Died on Tuesday, 6th January – Famous Deaths

06/01/2023

Mary Lou Kownacki, American Roman Catholic nun, peace activist, and writer (born 1941)

Sister Mary Lou Kownacki was a Roman Catholic Benedictine nun, peace activist, and writer. She was a close friend and collaborator of fellow nun and activist Joan Chittister. Kownacki was arrested 13 times over the course of her life for activism-related offenses.

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06/01/2022

Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1939)

Peter Bogdanovich was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for Film Culture and Esquire and finally becoming a prominent filmmaker of the New Hollywood movement. He received accolades including a BAFTA Award and Grammy Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

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Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat (born 1927)

Sidney Poitier was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his other accolades are two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award and a Grammy Award, in addition to nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. In 1999, he was ranked number 22 among the "American Film Institute's 100 Stars". Poitier was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

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Francisco Sionil Jose, Philippine novelist (born 1924)

Francisco Sionil José was a Filipino writer who was one of the most widely read in the English language. A National Artist of the Philippines for Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José's novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. His works—written in English—have been translated into 28 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch. He was often considered the leading Filipino candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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06/01/2021

Ashli Babbitt, American participant in the January 6 United States Capitol attack

On January 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot during the attack on the United States Capitol. She was part of a mob of supporters of then-outgoing U.S. president Donald Trump who stormed the United States Capitol seeking to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. At the time of her killing, Babbitt was a 35-year-old United States Air Force veteran and a supporter of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory.

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Gordon Renwick, Canadian ice hockey administrator and businessman (born 1935)

Gordon Ralph Renwick was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and was the team president of the Galt Hornets.

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James Cross, British diplomat kidnapped during the 1970 October crisis in Québec (born 1921)

James Richard Cross was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) during the October Crisis of October 1970. He was ultimately released almost two months later, and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom.

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06/01/2020

Richard Maponya, South African businessman (born 1920)

Richard John Pelwana Maponya, GCOB, was a South African entrepreneur and property developer best known for building a business empire despite the restrictions of apartheid and his determination to see the Soweto township develop economically.

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06/01/2019

José Ramón Fernández, Cuban revolution leader (born 1923)

José Ramón Fernández Álvarez was a Cuban Communist leader who was a vice-president of the Council of Ministers.

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Lamin Sanneh, Gambian-born American professor (born 1942)

Lamin Sanneh was a Gambian American scholar who was the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University.

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W. Morgan Sheppard, British actor (born 1932)

William Morgan Sheppard, also credited by his full name or as Morgan Sheppard, was an English actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes, in a career that spanned over 50 years.

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Paul Streeten, Austrian-born British economics professor (born 1917)

Paul Patrick Streeten was an Austrian-born British economics professor. He was a professor at Boston University, US until his retirement. He has been a distinguished academic working on development economics since the 1950s.

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06/01/2017

Octavio Lepage, Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela (born 1923)

Octavio Lepage Barreto was a Venezuelan politician who served as the acting president of Venezuela from 21 May 1993 to 5 June 1993.

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Om Puri, Indian actor (born 1950)

Om Prakash Puri was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as English, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, and Marathi films, as well as independent and art films and also starred in several international cinema. He is widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema. He won two National Film Awards for Best Actor, two Filmfare Awards and India's fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 1990. In 2004, he was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

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06/01/2016

Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor and screenwriter (born 1929)

Daniel Patrick Harrington Jr. was an American Emmy Award–winning stage and television actor, best known for his role as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the sitcom One Day at a Time (1975–1984). His father Pat Harrington Sr. was also an actor.

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Florence King, American journalist and author (born 1936)

Florence Virginia King was an American novelist, essayist and columnist.

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Christy O'Connor Jnr, Irish golfer and architect (born 1948)

Christopher O'Connor ; 19 August 1948 – 6 January 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He is often known for defeating American Fred Couples at the 1989 Ryder Cup, helping Europe secure the trophy.

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Silvana Pampanini, Italian model, actress, and director, Miss Italy 1946 (born 1925)

Silvana Pampanini was an Italian film actress, director and singer. She was also the niece of the soprano of the golden era of opera, Dame Rosetta Pampanini. Silvana Pampanini caused a sensation when she took part in the 1946 Miss Italia contest and the following year she started her movie career. Madame Pampanini was born into a well-off family, she was educated, and studied opera and ballet since her childhood. According to interviews, Pampanini was a contralto with notable voice extension. However, she also said many times over the years that she preferred to pursue a career in cinema as it required less training and it was much less demanding than a career as an opera singer.

