Died on Thursday, 27th November – Famous Deaths

27/11/2024

Mary McGee, American motorcycle racer (born 1936)

Mary Bernice McGee was an American motorsport racing pioneer. She was the first woman to compete in motorcycle road racing and motocross events in the United States. Starting out as a sports car racer, she competed in motorcycle road racing and motocross from 1960 to 1976, then began competition again in 2000 in vintage motocross events. Her last race was in 2012. In 2013, McGee was named an FIM Legend for her pioneering motorcycle racing career. She was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2018.

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27/11/2021

Apetor, Norwegian YouTuber (born 1964)

Tor Rathje Eckhoff, also known as Apetor, was a Norwegian YouTuber known primarily for his videos where he drank vodka while performing activities on frozen waters, like ice skating, swimming in ice holes and diving. He died in 2021 after he fell through the ice of a lake west of Kongsberg, Norway, while recording a video. At the time of his death, he worked at a paint factory in Sandefjord Municipality run by the chemicals company Jotun.

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27/11/2020

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iranian nuclear scientist (born 1958)

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi was an Iranian nuclear physicist and scientist. He was regarded as the chief of Iran's nuclear program.

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27/11/2016

Ioannis Grivas, Greek statesman (born 1923)

Ioannis Grivas was a Greek judge, who served as President of the Court of Cassation and served as the Prime Minister of Greece at the head of a non-party caretaker government in 1989.

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27/11/2015

Mark Behr, Tanzanian-South African author and academic (born 1963)

Mark Behr was a Tanzanian-born writer who grew up in South Africa. He was professor of English literature and creative writing at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee. He also taught in the MA program at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (born 1929)

Maurice Frederick Strong was a Canadian oil and mineral businessman and a diplomat who served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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Garrett Swasey, American figure skater and coach (born 1971)

Garrett Preston Russell Swasey (November 16, 1971 – November 27, 2015) was an American competitive ice skater, figure skating coach, and police officer. As an ice dancer, he won the U.S. junior ice dance title at the 1992 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and went on to participate twice more at the senior level. He coached along with Doreen Denny. Swasey was shot and killed in the line of duty during the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting in 2015.

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Philippe Washer, Belgian tennis player and golfer (born 1924)

Philippe Washer was a Belgian tennis player. He competed in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1946 to 1961. He was ranked world No. 8 in 1957.

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27/11/2014

Wanda Błeńska, Polish physician and missionary (born 1911)

Wanda Błeńska, also spelled Wanda Blenska, was a Polish leprosy expert, AK officer, and a Catholic lay missionary who succeeded to develop the Buluba Hospital in Uganda into an internationally recognized centre for leprosy treatment.

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Phillip Hughes, Australian cricketer (born 1988)

Phillip Joel Hughes was an Australian Test and One Day International (ODI) cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia and Worcestershire. He was a left-handed opening batsman who played for two seasons with New South Wales before making his Test debut in 2009 at the age of 20. He made his ODI debut in 2013.

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P. D. James, English author (born 1920)

Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park, known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring the police commander and poet, Adam Dalgliesh.

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Jack Kyle, Irish rugby player and humanitarian (born 1926)

John Wilson Kyle, most commonly known as Jack Kyle, was a rugby union player who represented Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians during the 1940s and 1950s. Kyle was a member of the Irish team that won the grand slam in the 1948 Five Nations Championship. In 1950, Kyle was declared one of the six players of the year by the New Zealand Rugby Almanac. Kyle is a member of the International Rugby Hall of Fame and was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame before the two halls merged to form the current World Rugby Hall of Fame. He was named the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player by the Irish Rugby Football Union in 2002.

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Fernance B. Perry, Portuguese-American businessman and philanthropist (born 1922)

Fernance Bento Perry,, was a Portuguese-Bermudian entrepreneur and business leader, who had a prominent role in the economy of Bermuda from the mid-20th century to the time of his death in 2014. Originally from the Azores, his professional career spanned such diverse fields as retail supermarkets, television and radio broadcasting, real estate management and maritime shipping. His philanthropic works contributed to healthcare improvements and programmes of spiritual enrichment in Bermuda. In recognition of his achievements, Perry was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2007. He died on November 27, 2014, at age 92.

