Famous Deaths on January 3

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (1499-1543)

Portuguese-Spanish conquistador who conquered Central America and later discovered California, dies of gangrene at around 43

1552 Henry II of Bavaria, Bishop of Utrecht (1524-29), Worms (1523-52) and Freising (1541-52), dies at 64
1560 Peder Palladus, Danish church reformer (Visitasbog), dies at about 56
1570 Bartholomeus Latomus [Steinmetz], Flemish archbishop of Trier, dies
1571 Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (1535-71), dies at 65
1628 Francesco Maria Guaitoli, Italian composer, dies at 64
1641 Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer who was 1st to demonstrate the Moon moves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit and predicted the 1639 transit of Venus, dies of unknown causes at 22
1656 Mathieu Molé, French statesman (b. 1584)
1670 George Monck, English general, dies at 61
1690 Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, Lithuanian rabbi (b. 1615)
1701 Prince Louis I of Monaco (b. 1642)
1743 Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and designer, dies at 85
1759 Marquis & Marquess of Tavora, Portuguese nobles, executed
1761 Willem de Fesch, Dutch violinist and composer (Joseph), dies at 73
1767 Luca Antonio Predieri, Italian composer and violinist, dies at 78
1779 Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon, dies at 66
1785 Baldassare Galuppi, Venetian composer (opera buffa), dies at 68

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795)

English pottery designer and manufacturer (Wedgwood), dies at 64

1813 Bennelong, Australian aboriginal interlocutor between his tribe and the British settlers (b. c. 1764)
1826 Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French nobleman (Duke of Albufera), and military commander (Marshal of the Empire), dies at 55
1829 Robert Archibald Smith, Scottish composer, dies at 48
1836 Friedrich Witt, German cellist and composer (Jena Symphony; The Suffering Saviour), dies at 65
1853 Theodor Uhlig, composer, dies at 30
1858 Henry Darcy, French hydraulic engineer (Darcy's Law), dies at 54
1858 Rachel Félix, Swiss-born French singer and actress in tragedies (mistress of Napoleon III), dies of tuberculosis at 36
1865 Jozef Lies, Flemish painter, dies at 43
1868 Moritz Hauptmann, German composer, dies at 75
1870 Konstantin Ushinsky, Russian educationalist (credited as the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia), dies at 46
1873 John Lodge Ellerton, British classical composer (The Bridal of Triermain, Domenica), dies at 71
1875 Pierre Larousse, French editor (b. 1817)
1882 Clement Claiborne Clay, American politician (U.S. Senator from Alabama), dies at 65
1882 William Harrison Ainsworth, English writer (Guy Fawkes), dies at 76
1895 James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman (Currier and Ives), dies at 70
1898 James Wimshurst, British designer and inventor (electrostatic generator), dies at 70
1900 Edwin George Monk, English church organist and composer, dies at 80
1903 Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hitler, dies at 65
1907 Josef Foerster, Czech composer, and music teacher, dies at 73
1911 Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (The Murderess), dies at 59
1912 Felix Dahn, German historian, jurist and poet, dies at 77
1914 Raoul Pugno, Italian-French piano prodigy, organist (Church of Saint-Eugène, 1872–92), composer, and pedagogue (Paris Conservatoire, 1892-1901), dies at 62
1915 James Elroy Flecker, English poet and dramatist (Hassan), dies at 30

Grenville M. Dodge (1831-1916)

American railroad engineer (Transcontinental Railroad-Union Pacific) and Major General (Union Army), dies at 84

1920 Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician, dies at 31
1923 Jaroslav Hašek, Czech writer (The Good Soldier Švejk), dies of heart failure at 39
1927 Carle David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician and physicist, dies at 70
1931 Joseph Joffre, French army Chief of Staff (Indo China, WWI Battle of Marne), dies at 78
1933 Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor (The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come), dies at 37
1933 Wilhelm Cuno, German Reich's chancellor (1922-23) and businessman, dies at 56
1938 Arthur Boon, Flemish priest/philologist, dies at 54
1942 Pauline Beersmans [PLJM van Cuyck], Flemish actress, dies at 70
1943 Bid McPhee, American Baseball HOF second baseman (AA HR leader 1886 Cincinnati Reds; last 2nd baseman to play without a glove), dies at 83
1943 Sir Walter James, Premier of Western Australia, dies at 79 (b. 1863)
1944 Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1873)
1945 Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
1945 Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (Lenin: God of the Godless), dies at 68
1945 Théodore "Fyodor" Akimenko, Ukrainian composer, dies at 68

