Died on Friday, 30th May – Famous Deaths

30/05/2025

Étienne-Émile Baulieu, French biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1926)

Étienne-Émile Baulieu was a French biochemist and endocrinologist who was best known for his research in the field of steroid hormones and their role in reproduction and aging. He has been nicknamed the “father” of the abortion pill mainly as a result of his work on the abortion-inducing drug RU486 (Mifepristone). Baulieu also worked to determine if dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) was a prohormone and if it and other hormonal substitutions also increased longevity in humans.

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Valerie Mahaffey, American actress (born 1953)

Valerie Mahaffey was a Canadian-American actress. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

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Loretta Swit, American actress and singer (born 1937)

Loretta Swit was an American stage and television actress. She was widely known for her character roles, especially her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H, for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards in each season of the long-running show, and won two, in 1980 and 1982.

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John E. Thrasher, American politician (born 1943)

John E. Thrasher was an American politician and state legislator in Florida. He was a businessman, lawyer, and lobbyist who served as the 15th president of Florida State University. He was approved by the Florida Board of Governors on November 6, 2014, and took office on November 10, 2014. On September 11, 2020, Thrasher and the university board of trustees announced his retirement in a joint statement. In May 2021, Richard McCullough was chosen by Florida State University's board of trustees to succeed Thrasher.

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30/05/2024

Geneviève de Galard, French nurse (born 1925)

Geneviève de Galard was a French nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève.

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Drew Gordon, American professional basketball player (born 1990)

Drew Edward Gordon was an American professional basketball player. He spent most of his career playing overseas in Europe but also played domestically in the NBA G League and with the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

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30/05/2021

Jason Dupasquier, Swiss motorcycle road racer (born 2001)

Jason Dupasquier was a Swiss motorcycle rider who competed in the Moto3 class in the motorcycle world championship until his death after a crash during qualifying at the 2021 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix. He was the son of Motocross rider Philippe Dupasquier.

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30/05/2020

Michael Angelis, British actor (born 1944)

Nicolas Michael Angelis was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles as Chrissie Todd in Boys from the Blackstuff, Martin Niarchos in G.B.H. and as the longest-running narrator of the British children's series Thomas & Friends from 1991 to 2012, as well as several other products and media related to the franchise.

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30/05/2019

Thad Cochran, American lawyer and politician (born 1937)

William Thad Cochran was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978.

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Jason Marcano, Trinidadian footballer (born 1983)

Jason Marcano was a Trinidad and Tobago international footballer who played as a forward.

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30/05/2016

Tom Lysiak, Polish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1953)

Thomas James Lysiak was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Selected in the first round, second overall, of the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft by the Atlanta Flames, he was additionally selected by the Houston Aeros in the second round of the 1973 WHA Amateur Draft at 23rd overall.

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Rick MacLeish, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1950)

Richard George MacLeish was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Philadelphia Flyers, Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings. He played 12 seasons in Philadelphia, winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Flyers in 1974 and 1975. His 53 goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Flyers is a franchise record that he shares with Bill Barber.

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30/05/2015

Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (born 1969)

Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III was an American politician, lawyer, and Army National Guard officer who served as the 44th attorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Biden family and the Democratic Party, he was the eldest child of 46th U.S. president Joe Biden and Neilia Hunter Biden.

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Joël Champetier, Canadian author and screenwriter (born 1957)

Joël Champetier was a French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author.

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L. Tom Perry, American religious leader and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1922)

Lowell Tom Perry was an American businessman and religious leader who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1974 until his death.

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30/05/2014

Hienadz Buraukin, Belarusian poet, journalist, and diplomat (born 1936)

Hienadz Mikalaevich Buraukin was a Belarusian poet, journalist and diplomat.

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Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

Henning Carlsen was a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer most noted for his documentaries and his contributions to the style of cinéma vérité. Carlsen's 1966 social-realistic drama Hunger (Sult) was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film. Carlsen also won the Bodil Award the following year for the comedy People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart. Acting as his own producer since 1960, Carlsen has directed more than 25 films, 19 for which he wrote the screenplay. In 2006, he received the Golden Swan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival.