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27/11/2013

Lewis Collins, English-American actor (born 1946)

Lewis Collins was an English actor, best known for his career-defining role playing 'Bodie' in the late 1970s – early 1980s British television series The Professionals.

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Herbert F. DeSimone, American lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Rhode Island (born 1929)

Herbert F. DeSimone was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He served as the 64th Attorney General of Rhode Island and as President Nixon's Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the Environment and Urban System.

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Volker Roemheld, German physiologist and biologist (born 1941)

Volker Roemheld was a German agricultural scientist, plant physiologist and soil biologist at Hohenheim University.

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Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer (born 1925)

Nílton dos Santos was a Brazilian footballer who primarily played as a wingback. At international level, he was a member of the Brazil squads that won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.

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Manuel F. Segura, Filipino colonel (born 1919)

Manuel Felimon Segura was a colonel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines with assigned serial number 0-3547 AFP. He was G-1 and adjutant general in the General Headquarters of the Cebuano guerrillas during World War II, with Col. James M. Cushing as his commanding officer. Segura wrote at least two books on the guerrilla story in Cebu.

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27/11/2012

Mickey Baker, American guitarist (born 1925)

MacHouston "Mickey" Baker was an American musician, best known for his work as a studio musician and as part of the recording duo Mickey & Sylvia.

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Ab Fafié, Dutch footballer and manager (born 1941)

Ab Fafié was a Dutch professional football player and manager.

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Érik Izraelewicz, French journalist and author (born 1954)

Érik Izraelewicz was a French journalist and author, specialised in economics and finance. From February 2011 he was director and editorial executive of the daily Le Monde, after having held the same position at the financial daily newspapers Les Echos and La Tribune.

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Marvin Miller, American businessman and union leader (born 1917)

Marvin Julian Miller was an American labor union leader and baseball executive who served as the first executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Miller led MLBPA during three strikes and two lockouts. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States.

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Jack Wishna, American photographer and businessman, co-founded Rockcityclub (born 1958)

Jack Wishna was an American businessman and photographer. He was the president and CEO of CPAmerica, a consulting firm for gambling, hotel, and leisure organizations, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was also a founder of Rockrena Inc., which launched Rock City Club, a social music network.

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27/11/2011

Len Fulford, English photographer and director (born 1928)

Leonard Alfred Fulford was a British commercial photographer and director, with a specialty for photography of still life. He was one of the founding members of BFCS. With studios in London, New York, Los Angeles and Milan, BFCS was one of the most successful commercial production companies of all time, winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Advertising Festival six times. Fulford directed the popular Go to work on an egg television commercials for the Egg Marketing Board during the 1960s. Fulford also directed many of the iconic Guinness television commercials of the 1970s and 1980s, along with other memorable spots like the Courage Best 'Rabbit Rabbit' commercial, and the iconic Simple skincare commercial in which robotic arms spray a pristine white lily with colouring and perfume.

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Ken Russell, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.

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Gary Speed, Welsh footballer and manager (born 1969)

Gary Andrew Speed was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, he is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting the pathway to future successes.

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27/11/2010

Irvin Kershner, American actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

Irvin Kershner was an American director for film and television. Early in his career as a filmmaker he directed quirky, independent drama films, while working as a lecturer at the University of Southern California. Later, he began making high-budget blockbusters such as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the James Bond adaptation Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2. Through the course of his career, he received numerous accolades, including being nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Palme d'Or.

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27/11/2009

Al Alberts, American singer-songwriter (born 1922)

Al Alberts was an American popular singer and composer.

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27/11/2008

V. P. Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (born 1931)

Vishwanath Pratap Singh was an Indian politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the Raja Bahadur of Manda.

