Died on Sunday, 25th May – Famous Deaths

25/05/2024

Grayson Murray, American professional golfer (born 1993)

Grayson Colby Murray was an American professional golfer. He won two PGA Tour events: the 2017 Barbasol Championship and the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.

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Albert S. Ruddy, Canadian film producer (born 1930)

Albert Stotland Ruddy was a Canadian-born American producer and screenwriter of film and television. He was known for producing the film The Godfather (1972) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He also co-created the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965–71), and the action series Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–2001).

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Richard M. Sherman, American songwriter (born 1928)

Richard Morton Sherman was an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "The Sherman Brothers were responsible for more motion picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history."

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Johnny Wactor, American actor (born 1986)

John William Wactor III was an American actor known for playing Brando Corbin on the series General Hospital and Johnny on the NBC series Siberia. He also had roles in the series Army Wives and the films USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage and Supercell. On May 25, 2024, Wactor was killed when three men tried to steal his automobile's catalytic converter in downtown Los Angeles. He was 37 years old.

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25/05/2022

Morton L. Janklow, American literary agent (born 1930)

Morton Lloyd Janklow was an American literary agent, the primary partner in Janklow & Nesbit Associates, a New York–based literary agency. His clients included Barbara Taylor Bradford, Thomas Harris, Judith Krantz, Pope John Paul II, Nancy Reagan, Anne Rice, Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steel, Barbara Walters, and four U.S. presidents.

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25/05/2021

John Warner, American attorney and politician (born 1927)

John William Warner III was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Virginia from 1979 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974. Warner is both the longest serving Republican Senator from Virginia, and the second longest serving Senator from Virginia behind Democrat Harry F. Byrd. He served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999 to 2001, and from 2003 to 2007. Warner also served as the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995 to 1999.

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Lois Ehlert, American author and illustrator (born 1934)

Lois Jane Ehlert was an American author and illustrator of children's books, most having to do with nature. Ehlert won the Caldecott Honor for Color Zoo in 1990. Some of her other popular works included Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Cuckoo/Cucú: A Mexican Folktale/Un cuento folklórico Mexicano and Leaf Man. She lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the time of her death in 2021.

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25/05/2020

George Floyd, African American man murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin (born 1973)

George Perry Floyd Jr. was an African American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, on May 25, 2020. One of four police officers who arrived on the scene, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck and back for over nine minutes, fatally asphyxiating him. After his murder, a series of protests against police brutality, especially toward Black people, quickly spread nationally and then globally. His dying words became a rallying slogan: "I can't breathe".

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25/05/2019

Claus von Bülow, Danish-British socialite (born 1926)

Claus von Bülow was a British lawyer, consultant and socialite. In 1982, he was convicted of attempting to murder his wife Sunny von Bülow in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, and in 1980, when an alleged insulin overdose left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life. On appeal, both convictions were reversed, and von Bülow was found not guilty at his second trial.

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25/05/2018

Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician and Veera Vanniyar caste leader (born 1961)

J. Guru, also known as Kaduvetti Guru, was an Indian politician who was twice elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Tamil Nadu. He was the president of the Vanniyar Sangam, a caste-based organization that represented the interests of the Vanniyar community.

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25/05/2015

George Braden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of the Northwest Territories (born 1949)

George Braden was a Canadian politician from the Northwest Territories, Canada. Elected as "Government Leader", Braden would retroactively become the second premier of the Northwest Territories, after a motion was passed in 1994 to change the official title.

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Robert Lebel, Canadian bishop (born 1924)

Robert Lebel was a Canadian Catholic bishop.

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25/05/2014

David Allen, English cricketer (born 1935)

David Arthur Allen was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire between 1953 and 1972. He also played 39 Test matches for England between 1960 and 1966.

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Marcel Côté, Canadian economist and politician (born 1942)

Marcel Côté was a Canadian economist and politician. He was a founding partner of SECOR, a strategic management consulting firm. On July 3, 2013, he announced his candidacy for Mayor of Montreal in the 2013 Montreal municipal election.

