Thursday, December 28, 2023

December 28

Birthdays:

 

1973 ~ Seth Meyers (né Seth Adam Meyers), American comedian and late-night talk show host.  He was born in Evanston, Illinois.

 

1955 ~ Liu Xiaobo (d. July 13, 2017), Chinese activist and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize while still living in China.  In 2009, he was imprisoned as a political prisoner.  After being diagnosed with liver cancer, he was released from prison in June 2017, and died shortly thereafter.  He was 61 years old.

 

1954 ~ Gayle King, African-American television journalist and co-host of CBS Mornings.  She was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

 

1954 ~ Denzel Washington (né Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr.), African-American actor.  He was born in Mount Vernon, New York.

 

1950 ~ Clifford Cocks (né Clifford Christopher Cocks), British mathematician and cryptographer.  He was born in Prestbury, England.

 

1946 ~ Edgar Winter (né Edgar Holland Winter), American musician.  He and his older brother, Johnny (1944 ~ 2014), were both born with albinism.  Edgar was born in Beaumont, Texas.

 

1945 ~ David Allen, American productivity consultant.  He is best known for being the creator of the time management method known as Getting Things Done.  He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana

 

1945 ~ Sir Max Hastings (né Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings), British journalist and military historian.  He was born in London, England.

 

1944 ~ Kary Mullis (né Kary Banks Mullis; d. Aug. 7, 2019), American biochemist and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He created controversy by expressing doubts about climate changed and questioning whether HIV caused AIDS.  He was born in Lenoir, North Carolina.  He died of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California at age 74.

 

1944 ~ Sandra Faber (née Sandra Moore), American astronomer and astrophysicist.  She is known for her research on the evolution of galaxies.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1942 ~ Zev Siegl, American businessman and co-founder of Starbucks.  He was born in Alameda, California.

 

1934 ~ Dame Maggie Smith (née Margaret Natalie Smith), English actress.  She was born in Ilford, England.

 

1933 ~ Charles Portis (né Charles McColl Portis; d. Feb. 17, 2020), American elusive author who found unwanted fame with True Grit.  He was born in El Dorado, Arkansas.  He died at age 86 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

 

1932 ~ Nichelle Nichols (née Grace Dell Nichols; d. July 30, 2022), African-American Star Trek actress who shattered stereotypes.  She is best known for her role as Lt. Nyota Uhura, the communications officer on the Enterprise in the sci-fi television series Star Trek.  She was born in Robbins, Illinois.  She died at age 89 in Silver City, New Mexico.

 

1922 ~ Stan Lee (né Stanley Martin Lieber; d. Nov. 12, 2018), American comic book titan who made superheroes human.  He was the president and chairman of Marvel Comics.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 95 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1913 ~ Lou Jacobi (né Louis Harold Jacobovitch, d. Oct. 23, 2009), Canadian-born actor who wore his heart on his face.  He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  He died at age 95 in Manhattan, New York.

 

1911 ~ Sam Levenson (né Samuel Levenson; d. Aug. 27, 1980), American humorist, teacher and television host.  He hosted the television game show Two for the Money in the 1960s.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died of a heart attack at age 68.

 

1907 ~ Ze’ev Ben-Haim (né Ze’ev Wolf Goldman; d. Aug. 6, 2013), Russian-born Israeli linguist.  He was a strong advocate for modernizing the Hebrew language.  He died at age 105 in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

1903 ~ John von Neumann (né Neumann János Lajos; d. Feb. 8, 1957), Hungarian-born American mathematician.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary.  He died of cancer at age 53 in Washington, D.C.

 

1903 ~ Earl Hines (né Earl Kenneth Hines; d. Apr. 22, 1983), African-American jazz musician, pianist and bandleader.  He was very influential in the development of modern jazz.  He was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 79 in Oakland, California.

 

1902 ~ Mortimer J. Adler (né Mortimer Jerome Adler; d. June 28, 2001), American philosopher and author.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 98 in San Mateo, California.

 

1882 ~ Sir Arthur Eddington (né Arthur Stanley Eddington; d. Nov. 22, 1944), British physicist and mathematician.  He died of cancer at age 61 in Cambridge, England.

