Died on Monday, 26th May – Famous Deaths

26/05/2022

Andy Fletcher, English musician (born 1961)

Andrew John Fletcher, also known as Fletch, was an English keyboardist and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In 2020, he and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Ray Liotta, American actor (born 1954)

Raymond Allen Liotta was an American actor. He first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild (1986), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams (1989) and Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas (1990). Liotta appeared in numerous other films, including Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), John Q., Narc, Identity (2003), Killing Them Softly, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Marriage Story (2019).

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Alan White, English drummer (born 1949)

Alan White was an English drummer, best known for his almost 50-year tenure in the progressive rock band Yes. He joined Yes in 1972 as a replacement for original drummer Bill Bruford. He was the longest-serving member of the band and, alongside founder/bassist Chris Squire, the only member never to leave prior to his death.

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26/05/2019

Prem Tinsulanonda, Former Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1920)

Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th prime minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1988.

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26/05/2017

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born American politician (born 1928)

Zbigniew "Zbig" Kazimierz Brzeziński was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzeziński belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman, while elements of liberal idealism have also been identified in his outlook. Brzeziński was the primary organizer of The Trilateral Commission.

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26/05/2016

Hedy Epstein, German-born American human rights activist and Holocaust survivor (born 1924)

Hedy Epstein was a German-born Jewish-American political activist and Holocaust survivor known for her support of the Palestinian cause through the International Solidarity Movement.

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26/05/2015

Vicente Aranda, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

Vicente Aranda Ezquerra was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.

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Les Johnson, Australian politician and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (born 1924)

Leslie Royston Johnson AM was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and held ministerial office in the Whitlam government, serving as Minister for Housing (1972–1973), Works (1973), Housing and Construction (1973–1975), and Aboriginal Affairs (1975). He represented the Division of Hughes in New South Wales for 25 years from 1955 to 1966 and from 1969 to 1983. He later served as High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1984 to 1985, cutting short his term due to his daughter's ill health.

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Robert Kraft, American astronomer and academic (born 1927)

Robert Paul Kraft was an American astronomer. He performed pioneering work on Cepheid variables, stellar rotation, novae, and the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. His name is also associated with the Kraft break: the abrupt change in the average rotation rate of main sequence stars around spectral type F8.

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João Lucas, Portuguese footballer (born 1979)

João Nuno Silva Cardoso Lucas was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

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26/05/2014

Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Indian metropolitan (born 1921)

Baselios Marthoma Didymus I born C. T. Thomas was the primate of the Malankara Orthodox Church from 2005 to 2010. He was the 7th Catholicos of the Malankara since the Catholicate of the East was established India and the 20th Malankara Metropolitan. He was the 7th Catholicos of East.

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Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American academic and neuropharmacologist (born 1933)

Miodrag (Misha) Radulovacki, was a Serbian American scientist and inventor. He was professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Radulovacki's research accomplishments include: (1) the Adenosine Sleep Theory, and (2) pioneering pharmacological studies for the treatment of sleep apnea, together with research collaborator, David W. Carley,. Radulovacki and Carley invented several drug therapies for the treatment of sleep apnea which have been patented by the UIC. The UIC recognized them as the 2010 "Inventors of the Year." Radulovacki published more than 170 scientific papers. Radulovacki was also a Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

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William R. Roy, American physician, journalist, and politician (born 1926)

William Robert Roy, also known as Bill Roy, was a United States representative from Kansas, a physician, and a columnist for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the Democratic nominee for U.S Senator from Kansas in the 1974 and 1978 senate elections, but lost both races.

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Hooshang Seyhoun, Iranian-Canadian architect, sculptor, and painter (born 1920)

Houshang Seyhoun was an Iranian architect, sculptor, painter, scholar and professor.

