On This Day

Deaths in History on May 7

  • 685 Marwan I ibn al-Hakam, 4th kalief of Omajjaden (684-85), dies
  • 973 Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (962-973), dies at 60
  • 1092 Remigius de Fécamp, first bishop of Lincoln (b. unknown)
  • 1166 Willem I, the Bad, king of Sicily (1154-66)
  • 1205 Ladislaus III, Árpád dynasty King of Hungary and Croatia (1204-05), dies at 4 or 5 [exact birthdate uncertain]
  • 1427 Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English churchman
  • 1523 Franz von Sickingen, German knight/protect of poor, dies of wounds at 42
  • 1539 Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer, dies at 73
  • 1617 David Fabricius, German astronomer (discovered variable star), dies at 53
  • 1671 Pieter Stockmans, Flemish chairman of Opperkrijgshof, dies at 62
  • 1673 Johannes Teellinck, Dutch vicar, dies at about 58
  • 1682 Tsar Feodor III of Russia (1676-82), dies at 20
  • 1718 Mary of Modena, Queen of James II of England, dies at 59
  • 1792 Aert Schouman, Dutch bird/portrait painter, dies at 82
  • 1793 Johan Zoutman, Dutch rear admiral who fought at the Battle of Dogger Bank and in the American Revolutionary War, dies at 68
  • 1800 Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel, Dutch Grand Pensionary of Zeeland and Holland (1787-95), dies at 64

William PettyWilliam Petty (1737-1805)

2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1782-83), dies at 68

William Petty
  • 1840 Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (b. 1774)
  • 1863 Amiel Weeks Whipple, US Union gen-major, dies of injuries at 46
  • 1868 Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, dies at 89
  • 1871 Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian political reformer (Patriote movement), dies at 84
  • 1876 Franz Graf von Pocci, German founding director of the Munich Marionette Theatre (Punch and Judy), poet, and illustrator of children's literature (Viola Tricolor: In Picture and Rhyme), dies at 69
  • 1876 William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author (b. 1795)
  • 1884 Judah P. Benjamin, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State and 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, dies at 72
  • 1887 C. F. W. Walther, American Lutheran theologian (b. 1811)
  • 1887 Samuel Cousins, English mezzotint engraver, dies at 85
  • 1890 James Nasmyth, Scottish engineer and inventor of the steam hammer, dies at 81

H. H. HolmesH. H. Holmes (1861-1896)

American serial killer associated with 27 deaths, executed by hanging at 34

H. H. Holmes
  • 1904 Peter Hille, German writer, dies at 49
  • 1915 Alfred Scott Witherbee Jr., American 3 year old who drowned on Lusitania
  • 1915 Charles Frohman, American theatre producer (Peter Pan), dies aboard RMS Lusitania at 58
  • 1925 William Hesketh Lever, First Viscount Leverhulme (b. 1851)
  • 1929 Albert Anselmi, American gangster, murdered by Al Capone
  • 1929 John Scalise, American gangster, murdered by Al Capone
  • 1929 Joseph "Top Toad" Giunta, American gangster, murdered by Al Capone
  • 1932 Albert Thomas, French socialist politician (Minister of Armament WW1), dies at 53
  • 1940 George Lansbury, British politician, Labour Party Leader and pacifist, dies at 81
  • 1941 David Wijnkoop, Dutch revolutionary socialist, dies
  • 1941 James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and folklorist (The Golden Bough), dies at 87
  • 1946 Anton Mussert, Dutch fascist and leader of the Nationalist Socialist Movement, executed for high treason at 51
  • 1956 Josef Hoffmann, Austrian architect (Vienna Secession Movement), dies at 85
  • 1957 Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer who led the German Antarctic expedition of 1911–12, dies at 79
  • 1958 Nyogen Senzaki, 1st Zen teacher to reside in USA, dies at 81
  • 1968 Lurleen Wallace, American politician (46th Governor of Alabama, 1967-68), dies at 41
  • 1971 Willem Banning, Dutch theologist/sociologist (Karl Marx), dies at 83
  • 1983 Peter Edel, writer, dies
  • 1986 Gaston Defferre, French Socialist politician, dies at 75
  • 1987 Stewart McKinney, American politician (Rep-R-CT, 1971-87), dies of AIDS at 56
  • 1994 Clement Greenberg, American art critic (Art & Culture), dies at 85
  • 1994 Margaret Skeete, oldest American, dies at 115
  • 1995 Ernest Harold Martin [Markowitz], American Broadway producer (Feuer & Martin in A Chorus Line), dies at 75
  • 1995 Lawrence Josset, British engraver, dies at 84
  • 1996 Albert Meltzer, British anarchist (Anarchist Black Flag), dies at 76
  • 1996 Henry Diamond, Irish Nationalist MP, dies at 87
  • 1998 Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
  • 2002 Kevyn Aucoin, Makeup Artist and Photographer (b. 1962)
  • 2004 Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)
  • 2004 William J. "Pete" Knight, American astronaut and test pilot (X-15), dies at 74
  • 2005 Peter W. Rodino, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey (1949-89), dies at 95
  • 2006 Joan C. Edwards, American philanthropist (b. 1918)
  • 2006 Richard Carleton, Australian television news journalist, dies of a heart attack, while covering press conference of Beaconsfield Mine collapse, at 62
  • 2007 Octavian Paler, Romanian writer and journalist (b. 1926)
  • 2007 Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader (b. 1935)
  • 2009 David Mellor, English cutlery designer (b. 1930)
  • 2015 Sir Samuel "Sam" Edwards, Welsh physicist (condensed matter physics), dies at 87
  • 2016 Harold Kroto, English chemist, (Nobel Prize laureate 1996), dies at 76
  • 2018 Isyaku Rabiu, Nigerian businessman and Islamic scholar, dies at 92
  • 2018 Jeremy D. Safran, Canadian-born American clinical psychologist, is killed during a burglary
  • 2018 Mikhail German, Russian writer, dies at 85
  • 2018 Miki Muster, Slovenian artist, dies at 92
  • 2018 Tore Torell, Norwegian magician, dies of cancer at 76


Famous People by Cause of Death

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