Died on Friday, 25th July – Famous Deaths

25/07/2024

Shafin Ahmed, Bangladeshi bassist and singer-songwriter (born 1961)

Shafin Ahmed was a Bangladeshi rock bassist, singer-songwriter, record producer and politician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and bassist for the Bangladeshi rock band Miles, where he and his elder brother Hamin Ahmed joined in 1979 and have led the band.

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Martin Indyk, American diplomat (born 1951)

Martin Sean Indyk was an Australian-American diplomat and foreign relations analyst with expertise in the Middle East.

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25/07/2022

Paul Sorvino, American actor (born 1939)

Paul Anthony Sorvino was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.

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25/07/2020

Peter Green, English blues rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and founder of Fleetwood Mac (born 1946)

Peter Allen Greenbaum, known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who was the founder and original leader of the band Fleetwood Mac. Green formed the group in 1967 after a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and quickly established the new band as a popular live act in addition to a successful recording act, before departing in 1970. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi " and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.

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Lou Henson, American college basketball coach (born 1932)

Louis Ray Henson was an American college basketball coach. He retired as the all-time leader in victories at the University of Illinois with 423 victories and New Mexico State with 289 victories. Overall, Henson won 779 games putting him in sixteenth place on the all-time list. Henson was also one of only four NCAA coaches to have amassed at least 200 total wins at two institutions. On February 17, 2015, Henson was selected as a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In August 2015, prior to the reopening of the newly renovated State Farm Center at the University of Illinois, the hardwood floor was dedicated and renamed Lou Henson Court in his honor. The court at the Pan American Center at New Mexico State University is also named in his honor.

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25/07/2019

Beji Caid Essebsi, 4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Tunisia (born 1926)

Beji Caid Essebsi was a Tunisian politician who served as the fourth president of Tunisia from 31 December 2014 until his death on 25 July 2019. Previously, he served as minister of foreign affairs from 1981 to 1986 and prime minister from February to December 2011.

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25/07/2018

Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian businessman (born 1952)

Sergio Marchionne was an Italian-Canadian businessman, widely known for his turnarounds of the automakers Fiat and Chrysler, his business acumen and his outspoken and often frank approach, especially when dealing with unpalatable issues related to his companies and the automotive industry.

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25/07/2017

Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1944)

Michael Jay Johnson was an American pop, country, and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best remembered for his 1978 hit song "Bluer Than Blue". He charted four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and nine more on Hot Country Songs, including two number one country hits in 1986's "Give Me Wings" and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder". He also co-wrote "Cain's Blood", the debut single of 1990s country group 4 Runner.

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25/07/2016

Tim LaHaye, American Christian minister and author (born 1926)

Timothy Francis LaHaye was an American Baptist evangelical Christian minister and political activist who wrote more than 85 books, both non-fiction and fiction, including the Left Behind series of novels depicting apocalypse events after a pre-tribulation rapture.

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Tom Peterson, American television personality (born 1930)

Thomas Howard Peterson was an American retailer, pitchman, and television personality from Portland, Oregon. Peterson opened his first store in 1964, which grew to a regional consumer electronics, home appliance, and furniture chain in the 1970s. His memorable television commercials and unusual promotions made him a widely recognized personality in the Portland area by the 1980s, leading to several cameo appearances in the films of Gus Van Sant.

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25/07/2015

Jacques Andreani, French diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (born 1929)

Jacques Andreani was French ambassador to Egypt, Italy and the United States.

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R. S. Gavai, Indian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor of Kerala (born 1929)

Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai, popularly known as Dadasaheb Gavai, was an Indian politician, social activist, senior leader of the Ambedkarite movement, and founder of the Republican Party of India (Gavai). He was the President of Ambedkar's ideological party Republican Party of India, through this party, he did many works in political and social fields. Gavai also worked with Babasaheb Ambedkar, a polymath. He was the Governor of the three states of Bihar, Sikkim and Kerala, as well as he has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Gavai was a 30-year member (MLC) of the Maharashtra Legislative Council during which he served on the posts of the chairman, the deputy chairman, and the Opposition leader of the council.

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Bob Kauffman, American basketball player and coach (born 1946)

Robert Kauffman was an American professional basketball player and coach. Kauffman was a three-time NBA All-Star.