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26/05/2013

Ray Barnhart, American businessman and politician (born 1928)

Ray Anderson Barnhart was an American businessman and politician who served as Federal Highway Administrator from 1981 to 1987. He started his career as City Councilman in Pasadena, Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives 100th district from and served from January 9, 1973 to January 14, 1975. He was an Eagle Scout. He also served as Chairman of the Texas State Republican Party.

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John Bierwirth, American lawyer and businessman (born 1924)

John Cocks (Jack) Bierwirth was an American lawyer and businessman. Bierwirth was an attorney by education, and a banking and financial expert by trade. He was best known as the CEO of Grumman during the 1970s and 1980s, a period of considerable reduction and downsizing in defense- and space-related industries.

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Roberto Civita, Italian-Brazilian businessman (born 1936)

Roberto F. Civita was a Brazilian businessman and publisher. Born in Italy, he emigrated at the age of two with his family to New York in 1938 to escape effects of the Race Laws. They moved again to Brazil in 1949, where his father Victor Civita founded Editora Abril, a publishing house.

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Tom Lichtenberg, American football player and coach (born 1940)

Thomas Lichtenberg was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach also at Morehead State University (1979–1980), the University of Maine (1989), and Ohio University (1990–1994), compiling a career college football coaching record of 26–59–3. He was also an assistant coach at Ohio State University and the University of Notre Dame.

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Otto Muehl, Austrian painter (born 1925)

Otto Muehl was an Austrian artist and convicted sex criminal, who was known as one of the co-founders as well as a main participant of Viennese Actionism and for founding the Friedrichshof Commune.

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Jack Vance, American author (born 1916)

John Holbrook Vance was an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries. He wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen.

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26/05/2012

Arthur Decabooter, Belgian cyclist (born 1936)

Arthur Decabooter was a Belgian professional racing cyclist, active as a professional between 1959 and 1967. Cyclist Walter Godefroot is his wife's brother-in-law.

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Leo Dillon, American illustrator (born 1933)

Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the husband-and-wife team "a seamless amalgam of both their hands". In more than 50 years, they created more than 100 speculative fiction book and magazine covers together as well as much interior artwork. Essentially all of their work in that field was joint.

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Stephen Healey, Welsh captain and footballer (born 1982)

Captain Stephen James Healey was a British Army officer with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, and former professional footballer for Swansea City.

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Hiroshi Miyazawa, Japanese politician (born 1921)

Hiroshi Miyazawa was a Japanese politician who served as the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from 1973 to 1981 and the Minister of Justice from 1995 to 1996.

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Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (born 1925)

Guy Larose, better known by his ring name Hans Schmidt, was a Canadian professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and 1960s. His gimmick that of a German pseudo-Nazi heel, gained him considerable notoriety and popularized the proliferation of similar gimmicks through Canadian and American wrestling.

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Jim Unger, English-Canadian illustrator (born 1937)

James Frederick Unger was a British-born Canadian cartoonist, best known for his syndicated comic strip Herman which ran for 18 years in 600 newspapers in 25 countries.

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26/05/2011

Arisen Ahubudu, Sri Lankan scholar, author, and playwright (born 1920)

Kalasuri Arisen Ahubudu was a Sri Lankan writer, orator, scholar, playwright, teacher (Guru), Sinhala lyricist, author and poet. He is a member of the Hela Havula. He has received three government awards for literary works, the title of Kalasuri from the Government of Sri Lanka, and the Sarasaviya Awards film award for best composer. As a composer, he is especially noted for writing music performed by W.D. Amaradeva, such as Gilem Obe Guna.

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26/05/2010

Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (born 1912)

Arthur Gordon Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, which aired on NBC radio and television for 19 years. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942.

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Chris Moran, English air marshal and pilot (born 1956)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Hugh Moran, was a fast jet pilot and later a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of Air Command at the time of his unexpected death.

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Kieran Phelan, Irish politician (born 1949)

Kieran Phelan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and member of Seanad Éireann on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

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26/05/2009

Mihalis Papagiannakis, Greek journalist and politician (born 1941)

Mihalis Papayiannakis was a Greek politician. He was born in Kalamata; his father was executed by the Nazis during World War II. He died on 26 May 2009 after a long battle with cancer.

