Famous Deaths on May 22

Constantine the Great (272-337 AD)

Emperor of Rome (306-37) who adopted Christianity, dies at 47

748 Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 680)
987 Louis V le Faineant, the Lazy, King of France (986-87), poisoned at 20
1068 Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan, 70th Emperor of Japan, dies at 42
1455 Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (killed in battle) (b. 1406)
1455 Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (killed in battle)
1457 Saint Rita of Cascia, Italian saint (b. 1381)
1501 Robert Gaguin, French writer/diplomat (Arte Metrificandi), dies at 66
1538 John Forrest, English Franciscan friar (martyred) (b. 1471)
1540 Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman (Papal States governor, President of Romagna, dies at 57
1666 Gaspar Schott, German scientist (b. 1608)

Alexander VII (1599-1667)

Italian Pope (1655-67), dies at 68

1688 Johannes Andreas Quenstedt, German Lutheran theologian, dies at 70
1745 François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (b. 1671)
1746 Thomas Southerne, Irish dramatist (b. 1660)
1760 Israel ben Eliezer, Polish-born mystical rabbi (b. 1700)
1772 Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (specialized in history of Trevi, in Umbria), dies at 84
1781 Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, Anglo-Irish composer, dies at 45
1801 Heinrich Gottfried Reichard, German composer, and translator, dies at 58

Martha Washington (1731-1802)

1st US First Lady (1789-97), dies at 70

1819 Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Dutch naval officer and founder of Dutch Marines Corp, dies at 84
1825 Domenico Corri, Italian composer, dies at 80
1851 Mordecai Manuel Noah, American writer, journalist (b. 1755)
1856 Jacques-Nicolas-Augustin Thierry, French historian, dies at 61
1859 Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies (1830-59), dies at 49
1868 Julius Plucker, German mathematician/physicist (formula of P), dies
1873 Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (Betrothed), dies at 88
1878 Franz von Holstein, German composer, dies at 52
1880 Heinrich von Gagern, German liberal politician, dies at 80
1884 William T. Wofford, Brigadier General (Confederate Army-American Civil War), dies at 59

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

French author (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables), dies at 83

1898 Edward Bellamy, American author (Looking Backward) and socialist, dies of tuberculosis at 48
1901 Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist (assassinated King Umberto I of Italy on July 29, 1900), dies at 31
1904 Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist, hysteria specialist, and namesake of Tourette's syndrome, dies from syphilis at 46
1910 Jules Renard, French writer (Le plaisir the rompre), dies at 46
1921 Marie Wilton, Lady Bancroft, British Victorian theater manager, actress, and novelist, dies at about 82
1922 Ada Jane Jones, English-American popular singer, among the earliest female singers to be recorded, dies of kidney failure at 48

John French (1852-1925)

1st Earl of Ypres and British WWI field marshal, dies at 72

1928 William HT Gairdner, Engl missionary (Nile Mission Press), dies at 54
1932 Augusta Gregory [Lady Gregory], Irish playwright (Gold Apple) theatre manager (co-founded Abbey Theatre) and patron of Yeats, dies at 80
1939 Ernst Toller, German playwright, commits suicide at 45
1939 Jiri Mahen, Czech author (b. 1882)
1943 Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington's cherry trees, dies at 81
1945 Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, Dutch lithographer and wood carver, dies at 80
1948 Claude McKaye, Jamaican-American author (Banjo, Home to Harlem), dies at 57
1949 Hans Pfitzner, German composer (Palestrina), dies at 80
1949 Klaus Mann, German-American writer (Turning Point), dies at 42
1953 Vaclav Klicka, Czech composer, dies at 70
1954 Charles "Chief" Bender, American Baseball HOF pitcher (only indigenous American in BHOF; World Series 1910, 11, 13; no-hitter 1910; Philadelphia A's), dies at 70
1958 Julien de Valckenaere, Belgian poet, dies at 60
1961 Joan Davis, American actress (I Married Joan), dies of a heart attack at 53
1965 Bobby Watson, American comedian (Hitler Gang, Boys Town), dies at 77
1965 Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom (b. 1882)
1965 Heinrich Barth, Swiss philosopher (Das Sein in der Zeit), dies
1966 Tom Goddard, English cricket off-spin bowler (8 Tests; 22 wickets @ 26.72; Gloucestershire), dies at 65
1967 Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician, dies at 93

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

American poet (Weary Blues), playwright (Mulatto), and librettist (Troubled Island), dies at 65