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Joan Lorring, British actress (born 1926)

Joan Lorring was an American actress and singer known for her work in film and theatre. For her role as Bessy Watty in The Corn Is Green (1945), Lorring was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lorring also originated the role of Marie Buckholder in Come Back, Little Sheba on Broadway in 1950, for which she won a Donaldson Award.

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Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral (born 1932)

Leonidas Vasilikopoulos was a Greek Navy officer, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff in 1986–1989 and then as head of the Greek National Intelligence Service in 1993–1996. A distinguished officer, he is also notable for his participation in resistance groups against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, being repeatedly imprisoned and exiled as a consequence.

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30/05/2013

Jayalath Jayawardena, Sri Lankan physician and politician (born 1953)

Ruban Canistus Jayalath Jayawardena MP, commonly as Jayalath Jayawardena, was a medical doctor who was elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the opposition United National Party (UNP) in 1994. Jayawardena was known as a human rights activist. Jayawardena is also popular for his sheer commitment and loyalty for the UNP.

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Larry Jones, American football player and coach (born 1933)

Larry Bruce Jones was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Florida State University from 1971 to 1973, compiling a record of 15–19. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jones played as a linebacker and center at Louisiana State University (LSU). He also served as an assistant coach as his alma mater, LSU, and at the University of South Carolina, the United States Military Academy, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Kansas.

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30/05/2012

John Fox, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1957)

John Fox was an American comedian.

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Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley was an English physiologist and biophysicist. He was born into the prominent Huxley family. After leaving Westminster School in central London, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, on a scholarship, after which he joined Alan Hodgkin to study nerve impulses. Their eventual discovery of the basis for propagation of nerve impulses earned them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963. They made their discovery from the giant axon of the Atlantic squid. Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, Huxley was recruited by the British Anti-Aircraft Command and later transferred to the Admiralty. After the war he resumed research at the University of Cambridge, where he developed interference microscopy that would be suitable for studying muscle fibres.

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Gerhard Pohl, German economist and politician (born 1937)

Gerhard Pohl was a German politician and a member of the East German CDU. He served as Minister of Economics from April to August 1990, in the cabinet of Lothar de Maizière.

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Jack Twyman, American basketball player and sportscaster (born 1934)

John Kennedy Twyman was an American professional basketball player and sports broadcaster. Twyman is a namesake of the NBA's Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. Twyman was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983.

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30/05/2011

Isikia Savua, Fijian police officer and diplomat (born 1952)

Isikia Rabici Savua was a senior Fijian diplomat who had a distinguished career in the military and police forces before taking up his last post as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 4 March 2003.

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Saleem Shahzad, Pakistani journalist (born 1970)

Syed Saleem Shahzad was a Pakistani investigative journalist who wrote widely for leading European and Asian media. He served as the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online and Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI).

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Marek Siemek, Polish philosopher and historian (born 1942)

Marek Jan Siemek was a Polish philosopher and historian of German transcendental philosophy. He was a professor at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw and the director of its Department of Social Philosophy.

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Clarice Taylor, American actress (born 1917)

Clarice Taylor was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son; Anna Huxtable, the mother of Cliff Huxtable, on The Cosby Show; and Mrs. Brooks in Five on the Black Hand Side (1973).

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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921)

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for development of the radioimmunoassay technique. She was the second woman, and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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30/05/2010

Yuri Chesnokov, Russian volleyball player and coach (born 1933)

Yuri Borisovich Chesnokov was a Russian volleyball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1964 Summer Olympics. He was born in Moscow.

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Dufferin Roblin, Canadian commander and politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (born 1917)

Dufferin "Duff" Roblin was a Canadian businessman and politician. He served as the 14th premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as government leader in the Senate. He was the grandson of Sir Rodmond Roblin, who also served as Manitoba Premier. His ancestor John Roblin served in the Upper Canada assembly.

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30/05/2009

Torsten Andersson, Swedish painter and illustrator (born 1926)

Otto Torsten Andersson was a Swedish modernist painter, best known for his theme of the realistic depiction of abstract sculptures, and two-dimensional exploration of three-dimensional objects, where the colors seem to be superimposed on a random and perfunctory manner.

