On This Day

Deaths in History on July 28

Theodosius IITheodosius II (401-450 AD)

the Younger, Eastern Roman emperor (408-450), dies after a riding accident at 49

Theodosius II
  • 1057 Victor II [Gebhard], Pope (1055-57), dies
  • 1101 Su Tung-p'o, Chinese poet, essayist, painter and calligrapher, dies at 64
  • 1128 William Clito, Count of Flanders (1127-28), dies at 25
  • 1230 Duke Leopold VI of Austria (b. 1176)
  • 1285 Queen Keran of Armenia, consort of Leo III of Armenia
  • 1330 Michael Shishman of Bulgaria [Michael III], Tsar of Bulgaria (1323-30), dies in the Battle of Velbuzd
  • 1527 Rodrigo de Bastidas, Spanish conquistador (founded city of Santa Marta), murdered by some of his men

Thomas CromwellThomas Cromwell (c. 1485-1540)

English chief minister for King Henry VIII, executed for treason and heresy at 54 or 55

Thomas Cromwell
  • 1631 Guillén de Castro y Bellvis, Spanish dramatist (b. 1569)
  • 1655 Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist/novelist, dies at 36 in Paris
  • 1655 Suzuki Shosan, Samurai/monk/propagator of Zen Buddhism, dies at 76
  • 1667 Abraham Cowley, English poet (Mistress/Sex libri plantarum), dies
  • 1675 Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer (b. 1605)
  • 1685 Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, English statesman (b. 1618)
  • 1711 Gerard Lairesse, Dutch painter, buried at 69
  • 1718 Etienne Baluze, French scholar (b. 1630)
  • 1723 Mariana Alcoforado, Portuguese nun, dies at 63
  • 1746 John Peter Zenger, German born journalist and printer working in New York, involved in 1st amendment fight, dies at 48
  • 1762 George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe, English politician (b. 1691)
  • 1793 Hayashi Shihei, Japanese military scholar, dies at 54
  • 1794 Georges Couthon, French politician, beheaded at 39

Maximilien RobespierreMaximilien Robespierre (1758-1794)

French revolutionary (President of the National Convention, Member of Committee of Public Safety), executed by guillotine at 36

