Saturday, August 19, 2023

August 19, 2023

Birthdays:

 

1983 ~ Reeva Steenkamp (née Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp; d. Feb. 14, 2013), South African model.  She was murdered by her boyfriend, Olympian Oscar Pistorius.  She was born in Cape Town, South Africa.  She died at age 29 years old in Pretoria, South Africa.

 

1957 ~ Martin Donovan (né Martin Paul Smith), American character actor.  He was born in Reseda, California.

 

1955 ~ Peter Gallagher (né Peter Killian Gallagher), American actor.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1953 ~ Mary Matalin (née Mary Joe Matalin), American conservative political consultant and wife of liberal James Carville.  She was born in Calumet City, Illinois.

 

1947 ~ Anuška Ferligoj, Slovenian mathematician.  She specializes in statistics and network analysis.

 

1948 ~ Tipper Gore (née Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson), wife of Vice President Al Gore and Second Lady of the United States under the Presidency of Bill Clinton.  She was an advocate for mental health awareness, women’s issues, children’s issues and LGBY rights.  She and Al Gore married in 1970 and separated in 2010.  She was born in Washington, D.C.

 

1946 ~ Bill Clinton (né William Jefferson Blythe, III), 42nd President of the United States.  He served as President from January 1993 until January 2001.  He also served two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Arkansas.  He served the 40th Governor of Arkansas from January 1979 until January 1981.  He served as the 42nd Governor from January 1983 until December 1992.  He was born in Hope, Arkansas.

 

1942 ~ Fred Thompson (né Freddie Dalton Thompson; d. Nov. 1, 2015), American actor best known for his role as the District Attorney on the television drama Law and Order.  He later became a United States Senator from Tennessee.  He was born in Sheffield, Alabama.  He died of cancer at age 73 in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

1939 ~ Ginger Baker (né Peter Edward Baker; d. Oct. 6, 2019), British drummer, songwriter and rock malcontent who made drummers stars.  He was the founder of the band Cream.  He died at age 80.

 

1938 ~ Diana Muldaur (née Diana Charlton Muldaur), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Rosalind Shays on the television drama LA Law.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1934 ~ Renée Richards (né Richard Raskind), American tennis player and ophthalmologist.  She is best known for having undergone sex reassignment surgery in 1975.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1932 ~ Thomas P. Salmon (né Thomas Paul Salmon), 75th Governor of Vermont.  He served as Governor from 1973 to 1977.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

1931 ~ Willie Shoemaker (né William Lee Shoemaker; d. Oct. 12, 2003), American jockey.  He was born in Fabens, Texas.  He died at age 72 in San Marino, California.

 

1930 ~ Frank McCourt (né Francis McCourt; d. July 19, 2009), Irish-American author, best known for his memoir, Angela’s Ashes.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of cancer a month before his 79th birthday in Manhattan, New York.

 

1924 ~ Willard S. Boyle (né Willard Sterling Boyle; d. May 7, 2011), Canadian physicist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada.  He died at age 86 in Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada.

 

1924 ~ Harold Brown (d. Jan. 12, 2023), African-American Tuskegee Airman who escaped a lynching.  He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force during World War II.  During a strafing mission over Austria, his engine stalled.  He parachuted out and was surrounded by Austrian villages who attempted to lynch him.  He was saved by a German police officer and sent to prisoner of war camp.  He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He died at age 98 in Port Clinton, Ohio.

 

1921 ~ Gene Roddenberry (né Eugene Wesley Roddenberry; d. Oct. 24, 1991), American screenwriter and creator of Star Trek.  He was born in El Paso, Texas.  He died at age 70 in Santa Monica, California.

 

1919 ~ Malcolm Forbes (né Malcolm Stevenson Forbes; d. Feb. 24, 1990), American publisher and businessman.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of a heart attack at age 70 in Far Hills, New Jersey.

 

1914 ~ Margaret Morgan Lawrence (née Margaret Cornelia Morgan; d. Dec. 9, 1919), African-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.  She is best known for researching development of strength in young Black families.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died at age 105 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1906 ~ Philo Farnsworth (né Philo Taylor Farnsworth; d. Mar. 11, 1971), American inventor and television pioneer.  He was born in Beaver, Utah.  He died at age 64 of pneumonia in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

1902 ~ Ogden Nash (né Frederic Ogden Nash; d. May 19, 1971), American poet.  He is best known for writing humorous poems.  He was born in Rye, New York.  He died at age 68 of complications from Crohn’s disease in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1900 ~ Dorothy Burr Thompson (née Dorothy Burr; d. May 10, 2001), American archaeologist and art historian.  She was a leading expert in Hellenistic figurines.  She died in Hightstown, New Jersey at age 100.

 

1890 ~ Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern (d. Aug. 29, 1966), Queen consort of Portugal.  In 1913, she married Manuel II, King of Portugal (1889 ~ 1932), who by then had been deposed.  He died in 1932.  In 1939, she married Count Robert Douglas.  She was of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.  She was the daughter of William, Prince of Hohenzollern and Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.  She died just 10 days after her 76th birthday.