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Susanna Haapoja, Finnish politician (born 1966)

Aino Maria Susanna Haapoja was a Finnish politician in the Centre Party. Haapoja was born in Kauhava and became a Member of Parliament in 2003 and was elected for a second term in 2007. In 2005, she became the chair of the Kauhava city council. She was an agrologist by training.

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Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (born 1916)

Ephraim Katzir was an Israeli biophysicist and Labor Party politician. He was the president of Israel from 1973 until 1978.

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30/05/2007

Jean-Claude Brialy, Algerian-French actor and director (born 1933)

Jean-Claude Brialy was a French actor and film director.

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Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (born 1907)

Birgit Ellenora Johanne Dalland was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party.

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Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet and critic (born 1927)

Gunturu Seshendra Sarma B.A. B.L., also known as Yuga Kavi, was a Telugu poet, critic and litterateur. He is well known for his works Naa Desam, Naa Prajalu and Kaala Rekha. He authored over fifty works which have been translated into English, Kannada, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Nepali and Greek.

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30/05/2006

Shohei Imamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from Japan to win two Palme d'Or awards, doing so with The Ballad of Narayama (1983) and The Eel (1997).

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David Lloyd, New Zealand biologist and academic (born 1938)

David Graham Lloyd was an evolutionary biologist and the seventh New Zealander to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in London. He did pioneering work in the field of plant reproduction.

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Robert Sterling, American actor (born 1917)

Robert Sterling was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the television series Topper (1953–1955).

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30/05/2005

Gérald Leblanc, Acadian poet (born 1945)

Gérald Leblanc was an Acadian poet notable for seeking his own Acadian roots and the current voices of Acadian culture. Leblanc was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. He studied at the Université de Moncton and lived in Moncton, where he died in 2005. He also spent a good part of his life in New York City, which he loved.

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Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (born 1958)

Tomasz Pacyński was a Polish fantasy and science fiction writer, born in Warsaw. He was one of the creators and, from 2004, the chief editor of Fahrenheit, the first Polish Internet science fiction fanzine. He published short stories in such magazines as Science Fiction, SFera, and Fantasy, and in Internet fanzines such as Fahrenheit, Esensja, Fantazin and Srebrny Glob. He also wrote articles published in SFera and Science Fiction.

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Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and stenographer (born 1918)

Alma Ziegler was an infielder and pitcher who played from 1944 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m), 125 lb., Ziegler batted and threw right-handed.

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30/05/2001

Denis Whitaker, Canadian general and historian (born 1915)

Brigadier William Denis Whitaker, was a Canadian athlete, soldier, businessman, and author.

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30/05/2000

Tex Beneke, American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1914)

Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gormé, Henry Mancini, and Ronnie Deauville. Beneke also solos on the recording the Glenn Miller Orchestra made of their popular song "In the Mood" and sings on another popular Glenn Miller recording, "Chattanooga Choo Choo". Jazz critic Will Friedwald considers Beneke to be one of the major blues singers who sang with the big bands of the early 1940s.

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30/05/1999

Kalju Lepik, Estonian poet and author (born 1920)

Kalju Lepik was an Estonian poet who lived as an exile for most of his life.

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30/05/1996

Léon-Étienne Duval, French cardinal (born 1903)

Léon-Étienne Duval was a French prelate and cardinal. He served as Archbishop of Algiers from 1954 to 1988, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.

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Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (born 1961)

Alo Mattiisen was an Estonian musician and composer.

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30/05/1995

Ted Drake, English footballer and manager (born 1912)

Edward Joseph Drake was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as well as five caps for England. Drake is Arsenal's joint fifth highest goalscorer of all time. He also holds the record for the most goals scored in a top flight game in English football, with seven against Aston Villa in December 1935. A former centre forward, Drake has been described as a "classic number 9" and as a "strong, powerful, brave and almost entirely unthinking" player who "typified the English view."

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Lofty England, English-Austrian engineer (born 1911)

Frank Raymond Wilton "Lofty" England was an engineer and motor company manager from Britain. He rose to fame as the manager of the Jaguar Cars sports car racing team in the 1950s, during which time Jaguar cars won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race on five occasions. After the company's withdrawal from racing England moved into the mainstream management of Jaguar Cars, later succeeding Sir William Lyons as its chairman and Chief Executive, before retiring in 1974.

