Valentine’s Day
Birthdays:
1977 ~ Anna Erschler (née Anna Grennadievna Dyubina), Russian mathematician. She specializes in probability theory.
1973 ~ Annalisa Buffa, Italian mathematician. She is best known for her work in numerical analysis.
1970 ~ Simon Pegg (né Simon John Beckingham), British actor and film director. He was born in Gloucester, England.
1968 ~ Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary. He served under President George W. Bush from July 2003 until May 2006. He was born in Austin, Texas.
1962 ~ Kevyn Aucoin (né Kevyn James Aucoin; d. May 7, 2002), American make-up artist and photographer from Louisiana. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. He died at age 40 in Valhalla, New York.
1960 ~ Meg Tilly (née Margaret Elizabeth Chan), American actress. She was born in Long Beach, California.
1959 ~ Renée Fleming (née Renée Lynn Fleming), American soprano. She was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
1951 ~ Terry Gross, Host of Fresh Air, which is on National Public Radio. She was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1948 ~ Teller (né Raymond Joseph Teller), American magician, illusionist and comedian. He is the silent half of the comedy/magic team of Penn and Teller. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1947 ~ Judd Gregg (né Judd Alan Gregg), 76th Governor of New Hampshire. He served as Governor from January 1989 until January 1993. He went on to serve as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from January 1993 until January 2011. He was born in Nashua, New Hampshire.
1946 ~ Gregory Hines (né Gregory Oliver Hines; d. Aug. 9, 2003), American actor and dancer. He was born in New York, New York. He died of liver cancer at age 57 in Los Angeles, California.
1944 ~ Sir Alan Parker (né Alan William Parker; d. July 31, 2020), eclectic British film director who roamed across genres. He was born and died in London, England. He died at age 76 following a long illness.
1944 ~ Carl Bernstein (né Carl Milton Bernstein), American investigative journalist. He is best known for his investigative journalism and reporting on the Watergate scandal with Bob Woodward. He was born in Washington, D.C.
1942 ~ Michael Bloomberg (né Michael Rubens Bloomberg), American politician and 108th Mayor of New York City. He served as Mayor from January 2002 through December 2013. He was also a Democratic candidate for the 2020 Presidential election. He was born in Brighton, Massachusetts.
1941 ~ Paul Tsongas (né Paul Efthenuis Tsongas; d. Jan. 18, 1997), American politician from Massachusetts. He served in the United States House of Representatives and as a United States Senator. He was born and died in Lowell, Massachusetts. He died of complications of pneumonia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma less than a month before his 56thbirthday.
1941 ~ Donna Shalala (née Donna Edna Shalala), 18th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. She served under President Bill Clinton from January 1988 until January 1993. She subsequently became a United States Representative from Florida where she served from January 2019 until January 2021. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1939 ~ Eugene Fama (né Eugene Francis Fama), American economist and recipient of the 2013 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1936 ~ Fanne Foxe (née Annabelle Battistella; d. Feb. 10, 2021), Argentine dancer and stripper, best known for being involved in a 1974 sex scandal with Congressman Wilber Mills. She was born in Nueve de Julio Partido, Argentina. She died 4 days before her 85th birthday in Clearwater, Florida.
1934 ~ Florence Henderson (née Florence Agnes Henderson; d. Nov. 24, 2016), American Broadway star who became America’s mom. She is best known for her role as Carol Brady on the television sit-com, The Brady Bunch. She was born in Dale, Indiana. She died of heart failure at age 82 in Los Angeles, California.
1932 ~ Leo Thorsness (né Leo Keith Thorsness; d. May 2, 2017), American war hero who shared a cell with John McCain. He had been shot down and captured in Vietnam while on his 93rd mission. He was born in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. He died at age 85 in St. Augustine, Florida.
1929 ~ Vic Morrow (né Victor Morozoff, d. July 23, 1982), American actor. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He was killed at age 53 when the stunt helicopter he was in during the filming of The Twilight Zone crashed in Indiana Dunes, California.
1921 ~ Hugh Downs (né Hugh Malcolm Downs; d. July 1, 2020), American television host, best known for his role as co-host on the Today Show. He was born in Akron, Ohio. He died at age 99 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
1917 ~ Herbert A. Hauptman (né Herbert Aaron Hauptman; d. Oct. 23, 2011), American mathematician and chemist. He was the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 94 in Buffalo, New York.
1913 ~ Jimmy Hoffa (né James Riddle Hoffa; presumed d. July 1975), American labor union leader. He was born in Brazil, Indiana. He vanished in July 1975 and is presumed to have been killed. His body has never been found.
1913 ~ Woody Hayes (né Wayne Woodrow Hayes; d. Mar. 12, 1987), American football player and college coach. He had a long-term career coaching the football team at Ohio State University. He was born in Clifton, Ohio. He died about a month before his 75th birthday in Upper Arlington, Ohio.