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27/11/2007

Bernie Banton, Australian activist (born 1946)

Bernard Douglas Banton AM was an Australian builder and, later, social justice campaigner for asbestos-related diseases. He was the widely recognised face of the legal and political campaign to achieve compensation for the many sufferers of asbestos-related conditions, which they contracted after either working for the company James Hardie or being exposed to James Hardie Industries' products.

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Robert Cade, American physician and academic, co-invented Gatorade (born 1927)

James Robert Cade was an American physician, university professor, research scientist and inventor. Cade, a native of Texas, earned his bachelor and medical degrees at the University of Texas, and became a professor of medicine and nephrology at the University of Florida. Although Cade engaged in many areas of medical research, he is most widely remembered as the leader of the research team that created the sports drink Gatorade. Gatorade went on to have significant medical applications for treating dehydration in patients, and has generated over $500 million in royalties for the university.

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Sean Taylor, American football player (born 1983)

Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was an American professional football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the Redskins, where he played four seasons until his murder in 2007.

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Bill Willis, American football player and coach (born 1921)

William Karnet Willis was an American professional football middle guard and guard who played for eight seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). Known for his quickness and strength despite his small stature, Willis was one of the dominant defensive football players of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was named an All-Pro in every season of his career and reached the NFL's Pro Bowl in three of the four seasons he played in the league. His techniques and style of play were emulated by other teams, and his versatility as a pass-rusher and coverage man influenced the development of the modern-day linebacker position. When he retired, Cleveland coach Paul Brown called him "one of the outstanding linemen in the history of professional football".

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27/11/2006

Don Butterfield, American tuba player (born 1923)

Don Kiethly Butterfield was an American jazz and classical tuba player.

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Bebe Moore Campbell, American author and educator (born 1950)

Bebe Moore Campbell was an American author, journalist, and teacher. Campbell was the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Brothers and Sisters, Singing in the Comeback Choir, and What You Owe Me, which was also a Los Angeles Times "Best Book of 2001". Her other works include the novel Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and the winner of the NAACP Image Award for Literature; her memoir, Sweet Summer: Growing Up With and Without My Dad; and her first nonfiction book, Successful Women, Angry Men: Backlash in the Two-Career Marriage. Her essays, articles, and excerpts appear in many anthologies.

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Casey Coleman, American sportscaster (born 1951)

Kenneth R. "Casey" Coleman Jr. was a sportscaster and radio personality in the Cleveland area for nearly 30 years.

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27/11/2005

Jocelyn Brando, American actress (born 1919)

Jocelyn Brando was an American actress, best known for her role as Katie Bannion in the film noir The Big Heat (1953). She was the sister of Marlon Brando.

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Joe Jones, American singer-songwriter (born 1926)

Joseph Charles Jones was an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger, who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Jones is also generally credited with discovering the Dixie Cups. He also worked with B. B. King. As a singer, Jones had his biggest hit in the form of the Top Five 1960 R&B success, "You Talk Too Much", which also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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27/11/2002

Billie Bird, American actress (born 1908)

Billie Bird Sellen, better known professionally as Billie Bird, was an American character actress and comedian. She played Margie in Dear John (1988–1992).

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Shivmangal Singh Suman, Indian poet and academic (born 1915)

Shivmangal Singh "Suman" was an Indian poet and academician who wrote in Hindi.

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27/11/2000

Malcolm Bradbury, English author and academic (born 1932)

Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, was an English author and academic.

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Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect (born 1924)

Uno Prii was an Estonian-born Canadian architect. He designed approximately 250 buildings, many in Toronto, but also around southern Ontario and the United States.

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Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (born 1922)

Leonard Francis Shackleton was an English footballer. Known as the "Clown Prince of Football", he is generally regarded as one of English football's finest ever entertainers. He also played cricket in the Minor Counties for Northumberland.

