Died on Saturday, 3rd May – Famous Deaths

03/05/2024

Dick Rutan, American military aviator and officer (born 1938)

Richard Glenn Rutan was an American military aviator and officer, as well as a record-breaking test pilot who in 1986 piloted the Voyager aircraft on the first non-stop, non-refueled around-the-world flight with co-pilot Jeana Yeager. He was the older brother of famed aerospace designer Burt Rutan, whose many earlier original designs Dick piloted on class record-breaking flights, including Voyager.

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03/05/2021

Lloyd Price, American R&B vocalist (born 1933)

Lloyd Price was an American R&B and rock and roll singer known as "Mr. Personality" after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a hit for Specialty Records in 1952. He continued to release records, but none were as popular until several years later, when he refined the New Orleans beat and achieved a series of national hits. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

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03/05/2020

Victoria Barbă, Moldovan animated film director (born 1926)

Victoria Ivanovna Barbă was a Moldovan animated film director, focused on movies for children. Having been born in modern Russia, she studied in Saint Petersburg and then in Chișinău, today in Moldova. She had a productive career, with an extensive filmography and numerous earned distinctions.

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Dave Greenfield, English rock keyboardist (born 1949)

David Paul Greenfield was an English keyboardist, singer and songwriter who was a member of rock band the Stranglers. He joined the band in 1975, within a year of its formation, and played with them for 45 years until his death.

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03/05/2017

Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (born 1942)

Daliah Lavi was an Israeli actress, singer, and model.

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03/05/2016

Ian Deans, Canadian politician (born 1937)

Ian Deans was a Scottish-Canadian politician. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1979 and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1980 to 1986.

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Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (born 1950)

Jadranka Stojaković was a Bosnian singer-songwriter popular in the former Yugoslavia, known for her unique voice. Her best known hits are "Sve smo mogli mi", "Što te nema", and "Bistre vode Bosnom teku".

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03/05/2015

Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (born 1926)

Revaz "Rezo" Chkheidze was a Georgian film director, People's Artist of the USSR, best known for his Soviet-era drama films, including his 1964 World War II-themed Father of a Soldier.

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Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (born 1986)

Danny Jones was a Wales international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at club level for Halifax, and the Keighley Cougars, as a stand-off or scrum-half.

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Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (born 1915)

Warren F. Smith, Jr. was an American professional golfer.

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03/05/2014

Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1930)

Gary Stanley Becker was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of the third generation of the Chicago school of economics.

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Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (born 1930)

Francisco Icaza was a Mexican artist best known for his drawings about his travels and his oil paintings. He spent much of his life living in and visiting various countries around the world. He began painting as a child while living as a refugee in the Mexican embassy in Germany. Icaza exhibited his work both in Mexico and abroad in Europe, South America, the Middle East, Asia and India, most notably at his three major solo exhibitions at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. He also painted a mural dedicated to Bertolt Brecht, La Farándula, at the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, a focus of controversy when the work was moved and restored in the early 2000s. He painted additional murals for the Mexican Pavilion at the HemisFair in Texas ; for the Mexican Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada ; and for the Mexican Pavilion in Osaka at Expo '70. This last mural is held at the Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez in Zacatecas City. He was an active member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and also a member and founder of several important Mexican artistic movements including Los Interioristas, El Salón Independiente, and La Confrontación 66.

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Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (born 1934)

James Louis Oberstar was an American politician and congressman who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. Hailing from Minnesota and a member of the state's local Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he represented the northeastern eighth congressional district, which included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing, within an area of Minnesota known as the Iron Range. He chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2007 until his departure, having been the ranking minority member since 1995. In November 2010, he was defeated by a margin of 4,407 votes by Republican Chip Cravaack. He had the longest tenure of any Congressman from Minnesota.

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03/05/2013

Joe Astroth, American baseball player (born 1922)

Joseph Henry Astroth was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and remained with the team when they moved west and became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. He batted and threw right-handed, stood 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and weighed 187 pounds (85 kg).

