Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Famous Deaths on February 24

  • 616 King Ethelbert of Kent, 1st English king to convert to Christianity
  • 1525 Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier
  • 1563 Francois Guise, French general/duke, assassinated at 44
  • 1588 Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
  • 1666 Nicholas Lanier, English composer, dies at 77
  • 1674 Matthias Weckmann, German composer (b. 1616)
  • 1685 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
  • 1686 Ferdinando Tacca, Italian painter/son of Pietro Tacca, dies at 66
  • 1692 Antimo Liberati, Italian composer, dies at 74
  • 1704 Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (church music), dies
  • 1710 Daniel Greysolon Dulhut, French explorer and soldier (establishes French control on Lake Superior, Canada), dies (b. c. 1636) [1]
  • 1714 Edmund Andros, English governor in North America, dies at 76
  • 1721 John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
  • 1732 Colonel Francis Charteris, known as "The Rape-Master General". (b. 1675)
  • 1735 Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, German composer, dies at 56
  • 1777 Joseph, King of Portugal (1750-77), dies at 62
  • 1779 Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (editor of Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon), dies at 74
  • 1781 Edward Capell, English critic, dies at 67
  • 1784 Anton Laube, Bohemian composer, dies at 65
  • 1785 Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican attorney and father of emperor Napoleon, dies at 39
  • 1799 Broerius Brorius, theologist (Pensive Christian), dies at about 41
  • 1799 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and writer (types of Lichtenberg), dies at 56
  • 1806 John Nieuwenhuijzen, Dutch theologist (co-founder Foundation 't Nut), dies at 81
  • 1810 Henry Cavendish, British physicist and chemist (discovery of hydrogen), dies at 78
  • 1812 Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist (Polarization of light), dies at 36
  • 1812 Hugo Kollataj, Polish teacher/minister, dies at 61

Robert Fulton (1765-1815)

American inventor and engineer (first commercial steamboat), dies of tuberculosis at 49

  • 1822 Thomas Coutts, Anglo-Scottish banker (Coutts & Co.), dies at 86
  • 1825 Thomas Bowdler, British physician and writer (Family Shakespeare), dies at 70
  • 1829 Auguste Chouteau, St Louis co-founder, dies
  • 1851 Sake Dean Mahomed, Indian traveler, opened 1st Indian restaurant in the UK, Shampooing Surgeon to George VI, dies at 91 or 92 [1]
  • 1852 Eli Terry, American clockmaker whose manufacturing techniques turned clocks into everyday objects, dies at 79
  • 1856 Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (Lobachevskian geometry), dies at 63
  • 1862 Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Danish author (Holger Danske), dies at 72
  • 1865 Edmund John Armstrong, Irish poet, dies at 23
  • 1874 Anselmo Clavé, Spanish politician and composer, dies at 49
  • 1876 Jan Pieter Heije, Dutch physician, writer and poet, dies at 67
  • 1876 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-born Liberian merchant and politician (1st President of Liberia 1848-56), dies at 66
  • 1895 Ignaz Lachner, German composer, dies at 87
  • 1907 Otto Goldschmidt, German composer, dies at 77
  • 1908 Anatol' Vakhnyanyn, Ukrainian composer, dies at 66
  • 1914 Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War hero for the Union on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg
  • 1915 Amanda Smith, American former slave, singer and evangelist, dies at 78
  • 1919 Josephine McGill, composer, dies at 41
  • 1922 Dmitri B. Shostakovich, father of Russian composer Dmitri D S, dies
  • 1924 Edmond Picard, French-Belgian lawyer and writer (Ambidextre journalist), dies at 87
  • 1925 Karl Hjalmar Branting, Swedish statesman, Prime Minister of Sweden, recipient of the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize, dies at 64
  • 1926 Eddie Plank, American Baseball HOF pitcher (World Series 1910, 11, 13 Philadelphia A's), dies from a stroke at 51
  • 1929 André Charles Prosper Messager, French organist, composer and conductor (Les Deux Pigeons, Véronique), dies at 75
  • 1930 Jacobus of Looy, Dutch writer and painter (Death of My Cat), dies at 74
  • 1933 Spottiswoode Aitken, Scottish actor (The Birth of a Nation, The Avenging Conscience), dies at 65
  • 1941 Oskar Loerke, German writer (Longest Day-1926), dies at 56
  • 1942 Anton Drexler, German politician (founder of German Worker's Party (DAP), precursor to the Nazi Party), and mentor to Adolf Hitler, dies from complications of alcoholism at 57
  • 1943 Fred Tate, English cricket spin bowler (1 Test, 2 wickets; Sussex CCC) and coach (Derbyshire CCC), dies at 75
  • 1945 Ahmed Maher Pasha, Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament
  • 1947 Pierre Janet, French psychologist and neurologist (contributed to the modern concept of mental and emotional disorders involving anxiety, phobias, and other abnormal behaviour), dies at 87
  • 1958 Fernand Baldensperger [Fernand Baldenne], French poet, dies at 86
  • 1960 Jean Binet, composer, dies at 66
  • 1964 Frank Conroy, British actor (Midnight Mary, Threat), dies at 73
  • 1967 Franz Waxman [Wachsmann], German-American film score composer (Rebecca; Sunset Boulevard; A Place In The Sun), dies of cancer at 60
  • 1969 Kenneth Green, actor (Penrod), dies of a heart attack at 61
  • 1970 Conrad Nagel, American actor (All That Heaven Allows, Celebrity Time), dies at 72
  • 1973 Art Smith, actor (Quicksand), dies of a heart attack at 73
  • 1975 Nikolai A Bulganin, Soviet-Russian marshal and 6th Premier of the Soviet Union (1955-58), dies at 79
  • 1976 Charles Wilfred Orr, English pianist and composer (settings of A.E. Housman poems), dies at 82
  • 1976 H. Allen Smith, American humorist and author (Low Man on Totem Pole), dies at 69
  • 1976 Julian Rivero, American actor (Son of Oklahoma, Via Pony Express), dies at 85
  • 1982 Virginia Bruce, actress (Born to Dance, Great Ziegfield), dies at 71
  • 1983 Herbert Howells, British organist, teacher, and composer of Anglican Church music, dies at 90
  • 1984 Helmut Schelsky, German sociologist (Sociology of Sex), dies at 71
  • 1984 Uwe Johnson, writer, dies at 59
  • 1986 Rukmini Devi Arundale (née Sastri), Indian dancer, educator (co-founder of Kalakshetra Academy), politician (Member or Parliament, 1952-62), and animal rights activist, dies at 81

