Famous Deaths on August 4

• 1060 Henry I, King of the Franks (1031-60), dies at 52
• 1113 Gertrude of Saxony (b. 1030)
• 1204 Boniface of Montferrat, margrave of Montferrat, murdered

• 1265 Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (one of the leaders of the baronial rebellion against Henry III), killed at the Battle of Evesham (b. 1223)
• 1265 Simon de Montfort, English Earl of Leicester (led baronial rebellion against Henry III), dies at the Battle of Eversham
• 1306 Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, King of Hungary (1301-05) and King of Bohemia and Poland (1305-06), stabbed to death at 16
• 1338 Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, 5th son of Edward I of England, dies at 38
• 1430 Philip I, Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg (1427-30), dies at 26
• 1476 Jacob van Armagnac-Pardiac, French duke of Nemours, beheaded

• 1566 Girolamo della Robbia, Italian sculptor (Majolica relief), dies
• 1578 Sebastiaan, King of Portugal (1557-78), dies in The Battle of Three Kings in Morocco at about 24
• 1578 Sebastian, King of Portugal (1557-78), assumed killed in battle in Morocco at 24
• 1578 Thomas Stuckley, English adventurer and mercenary, killed at the Battle of Three Kings in Morocco
• 1584 John van Hembyze, Flemish Calvinist, dies at 71
• 1598 William Cecil, 1st baron Burghley, English statesman, dies at 77
• 1612 Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
• 1633 George Abbott, English theologist and the Archbishop of Canterbury (1611-1633), dies at 60
• 1639 Juan Alarcon y Mendoza, Mexican-Spanish playwright, dies at 58
• 1666 Johan Evertsen, ltalian admiral of Zeeland, lynched in Brielle
• 1699 Maria Sophia of Neuburg, Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Peter II from 1687-99), dies at 32
• 1708 Vincenzo De Grandis, Italian composer, and priest, dies at 77
• 1712 Johann Jacob de Neufville, German composer, dies at 27
• 1718 René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
• 1727 Victor Maurice de Broglie, count of Broglie, French Army general and marshal of France, dies at 90
• 1741 Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
• 1778 Pierre de Rigaud, Canadian-born French Governor of New France, dies at 79
• 1795 Timothy Ruggles, American leading Tory politician who supported the British during the American Revolutionary War, dies at 83
• 1821 William Floyd, American soldier who signed the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 86
• 1840 José María Narváez, Spanish naval officer and explorer (led 1st European expedition to explore Strait of Georgia), dies (b. 1768)
• 1844 Jakob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman, dies at 71
• 1850 Frantisek Tucek, Czech composer, and music teacher, dies at 68
• 1856 Johann Gottlieb Schneider, German composer, dies at 59
• 1859 Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest, and eventual saint, dies at 73
• 1873 Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter, dies at 39

• 1886 Samuel J. Tilden, American politician (Governor of New York 1875-76, Presidential candidate 1876) and philanthropist (NY Public Library), dies at 72
• 1889 Carl Ludwig Amand Mangold, German composer, dies at 75
• 1895 Marcellus Augustus Stovall, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 76
• 1900 Étienne Lenoir, Belgian-French engineer and inventor, built the first commercially combustion engine, dies at 78
• 1900 Isaac Levitan, Russian classical painter, dies at 39
• 1904 Arnold Krug, German composer, dies at 54
• 1905 Kinjikitile “Bokero” Ngwale, Tanzanian prophet and rebel leader, hanged for treason by German East African military
• 1914 Jules Lemaître, French critic and dramatist, dies at 61
• 1915 Richard Kiepert, German cartographer (Africa), dies at 68
• 1919 Dave Gregory, Australian cricket batsman (Australia’s 1st Test captain; 3 Tests; NSW CA), dies at 74
• 1920 Vladimir Rebikov, Russian pianist and composer, dies at 54

• 1927 John Dillon, Irish nationalist and British Lower house leader, dies at 75
• 1929 Carl Auer von Welsbach, Austrian scientist and inventor of the gas mantle and metal filament light bulb, dies at 70 [1]
• 1930 Siegfried Wagner, German opera composer and conductor, dies at 61

• 1936 Henry Schoenfeld, American composer, dies at 78
• 1936 Phoebe Anna Traquair, Irish-born Arts and Crafts artist working in Scotland (Mansfield Place Church), dies at 84 [1]
• 1938 Lambertus Hendricus Perquin, Dutch Catholic priest and founder of the Catholic Radio Broadcasting Foundation, dies at 73 [1]
• 1938 Pearl White, American actress/stunt woman (Perils of Pauline), dies at 49
• 1938 Rudolf Georg Binding, German songwriter and writer (Legenden Der Zeit), dies at 70
• 1940 Vladimir Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, dies
• 1942 Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer, dies at 81
• 1948 Mileva Marić, Serbian physicist, mathematician, and first wife of Albert Einstein (thought to have contributed to Albert’s early work), dies from a stroke at 72
• 1957 Washington Luís, President of Brazil (1926-30), dies at 87
• 1958 Ethel Anderson, Australian poet, essayist, novelist, and painter, dies at 75

