Died on Monday, 28th July – Famous Deaths

28/07/2025

Laura Dahlmeier, German biathlete, Olympic champion (born 1993)

Laura Dahlmeier was a German biathlete. Dahlmeier started in her first World Cup races in the 2012–13 season. In 2014, she participated in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. She won a record of five gold medals at the World Championships of 2017. In 2018, she became the first woman to win the biathlon sprint and pursuit in the same Olympics. During her career she won a total of two golds and one bronze at the Olympics, seven gold medals, three silver medals and five bronze medals at World Championships, one overall World Cup and two discipline World Cup titles.

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28/07/2024

John Anderson, Scottish television personality, teacher and coach (born 1931)

John Anderson was a Scottish television personality and sports coach. He was best known as the referee and official trainer on the UK television show Gladiators which featured his catchphrases including 'Contender, ready! Gladiator, ready!' Anderson previously worked as a teacher and coach for Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games athletes.

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Doug Creek, American baseball player (born 1969)

Paul Douglas Creek was an American professional baseball pitcher who played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1995 to 2005 for seven different teams. He also played one season in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hanshin Tigers in 1998.

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Reyes Moronta, Dominican baseball player (born 1993)

Reyes Armando Moronta was a Dominican professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Angels. Moronta signed with the Giants as an international free agent in 2010 and played in MLB from 2017 to 2023. He died on July 28, 2024, in an all-terrain vehicle accident in the Dominican Republic.

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Francine Pascal, American author (born 1932)

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

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28/07/2022

Bernard Cribbins, British actor (born 1928)

Bernard Joseph Cribbins was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over eight decades.

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28/07/2021

Dusty Hill, American musician (born 1949)

Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang backing and lead vocals and played keyboards.

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28/07/2020

Junrey Balawing, Filipino record holder (born 1993)

Junrey Balawing was a Filipino record holder at the Guinness World Records for the world's shortest man alive measuring at 60.00 centimetres (23.62 in) tall. The declaration came during Balawing's 18th birthday celebration. Guinness World Records official said Balawing broke the record of Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal, who was 0.67 m tall.

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28/07/2018

Wanny van Gils, Dutch footballer (born 1959)

Wanny van Gils was a Dutch football player and coach.

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28/07/2016

Émile Derlin Zinsou, Beninese politician (born 1918)

Émile Derlin Zinsou was a Beninese politician and physician who was the President of Dahomey from 17 July 1968 until 10 December 1969, supported by the military regime that took power in 1967. Zinsou was present at the signing of the treaty that formed the African Union on 12 July 2000 in Togo. He was a nationalist.

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Mahasweta Devi, Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist (born 1926)

Mahasweta Devi was an Indian Bengali language writer and activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

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28/07/2015

Jan Kulczyk, Polish businessman (born 1950)

Jan Jerzy Kulczyk was a Polish billionaire businessman. He was the founder and owner of Kulczyk Holding and an international investment house Kulczyk Investments with headquarters in Luxembourg and offices in London and Kyiv, Ukraine. According to Forbes, Kulczyk was the richest Pole at the time of his death.

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Edward Natapei, Vanuatuan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Vanuatu (born 1954)

Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki was a Vanuatuan politician. He was the prime minister of Vanuatu on two occasions, and was previously the minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting president of Vanuatu from 2 March 1999 to 24 March 1999 and the deputy prime minister. He was the president of the Vanua'aku Pati, a socialist, Anglophone political party.

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Clive Rice, South African cricketer and coach (born 1949)

Clive Edward Butler Rice was a South African international cricketer. An all-rounder, Rice ended his First Class cricket career with a batting average of 40.95 and a bowling average of 22.49. He captained Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club from 1979 to 1987.

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28/07/2014

Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1925)

Alexander Rooney Forbes was a Scottish football player and manager.

