Deaths May 11 | History by KabAstro

William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778)

British Prime Minister (Whig, 1756-61, 66-68) known as the `Great Commoner', dies at 69

1779 John Hart, American farmer, politician, delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies at about 68

Spencer Perceval (1762-1812)

British statesman and Prime Minister (Tory: 1809-12), assassinated by John Bellingham at 49

1819 Kaspar Furstenau, German composer, dies at 47
1845 Carl Filtsch, Transylvanian composer and pianist child prodigy, dies of tuberculosis at 14
1848 Tom Cribb, English bare knuckle boxer (C'ship of England 1808-22), dies at 66
1849 Juliette Récamier, French socialite, dies at 71
1849 Otto Nicolai, German composer and conductor, dies at 38 of a stroke
1857 Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal & police detective, dies at 81
1864 Thomas D. Doubleday, American bookstore owner and Union Army officer, dies after being run over by a horse-drawn coach at 58

John Herschel (1792-1871)

English astronomer and photographer who invented the blueprint and catalogued southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79

1874 Franklin Buchanan, American first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, dies at 73
1881 Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss writer (Journal Intime), dies at 59
1887 Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French agricultural chemist (the nitrogen cycle), dies at 85
1891 Edmond Becquerel, French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics (photovoltaic effect), dies at 71
1907 John Albert Delany, Australian composer, dies at 54
1916 Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer (Schwarzschild effect), dies on the Eastern front at 42, mere months after working out a solution to Einstein's Theory of Relativity
1916 Max Reger, German composer, pianist and professor (Leipzig Univ), dies at 43
1917 Otto Klauwell, German composer, dies at 66
1920 (Vincenzo) "Big Jim" Colosimo, Italian-American gangster, murdered in Chicago by an organized crime hitman at 42
1920 William Dean Howells, American novelist, critic and editor (A Woman's Reason), dies at 83
1923 Henry Martyn Robert, American soldier & parliamentarian (Robert's Rules of Order), dies at 86
1924 Moses Walker, American baseball catcher (first African-American open about his heritage to play MLB; Toledo Blue Stockings), dies at 66
1927 Juan Gris, Spanish cubist painter (Still Life Before an Open Window), dies at 40
1929 Jozef Murgaš, Slovak inventor, dies at 65
1934 Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist and honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1920), dies at 81
1935 Edward Herbert Thompson, American archaeologist (Mayan civilization), dies at 78
1937 Ellen Hansell, American tennis player (US National champion 1887), dies at 67
1937 Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Slovak composer, dies at 62
1938 Arnold Sauwen, Belgium poet (Hours of Solitude), dies at 81
1939 Yevgeny Miller [Eugen Ludwig Müller], Baltic German general and a leader of the anticommunist White Army during and after the Russian Civil War, executed at 71 after being kidnapped in Paris by Soviet intelligence and taken to Moscow where he was tortured and eventually shot
1943 Szmul Zygielbojm, Jewish-Polish socialist politician (Bund) and activist, commits suicide to protest Allied indifference to the Holocaust during WWII at 48
1944 Henk Hos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at 37
1944 Walter Oesau, German fighter pilot (WWII), dies at 30
1947 Ture Rangström, Swedish composer, dies at 62
1952 Giovanni Tebaldini, Italian composer, dies at 87
1953 Jean Adair, Canadian actress, dies at 80
1955 Gilbert Jessop, English cricket batsman (18 Tests; Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1898), dies at 80
1956 Walter Sydney Adams, American astronomer and director of Mount Wilson, dies at 79

John D. Rockefeller Jr (1874-1960)

American financier and philanthropist, dies of pneumonia at 86

Hans Luther (1885-1962)

