Famous Deaths on December 13

Donatello (c. 1386-1466)

Florentine artist and Renaissance sculptor, dies at around 80

1516 Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer, dies at 54
1521 Manuel I, King of Portugal (1495-1521) during era of Portuguese exploration known as "Manuel The Fortunate", dies at 52
1557 Niccolo Tartaglia, Italian mathematician, dies
1565 Conrad Gessner, Swiss physician and naturalist, dies at 49
1603 François Viète, French mathematician dies in Paris (b. 1540)
1621 Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)
1622 Jan Campanus, Czech composer, dies at 50
1650 Phineas Fletcher, English poet, dies at 68
1693 Dodoftei, Romanian metropolitan of Moldavia/writer (Saint Lives), dies
1693 Willem van de Velde the Elder, Dutch seascape painter, dies at about 82
1716 Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)
1721 Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway, inspiration for Robinson Crusoe (b. 1676)
1729 Anthony Collins, English philosopher (A discourse on free-thinking), dies at 53
1738 Gotthard Wagner, German composer, dies at 59
1769 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and novelist (Fables & Tales), dies at 54
1774 Susanne von Klettenberg, German abbess and correspondent of Goethe, dies at 50
1783 Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

English scholar and lexicographer (A Dictionary of the English Language), dies at 75

1793 Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, German literary translator, dies at 63
1812 Marianne Martinez, Austrian composer, dies at 68
1814 Charles Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Belgium fieldmarshal and author, dies at 79
1835 John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)
1837 Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)
1862 Conrad Feger Jackson, US Union brigadier general, dies in Battle of Fredericksburg at 49
1862 Maxcy Gregg, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in Battle of Fredericksburg at 48
1862 Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in Battle of Fredericksburg at 39
1863 Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and dramatist (Maria Magdalena), dies at 50
1868 Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer, dies at 74
1872 Helena Beeloo, a maid, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
1872 W T van der Kouwen-ten Cate, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
1881 August Senoa, Croatian writer (Kletva [The Curse]), dies at 43
1883 Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
1894 Sarah Parker Remond, African-American abolitionist, dies at 68
1895 Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)
1898 George Frederick Bristow, American composer (Rip Van Winkle), dies at 72
1906 Jan Gerard Palm, Curaçao, bandmaster, choir master, and composer known as as the "Father of Curaçao's classical music", dies at 75
1908 Augustus Le Plongeon, French-American photographer and antiquitarian, dies at 83
1909 Innokenti Annenski, Russian poet and interpreter, dies of a heart attack at 54
1909 Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet, critic and interpreter, dies at 54
1911 Reggie Duff, Australian cricket batsman (23 Tests; 104 on debut), dies of alcoholism at 33
1915 Francis Cockrell, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 81
1919 Amintore Galli, Italian composer, dies at 74
1919 Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (b. 1850)
1921 Frederick Martin, cricketer (14 wkts in 2 Tests for Eng 1890-92), dies
1922 Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic politician and poet (b. 1861)

Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)