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Alakbar Mammadov, Azerbaijani footballer and manager (born 1930)

Alakbar Mammadov was a Soviet and Azerbaijani footballer best known as a striker for FC Dynamo Moscow in the 1950s and later as the first manager of the independent Azerbaijan national football team.

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28/07/2013

Mustafa Adrisi, Ugandan general and politician, 3rd Vice President of Uganda (born 1922)

Mustafa Adrisi Abataki was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third vice president of Uganda from 1977 to 1979 and was one of President Idi Amin's closest associates before the two fell out.

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Eileen Brennan, American actress and singer (born 1932)

Eileen Brennan was an American actress. She made her film debut in the satire Divorce American Style (1967), followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), which earned her a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

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Rita Reys, Dutch jazz singer (born 1924)

Rita Reys was a jazz singer from the Netherlands. She was promoted as "Europe's First Lady of Jazz".

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William Scranton, American captain and politician, 13th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (born 1917)

William Warren Scranton was an American Republican Party politician and diplomat. Scranton served as the 38th governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967, and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1976 to 1977.

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Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (born 1914)

Ersilio Tonini was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Ravenna-Cervia from 1975 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1994. When Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer died on 30 April 2010, Cardinal Tonini became the oldest living cardinal. He died on 28 July 2013, a week after his 99th birthday.

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28/07/2012

Colin Horsley, New Zealand-English pianist and educator (born 1920)

Colin Robert Horsley was a New Zealand classical pianist and teacher who was based in the United Kingdom all his working life. He had a significant artistic association with the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley.

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Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (born 1937)

Sepp Mayerl, also known as Blasl-Sepp was an Austrian mountaineer.

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William F. Milliken Jr., American race car driver and engineer (born 1911)

William F. Milliken Jr. was an aerospace engineer, automotive engineer and racecar driver. He was born in Old Town, Maine.

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28/07/2011

Abdul Fatah Younis, Libyan general (born 1944)

Abdul Fatah Younis Al-Obeidi was a Libyan military officer and politician. He served as Libya's interior minister until his resignation on 22 February 2011 when he defected to the rebel side in the First Libyan Civil War. He was considered a key supporter of Muammar Gaddafi and even No. 2 in the Libyan government.

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28/07/2009

Jim Johnson, American football player and coach (born 1941)

Jim Johnson was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was a defensive coordinator for nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Widely regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in NFL history, he was especially known for being a master architect of blitzes, disguising them skillfully and keeping offenses off balance.

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28/07/2007

Karl Gotch, Belgian-American wrestler and trainer (born 1924)

Charles Istaz, known by the ring name Karl Gotch , was a Belgian-born American professional wrestler and pro wrestling trainer, catch wrestler, and amateur wrestler. Considered one of the most influential wrestlers of his time period, he is best known for training several acclaimed and influential professional wrestlers in Japan, and for becoming a catalyst in the faculty development of strong style, alongside New Japan Pro-Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki and fellow trainer Billy Robinson.

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Jim LeRoy, American soldier and pilot (born 1961)

Jim LeRoy was an American aerobatics pilot. He died upon impact in a crash at the Dayton Air Show in Ohio.

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28/07/2006

David Gemmell, English author (born 1948)

David Andrew Gemmell was a British author of heroic fantasy, best known for his debut novel, Legend. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explore themes of honour, loyalty and redemption. There is always a strong heroic theme but nearly always the heroes are flawed in some way. With over one million copies sold, his work continues to sell worldwide.

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28/07/2004

Francis Crick, English biologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

Francis Harry Compton Crick was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule.

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Tiziano Terzani, Italian journalist and author (born 1938)

Tiziano Terzani was an Italian journalist and writer, best known for his extensive knowledge of 20th century East Asia and for being one of the very few western reporters to witness both the fall of Saigon to the hands of the Viet Cong and the fall of Phnom Penh at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1970s.