German politician and German Chancellor (1925-26), dies at 83

1963 Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 74
1965 Lode Baekelmans, Belgian writer (Tille), dies at 84
1970 Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist, dies at 62
1971 Alan Mara Bateman, Canadian geologist (Yale professor), dies at 82
1973 Grigory Kozintsev, Russian director, dies at 68
1973 Lex Barker, American actor (Tarzan of the Apes; Treasure of the Silver Lake), dies of a heart attack on Lexington Avenue, NYC at 54
1975 Walter Kinsella, American actor (Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at 74
1976 Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (Finlandia House) and designer, dies at 78
1976 Camille Schmit, Belgian composer, dies at 68
1978 John Clinge Doorenbos, Dutch journalist and poet, dies at 93
1979 Barbara Hutton 'poor little rich girl', American heiress (Woolworth fortune), dies at 66
1979 Joan Chandler, American actress, dies at 55
1979 Lester Flatt, American bluegrass guitarist (Flatt & Scruggs - "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"; "Ballad of Jed Clampett"), dies at 64

Bob Marley (1945-1981)

Jamaican reggae musician ("Exodus"; "One Love"; "No Woman No Cry"; "Three Little Birds"), dies of brain and lung cancer at 36

1981 Hoyt J. Fuller, American editor (1st World magazine), dies at 57
1981 Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist (Nobel 1969 - the study of the three-dimensional geometric structure of molecules), dies at 83
1982 Leigh Snowden [Martha Lee Estes], American actress (All That Heaven Allows), dies of cancer at 51
1982 Piet van Egmond, Dutch organist and conductor (Netherlands Chamber Orchestra), dies at 70
1983 Zenna Henderson, American sci-fi author (Anything Box), dies at 65
1985 Chester Gould, American cartoonist (Dick Tracy), dies at 84
1985 Garmt Stuiveling, Dutch writer and poet (Ego & Echo), dies at 77
1985 Jorja Curtright, American stage and screen actress (Whistle Stop, Heaven Only Knows), and interior decorator, dies of a heart attack at 61
1986 Fritz Pollard, early African American NFL star and coach, dies at 92
1986 Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist, dies at 76
1987 James Jesus Angleton, American intelligence officer & head of counterintelligence for the CIA (1954-75), dies at 69

Kim Philby (1912-1988)

British spy and Soviet mole who was a member of the "Cambridge Five", dies at 76

1989 Jitka Snížková, Czech composer, music educator and musicologist, dies at 64
1991 Ho Dam, North Korean Politician Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1970-83), dies at 62
1992 Carlos Herrera, American drink inventor (Margarita), dies at 90
1992 Elizabeth McDonald, American inventor (Spic & Span), dies at 98
1994 Alfred James Broomhall, British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, dies at 82
1994 Danny Overbea, American rock singer and guitarist ("Forty Cups of Coffee"), dies at 68
1994 Leonard Friedman, British-Lithuanian violinist (Scottish Baroque Ensemble), dies at 63
1994 Lewis B Puller, American writer (Pulitzer 1992), commits suicide at 48
1994 Timothy Carey, American actor (Paths of Glory, The Killing), dies of stroke at 65
1995 David Avidan, Israeli poet, dies at 62
1995 Ivo Samkalden, Dutch Minister of Justice (PvdA), Mayor of Amsterdam (1967-77), dies at 82
1995 Tibor Sarai, Hungarian composer, dies at 76
1995 William John Phillips, British actor (Nothing But A Man; Z-Cars), dies at 80
1996 Ademir de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (Brazil national team 1945-53), dies at 73
1996 Bruce Boyce, Canadian-American baritone singer, and teacher (Royal Academy - London, England), dies at 85
1996 Joan Thirkettle, British journalist, dies at 48
1996 Malcolm MacEwen, Scottish conservationist & communist activist, dies at 84
1996 Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1st President of Nigeria (1963-66), dies at 91
1996 Walter Hyatt, American singer-songwriter (Uncle Walt's Band), dies in a plane crash in the Florida Everglades at 46
1997 Brenda Carlin, American television producer and wife of comedian George Carlin, dies at 57
1998 Willy Corsari, Dutch writer (the Dutch Agatha Christie) and actor, dies at 100
2000 Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (Masquerade), dies at 93

Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

English author (Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy), dies of myocardial infarction and a fatal cardiac arrhythmia at 49

2001 Klaus Schlesinger, German writer, dies at 64
2002 Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mafioso & crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, dies of heart failure at 97
2002 Renaude Lapointe, French Canadian journalist and senator, dies at 90

