Deaths in History on July 31

Aurelia Cotta (120-54 BC)

mother of Julius Caesar, dies at 66

450 Petrus Chrysologus, Emilia-Romagnan priest (1st archbishop of Ravenna, 433-50), Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint, dies at about 44 [birthdate uncertain]
855 Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim Jurisprudent (b. 780)
1358 Etienne Marcel, French textile merchant/reformer/Boer leader, dies
1396 William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)
1508 Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1494)
1556 Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest, theologian and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) religious order, dies in Rome at about 65
1566 Bartholome de Casas, Spanish historian/bishop of Chiapa, dies at 92
1638 Sybilla Schwarz, German baroque poet, dies at 17
1648 Benedictus J van Haeften, poet (Regia thru Crucis), dies at about 60
1653 Thomas Dudley, British colonial governor of Massachusetts, dies at 76
1693 Willem Kalf, Dutch 'Golden Age' painter (Still life with nautilus beaker and porcelain lidded bowl), dies at 73 or 74 [exact birthday in 1619, unknown]
1726 Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
1750 John V, King of Portugal (1706-50), dies at 60
1763 James Kent, Fredericksburgh NY, legal scholar (Columbia), dies

Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

French enlightenment philosopher (Encyclopédie), dies at 70

1795 Basílio da Gama, Portuguese poet (O Uraguai), dies at 54
1805 Dheera Chinnamalai, Indian Polygar (governor) and freedom fighter, executed by the British at 49
1849 Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet (A virágnak megtiltani nem lehet - You Cannot Forbid the Flower), and revolutionary, last seen alive at the Battle of Segesvár (Transylvania), presumed killed in action at 26
1854 Samuel Wilson, American meat packer and possible namesake of Uncle Sam, dies at 87
1864 Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (Librairie Hachette), dies at 64
1871 Phoebe Cary, American poet (Poems of Alice & Phoebe Cary), dies at 46

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)

17th US President (Unionist: 1865-69), dies of a stroke at 66

1891 Jean-Baptist Capronnier, French-Belgian glass painter, dies at 77
1895 Richard Morris Hunt, American architect and educator, dies at 67
1913 John Milne, British geologist (developed the first modern seismograph), dies of Bright's disease at 62
1914 A J Jean Jaurès, French socialist (L'Humanité/Les Preuves), murdered=
1917 Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
1917 Hedd Wyn, Welsh poet (b. 1887)

Charles E. Hires (1851-1937)

American pharmacist, inventor and manufacturer of the Hires Root Beer beverage, dies at 85

1940 Whitey Krakow [or Krakower], American gangster and hitman (Murder Inc), murdered by "Bugsy" Siegel
1942 Francis Younghusband, British journalist and explorer (1904 British expedition to Tibet), dies at 79
1944 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, poet and pioneering aviator (The Little Prince), dies during a reconnaissance mission at 44
1951 J. Van Oudshoorn [Jan Koos Feylbrief], Dutch writer (Maze of Sentences), dies at 74
1953 Robert A. Taft, American politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), dies at 63
1958 Eino Kaila, Finnish psychologist and philosopher, dies at 67
1966 Alex von Falkenhausen, German general (China, WW II), dies at 87
1967 Margaret Kennedy, English novelist (The Constant Nymph), dies at 71
1967 Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist (Nobel 1938-work on carotenoids and vitamins), dies at 66
1972 Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, Secretary-General of NATO, 1957-61), dies at 73
1977 Stacy Moskowitz, shot to death by Son of Sam, at 20
1981 Gen Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama, dies in plane crash
1985 Eugene Carson Blake, US Secretary-General of World Council of Churches (1966-72), dies at 78
1986 Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)
1990 Fernando Sancho, dies after operation for malignant tumor at 72
1992 G Harold Carswell, supreme court justice candidate 1970, dies at 72
1992 Sjoerd de Free, reporter (Radio Herrijzend Netherland), dies
1993 Baudouin I, King of Belgium (1951-93), dies from heart issues at 62
1993 George Keyt, Sri Lankan painter, dies at 92
1993 Paul Henry, US Republicans Congressional leader, dies at 51
1994 Caitlin Thomas (née Macnamara), British author (Leftover Life to Kill) and the wife of the poet and writer Dylan Thomas, dies at 80
1994 G de Ru, chairman of Dutch Reformed Synode, dies
1994 Pieter C Buitendijk, co-founder (Free Netherlands), dies at 92
1996 Joan Warburton, Scottish painter, dies at 76
1996 Michael Jinks, child care pioneer, dies at 59
1997 Edith Fore, pitchwoman (I've fallen and I can't get up!), dies at 81
1997 Ulrich Ernst Simon, German-Jewish Anglican theologian, dies at 63
1998 Serge Golovine, French ballet choreographer (Death of Narcissus), dies at 73
2000 Hendrik Christoffel Van de Hulst, Dutch astronomer (correctly predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyper-fine line of neutral atomic hydrogen in interstellar space), dies at 81
2001 Fanny Leys, Flemish author (Ontwijding), dies at 95
2001 Francisco da Costa Gomes, President of Portugal’s ruling military junta (1974-76), dies at 87
2001 Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1910)
2001 Poul Anderson, American science-fiction and fantasy author, winner of 7 Hugo and 3 Nebula Awards (The Sharing of Flesh; Mirkheim; After Doomsday), dies of prostate cancer at 74
2002 Jerome Beatty Jr., American author of children's literature (Matthew and Maria Looney books), dies at 85
2003 Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)
2005 Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker (b. 1935)
2010 Mitch Miller, American oboist and recording producer (Sing Along with Mitch), dies at 99
2012 Gore Vidal, American author (Myra Breckinridge; Lincoln), dies from pneumonia at 86
2016 Seymour Papert, South African mathematician, dies at 88
2019 V. G. Siddhartha, Indian coffee entrepreneur (Café Coffee Day), found dead at 60
2020 Alan Parker, English director (Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express), dies at 76 [1]
2022 Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and 12th President of the Philippines (1992-98), dies at 94
2022 Mo Ostin [Ostrofsky], American record company executive (Verve; Reprise; Warner Bros,; Dreamworks), dies at 95