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27/11/1999

Yasuhiro Kojima, Japanese-American wrestler and trainer (born 1937)

Yasuhiro Kojima , best known by his ring name Hiro Matsuda , was a Japanese professional wrestler, trainer, and booker.

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Alain Peyrefitte, French scholar and politician, French Minister of Justice (born 1925)

Alain Peyrefitte was a French scholar and politician. He was a confidant of Charles de Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland. Peyrefitte is remembered for his support for partitioning Algeria amid the Algerian War.

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Elizabeth Gray Vining, American author and librarian (born 1902)

Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining was an American professional librarian and author who tutored Emperor Akihito of Japan in English while he was crown prince. She was also a noted author, whose children's book Adam of the Road received the Newbery Medal in 1943.

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27/11/1998

Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (born 1943)

Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites.

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Gloria Fuertes, Spanish poet and author of children's literature (born 1917)

Gloria Fuertes García was a Spanish poet, author of children's literature, and regular participant in children's television shows. She was part of the post-war literary movement of postismo, and a member of the Generation of '50. Her work focused on gender equality, pacifism, and environmentalism.

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27/11/1997

Buck Leonard, American baseball player and educator (born 1907)

Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball and in the Mexican League. After growing up in North Carolina, he played for the Homestead Grays between 1934 and 1950, batting fourth behind Josh Gibson for many years. The Grays teams of the 1930s and 1940s were considered some of the best teams in Negro league history. Leonard and Gibson are two of only nine players in league history to win multiple batting titles. In 1940-1941, he batted .390 for the Puerto Rican team Indios de Mayagüez, connecting 8 home runs and impulsing 45 runs, leading the league in home runs, doubles and slugging (.754).

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27/11/1994

Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer and conductor (born 1906)

Fernando Lopes-Graça was a Portuguese composer, conductor and musicologist. Lopes-Graça was born in Tomar, and was influenced by Portuguese popular music, which he also studied, continuing the work of the composer and musicologist Francisco de Lacerda. He was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party and strenuously opposed the Estado Novo and its leader António de Oliveira Salazar. He completed the Dicionário de Música, started by his teacher, Tomás Borba, himself a composer. He died in Parede, near Cascais.

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27/11/1992

Ivan Generalić, Croatian painter (born 1914)

Ivan Generalić was a Croatian painter in the naïve tradition.

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27/11/1990

David White, American actor (born 1916)

David White was an American stage, film, and television actor best known for playing Darrin Stephens's boss Larry Tate from 1964 to 1972 on the ABC situation comedy Bewitched.

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Basilis C. Xanthopoulos, Greek physicist and academic (born 1951)

Basilis C. Xanthopoulos was a Greek theoretical physicist, well known in the field of general relativity for his contributions to the study of colliding plane waves.

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27/11/1989

Carlos Arias Navarro, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (born 1908)

Carlos Arias Navarro, 1st Marquess of Arias Navarro, was the Prime Minister of Spain during the final years of the Francoist dictatorship and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy.

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27/11/1988

John Carradine, American actor (born 1906)

John Carradine was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theater, most notably portraying Count Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), and Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979). Among his other notable roles was "Preacher Casy" in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath. In later decades of his career, he starred mostly in low-budget B-movies. In total, he holds 351 film and television credits, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking film and television actors of all time.

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Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess player and author (born 1927)

Johannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner was a Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. He was born in The Hague. His father Jan Donner was a prominent Dutch politician and judge. Donner won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. At the Gijón tournament of 1956 he came third, behind Bent Larsen and Klaus Darga, equal with Alberic O'Kelly. FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded Donner the GM title in 1959. He played for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads 11 times. He was the uncle of a former Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner.

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27/11/1986

Steve Tracy, American actor (b, 1952)

Steve Tracy was an American film, television and stage actor. Tracy is best known for his role on Little House on the Prairie as Percival Dalton.