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25/07/2014

Bel Kaufman, German-American author and academic (born 1911)

Bella Kaufman was an American teacher and author, well known for writing the bestselling 1964 novel Up the Down Staircase.

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Richard Larter, Australian painter and illustrator (born 1929)

Richard Larter was an Australian painter, often identified as one of Australia's few highly recognisable pop artists. Larter also frequently painted in a Pointillist style. He took advantage of unusual techniques with painting: using a syringe filled with paint to create his early works, and juxtaposing multiple images on to a canvas. Many of his works are brightly coloured and draw on popular culture for source materials, reproducing news photographs, film stills, and images from pornography. He was married to Pat Larter, an artist who was involved in the Mail art movement, then performance art and finally painting in a brightly coloured style similar to Richard's. The Larters emigrated to Australia in 1962. Richard Larter's pop art was less ironic than his American and English counterparts. In this Larter is similar to other noted Australian pop artists, such as, Mike Brown and Martin Sharp.

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25/07/2013

Walter De Maria, American sculptor, illustrator, and composer (born 1935)

Walter Joseph De Maria was an American artist, sculptor, illustrator and composer, who lived and worked in New York City. Walter de Maria's artistic practice is connected with minimal art, conceptual art, and land art of the 1960s.

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William J. Guste, American lawyer and politician (born 1922)

William Joseph Guste Jr. was an American attorney and politician from the state of Louisiana. He was Attorney General of Louisiana from 1972 to 1992.

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Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (born 1924)

Hugh Esmor Huxley was a British molecular biologist who made important discoveries in the physiology of muscle. He was a graduate in physics from Christ's College, Cambridge. However, his education was interrupted for five years by the Second World War, during which he served in the Royal Air Force. His contribution to development of radar earned him an MBE.

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25/07/2012

B. R. Ishara, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1934)

Babu Ram Ishara was an Indian film director and screenwriter best known for his films of the 1970s. He filmed 35 Bollywood films between 1964 and 1996. He was much popular for his film Chetana, Log Kya Kahenge, Milap, Man Jaiye, Ghar Ki Laaj, Woh Phir Aayegi and Sautela Bhai.

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Barry Langford, English director and producer (born 1926)

Barry Langford was a British television and music director, producer, and businessman. He directed many television programmes for the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, and also worked as manager for musical artists including David Bowie and Tom Jones. He helped improve BBC television programming and also helped the development of Israeli television in the 1970s.

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Greg Mohns, American-Canadian football player and coach (born 1950)

Gregory R. Mohns was an American football coach and executive. He was the head coach of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1998 to 2000.

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Franz West, Austrian painter and sculptor (born 1947)

Franz West was an Austrian artist.

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25/07/2011

Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot-Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Michalis Kakogiannis, usually credited as Michael Cacoyannis or Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriot filmmaker, theatre director, and playwright. He is best known for writing, directing, producing, and editing Zorba the Greek (1964), an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel of the same name. He also directed the 1983 Broadway revival of the musical based on the film in addition to writing, directing, designing, and translating dozens of stage play and opera productions.

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25/07/2009

Vernon Forrest, American boxer (born 1971)

Vernon Forrest was an American professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC, IBF, Ring magazine and lineal welterweight between 2002 and 2003, and the WBC super welterweight title twice between 2007 and 2009. In 2002, Forrest was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

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Stanley Middleton, English author (born 1919)

Stanley Middleton FRSL was a British novelist.

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Harry Patch, English soldier (born 1898)

Henry John Patch, dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the world's last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War. Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada. At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the fourth-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning, Horacio Celi Mendoza, and Jiroemon Kimura.

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Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysian film director (born 1958)

Yasmin binti Ahmad was a Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter. She was the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur. Her television commercials and films are well known in Malaysia for being humorous and touching. Her work crossed cross-cultural barriers, particularly her ads for Petronas, the national oil and gas company. Her works have won multiple awards both within Malaysia and internationally. In Malaysia, her films were highly controversial due to their depiction of events and relationships, which have been considered 'forbidden' by social conservatives, especially hard-line interpretations of Islam. She was a central figure of the "first" New Wave of Malaysian cinema.