Ernie Toshack (1914-2003)

Australian cricket fast bowler (12 Tests, 47 wickets), dies at 88

2003 Noel Redding, English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Purple Haze"), dies from cirrhosis of the liver at 57
2004 John Whitehead, American songwriter and soul singer (McFadden & Whitehead - "Ain't No Stopping Us Now"), murdered outside of his home at 55
2004 Mick Doyle, Irish rugby union footballer and coach, dies at 64
2005 Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer, and composer, dies at 88

Floyd Patterson (1935-2006)

American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1956-59, 1960-62, Olympic gold 1952), dies of prostate cancer at 71

2006 Frankie Thomas, American actor and author (Tom Corbett Space Cadet), dies of a stroke at 85
2006 Yossi Banai, Israeli pop and cabaret singer, and actor dies of cancer at 74
2007 Bernard Gordon, American writer and producer (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers), dies at 88
2007 Malietoa Tanumafili II, Chief and Head-of-Head of Samoa (1962-2007), dies at 94
2008 Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist, dies in competition at 26
2008 Dottie Rambo [Joyce Luttrell], American gospel singer, dies when her tour bus crashes at 74
2008 John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (Rush, 1968-1974), dies from a heart attack at 55
2011 (Eugene) "Snooky" Young, American jazz trumpeter who mastered the plunger mute, dies at 92
2013 Jack Butler, American Pro Football HOF cornerback (First-team All-Pro 1957-59; Pro Bowl 1955–58; Pittsburgh Steelers), dies from complications from staph infection at 85
2013 Oliver "Ollie" Mitchell, American musician and bandleader (The Wrecking Crew), dies of cancer at 86
2014 Ed Gagliardi, American bass guitarist (Foreigner, 1976-79 - "Feels Like The First Time"), dies from cancer at 62
2014 Reg Gasnier, Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame centre and captain (36 Tests; 3 World Cups; St. George RLFC), dies at 74
2015 Jef Geeraerts, Flemish writer (Black Venus) and crime novelist, dies at 85
2016 David King, British graphic designer (album cover art for Jimi Hendrix and The Who), photographer (I Am King), and historian (The Commissar Vanishes), dies at 73
2016 Jim Pothecary, South African cricket medium pace bowler (3 Tests, 9 wickets; Western Province), dies at 82
2017 Yale Lary, American NFL safety Hall of Famer (Detroit Lions), dies at 86
2018 Josh Greenfeld, American author and screenwriter (A Child Called Noah), dies at 90
2018 Scott Hutchinson, Scottish musician (Frightened Rabbit), found dead after a suffering from mental illness at 36
2019 Harold Lederman, American boxing judge & analyst (HBO), dies of cancer at 79
2020 Francisco Aguilar, Spanish soccer forward (3 caps; Real Madrid), dies at 71

Jerry Stiller (1927-2020)

American comedian (Seinfield - "Frank Constanza"; King of Queens -"Arthur"; Stiller & Meara), dies of natural causes at 92

2020 John "Moon" Martin, American rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist ("Bad Case Of Loving You"), dies at 74
2022 Alexander Toradze, Soviet Georgian-American concert pianist and music professor (University of Indiana, 1991-2017), dies of heart failure at 69
2022 Henk Groot, Dutch soccer attacking midfielder/forward (39 caps; Ajax, Feyenoord), dies at 84
2022 Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian-American journalist (Al Jazeera), shot and killed by Israeli forces at 51 [1]
2023 Barry Newman, American film and television actor (Vanishing Point; Amy; Petrocelli), dies of throat cancer at 92
2023 Futoshi Nakanishi, Japanese Baseball HOF infielder (Nishitetsu Lions; Pacific League MVP 1956; 7×Best Nine Award) and manager (Nishitetsu Lions), dies at 90
2023 Kenneth Anger [Anglemeyer], American Underground Filmmaker (Magick Lantern Cycle), dies at 96
2024 Ron Ellis, Canadian ice hockey right wing (Summit Series 1972; Stanley Cup 1967, 4 x NHL All Star; Toronto Maple Leafs), dies at 79