Tommy Douglas (1904-1986)

Canadian politician and "Father of Medicare", dies of cancer at 81

  • 1987 Jim Connors, American Legendary Radio personality, dies in a car crash at 46
  • 1988 Irwan Chanin, US theater builder, dies at 96
  • 1988 Memphis Slim [John Len Chatman], American blues musician ("Every Day I Have the Blues"), dies at 72
  • 1988 Uno "Miff" Görling, Swedish jazz trombonist, arranger, bandleader, and composer, dies at 78
  • 1990 Johnnie Ray, American singer (Cry), dies of liver failure at 61

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990)

American publisher of Forbes Magazine, dies of a heart attack at 70

  • 1990 Sandro Pertini, 7th President of Italy (1978-85), dies at 93
  • 1990 Tony Conigliaro, baseball player (Red Sox), dies of pneumonia at 45
  • 1991 George Gobel, American humorist, comedian and TV host (The George Gobel Show), dies at 71
  • 1991 Héctor Rial, Spanish soccer striker (Real Madrid, 5 straight Euro Cup C'ships 1956-60), dies at 62
  • 1991 Jean Rogers, actress (Flash Gordon, Hot Cargo), dies at 74
  • 1991 John Charles Daly, American, newscaster and TV game show host (What's My Line), dies at 77
  • 1991 Marcella Markham, dies of breast cancer at 68
  • 1991 Webb Pierce, American honky-tonk country singer-songwriter, and guitarist ("In The Jailhouse Now"; "Wondering"; "There Stands The Glass"), dies of pancreatic cancer at 64
  • 1992 Kay Loring, dies after long illness
  • 1993 Bobby Moore, English football defender (108 caps; captain World Cup 1966; West Ham United), dies of bowel & liver cancer at 51
  • 1993 Danny Gallivan, Canadian radio and television sportscaster (Hockey Night in Canada), dies at 75

Dinah Shore (1917-1994)

American singer (See the USA in a Chevrolet), actress and TV personality (Dinah Shore Show; Nabisco DS Championship), dies of ovarian cancer at 76