 

1883 ~ Coco Chanel (née Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel; d. Jan. 10, 1971), French clothing designer and founder of the House of Chanel.  She was born in Saumur, France.  She died at age 87 in Paris, France.

 

1871 ~ Orville Wright (d. Jan. 30, 1948), American aviation pioneer, who along with his brother, Wilber (1867 ~ 1912), invented the airplane.  Orville was born and died in Dayton, Ohio.  He died of a heart attack at age 76.

 

1870 ~ Bernard Baruch (né Bernard Mannes Baruch; d. June 20, 1965), American financier and statesman.  He was born in Camden, South Carolina.  He died at age 94 in New York, New York.

 

1858 ~ Ellen Willmott (née Ellen Ann Willmott; d. Sept. 27, 1934), British horticulturalist.  She cultivated more than 100,000 species of plants.  She died at age 76.

 

1830 ~ Lothar Meyer (né Julius Lother Meyer; d. Apr. 11, 1895), German chemist.  He is best known for being a pioneer in the development of the periodic table of chemical elements.  He was born in Varel, Germany.  He died of a stroke at age 64 in Tübingen, Germany.

 

1805 ~ Alexander Loyd (d. May 7, 1872), 4th Mayor of Chicago.  He served in that office from 1840 until 1841.  He was born in Orange County, New York.  He died at age 66 in West Lyons, Illinois.

 

1777 ~ Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies (d. Nov. 8, 1830).  He reigned from January 1825 until his death in November 1930.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria.  After her death, he married Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain.  He was of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.  He was the son of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died at age 53.

 

1743 ~ Madame du Barry (née Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry, d. Dec. 8, 1793), French courtesan and mistress of King Louis XV of France.  She was guillotined during the Reign of Terror during the French revolution.  She died at age 50.

 

1686 ~ Eustace Budgell (d. May 4, 1737), English writer.  He was born in Exeter, Devon, England.  He died in London, England at age 50.

 

1596 ~ Elizabeth Stuart (d. Feb. 13, 1662), Queen consort of Bohemia.  She was the wife of Frederick V, Elector of Palatine.  She was of the House of Stuart.  She was the daughter of James VI and I of King of Scotland, England and Ireland, and Anne of Denmark.  She died at age 65.

 

1342 ~ Catherine of Bohemia (d. Apr. 26, 1395), Duchess consort of Austria and wife of Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (1339 ~ 1365).  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married Otto I, Duke of Bavaria (1340 ~ 1379) and became the Duchess consort of Bavaria.  She was of the House of Luxembourg.  She was the daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Blanche of Valois.  She died at age 52.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2004 ~ Google, Inc., had its initial public offer on Nasdaq.

 

2003 ~ A suicide attack, planned by Hamas, on a public bus (Egged bus 2) in Jerusalem killed seven children and 16 adults.

 

1991 ~ The dissolution of the Soviet Union began with the August Coup.  It was a failed attempt by the hardliners of the Soviet Union’s Communist Part to forcibly seize control of the country.

 

1991 ~ African-American groups targeted the Hasidic Jews of Crown Heights in New York city for three days after 2 young black children were hit by a car driven by a Hasidic man.

 

1960 ~ A tribunal in Moscow convicted American pilot Francis Gary Powers (1929 ~ 1977) of espionage and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.  He was subsequently released to the Americans in a prisoner exchange, which is depicted in the movie Bridge of Spies.

 

1955 ~ Hurricane Diane caused severe flooding in the Northeast United States, killing 200 people.  Some of the heaviest rainfall was in Connecticut.  The storm had formed on August 7 and dissipated on August 23, 1955.

 

1934 ~ The German referendum of 1934 approved the appointment of Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) as head of State and granted him the title of Führer.

 

1934 ~ The first All-American Soap Box Derby was held in Dayton, Ohio.

 

1919 ~ Afghanistan gained its full independence from the United Kingdom.

 

1909 ~ The Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first automobile race.

 

1848 ~ The New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in California, which ultimately lead to the Gold Rush.

 

1812 ~ During the War of 1812, the American frigate, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate the HMS Guerrier.  The USS Constitution thus became known by its nickname Old Ironsides.  The ship now resides in Boston Harbor.

 

1692 ~ In Salem, Massachusetts, following the Salem Witch Trials, four men and one woman were executed after being found guilty of witchcraft.

 

1458 ~ Pope Pius II (1405 ~ 1464) became the 211th Pope of the Catholic Church.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2022 ~ Michael Malone (né Michael Christopher Malone; b. Nov. 1, 1942), American novelist who gave soap operas a conscience.  In the early 1990s, he was invited to write for ABC’s One Life to Live.  He incorporated such themes as homophobia, AIDS, and sexual assault into plot lines for the series.  He was born in Durham, North Carolina.  He died at age 79 in Clinton, Connecticut.

 

2021 ~ Chuck Close (né Charles Thomas Close; b. July 5, 1940), American innovative artist, painter, and photographer.  He is best known for his photorealism massive-scale portraits.  He became an art world celebrity with his colossal, pixelated portraits.  He was born in Monroe, Washington.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 81 in Oceanside, New York.

