Deaths in History on March 17

45 BC Titus Labienus, Roman leader (Lieutenant of Julius Caesar who later opposed him), killed in the Battle of Munda

Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD)

Emperor of Rome (161-180), dies at 58

461 Saint Patrick, Patron saint of Ireland, dies in Saul (according to legend)
659 Gertrude of Nivelles, Belgian abbess, patron saint of travellers, dies at about 32
1040 Harold Harefoot (Harold I), King of England (1035-40), dies
1058 King Lulach I of Scotland
1199 Jocelin, bishop of Glasgow
1272 Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
1425 Ashikaga Yoshikazu, 5th Japanese shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate, dies at 17
1516 Giuliano de' Medici, ruler of Florence, dies at 37
1565 Alexander Ales [Alesius], Scottish theologian of the school of Augsburg, dies at 64
1588 Petrus Dathenus, Flemish minister/physician (Psalms of David), dies
1605 Pieter Bast [Bastius], Dutch engraver/cartographer, dies at about 34
1640 Philip Massinger, English dramatist, dies (b. 1583)
1649 Gabriel Lallemant, French Jesuit missionary, one of the Canadian Martyrs (b. 1610)
1649 Gerardus Johannis Vossius [Gerrit Vos], Dutch regent, dies at 71
1680 François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, French writer of maxims and memoirs, dies at 66
1704 Menno, Baron van Coehoorn, Dutch military engineer (Coevorden mortar), dies at 63
1713 Juraj Jánošík, Slovak outlaw-highwayman, executed at 25
1715 Gilbert Burnet, Scottish philosopher and Bishop of Salisbury, dies at 71
1741 Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1671)
1764 George Parker, English astronomer, dies
1782 Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician, and physicist (10 time French Award), dies at 82
1796 Pieter Paulus, Dutch Patriot and President of the First National Assembly in The Hague, dies of a serious cold at 42
1806 David Dale, Scottish industrialist & philanthropist (cotton magnate who implemented advanced social and educational conditions), dies at 67
1830 Laurent, 1st Marquis of Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French marshal, dies at 65
1846 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, German astronomer (Bessel Functions), dies at 61
1849 William II, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg, dies at 56

Christian Doppler (1803-1853)

Austrian physicist (Doppler effect), dies at 49

1860 Anna Brownell Jameson, Anglo-Irish historian and writer (Loves of the Poets), dies at 65
1863 John Pelham, U.S. Confederate artillery major, dies in battle at 24
1864 Alexandre Calamo, Swiss painter, etcher and lithographer, dies at 53
1889 Joseph Alberdingk Thijm, Dutch poet (Dietsche Warande), dies at 68
1891 Napoléon JKP Bonaparte, French prince and member of National Convention, dies at 68
1893 Jules Ferry, French statesman, dies at 60
1898 Blanche Kelso Bruce, American politician (Senator-Mississippi, 1875-1881), dies at 57
1901 Franz Melde, German physicist (Melde Test), dies at 69
1906 Carlos Calvo, Argentina diplomat (Calvo Clause), dies at 82
1912 Lawrence "Titus" Oates, British explorer (Antarctica), sacrifices himself during the Terra Nova Expedition at 32
1913 Richard Montgomery Gano, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 82
1915 Walter Crane, English painter, cartoonist and illustrator (The Lady of Shalott), dies at 69
1926 Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general most noted for the development of new offensive tactics used in the 1916 Brusilov Offensive, dies at 72
1941 Joachim Schepke, German commandant (U-100), dies in battle
1946 Dai Li, Chinese spymaster (b. 1897)
1949 Aleksandra Ekster, Russian painter (b. 1882)
1950 Adolf Meyer, American psychiatrist and neurologist (pioneered mental hygiene), dies at 83
1954 Victor Rousseau, Belgian sculptor, dies at 88

Irene Joliot-Curie (1897-1956)