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28/07/2003

Valerie Goulding, Irish activist and politician (born 1918)

Valerie Hamilton, Lady Goulding was an Irish campaigner for disabled people, and senator who set up the Central Remedial Clinic in 1951 alongside Kathleen O'Rourke which is now the largest organisation in Ireland looking after people with physical disabilities. She served as a member of Seanad Éireann from 1977 to 1981.

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28/07/2002

Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)

Archer John Porter Martin was a British chemist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partition chromatography with Richard Synge.

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28/07/2001

Ahmed Sofa, Bangladeshi poet, author, and critic (born 1943)

Ahmed Sofa was a Bangladeshi writer, thinker, novelist, poet, philosopher and public intellectual. Sofa is considered by many, including National Professor Abdur Razzaq and Salimullah Khan, to be the most important Bengali Muslim writer after Mir Mosharraf Hossain and Kazi Nazrul Islam. A writer by occupation, Sofa wrote 18 non-fiction books, 8 novels, 4 collections of poems, 2 collections of short stories, and several books in other genres.

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28/07/2000

Abraham Pais, Dutch-American physicist and historian (born 1918)

Abraham Pais was a Dutch-American physicist and science historian. Pais earned his Ph.D. from University of Utrecht just prior to a Nazi ban on Jewish participation in Dutch universities during World War II. When the Nazis began the forced relocation of Dutch Jews, he went into hiding, but was later arrested and saved only by the end of the war. He then served as an assistant to Niels Bohr in Denmark and was later a colleague of Albert Einstein at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. His Subtle is the Lord, considered by many to be the definitive biography of Einstein, won the Science Writing Award. He followed it with Inwaard Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, a history of modern physics, Niels Bohr's Times: In Physics, Philosophy, and Polity and Einstein Lived Here: Essays for the Layman. He was a physics professor at Rockefeller University until his retirement. He won the 1995 Lewis Thomas Prize for science writing.

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28/07/1999

Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)

Trygve Magnus Haavelmo, born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an economist whose research interests centered on econometrics. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1989.

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28/07/1998

Zbigniew Herbert, Polish poet and author (born 1924)

Zbigniew Herbert was a Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist. He is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. While he was first published in the 1950s, soon after he voluntarily ceased submitting most of his works to official Polish government publications. He resumed publication in the 1980s, initially in the underground press. Starting in the 1960s, he was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His books have been translated into 38 languages.

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Lenny McLean, English boxer, actor, and author (born 1949)

Leonard John McLean was an English unlicensed boxer, bouncer, bodyguard, businessman and actor. He was known as "The Guv'nor", "the King of the Cobbles" and "the hardest man in Britain".

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Consalvo Sanesi, Italian racing driver (born 1911)

Consalvo Sanesi was best known as the Alfa Romeo works' test driver in the period following World War II, but he also competed in races with the Alfa Romeo Tipo 158/159 cars in the period before the Formula One World Championship came into being. He competed in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 3 September 1950. Although, on his day, his experience with the cars meant that he was often one of the fastest men on the racetrack, somehow this rarely translated into good results. He scored only 3 championship points. He found some success driving in sports car racing, continuing into the mid-1960s.

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28/07/1997

Rosalie Crutchley, English actress (born 1920)

Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, she was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, making her stage debut in 1932 and her screen debut in 1947.

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Seni Pramoj, Thai lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1905)

Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj was a Thai professor and politician who served as Prime Minister of Thailand three times. A descendant of the Thai royal family, he was the great-grandson of King Rama II. His final two terms as Prime Minister sandwiched the only term of his brother, Kukrit Pramoj.

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28/07/1996

Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and academic (born 1908)

Roger Tory Peterson was an American naturalist, conservationist, citizen scientist ornithologist, artist and illustrator, educator, and a founder of the 20th-century environmental movement, where he was an inspiration for many.

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28/07/1993

Stanley Woods, Irish motorcycle racer (born 1903)

Stanley Woods was an Irish motorcycle racer famous for 29 motorcycle Grand Prix wins in the 1920s and 1930s, winning the Isle of Man TT races ten times in his career, plus wins at Assen and elsewhere. He was also a skilled trials rider, competing in the 1940s.

