Died on Saturday, 26th July – Famous Deaths
On 26th July, 103 remarkable people passed away — from 342 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
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Saturday, 26 July marks a date when numerous notable figures across history have passed away. Among those remembered on this date is Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer and musician who died in 2023 at the age of 57. Known for her distinctive voice and controversial career, O’Connor left a significant impact on popular music through her interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs. Another figure commemorated on this date is Gottlob Frege, the German mathematician and philosopher who died in 1925, whose work in logic and the philosophy of language fundamentally shaped twentieth-century analytical philosophy and mathematics.
The historical record for 26 July extends across centuries and continents. Notable deaths include Eva Perón, the Argentinian First Lady, who passed in 1952, and William Jennings Bryan, the American politician and three-time presidential candidate, who died in 1925. Across different eras and professions, from administrators and military leaders to artists and scholars, the date represents a significant pattern of mortality that spans from ancient times through to the modern era.
On 26 July 2025, the moon reaches the waning gibbous phase, whilst the date falls under the Leo zodiac sign. The weather conditions for this date show clear skies with temperatures around 22 degrees Celsius and a light breeze from the northwest. DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about weather patterns, notable events, famous births and deaths for any specified date and location.
See who passed away today 16th April.
26/07/2025
Tom Lehrer, American singer, comedian and mathematician (born 1928)
Thomas Andrew Lehrer was an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy, humorous, and often political songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs parodied popular musical forms, often with original melodies.
26/07/2023
Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer and musician (born 1966)
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor, also known as Shuhada' Sadaqat, was an Irish singer, musician and activist. During her musical career, which encompassed several hit records and artist collaborations, O'Connor drew attention to issues such as child abuse, human rights, racism, and women's rights. She was also known for her outspoken public image, openly discussing her spiritual journey, activism, socio-political viewpoints, and struggles with mental health.
26/07/2021
Joey Jordison, American musician (born 1975)
Nathan Jonas "Joey" Jordison was an American musician. He was the original drummer of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he was designated #1, and the guitarist for the horror punk supergroup Murderdolls.
26/07/2020
Olivia de Havilland, American actress (born 1916)
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland was a British, American and French actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. Before her death in 2020 at age 104, she was the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner and was widely considered as being the last surviving major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Her younger sister, with whom she had a noted rivalry which was well documented in the media, was Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine.
26/07/2019
Russi Taylor, American voice actress (born 1944)
Russi Taylor was an American voice actress. She was best remembered for voicing the character of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019 and was married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, from 1991 until his death in 2009. She was the longest-tenured voice actress to voice the character, holding the role for 33 years. She also provided the voices of several characters in The Simpsons, most prominently Martin Prince, Uter Zorker, and Sherri and Terri. She died on July 26, 2019 in Glendale, California from colon cancer, at 75 years of age.
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cuban Roman Catholic prelate (born 1936)
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino was a Cuban prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Havana from 1981 to 2016. He was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 1994, the second Cuban to hold that distinction.
26/07/2018
Adem Demaçi, Kosovo Albanian politician and writer (born 1936)
Adem Demaçi was a Kosovo Albanian author, politician, and human rights defender. He became notable during the breakup of Yugoslavia for suggesting the creation of Balkania in 1996, a hypothetical confederacy proposed as an independent successor state to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the Balkans.
John Kline, American basketball player (born 1931)
John Kline was an American basketball player for the Harlem Globetrotters (1953–1959) who founded the Black Legends of Professional Basketball in 1996.
26/07/2017
June Foray, American voice actress (born 1917)
June Foray was an American voice actress and radio personality, best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney's Cinderella, Cindy Lou Who, Jokey Smurf, Granny from the Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, Grammi Gummi from Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears series, and Magica De Spell, among many others.
Patti Deutsch, American voice artist and comedic actress (born 1943)
Patricia Deutsch Ross was an American actress who was known as a recurring panelist on the 1970s game shows Match Game and Tattletales.