 

1856 ~ Woodrow Wilson (né Thomas Woodrow Wilson; d. Feb. 3, 1924), 28th President of the United States and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was President from March 1913 until March 1921.  He was born in Staunton, Virginia.  He died at age 67 in Washington, D.C.

 

1798 ~ Thomas Henderson (d. Nov. 23, 1844), Scottish mathematician and astronomer.  He was born in Dundee, Scotland.  He died about a month before his 46th birthday in Edinburg, Scotland.

 

1789 ~ Catharine Marie Sedgwick (d. July 31, 1867), American novelist of domestic fiction.  She was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 77.

 

1789 ~ Thomas Ewing, Sr. (d. Oct. 26, 1871), 1st United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served from March 1849 until July 1850 during the administration of Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.  He had previously served as the 14th United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 1841 until September 1841 during the William Henry Harrison and John Tyler administrations.  From July 1850 until March 1851, he served as a United States Senator from Ohio.  He was the father-in-law of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.  He was born in what is now West Liberty, West Virginia.  He died at age 81 in Lancaster, Ohio.

 

1763 ~ John Molson (d. Jan. 11, 1836), English-born Canadian brewer and founder of the Molson Brewing Company.  He died 14 days after his 72nd birthday.

 

1722 ~ Eliza Lucas (d. May 26, 1793), English-American agriculturalist.  She was born in the British West Indies before moving to what is now South Carolina.  It was in South Carolina where she developed indigo as an important cash crop.  She died of cancer at age 61.

 

1635 ~ Princess Elizabeth Stuart (d. Sept. 8, 1650), a member of the British royal family.  She was of the House of Stuart.  She was the second daughter of Charles I, King of England and Henrietta Maria of France.  From the age of 6 until her death at age 14, she was held a prisoner of the English Parliament during the English Civil War.  She died of pneumonia at age 14.

 

833 ~ Yi Zong (d. Aug. 15, 873), Chinese emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He ruled from September 859 until his death 14 years later.  He died at age 39.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2019 ~ The Louisiana State University football team beat Oklahoma University in the Peach Bowl by a score of 63 to 28.

 

2016 ~ President Barack Obama (b. 1961) established Bear Ears National Monument in Utah by proclamation.  The monument designation protects 1,351,849 acres of public land surrounding the Bear Ears, a pair of buttes, and the Indian Creek corridor rock climbing area.  He also established Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada, which protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert.

 

2014 ~ Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Karimata Strait on a flight from Surabaya to Singapore.  Debris and bodies of some of the 162 passengers and crew were recovered several days later.

 

2010 ~ Protests associated with the Arab Spring began in Algeria against the government.

 

2000 ~ The department store, Montgomery Ward, announced that it was going out of business.  The company had been operating for 128 years.

 

1989 ~ A 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck New South Wales, Australia and killed 13 people.

 

1973 ~ The Endangered Species Act became effective in the United States.

 

1972 ~ A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck in Nicaragua, killing over 10,000 people.

 

1912 ~ The first city-owned streetcars began operation in San Francisco, California.

 

1908 ~ A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Sicily killing over 75,000 people.

 

1902 ~ In the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden.  The Syracuse Athletic Club defeated the New York Philadelphians.

 

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (1845 ~ 1923) published his paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which would later be known as X-rays.

 

1846 ~ Iowa became the 29th State of the Union.

 

1832 ~ John C. Calhoun (1782 ~ 1850) became the first Vice President of the United States to resign.  He has served under Presidents John Quincy Adams (1767 ~ 1848) and Andrew Jackson (1767 ~ 1845).  He resigned during his tenure in the Jackson administration over a controversy involving Peggy Eaton (1799 ~ 1879), wife of Secretary of War, John Eaton (1790 ~ 1856).  Peggy Eaton had married John Eaton just months after the death of her first husband.  Other Washington wives did not feel that Peggy Eaton met the moral standards of wives of political husbands.

 

1612 ~ Galileo Galilei (1564 ~ 1642) first reported that he had observed what he erroneously described as a fixed star, but was later determined to be the planet Neptune.