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Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and politician, 1st President of Poland (born 1923)

Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski was a Polish military general, politician and de facto leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989, and a military dictator from 13 December 1981 until 22 July 1983. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party between 1981 and 1989, making him the last leader of the Polish People's Republic. Jaruzelski served as Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985, the Chairman of the Council of State from 1985 to 1989 and briefly as President of Poland from 1989 to 1990, when the office of President was restored after 37 years. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's Army, which in 1990 became the Polish Armed Forces.

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Herb Jeffries, American singer and actor (born 1913)

Herb Jeffries was an American actor of film and television and popular music and jazz singer-songwriter, known for his baritone voice.

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Toaripi Lauti, Tuvaluan educator and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Tuvalu (born 1928)

Sir Toaripi Lauti was a Tuvaluan politician who served as chief minister of the Colony of Tuvalu (1975–78), as the first prime minister following Tuvalu's independence (1978–1981) and governor-general of Tuvalu (1990–1993). He was married to Sualua Tui.

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Matthew Saad Muhammad, American boxer and trainer (born 1954)

Matthew Saad Muhammad was an American professional boxer who was the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion of the World for two-and-a-half years.

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25/05/2013

Mahendra Karma, Indian politician (born 1950)

Mahendra Karma was an Indian political leader belonging to Indian National Congress from Chhattisgarh. He was the leader of the opposition in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2008. In 2005, he played a top role in organising the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites, a Maoist group in Chhattisgarh. He was a Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Ajit Jogi cabinet since the state formation in 2000 to 2004. He was assassinated by Naxalites on 25 May 2013 in the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley while returning from a Parivartan Rally meeting organised by his party in Sukma.

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Nand Kumar Patel, Indian politician (born 1953)

Nand Kumar Patel was an Indian National Congress politician from the province of Chhattisgarh. He was elected to the Kharsia Assembly Constituency five times in a row.

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25/05/2012

William Hanley, American author and screenwriter (born 1931)

William Hanley was an American playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter, born in Lorain, Ohio. Hanley wrote plays for the theatre, radio and television and published three novels in the 1970s. He was related to the British writers James and Gerald Hanley, and the actress Ellen Hanley was his sister.

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Peter D. Sieruta, American author and critic (born 1958)

Peter D. Sieruta was an American writer and book critic. He was best known for his reviews for The Horn Book Magazine, his short story collection Heartbeats and Other Stories, and his blog, Collecting Children's Literature.

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Lou Watson, American basketball player and coach (born 1924)

Louis C. Watson was an American basketball player and coach for Indiana University. The 6'-5" Watson played for Jeffersonville High School in Jeffersonville, Indiana, graduating in 1943. He was a four-year letterman, starting every game of his career. He competed for the Hoosiers from 1947 to 1950, and was their leading scorer and a first-team All-Big Ten honoree in 1950. After serving as freshman and assistant varsity basketball coach at Indiana, Watson was Indiana's head coach from 1965 to 1971. He led the Hoosiers to a Big Ten co-championship in 1967, finishing with a 62–60 record. In 1971, he stepped down from head coaching to become a special assistant to the athletic director. He retired from that position in 1987. On May 25, 2012, Watson died at the age of 88 in Fairfax, Virginia.

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25/05/2011

Terry Jenner, Australian cricketer and coach (born 1944)

Terrence James Jenner was an Australian cricketer who played nine Tests and one ODI from 1970 to 1975. He was primarily a leg-spin bowler and was known for his attacking, loopy style of bowling, but he was also a handy lower-order batsman. In his latter years he was a leg-spin coach to many players around the world, and a great influence on Shane Warne. He was also a radio cricket commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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25/05/2010

Alexander Belostenny, Ukrainian basketball player (born 1959)

Alexander Mikhaylovich Belostenny was a Ukrainian professional basketball player. He was a member of the senior Soviet national team, from 1977 to 1992, except for an absence during a single competition, EuroBasket 1987. At a height of 2.16 m tall, and a weight of 120 kg (260 lbs.), he played at the center position.

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Michael H. Jordan, American businessman (born 1936)

Michael H. Jordan was an American businessman. He served as the chief executive officer of PepsiCo Worldwide Foods (1986–1990), Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1993–1998), CBS Corporation (1995–1998), and Electronic Data Systems (2003–2007).

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Alan Hickinbotham, Australian footballer and coach (born 1925)

Alan David Hickinbotham AM was an Australian businessman and Australian rules football player and coach.