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Bobby Stokes, English footballer (born 1951)

Robert William Thomas Stokes was an English footballer, best known for scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute of the FA Cup Final for Southampton against Manchester United in 1976.

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30/05/1994

Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader, 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1899)

Ezra Taft Benson was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and as the 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994.

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Marcel Bich, Italian-French businessman, co-founded Société Bic (born 1914)

Marcel Bich, Baron Bich was an Italian-French manufacturer and co-founder of Bic, the world's leading producer of ballpoint pens, lighters and razors.

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Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (born 1955)

Agostino Di Bartolomei was an Italian football player, who played as a midfielder or as a defender, in a sweeper role. Famed for his elegance on the ball and playmaking skills, he is regarded as one of A.S. Roma's greatest players ever, and one of the greatest Italian players never to have been capped by the Italy national team.

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30/05/1993

Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1914)

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led The Arkestra, an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up.

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30/05/1990

Cécile Chabot, Canadian poet and illustrator (born 1907)

Cécile Chabot was a Canadian poet and illustrator.

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30/05/1986

Perry Ellis, American fashion designer, founded his own eponymous fashion brand (born 1940)

Perry Edwin Ellis was an American fashion designer who founded his eponymous sportswear house in the mid-1970s. Ellis's influence on the fashion industry has been called "a huge turning point" because he introduced new patterns and proportions to a market which was dominated by more traditional men's clothing.

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30/05/1984

Manuel Buendía, Mexican journalist and political columnist (born 1926)

Manuel Buendía Tellezgirón was a Mexican journalist and political columnist who last worked for the daily Excélsior, one of the most-read newspapers in Mexico City. His direct reporting style in his column Red Privada, which publicly exposed government and law enforcement corruption, organized crime, and drug trafficking, was distributed and read in over 200 newspapers across Mexico.

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30/05/1982

Albert Norden, German journalist and politician (born 1904)

Albert Norden was a German communist politician.

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30/05/1981

Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1955)

Donald Allan Ashby was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1975–76 until 1980–81.

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Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (born 1936)

Ziaur Rahman was a Bangladeshi military leader and politician who served as the sixth president of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of the country's independence war, Zia broadcast the Bangladeshi declaration of independence in March 1971 from Chittagong. In the aftermath of the Sipahi-Janata revolution in 1975, he consolidated power to lead Bangladesh with pragmatic policies through economic liberalization and civic nationalism that significantly contributed to the economic recovery of the country. He is often referred to as the ‘‘Shaheed President’’ in Bangladesh. He also founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

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30/05/1980

Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (born 1942)

Carl Dean Radle was an American bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. Radle is best remembered for his work with Eric Clapton from 1969 to 1979, including as a member of his band Derek and the Dominos. Radle is sometimes quoted as being Clapton's "right hand man" as he helped him during dark periods of his life battling drug addiction.

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30/05/1978

Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1909)

Jean Deslauriers was a Canadian conductor, violinist, and composer. As a conductor he had a long and fruitful partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; conducting orchestras for feature films and television and radio programs for more than 40 years. He also worked as a guest conductor with orchestras and opera companies throughout Canada and served on the conducting staff of the Opéra du Québec. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes him as "a conductor with a sober but efficient technique, who was always faithful to the written score [and] equally at ease conducting concerts, opera, and lighter repertoire." His best-known compositions are his Prélude for strings and the song, La Musique des yeux. He is the father of soprano Yolande Deslauriers-Husaruk.

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30/05/1976

Max Carey, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1890)

Maximillian George Carnarius, also known as Max George Carey, was an American professional baseball center fielder and manager. Carey played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1910 through 1926 and for the Brooklyn Robins from 1926 through 1929. He managed the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932 and 1933.

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Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese captain (born 1902)

Mitsuo Fuchida was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Working under the overall fleet commander, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack.

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30/05/1975

Steve Prefontaine, American runner (born 1951)

Steve Roland Prefontaine was an American long-distance runner who set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters from a period of 1973 to 1975. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and he was preparing for the 1976 Olympics with the Oregon Track Club at the time of his death in 1975.

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Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist, founded Isshin-ryū (born 1908)

Tatsuo Shimabuku was an Okinawan, Japanese martial artist. He is the founder of Isshin-ryū style of karate.

