Saturday, February 17, 2024

February 16

Birthdays:

 

1971 ~ Michael Avenatti (né Michael John Avenatti), American attorney.  He is best known for representing Stormy Daniels, a porn star, in her case against President Donald Trump.  In 2019, he was indicted on multiple charges of tax fraud and his license to practice law was suspended.  In February 2020, he was found guilty on three counts of trying to extort Nike.  In July 2021, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.  He was born in Sacramento, California.

 

1959 ~ John McEnroe (né John Patrick McEnroe, Jr.), American professional tennis player.  He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany.

 

1958 ~ Ice-T (né Tracy Lauren Marrow), American rapper and actor.  He is best known for his role as Detective Odafin Tutuola on the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.  He was born in Newark, New Jersey.

 

1957 ~ LeVar Burton (né Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr.), American actor best known for his portrayal of Kunta Kinte in the television miniseries Roots.  He was born in Landstuhl, Germany.

 

1954 ~ Margaux Hemingway (née Margot Louise Hemingway; d. July 1, 1996), American actress and model.  She was the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway.  She was born in Portland, Oregon.  She died by suicide at age 42 in Santa Monica, California.

 

1944 ~ Richard Ford, American novelist.  He was born in Jackson, Mississippi.

 

1944 ~ Nigel Hamilton, British-born historian, and biographer.  

 

1941 ~ Kim Jong-il (d. Dec. 17, 2011), 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea.  He died at age 70.

 

1935 ~ Sonny Bono (né Salvatore Phillip Bono; d. Jan. 5, 1998), American singer and half of the duo Sonny and Cher.  In his later life, he became a politician.  He was killed in a freak skiing accident.  He was born in Detroit, Michigan.  He died at age 62 in Stateline, Nevada.

 

1935 ~ Stephen Gaskin (d. July 1, 2014), American hippy visionary who founded a lasting commune, known as The Farm.  He was born in Denver, Colorado.  He died at age 79 in Summertown, Tennessee.

 

1932 ~ Aharon Appelfeld (né Evrin Appelfeld; d. Jan. 4, 2018), Israeli novelist and Holocaust survivor.  He was born in Romania.  He died at age 85 in Petah Tikva, Israel.

 

1921 ~ Esther Bubley (d. Mar. 16, 1998), American photographer who specialized in photographs of everyday life in America.  She was born in Phillips, Wisconsin.  She died of cancer a month after her 77th birthday in New York, New York.

 

1921 ~ Hua Guofeng (d. Aug. 20, 2008), Chinese premiere who ushered in the post-Mao era.  He was the 6th Chairman of the Communist Party of China from October 1976 until June 28, 1981.  He died at age 87 in Beijing, China.

 

1920 ~ Anna Mae Hays (née Anna Mae Violet McCabe; d. Jan. 7, 2018), American army nurse who broke the military’s brass ceiling.  She was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of General.  She was born in Buffalo, New York.  She died of a heart attack at age 97 in Washington, D.C.

 

1919 ~ Helen Diserens (né Helen Barnett; d. Apr. 15, 2008), American research chemist and inventor.  While an employee at Mum, she developed the roll-on applicator for deodorant, which she based on the design of a ballpoint pen.  She was born in Huntington, West Virginia.  She died at age 89.

 

1918 ~ Patty Andrews (né Patricia Marie Andrews; d. Jan. 30, 2013), last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters vocal trio.  She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  She died 17 days before her 95th birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1909 ~ Hugh Beaumont (né Eugene Hugh Beaumont; d. May 14, 1982), American actor best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the sit-com Leave It to Beaver, which ran from 1957- 1963.  He was born in Eudora, Kansas.  He died of a heart attack at age 73 while visiting his son in Germany.

 

1909 ~ Richard McDonald (d. July 14, 1998), American businessman and co-founder along with his brother Maurice James McDonald (1902 ~ 1971) of McDonald’s.  Richard was born in Manchester, New Hampshire and died in Bedford, New Hampshire.  He was 89 at the time of his death.  The story of the McDonald’s origin was depicted in the 2016 movie The Founder.

 

1903 ~ Edgar Bergen (né Edgar John Berggren; b. Sept. 30, 1978), American actor and ventriloquist.  He was the father of actress Candice Bergen.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 75 in Paradise, Nevada.