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Gabriel Vargas, Mexican painter and illustrator (born 1915)

Gabriel Vargas Bernal was a Mexican cartoonist, whose comic strip La Familia Burrón was created in 1937. This cartoon has been described as one of the most important in Mexican popular culture. Vargas won the National Journalism Prize of Mexico in 1983 and the "Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes en el área de Tradiciones Populares" in 2003.

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Jarvis Williams, American football player and coach (born 1965)

Jarvis Eric Williams, Sr. was an American professional football player who was a defensive back for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Williams played college football for the Florida Gators, earning recognition as a first-team All-American in 1987. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants of the NFL. Williams died unexpectedly at the age of 45.

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25/05/2009

Haakon Lie, Norwegian politician (born 1905)

Haakon Steen Lie was a Norwegian politician who served as party secretary for the Norwegian Labour Party from 1945 to 1969. Coming from humble origins, he became involved in the labour movement at an early age, and quickly rose in the party system. After actively working for the resistance movement and the exiled government during World War II, he was elected to the second-highest position in the party after the war, and his years in office were the most successful in the party's history.

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25/05/2008

J. R. Simplot, American businessman, founded Simplot (born 1909)

John Richard Simplot was an American entrepreneur and businessman best known as the founder of the J. R. Simplot Company, a Boise, Idaho–based agricultural supplier specializing in potato products. In 2007, he was estimated to be the 89th-richest person in the United States, at $3.6 billion. At the time of his death at age 99 in May 2008, he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400.

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Veikko Uusimäki, Finnish actor and theater councilor (born 1921)

Veikko Johannes Uusimäki was a Finnish actor and theater councilor. During his life, he acted in a total of 25 films, in connection with which he also served as director of Yleisradio's theater services between 1973 and 1987. In 1973, Uusimäki was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

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25/05/2007

Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, and director (born 1931)

Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher. He performed in the original Broadway casts of Bye Bye Birdie; Hello, Dolly!; and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. His television credits include The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Match Game. A recording of his autobiographical one-man play Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly was adapted into a 2006 independent film.

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Uładzimir Katkoŭski, Belarusian blogger, web designer and website creator (born 1976)

Uładzimir Łeanidavič Katkoŭski was a Belarusian blogger, web designer, Wikipedian and website creator.

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25/05/2005

Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician (born 1929)

Sunil Dutt was an Indian actor, film producer, director, and politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He acted in more than 80 films over a career spanning five decades and was the recipient of three Filmfare Awards, including two for Best Actor. Regarded as one of the most successful and finest actors in the history of Indian cinema, Dutt was known for his unique style and delivering impactful messages through his films. In 1968, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, for his contribution to Indian cinema.

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Robert Jankel, English businessman, founded Panther Westwinds (born 1938)

Robert Jankel was a British designer of limousines, armoured cars, and other speciality vehicles. He also founded the automotive company Panther Westwinds.

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Graham Kennedy, Australian television host and actor (born 1934)

Graham Cyril Kennedy AO was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, radio and television host as well as a personality and actor of theatre, television and film. He was often referred to as "The King of Television" or simply "The King" and called "Gra Gra".

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Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer and director (born 1936)

Ismail Merchant was an Indian film producer. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Together they made film adaptations from the novels of E.M. Forster and Henry James. Merchant received the BAFTA Award for Best Film for A Room with a View (1985), and Howards End (1992). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Live Action Short Film for The Creation of a Woman (1959) and for Best Picture for A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993).

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Zoran Mušič, Slovene painter and illustrator (born 1909)

Zoran Mušič, baptised as Anton Zoran Musič, was a Slovene painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He was the only painter of Slovene descent who managed to establish himself in the elite cultural circles of Italy and France, particularly Paris in the second half of the 20th century, where he lived for most of his later life. He painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, as well as scenes of horror from the Dachau concentration camp and vedute of Venice.

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25/05/2004

Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishing Company (born 1917)

Roger Williams Straus Jr. was an American publisher who was co-founder and chairman of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a New York book publishing company, and member of the Guggenheim family.

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25/05/2003

Sloan Wilson, American author and poet (born 1920)

Sloan Wilson was an American writer who published works such as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.

