Famous Deaths on October 4

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Dutch painter (Night Watch), dies at 63

1680 Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer
1688 Philips Koninck, Dutch landscape painter, dies at 68
1713 Valentin Molitor, Swiss composer, dies at 76
1721 Abraham Alewijn, Dutch poet and playwright (Beslikte Swaantje), dies at 36
1743 John Campbell, 2nd duke of Argyll and field marshal (Union of 1707), dies at 64
1749 Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
1754 Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief
1755 Samuel von Cocceji, German lawyer, dies
1785 David Brearly, American statesman (b. 1703)
1821 John Rennie, Scottish engineer, dies at 60
1830 Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, Prussian Generalfeldmarschall, dies at 71
1838 Eleanore Sophia Maria Westenholz, German composer, dies at 79
1848 Louis Massonneau, composer, dies at 82
1851 Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)
1859 Karl Baedeker, German publisher (known for guidebooks for tourists), dies at 57
1862 William Duncan Smith, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 36
1863 Gerrit Schimmelpenninck, Dutch politician (1st Dutch PM as Chairman of the Council of Ministers 1848), dies at 69
1864 Joseph Montferrand, French Canadian logger and strong man, dies at 61
1867 Francis Xavier Seelos German-American Roman Catholic priest (b. 1819)
1880 William Lassell, British astronomer who discovered satellites of Uranus and Neptune, dies at 81
1888 Tom King, English boxer (English heavyweight champion 1862-63), rower and bookmaker, dies of bronchitus at 53

Catherine Booth (1829-1890)

Co-founder of the Salvation Army known as the 'Army Mother', dies at 61 [1]

1892 Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, Belgian captain, dies at 39
1893 Pieter Elout van Soeterwoude, Dutch politician (AR), dies at 88
1902 Lionel Pigot Johnson, British poet and critic (Ireland & Other Poems), dies of a stroke at 35
1903 Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)
1904 Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (invented Beyer Process to produce aluminium), dies at 57

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904)

French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), dies of tuberculosis at 70

1904 Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (b. 1847)
1907 Alfredo Keil, Portuguese composer, dies at 57
1912 Gen Zeledon, Nicaraguan opponent of US occupation, is executed
1915 George Edwardes, British composer (Gaiety Girl), dies at 59
1934 Jimmy 'Nixey' Callahan, American baseball pitcher, outfielder and manager (Chicago White Sox; first AL no-hitter 1902), dies at 60
1935 Barbados Joe Walcott, Barbadian boxer (World Welterweight champion 1901-06; first Black to hold that title), dies in a car accident at 62
1935 Jean Béraud, French Belle Époque painter, dies at 86
1935 Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German operatic soprano (Vienna State Opera, 1920-26), and pedagogue, dies at 61
1943 Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish agent of Intelligence, dies at 37
1943 Richard T. Ely, American economist and author (Ground under our feet), dies at 89
1944 Alfred "Al" Smith, American politician, 4 time Governor of New York (1919-20 and 1923-28), and 1st Roman Catholic presidential candidate (D, 1928), dies at 70
1946 Barney Oldfield, American auto racer (International Motorsports Hall of Fame; first to drive at 60mph on circular track), dies of a heart attack at 67
1947 Max Planck, German physicist, father of Quantum Physics (Planck Constant, Nobel 1918), dies at 89
1948 Arthur Whitten Brown, British aviator (first nonstop airplane crossing of the Atlantic with John W. Alcock), dies at 62
1949 Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer, mostly of operettas (Bruder Straubinger; The Golden Mistress), dies from injuries from falling off of a stage at 75
1951 Henrietta Lacks [Loretta Pleasant], African-American tobacco farmer whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, extensively used in medical research since the 1950s (1st immortalised cell line), dies of cervical cancer at 31
1951 Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)
1955 Alexander Papagos, Greek fieldmarshal and supreme commander, dies at 71
1961 Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Bishop of the Russian Church and Orthodox missionary, dies at 81
1961 Max Weber, Polish-Russian-American painter, dies at 80
1962 E H (Patsy) Hendren, English cricket batsman (51 Tests, 7 x 100s, HS 205no; 57,611 1st-class runs, 3rd-best ever; Middlesex CCC), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 73
1962 John Lowry, NYC builder (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 79
1966 Mike Tresh, American baseball catcher (MLB All Star 1945; Chicago White Sox), dies from cancer at 52
1966 Sherman Billingsley, American bootlegger and nightclub owner (Stork Club - NYC), dies at 66
1968 Francis Biddle, 58th United States Attorney General (1941-45), dies at 82
1969 Natalino Otto [Natale Codognotto], Italianswing-jazz singer, dies at 56
1969 Vibart Wight, West Indian cricket batsman (2 Tests; v/c WI first touring team v England 1928), dies at 67
1970 Curtis Turner, American auto racer (184 NASCAR races over 17 years, 17 wins), dies in aeroplane crash at 46
1970 George Frederick McKay, American composer, dies at 71