• 1967 Peter Smith, cricketer (Essex leggie, 3 wickets for England), dies
• 1973 Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist (Eddie Condon’s Floor Show), dies at 68
• 1975 John Baragrey, American actor (Creeper, The Loves of Carmen), dies of a stroke at 57
• 1976 Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop
• 1976 Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
• 1977 Edgar Adrian, English physiologist (Nobel 1932-function of neurons), dies at 87
• 1977 Emil Bloch, German Marxist philosopher (Principle Hope, Traces), dies at 92
• 1978 Frank Fontaine, American comedian (Crazy Guggenheim), dies at 58
• 1980 Diego Fabbri, Italian playwright and leader (Vatican movie bureau), dies at 69
• 1981 Melvyn Douglas [Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg], American actor (Hud, Being There, Ghost Story), dies at 80
• 1982 Bruce Goff, American Architect (b. 1904)
• 1984 Edmond Ryan, actor (Human Monster), dies at 79 of a heart attack
• 1984 Howard Culver, actor (Howie-Gunsmoke), dies at 66
• 1984 Mary Miles Minter, actress (Drums of Fate), die at 82 of heart failure
• 1984 Walter Burke, American actor (Jack the Giant Killer), dies at 75 of emphysema
• 1985 Zbynek Vostrak, composer, dies at 65
• 1987 Kenny Price, American country singer (“Walking on New Grass”; “Happy Tracks”), dies of a heart attack at 56
• 1991 Jeri Southern [Genevieve Hering], American jazz singer (“You Better Go Now”; “Joey”), dies of a heart attack at 64
• 1991 Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet (Hodyne), dies at 80
• 1991 Yevgeny Dragunov, Russian weapons designer (SVD / Dragunov rifle), dies at 71
• 1992 František Tomášek, 34th Archbishop of Prague and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Bohemia, dies at 93
• 1992 Ralph Cooper, American master-of-ceremonies (creator of Amateur Night at the Apollo), actor, dancer, and choreographer, dies of cancer at 84
• 1993 Bernard Barrow, American actor (Ryan’s Hope, Louie Slavinsky-Loving), dies at 65
• 1993 Kenny Drew, American-Danish jazz pianist (Moonlight Desert), dies at 64
• 1994 Giovanni Spadolini, Italian historian and politician, dies at 69
• 1994 Richard Du Cann, English lawyer and QC, dies at 65
• 1994 Solomon Adler, English-born economist and alleged spy for China, dies at 85
• 1995 Dick Bartell, American baseball shortstop (MLB All Star 1933, 37; Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants), dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 87
• 1995 J. Howard Marshall [James Howard Marshall II], American businessman and husband of Anna Nicole Smith, dies at 90
• 1996 Geoff Hamilton, English gardener and journalist (BBC Gardener’s World), dies of a heart attack at 59
• 1996 Willard “Home Run” Brown, American Baseball HOF outfielder (NgL World Series 1942; 6 x NgL All-Star Kansas City Monarchs; MLB: St. Louis Browns), dies at 81
• 1997 Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian, oldest verified person in history (born 1875), dies at 122 years, 164 days
• 1998 Yuri Artyukhin, Soviet Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz 14), dies at 68
• 1999 Carl Toms, British stage designer (1 Million BC, Moon Zero Two), dies at 72
• 1999 Liselott Linsenhoff, German equestrian rider (Olympic gold 1968, 72), dies at 71
• 1999 Victor Mature, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, Samson and Delilah), dies from leukemia at 86
• 2001 Lorenzo Music, American writer, actor and voice actor (Rhoda – “Carlton, the doorman”; Garfield), dies at 64
• 2002 Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, Soham murder victims, murdered by Ian Kevin Huntley at 10
• 2003 Anthony Bloom, Russian clergyman, broadcaster and writer (Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church for Great Britain and Ireland), dies at 89
• 2003 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
• 2004 Kenneth Couzens, British Deputy Chairman of British Coal Board and significant figure during Miners Strike, dies at 79
• 2005 Anatoly Larkin, Russian American physicist, dies at 72
• 2005 Little Milton [James Milton Campbell], American blues singer and guitarist (“Grits Ain’t Groceries”), dies at 70
• 2005 Nick Perito, American pianist, accordion player, arranger and orchestra leader (Perry Como; Muzak; The Don Knotts Show), dies of pulmonary fibrosis at 81
