- 449 Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople
- 897 Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona
- 1171 Louis I, Earl of Wage/Rieneck, dies
- 1180 Guillaume de/Willem van Sens, Fren master builder (Canterbury), dies
- 1183 Christian I, archbishop of Mainz, dies
- 1204 King Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199)
- 1253 Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi and founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (the Poor Clares), dies at 59
- 1394 Jan III, mister of Polanen, dies
- 1456 Janos Hunyadi, Hungarian general strategist, dies at about 49
- 1464 Nicholas van Cusa, philosopher/bishop of Brixen, dies
- 1490 Frans van Brederode, Dutch rebel (Hook faction), dies in prison at about 25
- 1494 Hans Memling [John Memlinc], Flemish painter (Passietaferelen), dies
- 1519 Johann Tetzel, Dominican monk, dies at about 79
- 1522 Martin Siebenborger, mayor of Vienna, beheaded
- 1578 Pedro Nunes [Nonius], Port mathematician/astronomer (nonius), dies
- 1589 Maarten Schenck van Nideggen, lt col (80 year war), dies at about 49
- 1596 Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare (b. 1585)
- 1614 Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter, dies at 61
- 1656 Prince Ottavio Piccolomini, Italian nobleman, Duke of Amalfi, and field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at 56
- 1774 Tiphaigne de la Roche, French writer (b. 1722)
- 1813 Henry James Pye, English poet, British Poet Laureate (1790-1813), dies at 68
- 1844 Jernej Kopitar, Slovene philologist and linguist (Slavic Grammatica), dies at 63
- 1851 Lorenz Oken, German naturalist, dies at 72
- 1852 Nicolaas Plomp, Dutch architect (Strugle), dies at 70
- 1854 Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist (radiant light), dies at 56
- 1860 James Wilson, politician
- 1868 Thaddeus Stevens, US Radical Republican congressional leader (Rep-R-Pennsylvania 1849-53 1859-68), dies at 76
- 1886 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
- 1890 John Henry Newman, British thologian (Tract 90), educator, poet (Dream of Gerontius), Anglican priest, Catholic priest, cardinal and saint, dies of pneumonia at 89
- 1892 Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician (b. 1813)
- 1901 Francesco Crispi, Italian statesman, dies at 82
- 1903 Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist, dies at 64
- 1908 Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
Scottish-American industrialist, steel tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest Americans ever, dies of bronchial pneumonia at 83
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
American Pulitzer prize-winning novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth), dies at 75
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
American expressionist painter (Lavender Mist), dies at 44 in a car accident in East Hampton
- 1966 Frank Nelson, English politician and civil servant (head of the Special Operations Executive, 1940-42), dies at 83
- 1968 Lucien Cerfaux, Belgian New Testament scholar, dies at 85
- 1972 Max Theiler, South African-American virologist who developed vaccine for Yellow Fever (Nobel Prize 1951), dies at 73
- 1972 Rose Schneiderman, American socialist, feminist, trade union leader and secretary of labor for New York State (1937-44), dies at 90
- 1975 Anthony McAuliffe, American general and commander of the 101st Airborne Division celebrated for his reply of "Nuts!" to a German surrender ultimatum, dies at 77
- 1976 Robert L. May, American advertising copy writer and creator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, dies at 71
- 1977 John Howard Lawson, American scriptwriter and playwright (Blockade, Algiers, Sahara), dies at 82
- 1980 Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910)
- 1984 Alfred A Knopf, American publisher (1966 Alexander Hamilton Medal), dies at 91
- 1987 Clara Peller, Russian-American manicurist and commercial spokesperson (Wendy's - "Where's the beef?"), dies of congestive heart failure at 85
- 1988 Pauline Lafont, daughter of Bernadette, dies in hiking accident at 25
- 1991 Jef Contryn, Flemish pioneer puppet theatre, dies at 89
- 1994 Gordon Cullen, architect, dies at 80
- 1995 Alonzo Church, American mathematician whose work provided foundation for computer science, dies at 92
- 1995 Douglas John Gorman, British businessman (Chairman of CMG (Computer Management Group)), dies at 58
- 1996 Sigmund Koch, psychologist/philosopher, dies at 79
- 2002 Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountain climber (b. 1940)
- 2003 Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
- 2003 Diana Mitford, English biographer, famous beauty, wife of Oswald Mosley and one of the Mitford sisters, dies at 93
- 2010 Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (Rep-D-Il, 1959-94), convicted of mail fraud, dies at 82
- 2010 Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Scottish Conservative politician (1959-2001), dies at 86
- 2015 Serge Collot, French violist (Paris Opera, 1957-86; Le Trio à Cordes Français, 1960-92), and music educator (Conservatoire de Paris, 1969-89), dies at 91
V. S. Naipaul (1932-2018)
Trinidadian-British writer (In a Free State, Middle Passage), dies at 85