1911 ~ Willem Johan Kolff (d. Feb. 11, 2009), Dutch surgeon who was known as the father of artificial organs. He was born in Leiden, Netherlands. He died 3 days before his 98th birthday in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
1894 ~ Jack Benny (né Benjamin Kublesky; d. Dec. 26, 1974), American comedian and actor. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He died at age 80 in Los Angeles, California.
1891 ~ Katherine Stinson (d. July 8, 1977), American aviator. She set records for aerobatic maneuvers. She was the first female pilot to be hired by the United State Postal Service. She was born in Fort Payne, Alabama. She died at age 86 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1886 ~ Walter Liggett (né Walter William Liggett; d. Dec. 9, 1935), American newspaper editor, investigative reporter, and muckraker. He was born in Minnesota. He was murdered in a gangland shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was 49 years old.
1882 ~ John Barrymore (né John Sidney Blyth; d. May 29, 1942), American actor and member of the Barrymore acting dynasty. His birthdate is sometimes listed as Feb. 15, 1882. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 60 in Los Angeles, California.
1869 ~ Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (d. Nov. 15, 1959), Scottish physicist and meteorologist. He was the recipient of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber. He died at age 90.
1859 ~ George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (d. Nov. 22, 1896), American engineer and inventor of the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel was created for the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exhibition. He was born in Galesburg, Illinois. He died at age 37 of typhoid fever in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1847 ~ Anna Howard Shaw (d. July 2, 1919), British-born American suffragette. She was also one of the first ordained Methodist ministers in the United States. In addition, she was a physician. She was born in England. She died at age 72 in Moylan, Pennsylvania.
1838 ~ Margaret E. Knight (née Margaret Eloise Knight; d. Oct. 12, 1914), American inventor. She liked to tinker with things. She invented, among other things, the machine that folds and glues paper to form the flat-bottomed brown paper bags. She was born in York, Maine and died in Framingham, Massachusetts. When she died at age 76, she held 87 patents.
1819 ~ Christopher Sholes (né Christopher Latham Sholes; d. Feb. 17, 1890), American journalist and inventor of the QWERTY keyboard for the typewriter. He was born in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania. He died 3 days after his 71st birthday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1800 ~ Emory Washburn (d. Mar. 18, 1877), 22nd Governor of Massachusetts. He was Governor from January 1854 until January 1855. He was born in Leicester, Massachusetts. He died about a month after his 77th birthday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1677 ~ Johann Ludwig Bach (d. May 1, 1731), German violinist and composer. He was a third cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach. He died at age 54. His birth is sometimes listed as February 4 due to the calendar in effect at the time of his birth.
1613 ~ Samuel Butler (d. Sept. 25, 1680), English poet. The actual date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on February 14, 1613. He died about age 67 in London, England.
1602 ~ Francesco Cavalli (né Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; d. Jan. 14, 1676), Italian composer. He died a month before his 74th birthday.
1545 ~ Lucrezia de’Medici (d. Apr. 21, 1561), Duchess consort of Ferrara. She was the first wife of Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio (1533 ~ 1597). They married in 1558. She was of the House of Medici. She was the daughter of Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleanor of Toledo. She wasa born in Florence, Italy. She died at age 16, probably of tuberculosis in Ferrara, Italy.
1468 ~ Johannes Werner (d. May 1522), German mathematician and priest. The exact date of his death is not known, but he is believed to have been 54 at the time of his death.
Events that Changed the World:
2023 ~ Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (b. 1972) became the first Republican to announce her intention to run for President of the United States.
2018 ~ A disgruntled former student entered the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and began shooting. Seventeen students and teachers were killed and several others were severely wounding. Shortly after the massacre, students, tired of hearing “thoughts and “prayers”, organized rallies and met with political leaders to demand restrictions of guns.
2008 ~ A gunman opened fire into a crowd of students at the Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Five students were killed, and numerous others were injured.
2005 ~ YouTube was launched.
1989 ~ Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) for his novel, The Satanic Verses, in which he urged Muslims to kill Rushdie.
1989 ~ Union Carbide agreed to a $470 Million settlement to the Indian government for damages resulting from the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
1962 ~ Jacqueline Kennedy (1929 ~ 1994) gave television viewers a tour of the White House for the first time.
1961 ~ Lawrencium, element 103 on the periodic table, was first synthesized at the University of California.
1949 ~ The Israeli Knesset convened for the first time.
1946 ~ The Bank of England was nationalized.
1945 ~ The British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces began fire-bombing the city of Dresden, German during World War II.
1929 ~ Seven people, including six gangster rivals of Al Capone’s gang, were murdered in Chicago, Illinois, in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.
1924 ~ The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM.
1920 ~ The League of Women voters was founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1918 ~ The Soviet Union adopted the Gregorian calendar.