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06/01/2015

Basil John Mason, English meteorologist and academic (born 1923)

Sir Basil John Mason was a British expert on cloud physics. He was Director-General of the Meteorological Office from 1965 to 1983 and Chancellor of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) from 1994 to 1996.

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06/01/2014

Marina Ginestà, French Resistance soldier and photographer (born 1919)

Marina Ginestà i Coloma was a Catalan communist born in France, member of the Unified Socialist Youth, and an iconic figure of the Spanish Civil War. She became famous due to the photo taken by Juan Guzmán on the rooftop of the Hotel Colón, Plaça de Catalunya 9, Barcelona during the July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona. It is considered one of the most iconic photographs of the Spanish Civil War.

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Nelson Ned, Brazilian singer-songwriter (born 1947)

Nelson Ned d'Ávila Pinto was a Brazilian singer-songwriter. He built a career as a singer and composer of sentimental, suffering songs, rising to popularity in Brazil and Latin America in 1969 and becoming known internationally, especially in Portugal, France and Spain. In 1971 he released his first Spanish album, Canción Popular, and performed in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

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Julian Rotter, American psychologist and academic (born 1916)

Julian B. Rotter was an American psychologist known for developing social learning theory and research into locus of control. He was a faculty member at Ohio State University and then the University of Connecticut. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Rotter as the 64th most eminent and 18th most widely cited psychologist of the 20th century. A 2014 study published in 2014 placed him at #54 among psychologists whose careers spanned the post-World War II era.

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06/01/2013

Ruth Carter Stevenson, American art collector, founded the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (born 1923)

Ruth Carter Stevenson was an American art collector. She was the founder of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

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06/01/2012

Bob Holness, South African-English radio and television host (born 1928)

Robert Wentworth John Holness was a British radio and television presenter. He presented the British version of Blockbusters.

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06/01/2011

Uche Okafor, Nigerian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (born 1967)

Uchenna Kizito Okafor, often shortened to Uche Okafor was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a defender. He made 34 international appearances for the Nigeria national team.

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06/01/2008

Shmuel Berenbaum, Rabbi of Mir Yeshiva (Brooklyn) (born 1920)

Shmuel Berenbaum was an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Mir yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York.

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06/01/2007

Roberta Wohlstetter, American political scientist, historian, and academic (born 1912)

Roberta Morgan Wohlstetter was an American historian of U.S. military intelligence. In 1962 she authored Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision. The book was based on a several-year study of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and is still considered the foundational study of military surprises. President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.

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06/01/2006

Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter (born 1933)

Louis Allen Rawls was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". He also worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was a three-time winner of the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Grammy Award.

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06/01/2005

Eileen Desmond, Irish civil servant and politician, 12th Irish Minister for Health (born 1932)

Eileen Christine Desmond was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Health and Minister for Social Welfare from 1981 to 1982. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1965 to 1969 and 1973 to 1987. She also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Munster constituency from 1979 to 1981 and as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 to 1973.

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Lois Hole, Canadian academic and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (born 1929)

Lois Elsa Hole, CM, AOE DStJ was a Canadian politician, businesswoman, academician, professional gardener and best-selling author. She was the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 10 February 2000 until her death on 6 January 2005. She was known as the "Queen of Hugs" for breaking with protocol and hugging almost everyone she met, including journalists, diplomats and other politicians.

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Tarquinio Provini, Italian motorcycle racer (born 1933)

Tarquinio Provini was an Italian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was a two-time world champion in road racing. Provini was also a four-time Isle of Man TT winner and won 13 Italian national championships.

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06/01/2004

Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (born 1954)

Pierre Charles was a Dominican politician who served as Prime Minister of Dominica from 2000 to his death in 2004. At the time of his death, he was also serving as Member of Parliament for Grand Bay since 1985.

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06/01/1999

Michel Petrucciani, French-American pianist (born 1962)

Michel Petrucciani was a French jazz pianist. From birth he had osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and, in his case, short stature. Despite his health condition and relatively short life, he became one of the most accomplished jazz pianists of his generation.

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06/01/1995

Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African lawyer and politician (born 1926)

Yossel Mashel "Joe" Slovo was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

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06/01/1993

Dizzy Gillespie, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player (born 1917)

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.

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Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (born 1938)

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of the 20th century, as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.

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06/01/1992

Steve Gilpin, New Zealand vocalist and songwriter (born 1949)

Stephen Ellis Gilpin was a New Zealand singer and a founder of new wave band Mi-Sex.