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Michel Simon, Swiss-born French actor (born 1895)

Michel Simon was a Swiss actor of German origin active primarily in France. He appeared in many notable French films, including La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), L'Atalante (1934), Port of Shadows (1938), The Head (1959), and The Train (1964). Charlie Chaplin said he was ‘the greatest actor in the world’.

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30/05/1971

Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (born 1886)

Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.

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30/05/1967

Claude Rains, English-American actor (born 1889)

William Claude Rains was a British and American character actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and is considered one of the screen's great character stars who played cultured villains during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

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30/05/1965

Louis Hjelmslev, Danish linguist and academic (born 1899)

Louis Trolle Hjelmslev was a Danish linguist whose ideas formed the basis of the Copenhagen School of linguistics. Born into an academic family, Hjelmslev studied comparative linguistics in Copenhagen, Prague and Paris. In 1931, he founded the Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague. Together with Hans Jørgen Uldall he developed a structuralist theory of language which he called glossematics, which further developed the semiotic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure. Glossematics as a theory of language is characterized by a high degree of formalism. It is interested in describing the formal and semantic characteristics of language in separation from sociology, psychology or neurobiology, and has a high degree of logical rigour. Hjelmslev regarded linguistics – or glossematics – as a formal science. He was a pioneer of formal linguistics. Hjelmslev's theory became widely influential in structural and functional grammar, and in semiotics.

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30/05/1964

Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian king (born 1882)

Oba Sir Isaac Babalola Akinyele, KBE was the first educated Olubadan of Ibadan, and the second Christian to ascend the throne.

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Eddie Sachs, American race car driver (born 1927)

Edward Julius Sachs Jr. was an American racing driver in the United States Auto Club.

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Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-American physicist and engineer (born 1898)

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born American physicist, biologist and inventor who made numerous important discoveries in nuclear physics and the biological sciences. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, and patented the idea in 1936. In late 1939 he wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, and then in 1945 wrote the Szilard petition asking president Harry S. Truman to demonstrate the bomb without dropping it on civilians. According to György Marx, he was one of the Hungarian scientists known as The Martians.

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30/05/1961

Rafael Trujillo, Dominican soldier and politician, 36th President of the Dominican Republic (born 1891)

Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed "El Jefe", was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He was the 36th and 39th president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952. He also served as the first generalissimo, the de facto most powerful position in the country at the time from 1930 until his assassination. Under that position, Trujillo served under figurehead presidents.

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30/05/1960

Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1890)

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, and literary translator.

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30/05/1957

Piero Carini, Italian race car driver (born 1921)

Piero Carini was a racing driver from Italy. He was born in Genoa and died in Saint-Étienne, France.

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30/05/1955

Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (born 1918)

William Vukovich was an American racing driver. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500s, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, and died while leading the 1955 Indianapolis 500.

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30/05/1953

Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (born 1886)

Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film Casablanca. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme song "As Time Goes By".

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30/05/1951

Hermann Broch, Austrian-American author (born 1886)

Hermann Broch was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: The Sleepwalkers and The Death of Virgil.

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30/05/1949

Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French cardinal (born 1874)

Emmanuel Célestin Suhard was a French cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 1940 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935. He was instrumental in the founding of the Mission of France and the worker-priest movement, to bring the clergy closer to the people.

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30/05/1948

József Klekl, Slovene-Hungarian priest and politician (born 1874)

József Klekl was a Slovene Roman Catholic priest from Prekmurje and politician in Hungary, writer, governor of the Slovene People's Party (Slovenska lüdska stranka), later a delegate in Belgrade. Klekl was an active proponent of the independence of the Slovene March in Hungary (Slovenska krajina), and for some time fusion with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

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30/05/1947

Georg von Trapp, Austrian captain (born 1880)

Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. After their naturalisation as US citizens, the family name was changed to 'Trapp' without the 'von'.

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30/05/1946

Louis Slotin, Canadian physicist and chemist (born 1910)

Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project. Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba, before obtaining his doctorate in physical chemistry at King's College London in 1936. Afterwards, he joined the University of Chicago as a research associate to help design a cyclotron.