1912 ~ The first diesel-powered submarine was commissioned in Groton, Connecticut.
1912 ~ Arizona became the 48th State of the Union.
1903 ~ The United States Department of Commerce and Labor was created. It was later split into two distinct entities: the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor. This was during the Theodore Roosevelt administration. George B. Cortelyou (1862 ~ 1940) was the first Secretary of this department.
1899 ~ The United States Congress approved the use of voting machines for federal elections.
1876 ~ Alexander Graham Bell (1847 ~ 1922) applied for a patent for the telephone. Elisha Gray (1835 ~ 1901) also applied for a patent for a telephone on the same day, however, Bell’s patent beat out Gray’s.
1859 ~ Oregon became the 33rd State of the Union.
1855 ~ A telegraph connection was completed between New Orleans, Louisiana and Marshall, Texas, which finally linked Texas to the rest of the United States.
1849 ~ United States President James Polk (1795 ~ 1849) became the first sitting President to have his photograph taken.
1778 ~ The United States flag was formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel. French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Piquet de la Motte (1720 ~ 1791) issued a 9-gun salute to John Paul Jones (1747 ~ 1792), who was commanding the USS Ranger.
1556 ~ Thomas Cranmer (1489 ~ 1556), an early English religious reformer during the reign of Henry VIII, King of England (1491 ~ 1547), was declared a heretic by the Catholic Church.
1349 ~ The Strasbourg massacre occurred where several hundred Jews in retaliation for the Black Death. This is one of the first and worst pogroms against the Jews in modern history. The Jews who were not killed were forcibly removed from the city.
1130 ~ Innocent II (d. 1143) was elected Pope.
1076 ~ Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1050 ~ 1106), was excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII (1015 ~ 1085) over tensions between Church and State authority.
1014 ~ Henry of Bavaria (973 ~ 1024), King of Germany and Italy was Crown Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII (980 ~ 1024).
Good-Byes:
2021 ~ Carlos Menem (né Carlos Saúl Menem; b. July 2, 1930), 50th President of Argentina. He was President from July 1989 until December 1999. He was born in Anillaco, Argentina. He died at age 90 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2017 ~ Stanley Bard (b. 1934), American New York hotelier who ran an artists’ haunt. He ran the Hotel Chelsea for over 50 years. He became the majority owner of the hotel in 1957. It was home to such artists as Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen, Robert Mapplethorpe and others. The Hotel Chelsea is also the hotel where Sid Vicious murdered his girlfriend in 1978. He died at age 82 in Boca Raton, Florida
2015 ~ Louis Jourdan (né Louis Robert Gendre; b. June 19, 1921), French actor. He was born in Marseille, France. He died at age 93 in Beverly Hills, California.
2013 ~ Reeva Steenkamp (Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp; b. Aug. 19, 1983), South African model. She was murdered by her boyfriend, Olympian Oscar Pistorius. She was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She died in Pretoria, South Africa. She was 29 years old.
2013 ~ Ronald Dworkin (né Ronald Myles Dworkin; b. Dec. 11, 1931), American legal scholar who based law in morality. He was a Constitutional law scholar. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He died in London, England at age 81.
2011 ~ Chuck Allen (né Charles Lee Allen; b. Sept. 13, 1936), American surfing coach turned snowboard evangelist. He was 74 years old.
2011 ~ Sir George Shearing, OBE (né George Albert Shearing; b. Aug. 13, 1919), British pianist with a signature sound. He was born blind to working-class parents in London and became one of the best known jazz pianists of his time. He died at age 91 in New York, New York.
2010 ~ Doug Fieger (né Douglas Lars Fieger; b. Aug. 20, 1952), American new-wave rocker who co-wrote My Sharona. He had been the lead singer of The Knack. He was born in Oak Park, Michigan. He died of cancer at age 57 in Los Angeles, California.
2010 ~ Dick Francis (né Richard Stanley Francis; b. Oct. 31, 1920), Welsh jockey who was a best-selling novelist. He died at age 89 in the Cayman Islands.
1999 ~ John Ehrlichman (né John Daniel Ehrlichman; b. Mar. 20, 1925), key figure in the events leading to the Watergate scandal that brought down the Nixon administration. He was also the 12th White House Counsel and served during the Nixon Administration. He was born in Tacoma, Washington. He died of complications of diabetes at age 73 in Atlanta, Georgia.
1994 ~ Christopher Lasch (né Robert Christopher Lasch; b. June 1, 1932), American historian, moralist, and social critic. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He died of cancer at age 61 in Pittsford, New York.
1991 ~ John A. McCone (né John Alexander McCone; b. Jan. 4, 1902), 6th Director of the Central Intelligence. He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from November 1961 until April 1965. His tenure was at the height of the Cold War. He was born in San Francisco, California. He died of cardiac arrest at age 89 in Pebble Beach, California.