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Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (born 1926)

Herbert Blau was an American director and theoretician of performance. He was named the Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.

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Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (born 1943)

Cedric Roy "Im" Brooks was a Jamaican saxophonist and flautist known for his solo recordings and as a founding member of The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, The Sound Dimensions, Divine Light, The Light of Saba, United Africa, and The Skatalites.

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Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (born 1924)

Keith Eyre Carter was an American competition swimmer, a six time All American, an Olympic silver medalist and world record holder in the 200 yard breaststroke.

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Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (born 1958)

Brad Drewett was an Australian tennis player and ATP official. He was the 1975 and 1977 Australian Open junior champion and the youngest player at age 17 to win the title since Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe. He was also the third-youngest Australian Open quarterfinalist in his first Grand Slam appearance, at 17 years 5 months in 1975, behind Boris Becker, 17 years 4 days in 1984 and Goran Ivanišević, 17 years 4 months in 1989.

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David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (born 1909)

David Morris Kern was an American pharmacist and businessman. Kern developed and co-invented Orajel, a topical medication applied to relieve pain from toothaches and mouth sores.

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Curtis Rouse, American football player (born 1960)

Curtis Lamar Rouse was an American professional football offensive lineman who played six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Minnesota Vikings and the San Diego Chargers.

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Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (born 1958)

Branko Vukelić was a Croatian politician who served as Minister of Defence of Croatia from 2008 to 2010 and as Minister of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship from 2003 to 2008. He was one of the most prominent political figures from the city of Karlovac during the 1990s and 2000s.

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03/05/2012

Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (born 1918)

Jorge Enrique Illueca Sibauste was a Panamanian politician and diplomat who served as 25th President of Panama in 1984.

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Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (born 1922)

Felix Werder AM was a German-born Australian composer of classical and electronic music, and also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he composed all his life. His published and recorded music includes symphonies, chamber music for all combinations, solo concerti, choral works and operas.

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03/05/2011

Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (born 1922)

John Cooper Jr., known professionally as Jackie Cooper, was an American actor and director. He began his career as a child actor and was a featured member of the Our Gang ensemble 1929–1931. At age nine, he became the only child and youngest person nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for the 1931 film Skippy. He then successfully transitioned to adolescent roles in the 1930s and adult roles from 1940 on.

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Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (born 1936)

Sergo (Sergei) Parmenovich Kotrikadze was a Georgian association footballer from the former Soviet Union who played for FC Dinamo Tbilisi and FC Torpedo Kutaisi. He was part of the USSR's squad for the 1962 FIFA World Cup, but did not win any caps, although he played in two Olympic qualifiers.

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Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (born 1927)

Thanasis Veggos was a Greek actor and director born in Neo Faliro, Piraeus. He performed in around 130 films, predominantly comedies in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, starring in more than 50 among them. He is considered one of the best Greek comedy actors of all time. His famous comedic catchphrase was Καλέ μου άνθρωπε.

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03/05/2010

Roy Carrier, American accordion player (born 1947)

Joseph Roy Carrier Sr., known professionally as Roy Carrier, was an American Zydeco musician. He was the father of Chubby and Dikki Du Carrier, who followed their father into Zydeco music and the brother of Zydeco T Carrier

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Peter O'Donnell, English soldier and author (born 1920)

Peter O'Donnell was an English writer of mysteries and of comic strips, best known as the creator of Modesty Blaise, an action heroine/undercover trouble-shooter. He was also a gothic historical romance novelist who wrote under the female pseudonym Madeleine Brent; in 1978, his novel Merlin's Keep won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award of the Romantic Novelists' Association.

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Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (born 1923)

Günter F. Wendt was a German-born American mechanical engineer noted for his work in the U.S. human spaceflight program. An employee of McDonnell Aircraft and later North American Aviation, he was in charge of the spacecraft close-out crews at the launch pads for the entire Mercury and Gemini programs (1961–1966) and the crewed phases of the Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo–Soyuz programs (1968–1975) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). His official title was Pad Leader.

