May 15
Birthdays:
1981 ~ Zara Phillips (née Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips), member of the British Royal family. She married Mike Tindall (b. 1978) in 2011 She is of the House of Windsor. She is daughter of Anne, Princess Royal and Mark Phillips. She is also the granddaughter of Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain.
1981 ~ Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress. She is best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on the television drama The Sopranos. She was born in Jericho, New York.
1978 ~ David Krumholtz, American actor. He was born in Queens, New York.
1971 ~ Samantha Hunt, American novelist. She was born in Pound Ridge, New York.
1964 ~ Michael Gerson (né Michael John Gerson; d. Nov. 17, 2022), American speechwriter who shaped George W. Bush’s message. He was born in Belmar, New Jersey. He died of kidney cancer at age 58 in Washington, D.C.
1953 ~ Paul Cary (d. Apr. 25, 2020), retired American paramedic from Colorado who traveled to New York City to volunteer in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. He drove from Denver, Colorado to New York City on March 28, 2020. He died of Covid-19 at age 66 within weeks of arriving in New York.
1953 ~ George Brett (né George Howard Brett), American baseball player and coach. He was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia.
1951 ~ Frank Wilczek (né Frank Anthony Wilczek), American mathematician and physicist. He was the recipient of the 2004 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was born in Mineola, New York.
1948 ~ Brian Eno (né Brian Peter George Eno), British musician. He was born in Melton, Suffolk, Great Britain.
1948 ~ Kathleen Sebelius (née Kathleen Gilligan), 21st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. She served under President Barack Obama during the ill-fated Affordable Health Care Act roll-out. She served in that Office from April 2009 until June 2014. She had also served as the 44th Governor of Kansas, from January 2003 until April 2009. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1940 ~ Roger Ailes (né Roger Eugene Ailes; d. May 18, 2017), American TV news guru who transformed American politics. He was the founder and one-time CEO of Fox News. In 2016, he was forced to resigned following a flood of allegations that he sexually harassed female employees. He was born in Warren, Ohio. He died 3 days after his 77thbirthday in Palm Beach, Florida.
1937 ~ Trini López (né Trinidad López, III, d. Aug. 11, 2020), American singer and actor who mixed folk, Latin, and rockabilly. He was born in Dallas, Texas. He died of Covid-19 at age 83 in Palm Springs, California.
1937 ~ Richard Robinson (né Maurice Richard Robinson, Jr.; d. June 5, 2021), American publisher who created a kids’ book giant. From 1975 until his death, he was the chief executive officer of the Scholastic Corporation, the company founded by his father. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died at age 84 while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
1937 ~ Madeleine Albright (née Marie Jana Korbelová; d. Mar. 23, 2022), Czech-born American 64th United States Secretary of State. She was the refugee who became America’s top diplomat. She was also the first female to hold that position. She served under President William Clinton from January 1997 until January 2001. Her parents were Jewish but converted to Catholicism in 1941 and Madeleine was raised Roman Catholic. It was not until she was an adult that she learned of her Jewish heritage. She was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She died of cancer at age 84 in Washington, D.C.
1936 ~ Paul Zindel, Jr. (d. Mar. 27, 2003), American writer best known for his novel, The Pigman. He was born and died in in New York, New York. He died at age 66 of lung cancer.
1935 ~ Burt Shavitz (né Ingram Berg Shavitz, d. July 5, 2015), American beekeeper and bearded hippie who co-founded Burt’s Bees personal care products. He was born in Great Neck, New York. He died at age 80 in Bangor, Maine.
1930 ~ Jasper Johns, Jr., American painter and sculptor. He was born in Augusta, Georgia.
1926 ~ Gu Chaohao (d. June 24, 2012), Chinese mathematician. He was born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Republic of China. He died at age 86 in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.
1925 ~ Mary F. Lyon (née Mary Frances Lyon, d. Dec. 25, 2014), British geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation. She was born in Norwich, England. She died at age 89.
1923 ~ Richard Avedon (d. Oct. 1, 2004), American fashion photographer. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 81 in San Antonio, Texas.
1920 ~ Michel Audiard (né Paul Michel Audiard; d. July 27, 1985), French film director. He was born in Paris, France. He died at age 65 in Dourdan, France.
1918 ~ Eddy Arnold (né Richard Edward Arnold; d. May 8, 2008), country-western musician. He was born in Henderson, Tennessee. He died 1 week before his 90th birthday in Nashville, Tennessee.
1917 ~ Harry Eisen (d. July 19, 2012), Polish-born Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States and purchased Norco to become the egg baron. He was born in Izbica Kujawska, a small village in Poland. He died at age 95 on complications from lung disease in Beverly Hills, California.
1915 ~ Paul Samuelson (né Paul Anthony Samuelson; d. Dec. 13, 2009), American economist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. He was born in Gary, Indiana. He died in Belmont, Massachusetts at age 94.
