Famous Deaths on October 20

• 460 Aelia Eudocia Athenais, Athenian-born Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire, consort of Theodosius II, and poet, dies at about 60
• 1139 Henry X the Trotse, duke of Bayern (1126-38), dies
• 1187 Urban III [Umberto Crivelli], Italian Pope (1185-87), dies

• 1274 Engelbert II of Falkenburg, archbishop of Cologne, dies
• 1438 Jacopo di Piero della Quercia, Italian sculptor, dies at about 64
• 1525 Joannes Custos, Dutch humanist, dies at about 50
• 1570 João de Barros, Portuguese historian (b. 1496)
• 1631 Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician, teacher of Johannes Kepler, dies at 81
• 1640 John Ball, English Puritan clergyman and author (A Short Catechisme, containing all the Principal Grounds of Religion), dies at about 55
• 1652 Antonio Coello, Spanish writer and dramatist (b. 1611)
• 1676 Christopher Gibbons, British composer, dies at 61
• 1713 Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician and poet, dies at 60

• 1765 William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English supreme commander, dies at 44
• 1794 James Adam, Scottish architect and furniture designer, (partnership with brother Robert Adam), dies at about 64
• 1819 Lambert-Francois Godecharle, Belgian composer and singer, dies at 66
• 1842 Grace Darling, English lighthouse keeper’s daughter and heroine who saved shipwreck survivors, dies of tuberculosis at 26
• 1864 Stephen Dodson Ramseur, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 27
• 1865 Champ Ferguson, American Confederate guerrilla, found guilty of war crimes during US Civil War, executed and hung at 43
• 1870 Michael William Balfe, Irish violinist and composer (The Bohemian Girl), dies at 62
• 1876 Jeronimo de Bosch Kemper, Dutch sociologist and historian, dies at 68
• 1882 Olegario Victor Andrade, Argentina poet (El arpa perdida), dies at 41

• 1894 James Anthony Froude, English historian and novelist (The Nemesis of Faith), dies at 76
• 1896 Félix Tisserand, French Astronomer who updated Laplace’s standard work on astronomy, dies at 51
• 1900 Charles Dudley Warner, American novelist (As We Go), dies at 70
• 1900 Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet and writer, dies at 54
• 1904 Henry Hiles, English organist and composer, dies at 77
• 1906 William “Buck” Ewing, American Baseball HOF catcher (NL home run leader 1883 NY Giants; Cincinnati Reds) and manager (NY Giants, Cincinnati Reds), dies of diabetes at 67
• 1907 Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (b.1834)
• 1910 David B. Hill, American politician and Governor of New York (1885-91), dies at 67
• 1913 Daniel David Palmer, Canadian founder of chiropractic (1897 Palmer School of Chiropractic), dies of typhoid fever at 68
• 1913 Leander Schlegel, Dutch composer and pianist, dies at 69
• 1926 Eugene V. Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate, dies at 70
• 1927 Mikhail Ivanov, Russian composer, dies at 78
• 1928 Mary Ingalls, sister of American author Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie), dies at 63
• 1929 José Batlle y Ordóñez, President of Uruguay (1899, 1903-7, 1911-15), dies at 73
• 1929 Rudolf Kittel, German theologist (Psalms), dies at 76
• 1931 Emánuel Moór, Hungarian composer, pianist, and inventor of musical instruments, dies at 68
• 1935 Adolphus Washington Greely, American Arctic explorer and recipient of the Medal of Honor, dies at 91
• 1936 Anne Sullivan [Johanna Macy], American teacher who educated Helen Keller, dies at 70
• 1940 Gunnar Asplund, Swedish modernist architect (The Woodland Crematorium), dies at 55
• 1941 Ken Farnes, English cricket fast bowler (15 Tests, 60 wickets, BB 6/96; Essex CCC, Cambridge University CC), dies in a plane crash during a WWII night-flying exercise at 30
• 1942 May Robson, Australian born actress (Star is Born, Reckless), dies at 84
• 1944 Gabriel Grovlez, French pianist, conductor (Opéra de Paris, 1914-34), and composer (L’Almanach aux images), dies at 65
• 1950 Henry L. Stimson, American statesman (46th United States Secretary of State), dies at 83
• 1952 Basil Radford, British actor (The Lady Vanishes, Whiskey Galore, Night Train), dies from a heart attack at 55
• 1953 Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (Luftwaffe special bombing unit WWII), dies in a plane accident at 36
• 1954 Wilbur Shaw, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1937, 39, 40; Motorsports Hall of Fame of America 1991), dies in an airplane crash at 51
• 1955 Eino Roiha, Finnish pianist, composer, and musicologist dies at 51
• 1957 Jack Buchanan, British theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, and producer (The Band Wagon), dies from spinal cancer at 66
• 1959 Werner Krauss, German actor (Joyless Street), dies at 75 (b. 1884)
• 1964 Ben Simpson, Canadian Football HOF running back, placekicker (Queen’s University, Hamilton Tigers), dies at 86