Ronald Phillips, American criminal (born 1973)
Ronald Ray Phillips was an Ohio death row inmate who was sentenced to death and executed for the 1993 rape and murder of Sheila Evans, the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, Fae Amanda Evans, after an extended period of physical and sexual abuse against the child. Evans was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering for her involvement and sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison. She died of leukemia on July 8, 2008, aged 41, at the state prison hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
26/07/2016
Solomon Feferman, American philosopher and mathematician (born 1928)
Solomon Feferman was an American philosopher and mathematician who worked in mathematical logic. In addition to his prolific technical work in proof theory, computability theory, and set theory, he was known for his contributions to the history of logic and as a vocal proponent of the philosophy of mathematics known as predicativism, notably from an anti-platonist stance.
26/07/2015
Bijoy Krishna Handique, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Mines (born 1934)
Bijoy Krishna Handique was an Indian politician and a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Jorhat constituency of Assam and was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He was the only son of Krishna Kanta Handique, a renowned Indologist. Handique was a senior Member of Parliament from the North Eastern Region and represented the Jorhat Lok Sabha, Assam for six consecutive terms from 1991 to 2009. He also served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1980 to 1986. He had been elected to the Assam State Assembly in 1972 from the Jorhat constituency.
Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (born 1926)
Flora Isabel MacDonald was a Canadian politician and humanitarian. Canada's first female foreign minister, she was also one of the first women to vie for leadership of a major Canadian political party, the Progressive Conservatives. She became a close ally of Prime Minister Joe Clark, serving in his cabinet from 1979 to 1980, as well as in the cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1988. In her later life, she was known for her humanitarian work abroad. Jimmy Carter has said that 90% of the contribution to freeing American hostages in Iran should be attributed to her and Kenneth D. Taylor. The City of Ottawa recognised MacDonald on July 11, 2018, by naming a new bicycle and footbridge over the Rideau Canal the Flora Footbridge.
Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (born 1922)
Leo Charles Reise Jr. was a professional ice hockey player in the NHL and son of former pro Leo Reise. He was born in Stoney Creek, Ontario.
Ann Rule, American police officer and author (born 1931)
Ann Rae Rule was an American author of true crime books and articles. She is best known for The Stranger Beside Me (1980), about the serial killer Ted Bundy, her co-worker and one-time friend, who was later revealed to be a murderer. Rule wrote over 30 true crime books, including Small Sacrifices, about Oregon child murderer Diane Downs. Many of Rule's books center on murder cases that occurred in the Pacific Northwest and her adopted home state of Washington.
26/07/2014
Oleh Babayev, Ukrainian businessman and politician (born 1965)
Oleh Meydanovych Babaiev was a Ukrainian politician and an owner of two professional football clubs in the Poltava Oblast. In 2010, he was elected Mayor of Kremenchuk. He was assassinated in his car in front of his house on July 26, 2014.
Charles R. Larson, American admiral (born 1936)
Charles Robert Larson was an Admiral of the United States Navy.
Richard MacCormac, English architect, founded MJP Architects (born 1938)
Sir Richard Cornelius MacCormac CBE, PPRIBA, FRSA, RA, was a modernist English architect and the founder of MJP Architects.
Sergei O. Prokofieff, Russian anthropologist and author (born 1954)
Sergei Olegovich Prokofieff was a Russian anthroposophist. He was the grandson of the composer Sergei Prokofiev and his first wife Lina Prokofiev, and the son of Oleg Prokofiev and his first wife Sofia Feinberg (1928—2025). Born in Moscow, he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. He encountered anthroposophy in his youth, and soon made the decision to devote his life to it.
Roland Verhavert, Belgian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)
Roland Verhavert was a Belgian film director. He directed 44 films between 1955 and 1993. He co-directed the 1955 film Seagulls Die in the Harbour, which was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. His 1974 film The Conscript was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.
26/07/2013
Luther F. Cole, American lawyer and politician (born 1925)
Luther Francis Cole was an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as a state legislator and then as a judge.
Harley Flanders, American mathematician and academic (born 1925)
Harley M. Flanders was an American mathematician, known for several textbooks and contributions to his fields: algebra and algebraic number theory, linear algebra, electrical networks, scientific computing.