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Peter Zezel, Canadian ice hockey and soccer player (born 1965)

Peter Zezel was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 1999.

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26/05/2008

Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1934)

Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer, and actor. Pollack is known for directing commercially and critically acclaimed studio films. During his 40-year career, he received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and six BAFTA Awards.

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Zita Urbonaitė, Lithuanian cyclist (born 1973)

Zita Urbonaitė was a female road racing cyclist from Lithuania.

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26/05/2007

Jack Edward Oliver, English illustrator (born 1942)

Jack Edward Oliver was a British cartoonist. He is more usually known as J. Edward Oliver.

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Howard Porter, American basketball player (born 1948)

Howard Porter was an American professional basketball player. He played as a power forward and a center.

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26/05/2006

Édouard Michelin, French businessman (born 1963)

Édouard Michelin was managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group. He was the great-grandson of Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), a co-founder of the company.

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Kevin O'Flanagan, Irish footballer and physician (born 1919)

Kevin Patrick O'Flanagan was an Irish sportsman, physician and sports administrator. An outstanding all-rounder, he represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. He was also a noted sprinter and long jumper and as a youth played Gaelic football. In his spare time he also played golf and tennis at a decent level. O'Flanagan played soccer for among others, Bohemians and Arsenal, and as an international he played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. O'Flanagan also played rugby union for UCD, London Irish and Ireland.

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26/05/2005

Eddie Albert, American actor (born 1906)

Edward Albert Heimberger was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

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Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (born 1928)

Alfonso Carrasquel Colón, better known as Chico Carrasquel, was a Venezuelan professional baseball player, coach, scout and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1950 to 1959, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox where he became the first Latin American in MLB history to start in an All-Star Game in 1951. A four-time All-Star known for his exceptional defensive skills, Carrasquel was the first in a long line of Major League shortstops from Venezuela including, Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepción, Ozzie Guillén and Omar Vizquel among others. He also played for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles.

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Ruth Laredo, American pianist and educator (born 1937)

Ruth Laredo was an American classical pianist.

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Leslie Smith, English businessman, co-founded Lesney Products (born 1918)

Leslie Charles Smith, OBE, was a co-founder of Lesney Products, the company famous for making Matchbox cars.

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26/05/2004

Nikolai Chernykh, Russian astronomer (born 1931)

Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh was a Russian-born Soviet astronomer and discoverer of minor planets and comets at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea.

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26/05/2003

Kathleen Winsor, American journalist and author (born 1919)

Kathleen Winsor was an American author. She is best known for her first work, the 1944 historical novel Forever Amber. The novel, racy for its time, became a runaway bestseller even as it drew criticism from some authorities for its depictions of sexuality. She wrote seven other novels, none of which matched the success of her debut.

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26/05/2002

Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (born 1932)

Degaga "Mamo" Wolde was an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competed in track, cross-country, and road running events. He was the winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

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26/05/2001

Vittorio Brambilla, Italian racing driver (born 1937)

Vittorio Brambilla was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1980. Nicknamed "the Monza Gorilla", Brambilla won the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix with March.

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Anne Haney, American actress (born 1934)

Anne Ryan Haney was an American character actress. She appeared in small supporting roles in around 50 film and television productions and was best known for her roles as Mrs. Sellner in Mrs. Doubtfire, Mrs. Chapil in The American President and Greta in Liar Liar.

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Moven Mahachi, Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (born 1952)

Moven Enock Mahachi served as the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Zimbabwe. He was a close ally of Robert Mugabe within Z.A.N.U.-P.F. Before becoming Defence Minister Mahachi served as M.P. for Makoni West.

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Dona Massin, Canadian actress and choreographer (born 1917)

Dona Massin was a film choreographer best known for her work on the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz. Dona Massin appeared in over 100 films throughout her career.