  • 1994 Donald Phillips, pianist and composer, dies at 80
  • 1994 Eduard Pavlovich Kugno, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 58
  • 1994 Jean Sablon, French pop singer-songwriter, dies at 87
  • 1994 Lores Bonney, Australian aviator, 1st female solo flight Australia to UK, dies at 96
  • 1995 Richard Nicholson, musician, dies at 89
  • 1996 Anna Larina, Russian revolutionary, wife of the Bolshevik leader Nikolai Bukharin, dies at 82
  • 1996 James Runcieman Sutherland, academic, dies at 95
  • 1996 Laurence Richard Deniz, jazz guitarist, dies at 71
  • 1997 Isabelle Harriet Lucas, Canadian-born British actress and singer (Outland, Comics), dies at 69
  • 1998 Antonio Prohias, Cuban-born cartoonist (b. 1921)
  • 1998 Henny Youngman, American comedian and violinist (Take my wife ... please), dies at 91
  • 1999 Andre Dubus, American writer (b. 1936)
  • 1999 Derek Nimmo, British comedic character actor (All Gas and Gaiters), dies of pneumonia while recovering from head injuries incurred in a fall at 68
  • 1999 Frank Leslie Walcott, Barbadian labour leader, dies at 82

Claude Shannon (1916-2001)

American mathematician and information theorist (A Mathematical Theory of Communication), dies at 84 [1]

  • 2002 Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (b. 1932)
  • 2002 Leo Ornstein, Russian-American composer and pianist, (born about 1893)
  • 2003 Bernard Loiseau, French chef (b. 1951)
  • 2003 John Edward Christopher Hill, English historian (b. 1912)
  • 2003 Walter Scharf, American film composer (Jerry Lewis movies; The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau), dies of heart failure at 92
  • 2004 Alvino Rey, American orchestra leader (King Family), dies at 95
  • 2004 John Randolph [Emanuel Hirsch Cohen], American actor (King Kong, Lucan, Lucas Tanner, Angie), dies at 88
  • 2006 Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (b. 1925)
  • 2006 Dennis Weaver, American actor (Chester-Gunsmoke, Duel, Battered), dies at 81
  • 2006 Don Knotts, American actor (Andy Griffth Show, 3's Company), died of lung cancer at 81
  • 2006 Irakli Charkviani, Georgian alt-rock and electronic musician, poet and prose writer, dies of heart failure at 44
  • 2006 John Martin, Canadian broadcaster (b. 1947)
  • 2006 Octavia E. Butler, American sci-fi author (Hugo, Wild Seed), dies at 58
  • 2006 Thomas Koppel, Danish pianist and classical and avant-garde composer (Savage Rose), dies at 61
  • 2007 Bruce Bennett, American actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), dies from complications of a broken hip at 100
  • 2007 Lamar Lundy, American NFL football defensive end, 1957-69 (Los Angeles Rams), dies at 71
  • 2007 Leroy Jenkins, American jazz violinist, avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical composer, dies of lung cancer at 73
  • 2008 Larry Norman, American musician and pioneer of Christian rock music ("Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?"), dies at 60
  • 2008 Pearl Witherington, British WW II secret agent for the Special Operations Executive, dies at 93
  • 2008 Philip Bodner, American jazz clarinetist and studio musician (also played flute, oboe, saxophone, piccolo, and English horn), dies at 90
  • 2011 Anant Pai, Indian educationalist and creator of comics (b. 1929)
  • 2012 Benedict Freedman, American novelist and mathematician, dies at 92
  • 2012 István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian classical and electronic music composer (La Tourangelle; Winthrop), educator (McGill; Queens (Ontario) Universities), and writer (Alternative Voices), dies at 92
  • 2012 Jan Berenstain [Janice Marian Grant], American author (The Berenstain Bears), dies from a stroke at 88
  • 2012 Kenneth Price, American ceramic artist and print maker, dies from cancer at 77
  • 2012 Theodore Mann, American theatre producer and director (co-founded Circle in the Square Theatre), dies at 87 [1]
  • 2014 Harold Ramis, American actor and director, dies from vasculitis at 69
  • 2016 Colin Low, Canadian documentary and animation filmmaker (City of Gold), dies at 89 [1]
  • 2016 Miguel Ángel Coria, Spanish composer of classical music, dies at 78
  • 2016 Nabil Maleh, Syrian film director and writer, dies at 79
  • 2017 Faye Glenn Abdellah, American pioneer in nursing research and US government official (health services), dies at 97
  • 2018 Durward Knowles, Bahamas yachtsman (Olympic gold, Star class 1968), dies at 100