Sung Jae-gi, South Korean philosopher and activist (born 1967)
Sung Jae-gi was a South Korean men's rights activist. Sung was the leader of various masculinist and anti-feminist organizations, including the Association of Anti-Feminism and Male Liberation, Association for the Abolition of the Ministry of Women, and Man of Korea. Sung also ran a shelter for homeless men, male victims of violent crime, teenage runaways, and gay and transgender men.
George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1919)
George Phydias Mitchell was an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist from Texas credited with pioneering the economic extraction of shale gas.
26/07/2012
Don Bagley, American bassist and composer (born 1927)
Donald Neff Bagley was an American jazz bassist.
Karl Benjamin, American painter and educator (born 1925)
Karl Stanley Benjamin was an American painter of vibrant geometric abstractions, who rose to fame in 1959 as one of four Los Angeles–based Abstract Classicists and subsequently produced a critically acclaimed body of work that explores a vast array of color relationships. Working quietly at his home in Claremont, California, he developed a rich vocabulary of colors and hard-edge shapes in masterful compositions of tightly balanced repose or high-spirited energy. At once intuitive and systematic, the artist was, in the words of critic Christopher Knight, "a colorist of great wit and inventiveness."
Miriam Ben-Porat, Russian-Israeli lawyer and jurist (born 1918)
Miriam Ben-Porat was an Israeli jurist. She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Israel and the State Comptroller of Israel from 1988–1998.
Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (born 1942)
Guadalupe Ontiveros was an American actress best known for portraying Rosalita in The Goonies, and Yolanda Saldívar in the film Selena. She acted in numerous films and television shows. Ontiveros was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on Desperate Housewives and received critical acclaim for her role in Chuck & Buck, for which Ontiveros won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress, and was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
James D. Watkins, American admiral and politician, 6th United States Secretary of Energy (born 1927)
James David Watkins was a United States Navy admiral and former Chief of Naval Operations who served as the United States Secretary of Energy during the George H. W. Bush administration, also chairing U.S. government commissions on HIV/AIDS and ocean policy. Watkins also served on the boards of various companies and other nongovernmental organizations and as the co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.
26/07/2011
Joe Arroyo, Colombian singer-songwriter and composer (born 1955)
Álvaro Arroyo González was a Colombian salsa and tropical music singer, composer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest performers of Caribbean and salsa music in his country and across Latin America. In 2018, Billboard counted Arroyo's song "La Rebelión" as one of the "15 Best Salsa Songs Ever".
Tom Borton, American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer (born 1956)
Thomas William Borton was an American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer, and was the founder and CEO of Los Angeles Post Music, Inc.
Richard Harris, American-Canadian football player and coach (born 1948)
Richard Drew Harris was an American professional football player who was a defensive end who played seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was an All-American in 1970 for Grambling and was selected in the first round of the 1971 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, the first defensive player chosen. Harris was named to the NFL All-Rookie team in 1971 and was widely regarded as one of the fastest defensive linemen in professional football before being hobbled by knee injuries.
Sakyo Komatsu, Japanese author and screenwriter (born 1931)
Sakyo Komatsu was a Japanese science fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the most well known and highly regarded science fiction writers in Japan.
Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (born 1923)
Margaret Hannah Olley was an Australian painter. She held over ninety solo exhibitions during her lifetime.
26/07/2010
Sivakant Tiwari, Indian-Singaporean politician (born 1945)
Sivakant Tiwari, P.P.A.(E.), P.B.S., P.P.A.(E.)(L.), P.J.G., known professionally as S. Tiwari, was a senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service. He was educated at the University of Singapore, graduating in law in 1971. He then made the Legal Service his career, serving as head of the Ministry of Defence's legal department (1974), and head of the Attorney-General's Chambers' Civil Division (1987) and International Affairs Division (1995). He was lead counsel in three significant commissions of inquiry arising out of fatal incidents in the 1970s and 1980s. A skilled negotiator, Tiwari was a member of the Singapore delegation which dealt with the United States – Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed in 2003, and served as legal adviser to the delegation which established diplomatic relations between Singapore and the People's Republic of China. He was also on Singapore's legal team in a case concluded in 2003 that had been brought by Malaysia to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for provisional measures against alleged damage to its territorial waters due to land reclamation by Singapore, and in the territorial dispute with Malaysia over Pedra Branca before the International Court of Justice in 2007.
