)

Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Gomez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1930 and 1943 for the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators and was a six-time World Series champion with the Yankees. He had the most strikeouts with 1,337 of any pitcher and the most All-Star selections with 7 of any player for the entire 1930s decade. Early on, Gomez was broadly known in major league baseball for his colorful personality and humor.

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17/02/1988

John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and scholar (born 1923)

John Marco Allegro was an English archaeologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar. He was a populariser of the Dead Sea Scrolls through his books and radio broadcasts. He was the editor of some of the most famous and controversial scrolls published, the pesharim. A number of Allegro's later books, including The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, brought him both popular fame and notoriety, and also complicated his career. Married with two children, he died of a heart attack on his 65th birthday in 1988.

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Karpoori Thakur, Indian educator and politician, 11th Chief Minister of Bihar (born 1924)

Karpoori Thakur was an Indian politician who twice served as the 11th Chief Minister of Bihar, first from December 1970 to June 1971, and then from June 1977 to April 1979. He was popularly known as Jan Nayak. On 26 January 2024, he was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the Government of India. This was announced by the President of India Draupadi Murmu on 23 January 2024.

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17/02/1986

Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian-American philosopher and author (born 1895)

Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian spiritual figure, speaker, and writer. Adopted by members of the Theosophical Society as a child, Krishnamurti was raised to fill the mantle of the prophesied World Teacher, a role tasked with aiding humankind's spiritual evolution. In 1922, he began to suffer from painful, seizure-like mystical episodes that would produce a lasting change in his perception of reality. In 1929, he broke from the Theosophy movement and disbanded the Order of the Star in the East which had been formed around him. He spent the rest of his life speaking to groups and individuals around the world, hoping to contribute a radical transformation of mankind.

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17/02/1982

Nestor Chylak, American baseball player and umpire (born 1922)

Nestor George Chylak Jr. was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1954 to 1978. He umpired in three ALCS, serving as crew chief in 1969 and 1973. He also called five World Series, serving as the crew chief in 1971 and 1977. He also worked in six All-Star Games: 1957, 1960, 1964, 1973 and 1978, working home plate in the second 1960 game and in 1973.

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Thelonious Monk, American pianist and composer (born 1917)

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.

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Lee Strasberg, American actor and director (born 1901)

Lee Strasberg was an Austro-Hungarian-born American acting coach and actor. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the nonprofit Actors Studio in New York City, considered "the nation's most prestigious acting school," and, in 1966, he was involved in the creation of Actors Studio West in Los Angeles.

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17/02/1979

William Gargan, American actor (born 1905)

William Dennis Gargan was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe in They Knew What They Wanted. He acted in decades of movies including parts in Follow the Leader, Rain, Night Flight, Three Sons, Isle of Destiny and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series Martin Kane, Private Eye. In television, he was also in 39 episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane.

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17/02/1977

Janani Luwum, Ugandan archbishop and saint (born 1922)

Janani Jakaliya Luwum was a Ugandan Anglican bishop. He was the archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1977 and one of the most influential leaders of the modern church in Africa. He was arrested in February 1977 and died shortly after. Although the official account describes a car crash, it is generally accepted that he was murdered on the orders of then-president Idi Amin.

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17/02/1972

Friday Hassler, American race car driver (born 1935)

Raymond Lee "Friday" Hassler was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver.

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17/02/1970

Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Ukrainian-Israeli novelist, short story writer, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)

Shmuel Yosef Agnon was an Austro-Hungarian-born Israeli novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew literature. In Hebrew, he is known by the nom de plume Shai Agnon. In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.

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Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (born 1900)

Alfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the extended Newman family being the most Academy Award-nominated family with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories.

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17/02/1969

Berry L. Cannon, American aquanaut (born 1935)

Berry Louis Cannon was an American aquanaut who served on the SEALAB II and III projects of the United States Navy. Cannon died while attempting to repair SEALAB III. A U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry concluded that Cannon died of carbon dioxide poisoning, and that his diving rig's baralyme canister, which should have absorbed the carbon dioxide Cannon exhaled, was empty.

