Famous Deaths on August 19

• 472 Ricimer, Germanic Roman general (kingmaker in the Western Roman Empire), dies
• 1186 Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond through his marriage to Constance, Duchess of Brittany, dies at 27
• 1245 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (b. 1195)
• 1284 Alphonso, Earl of Chester, son and heir of Edward I of England, dies at 10
• 1297 Saint Louis of Toulouse, French Catholic bishop (b. 1274)
• 1493 Frederick III of Innsbruck, Holy Roman Emperor (1452-1493), dies at 77 probably of blood loss after his leg is amputated
• 1506 Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania (1492-1506) and King of Poland (1501-6), dies at 45
• 1580 Andrea Palladio [Andrea di Pietro della Gondola], Italian architect (Il Redentore, Venice), dies at 71
• 1601 Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia and Moldovia (Romanian national hero), assassinated at 42 or 43
• 1646 Alexander Henderson, Scottish theologian
• 1650 Abraham de Verwer, Dutch painter, buried at about 55
• 1654 Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, Bohemian rabbi and scholar (Tosefot Yom Tov), dies (b. c. 1579)
• 1657 Frans Snyders, Flemish painter of animals, dies at 77

• 1680 Jean Eudes, French catholic priest, founder of the Eudists, dies at 78
• 1691 Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, Turkish grand vizer, dies in the Battle of Slankamen (b. 1637)
• 1699 José Saenz d’Aguirre, Spanish cardinal, dies at 69
• 1705 Konrad Hoffler, German composer, dies at 58
• 1719 Karl H. Freiherr von Canstein, German lawyer, dies at 52
• 1744 Carlo Arrigoni, Italian lutenist, harpsichordist, and composer (Il Pentimento d’Accabo; Fernando), dies at 46
• 1753 Balthasar Neumann, German Baroque architect (Würzburg Residence), dies at 66
• 1765 Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, Swedish Chemist who discovered nickel and tungsten, dies at 42
• 1780 Bernhard Haltenberger, German composer, dies at 32
• 1795 Friedrich Hartmann Graf, German composer, dies at 67
• 1812 Vincenzo Righini, Italian composer and singer, dies at 56
• 1813 Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab, German composer, dies at 54
• 1813 Josef Blažej Smrček, Czech organist and composer, dies at 61

• 1822 Melchor Lopez Jimenez, Spanish composer (Santiago de Compostela cathedral), dies at 62
• 1838 James Geddes, American Engineer (Erie Canal), dies at 75
• 1851 Gioseffo Catrufo, Italian composer, dies at 80
• 1856 Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
• 1872 Eugene-Prosper Prevost, French composer, dies at 63
• 1876 George Smith, English archaeologist and assyriologist (cuneiform script), dies of fever at 36
• 1881 Joseph Labitzky, Bohemian composer, dies at 79
• 1883 Jeremiah S. Black, American statesman (US Attorney General 1857-60, US Secretary of State 1860-61), dies at 73
• 1887 Alvan Clark, American astronomer and maker of the Dearborn Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the world at the time, dies at 83
• 1888 Spencer Fullerton Baird, American naturalist and ornithologist (Wood’s Hole Station), dies at 65
• 1889 Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, French writer (Contes cruels), dies at 60
• 1892 František Zdeněk Skuherský, Czech composer, dies at 62
• 1895 John Wesley Hardin, American outlaw and gunfighter (claimed to have killed 27 men), shot dead in a saloon at 42
• 1896 Josiah Dwight Whitney, American Geologist who led the California Geological Survey (Mount Whitney and Whitney Glacier are named for him), dies at 76
• 1900 Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian composer, dies at 67
• 1909 Rembt Tobias Hugo Pieter Liebrecht Alexander van Boneval Faure, Dutch lawyer, teacher (Leiden University, 1859-92), and politician (member of the Senate of the States General. 1894-1904), dies at 83
• 1912 Alphonse Hasselmans, Belgian-French harpist, composer (La Source), and educator (Paris Conservatoire, 1884-1912), dies at 67
• 1914 Franz Xavier Wernz, German Superior General of the Society of Jesus, dies at 69
• 1922 Felipe Pedrell, Spanish guitarist, composer (Excelsior; La Celestina), and musical scholar, dies at 81
• 1923 Vilfredo Pareto, Italian sociologist and economist (Pareto’s law of income distribution, popularised the term ‘elite’), dies at 75
• 1929 Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet director (founder of the Ballets Russes), dies freom complications of diabetes at 57
• 1931 Aristides Agramonte y Simoni, Cuban-American Physician, Pathologist and Bacteriologist (yellow fever), dies at 63
• 1936 Federico Garcia Lorca, Spanish poet and composer, murdered at 37 or 38
• 1939 Johannes Marinus Meulenhoff, Dutch publisher, dies at 70