• 2006 John Locke, American rock keyboardist (Spirit -“I Got A Line On You”), dies of cancer at 62
• 2007 Lee Hazlewood, American country singer and songwriter (“Summer Wine”; “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”), dies of renal cancer at 78
• 2009 Blake Snyder, American screenwriter (b. 1957)
• 2009 David Haslam, British rear admiral (hydrographer), dies at 86
• 2009 James Munn, Scottish educationalist and commissioner (1977 Munn Report on education), dies at 89
• 2009 Joe Maneri, American jazz composer, saxophone and clarinet player (Boston Microtonal Society), dies at 82
• 2011 Mark Duggan is shot by police in London at 29, sparking widespread riots
• 2011 Naoki Matsuda, Japanese soccer centre-back (40 caps; Yokohama F. Marinos 385 games), dies after training collapse at 34
• 2012 Arnie Risen, Basketball Hall of Fame center (NBA All-Star 1952-55; NBA C’ship 1951, 57; Rochester Royals, Boston Celtics), dies at 87
• 2013 Art Donovan, American NFL HOF defensive tackle, 1950-61 (4 x Pro Bowl, 2 x Champion – Baltimore Colts and 2 other teams), and US Marine (WWII – Iwo Jima), dies from a respiratory ailment at 89
• 2013 Sandy Woodward [John Forster], English admiral (British Naval Task Force, Falklands War), dies at 81
• 2014 James Brady, U.S. press secretary (wounded during Reagan assassin attempt), dies at 73
• 2014 Walter Massey, Canadian stage and screen actor (Shoestring Theatre; Arthur), dies at 85
• 2015 Billy Sherrill, American ‘countrypolitan’ record producer (Tammy Wynette and George Jones, Charlie Rich), and songwriter (“Stand by Your Man”, “The Most Beautiful Girl”), dies at 78
• 2015 Gerd Natschinski, German composer, dies at 86
• 2015 Les Munro, New Zealand WWII pilot (Dambusters Raid), dies at 96
• 2016 Patrice Munsel [Munsil], American operatic soprano (Metropolitan Opera, 1943-58; Patrice Munsel Show), dies at 91
• 2019 Bob Wilber, American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and band leader (The World’s Greatest Jazz Band), dies at 91
• 2019 Ivo Lill, Estonian glass artist, dies at 66
• 2019 Nuon Chea, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader ‘Brother Number Two’, dies at 93
• 2020 Eddie Ilarde, Filipino radio and television host (Student Canteen), and politician (Philippine Senate, 1972; House of Representatives, 1965-69), dies at 85
• 2020 Willie Hunter, Scottish soccer forward (3 caps; Motherwell) and manager (Queen of the South, Inverness Caledonian), dies at 80
• 2021 David Haddon Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker’s Almanack; Bookseller), and proponent of Standard Book Numbering (SBN) system, dies at 90
• 2021 Graham McRae, New Zealand auto racer (Tasman Formula 5000 Series 1971, 72, 73; L&M Continental 5000 C’ship 1972), dies at 81
• 2021 J.R. Richard, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1980; NL ERA leader 1979; NL strikeout leader 1978, 79; Houston Astros), dies at 71 [1]
• 2021 Razzy Bailey, American country music singer-songwriter (“Midnight Hauler”, “She Left Love All Over Me”), dies at 82
• 2022 Johnny Famechon, Australian boxer (WBC featherweight champion 1969-70), dies at 77
• 2022 Neil Castles, American auto racer (NASCAR Grand National East Series Champion 1972; NASCAR Cup Series 51 x top 5, 178 x top 10 finishes), dies at 87
• 2022 Sam Gooden, American soul vocalist (The Impressions – “People Get Ready”; “It’s All Right”), dies at 87
• 2023 Charles Ogletree, American civil rights attorney and educator (Harvard Law School, 1985-2015), dies of Alzheimer’s disease at 70
• 2023 John Gosling, British rock keyboardist (The Kinks, 1970-78 – “Lola”; “Celluloid Heroes”), dies at 75
• 2023 Ronald Perera, American contemporary classical composer (The Yellow Wallpaper), and educator (Smith College, 1972-2002), dies of lung cancer at 81
• 2023 Tane Norton, New Zealand rugby union hooker and captain (27 Tests; Mid Canterbury RFU, Canterbury RFU), dies at 81
• 2024 Graham Thorpe, English cricket batsman (100 Tests, 16 x 100, HS 200no; 82 ODIs; Surrey CCC), dies from suicide at 55
• 2024 Steve Kragthorpe, American football coach (Uni of Tulsa 2003-06, Uni of Louisville 2007-09), dies from Parkinson’s disease at 59
• 2024 Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese-American physicist (Nobel Prize – 1957, for work on parity laws), dies at 97 [1]

August 4 Highlights