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25/05/1996

Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (born 1929)

Renzo De Felice was an Italian historian who specialized in the Fascist era. Among other works, he authored a 6000-page biography of Mussolini. He argued that Mussolini was a revolutionary modernizer in domestic issues but a pragmatist in foreign policy who continued the Realpolitik policies of Italy from 1861 to 1922. Historian of Italy Philip Morgan has called De Felice's biography of Mussolini "a very controversial, influential and at the same time problematic re-reading of Mussolini and Fascism" and rejected the contention that his work rose above politics to "scientific objectivity", as claimed by the author and his defenders.

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25/05/1995

Élie Bayol, French racing driver (born 1914)

Élie Marcel Bayol was a French racing driver who raced in Formula One for the O.S.C.A. and Gordini teams. Bayol also raced sports cars, mostly driving DB-Panhards for the Deutsch Bonnet works team including winning the 750cc class and Index of Performance at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian basketball player and coach, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer 1996 (born 1948)

Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić was a Croatian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He was the first basketball player in the world to play all five positions.

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Dany Robin, French actress (born 1927)

Dany Robin was a French actress of the 1950s and the 1960s. Nicknamed ‘la petite fiancée de la France’ in the post-war years, she became one of the leading female stars of the 1950s, moving from the role of ‘ingénue’ to that of saucy Parisienne. She played the leading lady in Topaz (1969), and is regarded as the last ‘Hitchcock blonde’.

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25/05/1990

Vic Tayback, American actor (born 1930)

Victor Tayback was an American actor. He was best known for his role as diner owner Mel Sharples on the television sitcom Alice (1976–1985), as well as his multiple guest appearances on The Love Boat (1977–1987). The former earned him two consecutive Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

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25/05/1986

Chester Bowles, American journalist and politician, 22nd Under Secretary of State (born 1901)

Chester Bliss Bowles was an American diplomat and ambassador, governor of Connecticut, congressman and co-founder of a major advertising agency, Benton & Bowles, now part of Publicis Groupe. Bowles is best known for his influence on American foreign policy during Cold War years, when he argued that economic assistance to the Third World was the best means to fight communism, and even more important, to create a more peaceable world order. During World War II, he held high office in Washington as director of the Office of Price Administration, and control of setting consumer prices. Just after the war, he was the chief of the Office of Economic Stabilization, but had great difficulty controlling inflation. Moving into state politics, he served a term as governor of Connecticut from 1949 to 1951. He promoted liberal programs in education and housing, but was defeated for reelection by conservative backlash.

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25/05/1983

Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (born 1904)

Ahmet Necip Fazıl Kısakürek was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, Islamist ideologue, and conspiracy theorist. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later became his teacher.

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Idris of Libya (born 1889)

Idris was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his ousting in the 1 September 1969 coup d'état. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, after which the country became known as simply the Kingdom of Libya. Idris had served as Emir of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania from the 1920s until 1951. He also headed the Sanusi order.

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Jack Stewart, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1917)

John Sherratt Stewart was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 12 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks. He won two Stanley Cup championships with the Red Wings and was named to the post-season NHL All-Star team on five occasions: three times on the first team and twice on the second. Stewart also played in the first four NHL All-Star Games. After completing his NHL career as captain of the Black Hawks, he went on to coach numerous teams at various levels of hockey.

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25/05/1981

Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (born 1912)

Ruby Violet Payne-Scott was an Australian pioneer in radiophysics and radio astronomy.

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Fredric Warburg, English author and publisher (born 1898)

Fredric John Warburg was a British publisher, who in 1935 founded the company Secker & Warburg. He is best known for his association with the author George Orwell. During a career spanning a large part of the 20th century and ending in 1971, Warburg published Orwell's major books Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), as well as works by other leading figures such as Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka. Other notable publications included The Third Eye by Lobsang Rampa, Pierre Boulle's The Bridge over the River Kwai, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

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25/05/1979

Itzhak Bentov, Czech-Israeli engineer, mystic, and author (born 1923)

Itzhak "Ben" Bentov was a Czechoslovakia-born Israeli-American scientist, inventor, mystic and author. His many inventions, including the steerable cardiac catheter, helped pioneer the biomedical engineering industry. He was also an early proponent of what has come to be referred to as consciousness studies and authored several books on the subject.