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25/07/2008

Jeff Fehring, Australian footballer (born 1955)

Jeff Fehring was an Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League from 1977 to 1981.

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Tracy Hall, American chemist and academic (born 1919)

Howard Tracy Hall was an American physical chemist and one of the early pioneers in the research of synthetic diamonds, using a press of his own design.

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Randy Pausch, American computer scientist and educator (born 1960)

Randolph Frederick Pausch was an American educator, a professor of computer science, human–computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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25/07/2007

Bernd Jakubowski, German footballer and manager (born 1952)

Bernd Jakubowski was an East German footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

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25/07/2006

Ezra Fleischer, Romanian-Israeli poet and philologist (born 1928)

Ezra Fleischer was a Romanian-Israeli Hebrew-language poet and philologist known for his pioneering research on early Hebrew piyyut and medieval Jewish liturgy. Fleischer received the Israel Prize for Literature Studies in 1959 for his contributions to Hebrew poetry and philology.

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25/07/2005

Albert Mangelsdorff, German trombonist (born 1928)

Albert Mangelsdorff was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics.

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25/07/2004

John Passmore, Australian philosopher and academic (born 1914)

John Arthur Passmore was an Australian philosopher.

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25/07/2003

Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (born 1912)

Ludwig Bölkow was a German aeronautical engineer.

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John Schlesinger, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

John Richard Schlesinger was an English film, television and theatre director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing with provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the rare openly gay directors working in mainstream films.

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25/07/2002

Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher and poet (born 1917)

Abdel Rahman Badawi was an Egyptian existentialist philosopher, professor of philosophy and poet. He has been called the "foremost master of Arab existentialism." He published more than 150 works, mostly rendering of Arabic philosophical manuscripts.

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25/07/2000

Rudi Faßnacht, German footballer, coach, and manager (born 1934)

Rudolf "Rudi" Faßnacht was a German football manager.

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25/07/1998

Evangelos Papastratos, Greek businessman, co-founded Papastratos (born 1910)

Evangelos Papastratos was a Greek businessman born in the city of Agrinio in Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece.

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25/07/1997

Ben Hogan, American golfer (born 1912)

William Ben Hogan was an American professional golfer who is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He profoundly influenced golf swing theory, and was noted for his ballstriking skill and assiduous practice. Hogan won nine major championships and is one of six men to complete the modern career grand slam.

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25/07/1995

Charlie Rich, American singer-songwriter (born 1932)

Charles Allan Rich was an American country singer. His eclectic style of music also blended influences from rockabilly, jazz, blues, soul, and gospel.

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25/07/1992

Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (born 1914)

Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.

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25/07/1991

Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician (born 1893)

Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and one of Joseph Stalin's closest associates.

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25/07/1989

Steve Rubell, American businessman, co-owner of Studio 54 (born 1943)

Steve Rubell was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54.

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25/07/1988

Judith Barsi, American child actress (born 1978)

Judith Eva Barsi was an American child actress. She began her career in television, making appearances in commercials and television series, as well as the 1987 film Jaws: The Revenge. She also provided the voices of Ducky in The Land Before Time and Anne-Marie in All Dogs Go to Heaven, both released after her death. She and her mother, Maria, were killed in July 1988 in a double murder–suicide committed in their home by her father, József Barsi.

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25/07/1986

Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (born 1903)

Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2026, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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25/07/1984

Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1913)

Bryan Aldwyn Hextall was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the New York Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL). Considered one of the top wingers of the 1940s, he led the NHL in goal scoring twice and in points once. Additionally, he was named a first-team All-Star three times, and a second-team All-Star once.

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Big Mama Thornton, American singer-songwriter (born 1926)

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B.

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25/07/1982

Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (born 1892)

Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip Prince Valiant. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail.

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25/07/1981

Rosa A. González, Puerto Rican nurse, author, feminist, and activist (born 1889)

Rosa A. González, RN, was a nurse, author, feminist and activist. She established various health clinics throughout Puerto Rico and was the founder of The Association of Registered Nurses of Puerto Rico. In 1929, Gonzalez wrote a book titled Los Hechos Desconocidos, in which she denounced the discrimination against women and nurses in Puerto Rico. González’s book convinced James R. Beverley, the Interim Governor of Puerto Rico, to sign Ley 77 in May 1930, which established a Nurses Examining Board. In 1978, she was the first recipient of the Public Health Department of Puerto Rico Garrido Morales Award.

