25 December Deaths

December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.

Deaths

304 – Saint Anastasia
795 – Pope Adrian I (b. 700)
936 – Zhang Jingda, general of Later Tang
940 – Makan ibn Kaki, Iranian general
1147 – Guy II, Count of Ponthieu (b. c. 1120)
1156 – Peter the Venerable, French abbot and saint (b. 1092)
1156 – Sverker the Elder, king of Sweden
1294 – Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania
1395 – Elisabeth, Countess of Neuchâtel, Swiss ruler
1406 – Henry III of Castile (b. 1379)
1505 – George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1454)
1553 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish explorer and politician, 1st Royal Governor of Chile (b. 1500)
1634 – Lettice Knollys, English noblewoman (b. 1540)
1635 – Samuel de Champlain, French soldier, geographer, and explorer (b. 1567)
1676 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire (b. 1592)
1676 – Matthew Hale, English lawyer and jurist, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (b. 1609)
1683 – Kara Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 111th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1634)
1730 – Henry Scott, 1st Earl of Deloraine, Scottish peer and general (b. 1676)
1758 – James Hervey, English priest and author (b. 1714)
1784 – Yosa Buson, Japanese poet and painter (b. 1716)
1796 – Velu Nachiyar, Queen of Sivagangai (b. 1730)
1824 – Barbara von Krüdener, German mystic and author (b. 1764)
1868 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (b. 1821)
1875 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)
1880 – Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss lawyer and politician, President of the Swiss National Council (b. 1828)
1824 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary, later French Army general (b. 1772)
1916 – Albert Chmielowski, Polish saint, founded the Albertine Brothers (b. 1845)
1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1853)
1925 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (b. 1877)
1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan (b. 1879)
1928 – Miles Burke, American boxer (b. 1885)
1930 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian journalist and author (b. 1871)
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalan colonel and politician, 122nd President of Catalonia (b. 1859)
1935 – Paul Bourget, French author and critic (b. 1852)
1938 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (b. 1890)
1940 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)
1941 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
1944 – George Steer, South African-English journalist and author (b. 1909)
1946 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, juggler, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
1947 – Gaspar G. Bacon, American lawyer and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1886)
1949 – Leon Schlesinger, American animator and producer, founded Warner Bros. Cartoons (b. 1884)
1950 – Neil Francis Hawkins, English politician (b. 1903)
1952 – Margrethe Mather, American photographer (b. 1886)
1953 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player and manager (b. 1865)
1953 – William Haselden, British cartoonist (b. 1872)
1956 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1878)
1957 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, founded Pathé Records (b. 1863)
1961 – Owen Brewster, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (b. 1888)
1961 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
1963 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet, playwright, painter, and critic (b. 1896)
1970 – Michael Peto, Hungarian-English photographer and journalist (b. 1908)
1973 – İsmet İnönü, Turkish general and politician, 2nd President of Turkey (b. 1884)
1973 – Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (b. 1880)
1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (b. 1881)
1975 – Gunnar Kangro, Estonian mathematician and author (b. 1913)
1977 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director (b. 1889)
1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress and singer (b. 1906)
1979 – Jordi Bonet, Canadian painter and sculptor (b. 1932)
1980 – Fred Emney, English actor and comedian (b. 1900)
1983 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1893)
1988 – Shōhei Ōoka, Japanese author and critic (b. 1909)
1988 – Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle, English entomologist and lepidopterist (b. 1920)
1989 – Benny Binion, American poker player and businessman (b. 1904)
1989 – Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, First Lady of Romania (b. 1916)
1989 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian general and politician, 1st President of Romania (b. 1918)
1989 – Betty Garde, American actress (b. 1905)
1989 – Frederick F. Houser, American judge and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of California (b. 1905)
1989 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
1989 – Robert Pirosh, American director and screenwriter (b. 1910)
1991 – Wilbur Snyder, American football player and wrestler (b. 1929)
1992 – Monica Dickens, British-American nurse and author (b. 1915)
1993 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (b. 1899)
1994 – Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (b. 1916)
1995 – Emmanuel Levinas, Lithuanian-French philosopher and academic (b. 1906)
1995 – Dean Martin, American singer and actor (b. 1917)
1995 – Chang Kee-ryo, Korean surgeon (b. 1914)
1996 – Bill Hewitt, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1928)
1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, Kazakh mountaineer and explorer (b. 1958)
1997 – Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
2000 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1939)
2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and academic (b. 1908)
2001 – Alfred A. Tomatis, French otolaryngologist and academic (b. 1920)
2003 – Nicholas Mavroules, American politician (b. 1929)
2004 – Gennadi Strekalov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1940)
2005 – Derek Bailey, English guitarist (b. 1930)
2005 – Robert Barbers, Filipino police officer, lawyer, and politician, 15th Filipino Secretary of the Interior (b. 1944)
2005 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (b. 1918)
2005 – Joseph Pararajasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, businessman, and politician (b. 1934)
2006 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
2007 – Des Barrick, English cricketer (b. 1927)
2007 – Jim Beauchamp, American baseball player and coach (b. 1939)
2008 – Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
2009 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1964)
2010 – Carlos Andrés Pérez, Venezuelan politician, 66th President of Venezuela (b. 1922)
2011 – Giorgio Bocca, Italian journalist (b. 1920)
2011 – Jim Sherwood, American saxophonist (b. 1942)
2011 – Simms Taback, American author and illustrator (b. 1932)
2012 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1940)
2012 – Halfdan Hegtun, Norwegian radio host and politician (b. 1918)
2012 – Joe Krivak, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
2012 – Turki bin Sultan, Saudi Arabian politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Şerafettin Elçi, Turkish lawyer, politician, government minister (b. 1938)
2013 – Anthony J. Bryant, American historian and author (b. 1961)
2013 – David R. Harris, English geographer, anthropologist, archaeologist and academic (b. 1930)
2013 – Wayne Harrison, English footballer (b. 1967)
2013 – Mike Hegan, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1942)
2013 – Lola Lange, Canadian rural feminist and appointee to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (b. 1922)[2]
2013 – Mel Mathay, Filipino politician, 8th Mayor of Quezon City (b. 1932)
2014 – Ricardo Porro, Cuban-French architect (b. 1925)
2014 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (b. 1935)
2014 – David Ryall, English actor (b. 1935)
2015 – George Clayton Johnson, American author and screenwriter (b. 1929)
2015 – Dorothy M. Murdock, American author and historian (b. 1961)
2016 – Valery Khalilov, Russian military musician and composer (b. 1952)
2016 – George Michael, British singer and songwriter (b. 1963)
2016 – Vera Rubin, American astronomer (b. 1928)
2017 – D. Herbert Lipson, American magazine publisher (Philadelphia, Boston)

Source: wikipedia