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28/07/1992

Sulev Nõmmik, Estonian actor and director (born 1931)

Sulev Nõmmik was an Estonian theatre and movie director, actor, humorist and comedian. He's mostly associated with the comical character of Kärna Ärni and the related fictional village of Uduvere, but he was also influential in writing scripts for several well-known movies, including Mehed ei nuta, Siin me oleme! and Noor pensionär.

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28/07/1990

Jill Esmond, English actress (born 1908)

Jill Esmond was a British actress of stage and screen.

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28/07/1987

Jack Renshaw, Australian politician, 31st Premier of New South Wales (born 1909)

John Brophy Renshaw was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of New South Wales from 30 April 1964 to 13 May 1965. He was the first New South Wales Premier born in the 20th century.

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28/07/1982

Keith Green, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1953)

Keith Gordon Green was an American pianist, singer, songwriter, and musician. Originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, Green is known as a pioneer in the Christian contemporary genre. His most notable songs are "Oh Lord You're Beautiful" "Grace by Which I Stand" and "Asleep in The Light," written by Keith Green; "There Is a Redeemer", written by his wife Melody Green, "Your Love Broke Through,” written by Keith Green, Todd Fishkind, and Randy Stonehill. "I Want To Be More Like Jesus," written by Keith and Melody Green, and Kelly Willard.

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28/07/1981

Stanley Rother, American priest and missionary (born 1935)

Stanley Francis Rother was an American Catholic priest from Oklahoma who was murdered in Guatemala in 1981. He had worked as a missionary priest there since 1968. He held several parish assignments as a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City from 1963 to 1968 before being assigned to Guatemala.

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28/07/1980

Rose Rand, Austrian-born American logician and philosopher (born 1903)

Rose Rand was an Austrian-American logician and philosopher. She was a member of the Vienna Circle.

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28/07/1979

Don Miller, American football player and coach (born 1902)

Don "Midnight" Miller was an American football player and coach. He was one of the famous "Four Horsemen" of the University of Notre Dame's backfield in 1924, when the Fighting Irish won the 1924 National Title. Miller was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1970.

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Charles Shadwell, English conductor and bandleader (born 1898)

Charles Murray Winstanley Shadwell was a British conductor and bandleader.

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28/07/1976

Maggie Gripenberg, Finnish dancer and choreographer (born 1881)

Margarita Maria “Maggie” Gripenberg was a pioneer of modern dance in Finland. She was the first to introduce Dalcroze Eurhythmics to Finland and modeled her early works on the improvisational style of Isadora Duncan. As a dancer, choreographer and teacher, she laid the educational foundations for the study of movement and dance. She was recognized by numerous awards for her choreographic work as well as being honored with the Pro Finlandia Medal and as a knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

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28/07/1972

Helen Traubel, American soprano and actress (born 1903)

Helen Francesca Traubel was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde.

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28/07/1971

Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, Canadian colonel and diplomat (born 1890)

Colonel Lawrence Vincent Moore Cosgrave, was a Canadian soldier, author, diplomat and trade commissioner. He was the Canadian signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of World War II.

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Myril Hoag, American baseball player (born 1908)

Myril Oliver Hoag was an American professional baseball player. An outfielder, Hoag played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland Indians between 1931 and 1945 and was on the winning team in three World Series. He appeared in the 1939 MLB All-Star Game.

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Charles E. Pont, French-American minister and painter (born 1898)

Charles Ernest Pont was an American artist and Baptist minister. Although his ministerial career was not particularly noteworthy, he was a prolific artist in many media including watercolor, printmaking, oil, pen and ink, and pencil. His framed art not only hangs in hundreds of private and public collections, but can also be found in many realms of graphic design, including book and magazine illustration, greeting cards, sign painting and calligraphy, murals, typographic design, and decorative papers. While his style evolved with the times in which he lived, and was particularly influenced by modernism in the 1930s, he is best known for the fine precision of his prints and the realism of his watercolors.