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27/11/1985

Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (born 1920)

Raden Soekarno, better known as Rendra Karno, was an Indonesian actor. Born in Kutoarjo, Central Java, Soekarno entered the film industry in 1941, making his debut appearance in Union Films' Soeara Berbisa. Over the next forty years he appeared in more than fifty films. He was also involved in the theatre during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and the Indonesian National Revolution. For his role in 1962's Bajangan di Waktu Fadjar, he was named best supporting actor at the 1963 Asian Film Festival in Tokyo.

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27/11/1981

Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (born 1898)

Lotte Lenya was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963).

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27/11/1980

F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect, designed the Villa Vizcaya (born 1882)

F. Burrall Hoffman, Jr. was an American architect, best known for his work for James Deering at Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.

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27/11/1978

Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (born 1930)

Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

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George Moscone, American lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of San Francisco (born 1929)

George Richard Moscone was an American attorney and politician who served as the 37th mayor of San Francisco from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978.

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27/11/1977

Mart Laga, Estonian basketball player (born 1936)

Mart Laga was an Estonian basketball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the EuroBasket 1955 and EuroBasket 1957 events.

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27/11/1975

Alberto Massimino, Italian automotive engineer (born 1895)

Alberto Massimino was an Italian automotive engineer.

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Ross McWhirter, English author and activist, co-founded the Guinness Book of Records (born 1925)

Alan Ross McWhirter was, with his twin brother, Norris, the cofounder of the 1955 Guinness Book of Records and a contributor to the television programme Record Breakers. He was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.

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27/11/1973

Frank Christian, American trumpet player (born 1887)

Frank Joseph Christian was an American early jazz trumpeter.

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27/11/1970

Helene Madison, American swimmer and nurse (born 1913)

Helene Emma Madison was an American swimmer. She was a 1932 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter, 400-meter and 4x100-meter freestyle relay, and a former world record-holder.

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27/11/1969

May Gibbs, English Australian children's author, illustrator, and cartoonist, (born 1877)

Cecilia May Gibbs MBE was an Australian children's author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She is best known for her gumnut babies, and the book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

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27/11/1967

Léon M'ba, Gabonese politician, 1st President of Gabon (born 1902)

Gabriel Léon M'ba was a Gabonese politician who served as both the first Prime Minister (1959–1961) and later, the President of Gabon, from 1961 until his death in 1967.

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27/11/1962

August Lass, Estonian footballer (born 1903)

August Lass was an Estonian footballer.

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27/11/1960

Frederick Fane, Irish-English cricketer (born 1875)

Frederick Luther Fane, played cricket for the England cricket team in 14 Test matches. He also played for Essex, Oxford University and London County.

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Dirk Jan de Geer, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1870)

Jonkheer Dirk Jan de Geer was a Dutch politician of the Christian Historical Union. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 8 March 1926 until 10 August 1929, and from 10 August 1939 until 3 September 1940.

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27/11/1958

Georgi Damyanov, Bulgarian politician, Head of State of Bulgaria (born 1892)

Georgi Purvanov Damyanov was a Bulgarian communist politician.

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Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (born 1892)

Artur Rodziński was a Polish and American conductor of orchestral music and opera. He began his career after World War I in Poland, where he was discovered by Leopold Stokowski, who invited him to be his assistant with the Philadelphia Orchestra. This engagement led to Rodziński becoming music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He also prepared the NBC Symphony Orchestra for Arturo Toscanini before the Italian conductor's debut with them. A dispute in Chicago led to Rodziński's dismissal in 1948, whereupon he shifted his career to Europe, eventually settling in Italy, although continuing to maintain a home in Lake Placid, New York. In November 1958, beset by heart disease, he made his professional return to the United States for the first time in a decade, conducting acclaimed performances of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Exhausted, he checked into Massachusetts General Hospital where he died 11 days later.

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27/11/1955

Arthur Honegger, French-Swiss composer and academic (born 1892)

Oscar-Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher is "more even than Le Roi David or Pacific 231, his most universally popular work".

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27/11/1953

Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill Sr. was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest American plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.