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25/07/1980

Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1938)

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often-humorous street jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime and has exerted significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.

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25/07/1977

Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist (born 1900)

Captain Shivrampant Damle was an Indian educationist. He is best remembered for founding the Maharashtriya Mandal in 1924.

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25/07/1973

Amy Jacques Garvey, Jamaican-American journalist and activist (born 1895)

Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey was a Jamaican-born journalist and activist. She was the second wife of Marcus Garvey. She was one of the pioneering female Black journalists and publishers of the 20th century.

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Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1882)

Louis Stephen St. Laurent was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 12th prime minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957.

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25/07/1971

John Meyers, American swimmer and water polo player (born 1880)

Edward John Meyers was an American freestyle swimmer and water polo player for the Missouri Athletic Club who won a bronze medal for the U.S. in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Leroy Robertson, American composer and educator (born 1896)

Leroy Robertson was an American composer and music educator.

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25/07/1967

Konstantinos Parthenis, Egyptian-Greek painter (born 1878)

Konstantinos Parthenis was a Greek painter. Born in Alexandria, part of the Greek community in Egypt, Parthenis broke with the Greek academic tradition of the 19th century and introduced modern elements together with traditional themes, like the figure of Christ, in his art.

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25/07/1966

Frank O'Hara, American poet and critic (born 1926)

Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure in the New York School, an informal group of artists, writers, and musicians who drew inspiration from jazz, surrealism, abstract expressionism, action painting, and contemporary avant-garde art movements.

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25/07/1963

Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and academic (born 1877)

Ugo Cerletti was an Italian neurologist who discovered the method of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used in psychiatry. Electroconvulsive therapy is a therapy in which electric current is used to provoke a seizure for a short duration. This therapy is used in an attempt to treat certain mental disorders, and may be useful when other possible treatments have not, or cannot, cure the person of their mental disorder.

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25/07/1962

Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (born 1879)

Thibaudeau Rinfret was a Canadian jurist who served as the ninth Chief Justice of Canada from 1944 to 1954 and briefly as Administrator of Canada from January to February 1952. He also served as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1924 to 1944.

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25/07/1959

Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Irish rabbi and author (born 1888)

Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, also known as Isaac Herzog or Hertzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term lasting from 1921 to 1936. From 1936 until his death in 1959, he was Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine and of Israel after its creation in 1948. He was the father of Chaim Herzog and grandfather of Isaac Herzog, both presidents of Israel.

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25/07/1958

Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (born 1891)

Otto Abraham Lasanen was a featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Finland. He won a bronze medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics and placed fourth at the 1914 unofficial European Championships. In 1917 he won a Russian title, as Finland was part of Russia then. Lasanen was a car driver by profession.

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25/07/1952

Herbert Murrill, English organist and composer (born 1909)

Herbert Henry John Murrill was an English musician, composer, and organist.

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25/07/1947

Kathleen Scott, English sculptor (born 1878)

Edith Agnes Kathleen Young, Baroness Kennet, FRBS was a British sculptor. Trained in London and Paris, Scott was a prolific sculptor, notably of portrait heads and busts and also of several larger public monuments. These included a number of war memorials plus statues of her first husband, the Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Although the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes her as "the most significant and prolific British women sculptor before Barbara Hepworth", her traditional style of sculpture and her hostility to the abstract work of, for example Hepworth and Henry Moore, has led to a lack of recognition for her artistic achievements.

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25/07/1942

Fred Englehardt, American triple jumper (born 1879)

Frederick William Englehardt was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and triple jump. He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the triple jump where he won the silver medal. He was also 4th in the long jump.

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25/07/1934

François Coty, French businessman, founded Coty (born 1874)

François Coty was a French perfumer, businessman, newspaper publisher, politician and patron of the arts. He was the founder of the Coty perfume company, today a multinational. He is considered the founding father of the modern perfume industry.

