Deaths in History on May 2

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary, dies at 67

1564 Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (b. 1500)
1567 Marin Drzic, Croatian playwright (Dundo Maroje), dies
1667 George Wither, English writer (Abuses Stript and Whipt), dies at 78
1669 Pieter Jansz Post, master builder (Waag, Gouda), dies at 61
1683 Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and scientist (b. 1613)
1685 Adriaen van Ostade, Dutch painter, buried
1711 Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (b. 1641)
1727 Paul Aler, French jesuit and poet (Gradus ad Parnassum), dies at 70
1736 Albert Seba, Amsterdam pharmacist, dies at 71
1810 Henry Jerome de Salis, English churchman, dies at 69
1818 Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch military leader (Brigadier-General) and politician (Governor-General of Dutch-East Indies, 1808-11; Governor-General of Dutch Gold Coast, 1811-15), dies at 55
1819 Mary Moser, English painter (Flowers Still Life), dies at 74
1844 William Beckford, British writer (Epsiodes of Vathek), dies at 83
1845 August Pauly, German writer (Real Encyclopedia), dies at 48
1849 David H Chasse, baron/gen (fought Napoleon at Waterloo), dies at 84
1857 Alfred de Musset, French poet (Lesson caprices Marianne), dies at 46
1859 Eliza Courtney, English illegitimate daughter of Charles Grey and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, dies at 67
1898 Charles C. Walcutt, American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, dies of an old war wound at 60
1915 Clara Immerwahr, German chemist, first woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry in Germany, dies at 44
1919 Gustav Landauer, German socialist, dies
1922 Richard T. Greener, African-American pioneering scholar and diplomat who was Harvard College's 1st Black graduate, University of South Carolina 1st Black professor and America's 1st Black diplomat to a white country, dies of natural causes at 78 [1]
1927 Ernest Starling, British physiologist (Frank–Starling law of the heart), dies at 61
1934 Sergey Lebedev, Russian chemist, inventor of first commercially viable, mass-produced polybutadiene synthetic rubber for tires, and synthetic motor oil for aircraft engines, dies at 59
1945 Ludwig Stumpfegger, German SS doctor and Hitler's personal surgeon commits suicide at 34

Martin Bormann (1900-1945)

German Nazi leader (Hitler's secretary, chief of the Party Chancellery), most likely commits suicide on this date at 44 [remains identified in 1972]

1947 Dorothea Binz, German Nazi war criminal (Ravensbrück concentration camp), executed by hanging for her crimes at 27
1947 William Moulton Marston, American psychologist (inventor of an early prototype of the lie detector) and writer (co-creator, Wonder Woman), dies at 53

Joseph McCarthy (1909-1957)

American Senator (Rep - Wisconsin) who claimed communists infiltrated the US government, dies of acute hepatitis, exacerbated by chronic alcohol abuse at 48

1958 Alfred Weber, German economist and sociologist, dies at 89
1960 Caryl Chessman, American kidnapper and rapist, executed in gas chamber at San Quentin (California) State Prison after 12 years of appeals at 38
1963 Van Wyck Brooks, American historian (Ordeal of Mark Twain), dies at 77

Nancy Astor (1879-1964)

American born British politician, 1st female MP in UK House of Commons, dies at 84

1968 Donald L Hall, American airplane designer (Spirit of St Louis), dies at 69

Franz von Papen (1879-1969)

German diplomat and chancellor (1932), dies at 89

1972 Hugo Hartung, writer, dies at 69

J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972)

American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72), dies at 77

1979 Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1980 Alioune Diop, Senegalese writer & editor (Présence africaine), dies at 70
1983 Marius Duintjer, Dutch architect (Kolenkit), dies at 74
1984 Jack Barry, american game show emcee (Joker's Wild), dies of cardiac arrest at 66
1984 Piet van Aken, Flemish writer (Klinkaart, Het begeren), dies at 64
1985 Bridget D'Oyly Carte, British theater & hotel director, dies of lung cancer at 77
1985 Milton S Eisenhower, US diplomat, dies at 85
1989 Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic Cardinal (b. 1906)
1989 Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (b. 1902)
1990 Oleg Anatolyevich Yakovlev, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 49
1991 Hal Bell, dies at 65
1991 Leib Lensky, dies at 82
1991 Ronald McKie, Australian author (The Mango Tree), dies at 81
1992 Lee Salk, Russian-American child psychologist and author, dies of cardiac arrest at 65
1992 Wilbur Mills, American congressmen (Democrat-AZ: 1939-77), famous for his involvement in a sex scandal with Fanne Foxe, dies at 82
1993 Julio Gallo, American wine maker (Gallo), dies in a car accident at 83
1993 Will Weng, Sunday Times crossword puzzle editor (1968-78), dies at 86
1994 Louis Calaferte, writer (Requiem of the Innocents), dies at 65
1994 Wilson Charles Geoffrey Baldwin, hero, dies at 75
1996 Arthur Leslie Noel Douglas Houghton, civil servant, dies at 97
1996 Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer (The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist), dies at 73
1997 Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher (critical pedagogy), dies at 75
1997 Queen Mother Moore, African-American civil rights activist and humanitarian, dies at 98
2002 W. T. Tutte, English-born codebreaker (b. 1917)
2004 John MacKenzie, Scottish-Canadian bagpiper and pipe-major, dies at 83 [1]
2005 Kenneth Bancroft Clark, American civil rights activist (Dark Ghetto) and first black president of the American Psychological Association, dies at 90
2005 Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
2006 Louis Rukeyser, American columnist (b. 1933)
2009 Marilyn French, American author (The Women's Room), dies at 79

Osama bin Laden (1957-2011)

Islamic militant and founder of al-Qaeda, shot and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by navy seals during Operation Neptune Spear at 54

2014 Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (77 Sunset Strip; Scruples; The F.B.I.), dies at 95
2015 Ruth Rendell, English thriller writer (Inspector Wexford novels), dies at 85
2016 Afeni Shakur, mother of Tupac Shakur, Black Panther Party member, dies at 69
2017 Abelardo Castillo, Argentine writer and novelist, dies at 82
2017 Leo Thorsness, American Vietnam War pilot (Medal of Honor), dies at 85
2018 Chris Walsh, American politician (Massachusetts House of Representatives, 2010–2018), dies of lymphoma at 66
2018 Dick Edell, American lacrosse coach (Maryland Terrapins), dies at 74 of pneumonia
2018 Gord Brown, Canadian politician (MP, 2004–2018), dies of a heart attack at 57
2018 Harald Range, German jurist (Attorney General, 2011–2015), dies at 70
2018 James Thorp, American electrical engineer, dies at 81
2018 Katherine O'Regan, New Zealand politician (MP for Waipa, 1984–1996; list MP, 1996–1999), dies of cancer at 71
2018 Kottayam Pushpanath, Indian author, dies at 80
2018 Paul Dick, Canadian politician, dies at 77 of a heart attack
2018 Sir Keith Williamson, British air force commander (Chief of the Air Staff, 1982–1985), dies at 90