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27/11/1944

Leonid Mandelstam, Russian physicist and academic (born 1879)

Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam or Mandelshtam was a Soviet and Russian physicist.

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27/11/1943

Ivo Lola Ribar, Croatian soldier and politician (born 1916)

Ivan Ribar, known as Ivo Lola or Ivo Lolo, was a Yugoslav Croat communist politician and military leader. In the 1930s, he became one of the closest associates of Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Yugoslav Communist Party. In 1936, Ribar became secretary of the Central Committee of SKOJ. During World War II in Yugoslavia, Ribar was among the main leaders of the Yugoslav Partisans and was a member of the Partisan Supreme Headquarters. During the war, he founded and ran several leftist youth magazines. In 1942, Ribar was among the founders of the Unified League of Anti-Fascist Youth of Yugoslavia (USAOJ). He was killed by a German bomb in 1943 near Glamoč while boarding an airplane for Cairo, where he was to become the first representative of Communist Yugoslavia to the Middle East Command.

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27/11/1940

Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (born 1871)

Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, albanologist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly (1931–32) as Prime Minister. A child prodigy, polymath and polyglot, Iorga produced an unusually large body of scholarly works, establishing his international reputation as a medievalist, Byzantinist, Latinist, Slavist, art historian and philosopher of history. Holding teaching positions at the University of Bucharest, the University of Paris and several other academic institutions, Iorga was founder of the International Congress of Byzantine Studies and the Institute of South-East European Studies (ISSEE). His activity also included the transformation of Vălenii de Munte town into a cultural and academic center.

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27/11/1936

Basil Zaharoff, Greek-French businessman and philanthropist (born 1849)

Basil Zaharoff was a Greek arms dealer and industrialist. One of the richest men in the world during his lifetime, Zaharoff was described as both a "merchant of death" and a "mystery man of Europe". His success was forged through his cunning, often aggressive and sharp, business tactics. These included the sale of arms to opposing sides in conflicts, sometimes delivering fake or faulty machinery and skilfully using the press to attack business rivals.

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27/11/1934

Baby Face Nelson, American criminal (born 1908)

Lester Joseph Gillis, also known as George Nelson and Baby Face Nelson, was an American bank robber who became a criminal partner of John Dillinger when he helped Dillinger escape from prison in Crown Point, Indiana. Later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that Nelson and the remaining gang of bank robbers were collectively "Public Enemy Number One".

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27/11/1931

Lya De Putti, Slovak-American actress (born 1899)

Lya de Putti was a Hungarian film actress during the silent era. She was noted for her portrayals of vamp characters.

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27/11/1930

Simon Kahquados, Potawatomi political activist (born 1851)

Simon Kahquados, born Kakanisaiga, was a leader of the Potawatomi people in Wisconsin, United States, and played a pivotal role in creating the federally recognized Forest County Potawatomi Community.

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27/11/1921

Douglas Cameron, Canadian contractor and politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (born 1854)

Sir Douglas Colin Cameron KCMG was a Canadian politician. He served in the Ontario Legislature from 1902 to 1905, and was the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1911 to 1916.

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Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (born 1841)

Mary Grant Roberts was an Australian zoo owner. Roberts owned Hobart Zoo from when it opened in 1895 until her death in 1921. The zoo was closed in 1937.

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27/11/1920

Alexius Meinong, Ukrainian-Austrian philosopher and author (born 1853)

Alexius Meinong von Handschuchsheim was an Austrian philosopher, a realist known for his unique ontology and theory of objects. He also made contributions to philosophy of mind and theory of value.

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27/11/1919

Manuel Espinosa Batista, Panamanian pharmacist and politician (born 1857)

Manuel Espinosa Batista was a Colombian pharmacist turned politician who campaigned for a separate Panama state and became one of "Founders of the Republic". He is known for his philanthropy.

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27/11/1916

Emile Verhaeren, Belgian poet and playwright (born 1855)

Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature on six occasions.