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03/05/2009

Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (born 1928)

Renée Morisset, was a Canadian pianist. She and her husband, Victor Bouchard, were one of the foremost piano duos in Canadian classical music.

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Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (born 1931)

Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar was a Marathi orator, writer, and literary critic from Maharashtra, India.

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03/05/2008

Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (born 1926)

Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo, was a Spanish civil engineer and politician. He was Prime Minister of Spain during 1981 and 1982.

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03/05/2007

Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (born 1913)

Warja Lavater was born in Winterthur, Switzerland. She was a Swiss artist and illustrator noted primarily for working in the artist's books genre by creating accordion fold books that re-tell classic fairy tales with symbols rather than words.

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Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (born 1923)

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program.

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Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (born 1932)

Knock Yokoyama was a Japanese politician and comedian.

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03/05/2006

Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (born 1921)

Christiaan Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-garde movement CoBrA in 1948. He was also an avid sculptor and has had works featured in MoMA and other museums worldwide.

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Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (born 1949)

Pramod Venkatesh Mahajan was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A second-generation leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he belonged to a group of relatively young "technocratic" leaders. At the time of his death, he was in a power struggle against Nitin Gadkari for the leadership of the BJP, given the imminent retirement of its aging top brass.

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Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (born 1932)

Earl Dennison Woods was the father of American professional golfer Tiger Woods. Woods started his son in golf at a very early age and coached him exclusively over his first years in the sport. He later published two books about the process.

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03/05/2004

Ken Downing, English race car driver (born 1917)

Kenneth Henry Downing was a British racing driver. From a wealthy family connected to G.H. Downing & Co., he began racing as a privateer in the late 1940s, and with Connaught in 1951, winning 17 races throughout the year. He then competed in the 1952 Formula One championship.

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Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1928)

Darrell Dean Johnson was an American professional catcher, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a manager, he led the 1975 Boston Red Sox to the American League pennant, and was named "Manager of the Year" by both The Sporting News and the Associated Press.

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03/05/2003

Suzy Parker, American model and actress (born 1932)

Suzy Parker was an American model and actress active from 1947 until 1970. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s, when she appeared on the covers of dozens of magazines and in advertisements and movie and television roles.

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03/05/2002

Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (born 1910)

Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, Baroness Castle, was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving female MPs in British history. Regarded as one of the most significant Labour Party politicians, Castle developed a close political partnership with Prime Minister Harold Wilson and held several roles in the Cabinet. She is the first and, to date, the only woman to have held the office of First Secretary of State.

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Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1928)

Yevgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov was a Soviet and Russian conductor, composer, and pianist.

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03/05/2000

Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (born 1901)

Júlia Báthory was a Hungarian glass designer.

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John Joseph O'Connor, American cardinal (born 1920)

John Joseph O'Connor was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death in 2000, and was made a cardinal in 1985.

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03/05/1999

Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (born 1927)

Joseph Wilbur Adcock was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1950 to 1966, most prominently as a member of the Milwaukee Braves teams that won two consecutive National League pennants and the 1957 World Series.

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Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1967)

Steven Joseph Chiasson was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman with the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes.

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Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (born 1920)

Thomas Godfrey Evans was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches. En route he was the first wicket keeper to reach 200 Test dismissals and the first Englishman to reach both 1000 runs and 100 dismissals and 2000 runs and 200 dismissals in Test cricket. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1951.

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03/05/1998

Gene Raymond, American actor (born 1908)

Gene Raymond was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a singer, composer, screenwriter, director, producer, and decorated military pilot.

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03/05/1997

Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (born 1976)

Sébastien Olivier Enjolras was a French racing driver. Considered to be one of the most promising French drivers of his generation, he was killed in a crash during practice for the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans race, aged 21.

