Famous Deaths on August 19

Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD)

First Roman Emperor (27 BC-14 AD), dies at 75

472 Ricimer, Germanic Roman general (kingmaker in the Western Roman Empire), dies
1186 Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1158)
1245 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (b. 1195)
1284 Alphonso, Earl of Chester, son of Edward I of England (b. 1273)
1297 Saint Louis of Toulouse, French Catholic bishop (b. 1274)
1493 Frederick III of Innsbruck, German Emperor (1440-1493), dies at 77
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

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

French mathematician, physicist and Christian philosopher (Pascal's Law, Pascal's Wager), dies of a stomach tumor at 39

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
1719 Karl H. Freiherr von Canstein, German lawyer, dies at 52
1744 Carlo Arrigoni, Italian composer and musician, 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 Blazej Smrcek, Czech composer, dies at 61

Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre (1749-1822)

French mathematician and astronomer (The History of Astronomy), dies at 72

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 of Boneval Faure, Dutch lawyer and Member of parliament, 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

Günther von Kluge (1882-1944)

German field marshal during World War II (Invasion of Poland, Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa), commits suicide at 61

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 (b. 1898)
1957 David Bomberg, English painter, dies at 66

Claude Grahame-White (1879-1959)

English aviation pioneer who was the 1st to make a night flight, dies at 79

1959 Jacob Epstein, American-English sculptor (Adam, Jacob & the Angel), dies at 78
1960 Lewis Bernstein Namier, English historian, dies at 72
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 art patron and founder of Houston Symphony, dies at 93
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

Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

American comedian (Marx Bros, You Bet Your Life), dies at 86

1979 Dorsey Burnette, American rockabilly singer (The Rock and Roll Trio), and songwriter ("It's Late"), dies of a heart attack at 46
1980 Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, dies at 91
1981 Jessie Matthews, English actress (Gangway, First a Girl), dies at 74
1982 August Neo, Estonian wrestler (b. 1908)
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

Linus Pauling (1901-1994)

American chemist, engineer and peace activist (1954 Nobel prize for Chemistry, 1962 Nobel Peace Prize), dies at 93

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), 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)
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 (b. 1948)
2005 Mo Mowlam, British Labour Party politician (Member of Parliament for Redcar), dies at 55
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, television news producer & director; creator of 60 Minutes (b. 1922)
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), dies 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
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 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]