15 December Deaths

December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 16 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).
933 – Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang
1025 – Basil II, Byzantine emperor (b. 958)
1072 – Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (b. 1029)
1230 – Ottokar I of Bohemia (b. 1155)
1574 – Selim II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1524)
1598 – Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde (b. 1540)
1621 – Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, French courtier, Constable of France (b. 1578)
1673 – Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (b. 1623)
1675 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter and educator (b. 1632)
1683 – Izaak Walton, English author (b. 1593)
1688 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch lawyer and politician (b. 1634)
1715 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
1753 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, designed Chiswick House (b. 1694)
1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish pianist, violinist, and composer (b. 1756)
1812 – Shneur Zalman, Russian rabbi, author and founder of Chabad (b. 1845)
1855 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician and academic (b. 1803)
1878 – Alfred Bird, English chemist and businessman, invented baking powder (b. 1811)
1890 – Sitting Bull, American tribal chief (b. 1831)
1943 – Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1904)
1944 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (b. 1904)
1947 – Arthur Machen, Welsh journalist and author (b. 1863)
1950 – Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of India (b. 1875)
1958 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
1962 – Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1899)
1965 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1903)
1966 – Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, Indian-Scottish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire (b. 1897)
1966 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1901)
1968 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (b. 1899)
1968 – Jess Willard, American boxer and actor (b. 1881)
1969 – Karl Theodor Bleek, German lawyer and politician, 12th Mayor of Marburg (b. 1898)
1971 – Paul Lévy, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1886)
1974 – Anatole Litvak, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1902)
1977 – Wilfred Kitching, English 7th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1893)
1978 – Chill Wills, American actor (b. 1903)
1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (b. 1904)
1985 – Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian physician and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (b. 1900)
1986 – Serge Lifar, Ukrainian-French ballet dancer and choreographer, famous as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century.
1989 – Edward Underdown, English actor and jockey (b. 1908)
1991 – Vasily Zaytsev, Russian captain (b. 1915)
1993 – William Dale Phillips, American chemist and engineer (b. 1925)
2000 – Haris Brkić, Bosnian-Serbian basketball player (b. 1974)
2003 – George Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1923)
2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1947)
2004 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan educator and politician, Speaker of the Nuru Parliament (b. 1943)
2005 – Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician and psychiatrist (b. 1914)
2005 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (b. 1915)
2005 – William Proxmire, American soldier, journalist, and politician (b. 1915)
2005 – Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)
2006 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss race car driver (b. 1939)
2006 – Mary Stolz, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
2007 – Julia Carson, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
2008 – León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian engineer and politician, 46th President of Ecuador (b. 1931)
2009 – Oral Roberts, American evangelist, founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (b. 1918)
2010 – Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2010 – Bob Feller, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1918)
2010 – Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American psychoanalyst and theorist (b. 1940)
2011 – Bob Brookmeyer, American trombone player and composer (b. 1929)
2011 – Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (b. 1949)
2012 – Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (b. 1952)
2012 – Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Nigerian politician, 18th Governor of Kaduna State (b. 1948)
2012 – Olga Zubarry, Argentinian actress (b. 1929)
2013 – Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (b. 1921)
2013 – Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (b. 1917)
2013 – Dyron Nix, American basketball player (b. 1967)
2014 – Donald Metcalf, Australian physiologist and immunologist (b. 1929)
2014 – Fausto Zapata, Mexican journalist, lawyer, and politician, Governor of San Luis Potosí (b. 1940)
2015 – Harry Zvi Tabor, English-Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1917)

Source: Wikipedia