 

1065 ~ Westminster Abbey was consecrated.

 

558 ~ Chlothar I (497 ~ 561) was crowned King of the Franks.  He would rule for only 3 years.

 

418 ~ Pope Boniface I (d. 422) was elected as head of the Catholic Church.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2021 ~ Harry Reid (né Harry Mason Reid, Jr.; d. Dec. 2, 1939), American politician and Nevada Democrat who rose from childhood poverty in a desert mining town to become a pugnacious power broker in Washington, D.C.  As United States Senate majority leader, he steered the Affordable Care Act into existence.  He was born in Searchlight, Nevada.  He died of pancreatic cancer in Henderson, Nevada just 26 days after his 82nd birthday.

 

2021 ~ John Madden (né John Earl Madden; b. Apr. 10, 1936), American NFL Hall of Fame football coach who led the Oakland Raiders to their first Super Bowl victory in 1977 and went on to become one of football’s greatest ambassador, reaching generations of fans from broadcasting booth and through the best-selling video game that bears his name.  He was born in Austin, Minnesota.  He died at age 85 in Pleasanton, California.

 

2018 ~ Amos Oz (né Amos Klausner; b. May 4, 1939), Israeli novelist who proved Israel’s contradictions.  He is best known for his memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness.  He was born in Jerusalem, Israel.  He died of cancer at age 79 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

 

2018 ~ Georges Loinger (b. Aug. 29, 1910), French soldier and teacher who saved Jewish children during World War II.  He was in the French Resistance.  He died at age 108 in Paris, France.

 

2017 ~ Sue Grafton (née Sue Taylor Grafton; b. Apr. 24, 1940), American crime writer who went from A to Y.  In the early 1980s she began writing about Kinsey Milhone, a private investigator, in the book A is for Alibi.  She continued the series through the letter Y before dying of cancer at age 77.  She was born in Louisville, Kentucky.  She died in Santa Barbara, California.

 

2017 ~ Rose Marie (née Rose Marie Mazzetta; b. Aug. 15, 1923), American Hollywood veteran who never retired.  She was the actress best known for her role as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died at age 94 in Van Nuys, California.

 

2016 ~ Debbie Reynolds (née Mary Frances Reynolds; b. Apr. 1, 1932), American bubbly actress and singer who danced to fame in Singin’ in the Rain.  She died of a broken heart one day after her daughter, Carrie Fischer.  She was born in El Paso, Texas.  She died at age 84 in Hollywood, California.

 

2015 ~ Lemmy Kilmister (né Ian Fraser Kilmister; b. Dec. 24, 1945), English musician.  He was the founder and lead singer of the rockband Motörhead.  He died 4 days after his 70th birthday of prostate cancer and congestive heart failure.

 

2010 ~ Billy Taylor (né William Taylor; b. July 24, 1921), African-American pianist who proclaimed the jazz gospel.  He was born in Greenville, North Carolina.  He died at age 89 in Manhattan, New York.

 

2010 ~ Agathe von Trapp (née Agathe Johanna Erwina Gobertina von Trapp; b. Mar. 12, 1913), eldest daughter of the von Trapp family.  She was portrayed as Lisel in the movie, The Sound of Music.  She was born in Pula, Croatia.  She died at age 97 in Towson, Maryland.

 

2004 ~ Jerry Orbach (né Jerome Bernard Orbach; b. Oct. 20, 1935), American actor who was “the quintessential New Yorker”.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died of prostate cancer at age 69.

 

2004 ~ Susan Sontag (née Susan Rosenblatt; b. Jan. 16, 1933), New York intellectual who became a celebrity.  She was an author, filmmaker and political activist.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died of blood cancer 19 days before her 72nd birthday.