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06/01/1991

Alan Wiggins, American baseball player (born 1958)

Alan Anthony Wiggins was an American professional baseball player. He was a second baseman and outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles between 1981 and 1987. A speedy leadoff hitter, Wiggins had his best season with the pennant-winning Padres in 1984. He batted one slot ahead of Tony Gwynn in the lineup that year, and the pair's offensive production helped the Padres win the National League Championship Series (NLCS) and advance to the World Series.

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06/01/1990

Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor (born 1949)

Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film Gandhi.

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Pavel Cherenkov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904)

Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov was a Soviet physicist who shared the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm "for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect".

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06/01/1984

Ernest Laszlo, Hungarian-American cinematographer (born 1898)

Ernest Laszlo, A.S.C. was a Hungarian-American cinematographer for over 60 films, and was known for his frequent collaborations with directors Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer. He was a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and was its president from 1972 to 1974. He was an active member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

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06/01/1981

A. J. Cronin, Scottish physician and author (born 1896)

Archibald Joseph Cronin (Cronogue) (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is The Citadel (1937), about a Scottish physician who serves in a Welsh mining village before achieving success in London, where he becomes disillusioned about the venality and incompetence of some doctors. Cronin knew both areas, as a medical inspector of mines and as a physician in Harley Street. The book exposed unfairness and malpractice in British medicine and helped to inspire the National Health Service.

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06/01/1978

Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (born 1899)

Herbert James "Burt" Munro was a motorcycle racer from New Zealand, famous for setting a motorcycle speed record in the 1000cc Streamliner Modified Fuel category, at Bonneville, on 26 August 1967. This record still stands as of January 2026; Munro was 68 and was riding a 47-year-old machine when he set his last record.

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06/01/1974

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (born 1896)

David Alfaro Siqueiros was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he was one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists".

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06/01/1972

Chen Yi, Chinese general and politician, Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (born 1901)

Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as Mayor of Shanghai from 1949 to 1958 and as Foreign Minister of China from 1958 to 1972. He is one of Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China.

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06/01/1966

Jean Lurçat, French painter (born 1892)

Jean Lurçat was a French artist noted for his role in the revival of contemporary tapestry. He was also a painter and ceramist.

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06/01/1949

Victor Fleming, American director, producer, and cinematographer (born 1883)

Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama Gone with the Wind, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director, and the fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. Fleming has those same two films listed in the top 10 of the American Film Institute's 2007 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list.

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06/01/1945

Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist and chemist (born 1863)

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, also spelt Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky, was a Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist who is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Vernadsky is most noted for his 1926 book The Biosphere in which he inadvertently worked to popularize Eduard Suess's 1875 term biosphere, by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth. In 1943 he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Vernadsky's portrait is depicted on the Ukrainian ₴1,000 hryvnia banknote.

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06/01/1944

Ida Tarbell, American journalist, reformer, and educator (born 1857)

Ida Minerva Tarbell was an American writer, investigative journalist, biographer, and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers and reformers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was a pioneer of investigative journalism.

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06/01/1942

Emma Calvé, French soprano and actress (born 1858)

Emma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet was a French operatic dramatic soprano.

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Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian aristocrat, 3rd President of the International Olympic Committee (born 1876)

Henri de Baillet-Latour, Count of Baillet-Latour was a Belgian aristocrat and the third president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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06/01/1941

Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (born 1875)

Charles Timothy O'Leary was an American professional baseball shortstop who played eleven seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1904–1912), St. Louis Cardinals (1913), and St. Louis Browns (1934) of Major League Baseball (MLB).

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06/01/1937

André Bessette, Canadian saint (born 1845)

André Bessette, C.S.C., commonly known as Brother André and since his canonization as Saint André of Montreal, was a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross and a significant figure of the Catholic Church among French Canadians. He is credited with thousands of reported healings associated with his pious devotion to Saint Joseph.

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06/01/1934

Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (born 1878)

Herbert Chapman was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th century, before his sudden death in 1934. He is regarded as one of the game's greatest innovators.

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06/01/1933

Vladimir de Pachmann, Russian pianist (born 1848)

Vladimir de Pachmann or Pachman was a Russian pianist of German descent. He is known for performing the works of Chopin and for his eccentric performing style.

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06/01/1928

Alvin Kraenzlein, American hurdler and long jumper (born 1876)

Alvin Christian "Al" Kraenzlein was an American track-and-field athlete known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique". He was the first sportsman in the history of the Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. As of 2016, Alvin Kraenzlein is the only track-and-field athlete who has won four individual titles at one Olympics. Kraenzlein is also known for developing a pioneering technique of straight-leg hurdling, which allowed him to set two world hurdle records. He is an Olympic Hall of Fame (1984) and National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1974) inductee.