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Amédée Gordini, Italian-born French racing driver and sports car manufacturer (born 1899)

Amedeo "Amédée" Gordini was an Italian-born race car driver and sports car manufacturer in France.

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John Spenkelink, American murderer (born 1949)

John Arthur Spenkelink was an American convicted murderer. He was executed in 1979, the first convicted criminal to be executed in Florida after capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, and the second in the United States as well as the first involuntarily executed in about 14 years.

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25/05/1977

Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian author (born 1904)

Yevgenia Solomonovna Ginzburg was a Soviet writer who served an 18-year sentence in the Kolyma Gulag. Her given name is often Latinized to Eugenia.

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25/05/1970

Tom Patey, Scottish mountaineer and author (born 1932)

Thomas Walton Patey was a Scottish climber, mountaineer, doctor and writer. He was a leading Scottish climber of his day, particularly excelling on winter routes. He died in a climbing accident at the age of 38. He was probably best known for his humorous songs and prose about climbing, many of which were published posthumously in the collection One Man's Mountains.

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25/05/1969

Elisabeth Geleerd, Dutch-American psychoanalyst (born 1909)

Elisabeth Rozetta Geleerd Loewenstein was a Dutch-American psychoanalyst. Born to an upper-middle-class family in Rotterdam, Geleerd studied psychoanalysis in Vienna, then London, under Anna Freud. Building a career in the United States, she became one of the nation's major practitioners in child and adolescent psychoanalysis throughout the mid-20th century. Geleerd specialized in the psychoanalysis of psychosis, including schizophrenia, and was an influential writer on psychoanalysis in childhood schizophrenia. She was one of the first writers to consider the concept of borderline personality disorder in childhood.

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25/05/1968

Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (born 1881)

Georg Carl Wilhelm Friedrich von Küchler was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. He commanded the 18th Army and Army Group North during the Soviet-German war of 1941–1945.

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25/05/1957

Leo Goodwin, American swimmer, diver, and water polo player (born 1883)

Leo Joseph "Bud" Goodwin was an American swimmer, diver, and water polo player who competed for the New York Athletic Club. He participated for the U.S. in the 1904 and 1908 Summer Olympics and won two gold and two bronze medals in events that encompassed all three disciplines.

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25/05/1954

Robert Capa, Hungarian photographer and journalist (born 1913)

Robert Capa was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

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25/05/1951

Paula von Preradović, Croatian poet and author (born 1887)

Paula Preradović, known professionally as Paula von Preradović or by her married name as Paula Molden, was an Austrian writer and poet of Croatian descent.

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25/05/1948

Witold Pilecki, Polish officer and Resistance leader (born 1901)

Witold Pilecki, known by the codenames Roman Jezierski, Tomasz Serafiński, Druh and Witold, was a Polish World War II cavalry officer, intelligence agent, and resistance leader.

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25/05/1943

Nils von Dardel, Swedish painter (born 1888)

Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel, sometimes known as Nils de Dardel, was a 20th-century Swedish Post-Impressionist painter and grandson of the famous Swedish painter Fritz von Dardel.

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25/05/1942

Emanuel Feuermann, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (born 1902)

Emanuel Feuermann was an internationally celebrated cellist in the first half of the 20th century.

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25/05/1939

Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer and academic (born 1868)

Sir Frank Watson Dyson, KBE, FRS, FRSE was an English astronomer and the ninth Astronomer Royal. He is remembered today largely for introducing the Greenwich time signal to BBC radio, and for the role he played in proving Einstein's theory of general relativity.

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25/05/1937

Henry Ossawa Tanner, American-French painter and illustrator (born 1859)

Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

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25/05/1934

Gustav Holst, English trombonist, composer, and educator (born 1874)

Gustav Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed many other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.

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25/05/1930

Randall Davidson, Scottish-English archbishop (born 1848)

Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, was an Anglican bishop who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the Reformation, and the first to retire from it.

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25/05/1927

Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1876)

William Payne Whitney was an American businessman and member of the influential Whitney family. He inherited a fortune and enlarged it through business dealings, then devoted much of his money and efforts to a wide variety of philanthropic purposes. His will included funds to expand the New York Hospital, now called NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic was established.