William Joyce (1906-1946)

American-born Irish Fascist politician and NAZI propagandist, hanged in Britain for treason at 39

1951 [Ferdinand] Fred Barlow, French composer (Mam'zelle Prud'homme), dies at 69
1954 Gus Dorais, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Notre Dame) and coach (Gonzaga, Detroit Lions), dies of arteriosclerosis and anorexia at 62

Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)

Russian-American Romantic composer, dies at 91

1956 Joseph Wirth, 5th Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Germany (Stalin Peace Prize), dies at 76
1960 Victor Sjöström, Swedish director (Wind, Under the Red Robe), dies at 80
1962 Babe Dye, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame right wing (Stanley Cup 1922; NHL scoring champion 1922–23, 24-25; Toronto St. Patricks/Maple Leafs), dies at 64
1962 Hermann Lux, German soccer defender (3 caps; manager Tennis Borussia Berlin), dies at 68
1963 Oskar Back, Hungarian-Dutch violinist and pedagogue, dies at 83
1965 Betty Harte, American silent screen actress, dies at 82
1965 Julius Tannen, American vaudeville comedian, dies at 84
1966 Rex Lease, American actor (Fast Bullets, Sunny Skies, Custer's Last Stand), dies at 62

Jack Ruby (1911-1967)

American nightclub owner who murdered assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies of pulmonary embolism at 55

1967 Mary Garden, opera star, dies at 92
1969 Buzz Borries, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Navy 1932–34), dies at 57
1969 Howard McNear, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Irma La Douce), dies after long illness at 63
1969 Jean Focas, Greco-French astronomer (b. 1909)
1970 Gladys Aylward, British missionary in China; portrayed by Ingrid Bergman in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (b. 1902)
1972 Frans Masereel, Flem WWII resistance fighter (Le Soleil), dies at 82
1973 Wilbur De Paris, American swing and Dixieland jazz trombone player, dies at 72
1974 Arthur Daley, American sportswriter (NY Times-Pulitzer 1956), dies from a heart attack at 69
1974 Gino Cervi, Italian actor (Les Miserables, Naked Maja), dies at 72
1975 Milton Cross, American radio announcer (Metropolitan Opera's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, 1931-75), dies of a heart attack at 87
1975 René Thomas, Belgian jazz guitarist, dies of a heart attack at 47
1975 Robert Neumann, Austrian-British author (False Flag), dies at 77
1975 Walter Linck, Swiss sculptor (1948 Olympics), dies at 71
1976 Mateusz Gliński, Polish conductor, musicologist (Scriabin, Chopin), composer, and pedagogue (Winsdor University), dies at 83
1976 Michael V. Love, American test pilot (X-24), dies in F-4 crash at 37
1977 Avraham Ofer, Israeli minister of housing, commits suicide
1977 Benno Stokvis, Dutch attorney/politician, dies at 75
1979 Conrad Hilton, American hotel mogul (Hilton Hotels, world's 1st international hotel chain), dies at 91
1980 Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist, dies at 52
1980 Axel Springer Jr, German photographer, commits suicide at 38
1980 Ivan Triesault [Johann Constantin Treisalt], Russian actor (Cry of the Werewolf, Black Parachute), dies at 81

Joy Adamson (1910-1980)

Austrian naturalist and author (Born Free), murdered at 69 by her servant

1980 Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (Tour de France 1926), dies at 87
1981 (Charles) Felton Jarvis, American record producer (Elvis Presley, 1966-77; Charley Pride; Willie Nelson), and singer, dies from complications of a stroke at 46
1981 Princess Alice of Albany (b. 1883)
1982 Derek Sealy, West Indian cricket batsman (11 Tests; youngest West Indian Test player 17:122), dies at 69
1985 Lucien Cailliet, French-American composer, conductor and teacher (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1919-1937), dies at 93
1986 Jens Bjerre, Danish composer, dies at 82

Gaston Eyskens (1905-1988)