• 1967 Shigeru Yoshida, Japanese politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Japan (1946-54), dies at 89
• 1968 Bud Flanagan [Chaim Reuben Weintrop], English comedian (duo with Chesney Alley), dies at 72
• 1968 Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, African-American TV preacher, dies at 84
• 1970 Patrick Wymark [Cheeseman], British actor (Skull, Tomb of Ligeia), dies of a heart attack at 44
• 1972 Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (Sun’s position in galaxy), dies at 86
• 1977 Cassie Gaines, American rock singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 29
• 1977 Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 29
• 1977 Steve Gaines, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 28
• 1981 Mary Chase, American playwright, journalist, and children’s novelist (Harvey, Bernardine, Sorority House), dies from heart attack at 75
• 1981 Mary Coyle Chase, American playwright (Harvey 1945 Pulitzer Prize), dies at 75
• 1983 Merle Travis, American country singer, dies at 75
• 1983 Peter Dudley, British character actor (Coronation Street, 1979-83 – “Bert”), dies after multiple heart attacks and stokes at 48
• 1983 Yves Thériault, French Canadian author, dies at 67
• 1984 Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American bio-chemist (Nobel 1947-discovery of how glycogen (animal starch) – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and resynthesized in the body, for use as a store and source of energy), dies at 87

• 1986 Samora Machel, President of Mozambique, dies in air crash at 53
• 1987 Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (theory of probability), dies at 84

• 1989 Anthony Quayle, British actor (Anne of 1000 Days, Lawrence of Arabia), dies from liver cancer at 76
• 1990 Bridget Bate Tichenor (born Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate), Mexican surrealist painter dies at 72
• 1990 Joel McCrea, American actor (Foreign Correspondent, Sullivan’s Travels), dies of pulmonary complications at 84
• 1992 Orton Chirwa, Malawi lawyer, Minister of Justice, dies in captivity at 73
• 1992 Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (New Orleans Symphony, 1963-77; Bangor Symphony, 1981-92), dies of cancer at 66
• 1993 Maurice Dolbier, American actor and author (Nowhere Near Everest; The Bus That Nobody Loved), dies at 81
• 1993 Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese Nihonga style painter, and designer, dies on his 84th birthday
• 1994 (Charles) Robert Medley, English abstract and figurative style painter, dies at 88

• 1994 Eberhard Feik, German actor (Tatort), dies at 50
• 1994 Francis Steegmuller, American biographer (Cocteau), dies at 88
• 1994 Ivan Sviták, Czech philosopher and poet, dies at 69
• 1994 Robert Medley, English artist and theater designer, dies at 88
• 1994 Sergei Bondarchuk, Soviet director and actor (Destiny of a Man, War and Peace), dies of a heart attack at 74
• 1995 Bernadette Hingley, British Anglican priest, one of 1st women to be ordained in England, dies of cancer at 47
• 1995 Christopher Stone [Thomas Bourassa], American actor (Dallas – “Dave”; Interns), dies of a heart attack at 55
• 1995 Jack Rose, American screenwriter (The Seven Little Foys), dies at 83
• 1995 Raymond Rasberry, American gospel pianist, songwriter, and singer, dies at 65
• 1996 Bill Bedford, British test pilot (pioneered the development of V/STOL aircraft), dies at 75
• 1996 Mary Tuck, English criminologist, psychologist, and civil servant (Order of the British Empire), dies at 68
• 1997 Henry Vestine, American guitarist (Canned Heat), dies of heart and respiratory failure at 52
• 1998 Franz Tumler, Austrian writer (Cloak, Aufruf), dies at 86
• 1999 Calvin Griffith, Canadian baseball team owner (Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins 1955-84), dies at 87

• 1999 Ron Smith, English trade union leader (British Postal Workers), dies at 84
• 2001 Ted Ammon, American financier and investment banker, bludgeoned to death at 52
• 2002 Barbara Berjer, American soap opera actress (Another World), dies at 82
• 2002 Bernard Fresson, French actor (Hiroshima Mon Amour), dies at 71
• 2003 Čkalja [Miodrag Petrović], Serbian actor and one of the most popular comedians of former Yugoslavia, dies at 79
• 2003 Jack Elam, American actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo), dies at 82
• 2004 Anthony Hecht, American poet, 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “The Hard Hours”, dies at 81
• 2004 Chuck Hiller, American MLB second baseman (first NL player in history to hit a grand slam HR in World Series play, 1962), dies from leukemia at 70
• 2005 Chalmers Goodlin, US test pilot (XS-1), dies at 85
• 2005 Endon Mahmood, First Lady of Malaysia, wife of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, dies of breast cancer at 64
• 2005 Eva Švankmajerová, Czech surrealist artist, dies of cancer at 65
• 2005 Shirley Horn, American jazz pianist and vocalist (Embers and Ashes), dies from complications of diabetes at 71
• 2006 Frank Vicari, American jazz, session, and touring saxophonist (Maynard Ferguson; Woody Herman; Tom Waits; Saturday Night Live), dies at 75