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Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician, 14th Chancellor of Austria (born 1892)

Engelbert Dollfuss was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative and nationalist government. This crisis culminated in the self-elimination of the Austrian Parliament, a coup sparked by the resignation of the presiding officers of the National Council. Suppressing the Socialist movement in the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented his rule through the First of May Constitution in 1934. Later that year, Dollfuss was assassinated as part of a failed coup attempt by Nazi agents. His successor Kurt Schuschnigg maintained the regime until Adolf Hitler's Anschluss in 1938.

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Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary (born 1888)

Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, also known as Bat'ko Makhno, was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence. He established the Makhnovshchina, a mass movement by the Ukrainian peasantry to establish anarchist communism in the country between 1918 and 1921. Initially centered around Makhno's home province of Katerynoslav and hometown of Huliaipole, it came to exert a strong influence over large areas of southern Ukraine, specifically in what is now the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine. Anarchists have cited him as an inspiration during his life and into today.

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25/07/1887

John Taylor, American religious leader, 3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1808)

John Taylor was an English-born American religious leader who served as the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1880 to 1887. He is the first and so far only president of the LDS Church to have been born outside the United States.

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25/07/1865

James Barry, English soldier and surgeon (born 1799)

James Barry was a military surgeon in the British Army. Originally from the city of Cork in Ireland, Barry obtained a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, then served first in Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently in many parts of the British Empire. Before retirement, Barry had risen to the rank of Inspector General in charge of military hospitals, the second-highest medical office in the British Army. He improved conditions not only for wounded soldiers, but also for the native inhabitants. Barry performed the first recorded caesarean section by a European in Africa in which both the mother and child survived the surgery.

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25/07/1861

Jonas Furrer, Swiss lawyer and politician, President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1805)

Jonas Furrer was a Swiss lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Federal Council, from 1848 to 1861, and as the first president of the Swiss Confederation from 1848 to 1849, and again in 1852, 1855 and 1858. He was one of the leading figures in the foundation of Switzerland as a federal state. He was a member of the Radical Party.

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25/07/1843

Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof fabric (born 1766)

Charles Macintosh FRS was a Scottish chemist and the inventor of the modern waterproof raincoat. The Mackintosh raincoat is named after him.

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25/07/1842

Dominique Jean Larrey, French physician and surgeon (born 1766)

Dominique Jean, Baron Larrey was a French surgeon and soldier best known for his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. An important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage, Larrey invented the flying ambulance and is sometimes considered the first modern military surgeon.

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25/07/1834

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English philosopher, poet, and critic (born 1772)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd.

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25/07/1831

Maria Szymanowska, Polish composer and pianist (born 1789)

Maria Szymanowska was a Polish composer and one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. She toured extensively throughout Europe, especially in the 1820s, before settling permanently in St. Petersburg. In the Russian imperial capital, she composed for the court, gave concerts, taught music, and ran an influential salon. The salons in 18th-century France were intellectual gatherings held at home by educated women. In 1837, the composer and music critic Robert Schumann defined salon music as elegant light music and stated that this type of social music should sound beautiful, delicate, and fashionable. Szymanowska was highly praised by Schumann for her salon music works, especially her etudes.

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25/07/1826

Kondraty Ryleyev, Russian poet and publisher (born 1795)

Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev was a Russian poet, publisher, and a leader of the Decembrist revolt, which attempted to overthrow the Russian monarchy in 1825.

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25/07/1794

André Chénier, Greek-French poet and author (born 1762)

André Marie Chénier was a French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement. His career was brought to an abrupt end when he was guillotined for supposed "crimes against the state". Chénier's life has been the subject of Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chénier and other works of art.

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Jean-Antoine Roucher, French poet and author (born 1745)

Jean-Antoine Roucher, was a French poet.

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Friedrich von der Trenck, Prussian adventurer and author (born 1726)

Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck was a Prussian officer, adventurer, and author.

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25/07/1791

Isaac Low, American merchant and politician (born 1735)

Isaac Low was an American merchant in New York City who served as a member of the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association. He later served as a delegate to the New York Provincial Congress. Though originally a Patriot, he later joined the Loyalist cause in the American Revolution.