26/07/2009
Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (born 1919)
Mercier Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage, David Tudor, Brian Eno, and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.
26/07/2007
Lars Forssell, Swedish author, poet, and playwright (born 1928)
Lars Hans Carl Abraham Forssell was a Swedish writer and member of the Swedish Academy. Forssell was a versatile writer who worked within many genres, including poetry, drama and songwriting. He was awarded the Bellman Prize in both 1968 and 1981
Skip Prosser, American basketball player and coach (born 1950)
George Edward "Skip" Prosser was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He is the only coach in NCAA history to take three separate schools to the NCAA tournament in their first year coaching. In 21 years as a collegiate coach, he made 18 postseason appearances.
26/07/2005
Alexander Golitzen, Russian-born American production designer and art director (born 1908)
Prince Alexander Golitzen (Golitsyn) was a Russian-born American production designer who oversaw art direction on more than 300 movies.
Jack Hirshleifer, American economist and academic (born 1925)
Jack Hirshleifer was an American economist and long-time professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1945)
Jean Gilles "Captain Crunch" Marotte was a Canadian defenceman in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.
26/07/2004
William A. Mitchell, American chemist, created Pop Rocks and Cool Whip (born 1911)
William A. Mitchell was an American food chemist who, while working for General Foods Corporation between 1941 and 1976, was the key inventor behind Pop Rocks, Tang, Cool Whip, and powdered egg whites. During his career he received over 70 patents.
26/07/2001
Rex T. Barber, American colonel and pilot (born 1917)
Rex Theodore Barber Sr. was a World War II fighter pilot from the United States. He is best known as a member of Operation Vengeance, the top secret mission to intercept the aircraft carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in April 1943.
Peter von Zahn, German journalist and author (born 1913)
Peter von Zahn was a German author, film maker, and journalist.
26/07/2000
John Tukey, American mathematician and academic (born 1915)
John Wilder Tukey was an American mathematician and statistician, best known for the development of the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm, the box plot and for laying the foundations of the field of exploratory data analysis. The Tukey range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, the Tukey test of additivity, and the Teichmüller–Tukey lemma all bear his name. He is also credited with coining the term bit and the first published use of the word software.
26/07/1999
Walter Jackson Bate, American author and critic (born 1918)
Walter Jackson Bate was an American literary critic and biographer. He is known for Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography-winning biographies of Samuel Johnson (1978) and John Keats (1964). Samuel Johnson also won the 1978 U.S. National Book Award in Biography.
Phaedon Gizikis, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (born 1917)
Phaedon Gizikis was a Greek army general who was the last President of Greece under the junta from 1973 to 1974.
26/07/1996
Max Winter, American businessman and sports executive (born 1903)
Max Winter was a Minneapolis businessman and sport executive who helped found the Minnesota Vikings.
26/07/1995
Laurindo Almeida, Brazilian-American guitarist and composer (born 1917)
Laurindo José de Araújo Almeida Nóbrega Neto was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music. He was one of the pioneers in the creation of bossa nova. Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Grammy Awards for both classical and jazz performances. His discography encompasses more than a hundred recordings over five decades.
Raymond Mailloux, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1918)
Raymond Mailloux was a Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, he was the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the Charlevoix riding from 1962 to 1985.
George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (born 1907)
George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as chairman and president of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and 3rd secretary of housing and urban development from 1969 to 1973. He was the father of Mitt Romney, who served as United States senator from Utah and as governor of Massachusetts and was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee; the husband of 1970 U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney; and the paternal grandfather of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.
26/07/1994
James Luther Adams, American theologian and academic (born 1901)
James Luther Adams, an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.