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Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (born 1927)

Narciso Yepes was a Spanish guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century.

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03/05/1996

Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (born 1921)

Dimitris Fampas was a Greek classical guitarist and composer.

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Alex Kellner, American baseball player (born 1924)

Alexander Raymond Kellner was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1948–1958), Cincinnati Reds (1958) and St. Louis Cardinals (1959). Kellner batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in Tucson, Arizona. His younger brother, Walt, also was a major league pitcher.

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Jack Weston, American actor (born 1924)

Jack Weston was an American actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1976 and a Tony Award in 1981.

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Keith Daniel Williams, American rapist and triple murderer (born 1947)

Keith Daniel Williams was an American triple murderer who was executed by the state of California for the October 1978 murders of three people in Merced, California. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 and was subsequently executed in 1996 at San Quentin State Prison by lethal injection.

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03/05/1992

George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (born 1902)

George Lloyd Murphy was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1951. Murphy served from 1965 to 1971 as U.S. Senator from California, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, predating Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who each served two terms as governor. He is the only United States senator represented by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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03/05/1991

Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (born 1933)

Jerzy Kosiński was a Polish-born American writer and two-time president of the American chapter of P.E.N., who wrote primarily in English.

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03/05/1989

Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (born 1926)

Christine Jorgensen was an American actress, singer, and transgender activist. A trans woman, she was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery.

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03/05/1988

Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (born 1908)

Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin was a Soviet mathematician. Completely blind from the age of 14, he made major discoveries in a number of fields of mathematics, including algebraic topology, differential topology and optimal control.

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03/05/1987

Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (born 1933)

Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian naturalized French singer and actress. Throughout her international career, Dalida sold more than 140 million records worldwide. Some of her best known songs include "Bambino", "Ciao amore, ciao", "Gigi l'amoroso", "Il venait d'avoir 18 ans", "Laissez-moi danser", "Salma ya salama", "Helwa ya baladi", "Mourir sur scène", and "Paroles, paroles" featuring spoken word by film star Alain Delon.

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03/05/1986

Robert Alda, American actor (born 1914)

Robert Alda was an American actor, singer and dancer. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions, then moved to Italy during the early 1960s. He appeared in many European films over the next two decades, occasionally returning to the U.S. for film appearances such as The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969).

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03/05/1981

Nargis, Indian actress (born 1929)

Nargis Dutt, known mononymously as Nargis, was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema, Nargis often portrayed sophisticated and independent women in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama. She was among the highest paid actresses of the 1950s and 1960s.

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03/05/1978

Bill Downs, American journalist (born 1914)

William Randall Downs, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He worked for CBS News from 1942 to 1962 and for ABC News beginning in 1963. He was one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as the Murrow Boys.

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03/05/1972

Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (born 1898)

Sir Kenneth Hamilton Bailey was a senior Australian public servant and lawyer, best known for his time as Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department between 1946 and 1964.

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Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (born 1883)

Emil William Breitkreutz was an American middle-distance runner who won a bronze medal in the Olympic 800 meters final in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Bruce Cabot, American actor (born 1904)

Bruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933) and for his roles in films such as The Last of the Mohicans (1936), Fritz Lang's Fury (1936), and the Western Dodge City (1939). He was also known as one of "Wayne's Regulars", appearing in a number of John Wayne films beginning with Angel and the Badman (1947), and concluding with Big Jake (1971).

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03/05/1970

Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (born 1918)

Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk was a Turkish footballer and Sailplane pilot.

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03/05/1969

Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (born 1897)

Zakir Husain Khan was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.

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03/05/1958

Frank Foster, English cricketer (born 1889)

Frank Rowbotham Foster was an English amateur cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club from 1908 to 1914, and in Test cricket for England in 1911 and 1912. He was born in Birmingham, educated at Solihull School and died in St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton. His career was cut short after a motor-cycle accident during World War I.