Janis Joplin (1943-1970)

American rock and blues singer-songwriter ("Piece of My Heart"; "Me and Bobby McGee"; "Mercedes Benz"),, dies of a heroin overdose at 27

1971 Edit Angold, German actress (Suspense, Molly, Blue Angel), dies at 76
1972 Colin Gordon, British actor (The Pink Panther, Casino Royale), dies at 61
1974 Anne Sexton, American poet (Live or Die; Pulitzer 1967), dies at 45
1975 Joan Whitney Payson, American heiress, businesswoman and philanthropist (co-founder & majority owner of MLB's New York Mets), dies at 72
1975 May Sutton, American tennis player (first American woman to win Wimbledon singles title 1905), dies at 89
1976 Alexander Gray, American actor (Sally, This is Music), dies at 85
1977 Del Porter, American jazz singer (Foursome - "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"; Spike Jones and His City Slickers - "Der Fuehrer's Face"), dies at 75
1979 Christina Spierenburg, Dutch singer, dies at 56
1981 Freddie Lindstrom, American Baseball Hall of Fame utility (New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 75
1982 Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, Iraqi fieldmarshal and President of Iraq (1968-79), dies at 68
1982 Glenn Gould, Canadian classical pianist (Bach's Goldberg Variations) and broadcaster (Solitude Trilogy), dies after suffering a stroke at 50
1989 Graham Chapman, British comedian and screenwriter (Monty Python; Life of Brian), dies of cancer at 48

Secretariat (1970-1989)

American thoroughbred race horse (Triple Crown, 1973), euthanized while suffering from laminitis at 19

