Deaths in History on April 24

1731 Daniel Defoe, English novelist (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70

1891 Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian general and fieldmarshal, dies at 90
1900 George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll and Secretary of State for India (1868-74, 1880-85), dies at 76
1900 Andrew Smith Hallidie, American inventor and cable car pioneer, dies at 64
1904 Friedrich Siemens, German industrialist, dies at 77
1912 Justin M'Carthy, Irish politician and novelist (Miss Misanthrope), dies at 81
1917 Oskar Blumenthal, German playwright and critic, dies at 65
1924 G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist (b. 1844)
1930 Henry Ernest Dudeney, English mathematician and puzzle maker, dies at 73
1933 Felix Adler, German-American educator of political and social ethics, dies at 81
1938 George Grey Barnard, American sculptor, dies at 74
1941 Karin Boye, Swedish writer (Kallocain) commits suicide at 40

1942 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (Anne of Green Gables), dies at 67

1942 Leonid Kulik, Russian mineralogist who led the first research expedition to study the Tunguska meteor site, the largest impact event in recorded history, dies of typhus in a Nazi prison camp at 58
1943 Gerardus H de Hare, socialist vicar, dies at 63
1944 William Stephens, U.S. political figure (b. 1859)
1945 Anton de Kom, Suriname resistance fighter, dies at 47
1945 Antoon Schweigmann, Dutch religious poet and resistance fighter, dies at 51
1947 Willa Cather, American writer (My Ántonia), dies at 73
1952 Hans [Hendrik A] Kramers, physicist (quantum mechanics), dies at 57
1952 Jules Poncelet, Belgian minister of State, dies at 82

1955 Alfred Polgar, Austrian writer/theater critic, dies at 79
1956 Albrecht G Alt, German theologist (Small Schriften), dies at 72
1957 Andries CD de Graeff, gov-gen of Neth Indies (1926-31), dies at 84
1960 Max von Laue, German physicist who discovered the diffraction of X-rays by crystals, dies at 80
1964 Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist (Nobel Prize 1939 in Physiology or Medicine - first commercially available antibiotic and marketed under the brand name Prontosil), dies at 68
1967 Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut (Voshkod I, Soyuz 1) and the 1st human to die in a space flight, dies in Soyuz 1 at 40
1976 Mark Tobey, US abstract painter, (Broadway Norm), dies at 85
1980 Alenjo Carpentier, Cuban/French writer (Guerra del Tiempo), dies at 75
1985 Sergei Yutkevich, Russian director, (Otello, Banya), dies at 80

1986 Wallis Simpson [Duchess of Windsor], American divorcee whom British King Edward VIII abdicated his throne to marry, dies at 89

1993 Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid politician and co-founder (African National Congress), dies of a stroke at 75

1997 Eugene Stoner, American firearms designer and inventor of the M16, dies of cancer at 74

2004 Estée Lauder, American entrepreneur (Estée Lauder cosmetics), dies of cardiopulmonary arrest at 97

2005 Ezer Weizman, President of Israel (b. 1924)
2005 Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist (b. 1910)
2006 Moshe Teitelbaum, Hassidic rabbi (b. 1914)
2009 John Michell, British writer, (b. 1933)
2011 Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru, spiritual figure (b. 1926)
2012 Nel Ginjaar-Maas, Dutch under-secretary of Education (VVD), dies at 80
2017 Robert M. Pirsig, American author (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance), dies at 88
2017 Benjamin Barber, American political theorist (Jihad vs. McWorld), dies at 77
2017 Agustín Edwards, Chilean media tycoon (El Mercurio), dies at 89
2021 Sarolta Monspart, Hungarian orienteering competitor (first non-Scandinavian female to win World C'ship 1972; 14 x national titles), dies at 76