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Wilhelm Ramsay, Finnish geologist and professor (born 1865)

Wilhelm Ramsay was a Finnish geologist. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1914 and in 1915 was accepted into the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund. He coined the terms Fennoscandia (1900) and Postjotnian (1909). Ramsay also coined the term ijolite.

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06/01/1922

Jakob Rosanes, German mathematician and chess player (born 1842)

Jakob Rosanes was a German mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry and invariant theory. He was also a chess master.

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06/01/1921

Devil Anse Hatfield, American Confederate guerrilla and leader of the Hatfield clan during the Hatfield-McCoy feud (born 1839)

William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield was the patriarch of the West Virginian Hatfield family who led the family during the Hatfield–McCoy feud.

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06/01/1919

Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States (born 1858)

Theodore Roosevelt Jr., also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. He previously was vice president for six months under William McKinley and assumed the presidency after McKinley's assassination in 1901. He was also closely involved in New York state politics and served as Governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. As president, Roosevelt pushed for antitrust and Progressive Era policies, which earned him much popular support.

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06/01/1918

Georg Cantor, German mathematician and philosopher (born 1845)

Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor was a European mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between the members of two sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets, and proved that the real numbers are more numerous than the natural numbers. Cantor's method of proof of this theorem implies the existence of an infinity of infinities. He defined the cardinal and ordinal numbers and their arithmetic. Cantor's work is of great philosophical interest, a fact of which he was well aware.

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06/01/1917

Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist and historian (born 1834)

Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack was a Dutch legal scholar, economist and historian, who is best known for his work De socialisten: Personen en stelsels.

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06/01/1902

Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (born 1830)

Lars Hertervig was a Norwegian painter. His semi-fantastical work with motives from the coastal landscape in the traditional district of Ryfylke is regarded as one of the peaks of Norwegian painting.

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06/01/1885

Bharatendu Harishchandra, Indian author, poet, and playwright (born 1850)

Bharatendu Harishchandra was an Indian poet, writer, and playwright. He authored several dramas, biographical sketches, and travel accounts with the goal of influencing public opinion. Bharatendu Harishchandra is often considered the father of modern Hindi literature and theatre. Some modern Indian authors have described him as a Yug Charan for his writing depicting the exploitative nature of the British Raj.

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06/01/1884

Gregor Mendel, Czech geneticist and botanist (born 1822)

Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno (Brünn), Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Though farmers had known for millennia that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

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06/01/1882

Richard Henry Dana Jr., American lawyer and politician (born 1815)

Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir Two Years Before the Mast and as an attorney who successfully represented the U.S. government before the U.S. Supreme Court during the Civil War in the Prize Cases. Both as a writer and as a lawyer, he was a champion of the downtrodden, from seamen to fugitive slaves and freedmen.

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06/01/1855

Giacomo Beltrami, Italian jurist, explorer, and author (born 1779)

Giacomo Costantino Beltrami was an Italian jurist, author, and explorer, known for claiming to have discovered the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1823 while on a trip through much of the United States. In Minnesota, Beltrami and Beltrami County are named for him. He had an extensive network of notable figures for friends and acquaintances, including members of the powerful Medici family.

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06/01/1852

Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (born 1809)

Louis Braille was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.

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06/01/1840

Frances Burney, English author and playwright (born 1752)

Frances Burney, also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post of "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, George III's queen. In 1793, aged 41, she married a French exile, General Alexandre d'Arblay. After a long writing career that gained her a reputation as one of England's foremost literary authors, and after wartime travels that stranded her in France for over a decade, she settled in Bath, England, where she died on 6 January 1840. The first of her four novels, Evelina (1778), was the most successful and remains her most highly regarded, followed by Cecilia (1782). She also wrote a number of plays. She wrote a memoir of her father (1832), and is perhaps best remembered as the author of letters and journals that have been gradually published since 1842, whose influence has overshadowed the reputation of her fiction, establishing her posthumously as a diarist more than as a novelist or playwright.

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06/01/1831

Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1766)

Rodolphe Kreutzer was a French violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas, including La mort d'Abel (1810).

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06/01/1829

Josef Dobrovský, Czech philologist and historian (born 1753)

Josef Dobrovský was a Czech philologist and historian. He was one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann.

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06/01/1734

John Dennis, English playwright and critic (born 1657)

John Dennis was an English critic and dramatist.

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06/01/1731

Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (born 1672)

Étienne François Geoffroy was a French physician and chemist, best known for his 1718 affinity tables. He first contemplated a career as an apothecary, but then decided to practice medicine. He is sometimes known as Geoffroy the Elder.