• 1944 Henry Wood, British conductor associated with London’s promenade “Proms” concerts (Gentle Art of Singing; My Life of Music), dies following an illness at 75
• 1945 Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (founder of Villa Lo Burgos), dies at 69
• 1947 Ernst Laqueur, Dutch chemist and psychologist (sexual hormones), dies at 67
• 1950 Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist and electrical engineer (Giorgi system of measurement), dies at 78
• 1954 Alcide de Gasperi, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (1945-53), dies at 73
• 1957 Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (Rossby waves), dies at 58 [1] [2]
• 1957 David Bomberg, English painter, dies at 66

• 1959 Jacob Epstein, American-English sculptor (Adam, Jacob & the Angel), dies at 78
• 1960 Lewis Bernstein Namier, English historian, dies at 72
• 1961 (Carlos) “Charlie” Gemora, Filipino-American film make-up artist and actor who specialized in playing gorillas (Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Chimp & Swiss Miss; At the Circus; Road to Zanzibar), dies of a heart attack at 58
• 1962 Kerstin Hesselgren, Swedish politician, 1st woman in Swedish parliament, dies at 90
• 1963 Kathleen Parlow, Canadian violinist, and educator, dies at 72
• 1967 Carl Wilhelm de Vries, Dutch jurist, dies at 84
• 1967 Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born American inventor and sci-fi writer (1960 Hugo), dies at 83
• 1967 Isaac Deutscher, Polish-English historian (Stalin/Trotsky biography), dies at 60
• 1968 George Gamow, Ukrainian-born American nuclear physicist and cosmologist (Big Bang Theory, DNA), dies at 64
• 1968 Sara Jane Roberts, child actress (Our Gang), dies after surgery at 44
• 1970 Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian, dies at 60
• 1971 Mary Browne, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1912-14), dies at 80
• 1971 Walther Victor, German writer, dies at 76
• 1974 Rodger Davies, United States ambassador to Cyprus, murdered at 53 by Greek Cypriot gunmen during a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia
• 1975 Ima Hogg, American society leader, Texas arts patron, and founder of Houston Symphony, dies at 93 [1]
• 1975 Jim Londos, Greek-American wrestler, dies at 81
• 1975 Mark Donohue, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500, 1972), dies from injuries suffered in a crash during a practice run in Graz, Austria at 38
• 1976 Alastair Sim, Scottish actor (Christmas Carol, Green for Danger), dies at 75
• 1976 Jenö Kenessey, Hungarian conductor and composer, dies at 70
• 1976 Ken Wadsworth, New Zealand cricket wicket-keeper/batsman (33 Tests, 96 dismissals, 5 x 50s; Central Districts CA), dies from cancer at 29

• 1979 Dorsey Burnette, American rockabilly singer (The Rock and Roll Trio), and songwriter (“It’s Late”), dies of a heart attack at 46
• 1980 American farmer and inventor of center-pivot irrigation, US’s most widely used irrigation system, dies at 86 [1]
• 1980 Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, dies at 91
• 1981 Jessie Matthews, English actress (Gangway, First a Girl), dies at 74
• 1983 Aleksandar Ranković, Yugoslavic partisan and 1st Vice President of Yugoslavia (1963-66), dies at 73
• 1986 Hermione Baddeley, British actress (Camp Runamuck; Maude), dies at 79
• 1986 Lorenzo Tucker ‘the Black Valentino’, American actor (Black King), dies at 79
• 1987 Hayden Rorke, American actor (I Dream of Jeannie, When Worlds Collide), dies from multiple myeloma at 76
• 1990 Anna Rutgers Van de Loeff-Basenau, Dutch children’s book writer, dies at 80
• 1991 Richard Maltby Sr., American musician and orchestra leader (“(Themes from) The Man with the Golden Arm”; Vaughn Monroe Show), dies at 77
• 1992 Donald William Kerst, American Physicist who developed the betatron (device to accelerate electron beams), dies of a brain tumor at 80
• 1992 Feliks Arons, Dutch director and actor (A Bridge Too Far), dies at 48
• 1992 Norvel Lee, American boxer (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 67
• 1993 Jean King, American actress (Night Has a Thousand Eyes), dies at 76
• 1993 Lucinda Ballard, US costume designer, wife of Howard Dietz, dies at 90
• 1993 Utpal Dutt, Indian actor and director (Manusher Adhikar), dies at 64
• 1994 John George Hughes, British academic and 9th bishop of Kensington (1987-1994), dies at 59
• 1994 Ladislav Fuks, Czech writer, dies at 70

