Deaths
- 685 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
- 1277 – Pope John XXI (b. 1215)
- 1285 – John II of Jerusalem (b. 1259)
- 1444 – Bernardino of Siena, Italian missionary and saint (b. 1380)
- 1503 – Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian banker and politician (b. 1463)
- 1506 – Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, discovered the Americas (b. 1451)
- 1550 – Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1510)
- 1622 – Osman II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1604)
- 1648 – Wladislaus IV of Poland (b. 1595)
- 1677 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (b. 1612)
- 1713 – Thomas Sprat, English writer (b. 1635)
- 1717 – John Trevor, English statesman (b. 1637)
- 1722 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (b. 1669)
- 1732 – Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
- 1782 – William Emerson, English mathematician (b. 1701)
- 1793 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist (b. 1720)
- 1812 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1732)
- 1825 – Papaflessas, Greek priest and politician (b. 1788)
- 1834 – Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, French military officer (b. 1757)
- 1841 – Joseph Blanco White, English theologian (b. 1775)
- 1873 – George-Étienne Cartier, French-Canadian statesman (b. 1814)
- 1880 – Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse (b. 1814)
- 1896 – Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819)
- 1909 – Ernest Hogan, American comedian and composer (b. 1859)
- 1917 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian philatelist (b. 1850)
- 1917 – Valentine Fleming, Scottish politician (b. 1887)
- 1927 – Oscar Stribolt, Danish actor (b. 1872)
- 1931 – Ernest Noel, British businessman and MP (b. 1831)
- 1940 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1859)
- 1946 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish aviation pioneer and engineer (b. 1871)
- 1947 – Philipp Lenard, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1862)
- 1947 – Georgios Siantos, Greek politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (b. 1890)
- 1949 – Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
- 1949 – Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens (b. 1891)
- 1956 – Max Beerbohm, English critic (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1881)
- 1961 – Josef Priller, German nazi military aviator (b. 1915)
- 1964 – Rudy Lewis, American singer (The Drifters) (b. 1936)
- 1971 – Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (b. 1904)
- 1973 – Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945)
- 1975 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (b. 1903)
- 1976 – Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)
- 1976 – Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan politician (b. 1924)
- 1976 – Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (b. 1934)
- 1989 – John Hicks, English economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
- 1992 – Roger Keith Coleman, American coal miner and convicted murder (b. 1958)
- 1996 – Jon Pertwee, English actor (b. 1919)
- 2000 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (b. 1922)
- 2000 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player (b. 1970)
- 2001 – Renato Carosone, Italian pianist and bandleader (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (b. 1941)
- 2005 – Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (b. 1913)
- 2005 – William Seawell, American general (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (b. 1914)
- 2008 – Hamilton Jordan, American politician, 8th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944)
- 2009 – Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect, designed Roy Thomson Hall (b.1924)
- 2009 – Lucy Gordon, English model and actress (b. 1980)
- 2011 – "Macho Man" Randy Savage, American professional wrestler and actor (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Libyan terrorist, conducted the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Bob Bethell, American politician (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Geoffrey Evans, Irish serial killer (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Robin Gibb, English singer-songwriter and musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
- 2012 – Eugene Polley, American engineer, inventor of the first wireless remote control for television (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer, Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs (b. 1958)
Read more about this topic: May 20
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldiers sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)
“You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes,
they waste their deaths on us.”
—C.D. Andrews (19131992)
“This is the 184th Demonstration.
...
What we do is not beautiful
hurts no one makes no one desperate
we do not break the panes of safety glass
stretching between people on the street
and the deaths they hire.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)