EVENTS OF THIS DAY IN THE PAST 26/4

[edit]

• 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
• 1478 – The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence.
• 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
• 1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
• 1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
• 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, as part of a reconciliary gesture with the factions of the Ancien Régime and to eventually consolidate his own rule.
• 1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European science that meteors exist.
• 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the date of Confederate Memorial Day for two states.
• 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.
• 1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded
• 1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
• 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
• 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica (or Gernika in Basque), Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
• 1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
• 1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
• 1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
• 1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
• 1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
• 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army are liberated in Baguio City and they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
• 1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
• 1956 – SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.
• 1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
• 1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after twelve years of dictatorial rule.
• 1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
• 1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
• 1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
• 1965 – A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
• 1966 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent.
• 1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
• 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
• 1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
• 1982 – Fifty-seven people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
• 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
  
  

  Reactor No. 4 with its enclosing sarcophagus.
• 1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
• 1989 – People's Daily publishes the People's Daily editorial of April 26 which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests
• 1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado (see Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak).
• 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
• 2002 – Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
• 2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).

Births[edit]

• 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (d. 180)
• 757 – Hisham I, 2nd Emir of Córdoba (d. 796)
• 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (d. 1600)
• 1564 – William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright and actor (d. 1616)
• 1575 – Marie de' Medici, Italian wife of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
• 1607 – Countess Palatine Magdalene Catherine of Zweibrücken (d. 1648)
• 1648 – Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
• 1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (d. 1754)
• 1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1796)
• 1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (d. 1802)
• 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1853)
• 1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1866)
• 1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (d. 1851)
• 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (d. 1862)
• 1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter (d. 1863)
• 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1889)
• 1804 – Charles Goodyear, American politician (d. 1876)
• 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (d. 1903)
• 1826 – George Hull Ward, American general (d. 1863)
• 1826 – Ambrose R. Wright, American general and politician (d. 1872)
• 1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (d. 1867)
• 1856 – Joseph Ward, New Zealand politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
• 1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter (d. 1938)
• 1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (d. 1959)
• 1878 – Rafael Guízar Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (d. 1938)
• 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
• 1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (d. 1939)
• 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet (d. 1913)
• 1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
• 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher (d. 1951)
• 1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician (d. 1987)
• 1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (d. 1967)
• 1896 – Ernst Udet, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
• 1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (d. 1967)
• 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
• 1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian born English bandleader and musician (d. 1958)
• 1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (d. 1985)
• 1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
• 1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (d. 1991)
• 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
• 1911 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
• 1911 – Paul Verner, German politician (d. 1986)
• 1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (d. 2000)
• 1914 – Charlie Chester, English radio and television host (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Bernard Malamud, American author (d. 1986)
• 1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer, founded The Rouse Company (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (d. 1999)
• 1916 – Vic Perrin, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1916 – George Tuska, American illustrator (d. 2009)
• 1916 – Ken Wallis, English pilot and commander (d. 2013)
• 1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player (d. 1992)
• 1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower
• 1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
• 1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch runner (d. 2004)
• 1918 – Stafford Repp, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (d. 2008)
• 1922 – J. C. Holt, British historian and academic (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)
• 1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer
• 1924 – Browning Ross, American runner (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Jørgen Ingmann, Danish singer and guitarist (Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann) (d. 2015)
• 1926 – David Coleman, English sportscaster (d. 2013)
• 1926 – J. B. Hutto, American singer and guitarist (d. 1983)
• 1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner
• 1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (d. 2008)
• 1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (d. 2010)
• 1932 – Frank D'Rone, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer
• 1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
• 1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, comedian, singer and producer
• 1933 – Aleksandr Chuchelov, Estonian sailor
• 1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican general (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1935 – Patricia Reilly Giff, American author and educator
• 1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
