Famous Deaths on October 20

Charles VI (1685-1740)

Holy Roman Emperor (1711-40), dies after falling ill on a hunting trip at 55

1765 William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English supreme commander, dies at 44
1794 James Adam, Scottish architect and furniture designer, (partnership with brother Robert Adam), dies at about 64
1819 Lambert-Francois Godecharle, Belgian composer and singer, dies at 66
1842 Grace Darling, English heroine who saved shipwreck survivors, dies of tuberculosis at 26
1864 Stephen Dodson Ramseur, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 27
1865 Champ Ferguson, American Confederate guerrilla, found guilty of war crimes during US Civil War, executed and hung at 43
1870 Michael William Balfe, Irish violinist and composer (The Bohemian Girl), dies at 62
1876 Jeronimo de Bosch Kemper, Dutch sociologist and historian, dies at 68
1882 Olegario Victor Andrade, Argentina poet (El arpa perdida), dies at 41

Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)

English explorer and translator (Arabian Nights), dies at 69

1894 James Anthony Froude, English historian and novelist (The Nemesis of Faith), dies at 76
1896 Félix Tisserand, French Astronomer, dies at 51
1900 Charles Dudley Warner, American novelist (As We Go), dies at 70
1900 Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet and writer, dies at 54
1904 Henry Hiles, English organist and composer, dies at 77
1906 William "Buck" Ewing, American Baseball HOF catcher (NL home run leader 1883 NY Giants; Cincinnati Reds) and manager (NY Giants, Cincinnati Reds), dies of diabetes at 67
1907 Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (b.1834)
1910 David B. Hill, American politician and Governor of New York (1885-91), dies at 67
1913 Daniel David Palmer, Canadian founder of chiropractic (1897 Palmer School of Chiropractic), dies of typhoid fever at 68
1913 Leander Schlegel, Dutch composer and pianist, dies at 69
1926 Eugene V. Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate, dies at 70
1927 Mikhail Ivanov, Russian composer, dies at 78
1929 José Batlle y Ordóñez, President of Uruguay (1899, 1903-7, 1911-15), dies at 73
1929 Rudolf Kittel, German theologist (Psalms), dies at 76
1931 Emánuel Moór, Hungarian composer, pianist, and inventor of musical instruments, dies at 68
1935 Adolphus Washington Greely, American Arctic explorer and recipient of the Medal of Honor, dies at 91
1936 Anne Sullivan [Johanna Macy], American teacher who educated Helen Keller, dies at 70
1940 Gunnar Asplund, Swedish modernist architect (The Woodland Crematorium), dies at 55
1941 Ken Farnes English cricketer (15 Tests for England), dies in a plane crash during WWII at 30
1942 May Robson, Australian born actress (Star is Born, Reckless), dies at 84
1944 Gabriel Grovlez, French pianist, conductor (Opéra de Paris, 1914-34), and composer (L'Almanach aux images), dies at 65
1950 Henry L. Stimson, American statesman (46th United States Secretary of State), dies at 83
1952 Basil Radford, British actor (The Lady Vanishes, Whiskey Galore, Night Train), dies from a heart attack at 55
1953 Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (Luftwaffe special bombing unit WWII), dies in a plane accident at 36
1954 Wilbur Shaw, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1937, 39, 40; Motorsports Hall of Fame of America 1991), dies in an airplane crash at 51
1955 Eino Roiha, Finnish pianist, composer, and musicologist dies at 51
1959 Werner Krauss, German actor (Joyless Street), dies at 75 (b. 1884)
1964 Ben Simpson, Canadian Football HOF running back, placekicker (Queen's University, Hamilton Tigers), dies at 86

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)

American politician and 31st President of the United States (Republican: 1929-33), dies in NY at 90