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06/01/1725

Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese actor and playwright (born 1653)

Chikamatsu Monzaemon , real name Sugimori Nobumori , was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The Encyclopædia Britannica has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist". His most famous plays deal with double-suicides of honor bound lovers. Of his puppet plays, around 70 are jidaimono (時代物) and 24 are sewamono (世話物). The domestic plays are today considered the core of his artistic achievement, particularly works such as The Courier for Hell (1711) and The Love Suicides at Amijima (1721). His histories are viewed less positively, though The Battles of Coxinga (1715) remains praised.

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06/01/1693

Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (born 1642)

Mehmed IV, nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to become the second-longest-reigning sultan in Ottoman history after Suleiman the Magnificent. While the initial and final years of his reign were characterized by military defeat and political instability, during his middle years he oversaw the revival of the empire's fortunes associated with the Köprülü era. Mehmed IV was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the many conquests carried out during his long reign.

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06/01/1689

Seth Ward, English bishop, mathematician, and astronomer (born 1617)

Seth Ward was an English mathematician, astronomer, and bishop.

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06/01/1616

Philip Henslowe, English impresario (born 1550)

Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London.

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06/01/1537

Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (born 1510)

Alessandro de' Medici, nicknamed "il Moro" due to his dark complexion, Duke of Penne and the first Duke of the Florentine Republic, was ruler of Florence from 1530 to his death in 1537. The first Medici to rule Florence as a hereditary monarch, Alessandro was also the last Medici from the senior line of the family to lead the city. His assassination at the hands of distant cousin Lorenzaccio caused the title of Duke to pass to Cosimo I de Medici, from the family's junior branch.

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Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter, designed the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne (born 1481)

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and later Sangallo during the erection of the new St. Peter's. He returned to his native Siena after the Sack of Rome (1527) where he was employed as architect to the Republic. For the Sienese he built new fortifications for the city and designed a remarkable dam on the Bruna River near Giuncarico. He seems to have moved back to Rome permanently by 1535. He died there the following year and was buried in the Rotunda of the Pantheon, near Raphael.

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06/01/1478

Uzun Hasan, Shahanshah of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu dynasty (born 1423)

Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan was a ruler of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. Hasan was from the Bayandur tribe, and ruled between 1452 and 1478, presiding over the confederation's territorial apex, when it included parts or all of present-day Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Transcaucasia and Syria.

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06/01/1448

Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (born 1418)

Christopher of Bavaria was King of Denmark, Sweden (1441–48) and Norway (1442–48) during the era of the Kalmar Union. He ruled after the Kalmar Union's King Erik of Pomerania was deposed. Early in his reign he put down two peasant rebellions in Funen and Jutland. He was disliked by the Swedish nobles, as they pointed to his inability to manage harvest failures and to stop Erik's plundering. They also questioned his foreign background.

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06/01/1406

Roger Walden, English bishop

Roger Walden was an English treasurer and Bishop of London.

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06/01/1358

Gertrude van der Oosten, Beguine mystic

Gertrude van der Oosten was a Dutch Beguine who was considered a mystic and had received the Stigmata.

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06/01/1275

Raymond of Penyafort, Catalan archbishop and saint (born 1175)

Raymond of Penyafort was a Catalan friar with the Dominicans who was a canon lawyer. He compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of canonical laws that remained a major part of Church law until the 1917 Code of Canon Law abrogated it. He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1601 and is the patron saint of canon lawyers.

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06/01/1233

Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon, Anglo-Norman noblewoman (born 1171)

Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, sometimes known as Maud and sometimes known with the surname de Kevelioc. She was a daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, and the wife of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon.

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06/01/1148

Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke (born 1100)

Gilbert Fitz Gilbert de Clare, was created Earl of Pembroke in 1138.

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06/01/1088

Berengar of Tours, French scholar and theologian (born 999)

Berengar of Tours, in Latin Berengarius Turonensis, was an 11th-century French Christian theologian and archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of dialectic that was soon followed at cathedral schools of Laon and Paris. Berengar of Tours was distinguished from mainline Catholic theology by two views: his assertion of the supremacy of Scripture and his denial of transubstantiation. According to Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa, "Berengarius ... withdrew his error and acknowledged the truth of the faith."

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06/01/0786

Abo of Tiflis, Iraqi martyr and saint (born 756)

Abo of Tiflis was a Christian martyr of Arab origin, who went on to practice his faith in what is now Tbilisi, the capital of present-day Georgia.

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