Prime Minister of Belgium (1949, 1958-61, 1968-72), dies at 82

1988 Joie Chitwood, American racedriver & Daredevil (b. 1912)
1988 Rose Ausländer, German poet (b. 1901)
1988 William Cagney, American producer and actor (Torrid Zone), brother of James Cagney, dies of a heart attack at 82
1989 Nick Virgilio, American Haiku poet, dies at 60
1989 Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1990 Arthur Gold, American pianist, half of Gold and Fizdale duo (b. 1917)
1990 Ken Hill, American actor (Cobra, Protocol), dies at 49
1991 Luke Appling, American Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop, (7 x MLB All Star; AL batting champion 1936, 43; Chicago White Sox), dies of abdominal aortic aneurysm at 83
1992 Anthony Del Casino, bandleader (Charlie Barnet Band), dies at 79
1992 Judith Anderson, actress (Star Trek 3), dies of pneumonia at 93
1992 Ken Grieves, Australian cricketer (NSW & Lancashire leg-spin all-rounder), dies at 66
1992 Lewis Michael Friedman, American pianist, dies at 47 of AIDS
1992 Radomiro Tomic, Chilean president (1970), dies
1993 Johnny Most, American sports announcer (b. 1923)
1994 Frank Belknap Long, American writer (Rim of the Unknown), dies at 92
1994 Heather Sears, British actress (b. 1935)
1994 Roel Bazen, Dutch sound technician (Van Kooten & The Bie), dies at 48
1995 Al Duncan, American blues drummer, dies at 68
1995 Byron MacGregor, newscaster, dies at 56
1995 Gerard W Taylor, South African/British surgeon, dies at 74
1995 Robert Nesbitt, English theatre impresario (Royal Variety Show), dies at 88
1996 Geoffrey Pardoe, British engineer (Project Manager for the Blue Streak ballistic missile programme), dies at 67
1996 Terence Cuneo, English artist (official artist for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953), dies at 88
1997 Burton Lane, American film and stage composer and lyricist (Finian's Rainbow), dies at 84
1997 Cornelius Kee, Dutch organist and composer, dies at 96
1997 David Kraehenbuehl, American composer (March of the Trolls), pianist, teacher (Yale), and music theorist (Journal of Music Theory), dies of a heart attack at 73
1997 Roger Goeb, American composer, dies at 82
1999 Jerry Quarry, American boxer (famous bouts v world champions Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Ken Norton), dies of chronic traumatic encephalopathy at 53
2000 Bernhard Wicki, Austrian director and actor (Morituri, Crime & Passion), dies at 80
2000 Harmonica Fats [Harvey Blackston], American blues session and touring harmonica player ("Tore Up"), dies at 72
2002 Al Smith, American baseball outfielder and third baseman (3-time MLB All Star; Cleveland Indians), dies at 73
2002 Esquivel! [Juan García Esquivel], Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader known as the "King of Space-Age Pop", dies at 83
2002 Freddy Heineken, Dutch beer brewer (Heineken), dies at 78
2003 Sid Gillman, Pro & College Football Hall of Fame end (Ohio State U) and coach (U of Cincinnati, LA Rams, Houston Oilers), dies at 91
2004 Des Corcoran, Premier of South Australia (b. 1928)
2004 Leon Wagner, American baseball outfielder (MLB All-Star 1962, 63; LA Angels), dies at 69
2005 Edward R. Roybal, American politician (Rep-D-CA, 1963-93), dies at 89
2005 JN Dixit, Indian government official (b. 1936)
2005 Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (b. 1917)
2005 Will Eisner, American comic book artist (b. 1917)
2006 Bill Skate, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
2006 Steve Rogers, Australian rugby league centre (24 Tests; NSW; Cronulla-Sutherland), dies after swallowing combination of prescription drugs and alcohol at 51
2007 Earl Reibel, Canadian ice hockey forward Detroit Red Wings (b. 1930)
2007 Janos Furst, Hungarian orchestral conductor (b. 1935)
2007 Michael Yeats, Irish Fianna Fáil senator 1961-1981 and son of W.B. Yeats (b. 1921)
2007 Sir Cecil Walker, Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast 1983-2001 (b. 1924)
2007 William Verity Jr., United States Secretary of Commerce 1987-1989 (b. 1917)
2008 Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (b. 1953)
2008 Natasha Collins, British actress and television presenter (b. 1976)
2008 Werner Dollinger, German politician and economist (b. 1918)
2008 Yo-Sam Choi, South Korean boxer (Lineal & WBC light flyweight titles 1999-2002), dies of brain damage after fight at 35
2009 Alan Walters, British political economist (Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), dies at 82
2009 Charles Camilleri, Maltese composer (Missa Mundi), dies at 77
2009 Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
2009 Martin Patterson "Pat" Hingle, American actor (Hang 'em High, Splendor in the Grass, Batman Returns), dies of myelodysplastic syndrome at 84
2009 Olga San Juan, American actress, dancer and comedian (Variety Girl, 1 Touch of Venus), dies at 81
2009 Ulf G. Lindén, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1937)
2010 Joyce Collins, American jazz and film and television session pianist, singer, and educator, dies at 79
2010 Mary Daly, American theologian and feminist scholar (b. 1928)
2010 Professor Sir Ian Brownlie, International law specialist
2011 Fadil Hadžić, Croatian film director, dies at 88
2012 Bob Weston, British guitarist & songwriter (Fleetwood Mac), dies from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage at 64 (body found this date)
2012 Gene Bartow, American College Basketball Hall of Fame coach (US National Team 1974; Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA), dies of stomach cancer at 81
2012 Harold Zirin, American astronomer, dies at 82
2012 Josef Skvorecky, Czech writer & publisher, dies at 87
2012 Robert L Carter, American civil rights activist & judge, dies after complications from a stroke at 94
2012 Winifred Milius Lubell, American illustrator & writer (The Outer Lands), dies of congestive heart failure at 97
2012 Wylie Walker Vale, American endocrinologist who discovered the stress hormone, dies at 70
2013 M S Gopalakrishnan, Indian Carnatic violinist, dies at 81
2013 Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian film director, dies from surgical complications at 82