American labor union leader (American Federation of Labor), dies at 74

1929 Knut Algot Håkanson, Swedish composer, dies at 42
1930 Fritz Pregl, Slovenian/Austrian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)
1931 Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)
1932 Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
1934 Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in inventing the telephone, dies at 80
1935 John Nicolson, cricketer (South African lefty batsman 1926-27), dies
1935 Victor Grignard, French chemist (Nobel 1912 - development of the Grignard reaction), dies at 64
1940 Dusty Tapscott, cricket (bro of Doodles, 4&1 in only S Af Test), dies
1940 George Macaulay, cricketer (took 24 wkts in 8 Tests, Eng 22-33), dies
1940 George Regas, Greek actor (The Mark of Zorro), dies at 50
1940 Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist and inventor of the moving-coil D'Arsonval galvanometer, dies at 89
1942 Eleanor Everest Freer, American composer, dies at 78
1942 Wlodimir Ledochowski, Polish-Austrian director of the Society of Jesus (b. 1866)
1944 Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (Joe Palooka; Mexican Spitfire), intentionally overdoses on barbiturate Seconal at 34
1944 Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French abstract painter (Dreamy Inspiration), dies at 78
1945 Elisabeth Volkenrath, supervisor at concentration camps (b. 1919)
1945 Robert van Genechten, Dutch Nazi (NSB), commits suicide
1947 Nicholas Roerich, Russian painter, dies at 73
1950 Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician (field of statistical sequential analysis), dies at 48
1951 Selim Palmgren, Finnish concert pianist, composer (Hakkapeliittojen marssi), conductor, and pedagogue, dies at 73
1954 John Raymond Hubbell, American writer (b. 1879)
1955 Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon (1949 Nobel laureate for developing Lobotomy procedure), dies at 81
1958 Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, executed
1958 Barhanuddin Bashajan, Iraqi minister of Foreign affairs, executed
1958 Brand Dirck Ochse, Dutch filmmaker and co-founder (Polygoon), dies at 66
1958 Rafiq Aref, Iraqi chief-staff Arabs Statenbond, executed
1958 Tim Moore, American actor (Amos 'n' Andy), dies at 71

Grandma Moses (1860-1961)

American primitive painter (Old Oaken Bucket), dies at 101

1962 Harry Barris, American popular singer, scat vocalist, and songwriter ("Mississippi Mud"), dies at 57
1963 Hubert ME Pierlot, Belgian advocate/premier (1939-45), dies at 79
1963 Stan Jones, American singer-songwriter ("Ghost Riders in the Sky"), and actor (Rio Grande; Ten Who Dared), dies of cancer at 49
1965 Robert Frederick Sink, United States Army Officer (WWII, Korean War & Vietnam War), dies at 60
1966 Charles Watts, actor (Lone Ranger & Lost City of Gold), dies of cancer
1968 Siegfried Reda, German church musician and composer, dies at 52
1969 Raymond A Spruance, U.S. Navy admiral (Battle of Midway), dies at 83
1969 Spencer Williams, American director, writer and actor (The Amos 'n' Andy Show), dies at 76
1971 Max Mell, Austria artillery officer and literary (Donauweibchen), dies at 88
1973 Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
1974 John G. Bennett, British scientist and author, dies at 77
1974 Rufus "Rufe" Davis, American actor (Cocoanut Grove, Trail Blazers, Gangs of Sonora), dies at 66
1974 Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu, Turkish writer and translator, dies at 85
1975 Cyril Delevanti, British actor (Soylent Green, The Night of the Iguana), dies at 88
1975 Hendrik Johan Kruls, Dutch general and chief military authority (1944-46), dies at 73
1976 Eduard Claudius, writer, dies
1977 Charles Petrie, British historian known for his study of royalism and Jacobitism (If: A Jacobite Fantasy), dies at 82
1978 Frits Slomp, Dutch pastor and resistance fighter (aided people in hiding during WWII), dies at 80
1979 Jon Hall, American actor (Ramar of the Jungle), dies at 64
1981 Cornelius Cardew, British composer (Scratch Orchestra), dies in a hit and run accident at 45
1981 Pigmeat [Dewey] Markham, American comedian (Here Comes da Judge-Laugh In), dies at 75
1982 Jack Badcock, Australian cricketer (7 Tests, 1 century but inconsistent), dies at 68
1983 Alexander Schmemann, Orthodox Christian priest and theologian (b. 1921)
1983 Leora Dana, American actress (3:10 to Yuma, Pollyanna), dies at 60
1983 Mary Renault [Challans], British author (King Must Die, Funeral games), dies at 78
1983 Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (b. 1933
1986 Heather Angel, British-American actress (Night in Montmartre; The Informer; The Last of the Mohicans; Lifeboat), dies of cancer at 77
1988 Bill Nichols, American politician (Rep-D-AL, 1967-88), dies of a heart attack in office at 70

Alice Marble (1913-1990)