26/07/1993
Matthew Ridgway, American general (born 1895)
Matthew Bunker Ridgway was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he saw no combat service in World War I, he was intensively involved in World War II, where he was the first Commanding General (CG) of the 82nd Airborne Division, leading it in action in Sicily, Italy and Normandy, before taking command of the newly formed XVIII Airborne Corps in August 1944. He held the latter post until the end of the war in mid-1945, commanding the corps in the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Varsity and the Western Allied invasion of Germany.
26/07/1992
Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (born 1943)
Mary Esther Wells was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
26/07/1988
Fazlur Rahman Malik, Pakistani philosopher, scholar, and academic (born 1919)
Fazlur Rahman Malik, commonly known as Fazlur Rahman, was a modernist scholar and Islamic philosopher from present-day Pakistan. Recognized as a leading liberal reformer within Islam, he focused on educational reform and promoting independent reasoning (ijtihad). His work has attracted both significant interest and criticism in Muslim-majority countries. His reformist ideas led to protests by over a thousand clerics, faqihs, muftis, and teachers in Pakistan, ultimately resulting in his exile.
26/07/1986
W. Averell Harriman, American politician and diplomat, 11th United States Secretary of Commerce (born 1891)
William Averell Harriman was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment bank, served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman, and was the 48th governor of New York. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1952 and 1956. Throughout his career, he was a key foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidents.
26/07/1984
George Gallup, American mathematician and statistician, founded the Gallup Company (born 1901)
George Horace Gallup was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a statistically based survey sampled measure of public opinion.
Ed Gein, American serial killer (born 1906)
Edward Theodore Gein, also known as the Butcher of Plainfield and the Plainfield Ghoul, was an American murderer and body snatcher. His crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety in 1957 after authorities discovered that he stole corpses from local graveyards and fashioned keepsakes from their bones and skin. He also confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957.
26/07/1971
Diane Arbus, American photographer and academic (born 1923)
Diane Arbus was an American photographer. She photographed a wide range of subjects including strippers, carnival performers, nudists, people with dwarfism, children, mothers, couples, elderly people, and middle-class families. She photographed her subjects in familiar settings: their homes, on the street, in the workplace, in the park. "She is noted for expanding notions of acceptable subject matter and violates canons of the appropriate distance between photographer and subject. By befriending, not objectifying her subjects, she was able to capture in her work a rare psychological intensity."
26/07/1970
Robert Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 11th Chief Justice of Canada (born 1896)
Robert Taschereau was a lawyer who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Canada from 1963 to 1967, as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1940 to 1963, and briefly as the Administrator of the Government of Canada for one month from March to April 1967 following the death of Governor General of Canada Georges Vanier.
26/07/1968
Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (born 1899)
Cemal Tollu was a Turkish painter. He served in the Turkish War of Independence as a cavalry lieutenant. and witnessed the Fire of Manisa. In 1933 he founded the "D Group" with several other painters who were devoted to Cubism and Constructivism. In his later life he was to teach at the Fine Arts Academy of Istanbul until 1965.
26/07/1964
Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, English race car driver and politician (born 1884)
Francis Richard Henry Penn Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, styled Viscount Curzon from 1900 to 1929, was a British naval officer, Member of Parliament, and racing driver and promoter. In the 1918 UK general election he won the Battersea South seat as the candidate of the Conservative Party, which he held until 1929. While in Parliament he took up motor racing, and later won the 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans race. He ascended to the House of Lords in 1929, succeeding his father as the 5th Earl Howe. In 1928, he co-founded the British Racing Drivers' Club with Dudley Benjafield and served as its president until his death in 1964.
26/07/1960
Cedric Gibbons, British art director and production designer (born 1893)
Austin Cedric Gibbons was an American art director for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. Gibbons designed the Oscar statuette in 1928, but tasked the sculpting to George Stanley, a Los Angeles artist. He was nominated 39 times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design and won the Oscar 11 times, both of which are records.