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28/07/1969

Ramón Grau, Cuban physician and politician, 6th President of Cuba (born 1882)

Ramón Grau San Martín was a Cuban physician who served as President of Cuba from 1933 to 1934 and from 1944 to 1948. He was the last president born during Spanish rule. He is sometimes called Raymond Grau San Martin in English.

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Frank Loesser, American composer (born 1910)

Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won a Tony Award for Guys and Dolls and shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for How to Succeed. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films and Tin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once for "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

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28/07/1968

Otto Hahn, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1879)

Otto Hahn was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the field of radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and discoverer of nuclear fission, the science behind nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Hahn and Lise Meitner discovered isotopes of the radioactive elements radium, thorium, protactinium and uranium. He also discovered the phenomena of atomic recoil and nuclear isomerism, and pioneered rubidium–strontium dating. In 1938, Hahn, Meitner and Fritz Strassmann discovered nuclear fission, for which Hahn alone was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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28/07/1967

Karl W. Richter, American lieutenant and pilot (born 1942)

Karl Wendell Richter was an officer in the United States Air Force and an accomplished fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. At the age of 23 he was the youngest pilot in that conflict to shoot down a MiG in air-to-air combat.

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28/07/1965

Edogawa Ranpo, Japanese author and critic (born 1894)

Tarō Hirai , better known by the pen name Edogawa Ranpo or Edogawa Rampo , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the "Boy Detectives Club" .

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Attallah Suheimat, Jordanian politician (born 1875)

Sheikh Attallah Suheimat or Attlallah Pasha Suheimat was a Jordanian leader, politician, and a statesperson. Born in the historic city of Al Karak, south of Jordan. He was the son of Sheikh Sulieman effendi Suheimat who was a national leader and a Member of the first municipal council of the city of Karak during the reign of the Ottoman Empire in the 1890s. Sheikh Attallah Suheimat was the head of the Ghassanids tribes in Jordan, and a famous leader during different time periods in the region: Ottoman Syria, Transjordan, and later the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He held several senior positions including the President of the Al-Haqqania Court in the Ottoman Empire and President of the Court of First Instance in The "National Government of Moab". He participated in the development of the National Charter in 1928, and in 1929 was a member of the first Legislative Council in the Emirate of Transjordan representing Al Karak and Ma'an. Sheikh Suheimat was the Director of the General Intelligence in the government of King Faisal I of Syria.

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28/07/1963

Carl Borgward, German engineer, founder of Borgward Group

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward was a German engineer and designer and the creator of the Borgward group, based in Bremen.

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28/07/1957

Edith Abbott, American economist, social worker, and educator (born 1876)

Edith Abbott was an American economist, statistician, social worker, educator, and author. Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. Abbott was a pioneer in the profession of social work with an educational background in economics. She was a leading activist in social reform with the ideals that humanitarianism needed to be embedded in education. Abbott was also in charge of implementing social work studies to the graduate level. Though she was met with resistance on her work with social reform at the University of Chicago, she ultimately was successful and was elected as the school's dean in 1924, making her one of the first female deans in the United States. Abbott was foremost an educator and saw her work as a combination of legal studies and humanitarian work which shows in her social security legislation. She is known as an economist who pursued implementing social work at the graduate level. Her younger sister was Grace Abbott.Social work will never become a profession—except through the professional schools

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Isaac Heinemann, German-Israeli scholar and academic (born 1876)

Isaac Heinemann was an Israeli rabbinical scholar and a professor of classical literature, Hellenistic literature and philology.