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17/02/1966

Hans Hofmann, German-American painter (born 1880)

Hans Hofmann was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstract Expressionism. Born and educated near Munich, he was active in the early twentieth-century European avant-garde and brought a deep understanding and synthesis of Symbolism, Neo-impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism when he emigrated to the United States in 1932. Hofmann's painting is characterized by its rigorous concern with pictorial structure and unity, spatial illusionism, and use of bold color for expressive means. The influential critic Clement Greenberg considered Hofmann's first New York solo show at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century in 1944 as a breakthrough in painterly versus geometric abstraction that heralded abstract expressionism. In the decade that followed, Hofmann's recognition grew through numerous exhibitions, notably at the Kootz Gallery, culminating in major retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1957) and Museum of Modern Art (1963), which traveled to venues throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. His works are in the permanent collections of major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, National Gallery of Art, and Art Institute of Chicago.

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17/02/1963

Mijo Mirković, Croatian economist and author (born 1898)

Mijo (Miho) Mirković, also known by his pen name Mate Balota, was a prominent Croatian poet, novelist and economist. Considered one of the most prominent Croatian poets of the 20th century and often credited as the greatest Istrian poet, he was called "the greatest Istrian after Labin's Matija Vlačić" by Tone Peruško.

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17/02/1962

Joseph Kearns, American actor (born 1907)

Joseph Sherrard Kearns was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson on the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962. He was also a prolific radio actor, and provided the voice of the Doorknob in the 1951 animated Disney film, Alice in Wonderland.

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Bruno Walter, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1876)

Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he left Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the United States in 1939. He worked closely with Gustav Mahler, conducting the premieres of his Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde. He held major positions with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others, made recordings of historical and artistic significance, and is widely considered to be one of the great conductors of the 20th century.

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17/02/1961

Lütfi Kırdar, Turkish physician and politician, Turkish Minister of Health (born 1887)

Mehmet Lütfi Kırdar was a Turkish physician, civil servant, politician and Minister of Health and Social Security. He is best remembered for his long-term position as the Governor and Mayor of Istanbul.

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Nita Naldi, American actress (born 1894)

Nita Naldi was an American stage performer and silent film actress. She was often cast in theatrical and screen productions as a vamp, a type of character first popularized by actress Theda Bara.

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17/02/1948

Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, Imam of Yemen (born 1904)

Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was the first king of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen from 1918 until his assassination in 1948. He became Imam of the Zaydis, a branch of Shia Islam, in 1904 after the death of his father, Muhammad Al-Mansur, and Imam of Yemen in 1918. His name and title in full was "His Majesty Amir al-Mu'mimin al-Mutawakkil 'Ala Allah Rab ul-Alamin Imam Yahya bin al-Mansur Bi'llah Muhammad Hamidaddin, Imam and Commander of the Faithful".

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17/02/1946

Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (born 1889)

Dorothy Gibson was an American actress, socialite and artist's model, active in the early 20th century. She survived the sinking of the Titanic and starred in the first motion picture based on the disaster.

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17/02/1939

Willy Hess, German violinist and educator (born 1859)

Willy Hess was a German violinist and violin teacher.

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17/02/1934

Albert I of Belgium (born 1875)

Albert I was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King or Soldier King in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I.

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Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (born 1862)

Siegbert Tarrasch was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century.

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17/02/1924

Oskar Merikanto, Finnish composer (born 1868)

Oskar Merikanto was a Finnish composer, music critic, pianist, and organist.

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17/02/1919

Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1841)

Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minister, his 15-year tenure remains the longest uninterrupted term of office among Canadian prime ministers and his nearly 45 years of service in the House of Commons is a record for the House. Laurier is best known for his compromises between English and French Canada.

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17/02/1912

Edgar Evans, Welsh sailor and explorer (born 1876)

Petty Officer Edgar Evans was a Welsh Royal Navy petty officer and member of the "Polar Party" in Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. This group of five men, personally selected for the final expedition push, attained the Pole on 17 January 1912. The party perished as they attempted to return to the base camp.