26/07/1957
Carlos Castillo Armas, Authoritarian ruler of Guatemala (1954-1957)
Carlos Castillo Armas was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A member of the far-right National Liberation Movement (MLN) party, his authoritarian government was closely allied with the United States.
26/07/1953
Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician, 135th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1883)
Nikolaos Plastiras was a Greek general and politician, who served three times as Prime Minister of Greece. A distinguished soldier known for his personal bravery, he became famous as "The Black Rider" during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, where he commanded the 5/42 Evzone Regiment. Due to his fame, he retained his position despite the military reshuffle that commenced after the 1920 elections. After the Greek defeat in the war, along with other Venizelist officers he launched the 11 September 1922 Revolution that deposed King Constantine I of Greece and his government. The military-led government ruled until January 1924, when power was handed over to an elected National Assembly, which later declared the Second Hellenic Republic. In the interwar period, Plastiras remained a devoted Venizelist and republican. Trying to avert the rise of the royalist People's Party and the restoration of the monarchy, he led two coup attempts in 1933 and 1935, both of which failed, hastening the collapse of the Second Republic and forcing Plastiras to exile in France.
26/07/1952
Eva Perón, Argentinian politician, 25th First Lady of Argentina (born 1919)
María Eva Duarte de Perón, better known as Eva "Evita" Perón, was an Argentine politician, activist, and actress who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 1946 until her death in July 1952, as the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón. She was born into poverty in the rural village of Los Toldos, in the Pampas, as the youngest of five children. In 1934, at the age of 15, she moved to the nation's capital of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage, radio, and film actress. She married Perón in 1945, when he was still an army colonel, and was propelled onto the political stage when he became President of Argentina in 1946. She became a central figure of Peronism and Argentine culture because of the Eva Perón Foundation, a charitable organization perceived by many Argentinians as highly impactful.
26/07/1951
James Mitchell, Australian politician, 13th Premier of Western Australia (born 1866)
Sir James Mitchell, was an Australian politician. He served as premier of Western Australia from 1919 to 1924 and from 1930 to 1933, as leader of the Nationalist Party. He then held viceregal office from 1933 to 1951, as acting governor from 1933 to 1948 and governor of Western Australia from 1948 until his death in 1951.
26/07/1942
Roberto Arlt, Argentinian author and playwright (born 1900)
Roberto Arlt was an Argentine novelist, storyteller, playwright, and journalist.
26/07/1941
Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician and academic (born 1875)
Henri Léon Lebesgue was a French mathematician known for his theory of integration, which was a generalization of the 17th-century concept of integration—summing the area between an axis and the curve of a function defined for that axis. His theory was published originally in his dissertation Intégrale, longueur, aire at the University of Nancy during 1902.
26/07/1934
Winsor McCay, American cartoonist, animator, producer, and screenwriter (born 1871)
Zenas Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For contractual reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
26/07/1932
Fred Duesenberg, German-American businessman, co-founded the Duesenberg Company (born 1876)
Frederick Samuel Duesenberg was a German-born American automobile and engine designer, manufacturer and sportsman who was internationally known as a designer of racecars and racing engines. Duesenberg's engineering expertise influenced the development of the automobile, especially during the 1910s and 1920s. He is credited with introducing an eight-cylinder engine, also known as the Duesenberg Straight-8 engine, and four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a first for American cars, in addition to other mechanical innovations. Duesenberg was also patentholder of his designs for a four-wheel hydraulic brake, an early automatic transmission, and a cooling system, among others. Fred and his younger brother, August "Augie" Duesenberg, shared the patents, filed in 1913 and renewed in 1918, for their "walking beam" four-cylinder engine and the Duesenberg Straight 8.
26/07/1930
Pavlos Karolidis, Greek historian and academic (born 1849)
Pavlos Karolidis or Karolides was a Greek historian who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
26/07/1926
Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War, son of Abraham Lincoln (born 1843)
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and businessman. He was the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, and the only one of their four children to survive past 18 and also the only one to outlive both his parents. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, and served as both United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1889–1893).