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28/07/1946

Saint Alphonsa, first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church (born 1910)

Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, born as Anna Muttathupadathu, was an Indian Catholic nun and educator. She is the first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church, and the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

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28/07/1942

Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (born 1853)

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyptology in the United Kingdom, and excavated many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt in conjunction with his Irish-born wife, Hilda Urlin. Some consider his most famous discovery to be that of the Merneptah Stele, an opinion with which Petrie himself concurred. Undoubtedly at least as important is his 1905 discovery and correct identification of the character of the Proto-Sinaitic script, the ancestor of almost all alphabetic scripts.

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28/07/1935

Meletius IV of Constantinople (born 1871)

Meletius Metaxakis was primate of the Church of Greece from 1918 to 1920 as Meletius III, after which he was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as Meletius IV from 1921 to 1923 and Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as Meletius II from 1926 to 1935. He is the only man in the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church to serve successively as the senior bishop of three autocephalous churches.

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28/07/1934

Marie Dressler, Canadian-American actress and singer (born 1868)

Leila Marie Koerber, known professionally as Marie Dressler, was a Canadian-born stage- and screen-actress script editor, writer, and comedian, popular in Hollywood in early silent and Depression-era film.

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Louis Tancred, South African cricketer and pilot (born 1876)

Louis Joseph Tancred was a South African cricketer who played in 14 Test matches from 1902 to 1913, including three as captain.

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28/07/1933

Nishinoumi Kajirō III, Japanese sumo wrestler, 30th yokozuna (born 1890)

Nishinoumi Kajirō III was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 30th yokozuna.

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28/07/1930

John DeWitt, American hammer thrower (born 1881)

John Riegel DeWitt was an American athlete. He played college football for Princeton from 1901 to 1903 and was selected as an All-American in 1902 and 1903. He also competed in the hammer throw, setting the world record in 1903 and winning the silver medal at the 1904 Summer Olympics.

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Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist and optician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)

Allvar Gullstrand was a Swedish ophthalmologist and optician.

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28/07/1928

Édouard-Henri Avril, French painter (born 1849)

Édouard-Henri Avril was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.

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28/07/1895

Edward Beecher, American minister and theologian (born 1803)

Edward Beecher was an American theologian, the son of Lyman Beecher and the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher.

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28/07/1885

Moses Montefiore, British philanthropist, sheriff and banker (born 1784)

Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, after he achieved success he donated large sums of money to promote industry, business, economic development, education and health among the Jewish community in the Levant. He founded Mishkenot Sha'ananim in 1860, the first Jewish settlement outside the Old City of Jerusalem.

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28/07/1878

George Law Curry, American publisher and politician (born 1820)

George Law Curry was a predominant American political figure and newspaper publisher in the region that eventually became the state of Oregon. A native of Pennsylvania, he published a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, before traveling the Oregon Trail to the unorganized Oregon Country. A Democrat, Curry served in the new Oregon Territory's government as a representative to the legislature and as Territorial Secretary before appointment as the last Governor of the Oregon Territory. Curry County in Southern Oregon is named in his honor.

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28/07/1869

Jan Evangelista Purkyně, Czech anatomist and physiologist (born 1787)

Jan Evangelista Purkyně was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. In 1839, he coined the term "protoplasma" for the fluid substance of a cell. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. Such was his fame that when people from outside Europe wrote letters to him, all that they needed to put as the address was "Purkyně, Europe".

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28/07/1849

Charles Albert of Sardinia (born 1798)

Charles Albert was the King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard state from 27 April 1831 until his abdication in 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Statuto Albertino, and with the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849).

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28/07/1844

Joseph Bonaparte, French diplomat and brother of Napoleon (born 1768)

Joseph Bonaparte, regnal name José I, was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1806, Napoleon made him King of Naples, and then King of Spain and the Indies in 1808. After the fall of Napoleon, Joseph styled himself Comte de Survilliers and emigrated to the United States, where he lived in the Point Breeze estate at Bordentown, New Jersey.

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28/07/1842

Clemens Brentano, German author and poet (born 1778)

Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz and Lujo Brentano.

