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

Famous Deaths on September 1

  • 870 Imam Bukhari [Muḥammad al-Bukhari], Islamic scholar and compiler of Hadith (Sahih al-Bukhari), dies at 60
  • 1067 Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and guardian of King of France, dies
  • 1159 Adrian IV [Nicolas Breakspear], British catholic clergyman, and only English pope (1154-59), dies at about 59 (exact birthday unknown)
  • 1215 Otto van Gelre, son of Otto I/earl-elect of Utrecht
  • 1256 Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (b. 1218)
  • 1406 Johanna, Duchess of Brabant/Limburg (Joyful Entry), dies at 84
  • 1414 William de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, Lord Treasurer of England (b. 1369)

Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)

French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France, dies at 65 [1]

  • 1581 Guru Ram Das, 4th Sikh Guru (1574-81), dies at 46
  • 1600 Tadeáš Hájek, Czech naturalist, physician and astronomer, dies at 74
  • 1615 Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters, dies at 86
  • 1648 Marin Mersenne, French mathematician (Number of Mersenne), dies at 59
  • 1666 French Neck, portrait painter (Women Portrait), dies at about 86
  • 1671 Hugues de Lionne, Marquess de Berny, French ambassador to Rome, dies at 59
  • 1685 Leoline Jenkins, Welsh lawyer (b. 1625)
  • 1687 Henry More, English philosopher (b. 1614)
  • 1715 François Girardon, French sculptor (b. 1628)

Louis XIV (1638-1715)

King of France (1643-1715), known as "The Sun King", had longest reign in country, dies at 76

Richard Steele (1672-1729)

Irish writer, playwright (The Conscious Lovers) and Whig politician who co-founded "The Spectator" magazine, dies at 57

  • 1731 Pierre Danican Philidor, French composer, dies at 50
  • 1777 Johann Ernst Bach, German kapellmeister and composer, dies at 55
  • 1780 Reynier de Klerk, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1778-80), dies at 69
  • 1801 Robert Bage, English writer (Hermsprong), dies at 73
  • 1814 Erik Tulindberg, Finland's first known classical composer, dies at 53
  • 1818 Robert Calder, British naval officer, dies at 73

William Clark (1770-1838)

American explorer, soldier, Indian agent and territorial governor who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06 and claimed the Pacific Northwest for the United States, dies at 68

  • 1862 Isaac Ingalls Stevens, US Union general-major, dies in battle at 44
  • 1862 Oliver Tilden, of the Bronx, killed in Civil War in Virginia
  • 1862 Philip "Phil" Kearny, US Union general-major, dies in battle at 48
  • 1867 Edward Hodges, English organist and composer, dies at 71
  • 1880 Antoon Jurgens, Dutch butter and margarine maker, dies at 75
  • 1896 Johannes Habert, composer, dies at 62
  • 1903 Charles Renouvier, French philosopher (neo criticism), dies
  • 1906 Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian playwright, poet, and librettist (Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly"), dies at 58
  • 1912 Samuel "Sam" van Beem, Flemish actor (Fanfan la Tulipe), dies at 62
  • 1912 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, African-British composer (Hiawatha's Wedding Feast), dies at 37
  • 1914 Martha, last known passenger pigeon, dies at Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, Ohio)
  • 1925 Donald Petrie, Scottish botanist and educator noted for his work in New Zealand, dies at 78
  • 1926 John Hunn, American businessman and 51st Governor of Delaware, dies at 77

Lillian Wald (1867-1940)

American pioneering nurse and social activist who started American community nursing with the Henry Street Settlement in NYC, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 73

