Saint Nicholas (270-343 AD)
Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus, dies at 73 traditional date of death
- 1185 Afonso I the Conqueror, King of Portugal (1143-85), dies at 76
- 1352 Clement VI [Pierre Roger], Pope (1342-52), dies
- 1531 John Volkertsz Trimaker, Dutch anabaptist leader, beheaded
- 1550 Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter, dies at 48
- 1562 Jan van Scorel, Dutch painter and architect, dies at 67
- 1598 Elbertus Leoninus, Dutch lawyer/politician, dies at about 78
- 1618 Jacques Davy Duperron, French Roman Catholic cardinal, dies at 62
- 1640 Matthijs Elsevier, Flemish/Dutch book publisher/merchant, dies at 75
- 1651 Anna Roemers Visscher, Dutch poet, dies at 68
- 1658 Baltasar Gracian, Spanish writer, dies at 57
- 1686 Eleonora Gonzaga, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (1651-57), dies at 56
- 1718 Nicholas Rowe, English poet and dramatist (Tamerlane) Poet Laureate (1715-18), dies at 45
- 1771 Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (b. 1682)
- 1779 Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter, dies at 80
- 1788 Jonathan Shipley, British bishop and politician (b. 1714)
- 1793 Marie Jeanne Becu, Comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV, beheaded at 50
- 1799 Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat and carbon dioxide, dies at 71
- 1834 Jonas Daniel Meyer, Dutch lawyer, dies at 54
- 1855 William John Swainson, English naturalist and artist, dies at 66
- 1867 Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist, dies at 73
- 1868 August Schleicher, German linguist (b. 1821)
- 1869 Jan de Liefde II, Dutch vicar and author (set up For the Welfare of the People organization), dies at 54
- 1873 Manuel Acuña, Mexican poet (Ante un Cadaver), dies at 24
- 1879 Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor of weaving machine, dies at 65
- 1882 Alfred Escher, Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur (b. 1819)
- 1882 Anthony Trollope, English novelist and poet (Barchester Towers), dies at 67
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889)
President of the Confederate States of America (1861-65), dies at 81
Werner von Siemens (1816-1892)
German inventor (siemens electrical conductance unit) and industrialist (Siemens corporation), dies at 75
- 1914 Eduard Jacobs, Dutch cabaret artist, dies at 47
- 1925 Dat So la Lee "Dabuda" or Louise Keyser, Native American (Washoe) basket weaver dies aged about 96
- 1934 Duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, dies at 71
- 1941 Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message), dies at 66
- 1943 Firmin Baes, Flemish painter, dies at 69
- 1951 Harold Ross, American magazine editor and co-founded The New Yorker, dies at 59
- 1953 Konstanty I Galczynski, Polish poet (Zielona Ges), dies at 48
B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956)
Indian politician, jurist (architect of the Constitution of India) and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement, dies after suffering from diabetes at 65
- 1957 Robert Esnault-Pelterie, French engineer and aviation pioneer who contributed to early heavier-than-air flight in Europe, dies at 76
- 1961 Frantz Fanon, West Indian psychiatrist and philosopher (The Wretched of the Earth), dies of leukemia at 36
- 1963 Jozef Goossenaerts, Flem philologist (Language Boundary), dies at 81
- 1964 Consuelo Vanderbilt (b. 1877)
- 1965 Alberto Vaccari, Italian jesuit/old testament scholar, dies at 90
- 1970 Thomas S Power, American USAF-gen (Raid on Tokyo-March 1945), dies at 65
- 1971 Jan Altink, Dutch painter/co-founder (Plough), dies at 86
- 1974 Nikolay Kuznetsov, Russian naval commander (Admiral of the Fleet during World War II), dies at 70
- 1976 João Goulart, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- 1985 Burr Tillstrom, American puppeteer (Kukla Fran & Ollie), dies at 68
- 1986 Malik Oussekine, Algerian/French student, killed by police at 22
Tunku Abdul Rahman (1903-1990)
Malaysia's founding father, 1st Prime Minister of Malaya (1957-63) and Malaysia (1963-70), dies at 87
- 1993 Desmond Barel Hirshfield, Lord Hirshfield, British chartered accountant, dies at 80
- 1993 Prof Wolfgang Paul, German physicist (Nobel 1989), dies at 80
- 1993 Rouaz Lakhdar, Algerian supreme court justice, murdered
- 1994 AJ Bronkhorst, vicar/theologist (Reform The Netherlands), dies at 80
- 1995 Dmitri Volkogonov, Russian historian (biographies of Stalin and Lenin) and colonel general, dies at 67
- 1995 James Reston, American journalist (New York Times), dies at 86
- 1995 John Trevor Key, British photographer, dies of a brain tumor at 48
- 1995 Leslie Wilkinson, journalist, dies at 97
- 1996 Bryan Clieve Roberts, English lawyer and colonial administrator (instrumental in Malawi transition to independence), dies at 83
- 1997 Eddie Myers, British WWII soldier and engineer, dies at 91
- 1998 César Baldaccini, French sculptor, dies at 77
- 2002 Philip Berrigan, American peace activist and Roman Catholic priest, dies at 79
- 2003 Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (b. 1918)
- 2004 Raymond Goethals, Belgian football coach (b. 1921)
- 2005 Devan Nair, Singaporean politician, 3rd President of Singapore (1981-85), dies at 82
- 2006 John Feeney, Documentary film-director (b. 1922)
- 2010 Mark Dailey, Canadian television journalist and announcer (b. 1953)
- 2017 William H. Gass, American novelist and philosopher (Omensetter's Luck), dies at 93
- 2020 Paul Sarbanes, American politician (Senator-D-MD, 1977-2007, sponsored Sarbanes–Oxley Act), dies at 87
- 2020 Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan politician and physician, President of Uruguay (2005-10, 2015-20), dies at 80 [1]
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide