December 15 - Deaths

Deaths

• 1025 – Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
• 1072 – Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (b. 1029)
• 1230 – King Otakar I of Bohemia (b. 1155)
• 1263 – King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
• 1598 – Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
• 1621 – Charles d'Albert, Constable of France (b. 1578)
• 1673 – Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
• 1675 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
• 1683 – Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
• 1688 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)
• 1715 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
• 1753 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
• 1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
• 1855 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician (b. 1803)
• 1878 – Alfred Bird, chemist (b. 1811)
• 1890 – Sitting Bull, American Indian tribal chief (b. c. 1831)
• 1943 – Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
• 1944 – Glenn Miller, American musician (presumed date of death) (b. 1904)
• 1947 – Arthur Machen, Welsh author (b. 1863)
• 1950 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian politician (b. 1875)
• 1953 – Robert Stangland, American athlete (b. 1881)
• 1958 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
• 1962 – Charles Laughton, English actor (b. 1899)
• 1966 – Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
• 1968 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician (b. 1899)
• 1968 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)
• 1969 – Karl Theodor Bleek, German politician (b. 1898)
• 1971 – Paul Pierre Lévy, French mathematician (b. 1886)
• 1974 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian screenwriter and film producer (b. 1902)
• 1977 – Wilfred Kitching, American General of The Salvation Army (b. 1893)
• 1978 – Chill Wills, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1980 – Kostas Biris, Greek architect, city planner and folklorist (b. 1899)
• 1980 – Dimitrios Partsalidis, Greek politician (b. 1905)
• 1980 – Komninos Pyromaglou, Greek educator and politician (b. 1899)
• 1984 – Lennard Pearce, English actor (b. 1915)
• 1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian politician (b. 1900)
• 1989 – Arnold Moss, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1989 – Edward Underdown, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1991 – Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, Soviet sniper (b. 1915)
• 1993 – William Dale Phillips, American chemist (b. 1925)
• 2000 – Haris Brkić, Bosnian basketball player (b. 1974)
• 2001 – Russ Haas, American professional wrestler (b. 1974)
• 2001 – Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
• 2003 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1947)
• 2004 – Pauline Gore, mother of Al Gore (b. 1912)
• 2004 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (b. 1943)
• 2005 – Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (b. 1915)
• 2005 – William Proxmire, American politician (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)
• 2005 – Dhabihu'llah Mahrami, executed Iranian Bahá'í (b. 1946)
• 2006 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (b. 1939)
• 2007 – John Berg, American actor (b. 1949)
• 2007 – Julia Carson, American politician (b. 1938)
• 2008 – León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian politician (b. 1931)
• 2009 – Oral Roberts, American television evangelist and author (b. 1918)
• 2010 – Blake Edwards, American film director (b. 1922)
• 2010 – Bob Feller, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• 2010 – Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American political scientist (b. 1940)
• 2011 – Christopher Hitchens, Prolific Columnist (b. 1949)
• 2011 – Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz musician (b.1929)
• 2011 – Francis "Frank" X. McDermott, American Republican Party politician (b.1924)