Famous People Who Died Today

Romantic Era virtuoso pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, nicknamed The Poet of the Piano, is remembered as the inventor of the instrumental ballade. The legendary composer mostly created solo piano masterpieces but also experimented with piano concertos and chamber pieces. He was influenced by Bach, Mozart, and Polish folk music.

J. Bruce Ismay was an English businessman. He served as managing director and chairman of the popular shipping company White Star Line, which operated the ill-fated passenger liner RMS Titanic. In 1912, Ismay was subjected to severe criticism after surviving the sinking of the Titanic. In the 1997 film Titanic, J. Bruce Ismay was played by actor Jonathan Hyde.

Best known for her title role in the Emmanuelle series of soft-core erotica, Dutch actor Sylvia Kristel ran away from her strict Calvinist home in Utrecht to Amsterdam, where she took up odd jobs. She began modeling at 17 and won a couple of beauty pageants, before stepping into films full-time.

Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who is credited with coining the term black-body radiation. He is best remembered for his contribution to the basic understanding of spectroscopy, electrical circuits, and the emanation of black-body radiation. In 1862, he received the prestigious Rumford Medal. The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Award is named after Gustav Kirchhoff and German chemist Robert Bunsen.

Masaru Emoto was a Japanese author, businessman, and pseudo-scientist. He is best remembered for his New York Times bestseller book The Hidden Messages in Water in which he claimed that thought can influence the molecular structure of water. He also served as the president emeritus of a non-profit organization called International Water For Life Foundation.

Canadian women’s rights activist Emily Murphy was part of The Famous Five, a group of women activists who launched the Persons Case to make women eligible to be part of the Senate. Murphy also served as the first police magistrate in Canada and the British Empire.

Cleo de Merode was a French dancer whose glamor overshadowed her dancing skills. Often referred to as the first modern celebrity and the first real celebrity icon, de Mérode was also the first female public figure whose pictures were distributed worldwide. She is also remembered for her sculpture La Danseuse which was sculpted from a plaster cast of her body.

Natalya Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde painter, writer, illustrator, costume designer, and set designer. A member of avant-garde groups like Jack of Diamonds and Donkey's Tail, Goncharova influenced several unconventional artists in Russia and Paris. Goncharova also had a successful career as a costume designer; she designed costumes for the Ballets Russes.

Serbian prince George was the older brother of Alexander I, the king of Yugoslavia. While he had to give up his claim to the throne for murdering his servant, he later served the army. Locked up and declared insane by his brother, he was freed by Germans during World War II.

Lalon, also known as Lalon Fakir, or Lalon Shah, was an iconic Baul saint, considered a symbol of Bengali culture. Since his poems and songs belonged to the oral tradition, they weren’t published during his lifetime. Eventually, Rabindranath Tagore published about 200 songs from one of Lalon’s manuscripts.

Jean Améry went from being a prisoner at the Auschwitz labor camp to being one of the finest essayists of the post-war era. His best-known work, At the Mind's Limits, depicts his experiences during World War II. He eventually committed suicide by consuming sleeping pills in a Salzburg hotel.

Iconic Bulgarian poet and playwright Peyo Yavorov pioneered the Bulgarian symbolist movement. He was also a major figure of the Macedonian uprising against the Ottoman rule. His initial works had a sociopolitical theme, but he later ditched realism. He was 36 when he committed suicide by consuming poison and then shooting himself.

Orest Kiprensky was a Russian portraitist best remembered for his portrait of Russian poet and playwright, Alexander Pushkin. Renowned for his association with Romanticism, Orest Kiprensky worked on the portraits of several influential people like Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov, Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky, and Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov.

René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur was a French writer and entomologist. He is best remembered for his contribution to the field of entomology. René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur is also remembered for introducing the Réaumur temperature scale.

Danièle Delorme was a French film producer and actress. She is best remembered for playing important roles in movies directed by popular filmmakers like Yves Robert, Julien Duvivier, and Marc Allégret. In 1988, Danièle Delorme was part of the Camera d'Or jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

Elijah Cummings was an important and influential American politician and advocate of civil rights. Such was his impact on American politics that after his death, he became the first black lawmaker to be honored with a state funeral at the United States Capitol. His official funeral was attended by personalities like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.