American tennis player (US Open 1936, 1938-40), dies of pernicious anaemia at 77

1991 Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues, French writer (La Marge), dies at 82
1992 Bernard Drukker, Dutch pianist and orchestra leader (duivelswiel), dies at 73
1992 Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and heir (Pan Am Airways), dies at 93
1992 K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (b. 1899)
1992 Robert Shone, British economist and director-general (NEDC), dies at 86
1993 Charles JB Jonckheere, Flemish poet/writer: Ogentroost, dies at 87
1994 Antoine Pinay, French politician (Prime Minister of France 1952, Minister of Foreign Affairs), dies at 102
1994 Glenn M. Anderson, American politician (Rep-D-CA, 1969-93), dies at 81
1994 Herman W. "Fritz" Liebert, American rare books scholar and librarian (Yale University), dies at 83
1994 Norman Beaton, Guyanese actor (Eureka, Black Joy, Mighty Quinn), dies at 60
1995 Evangeline Bruce, American society hostess and writer, dies at 81
1995 Nancy LaMott, American singer, dies of cancer at 43
1996 Cao Yu, Chinese dramatist (Peking Man), dies at 86
1996 Charles Edwin Molnar, computer pioneer, dies at 61
1996 Edward Blishen, English author (The God Beneath the Sea), dies at 76
1996 Mae Barnes {Stith], American dancer and jazz singer ("The Sunny Side Of The Street"), dies of cancer at 89 (or older, year of birth disputed)
1997 Alexander Oppenheim, British mathematician (Oppenheim conjecture), dies at 94
1997 Harry Glaß, German ski jumper (Olympic bronze 1956), dies at 67
1997 Martin Carter, Guyanese poet and political activist, dies at 70
1997 Rafael Jose Fernandez de la Calzada y Ferrer, restaurateur, dies at 83
1998 Lew Grade, British TV mogul (ATV), movie producer (Boys from Brazil), dies at 91
1998 Richard Thomas, British admiral (Royal Navy) and NATO representative, dies at 66
1999 Allen Breed, American inventor of the first automotive airbag sensor, dies of a heart attack while suffering from lung cancer, at 72
2001 Chuck Schuldiner, American heavy metal singer-songwriter (Death), dies of brain cancer at 34
2002 Zal Yanovsky, Canadian rock guitarist (Lovin' Spoonful - "Do You Believe in Magic?"), dies of a heart attack at 57
2003 William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Senator (b. 1921)
2004 Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball shortstop (first Bahamian to play in MLB; NY/SF Giants; Chicago Cubs), dies at 70
2004 David Wheeler, English computer scientist (b. 1927)
2005 Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips and convicted murderer (b. 1953)
2005 Timothy Jordan II, American pop-rock musician (The All American Rejects; Jonezetta), takes his own life at 24
2006 Henry Beachell, American plant breeder, dies at 100
2006 Homesick James [Williamson], American blues slide guitarist and singer (Elmore James band, 1955-62), dies at 96 [or 101, or 92 - date of birth disputed]
2006 Keith Larsen, American actor (Hunter, Brave Eagle), dies at 82
2006 Lamar Hunt, American sports executive and NFL owner (KC Chiefs), dies at 74
2007 Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native American (Dakota Sioux) country music singer-songwriter, actor (Walker, Texas Ranger; Northern Exposure), and political activist, dies from complications of leukemia at 71
2007 Mark Partridge, Rhodesian politician
2008 Horst Tappert, German director, actor and former SS member (Derrick), dies of diabetes at 85
2008 John Drake, New Zealand rugby union footballer (b. 1959)
2008 Kathy Staff [Minnie Higginbottom], British actress (Mary Reilly, Last of the Summer Wine, Open All Hours), dies from a brain tumour at 80
2009 Aubrey Bowman, British pianist, composer, and conductor (Workman's Music Association), dies from injuries after being struck by a car at 91
