Famous People Who Died Today

The 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield began his career as an attorney. Born into poverty, he struggled throughout his childhood and youth to become a respected lawyer. He eventually entered politics and rose through the ranks to be elected the president. Unfortunately, he was assassinated less than seven months after he took office.

The second son of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, Barron Hilton was initially a skilled photographer and had even learned to fly planes. A sports enthusiast, he had also been the AFL president. A philanthropist, too, he left 97% of his wealth to his own charitable foundation.

Christian preacher Kenneth Erwin Hagin is widely remembered as the father of the modern faith movement. He had an almost-70-year stint with the Christian ministry. The founder of The Word of Faith movement, he popularized it through magazines, CDs, and books of the Faith Library Publications.

Iconic Australian country singer Slim Dusty mirrored the Australian bush life through his songs. His masterpieces include A Pub with No Beer, the first gold-certified Australian track. He earned a record 45 Golden Guitar honors at the Tamworth Country Music Awards but lost his battle with cancer at 76.

Born Dolores L. DeFina, she became Dolores Hope after her marriage to actor and comedian, Bob Hope.  A fine singer and a woman of words, she entertained American overseas soldiers for fifty years, recording her first CD, Dolores Hope: Now and Then, at the age of eighty-three. e.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a Russian rocket scientist. Credited with pioneering astronautic theory, Tsiolkovsky is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of astronautics and modern rocketry. His works served as an inspiration to several other Soviet rocket engineers like Valentin Glushko and Sergei Korolev. Hence, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's work played an influential role in the Soviet space program.

Royal Air Force bomber pilot Guy Gibson was born in India but moved to England at age 6. While he was initially rejected by the RAF for his short stature, he was later accepted. He is best remembered for leading the 1943 Dambusters raid, which damaged two dams of Ruhr.

Étienne Gilson was a French historian of philosophy and philosopher. He also taught history at various universities like the University of Strasbourg, the University of Paris, and Harvard University. Gilson also took part in World War I, serving in the French Army. His efforts in the battle of Verdun earned him the Croix de Guerre for bravery.

Dutch physicist and mathematician Pieter van Musschenbroek is remembered for introducing the principle of the Leyden jar. He also taught at several universities. Born to an instrument maker, he initially studied medicine but later also focused on philosophy. He made pioneering contributions to tribology.

Michael Ancher was a Danish realist artist best remembered for his portrayal of fishermen, lakes, and scenes from the fishing community in Skagen. In 1889, he was honored with the prestigious Eckersberg Medal. Today, many of Michael Ancher's paintings are preserved at the National Gallery of Denmark, Skagens Museum, and Ribe Art Museum.

French mathematician and physicist Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis proposed what is now known as Coriolis force. While teaching at the École Polytechnique, Paris, he extended the scope of kinetic energy. His On the Calculation of Mechanical Action remains his most significant book. His name remains inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

The queen of Sardinia through her marriage to Victor Amadeus III, Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain was also the youngest daughter of Spanish king Philip V. Known for shunning people, except learned intellectuals and politicians, she was also extremely religious. A mother of 12, she lost 3 children in infancy.

Lydia Cabrera was a Cuban independent ethnographer, writer, and literary activist. Cabrera published more than 100 books, including her most important work El Monte, the first major ethnographic study of herbalism, religion, and Afro-Cuban traditions. Lydia Cabrera’s research materials and papers were given to the Cuban Heritage Collection, which is part of the University of Miami's library.

Italian journalist, short-story writer and novelist Italo Calvino, counted among noted Italian fiction writers in the 20th-century, emerged as the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his demise. Notable works of Calvino include novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler; the collection of 12 short stories titled Cosmicomics, and the Our Ancestors trilogy.

George Grey was a British explorer, soldier, writer, and colonial administrator. He served as the 11th Premier of New Zealand from 1877 to 1879. He also served as the Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1854 and again from 1861 to 1868. George Grey's life and career inspired a miniseries titled The Governor.

Theodore of Tarsus, who later became the archbishop of Canterbury, scripted history as the first archbishop to reign over the whole of the English Church. He arranged the first general synod of the English Church and put an end to Celtic practices. He applied the Roman model of a centralized church to England.

Hiroshi Yamauchi was a Japanese businessman best remembered for his service as the president of the popular multinational video game company, Nintendo. Yamauchi joined the company in 1949 and stepped down as the president on 24 May 2002. Hiroshi Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a card-making company to a multibillion-dollar global conglomerate.