  • 1941 "Kansas City" Frank [Melrose], American jazz and blues pianist, killed in a bar fight in Hammond, Indiana at 33
  • 1941 Benjamin Dwight, American tennis championship umpire, dies
  • 1943 Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief (b. 1880)
  • 1945 Jacobus W G Balfoort, Dutch actor (Heimwee, Head On), dies at 57
  • 1947 Frederick Russell Burnham, American scout and adventurer whose friendship with Baden-Powell inspired the founding of the international scouting movement, dies at 86
  • 1948 Charles A. Beard, American historian (American Continentalism), dies at 73
  • 1949 Bobby Walthour Sr., American cyclist (motor-pacing World Championships gold 1904-05; Madison Square Garden 6-Day Race 1901, 03), dies at 71
  • 1951 Wols [Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze], German cartoonist and painter, dies at 38
  • 1953 Bernard O'Dowd, Australian poet, dies at 87
  • 1955 Philip Loeb, actor (Jake-Goldbergs), dies at 61
  • 1957 Dennis Brain, British classical horn player (Serenade), killed in a car wreck at 38
  • 1957 Helen Haye [Hay], British stage and silent and sound screen actress (Honour in Pawn; Girl in the Taxi; Spy in Black), dies at 83
  • 1961 Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect (Dulles Airport (Virginia); Gateway Arch (St. Louis, Missouri); IBM Building (Rochester, Minnesota); MIT Chapel (Cambridge, Massachusetts)), dies while undergoing surgery for a brain tumor at 51 [1]
  • 1961 William Z. Foster, American labor organizer and US Communist Party president (1945-57), dies at 80
  • 1962 Anton Mauve (Jr), Dutch painter, dies at 63
  • 1963 Jean Canneel, Flemish sculptor, dies at 73
  • 1964 George Georgescu, Romanian conductor and composer, dies at 76
  • 1964 Otto Emanuel Olsson, Swedish organist and composer, dies at 84
  • 1967 Ilse Koch, Nazi war criminal (commonly known as "The Bitch of Buchenwald") hangs herself in prison at 60
  • 1967 James Dunn, American vaudeville performer, stage and screen actor (Bad Girl; Bright Eyes; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), dies from surgery complications at 65
  • 1967 Siegfried Sassoon, English poet and writer (Counterattack), dies at 80
  • 1968 Granville English, composer, dies at 69
  • 1969 Drew Pearson, American newscaster (Drew Pearson), dies at 71
  • 1969 William Flanagan, American composer, and music critic, takes his own life at 46
  • 1970 Francois Mauriac, French novelist, poet and playwright (Nobel 1952), dies at 84
  • 1972 Kees Posthumus, Dutch chemist, dies at 70
  • 1972 May Aufderheide, American ragtime composer ("Dusty Rag"), dies at 84 [1]
  • 1977 Ethel Waters, American actress (Beulah), singer ("Stormy Weather"), dies at 80
  • 1978 Olga de Haas, Dutch ballerina, dies as a result of anorexia nervosa at 33
  • 1979 Doris Kenyon, American silent screen actress (Alexander Hamilton), dies at 81

Albert Speer (1905-1981)

German architect and Nazi leader (Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production), dies of a stroke at 76