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30/05/1941

Prajadhipok, Thai king (born 1893)

Prajadhipok, also known as Rama VII was the seventh monarch of the Chakri dynasty and the last king of Siam under the absolute monarchy. He ascended the throne in 1925 and reigned until his abdication in 1935 during his self-imposed exile following his fallout with the new democratic government after the 1932 Siamese Revolution, which brought an end to the country’s absolute monarchy.

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30/05/1939

Floyd Roberts, American race car driver (born 1904)

Floyd Marion Roberts was an American racing driver. He won the 1938 Indianapolis 500 with a then-record speed of 117.2 mph (188.6 km/h). He led for 92 laps. The following year, 1939, driving the same car, Roberts was killed in a crash. He was the first defending champion of the race to have been killed in competition.

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30/05/1934

Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (born 1848)

Tōgō Heihachirō , served as a gensui or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. As Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he successfully confined the Russian Pacific naval forces to Port Arthur before winning a decisive victory over a relieving fleet at Tsushima in May 1905. Western journalists called Tōgō "the Nelson of the East". He remains deeply revered as a national hero in Japan, with shrines and streets named in his honour.

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30/05/1926

Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (born 1864)

Vladimir Andreevich Steklov was a prominent Russian and Soviet mathematician, mechanician and physicist.

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30/05/1925

Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (born 1876)

Arthur Wilhelm Ernst Victor Moeller van den Bruck was a German cultural historian, philosopher, and key intellectual figure of the Conservative Revolution.

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30/05/1920

Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali, Bengali writer and social activist (born 1858)

Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali was a Bengali writer and reformer in British India.

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30/05/1918

Georgi Plekhanov, Russian philosopher and theorist (born 1856)

Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov was a Russian Marxist theorist, philosopher, and revolutionary. After beginning his revolutionary career as a populist, in 1883 Plekhanov established the Emancipation of Labour group, the first Russian Marxist political organisation. He is widely regarded as the "father of Russian Marxism", and his theoretical works were instrumental in converting a generation of revolutionaries, including Vladimir Lenin, to the cause.

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30/05/1912

Wilbur Wright, American pilot and businessman, co-founded the Wright Company (born 1867)

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, four miles (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills. In 1904 the Wright brothers developed the Wright Flyer II, which made longer-duration flights including the first circle, followed in 1905 by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III.

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30/05/1911

Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded the Milton Bradley Company (born 1836)

Milton Bradley was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and folded in 1998.

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30/05/1901

Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician, lawyer, and jurist (born 1841)

Victor Joseph Auguste D'Hondt was a Belgian lawyer and jurist of civil law at Ghent University. He devised a procedure, the D'Hondt method, which he first described in 1878, for allocating seats to candidates in party-list proportional representation elections. The method has been adopted by a number of countries, including Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Israel, Japan, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Iceland, Uruguay and Wales. A modified D'Hondt system is used for elections to the London Assembly and the Scottish Parliament.

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30/05/1892

Mary Hannah Gray Clarke, American author, correspondent, and poet (born 1835)

Mary Hannah Gray Clarke was an American author, correspondent, and poet from Rhode Island. She wrote extensively for magazines and for the public press, and was also the author of many dramas, lyric poems, operettas, stories for the young, and essays. In addition to the operettas, "Just Like Cinderella" and "Jack Frost's Visit to the Fairies", her works included "Effle, Fairy Queen of Dolls," "Prince Pussin-Boots," "Golden Hair and her Knight of the Beanstalk in the Enchanted Forest," "Obed Owler and the Prize Writers," "How I Came to Leave Town and What Came of It," "Edith Morton, the Sensible Young Lady;" "The Story that the Willow Basket Told to Faith Fairchild;" "English Lyrics;" and "Home;" as well as a number of songs, such as "Were it not for Dreams;" "Twittering Swallow;" "Robin, Robin, Bold and Free;" "Down by the River;" "Not to Blame;" and "Our-Leafed Clover."

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30/05/1875

Rosa May Billinghurst, "cripple suffragette" (sic)

Rosa May Billinghurst was a British suffragette and women's rights activist. She was known popularly as the "cripple suffragette" as she campaigned in a tricycle.

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30/05/1873

Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, Indian Muslim scholar, (born 1800)

Karāmat ʿAlī Jaunpūrī, born as Muḥammad ʿAlī Jaunpūrī, was a nineteenth-century Indian Muslim social reformer and founder of the Taiyuni movement. He played a major role in propagating to the masses of Bengal and Assam via public sermons, and wrote over forty books. Syed Ameer Ali is one of his notable students.