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26/05/1999

Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (born 1906)

Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death, Sacher was the majority shareholder of the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company and was considered the third richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion.

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Waldo Semon, American chemist and engineer (born 1898)

Waldo Lonsbury Semon was an American inventor born in Demopolis, Alabama. He is credited with inventing methods for making polyvinyl chloride useful.

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26/05/1997

Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (born 1896)

Ralph Horween was an American football player and coach. He played fullback and halfback and was a punter and drop-kicker for the unbeaten Harvard Crimson football teams of 1919 and 1920, which won the 1920 Rose Bowl. He was voted an All-American.

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26/05/1995

Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (born 1906)

Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons (WB) on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total, he created more than 300 cartoons.

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26/05/1994

Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist (born 1940)

Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. His first wife was singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed.

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26/05/1989

Don Revie, English footballer and manager (born 1927)

Donald George Revie was an English football player and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the England national football team manager for three years.

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26/05/1984

Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (born 1936)

Elizabeth Clow Peer Jansson was an American journalist who worked for Newsweek from 1958 until her death in 1984. She began her career at Newsweek as a copy girl, at a time when opportunities for women were limited. Osborn Elliott promoted her to writer in 1962; two years later she would be dispatched to Paris as Newsweek's first female foreign correspondent.

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26/05/1979

George Brent, Irish-American actor (born 1904)

George Brent was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor. He is best remembered for the eleven films he made with Bette Davis, which included Jezebel and Dark Victory.

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26/05/1978

Cybele Andrianou, Greek actress (born 1887)

Cybele Andrianou was a Greek actress.

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26/05/1976

Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (born 1889)

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher whose work was central to the development of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He has had significant impact within subsequent philosophy, social sciences and humanities, and theology.

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26/05/1974

Silvio Moser, Swiss racing driver (born 1941)

Silvio Moser was a racing driver from Switzerland.

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26/05/1969

Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (born 1937)

Robert Paul Hawkins was an Australian motor racing driver. The son of a racing motorcyclist-turned-church minister, Hawkins was a capable single-seater driver but really made his mark as an outstanding sports car competitor driving Ford GT40s and Lola T70s. In 1969 Hawkins was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, an elite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.

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Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer, co-founded the Lockheed Corporation (born 1889)

Allan Haines Lockheed was an American aviation engineer and businessman. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead, which became Lockheed Corporation.

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26/05/1966

Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (born 1894)

Elizabeth Eloise Kirkpatrick Dilling was an American writer and political activist. In 1934, she published The Red Network—A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots, which catalogs over 1,300 suspected communists and their sympathizers. Her books and lecture tours established her as the pre-eminent female right-wing activist of the 1930s, and one of the most outspoken critics of the New Deal, which she referred to as the "Jew Deal". In the mid-to-late 1930s, Dilling praised Nazi Germany.

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26/05/1964

Ruben Oskar Auervaara, Finnish fraudster (born 1906)

Ruben Oskar Auervaara was a notorious Finnish conman and thief. He became famous by cheating money from women he met through newspaper announcements, by pretending to intend to marry them. His surname has become an archetypal name in the Finnish language, meaning a deceptive charming trickster.

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26/05/1959

Philip Kassel, American gymnast (born 1876)

Philip Kassel was an American gymnast and track and field athlete who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in the German Empire. In 1904 he won the gold medal in the team event. He was also 6th in athletics' triathlon event, 11th in gymnastics' all-around competition and 19th in gymnastics' triathlon event.

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26/05/1956

Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (born 1902)

Aloysius Harry Simmons was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Bucketfoot Al", he had his best years with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics during the late 1920s and early 1930s, winning two World Series with the team. Simmons also played for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Boston Bees, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox. After his playing career ended, Simmons served as a coach for the Athletics and Cleveland Indians. A career .334 hitter, Simmons was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

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26/05/1955

Alberto Ascari, Italian racing driver (born 1918)

Alberto Ascari was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1955. Ascari won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in 1952 and 1953 with Ferrari, and won 13 Grands Prix across six seasons. In endurance racing, Ascari won the Mille Miglia in 1954 with Lancia.