Maximilien Robespierre
  • 1811 Heinrich Joseph von Collin, Austria dramatis and /poet (Coriolan), dies at 39
  • 1818 Gaspard Monge, French mathematician (b. 1746)
  • 1835 Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (b. 1768)
  • 1842 Clemens Brentano, German poet and author (The Story of the Just Casper and Fair Annie), dies at 63
  • 1844 Joseph Bonaparte, older brother of Napoleon I and King of Naples and Spain, dies at 76
  • 1849 Charles Albert, King of Sardinia (1831-49), dies at 50
  • 1863 James Deshler, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 30
  • 1864 Samuel Benton, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at about 44
  • 1869 Carl Gustav Carus, German psychologist, philosopher and painter, dies at 80
  • 1869 Jan Evangelista Purkyně, Czech anatomist (b. 1787)
  • 1872 Friedrich Kaiser, Dutch astronomer (Kaiser-Compass), dies at 64
  • 1878 George Law Curry, American newspaper publisher and Governor of Oregon, dies at 58
  • 1895 Edward Beecher, American theologian, dies at 91
  • 1895 Jan Kappeyne van de Coppello, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1877-79), dies at 72
  • 1899 Antonio Guzmán Blanco, Military leader, diplomat and politician, President of Venezuela (1870-77, 1879-84, 1886-87), dies at 70
  • 1904 Vyacheslav von Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, killed by Jewish revolutionaries after a bomb is thrown at his carriage, dies at 58
  • 1907 James Henry Lane, US Brigadier General during Civil War (Confederate) and professor, dies at 74
  • 1915 Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, Haitian rebellion leader, President of Haiti (1915), lynched by a mob at 56
  • 1929 Henry Blake Fuller, American writer and dramatist (The Cliff-Dwellers, Under the Skylights), dies at 72
  • 1930 Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish physician (Nobel Prize 1911), dies at 68
  • 1937 Joseph Lee, American Father of Playgrounds movement, dies at 88
  • 1939 William James Mayo, American surgeon and co-founder (Mayo Clinic in Minnesota), dies at 78
  • 1942 Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (Merneptah Stele, measured the pyramids), dies at 89
  • 1957 Edith Abbott, American social worker and educator (University of Chicago Social Sciences), dies at 80
  • 1960 Enrique Amorim, Uruguayan author (La victoria no viene sola), dies at 60
  • 1965 Edogawa Ranpo, Japanese author (boy detectives club books), dies at 70
  • 1967 Karl W. Richter, American Air Force pilot during Vietnam War (youngest to shoot down a MiG), shot down at 24
  • 1968 Charles William Mayo, American surgeon (Mayo Clinic), dies in a car accident on his 70th birthday
  • 1968 Otto Hahn, German physicist and chemist (Nobel 1944, radiothorium/actinium), dies at 89
  • 1969 Ramón Grau, Cuban politician, 6th and 10th President of Cuba, dies at 87
  • 1971 Charles E. Pont, American artist, dies at 73
  • 1972 Charu Majumdar, Indian revolutionary leader, dies in custody at 53
  • 1976 Jacob Soetendorp, Dutch rabbi, dies at 62
  • 1981 Fr. Stanley Rother, American Roman Catholic priest, martyr and missionary to Guatemala, murdered at 46
  • 1986 Charles Aubroeck, Belgian painter and sculptor (Iron Tower), dies at 91
  • 1987 James Burnham, American philosopher, political theorist and Trotskyist (The Managerial Revolution, Coming Defeat of Communism), dies at 81
  • 1990 Armando Frid, of Argentina (Born May 24, 1866 Guin rec), dies at 124
  • 1990 Bruno Kreisky, Austrian politician (Chancellor, 1970-83; Foreign Minister, 1959-66), dies at 79
  • 1994 Bernard Delfont, Rus/British impresario (Thorn EMI), dies at 84
  • 1994 Colin Turnbull, British-American anthropologist (The Forest People), dies at 69
  • 1994 Selwyn Powell, British magazine editor (The Geographical Magazine; Night & Day), dies at 82
  • 1996 Mickey Fenn, docker/socialist, dies at 58
  • 1996 Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and writer (How to Know Birds), dies at 87
  • 1997 Seni Pramoj, Prime Minister of Thailand (1945-46, 75, 76), dies
  • 1998 Lenny McLean, English bareknuckle fighter (b. 1949)
  • 1998 Zbigniew Herbert, Polish poet and writer, dies at 73
  • 1999 Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and 1989 Nobel laureate for his contributions to econometrics, dies at 87
  • 2000 Abraham Pais, Dutch-born American physicist and historian (b. 1918)

Archer John Porter MartinArcher John Porter Martin (1910-2002)

English chemist and Nobel laureate, dies at 92

Archer John Porter Martin
  • 2003 Lady Valerie Goulding, Irish politician and activist (b. 1918)

Francis CrickFrancis Crick (1916-2004)

English molecular biologist who co-discovered DNA's structure, with James Watson (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1962), dies of colon cancer at 88 [1] [2]

Francis Crick
  • 2004 Tiziano Terzani, Italian journalist (b. 1938)
  • 2005 Ronald MacDonald, British major-general (WWII), dies at 93
  • 2006 David Gemmell, British writer (b. 1948)
  • 2007 Jim LeRoy, Airshow pilot (b. 1961)
  • 2009 Reverend Ike [Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II], American televangelist (Joy of Living), dies at 74
  • 2010 Ivy Bean, English internet celebrity (b. 1905)
  • 2011 Abdul Fatah Younis, Former Libyan Interior Minister, assassinated for pro-Gadaffi ties (b. 1944)
  • 2013 William Scranton, American Republican Party politician and diplomat, dies from a cerebral hemorrhage at 96
  • 2014 Margot Adler, American journalist, dies from endometrial cancer at 68
  • 2015 James Jude, American thoracic surgeon (developed CPR), dies at 87
  • 2016 Mahasweta Devi, Indian Bengali writer and activist, dies at 90
  • 2020 Gisele Halimi, Tunisian-French lawyer, feminist and author, dies at 93


Famous People by Cause of Death

Search the largest, most accurate site for today in history.