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30/05/1867

Ramón Castilla, Peruvian military leader and politician, President of Peru (born 1797)

Ramón Castilla y Marquesado was a Peruvian caudillo who served twice as President of Peru, first in 1845–1851, and then in 1855–1862. He also led a Military junta in 1844, and was interim president for a couple of days in April 1863. His earliest prominent appearance in Peruvian history began with his participation in a commanding role of the army of the Libertadores that helped Peru become an independent nation. Later, he led the country when the economy boomed due to the exploitation of guano deposits. Castilla's governments are remembered for having abolished slavery and modernized the state.

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30/05/1865

John Catron, American lawyer and judge (born 1786)

John Catron was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865, during the Taney Court.

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30/05/1855

Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman, (born 1777)

Mary Reibey was an English-born merchant, shipowner and trader who was transported to Australia as a convict. After gaining her freedom, she was viewed by her contemporaries as a community role model and became legendary as a successful businesswoman in the colony.

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30/05/1832

James Mackintosh, Scottish historian, jurist, and politician (born 1765)

Sir James Mackintosh FRS FRSE was a Scottish jurist, Whig politician and Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician.

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30/05/1829

Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial, French general (born 1774)

Philibert-Jean-Baptiste François Joseph, comte Curial was a general in the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars.

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30/05/1778

Voltaire, French philosopher and author (born 1694)

François-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

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José de la Borda, French/Spanish mining magnate in colonial Mexico (born ca. 1700)

José de la Borda was a Spaniard who migrated to New Spain in the 18th century, amassing a great fortune in mines in Taxco and Zacatecas in Mexico. At one point, he was the richest man in Mexico. He is best remembered today through several architectural works that he sponsored, the most monumental being the Santa Prisca Church in Taxco.

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30/05/1770

François Boucher, French painter and set designer (born 1703)

François Boucher was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century.

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30/05/1744

Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (born 1688)

Alexander Pope was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, Pope is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including An Essay on Criticism (1711), The Rape of the Lock (1712–1717), The Dunciad (1728–1743), and for his translations of Homer.

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30/05/1718

Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle, Dutch-English general (born 1670)

Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle was a Dutch States Army officer who fought for William III of England and became the first Earl of Albemarle. He had a very close relationship with William and proved a capable cavalry commander. In the latter stages of the War of the Spanish Succession he sometimes assumed Dutch supreme command in absence of Claude Frédéric t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly.

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30/05/1712

Andrea Lanzani, Italian painter (born 1645)

Andrea Lanzani was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.

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30/05/1696

Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Tewkesbury, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1638)

Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Tewkesbury, KB, PC was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1660 and 1692. He was then created Baron Capell.

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30/05/1670

John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (born 1597)

John Davenport was an English Puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven.

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30/05/1640

Peter Paul Rubens, German-Belgian painter (born 1577)

Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.

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30/05/1606

Guru Arjan Dev, fifth of the Sikh gurus (born 1563)

Guru Arjan was the fifth of the ten total Sikh Gurus. He compiled the first official edition of the Sikh scripture called the Adi Granth, which later expanded into the Guru Granth Sahib. He is regarded as the first of the two Gurus martyred in the Sikh faith. He is credited for founding the settlements of Kartarpur, Hargobindpur, and Tarn Taran.

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30/05/1593

Christopher Marlowe, English poet and playwright (born 1564)

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, modern scholars consider him to have been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death. Some scholars also believe that he greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was baptised in the same year as Marlowe and later succeeded him as the preeminent Elizabethan playwright. Marlowe was the first to achieve critical reputation for his use of blank verse, which became the standard for the era. His plays are distinguished by their overreaching protagonists. Themes found within Marlowe's literary works have been noted as humanistic with realistic emotions, which some scholars find difficult to reconcile with Marlowe's "anti-intellectualism" and his catering to the prurient tastes of his Elizabethan audiences for generous displays of extreme physical violence, cruelty, and bloodshed.

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30/05/1574

Charles IX of France (born 1550)

Charles IX was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the House of Valois.