 

1893 ~ Katharine Cornell (d. June 9, 1974), American actress.  She was born in Berlin, German Empire.  She died in Tisbury, Massachusetts at age 81.

 

1843 ~ Henry Leland (né Henry Martyn Leland; d. Mar. 26, 1832), American inventor and automotive entrepreneur.  He founded the luxury automobiles of Cadillac and Lincoln.  He was born in Vermont.  He died at age 89 in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1838 ~ Henry Adams (né Henry Brooks Adams; d. Mar. 27, 1918), American historian and novelist.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 80 in Washington, D.C.

 

1822 ~ Sir Francis Galton (d. Jan. 17, 1911), British polymath, geographer, inventor, and meteorologist.  He died a month before his 89th birthday.

 

1812 ~ Henry Wilson (né Jeremiah Jones Colbath; d. Nov. 22, 1875), Vice President of the United States.  He served as President Ulysses S. Grant’s second Vice President from March 1873 until his death in November 1875.  He died in Office.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from January 1885 until March 1973.  When he was 21, he legally changed his name to Henry Wilson.  The reason for the name change is unclear.  He was born in Farmington, New Hampshire.  He died of a stroke at age 63 in Washington, D. C.

 

1786 ~ Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Russia (d. June 23, 1859), Grand Duchess consort of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She was the wife of Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783 ~ 1853).  They married in 1804.  They shared the same birthdate.  She was of the House of Romanov.  She was the daughter of Paul I, Tsar of Russia and Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg.  She was Russian Orthodox.  She died at age 73.

 

1783 ~ Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (d. July 8, 1853).  He reigned over Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach from June 1828 until his death in 1853.  In 1804, he married Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.  He was of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.  He was the son of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Princess Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.  He was Lutheran.  He died at age 70.

 

1698 ~ Pierre Bouguer (d. Aug. 15, 1758), French mathematician.  He is also known as the Father of Naval Architecture.  He died at age 60.

 

1514 ~ Rheticus (né Georg Joachim de Porris; d. Dec. 4, 1576), Austrian mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 60.

 

1304 ~ Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür (d. Sept. 2, 1332), Chinese Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.  He first ruled from October 1328 until April 1329.  He abdicated in favor of his brother, Khutughtu Khan Kusala, but after his brother’s death a few months later, he retook the throne and ruled until his death in September 1332.  He died at age 28.

 

1032 ~ Emperor Yingzong of Song (d. Jan. 25, 1067), 5th Emperor of the Song Dynasty.  He was emperor from May 1063 until his death 4 years later.  He died 22 days before his 35th birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2024 ~ Former President Donald Trump (b. 1946) and his companies were found liable of inflating his asset values in paperwork to his lenders and were ordered to pay $355 Million in his New York civil fraud case.

 

2015 ~ President’s Day observed in the United States.

 

2010 ~ Mardi Gras.

 

2006 ~ The United States Army decommissioned the last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH).

 

2005 ~ The Kyoto Protocol, which set binging obligations on industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, became effective.

 

1987 ~ The trial of accused Nazi guard John Demjanjuk (1920 ~ 2012), known as Ivan the Terrible at the Treblinka extermination camp, began in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

1985 ~ Hezbollah was founded.

 

1968 ~ The first 911 emergency telephone system went into operation.  It was in Haleyville, Alabama.

 

1959 ~ Fidel Castro (1926 ~ 2016) was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba following the overthrowing of Fulgencio Batista (1901 ~ 1973) on January 1st.

 

1945 ~ The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was signed into law.  It was the first anti-discrimination law in the United States.  The law came about after Alaska natives fought against segregation and other forms of discrimination in Alaska.

 

1937 ~ Wallace Carothers (1898 ~ 1937) received a United States Patent for nylon.

 

1923 ~ Howard Carter (1874 ~ 1939) unsealed the burial chamber of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

 

1874 ~ The Silver Dollar became legal tender in the United States.

 

1852 ~ The Studebaker Brothers wagon company was established.  This was a precursor of the automobile manufacturer.

 

1742 ~ Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (1673 ~ 1743), became the British Prime Minister.  He is considered to be Britain’s second Prime Minister, after Sir Robert Walpole.  Compton served in this capacity for just a little over a year.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been age 70 at the time of his death.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2024 ~ Alexei Navalny (né Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, b. June 4, 1976), Russian opposition leader, political prisoner, and anti-corruption activist.  He organized anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia.  He died in a Siberian prison camp in Yamalo-Nenets, ostensibly after taking a walk.  He was 47 years old.