French chemist and physicist (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935) and daughter of Marie Curie, dies of leukemia at 58

Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957)

7th President of the Philippines, dies in a plane crash at 49

1961 Susanna Salter, 1st US female mayor/temperance leader, dies at 101
1962 Wilhelm Blaschke, Austrian integral geometer, dies at 76
1965 Nancy Cunard, British writer and activist, dies at 69
1967 Frank Wisbar, German director (Fireside Theater), dies at 67
1970 Fernand Crommelynck, Belgian playwright (Chaud et Frois), dies at 83
1971 Ernst Bachmeister, German writer, dies at 96
1974 Louis Kahn, Estonian born American architect (Salk Institute), dies at 73
1974 [Robert] Carroll Nye, American actor (Gone With The Wind), dies at 72
1976 Luchino Visconti, Italian director (The Leopard, Death in Venice), dies at 69
1982 Hans ter Laag, Dutch sound technician, murdered in El Salvador
1982 Jan Kuiper, Dutch news editor (IKON), murdered in El Salvador
1982 Joop Willemsen, Dutch cameraman, murdered in El Salvador
1983 Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, (1967 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for work in the eye), dies at 79
1986 John Bagot Glubb, British commandant and writer (A soldier with the Arabs), dies at 88
1987 Santo Trafficante Jr., American gangster (head of the Trafficante crime family in Florida and Cuba), dies at 71
1992 George Lovi, American columnist (Sky & Telescope's "Ramblings"), dies
1993 Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (lived under the rule of 6 monarchs and 24 British Prime Ministers), dies at 115
1993 Laadi Flici, Algerian politician and writer, assassinated at 55
1994 Arthur C. Jacobs, Scottish poet, dies at 57
1994 Charlotte Auerbach, German-Born British geneticist and zoologist, dies at 94
1994 Walter Janka, German writer (Troubles with Truth), dies at 79
1995 Ahmad Khomeini, youngest son of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, dies at 48
1995 Marcus Jan Adriani, Dutch biologist and director (Weevers' Duin), dies at 56
1995 Ronnie Kray, English gangster (The Firm), dies at 61
1996 Bela Szigeti, Hungarian theoretical physicist, dies at 83
1996 Thomas Enders, American diplomat, dies at 64
2002 Luise Rinser, German writer (Prison Journal), dies at 90
2002 Pat Weaver, American broadcast executive (b. 1908)
2003 Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
2005 Andre Norton, American writer (b. 1912)
2005 George F. Kennan, American Cold War strategist and historian (b. 1904)
2006 Oleg Cassini, American fashion designer (for Jackie Kennedy), dies at 92
2007 Jim Cronin, Animal welfare campaigner and founder of Monkey World in Dorset, England. (b. 1951)
2007 John Backus, American computer scientist and inventor (FORTRAN computer language), dies at 82
2008 Roland Arnall, American businessman and U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, dies at 68
2010 Robert Michael White, American test pilot (X-15), dies at 85
2010 Sid Fleischman, American author, and screenplay writer (The Whipping Boy; Blood Alley: The Abracadabra Kid), dies at 90
2012 Chaleo Yoovidhya, Thai co-creator of Red Bull energy drink, dies from natural causes at 88
2012 John Demjanjuk, convicted Nazi war criminal, dies from natural causes at 91
2012 Pope Shenouda III, Egyptian Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, dies from prostate cancer at 88
2013 Jan van Houwelingen, Dutch politician (Undersecretary of Defense (CDA), dies at 73
2014 L'Wren Scott [Laura Bambrough], American fashion designer and partner of Mick Jagger, commits suicide at 49
2016 Paul Daniels, British magician (The Paul Daniels Magic Show), dies at 77
2017 Derek Walcott, Caribbean poet (Omeros), Nobel Prize for Literature 1992, dies at 87
2021 John Magufuli, Tanzanian politician, President of Tanzania (2015-2021), dies in office at 61