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30/05/1472

Jacquetta of Luxembourg, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg (born 1416)

Jacquetta of Luxembourg was a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses. Through her short-lived first marriage to the Duke of Bedford, brother of King Henry V, she was firmly allied to the House of Lancaster. However, following the emphatic Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton, she and her second husband Richard Woodville sided closely with the House of York. Three years after the battle and the accession of Edward IV of England, Jacquetta's eldest daughter Elizabeth Woodville married him and became queen consort of England. Jacquetta bore Woodville 14 children and stood trial on charges of witchcraft, of which she was exonerated.

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30/05/1469

Lope de Barrientos, Castilian bishop (born 1389)

Lope de Barrientos (1382–1469), sometimes called Obispo Barrientos, was a powerful clergyman and statesman of the Crown of Castile during the 15th century, although his prominence and the influence he wielded during his lifetime is not a subject of common study in Spanish history.

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30/05/1434

Prokop the Great, Czech general (born 1380)

Prokop the Great or Prokop the Bald or the Shaven was a Czech Hussite general and a prominent Taborite military leader during the Hussite Wars. On his mother's side, he came from a German patrician family living in Prague.

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30/05/1431

Joan of Arc, French martyr and saint (born 1412)

Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Stating that she acted under divine guidance, she became a military leader who gained recognition as a savior of France.

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30/05/1416

Jerome of Prague, Czech martyr and theologian (born 1379)

Jerome of Prague was a Czech scholastic philosopher and theologian. Jerome was one of the chief followers of Jan Hus and was burned for heresy at the Council of Constance.

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30/05/1376

Joan of Ponthieu, Dame of Epernon, French noblewoman

Jeanne de Ponthieu, dame d'Épernon, Countess of Vendôme and of Castres, better known in English as Joan of Ponthieu, was a French vassal; she was Dame d'Épernon suo jure by inheritance from 1343 to 1376. She was the youngest daughter of Jean II de Ponthieu, Count of Aumale. She was Countess of Vendôme and of Castres as the wife of Jean VI de Vendôme, Count of Vendôme and of Castres. She acted as regent for her infant granddaughter Jeanne, suo jure Countess of Vendôme from 1371 until the child's premature death in 1372.

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30/05/1347

John Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Knayth, English peer (born 1290)

John D'arcy, 1st Baron D'arcy de Knayth was an English peer. He was created 1st Baron Darcy in 1317.

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30/05/1252

Ferdinand III, king of Castile and León (born 1199)

Ferdinand III, called the Saint, was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. Through his second marriage he was also Count of Aumale. Ferdinand III was one of the most successful kings of Castile, securing not only the permanent union of the crowns of Castile and León, but also masterminding the most expansive southward territorial expansion campaign yet in the Guadalquivir Valley, in which Islamic rule was in disarray in the wake of the defeat of the Almohad caliphate at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. His repeated and decisive victories against the Islamic Caliphate earned him the title Athleta Christi, meaning 'Champion of Christ', which was conferred upon him by Pope Gregory IX.

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30/05/1159

Władysław II the Exile, High Duke of Poland and Duke of Silesia (born 1105)

Władysław II the Exile was the high duke of Poland and duke of Silesia from 1138 until his expulsion in 1146. He is the progenitor of the Silesian Piasts.

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30/05/1035

Baldwin IV, count of Flanders (born 980)

Baldwin IV, called the Bearded, was the count of Flanders from 987 until his death.

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30/05/0947

Ma Xifan, king of Chu (born 899)

Ma Xifan, courtesy name Baogui (寶規), also known by his posthumous name as the Prince Wenzhao of Chu (楚文昭王), was the third ruler of the Ma Chu dynasty of China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

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30/05/0727

Hubertus, bishop Liège

Year 727 (DCCXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 727 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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30/05/0531

Xiao Tong, prince of the Liang dynasty (born 501)

Xiao Tong, courtesy name Deshi (德施), formally Zhaoming Taizi, was a crown prince of the Chinese Liang dynasty, posthumously honored as Emperor Zhaoming (昭明皇帝). He was the oldest son and heir apparent of Emperor Wu of Liang, whom he predeceased. Xiao Tong's enduring legacy is the literary compendium Wen Xuan.

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