• 2007 Max McGee, American football wide receiver, punter (NFL C’ship 1961, 62, 65, 66, 67; Super Bowl I, II; Pro Bowl 1961; Green Bay Packers), dies at 75
• 2007 Paul Raven, British bass-player (Killing Joke, Ministry), dies of a heart attack at 46
• 2008 Gene Hickerson, American football Hall of Famer (b. 1935)
• 2008 Pierre Sancan, French composer (Sonatine for flute and piano; La Légende de Icare), pianist, conductor, and teacher (Conservatoire de Paris, 1956-85), dies at 92
• 2008 Sœur Emmanuelle [Madeleine Cinquin], Belgian-French and honorary Egyptian religious sister (Roman Catholic), human rights worker, and writer (Un pauvre a crié, le Seigneur l’écoute), dies at 99

• 2010 Farooq Leghari, 8th President of Pakistan (1993-97), dies at 70
• 2010 Harvey Phillips, American tubist (NYC Ballet Orchestra), dies at 80
• 2010 Parthasarathy Sharma, Indian cricket batsman (5 Tests, 1 x 50), dies at 62
• 2011 Barry Feinstein, American portrait photographer and album cover designer (Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul & Mary; Janis Joplin; George Harrison), dies at 80
• 2011 Moatassem Gaddafi, Son of Moammar Gaddafi and National Security Adviser of Libya (b. 1977)

• 2011 Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and translator (b. 1928)
• 2012 E. Donnall Thomas, American physician (1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for bone marrow transport), dies at 92 [1]
• 2013 Lawrence Klein, American economist who created computer models to forecast economic trends (1980 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences), dies at 93
• 2014 John Hoskyns, English policy advisor to UK PM Margaret Thatcher (1979-82), dies at 87
• 2014 Lili Carati, Miss Italy 1975 and actress (Alcove), dies at 58
• 2014 Oscar de la Renta, Domincan American fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1973), dies at 82
• 2014 Pavle Merku, Italian-Slovene composer and ethnomusicologist, dies at 87
• 2014 Spyros Zagoraios, Greek folk singer (“Stis Larisis To Potami”, “Atonement”), dies at 86
• 2015 Cory Wells [Emil Lewandowski], American rock vocalist (3 Dog Night – “Joy to the World”), dies at 74
• 2015 Don Rendell, English jazz musician and arranger, dies at 89
• 2016 Junko Tabei, Japanese mountain-climber, 1st woman to climb Mount Everest, dies at 77
• 2017 Dick Noel, American vocalist, jingle singer, radio and television performer, dies at 90
• 2018 Ina Muller-van Ast, Dutch politician (PvdA – House of Representatives, 1977-89), dies at 91
• 2018 Wim Kok, Dutch trade union leader (Chairman of Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions (NVV)/Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV), 1973-86), and politician (Dutch Prime Minister, 1994-2002), dies at 80
• 2019 Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician (President of the Senate of the Philippines. 2000-01; Senator, 1987-92 and 1998-2010), dies at 85
• 2019 Nick Tosches, American writer (bio of Jerry Lee Lewis), dies at 69
• 2020 Bill Mathis, American football halfback (AFL All Star 1961, 63; New York Titans/Jets), dies at 81
• 2020 Bruno Martini, French soccer goalkeeper (31 caps; Auxerre, Nancy, Montpellier), dies from heart failure at 58
• 2020 Derryl Cousins, American baseball umpire (World Series 1988, 99, 2005; MLB All-Star Game 1987, 98, 2008), dies from cancer at 74
• 2020 James Randi, Canadian skeptic magician (Nova), dies at 92
• 2021 Dragan Pantelić, Serbian soccer goalkeeper (19 caps Yugoslavia; Radnički Niš, Bordeaux), dies at 69
• 2021 Hans Haselböck, Austrian organist and composer, dies at 93
• 2021 Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Hungarian-American psychologist (concept of “flow”), dies at 87
• 2022 Jacques Brault, French Canadian poet (Quand nous serons heureux – When we are happy), dies at 89
• 2022 Jimmy Millar, Scottish soccer centre forward (2 caps; Rangers 197 games) and manager (Raith Rovers), dies from dementia at 87
• 2022 Lucy Simon, American folk singer-songwriter (Simon Sisters), Grammy Award-winning record producer (In Harmony) and theater composer (The Secret Garden; Doctor Zhivago), dies of breast cancer at 82 [1]
• 2023 Haydn Gwynne, English film and stage actress (Drop the Dead Donkey, Billy Elliot the Musical, Windsors), dies at 66
• 2024 Andy Ireland, American banker, and politician (US Representative from Florida, 1977-93), dies at 94
• 2024 Barbara Dane [Spillman], American folk, blues, jazz, and protest song singer, dies at 97 [1]
• 2024 Georges Aillères, French rugby league forward & captain (34 Tests; Toulouse Olympique, FC Lézignan Sangliers), dies at 89

October 20 Highlights