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03/05/1949

Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (born 1888)

Frederick Ingram Walden was an English professional footballer who played outside right for Northampton Town, Tottenham Hotspur and at international level for England during the 1910s and 1920s. He also played cricket for Northamptonshire and was an English cricket umpire.

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03/05/1948

Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (born 1876)

Knut Ernst Robert Tandefelt was a Swedish-speaking Finnish nobleman.

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03/05/1943

Harry Miller, American engineer (born 1875)

Harold Arminius Miller, commonly called Harry, was an American race car designer and builder who was most active in the 1920s and 1930s. Griffith Borgeson called him "the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car". Cars built by Miller won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, and other cars using his engines won three more. Millers accounted for 83% of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928.

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03/05/1942

Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (born 1873)

Thorvald August Marinus Stauning was the first social democratic prime minister of Denmark. He served as prime minister from 1924 to 1926 and again from 1929 until his death in 1942.

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03/05/1939

Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (born 1873)

Madeleine Desroseaux is the pseudonym of Florentine Monier (1873-1939), a Breton poet and novelist.

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03/05/1935

Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (born 1863)

Jessie Willcox Smith was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators". A contributor to books and magazines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Smith illustrated stories and articles for clients such as Century, Collier's, Leslie's Weekly, Harper's, McClure's, Scribners, and the Ladies' Home Journal. She had an ongoing relationship with Good Housekeeping, which included a long-running Mother Goose series of illustrations and also the creation of all the Good Housekeeping covers from December 1917 to 1933. Smith illustrated over sixty books, including notable works like Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and An Old-Fashioned Girl, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline, and Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

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03/05/1932

Charles Fort, American journalist and author (born 1874)

Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print. His work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as "Forteans", and has influenced some aspects of science fiction.

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03/05/1925

Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (born 1841)

Clément Ader was a French inventor and engineer who was born near Toulouse in Muret, Haute-Garonne, and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation. In 1870 he was also one of the pioneers in the sport of cycling in France.

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03/05/1921

Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (born 1883)

Théodore Eugène Pilette was a Belgian racing driver. He started racing in 1903 and was the first Belgian to race at the Indianapolis 500. Competing in the 1913 event with his works Mercedes-Knight, Pilette was among the first Europe-based drivers to travel from overseas for the race. Despite having the smallest engine, he took fifth place, averaging 68.148 mph (109.674 km/h) over the 500 miles (800 km).

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03/05/1919

Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (born 1854)

Elizabeth Almira Allen was an American teacher, teachers' rights advocate, and the first woman president of the New Jersey Education Association. Allen was born in Joliet, Illinois, daughter of James and Sarah J (Smith) Allen on February 27, 1854, and the eldest of five children. By 1867, the family had moved to New Jersey.

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03/05/1918

Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (born 1863)

Charles Jones Soong, also known by his courtesy name Soong Yao-ju, was a Chinese businessman who first achieved prominence as a publisher in Shanghai. His children became some of the most prominent politicians of the Kuomintang-ruled Nationalist China.

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03/05/1916

Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (born 1858)

Thomas James Clarke was an Irish republican and a leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Clarke was arguably the person most responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising. A proponent of armed struggle against British rule in Ireland for most of his life, Clarke spent 15 years in English prisons prior to his role in the Easter Rising and was executed by firing squad after it was defeated.

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Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (born 1878)

Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, which fought in Jacob's biscuit factory. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.

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Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (born 1879)

Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion.

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03/05/1910

Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (born 1871)

Howard Taylor Ricketts was an American pathologist after whom the family Rickettsiaceae and the order Rickettsiales are named.

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03/05/1882

Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (born 1806)

Leonidas Smolents, Smolenits or Smolenskis was an Austrian military officer of Greek origin, who after 1830 settled in the newly independent Kingdom of Greece and became a general and Minister for Military Affairs.

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03/05/1856

Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (born 1803)

Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle (1841) and Le corsaire (1856), his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau (1836) and Si j'étais roi (1852) and his Christmas carol "Minuit, chrétiens!".