2009 Joe Castro, American bebop and West Coast jazz pianist (Teddy Edwards Quartet; June Christy), dies at 82
2009 Paul A. Samuelson, American economist (1970 Nobel Prize for Economics, 1947 John Bates Clark Medal), dies at 94 [1]
2010 Enrique Morente, Spanish flamenco singer, dies from surgery complications at 67
2010 Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (Assistant Secretary of State, UN Ambassador) and author, dies of complications of an aortic dissection at 69
2010 Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme, British keyboardist and vocalist (Barclay James Harvest), commits suicide at 63
2011 Park Tae-joon, South Korean general and founder of steel giant Posco, dies at 84
2011 Russell Hoban, American author (creator of 'Frances' series), dies at 86
2012 Otto Ketting, Dutch trumpeter and composer (Passacaglia), dies at 77
2014 Raoul Cita, American R&B pianist and songwriter (Harptones), dies at 86
2016 Alan Thicke, Canadian actor (Growing Pains), host (Thicke of the Night), and theme song composer (Diff'rent Strokes; The Facts of Life), dies of an aortic dissection at 69
2016 Thomas Schelling, American economist, (Nobel Prize 2005 - game-theory analysis), dies at 95
2017 Bette Howland [Lee Sotonoff], American writer and literary critic (Blue in Chicago, The iron year), dies from multiple sclerosis and dementia at 80
2017 Tommy Nobis, American College Football HOF linebacker (Uni of Texas; #1 pick NFL Draft 1966 Atlanta Falcons; NFL Rookie of the Year 1966; First-team All-Pro 1967; 5× Pro Bowl), dies at 74
2017 Warrel Dane, American singer (Nevermore -"Enemies of Reality"), dies of a heart attack at 56
2018 Alann Steen, American journalist and educator, and political hostage (Beirut, 1987-91), dies of cancer at 79
2018 Nancy Wilson, American jazz vocalist ("Feel Like Making Love"), dies at 81
2019 Carl Scheer, American basketball executive (general manager Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Charlotte Hornets; inventor NBA Slam Dunk Contest), dies from complications of dementia at 82
2019 Emil Richards [Radocchia], American session and touring vibraphonist and percussionist (George Shearing; Frank Sinatra; Lalo Schifrin; Frank Zappa; George Harrison; Harry Partch; Shadowfax), dies at 87
2019 Richard G Hatcher, American attorney and politician (Mayor of Gary, Indiana, 1968-88), dies at 88
2019 Roy Loney, American rock singer (Flamin' Groovies, 1965-71), dies of multiple organ failure at 73
2019 Yasuhiro Takai, Japanese baseball first baseman, designated hitter and broadcaster (NPB record 27 career pinch-hit home runs; Hankyu Braves), dies of kidney failure at 74
2020 Jimmy Collins, American basketball shooting guard (Chicago Bulls) and coach (University of Illinois, Chicago 1996-2010), dies from heart surgery complications at 74
2020 Jimmy McLane, American swimmer (Olympic gold 1500m 1948), dies at 90
2020 Otto Barić, Croatian soccer manager (Croatia, Austria, Wacker Innsbruck, SK Rapid, SV Salzburg), dies from COVID-19 at 87
2020 Pierre Lacroix, Canadian NHL executive (Quebec Nordiques; Stanley Cup 1996, 2001 Colorado Avalanche), dies from COVID-19 complications at 72
2021 Joe Simon, American soul and R&B singer ("Power of Love"), dies at 85
2022 Curt Simmons, American baseball pitcher (3 x MLB All-Star; World Series 1964 St. Louis Cardinals; Philadelphia Phillies), dies at 93
2022 Kim Simmonds, Welsh blues-rock guitarist (Savoy Brown), dies of bladder cancer at 75
2022 Sol Amarfio, Ghanaian drummer and musician (Osibisa), dies at 84
2022 tWitch [Stephen Boss], American television personality, dancer, DJ, and producer (The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 2014-22), takes his own life at 40 [1]