• 1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1938 – Willie Wood, Scottish bowler
• 1940 – Harry Fielder, English actor
• 1940 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (d. 2014)
• 1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby player
• 1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress
• 1941 – Claudine Clark, American singer-songwriter
• 1941 – Robin Jacob, English judge and academic
• 1941 – John Mitchell, American composer
• 1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2014)
• 1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian politician
• 1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat
• 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor
• 1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist
• 1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Spooky Tooth)
• 1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect, designed the Therme Vals
• 1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (d. 2007)
• 1944 – Roger Coulam, English keyboard player (Blue Mink)
• 1944 – Amien Rais, Indonesian politician
• 1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer
• 1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian race car driver
• 1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
• 1946 – Ralph Coates, English footballer (d. 2010)
• 1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
• 1947 – Warren Clarke, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
• 1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
• 1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
• 1949 – Dominic Sena, American director and screenwriter
• 1951 – John Battle, English politician
• 1952 – Spice Williams-Crosby, American actress
• 1953 – Nancy Lenehan, American actress
• 1953 – David Reddaway, Canadian-English diplomat
• 1953 – Linda Thompson, American lawyer
• 1954 – Chito S. Roño, Filipino director
• 1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
• 1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
• 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
• 1955 – Mike Scott, American baseball player
• 1956 – Koo Stark, American actress
• 1957 – Michel Barrette, Canadian comedian and actor
• 1957 – Diane Hébert, Canadian medical patient (d. 2008)
• 1957 – Edwina Hart, Welsh politician
• 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish race car driver
• 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
• 1958 – Jeffrey Guterman, American psychotherapist, author, and educator
• 1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
• 1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Mötley Crüe, Angora, The Scream, Union, and Brides of Destruction)
• 1959 – Thanasis Papakonstantinou, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player
• 1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
• 1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer (Duran Duran and Arcadia)
• 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1961 – Chris Mars, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer (The Replacements and Golden Smog)
• 1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
• 1962 – Michael Damian, American actor, singer and producer
• 1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress
• 1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
• 1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
• 1963 – Mark Serwotka, British General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
• 1964 – Rebecka Törnqvist, Swedish singer
• 1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
• 1965 – Kevin James, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1967 – Kane, Spain-born American wrestler and actor
• 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress
• 1967 – Tõnu Tõniste, Estonian sailor
• 1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
• 1969 – Teresa Lewis, American murderer (d. 2010)
• 1969 – Kate Hardie, English actress
• 1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
• 1970 – Kristen Ghodsee, American ethnographer
• 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovenian-American model and jewelry designer
• 1970 – Tionne Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (TLC)
• 1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Rascal Flatts and East to West)
• 1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
• 1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian race car driver
• 1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
• 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
• 1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
• 1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
• 1973 – Óscar García Junyent, Spanish footballer and coach
• 1974 – Shondrella Avery, American actress
• 1974 – Ivana Miličević, Bosnia-born American actress
• 1974 – Adil Ray, English actor and radio host
• 1975 – Joey Jordison, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (Slipknot and Murderdolls)
• 1975 – Nerina Pallot, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1975 – India Summer, American porn actress and model
• 1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
• 1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
• 1977 – Jason Earles, American actor
• 1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
• 1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist
• 1977 – Tom Welling, American actor, director, and producer
• 1978 – Avant, American singer-songwriter
• 1978 – Joe Crede, American baseball player
• 1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
• 1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor
• 1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
• 1979 – Ariane Moffatt, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1979 – Janne Wirman, Finnish keyboard player (Children of Bodom, Warmen, and Masterplan)
• 1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
• 1980 – Marlon King, English footballer
• 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress
• 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor and producer
• 1980 – Marnette Patterson, American actress
• 1981 – Matthieu Delpierre, French footballer
• 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English rapper and producer
• 1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch singer
• 1981 – Sandra Schmitt, German skier (d. 2000)
• 1982 – Brock Gillespie, American basketball player
• 1982 – Joanne Gobure, Nauruan poet
• 1982 – Jon Lee, English singer and actor (S Club)
• 1982 – Cooper Wallace, American football player
• 1982 – Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
• 1983 – José María López, Argentine race car driver
• 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American soldier and educator
• 1985 – Nam Gyu-ri, South Korean singer and actress (SeeYa)
• 1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
• 1985 – Andrea Koch Benvenuto, Chilean tennis player
• 1986 – Lior Refaelov, Israeli footballer
• 1986 – Yuliya Zaripova, Russian runner
• 1987 – Jorge Andújar Moreno, Spanish footballer
• 1987 – Jessica Lee Rose, American-New Zealand actress
• 1988 – Hazel Ann Mendoza, Filipino actress
• 1988 – Manuel Viniegra, Mexican footballer
• 1988 – Eric Salamat, Filipino basketball player
• 1989 – Daesung, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor (Big Bang)
• 1990 – Jonathan dos Santos, Mexican footballer
• 1990 – Karty, Indian actor and dancer
• 1990 – See More Business, Irish race horse (d. 2014)
• 1990 – Nevin Spence, British-Irish Ulster Rugby union player (d. 2012)
• 1990 – Kim Yu-mi, South Korean model, Miss Korea 2012
• 1991 – Shahira Barry, Irish model
• 1991 – Ignacio Lores Varela, Uruguayan footballer
• 1992 – Danielle Hope, English actress and singer
• 1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian race car driver
• 1995 – Daniel Padilla, Filipino actor and singer