  • 1981 Ann Harding, actress (When Ladies Meet, Devotion), dies
  • 1981 Bùi Thanh Liêm, Vietnamese cosmonaut, dies in a MiG-21 crash at 32
  • 1982 Clifford Curzon, British classical pianist (Royal Academy of Music Macfarren Gold Medal), dies at 75
  • 1982 Haskell Curry, American mathematician (b. 1900)
  • 1982 Wladislaw Gomulka, Polish partisan/party leader, dies at 76
  • 1983 Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, American politician (Sen-D-Wash), dies at 71
  • 1983 Larry McDonald, American congressman (b. 1935)
  • 1983 Lennox Brown, South African cricket leg spinner (3 wickets at 63 for South Africa), dies at 72
  • 1984 Howland Chamberlin, American actor (Force of Evil, Pickup), dies at 73
  • 1985 James Pitman, British educator and spelling reformer (Alphabets and Reading: The Initial Teaching Alphabet), dies at 84
  • 1985 Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (b. 1957)
  • 1986 Murray Hamilton, American character actor (Rich Man Poor Man, Anatomy of a Murder), dies of lung cancer at 63
  • 1987 Philip Friend, British actor (Dick Turpin, Buccaneer's Girl, Vulture, Fur Collar), dies at 72
  • 1988 Leonor Sullivan, American politician (Rep-D-Missouri, 1955-77), dies at 86
  • 1989 A. Bartlett Giamatti, American MLB Commissioner (1989) and President of Yale University (1978-86), dies of a heart attack at 51
  • 1989 Tadeusz Sendzimir, American inventor (b. 1894)
  • 1991 Elise Hoomans, Dutch director and actress (Jane Eyre, Barocco), dies at 76
  • 1991 Mark Robinson, British actor (The Girl), dies at 30
  • 1991 Steve Kemp, British light enterpeneur, dies
  • 1992 Chick Harbert, American golfer (PGA C'ship 1954, Ryder Cup 1949, 55), dies of a cerebral haemorrhage at 77
  • 1992 Morris Carnovsky, American actor (Dead Reckoning), dies at 94
  • 1992 Piotr Jaroszewicz, Polish politician (Prime Minister, 1970-80), brutally murdered along with his wife, in a home invasion-burglary at 82
  • 1993 Eugen Malmstén, Finnish jazz trumpeter, singer, bandleader, and songwriter, dies at 86
  • 1993 Gerben Wagenaar, Dutch resistance fighter and communist, dies at 80
  • 1993 Hew Lorimer, British sculptor, dies at 86
  • 1993 Jacqueline Wijchers, film publicist (Havenloods, Sextant), dies at 89
  • 1993 Neon Park [Martin Muller], American illustrator of album covers (Little Feat; Frank Zappa), dies of ALS at 52
  • 1994 Boris Malenko, American professional wrestler (b. 1933)
  • 1994 Clifford Leofric Purdy Bishop, Anglican pastor and bishop, dies at 88
  • 1994 Pieter C "Piet" Author, sailor/corrector, dies at 71
  • 1994 Wallis Mathias, Pakistan cricket batsman (21 Tests; first non-Muslim to play for Pakistan), dies at 59
  • 1995 Benay Venuta [Benvenuta Rose Crooke], American actress, singer and dancer (Annie Get Your Gun; Call Me Mister), dies of lung cancer at 84
  • 1995 Elizabeth Brown, minister healer and writer, dies at 32
  • 1995 Ernest Marke, Sierra Leonean seaman and club owner, dies at 93
  • 1996 Charles Daniels, archaeologist, dies at 63
  • 1996 George Levy, English antique dealer, heritage campaigner, dies at 69
  • 1996 Karl Kehrle, Benedictine monk and beekeeper, dies at 98
  • 1996 Vagn Holmboe, Danish neo-classical composer (Sinfonia rustica), dies at 86

Cary Middlecoff (1921-1998)

American golfer (US Open 1949, 56; US Masters 1955), dies at 77

  • 1998 Józef Krupiński, Polish poet (Marsz żałobny), dies at 67
  • 1998 Petar Šegedin, Croatian novelist (Holy Devil), dies at 89
  • 1998 Vere Harmsworth, 3rd Viscount Rothermere, English press magnate (The Mail on Sunday), dies of a heart attack at 73
  • 1999 W. Richard Stevens, Zambian computer scientist (b. 1951)
  • 2001 Brian Moore, British sports commentator (BBC Radio, London Weekend Television 'The Big Match'), dies of heart failure at 69
  • 2003 (Arlington) Rand Brooks, American actor (Gone With The Wind; Rin Tin Tin), dies of cancer at 84
  • 2003 John Gould, American humorist, essayist, and columnist (Christian Science Monitor, 1942-2003), dies at 84
  • 2003 Terry Frost, British artist, dies at 87
  • 2004 Ahmed Kuftaro, Grand Mufti of Syria (b. 1915)
  • 2004 Johnny Bragg, American doo-wop singer-songwriter (The Prisonaires - "Just Walkin' in the Rain"), dies of cancer at 79
  • 2004 Kenneth Keith, Lord Keith of Castleacre, English banker, dies at 88
  • 2005 R. L. Burnside, American blues musician (Deep Blues), dies at 78 (b. 1926)
  • 2005 Thanos Leivaditis, Greek actor (b. 1934)
  • 2006 Bob O'Connor, American politician (Mayor of Pittsburgh, 2006), dies of brain cancer at 61
  • 2006 Nellie Connally, wife of Texas governor John Connally (b. 1919)
  • 2006 Sir Kyffin Williams, Welsh landscape painter (b. 1918)
  • 2006 Warren Mitofsky, American pollster (b. 1934)
  • 2007 Roy McKenzie, New Zealand philanthropist (b. 1922)
  • 2007 Viliam Schrojf, Slovak soccer goalkeeper (39 caps Czechoslovakia; Slovan Bratislava 240 games), dies at 76
  • 2008 Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940)
  • 2009 Aubrey Buxton, English TV executive (ITV, created "Survival"), dies at 91
  • 2009 Jake Brockman, British rock keyboardist (Echo & the Bunnymen), dies in a motorcycle accident at 53
  • 2009 Jang Jin-young, South Korean actress (b. 1974)
  • 2010 Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45th Yokozuna (b. 1928)
  • 2012 George Jefferson, English engineer who oversaw privatisation of British Telecom, dies at 91 [1]
  • 2012 Hal David, American lyricist ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"; "What The World Needs Now Is Love"; "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"), dies at 91
  • 2012 Sat Mahajan, Indian politician (Rural Development Minister), dies at 85
  • 2012 Smarck Michel, Haitian Prime Minister (1994-95), dies from a brain tumour

