May 21 - Deaths

Deaths

987 – Louis V of France (b. 967)
1237 – Olaf the Black, King of Mann and the Isles
1254 – Conrad IV of Germany (b. 1228)
1471 – Henry VI of England (b. 1421)
1481 – Christian I of Denmark (b. 1426)
1512 – Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (b. 1452)
1524 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier (b. 1443)
1542 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer, first person to cross the Mississippi River (b. 1496 or 1497)
1607 – John Rainolds, English scholar (b. 1549)
1639 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian (b. 1568)
1647 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet (b. 1581)
1650 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish nobleman and soldier (b. 1612)
1664 – Elizabeth Poole, English-American settler and founder of Taunton, Massachusetts (b. 1588)
1670 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1586)
1686 – Otto von Guericke, German scientist (b. 1602)
1690 – John Eliot, English missionary (b. 1604)
1719 – Pierre Poiret, French mystic (b. 1646)
1724 – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, English statesman (b. 1661)
1742 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
1771 – Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)
1786 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (b. 1742)
1790 – Thomas Warton, English poet (b. 1728)
1844 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (b. 1775)
1862 – John Drew, Irish-American actor (b. 1827)
1879 – Arturo Prat, Chilean naval officer (b. 1848)
1894 – Émile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
1894 – August Kundt, German physicist (b. 1839)
1895 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (b. 1819)
1901 – Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (b. 1874)
1911 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish astronomer (b. 1857)
1915 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (b. 1875)
1919 – Yevgraf Fyodorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1853)
1920 – Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (b. 1859)
1925 – Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese scientist, guardian of Hachikō (b. 1871)
1929 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English statesman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
1932 – Marcel Jacques Boulenger, French author and fencer (b. 1873)
1935 – Jane Addams, American social worker, activist, and author, co-founder of Hull House, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1860)
1949 – Klaus Mann, German writer (b. 1906)
1952 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
1956 – Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (b. 1877)
1957 – Alexander Vertinsky, Russian actor, singer, composer, and poet (b. 1889)
1964 – James Franck, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
1965 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English aircraft designer and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (b. 1882)
1970 – E. L. Grant Watson, English biologist and writer (b. 1885)
1973 – Vaughn Monroe, American baritone singer, trumpeter, bandleader, and actor (b. 1911)
1981 – Raymond McCreesh, Irish activist (b. 1957)
1981 – Patsy O'Hara, Irish activist (b. 1957)
1983 – Kenneth Clark, English historian (b. 1903)
1984 – Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)
1988 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (b. 1900)
1991 – Lino Brocka, Filipino director (b. 1939)
1991 – Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
1995 – Les Aspin, American politician (b. 1938)
1996 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Zahara) (b. 1957)
1996 – Lash LaRue, American actor (b. 1917)
1999 – Bugz, American rapper (D12) (b. 1979)
2000 – Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
2000 – John Gielgud, English actor (b. 1904)
2000 – Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founder of Herbalife (b. 1956)
2002 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist and filmmaker (b. 1930)
2003 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentine-Italian race car driver and industrialist (b. 1928)
2003 – Frank D. White, American politician (b. 1933)
2005 – Howard Morris, American actor and director (b. 1919)
2006 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver (b. 1987)
2006 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer, director, educator, and author (b. 1909)
2006 – Cherd Songsri, Thai director (b. 1931)
2006 – Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
2012 – Constantine of Irinoupolis, American-Ukrainian bishop (b. 1936)
2012 – Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1941)
2012 – Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (b. 1903)
2012 – Roman Dumbadze, Georgian military commander (b. 1964)
2012 – Ezell Lee, American politician (b. 1938)
2012 – Juan Manuel Montero Vázquez, Spanish military surgeon (b. 1947)
2012 – Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (b. 1950)
2012 – Bill Stewart, American football coach (b. 1952)
2012 – Rodolfo Félix Valdés, Mexican politician, Governor of Sonora (b. 1926)

Famous quotes containing the word deaths:

“Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet death—that is, they attempt suicide—twice as often as men, though men are more “successful” because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
—Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)

“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)

“As deaths have accumulated I have begun to think of life and death as a set of balance scales. When one is young, the scale is heavily tipped toward the living. With the first death, the first consciousness of death, the counter scale begins to fall. Death by death, the scales shift weight until what was unthinkable becomes merely a matter of gravity and the fall into death becomes an easy step.”
—Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946)