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25/07/1790

Johann Bernhard Basedow, German educator and reformer (born 1723)

Johann Bernhard Basedow was a German educational reformer, teacher and writer. He founded the Philanthropinum, a short-lived but influential progressive school in Dessau, and was the author of "Elementarwerk", a popular illustrated textbook for children.

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William Livingston, American soldier and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (born 1723)

William Livingston was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congress, he signed the Continental Association and the United States Constitution. He is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a founding father of New Jersey.

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25/07/1681

Urian Oakes, English-American minister and educator (born 1631)

Urian Oakes was an English-born American Congregational minister and educator who served as the fourth president of Harvard College from 1675 to 1681.

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25/07/1643

Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English general and politician (born 1584)

Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull was an English nobleman who joined the Royalist side in the English Civil War after some delay and became lieutenant-general of the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Norfolk. He was killed in a friendly fire incident after being captured by Parliamentary forces.

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25/07/1616

Andreas Libavius, German physician and chemist (born 1550)

Andreas Libavius was a German writer.

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25/07/1608

Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer (born 1556)

Pomponio Nenna was a Neapolitan Italian composer of the Renaissance. He is mainly remembered for his madrigals, which were influenced by Gesualdo, and for his polychoral sacred motets, posthumously published as Sacrae Hebdomadae Responsoria in 1622.

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25/07/1572

Isaac Luria, Ottoman rabbi and mystic (born 1534)

Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria, commonly known in Jewish religious circles as Ha'ari, Ha'ari Hakadosh or Arizal, was a leading rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine, now Israel. He is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah, his teachings being referred to as Lurianic Kabbalah.

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25/07/1564

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1503)

Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564. Before his accession as emperor, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the House of Habsburg in the name of his elder brother, Emperor Charles V, and often served as Charles' representative in developing encouraging relationships with German princes. In addition, Ferdinand also developed valuable relationships with the German banking house of Jakob Fugger and the Catalan bank, Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana.

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25/07/1492

Innocent VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1432)

Pope Innocent VIII, born Giovanni Battista Cybo, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his early years at the Neapolitan court. He became a priest in the retinue of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V (1447–55); Bishop of Savona under Pope Paul II; and with the support of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere he was made a cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV. After intense politicking by Della Rovere, Cybo was elected pope in 1484. King Ferdinand I of Naples had supported Cybo's competitor, Rodrigo Borgia. The following year, Pope Innocent supported the barons in their failed revolt.

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25/07/1472

Charles of Artois, French nobleman (born 1394)

Charles of Artois, was Count of Eu from 23 December 1397 until his death 75 years later. He was son of Philip of Artois, Count of Eu, and Marie of Berry. Charles was taken prisoner by the English at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415 and was not released until 1438. In 1448, he married Jeanne of Saveuse, and on 23 September 1454, Helene of Melun, but he had no children. He was appointed Lieutenant of the King in Normandy and Guyenne, as well as Governor of Paris, during the War of the Public Weal in 1465.

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25/07/1471

Thomas à Kempis, German priest and mystic

Thomas à Kempis was a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular of the Augustinians and the author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen, Germany, being his home town.

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25/07/1409

Martin I, king of Sicily (born 1376)

Martin I of Sicily, called the Younger, was King of Sicily from his marriage to Queen Maria in 1390 until his death in 1409.

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25/07/1195

Herrad of Landsberg, abbess, author, and illustrator (born c. 1130)

Herrad of Landsberg was a 12th-century Alsatian nun and abbess of Hohenburg Abbey in the Vosges mountains. She was known as the author of the pictorial encyclopedia Hortus deliciarum.

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25/07/1190

Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem

Sibylla was the queen of Jerusalem from 1186 until her death in 1190. She reigned alongside her husband Guy of Lusignan, whom she continued to support despite his unpopularity among the barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

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25/07/1011

Ichijō, emperor of Japan (born 980)

Emperor Ichijō was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

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25/07/0885

Ragenold, margrave of Neustria

Ragenold was the Count of Herbauges from 852 and Count of Maine and Margrave of Neustria from 878. His family is unidentified, but he may have been a son of Reginald of Herbauges.

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25/07/0306

Constantius Chlorus, Roman emperor (born 250)

Flavius Valerius Constantius, also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306—and was father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. The nickname "Chlorus" was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime.

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