 

2023 ~ Tim McCarver (né James Timothy McCarver; b. Oct. 16, 1941), American professional baseball catcher who became a star sports commentator.  He was born and died in Memphis, Tennessee at age 81.

 

2022 ~ Gail Halvorsen (né Gail Seymour Halvorsen; b. Oct. 10, 1920), American “Candy Bomber” who delighted Berlin’s kids.  He was a senior officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force.  He founded Operation Little Vittles, which dropped candy on the children of Berlin from 1948 to 1949 in an effort to lift morale.  He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He died at age 101 in Provo, Utah.

 

2021 ~ Bernard Lown (né Boruch Lac; b. June 7, 1921), Lithuanian-American cardiologist who campaigned against nukes.  He invented the first effective direct-current defibrillator.  He was born in Utena, Lithuania.  When he was 14 years old, his family moved to Maine and he graduated from the University of Maine.  He died in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts at age 99.

 

2019 ~ Theodore Rubin (né Theodore Isaac Rubin; b. Apr. 11, 1923), American psychotherapist and author.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died at age 95 in Manhattan, New York.

 

2018 ~ Jim Bridwell (b. July 29, 1944), American renegade rock climber who conquered Yosemite.  He was born in San Antonia, Texas.  He died at age 73 in Palm Springs, California from complications of hepatitis, which he acquired from a tattoo in the 1980s.

 

2016 ~ Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. Nov. 14, 1922), Egyptian politician and diplomat.  He served as the 6th Secretary General of the United Nations.  He was the first UN Secretary General from Africa.  He was from a Coptic Christian family and played a pivotal role in negotiating the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.  He was born and died in Cairo, Egypt.  He died at age 93.

 

2015 ~ Lesley Gore (né Lesley Sue Goldstein; b. May 2, 1946), American feminist icon and singer best known for her song, It’s My Party.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died of lung cancer at age 68.

 

2012 ~ Anthony Shadid (b. Sept. 26, 1968), American journalist and reporter who captured the Middle East.  He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  He died of an acute asthma attack while trying to leave war-torn Syria.  He was 43 years old.

 

2012 ~ Gary Carter (né Gary Edmund Carter; b. Apr. 8, 1954), American Hall of Famer who never lost his joy of baseball.  His nickname was The Kid.  He was born in Culver City, California.  He died of cancer at age 57 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

 

2011 ~ Santi Santamaria (né Jaume Santamaria i Puig; b. July 26, 1957), Spanish Catalan chef who denigrated cooking’s avant-garde.  He died at age 53 of a heart attack.

 

2009 ~ Konrad Danneberg (b. Aug. 5, 1912), German-born V-2 rocketeer who later worked for NASA.  He was one of the last of the 118 German engineers who came to the United States with Nazi rocket wizard Werner von Braun under Operation Paperclip.  He had been a member of the Nazi party, which he joined in 1932.  He was born in Weißenfels, Germany.  He died at age 96 in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

2002 ~ John W. Gardner (né John William Gardner; b. Oct. 8, 1912), 6th United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.  He served in that Office in the Lyndon Johnson administration from August 1965 until March 1968.  He was the only Republican in Johnson’s cabinet.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.  He died in Palo Alto, California at age 89.

 

2001 ~ William Masters (né William Howell Masters; b. Dec. 27, 1915), American gynecologist and pioneer in human sexuality, along with his wife Virginia E. Johnson (1925 ~ 2013).  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  He died of Parkinson’s disease at age 85 in Tucson, Arizona.

 

1998 ~ Mary Amdur (née Mary Ochsenhirt; b. Feb. 18, 1921), American toxicologist and public health researcher.  The focus of her research was on air pollution.  She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She died of a heart attack while on vacation in Hawaii just 2 days before her 77th birthday.

 

1997 ~ Chien-Shiung Wu (b. May 31, 1912), Chinese-American physicist and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.  She made significant advances in nuclear physics.  She also worked on the Manhattan Project.  She died at age 84 in New York, New York.