1964 Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn, English diplomat (High Commissioner of Egypt and the Sudan), dies at 84
1967 Shigeru Yoshida, Japanese politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Japan (1946-54), dies at 89
1968 Bud Flanagan [Chaim Reuben Weintrop], English comedian (duo with Chesney Alley), dies at 72
1968 Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, African-American TV preacher, dies at 84
1970 Patrick Wymark [Cheeseman], British actor (Skull, Tomb of Ligeia), dies of a heart attack at 44
1972 Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (Sun's position in galaxy), dies at 86
1977 Cassie Gaines, American rock singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 28
1977 Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 29
1977 Steve Gaines, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies in a plane crash at 28
1981 Mary Coyle Chase, American playwright (Harvey 1945 Pulitzer Prize), dies at 75
1983 Merle Travis, American country singer, dies at 75
1983 Peter Dudley, British character actor (Coronation Street, 1979-83 - "Bert"), dies after multiple heart attacks and stokes at 48
1983 Yves Thériault, French Canadian author, dies at 67
1984 Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American bio-chemist (Nobel 1947-discovery of how glycogen (animal starch) – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and resynthesized in the body, for use as a store and source of energy), dies at 87

Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

English physicist (quantum electrodynamics, Nobel 1933), dies at 82

1986 Samora Machel, President of Mozambique, dies in air crash at 53
1987 Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (theory of probability), dies at 84

Sheila Scott (1927-1988)

English aviator who completed the 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman, dies of cancer at 61

1989 Anthony Quayle, British actor (Anne of 1000 Days, Lawrence of Arabia), dies from liver cancer at 76
1990 Bridget Bate Tichenor (born Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate), Mexican surrealist painter dies at 72
1990 Joel McCrea, American actor (Foreign Correspondent, Sullivan's Travels), dies of pulmonary complications at 84
1992 Orton Chirwa, Malawi lawyer, Minister of Justice, dies in captivity at 73
1992 Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (New Orleans Symphony, 1963-77; Bangor Symphony, 1981-92), dies of cancer at 66
1993 Maurice Dolbier, American actor and author (Nowhere Near Everest; The Bus That Nobody Loved), dies at 81
1993 Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese Nihonga style painter, and designer, dies on his 84th birthday
1994 (Charles) Robert Medley, English abstract and figurative style painter, dies at 88

Burt Lancaster (1913-1994)

American actor (Spartacus, Apartment, From Here to Eternity, Elmer Gantry), dies of a heart attack at 80

1994 Eberhard Feik, German actor (Tatort), dies at 50
1994 Francis Steegmuller, American biographer (Cocteau), dies at 88
1994 Ivan Sviták, Czech philosopher and poet, dies at 69
1994 Robert Medley, English artist and theater designer, dies at 88
1994 Sergei Bondarchuk, Soviet director and actor (Destiny of a Man, War and Peace), dies of a heart attack at 74
1995 Bernadette Hingley, English priest, one of 1st women to be ordained in England, dies of cancer at 47
1995 Christopher Stone, American actor (Dave-Dallas, Interns), dies at 53
1995 Jack Rose, American screenwriter (The Seven Little Foys), dies at 83
1995 Raymond Rasberry, American gospel pianist and singer, dies at 65
1996 Bill Bedford, British test pilot (pioneered the development of V/STOL aircraft), dies at 75
1996 Mary Tuck, British social researcher and civil servant, dies at 68
1997 Henry Vestine, American guitarist (Canned Heat), dies of heart and respiratory failure at 52
1998 Franz Tumler, Austrian writer (Cloak, Aufruf), dies at 86
1999 Calvin Griffith, Canadian baseball team owner (Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins 1955-84), dies at 87

Jack Lynch (1917-1999)