26/07/1925
Antonio Ascari, Italian race car driver (born 1888)
Antonio Ascari was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion. He won four Grands Prix before his premature death at the 1925 French Grand Prix. He was the father of two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari.
Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and philosopher (born 1848)
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philosophy, concentrating on the philosophy of language, logic, and mathematics. Though he was largely ignored during his lifetime, Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932), Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), and, to some extent, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) introduced his work to later generations of philosophers. Frege is widely considered to be one of the greatest logicians since Aristotle, and one of the most profound philosophers of mathematics ever.
William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (born 1860)
William Jennings Bryan was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He served in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895 and as the secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, Bryan was often called "the Great Commoner", and because of his rhetorical power and early fame as the youngest presidential candidate, "the Boy Orator".
26/07/1921
Howard Vernon, Australian actor (born 1848)
Howard Vernon was an Australian actor best known for his performances in comic roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the J. C. Williamson company.
26/07/1919
Edward Poynter, English painter and illustrator (born 1836)
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.
26/07/1915
James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (born 1837)
Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, FBA was a British lexicographer and philologist. He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) from 1879 until his death.
26/07/1899
Ulises Heureaux, 22nd, 26th, and 27th President of the Dominican Republic (born 1845)
Ulises Hilarión Heureaux Leibert nicknamed Lilís, was president of the Dominican Republic from September 1, 1882 to September 1, 1884, from January 6, 1887 to February 27, 1889 and again from April 30, 1889 maintaining power between his terms.
26/07/1867
Otto, king of Greece (born 1815)
Otto was King of Greece from the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece on 7 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed in October 1862.
26/07/1863
Sam Houston, American general and politician, 7th Governor of Texas, and 6th Governor of Tennessee (born 1793)
Samuel Houston was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the sixth governor of Tennessee and the seventh governor of Texas. Houston is the only individual to be elected governor of two different US states.
26/07/1801
Maximilian Francis, archduke of Austria (born 1756)
Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria was Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1780 until his death. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, he sought to implement reforms in various political fields. During the First Coalition War, his territories on the left bank of the Rhine were occupied and later annexed by France. He was the youngest child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. He was the last fully functioning Elector of Cologne and the second employer and patron of the young Ludwig van Beethoven.
26/07/1723
Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (born 1660)
Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven PC, styled 17th Baron Willoughby de Eresby between 1666 and 1701, and known as 4th Earl of Lindsey between 1701 and 1706, and as 1st Marquess of Lindsey between 1706 and 1715, was a British statesman and nobleman.
26/07/1712
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1631)
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, was an English Tory statesman. During the reign of Charles II of England, he was the leading figure in the English government for roughly five years in the mid-1670s. Osborne fell out of favour due to corruption and other scandals. He was impeached and eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London for five years until James II of England acceded in 1685. In 1688, he was one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to depose James II during the Glorious Revolution. Osborne was again the leading figure in England's government for a few years in the early 1690s before dying in 1712.
26/07/1693
Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, queen of Sweden (born 1656)
Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark was Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Charles XI. She is often admired for her generosity and charity.
26/07/1684
Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and philosopher (born 1646)
Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia or Elena Lucrezia Corner, also known in English as Helen Cornaro, was a Venetian philosopher of noble descent who in 1678 became one of the first women to receive an academic degree from a university and the first to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
26/07/1680
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier (born 1647)
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court, who reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodied a novel rebellion against the puritan programme, and he became as well known for his rakish lifestyle as for his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died as a result of a sexually transmitted infection at the age of 33.
26/07/1659
Mary Frith, English criminal (born 1584)
Mary Frith, alias Moll Cutpurse, was a notorious English pickpocket and fence of the London underworld.
26/07/1630
Charles Emmanuel I, duke of Savoy (born 1562)
Charles Emmanuel I, known as the Great and nicknamed Testa di Fuoco, was the 11th Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 30 August 1580 until his death on 26 July 1630, nearly 50 years later. At the time of his death, he was the longest-reigning Savoyard monarch, a record later surpassed by his great-grandson Victor Amadeus II.