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Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (born 1788)

Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis was a member of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard, leading him to be known in his lifetime as "Mamelouk Ali". He was most notable as a faithful servant to Napoleon I during his two exiles on Elba and Saint Helena.

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03/05/1839

Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (born 1771)

Ferdinando Paer was an Italian composer known for his operas. He was of Austrian descent and used the German spelling Pär in application for printing in Venice, and later in France the spelling Paër.

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03/05/1793

Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (born 1720)

Martin Gerbert, was a German theologian, historian and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at Horb am Neckar, Württemberg, on 12 August 1720.

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03/05/1779

John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (born 1714)

John Winthrop was an American mathematician, physicist and astronomer. He was the 2nd Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Harvard College.

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03/05/1764

Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (born 1712)

Count Francesco Algarotti was an Italian polymath, active as a philosopher, writer, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He was a friend of Frederick the Great and leading authors of his times: Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis and the atheist Julien Offray de La Mettrie. Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Gray, George Lyttelton, Thomas Hollis, Metastasio, Benedict XIV and Heinrich von Brühl were among his correspondents.

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03/05/1763

George Psalmanazar, French-English author (born 1679)

George Psalmanazar was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of Formosa to visit Europe. For some years, he convinced many in Britain, but he was eventually revealed to be of European origin. He subsequently became a theological essayist, and a friend and acquaintance of Samuel Johnson and other noted figures in 18th-century literary London.

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03/05/1758

Pope Benedict XIV (born 1675)

Pope Benedict XIV, born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death on 3 May 1758.

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03/05/1752

Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (born 1692)

Samuel Ogle was the 16th, 18th and 20th Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1731 to 1732, 1733 to 1742, and 1746/1747 to 1752.

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03/05/1750

John Willison, Scottish minister and author (born 1680)

John Willison was an evangelical minister of the Church of Scotland and a writer of Christian literature.

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03/05/1724

John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (born 1662)

John Leverett was an early Anglo-American lawyer, politician, educator, and President of Harvard College.

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03/05/1704

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (born 1644)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber was a Czech-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, and settled in Salzburg. He remained there for the rest of his life, publishing much of his music but apparently seldom, if ever, giving concert tours.

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03/05/1693

Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (born 1607)

Claude de Rouvroy, 1st Duke of Saint-Simon, was a French soldier and courtier, and favourite of Louis XIII, who created his dukedom for him. His only son Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon (1675–1755) was the famous memoirist of the court of Louis XIV.

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03/05/1679

James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (born 1613)

James Sharp, or Sharpe, was a minister in the Church of Scotland, or kirk, who served as Archbishop of St Andrews from 1661 to 1679. His support for Episcopalianism, or governance by bishops, brought him into conflict with elements of the kirk who advocated Presbyterianism. He was twice the target of assassination attempts, the second of which cost him his life.

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03/05/1621

Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (born 1541)

Elizabeth Bacon was an English aristocrat. She is presumed to have been the Lady Neville of My Ladye Nevells Booke, an important manuscript of keyboard music by William Byrd, which was compiled in 1591. She was the daughter of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon, by his first wife, Jane Ferneley. She was, successively, the wife of Sir Robert D'Oylie, the courtier Sir Henry Neville, and the judge Sir William Peryam.

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03/05/1606

Henry Garnet, English priest and author (born 1555)

Henry Garnet, sometimes Henry Garnett, was an English Jesuit priest executed for high treason, based solely on having had advance knowledge of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and having refused to violate the Seal of the Confessional by notifying the authorities. Born in Heanor, Derbyshire, he was educated in Nottingham and later at Winchester College before he moved to London in 1571 to work for a publisher. There he professed an interest in legal studies and in 1575, he travelled to the continent and joined the Society of Jesus. He was ordained in Rome some time around 1582.