1990 Avis Bunnage, British actress (Rising Damp, Coronation Street), dies at 67
1990 Jill Bennett, British actress (Lady Jane, Concrete Jungle), overdoses at 58
1991 Leonard C. Odell, wrote 7,000 Burma Shave poems, dies at 83
1992 Denny Hulme, New Zealand auto racer (F1 World Drivers' Champion 1967, 3rd 1968, 72; 112 F1 GP starts, 8 wins), dies of a heart attack driving in Bathurst 1,000 at 56
1992 Itzhak Fuks, El Al captain, crashes in Bijlmer Netherlands
1992 Ohad Arnon, El Al captain, crashes in Bijlmer Netherlands
1993 Fran Carlon, dies of cancer at 80
1993 Jim Holton, Scottish soccer defender (15 caps; Manchester United, Coventry City), dies of a heart attack at 42
1994 Bill Challis, American jazz arranger and pianist, dies at 90
1994 Daniel Wood "Danny" Gatton, American guitarist (88 Elmira St.), commits suicide at 48
1994 F. Gwendolen Rees, Welsh zoologist and parasitologist, dies at 88
1994 Heinz Rohmann, German actor/dir (Brave Soldier Schwejk), dies at 92
1994 Scoville "Toby" Browne, American jazz saxophone and clarinet player, dies at 84
1995 Peter Nicholson Gunn, Australian writer (The Churches of Rome), dies at 81
1996 Martyn Harris, journalist, dies at 43
1996 Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese film director and screenwriter (Joi-uchi), dies at 80
1996 Silvio Piola, Italian soccer striker (34 caps, 30 goals; Lazio), dies at 83
1996 Tim N Gidal Gidalewitsch, photojournalist, dies at 87
1999 Art Farmer, American trumpet player (Farmer's Market, The Jazztet), dies of a heart attack at 71
1999 Bernard Buffet, French painter (Expressionism), dies at 71
1999 Grim [Erik Brødreskift], Norwegian black metal drummer commits suicide at 29
2000 Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist (Nobel 1993- Site-directed mutagenesis), dies at 68
2000 Yu Kuo-hwa, former Premier of Taiwan (b. 1914)
2001 Ahron Soloveichik, Orthodox Jewish rabbi, dies at 84
2002 Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics (b. 1917)
2002 André Delvaux, Belgian film director and screenwriter (Benvenuta), dies at 76
2002 William "Buddy" Lester, American comedian and actor (Barney Miller, Phil Silvers Show), dies at 85
2003 Sid McMath, American politician (b. 1912)
2004 Gordon Cooper, American aerospace engineer, test pilot and astronaut (Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5), dies of heart failure at 77
2004 Rio Diaz, Filipino actress & TV hosts (b. 1959)
2005 Mike Gibbins, Welsh musician and drummer (Badfinger - "Come and Get It": No Matter What"), dies of a brain aneurysm at 56
2005 Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (27th Governor of Wyoming), dies at 81
2006 Oskar Pastior, Romanian-born German writer, dies at 78
2006 Tom Bell, English actor on stage, television and film (b. 1933)
2009 Günther Rall, German fighter ace, dies at 91
2009 Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian singer (exponent of nueva canción), dies at 74
2010 Norman Wisdom, English comedian (Kraft Music Hall, Trouble In Store), dies at 95
2013 Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (Conversations; A Diary of the Sea), dies at 80

Võ Nguyên Giáp (1911-2013)

Vietnamese general (Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam War) and politician, dies at 102

Jean-Claude Duvalier (1951-2014)

Haitian dictator and deposed Haitian president-for-life (1971-86) infamous for his brutality, dies of a heart attack at 63

2014 Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer, dies at 73
2014 Paul Revere [Dick], American rock organ player and pianist (Paul Revere & Raiders - "Kicks": "Indian Reservation"), dies of cancer at 76
2016 Caroline Crawley, British alt-rock singer (Shelleyan Orphan; Babacar), dies at 53
2016 Donald H. White, American composer (Lyric Suite for Euphonium and Winds; Tuba Sonata) and educator, dies at 95
2016 Hso Khan Pha, 1st President of the democratic and newly independent Union of Burma from 1948-52, dies at 78
2017 John Miller, American politician (Rep-R-WA, 1985-93), dies at 79
2017 Liam Cosgrave, Irish politician (Fine Gael Party), dies at 97
2018 John Tyrrell, British musicologist (Leoš Janáček; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians), dies at 76
2019 Diahann Carroll [Carol Diann Johnson] American Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress (No Strings; Julia; Claudine; Dynasty - "Dominique"), dies of cancer at 84
2020 Kenzō Takada, Japanese fashion designer (Kenzo), dies of COVID-19 complications at 81
2021 Alan Kalter, American television announcer (Late Show with David Letterman, 1995-2015), dies at 78
2021 Eddie Robinson, American baseball first baseman (MLB All Star 1949, 51–53; Washington Sens, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia A's) and executive (GM Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves), dies at 100
2021 Laurie Davidson, New Zealand yacht designer (Black Magic 1995; Team New Zealand 2000; America's Cup HOF 2007), dies at 94
2022 Dave Dryden, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (designer first mask-cage combination goalie mask; Chicago Black Hawks, Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers), dies at 81
2022 Jesús del Muro, Mexican soccer defender (40 caps; Atlas FC, CF Cruz Azul) and manager (Toluca FC, CF Pachuca, Jalisco AC), dies at 84
2022 Jürgen Sundermann, German soccer manager (Servette, VfB Stuttgart, Schalke 04, Strasbourg, Hertha BSC) and midfielder (1 cap West Germany; FC Basel, Servette), dies at 82