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26/05/1954

Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (born 1900)

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, nicknamed "the Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was Canadian football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. He was also a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926. In hockey, he won the Memorial Cup in 1920, and the Stanley Cup twice: with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1934 and the Montreal Maroons in 1935. Additionally, he won wrestling, boxing and lacrosse championships during his playing career. He is one of three players, including Joe Miller and Carl Voss, to have their names engraved on both the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup.

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26/05/1951

Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (born 1880)

Lincoln Ellsworth was an American polar explorer, engineer, surveyor, and writer. He led the first Arctic and Antarctic air crossings.

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26/05/1948

Torsten Bergström, Swedish actor and director (born 1896)

Torsten Lars Herman Jamte Bergström was a Swedish film director and theater and film actor.

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26/05/1944

Christian Wirth, German SS officer (born 1885)

Christian Wirth was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer and leading Holocaust perpetrator who was one of the primary architects of the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard. His nicknames included Christian the Cruel, Stuka, and The Wild Christian due to the extremity of his behaviour among the SS and Trawniki guards and to the camp inmates and victims.

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26/05/1943

Edsel Ford, American businessman (born 1893)

Edsel Bryant Ford was an American business executive and philanthropist, who was the only child of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford. He was the president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 until his death in 1943.

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Alice Tegnér, Swedish organist, composer, and educator (born 1864)

Alice Charlotta Tegnér was a Swedish music teacher, poet and composer. She is the foremost composer of Swedish children's songs during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

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26/05/1939

Charles Horace Mayo, American physician, co-founded Mayo Clinic (born 1865)

Charles Horace Mayo was an American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother William James Mayo, Augustus Stinchfield, Christopher Graham, Edward Star Judd Jr., Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet, and Donald Balfour.

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26/05/1933

Horatio Bottomley, English financier, journalist, and politician (born 1860)

Horatio William Bottomley was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine John Bull, and for his nationalistic oratory during the First World War. His career came to a sudden end when, in 1922, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

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Jimmie Rodgers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1897)

James Charles Rodgers was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as the "Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive yodeling. Rodgers was known as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler". He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, and he has been inducted into multiple halls of fame.

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26/05/1926

Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (born 1904)

Srečko Kosovel was a Slovenian poet, now considered one of central Europe's major modernist poets. He was labeled an impressionistic poet of his native Karst region, a political poet resisting forced Italianization of the Slovene areas annexed by Italy, an expressionist, a dadaist, a satirist, and as a voice of international socialism, using avant-garde constructivist forms. He is now considered a Slovenian poetic icon.

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26/05/1925

William H. Shockley, American mining engineer, amateur photographer, and hobbyist botanist (born 1855)

William Hillman Shockley was an American engineer, photographer, and botanist. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Shockley worked as a mining engineer in Florida and Nevada, collecting plant specimens during his time in the American West. Fluent in multiple languages, Shockley's engineering work took him to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America. Across these regions, he took thousands of photographs documenting both local mining and society.

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26/05/1924

Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor, founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (born 1859)

Victor August Herbert was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I. He was also prominent among the Tin Pan Alley composers and was later a founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). A prolific composer, Herbert produced two operas, a cantata, 43 operettas, incidental music to 10 plays, 31 compositions for orchestra, nine band compositions, nine cello compositions, five violin compositions with piano or orchestra, 22 piano compositions and numerous songs, choral compositions and orchestrations of works by other composers, among other music.

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26/05/1914

Jacob August Riis, Danish-American journalist, photographer, and reformer (born 1849)

Jacob August Riis was a Danish-American social reformer, "muck-raking" journalist, and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in the United States of America at the turn of the twentieth century. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography.

