4 December Deaths

December 4 is the 338th day of the year (339th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 27 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).

749 – John of Damascus, Syrian priest and saint (b. 676)
771 – Carloman I, Frankish king (b. 751)
1075 – Anno II, German archbishop and saint (b. 1010)
1131 – Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1048)
1214 – William the Lion, Scottish king (b. 1143)
1270 – Theobald II of Navarre (b. 1238)
1334 – Pope John XXII (b. 1249)
1340 – Henry Burghersh, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1292)
1456 – Charles I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1401)
1459 – Adolphus VIII, Count of Holstein (b. 1401)
1576 – Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian-Slovak mathematician and cartographer (b. 1514)
1585 – John Willock, Scottish minister and reformer (b. 1515)
1609 – Alexander Hume, Scottish poet (b. 1560)
1642 – Cardinal Richelieu, French cardinal and politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1585)
1649 – William Drummond of Hawthornden (b. 1585)
1679 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher and theorist (b. 1588)
1680 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (b. 1616)
1696 – Empress Meishō of Japan (b. 1624)
1732 – John Gay, English poet and playwright (b. 1685)
1798 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1737)
1828 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1770)
1841 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh-English physician and academic (b. 1777)
1845 – Gregor MacGregor, Scottish soldier and explorer (b. 1786)
1850 – William Sturgeon, English physicist, invented the electric motor (b. 1783)
1893 – John Tyndall, Irish-English physicist and chemist (b. 1820)
1897 – Griffith Rhys Jones, Welsh conductor (b. 1834)
1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist and publisher, co-founded the Dow Jones & Company (b. 1851)
1926 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (b. 1861)
1933 – Stefan George, German-Swiss poet and translator (b. 1868)
1935 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1864)
1935 – Charles Richet, French physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
1938 – Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 32nd Yokozuna (b. 1903)
1942 – Juhan Kukk, Estonian politician, 3rd Head of State of Estonia (b. 1885)
1944 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (b. 1879)
1945 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
1948 – Frank Benford, American physicist and engineer (b. 1883)
1955 – József Galamb, Hungarian-American engineer (b. 1881)
1967 – Bert Lahr, American actor (b. 1895)
1969 – Fred Hampton, American activist (b. 1948)
1971 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator, founded the San Francisco Zen Center (b. 1904)
1975 – Hannah Arendt, German-American historian, theorist, and academic (b. 1906)
1976 – Tommy Bolin, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1951)
1976 – Benjamin Britten, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1913)
1976 – W. F. McCoy, Irish soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1886)
1980 – Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Portuguese lawyer and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
1980 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (b. 1911)
1980 – Don Warrington, Canadian football player (b. 1948)
1984 – Jack Mercer, American animator, screenwriter, voice actor, and singer (b. 1910)
1987 – Arnold Lobel, American author and illustrator (b. 1933)
1987 – Rouben Mamoulian, Georgian-American director and screenwriter (b. 1897)
1988 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist and academic (b. 1899)
1992 – Henry Clausen, American lawyer and author (b. 1905)
1993 – Margaret Landon, American missionary and author (b. 1903)
1993 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1940)
1999 – Rose Bird, American academic and judge, 25th Chief Justice of California (b. 1936)
2000 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (b. 1936)
2003 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (b. 1916)
2004 – Mahmut Atalay, Turkish wrestler (b. 1934)
2004 – Teo Peter, Romanian bass player (b. 1954)
2004 – Elena Souliotis, Greek soprano and actress (b. 1943)
2005 – Errol Brathwaite, New Zealand soldier and author (b. 1924)
2005 – Gregg Hoffman, American film producer (b. 1963)
2006 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (b. 1938)
2006 – Ross A. McGinnis, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1987)
2009 – Liam Clancy, Irish singer, actor, and guitarist (b. 1935)
2011 – Sócrates, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1954)
2011 – Hubert Sumlin, American singer and guitarist (b. 1931)
2012 – Vasily Belov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
2012 – Jack Brooks, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1922)
2012 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (b. 1971)
2012 – Anthony Deane-Drummond, English general (b. 1917)
2012 – Carroll E. Lanier, American sailor and politician (b. 1926)
2013 – Joana Raspall i Juanola, Spanish author and poet (b. 1913)
2014 – Claudia Emerson, American poet and academic (b. 1957)
2014 – V. R. Krishna Iyer, Indian lawyer and judge (b. 1914)
2014 – Lynne Kosky, Australian social worker and politician (b. 1958)
2014 – Vincent L. McKusick, American lawyer and judge (b. 1921)
2014 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
2015 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (b. 1932)
2015 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (b. 1930)
2015 – Yossi Sarid, Israeli journalist and politician, 15th Israeli Minister of Education (b. 1940)

Source: Wikipedia