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25/05/1926

Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (born 1879)

Symon Vasyliovych Petliura was a Ukrainian revolutionary, politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a part of the wider Russian Civil War.

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25/05/1924

Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and illustrator (born 1889)

Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova was a Russian-Soviet avant-garde artist, painter and designer.

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25/05/1919

Eliza Pollock, American archer (born 1840)

Lida Peyton "Eliza" Pollock was an American archer who competed in the early twentieth century. She won two bronze medals in Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics in Missouri in the double national and Columbia rounds and a gold medal with the US team. She was born in Hamilton, Ohio and died in Wyoming, Ohio. She is the oldest woman ever to win an Olympic Gold. She was aged 63 years and 333 days when she won gold.

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Madam C. J. Walker, American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company (born 1867)

Madam C. J. Walker, Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker upon her third marriage, was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. Walker is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented.

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25/05/1917

Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet and critic (born 1891)

Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich was a Belarusian poet, journalist, translator, literary critic and historian of literature. He is considered one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature.

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25/05/1912

Austin Lane Crothers, American educator and politician, 46th Governor of Maryland (born 1860)

Austin Lane Crothers, was an American politician and a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 46th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1908 to 1912.

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25/05/1899

Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor (born 1822)

Rosa Bonheur was a French artist known best as a painter of animals (animalière). She also made sculptures in a realist style. Her paintings include Ploughing in the Nivernais, first exhibited at the Salon of 1849, and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and The Horse Fair, which was exhibited at the Salon of 1853 and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Bonheur was widely considered to be the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century.

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25/05/1895

Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman sociologist, historian, and jurist (born 1822)

Ahmed Cevdet Pasha was an Ottoman scholar, intellectual, bureaucrat, administrator, and historian who was a prominent figure in the Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman Empire. He was the head of the Mecelle commission that codified Islamic law for the first time in response to the Westernization of law. He is often regarded as a pioneer in the codification of a civil law based on the European legal system. The Mecelle remained intact in several modern Arab states in the early and mid-20th-century. In addition to Turkish, he was proficient in Arabic, Persian, French and Bulgarian. He wrote numerous books on history, law, grammar, linguistics, logic and astronomy.

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25/05/1849

Benjamin D'Urban, English general and politician, Governor of British Guiana (born 1777)

Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin D'Urban was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony. Durban, the third-largest city in South Africa, was renamed in his honor.

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25/05/1805

William Paley, English priest and philosopher (born 1743)

William Paley was an English Anglican clergyman, philosopher, and utilitarian. He was at times referred to as a Christian apologist by his critics. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his 1802 work Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, which made use of the watchmaker analogy.

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25/05/1797

John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (born 1719)

Field Marshal John Griffin Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, KB, was a British Army officer, politician and peer. He served as a junior officer with the Pragmatic Army in the Dutch Republic and Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession. After changing his surname to Griffin in 1749, he commanded a brigade at the Battle of Corbach in July 1760 during the Seven Years' War. He also commanded a brigade at the Battle of Warburg and was wounded at the Battle of Kloster Kampen.

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25/05/1789

Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist and physician (born 1751)

Anders Dahl was a Swedish botanist and student of Carl Linnaeus. The dahlia flower is named after him.

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25/05/1786

Peter III of Portugal (born 1717)

Dom Peter III, nicknamed the Builder, was King of Portugal from 24 February 1777 to his death in 1786, by marriage to his niece Queen Dona Maria I.

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25/05/1741

Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German bishop and theologian (born 1660)

Daniel Ernst Jablonski was a German theologian and reformer of Czech origin, known for his efforts to bring about a union between Lutheran and Calvinist Protestants.

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25/05/1681

Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish poet and playwright (born 1600)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño was a Spanish dramatist, poet, and writer. He is known as one of the most distinguished poets and writers of the Spanish Golden Age, especially for the many verse dramas he wrote for the theatre. Calderón has been termed "the Spanish Shakespeare", the national poet of Spain, and one of the greatest poets and playwrights in the history of world literature.

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25/05/1667

Gustaf Bonde, Finnish-Swedish politician, 5th Lord High Treasurer of Sweden (born 1620)

Baron Gustaf Bonde was a Swedish statesman. He was a persistent advocate of a pacifist policy at a time when war on the slightest provocation was the watchword of every Swedish politician.