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26/05/1908

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya movement (born 1835)

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as initially the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, followed by the claim to be both the promised Messiah and Mahdi, in regard to Islamic prophecies regarding the end times, as well as being Krishna, an Avatar of Vishnu, for the Hindus.

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26/05/1902

Almon Brown Strowger, American soldier and inventor (born 1839)

Almon Brown Strowger was an American inventor for whom the Strowger switch, an electromechanical telephone exchange technology, is named.

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26/05/1883

Abdelkader El Djezairi, Algerian ruler (born 1808)

Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din, known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abd al-Qadir al-Hassani al-Jaza'iri, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers in the early 19th century. As an Islamic scholar and Sufi who unexpectedly found himself leading a military campaign, he built up a collection of Algerian tribesmen that for many years successfully held out against one of the most advanced armies in Europe.

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26/05/1881

Jakob Bernays, German philologist and academic (born 1824)

Jacob Bernays was a German philologist and philosophical writer.

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26/05/1840

Sidney Smith, English admiral and politician (born 1764)

Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith was a British naval officer and politician. Serving in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of admiral in the Royal Navy. Smith was known for his outspoken character and penchant for acting on his own initiative, which caused a great deal of friction with many of his superiors and colleagues.

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26/05/1824

Capel Lofft, English lawyer (born 1751)

Capel Lofft was a British lawyer, writer and amateur astronomer.

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26/05/1818

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (born 1761)

Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly was a Russian field marshal who figured prominently in the Napoleonic Wars.

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Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader (born 1785)

Manuel Xavier Rodríguez Erdoíza was a Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader, considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Rodríguez was of Basque descent.

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26/05/1799

James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish linguist, biologist, and judge (born 1714)

James Burnett, Lord Monboddo was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics. In 1767, he became a judge in the Court of Session.

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26/05/1762

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher and academic (born 1714)

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten was a German philosopher. He was a brother to theologian Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten (1706–1757).

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26/05/1746

Thomas Southerne, Irish playwright (born 1660)

Thomas Southerne was an Irish dramatist.

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26/05/1742

Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian diplomat (born 1672)

Pylyp Stepanovych Orlyk was a Zaporozhian Cossack statesman, diplomat and member of Cossack starshyna. Described as the first Ukrainian political emigrant, he served as the hetman in exile from 1710 to 1742. He was a close associate of hetman Ivan Mazepa, and the author of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk.

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26/05/1703

Samuel Pepys, English politician (born 1633)

Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is most remembered today for the diary he kept for almost a decade. Though he had no maritime experience, Pepys rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both Charles II and James II through patronage, diligence, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the English Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy.

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26/05/1702

Zeb-un-Nissa, Mughal princess and poet (born 1638)

Zeb-un-Nissa was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi.

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26/05/1685

Charles II, German elector palatine (born 1651)

Charles II was Elector Palatine from 1680 to 1685. He was the son of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the House of Wittelsbach, and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.

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26/05/1679

Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (born 1636)

Ferdinand Maria was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1651 to 1679. The Elector modernized the army and introduced Bavaria's first government code. Besides encouraging agriculture and industry, he also improved building and restoration works on churches and monasteries since the damage caused during the Thirty Years' War.

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26/05/1653

Robert Filmer, English theorist and author (born 1588)

Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. His best known work, Patriarcha, published posthumously in 1680, was the target of numerous Whig attempts at rebuttal, including Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government, James Tyrrell's Patriarcha Non Monarcha and John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Filmer also wrote critiques of Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, Hugo Grotius and Aristotle.

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26/05/1648

Vincent Voiture, French poet and author (born 1597)

Vincent Voiture, French Mannerist and Baroque Précieuses poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him to Brussels and Lorraine on diplomatic missions.