 

2017 ~ Dick Gregory (né Richard Claxton Gregory, b. Oct. 12, 1932), African-American groundbreaking comedian who became a civil rights voice.  He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  He died at age 84 in Washington, D.C.

 

2017 ~ Brian Aldiss (né Brian Wilson Aldiss; b. Aug. 18, 1925), British author who wrote darkly imaginative science fiction.  He died 1 day after his 92nd birthday in Oxford, England.

 

2016 ~ Donald A. Henderson (né Donald Ainslie Henderson; b. Sept. 7, 1928), American doctor and epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox.  He was born in Lakewood, Ohio.  He died 19 days before his 88th birthday in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

2015 ~ George Houser (né George Mills Houser, b. June 2, 1916), American Methodist minister and civil rights activist who led the First Freedom Ride.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was 99 years old in Santa Rosa, California.

 

2014 ~ James Foley (né James Wright Foley; b. Oct. 18, 1973), American freelance photographer and journalist who was murdered by beheading by ISIS in Syria.  He had been kidnapped while covering the Syrian Civil War.  He was born in Evanston, Illinois.  He grew up in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.   His parents later lived in Rochester, New Hampshire, where his father was a physician.  He was 40 years old.

 

2009 ~ Don Hewitt (née Donald Shepard Hewitt; b. Dec. 14, 1922), American television producer and creator of 60 Minutes.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 86 in Bridgehampton, New York.

 

1999 ~ Altina Schinasi (b. Aug. 4, 1907), American sculptor, designer, filmmaker and inventor.  She is best known for designing the cat-eye eyeglass frame.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died 15 days after her 92nd birthday in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

1994 ~ Linus Pauling (né Linus Carl Pauling; b. Feb. 28, 1901), American chemist political activist.  He was the recipient of two Nobel Prizes: the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was born in Portland, Oregon.  He died at age 93 in Big Sur, California.

 

1980 ~ Otto Frank (né Otto Heinrich Frank; b. May 12, 1889), German-born Swiss father of Anne Frank and Holocaust survivor.  He died of lung cancer at age 91.

 

1977 ~ Groucho Marx (né Julius Henry Marx; b. Oct. 2, 1890), American comedian and actor.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.  He died of pneumonia at age 86 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1975 ~ Ima Hogg (b. July 10, 1882), American society woman and patron of the arts.  She was known as the First Lady of Texas.  Her home in Houston, Texas is now a part of the Museum of Fine Arts and is known as Bayou Bend.  She was born in Mineola, Texas.  She died at age 93 in London, England.

 

1895 ~ William Strong (b. May 6, 1808), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Ulysses Grant.  He replaced Robert Grier on the Court.  He was succeeded by William Woods.  He served on the Court from February 1870 until December 1880.  He was born in Somers, Connecticut.  He died at age 87 in Lake Minnewaska, New York.

 

1883 ~ Jeremiah S. Black (né Jeremiah Sullivan Black; b. Jan. 10, 1810), 24th United States Attorney General under the Buchanan administration.  He served in this position from March 1857 until December 1860.  He also served in the James Buchanan administration as the 23rd United States Secretary of State from December 1860 until March 1861.  He was born in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 73 in York, Pennsylvania.

 

1822 ~ Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre (b. Sept. 19, 1749), French mathematician.  He died a month before his 73rdbirthday in Paris, France.

 

1662 ~ Blaise Pascal (b. June 19, 1623), French mathematician and philosopher.  He died at age 39 in Paris, France.

 

1654 ~ Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller (b. 1579), Bohemian rabbi.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1506 ~ Alexander Jagiellon (b. Aug. 6, 1461), ), King of Poland.  He ruled Poland from December 1501 until his death 5 years later.  He was married to Helena of Moscow (1476 ~ 1513).  He was of the House of Jagiellon.  He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jageillon, King of Poland and Elisabeth of Hungary.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died 14 days after his 45th birthday.

 

1493 ~ Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. Sept. 21, 1415).  He reigned from March 1452 until his death in August 1493.  He was married to Eleanor of Portugal.  He was of the House of Habsburg.  He was the son of Ernest, Duke of Austria and Cymburgis of Masovia.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died about a month before his 78th birthday.

 

1297 ~ Saint Louis of Toulouse (b. Feb. 9, 1274), French bishop.  He was known as Louis of Anjou.  He is best known for serving the poor and tending to their needs while ignoring his own needs.  He was of the House of Anjou-Naples.  He was the son of Charles II, King of Naples and Princess Maria of Hungary.  He was born and died in Brignoles, France.  He died at age 23.

 

1284 ~ Alphonso, Earl of Chester (b. Nov. 24, 1273), member of the British royal family.  He was the heir apparent to the English throne.  He was of the House of Plantagenet.  He was the son of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor of Castile.  He died of an illness at age 10.

 

1186 ~ Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (b. Sept. 23, 1158).  He ruled as the Duke of Brittany from July 1181 until his death in August 1186.  He was married to Constance, Duchess of Brittany.  Geoffrey was her first husband.  He was of the House of Plantagenet/Angevin.  He was the fourth son of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died about a month before his 28th birthday.


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