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27/11/1908

Jean Albert Gaudry, French geologist and palaeontologist (born 1827)

Jean Albert Gaudry was a French geologist and palaeontologist. He was born at St Germain-en-Laye, and was educated at the Catholic Collège Stanislas de Paris. He was a notable proponent of theistic evolution.

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27/11/1901

Clement Studebaker, American businessman, co-founded Studebaker (born 1831)

Clement Studebaker was an American wagon and carriage manufacturer. With his brother Henry, he co-founded the H & C Studebaker Company, precursor of the Studebaker Corporation, which built Pennsylvania-German Conestoga wagons and carriages during his lifetime, and automobiles after his death, in South Bend, Indiana.

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27/11/1899

Constant Fornerod, Swiss academic and politician, 10th President of the Swiss Council of States (born 1819)

Constant Fornerod was a Swiss politician, originally from Avenches, and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1855–1867).

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27/11/1895

Alexandre Dumas, fils, French novelist and playwright (born 1824)

Alexandre Dumas fils was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias, published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera La traviata, as well as numerous stage and film productions.

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27/11/1890

Mahatma Phule, Indian Activist (born 1827)

Jyotirao Phule, also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.

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27/11/1884

Fanny Elssler, Austrian ballerina (born 1810)

Fanny Elssler was an Austrian ballerina of the Romantic Period.

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27/11/1881

Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (born 1794)

Theobald Böhm was a German inventor and musician, who greatly improved the modern Western concert flute and its fingering system. He was a Bavarian court musician, a virtuoso flautist and a renowned composer.

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27/11/1875

Richard Christopher Carrington, English astronomer and educator (born 1826)

Richard Christopher Carrington was an English astronomer whose 1859 astronomical observations demonstrated the existence of solar flares as well as suggesting their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae; and whose 1863 records of sunspot observations revealed the differential rotation of the Sun.

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27/11/1852

Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and computer scientist (born 1815)

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, also known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. She was the first to recognise the machine had applications beyond pure calculation. Lovelace is often considered the first computer programmer.

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27/11/1830

André Parmentier, Belgian-American architect (born 1780)

André Joseph Ghislain Parmentier, also known as Andrew Parmentier is one of a generation of American landscape designers who arrived from Europe in the early years after Independence. Many of these designers, including William Russell Birch and George Isham Parkyns, also practiced landscape depiction, reinforcing the picturesque connection of landscape art as both making and representing places.

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27/11/1822

Old Billy, English barge horse, oldest recorded horse (born 1760)

Old Billy was the longest-living horse on record, verified to have lived 62 years. He was born in Woolston, Cheshire, England, in 1760. Billy became a barge horse, pulling barges along canals. He was described as resembling a large cob/shire horse, brown in color with a white blaze.

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27/11/1819

Gustavus Conyngham, Irish-born American merchant sea captain, an officer in the Continental Navy and a privateer.

Gustavus Conyngham was an Irish-born American merchant sea captain, an officer in the Continental Navy and a privateer. As a commissioned captain fighting the British in the American Revolutionary War, he captured 24 ships in the eastern Atlantic between May 1777 and May 1778, bringing the expenses associated with British shipping to what was then an all-time high. He has been called "the most successful of all Continental Navy captains".

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27/11/1811

Andrew Meikle, Scottish engineer, designed the threshing machine (born 1719)

Andrew Meikle was a Scottish mechanical engineer credited with inventing the threshing machine, a device used to remove the outer husks from grains of wheat. He also had a hand in assisting Firbeck in the invention of the Rotherham Plough. This was regarded as one of the key developments of the British Agricultural Revolution in the late 18th century. The invention was made around 1786, although some say he only improved on an earlier design by a Scottish farmer named Leckie. Michael Stirling is said to have invented a rotary threshing machine in 1758 which for forty years was used to process all the corn on his farm at Gateside, no published works have yet been found but his son William made a sworn statement to his minister to this fact, he also gave him the details of his father's death in 1796.