• 1994 Nancy Lancaster, American British decorator (Colefax and Fowler), dies at 96
• 1994 Robert Rozhdestvensky, Soviet poet, dies at 64
• 1994 Walter Bartley, English biochemist, dies at 78
• 1995 Danny Arnold, British TV producer, dies at 70
• 1995 Pierre Schaeffer, French electronics engineer and composer, dies at 85
• 1996 Jurriaan Andriessen, Dutch pianist and composer (Berkshire Symphonies; Les Cloches des Clochards; Hedwig’s Portrait), dies at 70
• 1997 Petr Novák, Czech rock singer-songwriter (George and Beatovens; Flamengo), dies of apparent poisoning at 51
• 1998 Vasily Arkhipov, Soviet-Russian naval officer who saved the world by refusing to launch a nuclear torpedo from submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, dies of kidney cancer at 72
• 2000 Antonio Pugliese, Italian professional wrestler (b. 1941)
• 2000 Bineshwar Brahma, Bodo littérateur and religious figure (birth date unknown)
• 2000 Dachine Rainer, American-British poet and anarchist, dies at 79
• 2001 Betty Everett, American southern soul singer and pianist (“Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)”), dies at 61
• 2001 Donald Woods, South African journalist, anti-apartheid activist and author (Biko, Asking for Trouble), dies at 67
• 2003 Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
• 2003 Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat, dies in the Canal Hotel car-bomb attack on the UN in Iraq at 55
• 2005 Mo Mowlam, British Labour Party politician (Member of Parliament for Redcar), dies at 55
• 2008 Clea Bradford, American jazz singer, dies of breast cancer at 67
• 2008 LeRoi Moore, American saxophonist (Dave Matthews Band – “Too Much”), dies from injuries sustained in a farm vehicle accident at 46
• 2008 Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian politician (3rd President of Zambia), dies at 59
• 2008 Marguerite Empey [Diane Webber], American model and Playboy playmate (May 1955, Feb 1956), dies at 76
• 2009 Don Hewitt, American CBS news executive producer (60 Minutes), dies at 86
• 2010 Michael Been, American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter (The Call – “Let the Day Begin”), dies of a heart attack at 60
• 2011 Gun Hägglund, Swedish news presenter (b. 1932)
• 2011 Raúl Ruiz, Chilean filmmaker (Three Sad Tigers), dies at 70
• 2012 Tony Scott, British film director and producer (Top Gun; Revenge; Days of Thunder), commits suicide at 68
• 2013 Cedar Walton, American hard bop jazz pianist (Jazztet; Art Blakey), and composer (“Mosaic”), dies at 79
• 2013 José Sarria, American political activist, drag queen and 1st openly gay candidate for public office in the US (1961), dies of adrenal cancer at 90
• 2016 Donald Henderson, American epidemiologist, led world campaign that eradicated smallpox, dies at 82
• 2016 Jack Riley, American actor (The Bob Newhart Show – “Mr. Carlin”; Rugrats -“Stu Pickles”), dies of pneumonia at 80
• 2016 Nina Ponomaryova, Russian athlete (Olympic gold USSR discus 1952, 60; bronze 1956), dies at 87
• 2017 Bea Wain, American pop singer (“Deep Purple” (the song, not the group); “Heart and Soul”), and radio host, dies at 100
• 2017 Charles R. Bentley, American pioneer or polar science, dies from complications of Parkinson’s disease at 87
• 2017 Dick Gregory, American comedian, civil rights activist and dietician (Bahamian Diet), dies of heart failure at 84
• 2018 Vaughn Beals, American CEO (Harley Davidson. 1981-96), dies at 90
• 2019 Jack Perkins, American broadcast journalist (NBC – Prime Time Sunday, Today; A&E – Biography, 1994-99), poet, and photographer, dies at 85
• 2019 Larry “The Mole” Taylor, American session (The Monkees) and touring rock and blues bass player (Canned Heat – “On the Road Again”; John Mayall; Tom Waits), dies of cancer at 77
• 2020 Slade Gorton, American politician (Sen-R-WA, 1981-87, 1989-2001), dies at 92
• 2021 Bill Freehan, American baseball catcher (11 x All Star; World Series 1968; 5 x Gold Glove; Detroit Tigers), dies from dementia at 79
• 2021 Chuck Close, American painter and photographer, dies of congestive heart failure at 81
• 2021 Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba [Sadaho Maeda], Japanese martial artist and actor (The Street Fighter; Kill Bill: Volume 1), dies of Covid-19 complications at 82
• 2022 Egon Pajenk, Austrian soccer defender (3 caps; SK Rapid Wien 266 games), dies at 72
• 2022 Warren Bernhardt, American pianist in jazz, pop and classical pianist (L’Image; Steps Ahead; Steely Dan, 1993-94) and composer, dies at 83 [1]
• 2023 Carlo Mazzone, Italian soccer manager (Ascoli, Fiorentina, Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Cagliari) and centre-back (AS Roma, SPAL, Ascoli), dies at 86
• 2023 Gloria Coates, American post-minimalist composer (“Music on Open Strings”), dies of pancreatic cancer at 89
• 2023 John Warnock, American computer scientist, and businessman (co-founder of Adobe Systems), dies at 82
• 2023 Ron Cephas Jones, American Emmy Award-winning actor (This is Us), dies of pulmonary disease at 66
• 2024 Maria Branyas, 2nd oldest American-Catalan supercentenarian (born 1907), dies at 117 years, 168 days
• 2024 Mike Lynch, English tech entrepreneur, founder of the Autonomy Corporation, dies when his yacht sinks off the coast of Sicily at 59 [1]

August 19 Highlights