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03/05/1589

Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (born 1528)

Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and ruling Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1568 until his death. From 1584, he also ruled over the Principality of Calenberg. By embracing the Protestant Reformation, establishing the University of Helmstedt, and introducing a series of administrative reforms, Julius was one of the most important Brunswick dukes in the early modern era.

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03/05/1534

Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (born 1481)

Juana de la Cruz Vázquez y Gutiérrez, TOR,, was a Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. Known to be a mystic, she was authorized to preach publicly, an extraordinary permission for a woman. Living at the start of Spanish mysticism's golden era, she is counted among Teresa of Ávila's literary mothers. In 2015 she was declared Venerable by the Catholic Church. Pope Francis beatified her on 25 November, 2024.

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03/05/1524

Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (born 1481)

Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent KG was an English peer.

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03/05/1501

John Devereux, 9th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (born 1463)

John Devereux, 9th Baron Ferrers of Chartley was an English peer.

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03/05/1481

Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (born 1432)

Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.

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03/05/1410

Antipope Alexander V

Peter of Candia, also known as Peter Phillarges, denominated Alexander V, was an antipope elected by the Council of Pisa during the Western Schism (1378–1417). He reigned briefly from 26 June 1409 to his death in 1410, in opposition to the Roman Pope Gregory XII and the Avignon antipope Benedict XIII. In the 20th century, the Catholic Church reinterpreted the Western Schism by recognising the Roman Popes of the period as legitimate. The pontificate of Gregory XII was thus recognized to extend to 1415, and Alexander V was and is now recognized as an antipope.

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03/05/1330

Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (born 1282)

Alexios II Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 1297 to 1330. He was the elder son of John II and Eudokia Palaiologina.

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03/05/1294

John I, Duke of Brabant (born 1252)

John I, also called John the Victorious was Duke of Brabant (1267–1294), Lothier and Limburg (1288–1294). During the 13th century, John I was venerated as a folk hero. He has been painted as the perfect model of a brave, adventurous and chivalrous feudal prince.

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03/05/1270

Béla IV of Hungary (born 1206)

Béla IV was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father's lifetime in 1214. His father, who strongly opposed Béla's coronation, refused to give him a province to rule until 1220. In this year, Béla was appointed Duke of Slavonia, also with jurisdiction in Croatia and Dalmatia. Around the same time, Béla married Maria, a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Nicaea. From 1226, he governed Transylvania as duke. He supported Christian missions among the pagan Cumans who dwelled in the plains to the east of his province. Some Cuman chieftains acknowledged his suzerainty and he adopted the title of King of Cumania in 1233. King Andrew died on 21 September 1235 and Béla succeeded him. He attempted to restore royal authority, which had diminished under his father. For this purpose, he revised his predecessors' land grants and reclaimed former royal estates, causing discontent among the noblemen and the prelates.

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03/05/1152

Matilda of Boulogne (born 1105)

Matilda of Boulogne was the countess of Boulogne in her own right from 1125 and queen of England as the wife of King Stephen from 1135 until her death. She supported Stephen in his struggle for the English throne against their mutual cousin Empress Matilda, a period known as the Anarchy. Historians attribute Stephen's continued hold on the throne to her courage and determination.

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03/05/0738

Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)

Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil, was the 13th ajaw or ruler of the powerful Maya polity associated with the site of Copán in modern Honduras. He ruled from January 2, 695, to May 3, 738.

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03/05/0678

Tōchi, Japanese princess

Princess Tōchi was a Japanese imperial princess during the Asuka period who was Empress of Japan as the wife of her cousin Emperor Kōbun. Her name Tōchi is derived from the Tōchi district, a neighbourhood located a few miles north of Asuka. Princess Tōchi was daughter of Emperor Tenmu and Princess Nukata. She married Prince Ōtomo, who became Emperor Kōbun. They lived in the capital of Ōtsu in the Ōmi Province. He succeeded after his father, Emperor Tenji, died. She subsequently was consort until Emperor Kōbun was killed by her father in the Jinshin War.

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