1970 Joseph W Krutch, American writer (Measure of Man), dies at 76
1971 Frank Ottersen, Norwegian jazz violinist and saxophonist (Ding, Dong, Dang), dies at 50
1972 Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet (British Poet Laureate 1968-72) and detective writer (Nicholas Blake), dies of cancer at 68
1972 Margaret Rutherford, English actress (Murder Ahoy, VIP's), dies at 80
1975 Robert "Lefty" Grove, American Baseball HOF pitcher (6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1929, 30; AL MVP 1931; Triple Crown 1930, 31; Philadelphia A's, Boston Red Sox), dies from a heart attack at 75
1975 Torben Myer, Danish actor (Girl Who Came Back, Judgment at Nuremberg, Sullivan's Travels), dies at 90
1977 Gijs van Hall, Dutch politician and Mayor of Amsterdam (1957-67), dies at 73
1977 Marius Monnikendam, Dutch choir composer, dies at 80
1978 Bjarne Brustad, Norwegian composer, dies at 83
1984 John Marley [Mortimer Marlieb], American actor (Cat Ballou; Love Story; The Godfather), dies following unsuccessful open-heart surgery at 76
1986 Martin Gabel, American stage, radio and screen character actor (The Thief; Marnie; Lady In Cement), and television panelist (What's My Line?), dies of a heart attack at 73
1987 Mario Zafred, Italian composer, and opera director dies at 65
1988 Giorgio Almirante, Italian fascist (member of parliament (1948-87)), dies at 73
1989 Steven DeGroote, South African classical pianist, dies from multiple organ failure due to AIDS at 36
1990 Max Wall, actor (Jabberwocky), dies
1990 Rocky Graziano, American boxer (World Middleweight title 1947-48; famous Tony Zale trilogy) and entertainer (Pantomime Quiz, Miami Undercover), dies of heart failure at 71
1991 Catalino "Lino" Brocka, Filipino film director (Macho Dancer, Jaguar), dies in car crash at 51
1992 Gyorgy Ranki, Hungarian composer, dies at 84
1992 Zellig S. Harris, Russian-American linguist, dies at 82
1993 Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Polish-American pianist, dies at 100
1994 F. H. McClintock, British criminologist, dies at 68
1994 Mitacq [Michel Tacq], Belgium comic strip artist (Beaver Patrol), dies
1994 Norman Read, New Zealand 50k race walker (Olympic gold 1956), dies from a heart attack at 62
1995 Robert Flemyng, British actor (The Deadly Affair, Funny Face), dies at 83
1996 Duncan Montgomery Stewart, academic, dies at 66
1996 Rex Collings, writer/publisher, dies at 70
1997 A. D. Hershey, American biologist, worked with bacteriophages (Nobel 1969), dies at 88
1998 John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest), dies at 71
1998 José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
1998 Milton Banana [Antônio de Souza], Brazilian bossa nova jazz drummer (João Gilberto and Stan Getz), dies at 63
1999 Alfred Kubel, German politician, dies at 89
2001 Jack Watling, British actor (Nanny, Adventure for 2, Naked Heart), dies at 78
2001 Lorez Alexandria, American jazz and gospel singer (Alexandria the Great), dies at 71
2001 Whitman Mayo, American actor (Grady Wilson-"Sanford & Son"), dies at 70
2002 Curnick Muzuvukile Ndlovu, South Africian worker's union leader, and African National Congress Leader, dies at 70
2003 Ousmane Zongo, Burkinabé shooting victim
2004 Mikhail Voronin, Russian and Soviet gymnast (1968 Olympics: 7 medals including 2 gold, 1972 Olympics: 2 silver medals), dies at 59
2004 Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
2005 Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician, long-time General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (b. 1914)
2005 Julia Randall, American poet (b. 1924)
2005 Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor (Tony the Tiger), and bass singer ("You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"), dies from prostate cancer at 91
2006 Heather Crowe, Canadian activist (b. 1945)
2006 Jack Fallon, Canadian-British jazz double and electric bass player, fiddler (The Beatles - "Don't Pass Me By"), and concert promoter, dies at 90
2006 Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization, dies of stroke at 61
2008 Robert Asprin, American author (b. 1946)
2010 Martin Gardner, American mathematician and scientific writer (Scientific American math & puzzles columnist), dies at 95
2011 Ze'ev Wolfgang Steinberg, Israeli violist and composer, dies at 92
2012 Wesley Brown, 1st African American US Naval Academy graduate, dies at 85
2013 Fusilier Lee Rigby, British Army soldier, murdered near the Royal Artillery Barracks in London by two Islamic terrorists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
2013 Henri Dutilleux, French composer (Tout un monde lointain, L'arbre des songes), dies at 97
2014 Mathew Cowles, American actor, dies at 69
2015 John Horlock, British vice-chancellor (Open College), dies at 87
2015 Marques Haynes, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame guard (Harlem Globetrotters), dies at 88
2017 (Granville) "Mickey" Roker, American jazz drummer (Art Farmer; Milt Jackson; Dizzy Gillespie), dies suffering from diabetes and lung cancer at 84
2017 Barbara Smith Conrad, American operatic mezzo-soprano singer, and educator (Wagner Theater), dies at 79
2017 Dina Merrill, American actress (Operation Petticoat, Butterfield 8), dies at 93
2017 Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (MotoGP Champion 2006), dies after being hit by a car at 35
2018 Dave Garcia, MLB manager (California Angels, Cleveland Indians), dies at 97
2019 Judith Kerr, British children's writer and illustrator (The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Mog books), dies at 95
2019 Sultan Ahmad Shah, 7th King of Malaysia (1979-84), dies at 88

Ashley Cooper (1936-2020)

Australian tennis player (Australian C'ships 1957-58, Wimbledon, US C'ships 1958), dies at 83

2020 Jerry Sloan, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (Utah Jazz 1988-2011) and shooting guard (NBA All-Star 1967, 69; Chicago Bulls), dies from Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia at 78
2020 Luigi Simoni, Italian soccer midfielder (Napoli, Torino, Juventus, Brescia, Genoa) and manager (UEFA Cup 1998, Inter; Genoa, Torino, Napoli), dies from effects of a stroke at 81
2020 Mory Kanté, Guinean singer and kora harp player (Yé ké yé ké), dies at 70
2022 József Duró, Hungarian soccer midfielder (21 caps; Debreceni VSC, Vasas SC, Budapest Honvéd FC), dies at 55
2022 Les Dyl, English rugby league utility back (11 caps Great Britain, 13 England; Leeds RLFC, Bramley RLFC), dies at 69
2023 Claude Noel, Tobagonian boxer (WBA Lightweight title 1981), dies at 74