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17/02/1909

Geronimo, American tribal leader (born 1829)

Gerónimo was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands – the Tchihende, the Tsokanende and the Nednhi – to carry out numerous raids, as well as fight against Mexican and U.S. military campaigns in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

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17/02/1905

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son and seventh child of Tsar Alexander II (born 1857)

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was the fifth son and seventh child of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his nephew Emperor Nicholas II, who was also his brother-in-law through Sergei's marriage to Elisabeth, the sister of Empress Alexandra.

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William Bickerton, English-American religious leader, leader in the Latter Day Saint movement (born 1815)

William Bickerton was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1862, Bickerton became the founding president of the church now known as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith Jr in 1830.

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17/02/1890

Christopher Latham Sholes, American publisher and politician (born 1819)

Christopher Latham Sholes was an American inventor who invented the QWERTY keyboard, and, along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, has been contended to be one of the inventors of the first typewriter in the United States. He was also a newspaper publisher and Wisconsin politician. In his time, Sholes went by the names C. Latham Sholes, Latham Sholes, or C. L. Sholes, but never "Christopher Sholes" or "Christopher L. Sholes".

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17/02/1874

Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian astronomer, mathematician, and sociologist (born 1796)

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences. His name is sometimes spelled with an accent as Quételet.

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17/02/1872

Gomburza, Filipino priests:

José Apolonio Burgos y García was a Filipino Catholic priest, accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was tried and executed in Manila along with two other clergymen, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, who are collectively known as the Gomburza.

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Gomburza, Filipino priests:

Mariano Gómes de los Ángeles, often known by his birth name Mariano Gómez y Custodio or Mariano Gomez in modern orthography, was a Filipino Catholic priest who was falsely accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Manila along with two other clergymen collectively known as the Gomburza. Gomes was the oldest of the three priests and spent his life writing about abuses against Filipino priests.

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Gomburza, Filipino priests:

Jacinto Zamora y del Rosario was a Filipino Catholic priest, part of the Gomburza, a trio of priests who were falsely accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century.

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17/02/1856

Heinrich Heine, German journalist and poet (born 1797)

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was a Jewish born German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert.

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17/02/1854

John Martin, English painter, engraver, and illustrator (born 1789)

John Martin was an English Romanticist painter, engraver, and illustrator. He was known for his typically vast and dramatic paintings of religious subjects and fantastic compositions, populated with minute figures placed in imposing landscapes. Martin's paintings, and the prints made from them, enjoyed great success with the general public, with Thomas Lawrence referring to him as "the most popular painter of his day". He was also criticised by John Ruskin and other critics.

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17/02/1849

María de las Mercedes Barbudo, Puerto Rican political activist, the first woman Independentista in the island (born 1773)

María de las Mercedes Barbudo was a Puerto Rican political activist, the first woman Independentista in the island, and a "Freedom Fighter". At the time, the Puerto Rican independence movement had ties with the Venezuelan rebels led by Simón Bolívar.

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17/02/1841

Ferdinando Carulli, Italian guitarist and composer (born 1770)

Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the influential Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre, op. 27 (1810), which contains music still used by student guitarists today. He wrote a variety of works for classical guitar, including numerous solo and chamber works and several concertos. He was an extremely prolific writer, composing over 400 works for the instrument.

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17/02/1768

Arthur Onslow, English lawyer and politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (born 1691)

Arthur Onslow was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity.

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17/02/1732

Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (born 1669)

Louis Marchand was a French organist, harpsichordist and composer. Born into an organist's family, Marchand was a child prodigy and quickly established himself as one of the best known French virtuosos of his time. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, as one of the four organistes du roy. Marchand had a violent temperament and an arrogant personality, and his life was filled with scandals, publicized and widely discussed both during his lifetime and after his death. Despite his fame, few of his works survive to this day, and those that do almost all date from his early years. Nevertheless, a few pieces of his, such as the organ pieces Grand dialogue and Fond d'orgue have been lauded as classic works of the French organ school.