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27/11/1754

Abraham de Moivre, French-English mathematician and theorist (born 1667)

Abraham de Moivre FRS was a French mathematician known for de Moivre's formula, a formula that links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory.

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27/11/1703

Henry Winstanley, English painter and engineer (born 1644)

Henry Winstanley was an English painter, engineer, and merchant who constructed the first Eddystone Lighthouse after losing two of his ships on the Eddystone rocks. He died while working on the project during the Great Storm of 1703.

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27/11/1632

John Eliot, English politician (born 1592)

Sir John Eliot was an English statesman who was serially imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he eventually died, by King Charles I for advocating the rights and privileges of Parliament.

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27/11/1620

Francis, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, Bishop of Cammin (born 1577)

Francis of Pomerania was Duke of Pomerania-Stettin and Bishop of Cammin.

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27/11/1592

Nakagawa Hidemasa, Japanese commander (born 1568)

Nakagawa Hidemasa was a samurai commander in the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the eldest son of Nakagawa Kiyohide. His young brother was Nakagawa Hidenari. His wife was Tsuruhime who was the daughter of Oda Nobunaga.

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27/11/1570

Jacopo Sansovino, Italian sculptor and architect (born 1486)

Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, best known for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. These are crucial works in the history of Venetian Renaissance architecture. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity. Giorgio Vasari uniquely printed his Vita of Sansovino separately.

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27/11/1474

Guillaume Du Fay, French composer and music theorist (born 1397)

Guillaume Du Fay was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and reproduced. Du Fay was well-associated with composers of the Burgundian School, particularly his colleague Gilles Binchois, but was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel himself.

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27/11/1382

Philip van Artevelde, Flemish patriot (born 1340)

Philip van Artevelde was a Flemish patriot, the son of Jacob van Artevelde. Because of his father's prominence he was godson of English queen Philippa of Hainault, who held him in her arms during his baptism.

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27/11/1346

Saint Gregory of Sinai (born c. 1260)

Gregory of Sinai, or in Serbian and Bulgarian Grigorije Sinaita, was a Greek Christian monk and writer from Smyrna. He was instrumental in the emergence of hesychasm on Mount Athos in the early 14th century.

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27/11/1252

Blanche of Castile (born 1188)

Blanche of Castile was Queen of France by marriage to Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX: during his minority from 1226 until 1234, and during his absence from 1248 until 1252.

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27/11/1198

Constance, Queen of Sicily (born 1154)

Constance I was the queen of Sicily from 1194 until her death and Holy Roman Empress from 1191 to 1197 as the wife of Emperor Henry VI.

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27/11/0639

Acarius, bishop of Doornik and Noyon

Acarius, venerated as Saint Acarius, was a monk of Luxeuil Abbey who became Bishop of Doornik and Noyon, which today are located on either side of the Franco-Belgian border.

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27/11/0602

Maurice, Byzantine emperor (born 539)

Maurice was Eastern Roman emperor from 582 to 602 and the last member of the Justinian dynasty. A successful general, Maurice was chosen as heir and son-in-law by his predecessor Tiberius II.

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27/11/0511

Clovis I, king of the Franks

Clovis I was the first Frankish king to unite the Franks, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single king, and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries. Clovis is an important figure in the history of France. According to Charles de Gaulle, he was "the first king of what would become France."

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27/11/0450

Galla Placidia, Roman Empress (born 392)

Galla Placidia, daughter of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, was a mother, tutor, and advisor to emperor Valentinian III. She was queen consort to Ataulf, King of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, briefly empress consort to Constantius III in 421, and managed the government administration as a regent during the early reign of Valentinian III until her death.

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27/11/0395

Rufinus, Roman politician (born 335)

Flavius Rufinus was a 4th-century Eastern Roman statesman of Aquitanian extraction who served as Praetorian prefect of the East for the emperor Theodosius I, as well as for his son Arcadius, under whom Rufinus exercised significant influence in the state affairs.

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01/01/1970

Horace, Roman soldier and poet (born 65 BC)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."

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