26/07/1611
Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese daimyō (born 1542)
Horio Yoshiharu was a Japanese daimyō during the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. He was appointed to the position of one of san-chūrō by Toyotomi Hideyoshi along with Ikoma Chikamasa and Nakamura Kazuuji. He was the first leader of the Matsue clan and also known as Horio Mosuke.
26/07/1605
Miguel de Benavides, Spanish archbishop and sinologist (born 1552)
Miguel de Benavides y Añoza, O.P. was a Spanish Catholic prelate and sinologist who served as the third Archbishop of Manila. He previously served as the first Bishop of Nueva Segovia and was the founder of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
26/07/1592
Armand de Gontant, French marshal (born 1524)
Armand de Gontaut, Baron of Biron was a soldier, diplomat and Marshal of France. Beginning his service during the Italian Wars, Biron served in Italy under Marshal Brissac and Guise in 1557 before rising to command his own cavalry regiment. Returning to France with the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis he took up his duties in Guyenne, where he observed the deteriorating religious situation that was soon to devolve into the French Wars of Religion. He fought at the Battle of Dreux in the first civil war. In the peace that followed he attempted to enforce the terms on the rebellious governorship of Provence.
26/07/1533
Atahualpa, Inca emperor abducted and murdered by Francisco Pizarro (born ca. 1500)
Atawallpa, also Atahualpa or Ataw Wallpa, whose regnal name was Caccha Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui Inca, was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
26/07/1471
Paul II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1417)
Pope Paul II, born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched from training to be a merchant to religious studies. His rise in the Church was relatively rapid. Elected pope in 1464, Paul amassed a great collection of art and antiquities.
26/07/1450
Cecily Neville, duchess of Warwick (born 1424)
Cecily Neville, Duchess of Warwick, Countess of Worcester was a daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury. Her siblings included Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick; John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu; George Neville, ; Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings; and Alice Neville, Baroness FitzHugh.
26/07/1380
Kōmyō, emperor of Japan (born 1322)
Emperor Kōmyō was the second of the Emperors of Northern Court, although he was the first to be supported by the Ashikaga Bakufu. According to pre-Meiji scholars, his reign spanned the years from 1336 through 1348.
26/07/0990
Fujiwara no Kaneie, Japanese statesman (born 929)
Fujiwara no Kaneie was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period. He also was known as Hōkō-in Daijin and Higashi-sanjō-dono.
26/07/0943
Motoyoshi, Japanese nobleman and poet (born 890)
Prince Motoyoshi was a poet and nobleman of the Heian period. One of his poems is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu as number 20 in the anthology. Twenty of his poems were included in the Gosen Wakashū; a personal anthology entitled Motoyoshi Shinnō-shū (元良親王集) is also extant.
26/07/0899
Li Hanzhi, Chinese warlord (born 842)
Li Hanzhi, formally the Prince of Longxi (隴西王), nickname Li Moyun (李摩雲), was a Chinese Buddhist monk, military general, politician, and warlord of the late medieval Tang dynasty. He was initially a follower of the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao, and later became a Tang general, mostly known for his service under Li Keyong. He was known for ferocity in carrying out raids.
26/07/0811
Nikephoros I, Byzantine emperor
Nikephoros I, also known as Nicephorus I, was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. He was General Logothete under Empress Irene, but later overthrew her to seize the throne for himself. Prior to becoming emperor, he was sometimes referred to as "the Logothete" and "Genikos" or "Genicus", in recognition of his previous role as General Logothete.
26/07/0342
Cheng of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (born 321)
Emperor Cheng of Jin, personal name Sima Yan (司馬衍), courtesy name Shigen (世根), was an emperor of the Chinese Eastern Jin dynasty. He was the eldest son of Emperor Ming and became the crown prince on 1 April 325. During his reign, the administration was largely dominated by a succession of regents—initially his uncle Yu Liang, then Wang Dao, then the joint administration of his uncles He Chong and Yu Bing. He became emperor at age four, and soon after his accession to the throne, the disastrous rebellion of Su Jun weakened Jin forces for decades.