 

1996 ~ Pat Brown (né Edmund Gerald Brown, Sr.; d. Apr. 21, 1905), 32nd Governor of California.  He served as Governor from January 1959 until January 1967.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died at age 90 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1990 ~ Keith Haring (né Keith Allen Haring; b. May 4, 1958), American graphical artist.  He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania.  He died of AIDS at age 31 in New York, New York.

 

1977 ~ Rózsa Péter (née Rózsa Politzer; b. Feb. 17, 1905), Hungarian mathematician.  She is known as the Mother of Recursion Theory.  She was born in Budapest, Hungary.  She died 1 day before her 72nd birthday.

 

1976 ~ Lyudmila Kedysh (b. Mar. 12, 1904), Russian mathematician best known for her work in set theory and geometric topology.  She was born in Orenburg, Russia.  She died less than a month before her 72nd birthday in Moscow, Russia.

 

1970 ~ Francis Peyton Rous (b. Oct. 5, 1879), American physician and virologist.  He was the recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for is research in the discovery of the role some viruses have in the transmission of certain types of cancer.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died at age 90 in New York, New York.

 

1967 ~ Gladys Davis (née Gladys Rockmore; b. May 11, 1901), American artist and impressionist painter.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died at age 65.

 

1954 ~ Senda Berenson Abbott (née Senda Valvrojenski; b. Mar. 18, 1868), Russian-born athlete and teacher.  She was a major figure in women’s basketball and was the author of the first basketball guide for women.  In 1987, she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.  She died a month before her 86th birthday in Santa Barbara, California.

 

1932 ~ Ferdinand Buisson (né Ferdinand Édouard Buisson; b. Dec. 20, 1841), French pacifist and recipient of the 1927 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was born in Paris, France.  He died at age 90.

 

1924 ~ Henry Bacon (b. Nov. 28, 1866), American architect who designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  He was born in Watseka, Illinois.  He died of cancer at age 57 in New York, New York.

 

1907 ~ Giosuè Carducci (né Giosuè Alessandro Guiseppe Carducci, b. July 27, 1835), Italian poet and recipient of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 71 in Bologna, Italy.

 

1907 ~ Princess Clémentine of Orléans (b. June 3, 1817), member of the French royal family.  She was the wife of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818 ~ 1881).  They were the parents of Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria.  She was of the House of Orléans.  She was the daughter of Louis Philippe I, King of France and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 89.

 

1899 ~ Félix Faure (né Félix François Faure; b. Jan. 30, 1841), President of France.  He served as President from January 1895 until his death in February 1899.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died in Office of apoplexy just 17 days after his 58th birthday.

 

1862 ~ William Pennington (b. May 4, 1796), American politician.  He served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from February 1860 until March 1861.  He had previously served as the Governor of New Jersey from October 1837 until October 1843.  He was born and died in Newark, New Jersey.  He died at age 65.

 

1685 ~ Charles II, King of England (b. June 8, 1630), monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  He was married to Catherine of Braganza (1638 ~ 1705).  They married in 1662.  There were no children of this marriage.  He was of the House of Stuart.  He was the son of Charles I, King of England and Henrietta Maria of France.  He died suddenly at age 54.  He was succeeded by his brother, James II, King of England.  [Under the calendar at the time during his lifetime, his dates of birth and death would have been recorded as: May 29, 1630 to February 16, 1685.]

 

1531 ~ Johannes Stöffler (b. Dec. 10, 1452), German mathematician.  He died at age 88.

 

1281 ~ Gertrude of Hohenburg (b. 1225), Queen consort of Germany and first wife of Rudolf I, King of Germany (1218 ~ 1291).  She was of the House of Hohenberg.  She was the daughter of Burkhard V, Count of Hohenberg and Matilda of Tübingen.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

 

1279 ~ Afonso III, King of Portugal (b. May 5, 1210).  He reigned Portugal from January 1248 until his death in February 1279.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne (1202 ~ 1259).  They married in 1238.  He was her second husband.  Afonso divorced her in 1253 to marry Beatrice of Castile (1240s ~ Oct. 27, 1303), the illegitimate daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile.  They were the parents of Denis, King of Portugal.  Afonso was of the House of Burgundy.  He was the son of Afonso II, King of Portugal and Urraca of Castile.  He was Catholic.  He died at age 68.


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