Sridevi Kapoor (1963-2018)

Indian actress and film producer referred to as Indian cinema's "first female superstar" (Himmatwala, Solva Sawan), drowns at 54

  • 2019 Donald Keene, American Japanese translator and critic, dies at 96
  • 2019 Li Xueqin, Chinese eminent historian, archaeologist, and palaeographer, dies at 85
  • 2019 Malcolm "Mac" Wiseman, American bluegrass singer, dies at 93
  • 2019 Margaret Scott, South-African ballet dancer and founder (Australian Ballet School), dies at 96
  • 2020 Ben Cooper, American western actor (The Rose Tattoo; Outcast; Arizona Raiders), dies at 86
  • 2020 David Roback, American alternative rock guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Opal; Mazzy Star), dies of cancer at 61
  • 2020 Don Furner, Australian rugby league forward (1 Test) and coach (Australia 15 Tests; Eastern Suburbs, Canberra Raiders), dies at 87
  • 2020 Jahn Teigen, Norwegian pop-rock singer (Popol Ace; Eurovison Song Contest, 1978, 1982 & 1983), dies at 70
  • 2020 Jan Kowalczyk, Polish equestrian rider (Olympics gold show jumping individual; silver team 1980), dies at 78

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

American NASA mathematician (portrayed in film Hidden Figures), dies at 101

  • 2020 Mario Bunge, Argentine-Canadian philosopher and physicist (pioneering work in epistemology), dies at 100 [1]
  • 2021 Atsushi Miyagi, Japanese tennis player (US Open doubles 1955 [with Kosei Kamo] first Japanese players to win a Grand Slam event), dies at 89
  • 2021 Gary Halpin, Irish rugby union prop (11 caps; Wanderers F.C, Leinster, London Irish, Harlequins), dies at 55
  • 2021 Peter Ostroushko, American fiddler, mandolin player, and composer (A Prairie Home Companion), dies of heart failure at 67
  • 2021 Tom Foley, Irish racehorse trainer (trainer Danoli, "the People's Champion"), dies from cancer at 74
  • 2022 Ivanka Khristova, Bulgarian athlete (Olympic gold women's shot put 1976), dies at 80
  • 2022 Jan Gomola, Polish soccer goalkeeper (7 caps; Górnik Zabrze), dies at 80
  • 2022 John Landy, Australian athlete (2nd man to run sub-4 min mile; WR mile (3:58.0) and 1500m (3:41.8+) 1954; Olympic bronze 1956), dies at 91
  • 2022 Kathleen Nord, German swimmer (Olympic gold GDR 200m butterfly 1988; World C'ship gold 400m medley 1986), dies at 56
  • 2022 Ken Burrough, American football wide receiver (Pro Bowl 1975, 77; Houston Oilers), dies at 73
  • 2022 Sally Kellerman, American actress (M*A*S*H (film); Back to School; The Player), and singer, dies of heart failure at 84
  • 2022 Va'aiga Tuigamala, Samoan rugby union centre/winger (19 Tests NZ, 23 Samoa; Newcastle Falcons, Auckland RU) and rugby league (2 Tests, Samoa; Wigan Warriors), dies from diabetes at 52
  • 2023 Bernard Ingham, British journalist and press secretary for UK PM Margaret Thatcher, dies at 90 [1]
  • 2023 Jack Sheedy, Australian Football HOF rover (WA 22 games; East Fremantle, East Perth) and coach (WA 10 games; East Fremantle, East Perth), dies at 96
  • 2023 Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television journalist (Maurizio Costanzo Show), dies at 84
  • 2024 Chris Nicholl, Irish soccer centre-back (51 caps Northern Ireland; Aston Villa 210 games, Southampton 228 games) and manager (Southampton 1985–91, Walsall 1994–97), dies at 77

Kenneth Mitchell (1974-2024)

Canadian actor (Star Trek: Discovery), dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 49

  • 2024 Stan Bowles, English soccer forward (5 caps; Queens Park Rangers 255 games, Leyton Orient, Brentford), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 75
  • 2024 Ulrik le Fevre, Danish soccer left winger (37 caps; Vejle Boldklub, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Club Brugge), dies at 77
February 24 Highlights