 

2001 ~ William X. Kienzle (né William Xavier Kienzle; b. Sept. 11, 1928), American priest and author of crime novels.  He left the priesthood in 1974.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died of a heart attack at age 73 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

 

1999 ~ Clayton Moore (né Jack Carlton Moore; b. Sept. 14, 1914), American actor best known for playing the role of the Lone Ranger on the television series of the same name.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died of a heart attack at age 85 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1986 ~ John D. MacDonald (né John Dann MacDonald; b. July 24, 1916), American author of thrillers and detective stories.  He was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 70 of complications following cardiac surgery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

1984 ~ Sam Peckinpah (né David Samuel Peckinpah; b. Feb. 21, 1925), American movie director.  He was born in Fresno, California.  He died at age 59 of heart failure in Inglewood, California.

 

1967 ~ Katharine McCormick (née Katharine Moore Dexter, b. Aug. 27, 1875), American biologist and philanthropist.  She was an advocate for women’s reproductive rights.  She funded much of the research for the development of the birth control pill.  She was born in Dexter, Michigan.  She died at age 92 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1961 ~ Edith Bolling Wilson (née Edith Bolling; b. Oct. 15, 1872), First Lady of the United States and second wife of President Woodrow Wilson.  They married while Wilson was President.  She was First Lady from December 1915 until March 1921.  She died on what would have been her husband’s 105th birthday.  She was born in Wytheville, Virginia. She died in Washington, D.C.  She was 89 at the time of her death.

 

1952 ~ Alexandrine Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. Dec. 24, 1879), Queen consort of Denmark and Iceland and wife of Christian X, King of Denmark (1870 ~ 1947).  They were the parents of Frederick IX, King of Denmark.  She was of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  She was the daughter of Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Meckleburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia.  She was Lutheran.  She died 4 days after her 73rd birthday.

 

1947 ~ Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (b. Nov. 11, 1869).  He reigned from July 1900 until May 9, 1946 when he abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Umberto II, King of Italy.  In 1896, he married Elena of Montenegro.  He was of the House of Savoy.  He was the son of Umberto I, King of Italy and Margherita of Savoy.  He was born in Naples, Kingdom of Italy.  He died at age 78 in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

1945 ~ Theodore Dreiser (né Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser; b. Aug. 27, 1871), American author best known for his novels Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy.  He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana.  He died at age 74 of heart failure in Hollywood, California.

 

1937 ~ Maurice Ravel (né Joseph Maurice Ravel; b. Mar. 7, 1875), French composer.  He is best known writing Boléro.  He died at age 62.

 

1889 ~ Princess Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (b. Mar. 14, 1822), Empress consort of Brazil and wife of Peter II, Emperor of Brazil (1825 ~ 1891).  They married in 1843.  She was of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.  She was the daughter of Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies and Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 67.

 

1872 ~ James Van Ness (b. 1808), 7th Mayor of San Francisco.  He served as Mayor from July 1855 until July 1856.  Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco was named in his honor.  He was born in Burlington, Vermont.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 64 at the time of his death.  He died in San Luis Obispo, California.

 

1757 ~ Princess Caroline of Great Britain (b. June 10, 1713), member of the British Royal Family.  She never married.  She was of the House of Hanover.  She was the fourth child of George II, King of Great Britain, and Caroline of Ansbach.  She died at age 44.

 

1734 ~ Rob Roy MacGregor (né Robert Roy MacGregor; b. Mar. 7, 1671), Scottish outlaw who became a folk hero.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on March 7, 1671.  He died at age 63.

 

1663 ~ Francesco Maria Grimaldi (b. Apr. 2, 1618), Italian mathematician, physicist and priest.  The Grimaldi crater on the moon is named in his honor.  He was born and died in Bologna, Italy.  He died at age 45.

 

1503 ~ Piero di Lorenzo de’Medici (b. Feb. 15, 1472), Lord of Florence from April 1492 until his exile in 1494.  He was also known as Piero the Unfortunate.  He was married to Alfornsina Orsini (1472 ~ 1520).  He was of the Noble family of Medici.  He was the son of Lorenzo de’Medici and Clarice Orsini.  He was born in Florence, Republic of Florence.  He drowned at age 31 in the Garigliano River in the Kingdom of Naples while attempting to flee in the aftermath of the Battle of Garigliano.

 

1446 ~ Antipope Clement VIII (né Gil Sánchez Muñoz y Carbón; b. 1369).  He was one of the popes of the Avignon line.  The exact date of his birth is not known. 

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