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25/05/1632

Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (born 1572)

Adam Tanner was an Austrian Jesuit theologian.

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25/05/1607

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, Italian Carmelite nun and mystic (born 1566)

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, OCarm, was an Italian Carmelite nun and mystic. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

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25/05/1595

Valens Acidalius, German poet and critic (born 1567)

Valens Acidalius, also known as Valtin Havekenthal, was a German critic and poet writing in the Latin language.

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25/05/1558

Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen (born 1510)

Elisabeth of Brandenburg was a Duchess consort of Brunswick-Göttingen-Calenberg by marriage to Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Regent of the Duchy of Brunswick-Göttingen-Calenberg during the minority of her son, Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, from 1540 until 1545. She is considered a "Reformation Princess", who, together with the Hessian reformer Anton Corvinus, helped the Reformation prevail in today's South Lower Saxony.

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25/05/1555

Gemma Frisius, Dutch physician, mathematician, and cartographer (born 1508)

Gemma Frisius was a Dutch physician, mathematician, cartographer, philosopher, and instrument maker. He created important globes, improved the mathematical instruments of his day and applied mathematics in new ways to surveying and navigation. Gemma's rings, an astronomical instrument, are named after him. Along with Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, Frisius is often considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography, and significantly helped lay the foundations for the school's golden age.

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Henry II of Navarre (born 1503)

Henry II, nicknamed Sangüesino because he was born in Sangüesa, was the King of Navarre from 1517. The kingdom had been reduced to a small territory north of the Pyrenees mountains by the Spanish conquest of 1512. Henry succeeded his mother, Queen Catherine, upon her death. His father was her husband and co-ruler, King John III, who died in 1516.

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25/05/1452

John Stafford, English archbishop and politician

John Stafford was a medieval English prelate and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor (1432–1450) and as Archbishop of Canterbury (1443–1452).

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25/05/1261

Pope Alexander IV (born 1185)

Pope Alexander IV was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261.

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25/05/1085

Pope Gregory VII (born 1020)

Pope Gregory VII, born Hildebrand of Sovana, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

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25/05/0992

Mieszko I of Poland (born 935)

Mieszko I was Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was the first Christian ruler of Poland and continued the policies of both his father Siemomysł and his grandfather Lestek, who initiated a process of unification among the Polish tribes and the creation of statehood.

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25/05/0986

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Muslim astronomer (born 903)

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī was a Persian astronomer.

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25/05/0939

Yao Yanzhang, general of Chu

Yao Yanzhang, courtesy name Jihui (繼徽), was a key general serving under Ma Yin of the Ma Chu dynasty.

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25/05/0916

Flann Sinna, king of Meath

Flann mac Máel Sechnaill, better known as Flann Sinna, was the son of Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid of Clann Cholmáin, the leading branch of the Southern Uí Néill. He was King of Mide from 877 onwards and a High King of Ireland. His mother Land ingen Dúngaile was a sister of Cerball mac Dúnlainge, King of Osraige.

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25/05/0912

Xue Yiju, chancellor of Later Liang

Xue Yiju, courtesy name Xiyong (熙用) or Shizhan (式瞻), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and the subsequent Later Liang, serving as a chancellor during Later Liang.

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25/05/0803

Higbald of Lindisfarne, English bishop

Higbald of Lindisfarne was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 780 or 781 until his death on 25 May 803. Little is known about his life except that he was a regular communicator with Alcuin of York; it is in his letters to Alcuin that Higbald described in graphic detail the Viking raid on Lindisfarne on 8 June 793 in which many of his monks were killed.

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25/05/0709

Aldhelm, English-Latin bishop, poet, and scholar (born 639)

Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex. He was certainly not, as his early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine. After his death he was venerated as a saint, his feast day being the day of his death, 25 May.

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25/05/0675

Li Hong, Chinese prince (born 652)

Li Hong was a crown prince of the Tang dynasty of China. He was the fifth son of Emperor Gaozong and the eldest son of his second wife Empress Wu. After being titled Prince of Dai (代王) in 655, he became crown prince in 656. As he grew older, he often came in conflict with his ambitious and powerful mother and it is believed by traditional historians that she poisoned him to death in 675. His father Emperor Gaozong, then still reigning, posthumously honored him with an imperial title.

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