Deaths
- 392 – Valentinian II, Roman Emperor (b. 371)
- 913 – Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz (b. 850)
- 1036 – Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (b. 1008)
- 1157 – Yuri Dolgorukiy, Russian prince and founder of Moscow (b. 1099)
- 1174 – Nur ad-Din Zangi, Syrian ruler (b. 1118)
- 1381 – Eppelein von Gailingen, German robber baron (b. 1315)
- 1585 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1535)
- 1591 – Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia (b. 1582)
- 1609 – Giovanni Croce, Italian composer (b. 1557)
- 1634 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
- 1698 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (b. 1642)
- 1699 – Edward Petre, English Jesuit and privy councilor (b. 1631)
- 1700 – John Hale, American pastor (b.1636)
- 1714 – Roger Elliott, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1665)
- 1740 – Ephraim Chambers, English writer and encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
- 1773 – Alban Butler, English priest and writer (b. 1710)
- 1845 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican Head of State (b. 1800)
- 1879 – Gottfried Semper, German architect and educator (b. 1803)
- 1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
- 1924 – Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1852)
- 1928 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (b. 1845)
- 1935 – Kazimir Malevich, Polish-Ukrainian artist (b. 1878)
- 1937 – Phillip Snowden, English politician (b. 1864)
- 1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (b. 1902)
- 1945 – Charles Williams, English writer (b. 1886)
- 1948 – Edward J. Flanagan, American priest, founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
- 1954 – William March, American writer (b. 1893)
- 1956 – Austin Osman Spare, English artist and magician (b. 1886)
- 1964 – Vladko Maček, Croatian politician (b. 1879)
- 1967 – Edward Hopper, American painter (b. 1882)
- 1971 – Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
- 1978 – Robert Menzies, Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
- 1980 – Gordon Prange, American historical author (b. 1910)
- 1982 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
- 1984 – Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
- 1986 – Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
- 1986 – Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
- 1989 – Johnny Green, American songwriter, composer, and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Luc Lacourcière, French-Canadian author and ethnographer (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
- 1991 – Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian writer (b. c. 1900)
- 1991 – Ronald Lacey, English actor (b. 1935)
- 1992 – Barbara Lee, American singer (The Chiffons) (b. 1947)
- 1992 – Jovy Marcelo, Filipino race car driver (b. 1965)
- 1993 – Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
- 1994 – Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1905)
- 1995 – Eric Porter, English actor (b. 1928)
- 1996 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
- 2003 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, musician, dancer, and actress (b. 1929)
- 2003 – George Francis, English gangster (b. 1940)
- 2005 – Alan B. Gold, Canadian chief justice (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Jerry Falwell, American pastor, founded Liberty University (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1955)
- 2008 – Alexander Courage, American composer (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer (b. 1956)
- 2008 – Robert Dunlop, Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1960)
- 2008 – Astrid Zachrison, Swedish super-centenarian (b. 1895)
- 2009 – Bud Tingwell, Australian actor (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 2010 – Besian Idrizaj, Austrian footballer (b. 1987)
- 2010 – Loris Kessel, Swiss race car driver (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Jean Craighead George, American author (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Arno Lustiger, German historian and author (b. 1924)
- 2012 – John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Roy Shaw, English arts administrator (b. 1918)
- 2012 – George Wyllie, Scottish artist (b. 1921)
Read more about this topic: May 15
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (18741963)
“You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes,
they waste their deaths on us.”
—C.D. Andrews (19131992)
“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)