Deaths[edit]

• 499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (b. 467)
• 645 – Richarius, Frankish hermit and monk (b. 560)
• 757 – Stephen II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 715)
• 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
• 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
• 1476 – Simonetta Vespucci, Italian model (b. 1453)
• 1478 – Giuliano de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1453)
• 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (b. 1465)
• 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1651)
• 1717 – Samuel Bellamy, English pirate (b. 1689)
• 1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish nun, founded the Presentation Sisters (b. 1718)
• 1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian general (b. 1721)
• 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
• 1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
• 1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (b. 1791)
• 1895 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian-English author and poet (b. 1860)
• 1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
• 1915 – John Bunny, American actor (b. 1863)
• 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
• 1932 – William Lockwood, English cricketer (b. 1868)
• 1936 – Tammany Young, American actor (b. 1886)
• 1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
• 1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1893)
• 1945 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (b. 1909)
• 1945 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (b. 1871)
• 1946 – James Larkin White, American miner, explorer, and park ranger (b. 1882)
• 1950 – George Murray Hulbert, American politician (b. 1881)
• 1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist (b. 1868)
• 1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
• 1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (b. 1868)
• 1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (b. 1882)
• 1968 – John Heartfield, German illustrator (b. 1891)
• 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founded aikido (b. 1883)
• 1970 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister (b. 1886)
• 1970 – Charles January, American soccer player (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and playwright (b. 1911)
• 1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress (b. 1902)
• 1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
• 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (b. 1913)
• 1976 – Armstrong Sperry, American author and illustrator (b. 1897)
• 1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-English actress (b. 1893)
• 1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1981 – Herb Voland, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1984 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1904)
• 1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
• 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
• 1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Shankar, Indian composer and conductor (b. 1922)
• 1987 – John Silkin, English politician (b. 1923)
• 1989 – Lucille Ball, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
• 1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer and conductor (b. 1904)
• 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
• 1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American author and screenwriter (b. 1901)
• 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1931)
• 1991 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (b. 1928)
• 1994 – Mas Oyama, Japanese martial artist, founded Kyokushin kaikan (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Sound and The Outsiders) (b. 1957)
• 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist (b. 1961)
• 2003 – Rosemary Brown, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (b. 1984)
• 2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1904)
• 2003 – Peter Stone, American screenwriter (b. 1930)
• 2004 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
• 2005 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan author (b. 1917)
• 2007 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (b. 1920)
• 2010 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian artist (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Urs Felber, Swiss businessman (b. 1942)
• 2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sisters of Glory) (b. 1950)
• 2012 – Pete Fornatale, American radio host (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Ardian Klosi, Albanian publicist (b. 1957)
• 2012 – Ted Newall, Canadian businessman (b. 1935)
• 2012 – Terence Spinks, English boxer (b. 1938)
• 2012 – Margie Stewart, American model and actress (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Jacqueline Brookes, American actress (b. 1930)
• 2013 – William L. Guy, American politician, 26th Governor of North Dakota (b. 1919)
• 2013 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Marion Rushing, American football player (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Mary Thom, American journalist (b. 1944)
• 2013 – Jim Tucker, American journalist and author (b. 1934)
• 2014 – William Ash, American-English pilot and author (b. 1917)
• 2014 – Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
• 2014 – Michael Heisley, American businessman (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Lee Marshall, American wrestling announcer and actor (b. 1946)
• 2014 – Antonio Pica, Spanish actor (b. 1933)
• 2014 – DJ Rashad, American DJ and producer (b. 1979)
• 2014 – Paul Robeson, Jr., American historian and author (b. 1927)
• 2014 – W. E. "Pete" Snelson, American soldier, journalist, and politician (b. 1923)