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17/02/1715

Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist (born 1646)

Antoine Galland was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights, which he called Les mille et une nuits. His version of the tales appeared in twelve volumes between 1704 and 1717 and exerted a significant influence on subsequent European literature and attitudes to the Islamic world. Jorge Luis Borges has suggested that Romanticism began when his translation was first read.

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17/02/1680

Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English politician (born 1599)

Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, was an English statesman, best remembered as one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest by Charles I in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War.

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Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist, zoologist, and entomologist (born 1637)

Jan or Johannes Swammerdam was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the same animal. As part of his anatomical research, he carried out experiments on muscle contraction. In 1658, he was the first to observe and describe red blood cells. He was one of the first people to use the microscope in dissections, and his techniques remained useful for hundreds of years.

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17/02/1673

Molière, French actor and playwright (born 1622)

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière".

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17/02/1659

Abel Servien, French politician, French Minister of Finance (born 1593)

Abel Servien, marquis de Sablé et de Boisdauphin and Comte de La Roche des Aubiers was a French diplomat who served Cardinal Mazarin and signed for the French the Treaty of Westphalia. He was an early member of the noblesse de robe in the service of the French state.

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17/02/1624

Juan de Mariana, Spanish priest and historian (born 1536)

Juan de Mariana was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs.

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17/02/1609

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1549)

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. He expanded the culture of Tuscany, which included presenting the opera Euridice by Jacopo Peri. Ferdinando supported Henry IV of France following the assassination of Henry III of France and provided him with financial support. He expanded the Naviglio canal and started an irrigation project in the Val di Chiana. Ferdinando died on 17 February 1609.

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17/02/1600

Giordano Bruno, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (born 1548)

Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher, poet, alchemist, astronomer, cosmological theorist, and esotericist. He is known for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended to include the then-novel Copernican model. He practised Hermeticism and took a mystical approach to exploring the universe. He proposed that the stars were distant suns surrounded by their own planets (exoplanets), and he raised the possibility that these planets might foster life of their own, a cosmological position known as cosmic pluralism. He also insisted that the universe is infinite and could have no centre.

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17/02/1500

Adolph, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, German noble (born before 1463)

Adolph, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst was a Count of Oldenburg from 1482 until his death.

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17/02/1371

Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria

Ivan Alexander, also sometimes anglicized as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on 17 February 1371.

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17/02/1339

Otto, Duke of Austria (born 1301)

Otto, known as the Merry, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1330, as well as Duke of Carinthia from 1335 until his death. A member of the House of Habsburg, he ruled jointly with his elder brother Duke Albert II.

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17/02/1220

Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine

Theobald I was the duke of Lorraine from 1213 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick II and Agnes of Bar.

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17/02/1178

Evermode of Ratzeburg, bishop of Ratzeburg

Evermode, or Evermod, was one of the first Premonstratensian canons regular, and became the lifelong companion of Norbert of Xanten, who founded the order in France in 1120. He is sometimes referred to as the "Apostle of the Wends".

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17/02/0923

Al-Tabari, Persian scholar (born 839)

Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī, commonly known as al-Ṭabarī, was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day Iran. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari is widely known for his historical works and expertise in Quranic exegesis, and has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath". He authored works on a diverse range of subjects, including world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine. Among his most famous and influential works are his Quranic commentary, Tafsir al-Tabari, and historical chronicle, Tarikh al-Tabari.

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17/02/0440

Mesrop Mashtots, Armenian monk, linguist, and theologian (born 360)

Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian linguist, composer, theologian, statesman, and hymnologist. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

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17/02/0364

Jovian, Roman emperor (born 331)

Jovian was Roman emperor from June 363 to February 364. As part of the imperial bodyguard, he accompanied Julian on his Persian expedition. Julian was killed in battle, and the exhausted and ill-provisioned Roman army declared Jovian his successor. Unable to cross the Tigris, Jovian made peace with the Sasanian Empire on humiliating terms. He spent the rest of his seven-month reign traveling back towards Constantinople, but died at Dadastana without reaching the capital city.

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