Irish politician and Taoiseach (1966-73 and 1977-79), dies at 82

1999 Ron Smith, English trade union leader (British Postal Workers), dies at 84
2001 Ted Ammon, American financier and investment banker, bludgeoned to death at 52
2002 Barbara Berjer, American soap opera actress (Another World), dies at 82
2002 Bernard Fresson, French actor (Hiroshima Mon Amour), dies at 71
2003 Čkalja [Miodrag Petrović], Serbian actor and one of the most popular comedians of former Yugoslavia, dies at 79
2003 Jack Elam, American actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo), dies at 82
2004 Anthony Hecht, American poet, dies at 81
2004 Chuck Hiller, American MLB second baseman (first NL player in history to hit a grand slam HR in World Series play, 1962), dies from leukemia at 70
2005 Endon Mahmood, First Lady of Malaysia, wife of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, dies of breast cancer at 64
2005 Eva Švankmajerová, Czech surrealist artist, dies of cancer at 65
2005 Shirley Horn, American jazz pianist and vocalist (Embers and Ashes), dies from complications of diabetes at 71
2006 Frank Vicari, American jazz, session, and touring saxophonist (Maynard Ferguson; Woody Herman; Tom Waits; Saturday Night Live), dies at 75

Jane Wyatt (1910-2006)

American actress (Father Knows Best, Star Trek), dies at 96

2007 Max McGee, American football player (Green Bay Packers), dies at 75
2007 Paul Raven, British bass-player (Killing Joke, Ministry), dies of a heart attack at 46
2008 Gene Hickerson, American football Hall of Famer (b. 1935)
2008 Pierre Sancan, French composer (Sonatine for flute and piano; La Légende de Icare), pianist, conductor, and teacher (Conservatoire de Paris, 1956-85), dies at 92
2008 Sœur Emmanuelle, Belgian-French religious sister, dies at 99

Bob Guccione (1930-2010)

American publisher (Penthouse, Omni), dies of lung cancer at 79

2010 Farooq Leghari, 8th President of Pakistan (1993-97), dies at 70
2010 Harvey Phillips, American tubist (NYC Ballet Orchestra), dies at 80
2010 Parthasarathy Sharma, Indian cricket batsman (5 Tests, 1 x 50), dies at 62
2011 Barry Feinstein, American portrait photographer and album cover designer (Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul & Mary; Janis Joplin; George Harrison), dies at 80
2011 Moatassem Gaddafi, Son of Moammar Gaddafi and National Security Adviser of Libya (b. 1977)

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011)

Libyan revolutionary, political theorist and dictator (1969-2011), beaten to death in captivity by a Misratan militia at about 69

2011 Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and translator (b. 1928)
2013 Lawrence Klein, American economist who created computer models to forecast economic trends (1980 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences), dies at 93
2014 John Hoskyns, Policy Advisor to Margaret Thatcher (1979-82), dies at 87
2014 Lili Carati, Miss Italy 1975 and actress (Alcove), dies at 58
2014 Oscar de la Renta, Domincan American fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1973), dies at 82
2014 Pavle Merku, Italian-Slovene composer and ethnomusicologist, dies at 87
2015 Cory Wells [Emil Lewandowski], American rock vocalist (3 Dog Night - "Joy to the World"), dies at 74
2015 Don Rendell, English jazz musician and arranger, dies at 89
2016 Junko Tabei, Japanese mountain-climber, 1st woman to climb Mount Everest, dies at 77
2018 Wim Kok, Dutch politician, Dutch Prime Minister (1994-2002), dies at 80
2019 Nick Tosches, American writer (bio of Jerry Lee Lewis), dies at 69
2020 Bill Mathis, American football halfback (AFL All Star 1961, 63; New York Titans/Jets), dies at 81
2020 Bruno Martini, French soccer goalkeeper (31 caps; Auxerre, Nancy, Montpellier), dies from heart failure at 58
2020 Derryl Cousins, American baseball umpire (World Series 1988, 99, 2005; MLB All-Star Game 1987, 98, 2008), dies from cancer at 74
2021 Dragan Pantelić, Serbian soccer goalkeeper (19 caps Yugoslavia; Radnički Niš, Bordeaux), dies at 69
2022 Jimmy Millar, Scottish soccer centre forward (2 caps; Rangers 197 games) and manager (Raith Rovers), dies from dementia at 87
2022 Lucy Simon, American folk singer-songwriter (Simon Sisters), Grammy Award-winning record producer (In Harmony) and theater composer (The Secret Garden; Doctor Zhivago), dies of breast cancer at 82 [1]