Phil Everly (1939-2014)

American rock and roll singer-guitarist (The Everly Brothers - "Bye, Bye Love"; "Wake Up Little Susie"; "When WIll I Be Loved"), dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 74

2014 Saul Zaentz, American record company executive (Fantasy), and film producer (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest; Amadeus; The Unbearable Lightness Of Being; The English Patient), dies of Alzheimer's disease complications at 92
2014 Tom Rosenthal, British publisher & broadcaster, dies at 78
2015 Allie Sherman, American NFL coach (Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1953-56 CFL; New York Giants 1961–68), dies at 91

Edward W. Brooke (1919-2015)

American politician and 1st popularly elected African American to the US Senate (R-Mass: 1967-79), dies at 95

2015 Ivan Jullien, French jazz and session trumpeter and bandleader, dies at 80
2017 Igor Volk, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz T-12) & test pilot, dies at 79
2018 Bra Willie [Keorapetse Kgositsile], South African poet & political activist (Point of Departure: Fire Dance Fire Song), dies at 79
2018 Colin Brumby, Australian composer (Fibonacci Variations), conductor (Queensland Opera, 1968-71), and educator, dies at 84
2018 Konrad Ragossnig, Austrian classical guitarist and lutenist, dies at 85
2020 Bo Winberg, Swedish instrumental rock guitarist (The Spotnicks - "Hava Nagila"; "Amapola"; "Karelia"), dies at 80
2020 Pete Brewster, American football end & coach (NFL Pro Bowl 1955, 56; Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers), dies at 89
2020 Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed at 62 in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport, Iraq
2021 Gerry Marsden, British rock vocalist (Gerry & Pacemakers - "How Do You Do It?"; "Ferry Cross The Mersey"), and TV personality, dies from a blood infection at 78 [1] [2]
2021 Roger Hassenforder, French racing cyclist (8 stage wins Tour de France 1955-59), dies at 90
2022 Kamel Lemoui, Algerian soccer defender (7 caps; AS Béziers Hérault) and manager (Algeria 1988-89), dies from COVID-19 at 82
2022 Viktor Saneyev, Georgian athlete (Olympics 3 x gold, Soviet Union, triple jump 1968, 72, 76; silver 1980), dies at 76
2023 Walter Cunningham, American astronaut (Apollo 7), dies at 90 from complications after a fall