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26/05/1552

Sebastian Münster, German cartographer and cosmographer (born 1488)

Sebastian Münster was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, Cosmographia, sold well and went through 24 editions. Its influence was widely spread by a production of woodcuts created of it by a variety of artists.

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26/05/1536

Francesco Berni, Italian poet (born 1498)

Francesco Berni was an Italian poet. He is credited for beginning what is now known as "Bernesque poetry", a serio-comedic type of poetry with elements of satire.

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26/05/1512

Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (born 1447)

Bayezid II was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne to his son, Selim I. Bayezid evacuated Sephardi Jews from Spain following the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the proclamation of the Alhambra Decree and resettled them throughout Ottoman lands, especially in Salonica.

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26/05/1421

Mehmed I, Ottoman sultan (born 1389)

Mehmed I, also known as Mehmed Çelebi or Kirişçi, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of Sultan Bayezid I and his concubine Devlet Hatun, he fought with his brothers over control of the Ottoman realm in the Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413). Starting from the province of Rûm he managed to bring first Anatolia and then the European territories (Rumelia) under his control, reuniting the Ottoman state by 1413, and ruling it until his death in 1421. Called "The Restorer", he reestablished central authority in Anatolia, and he expanded the Ottoman presence in Europe through the conquest of Wallachia in 1415. Venice destroyed his fleet off Gallipoli in 1416 when the Ottomans lost a naval war.

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26/05/1362

Louis I, king of Naples (born 1320)

Louis I, also known as Louis of Taranto, was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou who reigned as King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, and Prince of Taranto.

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26/05/1339

Aldona Ona, queen of Poland

Aldona was Queen consort of Poland (1333–1339), and a princess of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She was the daughter of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.

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26/05/1250

Peter I, duke of Brittany

Peter I, also known as Peter Mauclerc and Peter of Dreux, reigned as Duke of Brittany alongside his wife Alix from 1213 to 1221, and was regent of the duchy for his minor son John I from 1221 to 1237. As duke he was also 1st Earl of Richmond from 1218 to 1235.

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26/05/1055

Adalbert, margrave of Austria

Adalbert, known as Adalbert the Victorious, was the Margrave of Austria from 1018 until his death in 1055. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.

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26/05/1035

Berenguer Ramon I, Spanish nobleman (born 1005)

Berenguer Ramon I, called the Crooked or the Hunchback, was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1018 to his death.

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26/05/0946

Edmund I, king of England (born 921)

Edmund I or Eadmund I was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death in 946. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. After Edward died in 924, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Edmund's half-brother Æthelstan. Edmund was crowned after Æthelstan died childless in 939. He had two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, by his first wife Ælfgifu, and none by his second wife Æthelflæd. His sons were young children when he was killed in a brawl with an outlaw at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire, and he was succeeded by his younger brother Eadred, who died in 955 and was followed by Edmund's sons in succession.

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26/05/0926

Yuan Xingqin, Chinese general and governor

Yuan Xingqin (元行欽), known as Li Shaorong (李紹榮) c. 915–926, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Yan and Jin/Later Tang states. He was initially a trusted general under Yan's only emperor Liu Shouguang, but after his capture in battle by Jin forces, became a close associate of Jin's prince Li Cunxu.

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26/05/0818

Ali al-Ridha, 8th of The Twelve Imams

Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, succeeding his father, Musa al-Kazim, in 799 CE. He is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufi orders. He was known for his piety and learning, and a number of works are attributed to him, including Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah, Sahifah of al-Ridha, and Fiqh al-Rida. Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha by Ibn Babawayh is a comprehensive collection that includes his religious debates and sayings, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his tomb. He is buried in Mashhad, Iran, site of a large shrine.

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26/05/0735

Bede, English monk, historian, and theologian

Bede, also known as the Venerable Bede or Bede the Venerable, was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the best known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the title "The Father of English History". He served at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.

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26/05/0604

Augustine of Canterbury, Benedictine monk and archbishop

Augustine of Canterbury was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597.

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