1988 ~ Frederick Loewe (né Friedrich Löwe; b. June 10, 1901), Austrian-American composer who collaborated with Alan Jay Lerner to compose many Broadway musicals, including My Fair Lady and Camelot. He was born in Berlin, Germany. He died of cardiac arrest at age 86 in New York, New York.
1975 ~ Sir Julian Huxley (né Julian Sorell Huxley; b. June 22, 1887), British biologist. He was born and died in London, England. He died at age 87.
1975 ~ Sir P.G. Wodehouse (né Pelham Grenville Wodehouse; b. Oct. 15, 1881), English author. He died of a heart attack at age 93 in Southampton, New York.
1943 ~ David Hilbert (b. Jan. 23, 1862), German mathematician. He died 22 days after his 81st birthday.
1943 ~ Alice Henry (d. Mar. 21, 1857), Australian suffragist, journalist and trade unionist. She died at age 85.
1894 ~ Eugène Charles Catalan (b. May 30, 1814), Belgian mathematician. He died at age 79.
1891 ~ William Sherman (né William Tecumseh Sherman; b. Feb. 8, 1820), American Union general in the American Civil War. Prior to serving in the Army, he served as the president of the Louisiana State University. He was born in Lancaster, Ohio. He died 6 days after his 71st birthday in New York, New York.
1884 ~ Alice Roosevelt (née Alice Hathaway Lee, b. July 29, 1861), first wife of Theodore Roosevelt. She was born in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She died of Bright’s Disease just 2 days after giving birth to their only child, named Alice Lee Roosevelt. She died at age 22 in Manhattan, New York.
1881 ~ Fernando Wood (b. June 14, 1812), Mayor of New York City. He first served from January 1855 until January 1858, and his second term was from January 1860 until December 1862. He also served as a member of Congress from New York in the United States House of Representatives. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 68 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
1831 ~ Vicente Guerrero (b. Aug. 10, 1782), President of Mexico. He served as President from April 1829 until December 1829. His government was ousted and he was ultimately executed at age 48.
1780 ~ Sir William Blackstone (b. July 10, 1723), English politician and lawyer. He was born in London, England. He died at age 56.
1779 ~ Captain James Cook (b. Nov. 7, 1728), British naval officer and explorer. Under the Julian calendar, is birthday is considered to have been on October 27, 1728. He was killed at age 50 in a confrontation with natives on the Hawaiian Islands.
1744 ~ John Hadley (b. Apr. 16, 1682), English mathematician and inventor of the octant, an instrument used in navigation. He was born in London, England. He died at age 61.
1714 ~ Maria Luisa of Savoy (b. Sept. 17, 1688), Queen consort of Spain and first wife of Philip V, King of Spain (1683 ~ 1746). They married in 1701. They were the parents of Louis I, King of Spain. She was of the House of Savoy. She was the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and Anne Marie d’Orléans. She was Roman Catholic. She died of complications of tuberculosis at age 25.
1400 ~ Richard II, King of England (b. Jan. 6, 1367). He reigned over England from June 1377 until he was overthrown in 1399. He was also known as Edward of Bordeaux. He was married twice. He was married first to Anne of Bohemia (1366 ~ 1394). They married in 1382. Following her death, he married Isabella of Valois (1389 ~ 1409). They married in 1396. He was of the House of Plantagenet. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince and Joan, 4th Countess of Kent. After Edward was deposed, he was imprisoned in the London Tower. He died and was likely murdered from starvation on orders of Henry Bolingbroke. He was 33 years old at the time of his death.
1318 ~ Princess Marguerite of France (b. 1282), Queen consort of England and second wife of Edward I, King of England (1239 ~ 1307). They married in 1299. She was of the House of Capet. She was the daughter of Philip III, King of France and Maria of Brabant. The exact date of her birth is not known. She died at about age 38 or 39.
1117 ~ Bertrade de Montfort (b. 1070), Queen consort of France and second wife of Philip I, King of France (1052 ~ 1108). He was her second husband and she was his first wife. He had repudiated his first wife to marry her in 1092. She was the fifth wife of her first husband, Fulk IV, Count of Anjou (1043 ~ 1109). She left him to marry Philip I. She was of the House of Montfort. She was the daughter of Simon I de Montfort and Agnes of Évreux. She was Roman Catholic. The date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about age 46 or 47 at the time of her death.
945 ~ Zhu Wenjin, Chinese emperor of the State of Min during the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from August 30, 939 until his death on this date 6 years later. The date of his birth is not known.
869 ~ St. Cyril (b. 827), Greek monk and theologian. The date of his birth is unknown.
270 ~ St. Valentine (b. 226), the traditional date for the death of St. Valentine. He was beheaded under orders of Roman Emperor Claudius II. Very little else is known about St. Valentine.
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