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28/07/1838

Bernhard Crusell, Finnish composer (born 1775)

Bernhard Henrik Crusell was a Swedish-Finnish clarinetist, composer and translator, "the most significant and internationally best-known Finnish-born classical composer and indeed, – the outstanding Finnish composer before Sibelius".

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28/07/1836

Nathan Mayer Rothschild, German-English banker and financier (born 1777)

Nathan Mayer Rothschild, also known as Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild, was a British-German banker, businessman and financier. Born in Frankfurt am Main, he was the third of the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and his wife, Guttle. He was the founder of the British branch of the prominent Rothschild family.

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28/07/1835

Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (born 1768)

Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, Duke of Treviso, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire under Napoleon I, who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He served as Minister of War and Prime Minister of France from 1834 to 1835. He was one of 18 people killed in 1835 during Giuseppe Marco Fieschi's assassination attempt on King Louis Philippe I.

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28/07/1818

Gaspard Monge, French mathematician and engineer (born 1746)

Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry.

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28/07/1809

Richard Beckett, English cricketer and captain (born 1772)

Richard Beckett was an English amateur cricketer and a captain in the Coldstream Guards during the Napoleonic Wars.

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28/07/1808

Selim III, Ottoman sultan (born 1761)

Selim III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV. A group of assassins subsequently killed Selim.

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28/07/1794

Maximilien Robespierre, French politician, (born 1758)

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fervently campaigned for the voting rights of all men and their unimpeded admission to the National Guard. Additionally, he advocated the right to petition, the right to bear arms in self-defence, and the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.

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Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French soldier and politician (born 1767)

Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, sometimes nicknamed the Archangel of Terror, was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the French National Convention, a Jacobin club leader, and a major figure of the French Revolution. The youngest person elected to the National Convention, he was a member of the Mountain faction and a steadfast supporter and close friend of Robespierre. He was swept away in Robespierre's downfall on 9 Thermidor, Year II.

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28/07/1762

George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (born 1691)

George Bubb Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe, was a British Whig politician who represented Winchelsea and Bridgwater in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1715 to 1761.

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28/07/1750

Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (born 1685)

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music.

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28/07/1741

Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (born 1678)

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom.

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28/07/1718

Étienne Baluze, French scholar and academic (born 1630)

Étienne Baluze, known also as Stephanus Baluzius, was a French scholar and historiographer.

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28/07/1685

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (born 1618)

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington was an English politician and army officer. A supporter of the Royalists during the English Civil War, he joined the royal family in exile before returning to England at the Restoration in 1660. He gained political influence over the following decade and became one of Charles II's key advisors as a member of the Cabal ministry from 1668. He was impeached in 1674. He was a leading figure in the Court faction in the Parliament of England, a grouping which would evolve into the Tories.

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28/07/1675

Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer and politician (born 1605)

Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke was an English lawyer, writer, parliamentarian, and one of the commissioners of the Great Seal during the Interregnum.

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28/07/1667

Abraham Cowley, English poet and author (born 1618)

Abraham Cowley was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721.

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28/07/1655

Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet and playwright (born 1619)

Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.

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28/07/1631

Guillén de Castro y Bellvis, Spanish playwright (born 1569)

Guillén de Castro y Mateo was a Spanish dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age. He was distinguished member of the "Nocturnos", a Spanish version of the "Academies" in Italy.

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28/07/1585

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford (born 1527)

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Devon (1584-5).

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28/07/1540

Thomas Cromwell, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1495)

Thomas Cromwell was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the King, who later blamed false charges for the execution.

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28/07/1527

Rodrigo de Bastidas, Spanish explorer, founded the city of Santa Marta (born 1460)

Rodrigo de Bastidas was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who mapped the northern coast of South America, discovered Panama, and founded the city of Santa Marta.