Tommy Morrison (1969-2013)

American boxer (WBO heavyweight title, 1993) and actor (Rocky V), dies from sepsis, multi organ failure, and cardiac arrest at 44

  • 2014 Jimi Jamison, American rock singer (Survivor, 1984-89, 2000-06, 2011-14 - "High On You"), dies of a stroke at 63
  • 2014 Joseph Shivers, American chemist and inventor of Spandex, dies at 93 [1]
  • 2015 Dean Jones, American actor (Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, The Love Bug), dies at 84
  • 2016 Jon Polito, American actor (Fire With Fire, Homicide: Life on the Street), dies from multiple myeloma at 65
  • 2016 Len Maddocks, Australian cricket wicket-keeper (7 Tests, 19 dismissals; Victoria, Tasmania), dies at 90
  • 2016 Raymond Daveluy, Canadian organist (St. Joseph's Montreal, 1960-2002), composer and educator, dies at 89
  • 2017 Jérôme Choquette, Canadian lawyer and politician (National Assembly, 1966-76; Minister of Justice, 1970-75), dies at 89
  • 2017 Novella Nelson, American actress (Antwone Fisher, Purlie, Chiefs), dies at 78
  • 2017 Shelley Berman, American Grammy Award-winning comedian, actor (Son of Blob; Divorce American Style; Curb Your Enthusiasm), writer, and educator, dies of complications from Alzheimer's disease at 92
  • 2019 Tom Collins, Canadian ice skating promoter ('Champions On Ice'), dies from stroke complications at 88
  • 2020 Jerzy Szczakiel, Polish speedway rider (World Individual C'ship 1973; World Pairs C'ship 1971), dies at 71
  • 2021 Jim Fuller, American college football coach and athletics administrator (coach 1977-83; AD 2003-08 Jacksonville State University), dies from COVID-19 at 76
  • 2021 Juan Rodríguez Vega, Chilean soccer defender (26 caps; Universidad de Chile, Atlético Español), dies at 77
  • 2021 Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Separatist leader in Kashmir (headed resistance against Indian rule), dies at 92 [1]
  • 2022 Earnie Shavers, American boxer (2 x world heavyweight c'ship challenger - Muhammad Ali 1977, Larry Holmes 1979), dies at 78

Jimmy Buffett (1946-2023)

American country rock singer-songwriter ("Margaritaville") and restaurant entrepreneur (Margaritaville Cafe), dies of Merkel cell carcinoma (a rare form of skin cancer) at 76 [1]

  • 2023 Raymond Moriyama, Canadian architect (Canadian War Museum), dies at 93 [1]
  • 2023 William B. Richardson, American politician (Governor of New Mexico 2003-11, Rep-D-New Mexico, 1983-97; US Ambassador to U.N., 1997-98), dies at 75 [1]
September 1 Highlights