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28/07/1508

Robert Blackadder, bishop of Glasgow

Robert Blackadder was a medieval Scottish prelate, diplomat and politician, who was Abbot of Melrose, Bishop-elect of Aberdeen and Bishop of Glasgow; when the latter was elevated to an archbishopric in 1492, he became the first ever Archbishop of Glasgow. Blackadder died while en route to Jerusalem on pilgrimage.

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28/07/1488

Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (at the Battle of St. Aubin-du-Cormier)

Sir Edward Woodville was a member of the Woodville family during the Wars of the Roses. He survived the reign of Richard III in which several of his relatives were executed in a power struggle after the death of his brother-in-law Edward IV. Exiled with Henry Tudor, he participated in Henry's capture of the throne. Henry subsequently married Woodville's niece, Elizabeth of York. Under Henry VII, Woodville was appointed Lord of the Isle of Wight, the last person to be given that title.

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28/07/1458

John II, king of Cyprus and Armenia (born 1418)

John II or III of Cyprus was the King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458. He was previously a titular Prince of Antioch.

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28/07/1345

Sancia of Majorca, queen regent of Naples (born c. 1285)

Sancia of Majorca, also known as Sancha, was Queen of Naples from 1309 until 1343 as the wife of Robert the Wise. She served as regent of Naples during the minority of her stepgrandaughter, Joanna I of Naples, from 1343 until 1344.

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28/07/1333

Guy VIII of Viennois, Dauphin of Vienne (born 1309)

Guigues VIII de la Tour-du-Pin was the Dauphin of Vienne from 1318 to his death. He was the eldest son of the Dauphin John II and Beatrice of Hungary.

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28/07/1285

Keran, Queen of Armenia ( b. before 1262)

Keran of Lampron was by birth a member of the House of Lampron and by marriage queen consort of Armenia.

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28/07/1271

Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (born 1220)

Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster, 2nd Lord of Connaught also spelt Burke or Bourke, was an Irish peer from the House of Burgh.

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28/07/1230

Leopold VI, Duke of Austria (born 1176)

Leopold VI, known as Leopold the Glorious, was Duke of Styria from 1194 and Duke of Austria from 1198 to his death in 1230. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.

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28/07/1128

William Clito, English son of Sybilla of Conversano (born 1102)

William Clito was a member of the House of Normandy who ruled the County of Flanders from 1127 until his death and unsuccessfully claimed the Duchy of Normandy. As the son of Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, William Clito was seen as a candidate to succeed his uncle King Henry I of England. Henry viewed him as a rival, however, and William allied himself with King Louis VI of France. Louis installed him as the new count of Flanders upon the assassination of Charles the Good, but the Flemings soon revolted and William died in the struggle against another claimant to Flanders, Thierry of Alsace.

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28/07/1057

Victor II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1018)

Pope Victor II, born Gebhard von Dollnstein-Hirschberg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 April 1055 until his death in 1057. Victor II was one of a series of German-born popes who led the Gregorian Reform.

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28/07/0942

Shi Jingtang, emperor of Later Jin (born 892)

Shi Jingtang, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Later Jin (後晉高祖), was the founding emperor of the Later Jin dynasty of China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, reigning from 936 until his death.

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28/07/0938

Thankmar, half-brother of Otto I (during Siege of Eresburg) (born c. 908)

Thankmar was the eldest son of Henry I of Germany by his first wife, Hatheburg of Merseburg. His mother had been previously married and widowed, after which she entered a convent. Because she left the convent to marry Henry, her second marriage was considered invalid and the couple split. Thankmar's legitimacy was, therefore, in question.

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28/07/0631

Athanasius I Gammolo, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

Athanasius I Gammolo was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 594/595 or 603 until his death in 631. He is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Martyrology of Rabban Sliba, and his feast day is 3 January.

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28/07/0450

Theodosius II, Roman emperor (born 401)

Theodosius II, called "the Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed Augustus as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his father Arcadius in 408. His reign was marked by the promulgation of the Theodosian law code and the construction of the Theodosian walls of Constantinople. He also presided over the outbreak of two great Christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism.

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