1915 ~ Stephanie C. Rader (née Stephanie Czech Rader; d. Jan. 21, 2016), American spy who went undercover in postwar Europe. Her parents were Polish immigrants, and she was raised with Polish as her first language. In 1942, she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Two years later, she was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and was sent to Warsaw, Poland. She was there to collect intelligence, and her cover was that she was looking for family members after the War. She was born in Toledo, Ohio. She died at age 100 in Alexandria, Virginia.
1911 ~ Max Frisch (né Max Rudolf Frisch; d. Apr. 4, 1991), Swiss playwright and novelist. He was born and died in Zurich, Switzerland. He died about 6 weeks before his 80th birthday.
1905 ~ Abraham Zapruder (d. Aug. 30, 1970), Ukrainian-born American businessman and clothing manufacturer. He is best known for being the man who filmed the famous Zapruder film showing the assassination of President John Kennedy. He died of stomach cancer at age 65 in Dallas, Texas.
1904 ~ Clifton Fadiman (né Clifton Paul Fadiman; d. June 20, 1999), American author and television personality. He was born in New York, New York. He died of pancreatic cancer just a month after his 95th birthday in Sanibel, Florida.
1903 ~ Maria Reiche (d. June 8, 1998), German mathematician and archeologist. She was born in Dresden, German Empire. She died of ovarian cancer 3 weeks after her 95th birthday in Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru.
1902 ~ Richard J. Daley (né Richard Joseph Daley; d. Dec. 20, 1976), 48th Mayor of Chicago and undisputed and Democratic boss of the city of Chicago. He was born and died in Chicago, Illinois. He died of a heart attack at age 74.
1900 ~ Ida Rhodes (née Hadassah Itzkowitz; d. Feb. 1, 1986), Ukrainian-born American mathematician and pioneer in computer programming. She died at age 85.
1891 ~ Makhail Bulgakov (d. Mar. 10. 1940), Russian author best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which was published posthumously. He was born in Kiev, Russian Empire. He died of kidney disease at age 48 in Moscow, Russia.
1890 ~ Katherine Anne Porter (née Callie Russell Porter; d. Sept. 18, 1980), American author. She is best known for her novel, Ship of Fools. She was born in Indian Creek, Texas. She died at age 90 in Silver Spring, Maryland.
1862 ~ Arthur Schnitzler (d. Oct. 21, 1931), Austrian author and dramatist. He was born and died in Vienna, Austria at age 69.
1860 ~ Ellen Wilson (née Ellen Louise Axson; d. Aug. 6, 1914), First Lady of the United States and 1st wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She was born in Savannah, Georgia. She died in Washington, D.C., at age 54 of Bright’s disease during her husband’s Presidency.
1859 ~ Pierre Curie (d. Apr. 19, 1906), co-discoverer, along with his wife, Marie, of Radium. He and Marie Curie were the co-recipients of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was born and died is Paris, France. He was killed in a traffic accident less than a month before his 47th birthday when he walked out into a street in Paris and was hit by a buggy.
1859 ~ Natalie of Serbia (née Natalija Keșcu; d. May 8, 1941), Queen consort of Serbia. She was the wife of Milan I, King of Serbia (1854 ~ 1901). They were the parents of Alexander I, King of Serbia. She was also known as Natalija Keșco. She was of the House of Keșcu. She was the daughter of Colonel Petre Keșcu and Princess Pulcheria Sturdza of Moldavia. She was Eastern Orthodox. She died 7 days before her 82nd birthday.
1857 ~ Williamina Fleming (née Williamina Paton Stevens Stevens; d. May 21, 1911), Scottish-American astronomer and academic. She is best known for her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula. She is also known for discovering the first White Dwarf. She was born in Dundee, Scotland, but emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts at age 21. She died of pneumonia 6 days after her 54th birthday in Boston, Massachusetts.
1856 ~ L. Frank Baum (né Lyman Frank Baum; d. May 6, 1919), American author, best known for The Wizard of Oz. He was born in Chittenango, New York. He died of a stroke 9 days before his 63rd birthday in Los Angeles, California.
1845 ~ Élie Metchnikoff (also known as Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov; d. July 15, 1916), Russian microbiologist and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in immunology. He is also credited with discovering macrophages. He died at age 71 in Paris, France.
1817 ~ Joseph Campbell (né Joseph Albert Campbell; d. Mar. 27, 1900), founder of the Campbell’s Soup Company. He was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He died at age 82 in Riverton, New Jersey.
1810 ~ Jacob Thompson (d. Mar. 24, 1885), 5th United States Secretary of the Interior. He served under President James Buchanan from March 1857 until Jan. 1861. He resigned his position as Secretary of the Interior to become the Inspector General of the Confederacy. He was born in Leasburg, North Carolina. He died at age 74 in Memphis, Tennessee.
1749 ~ Levi Lincoln, Sr. (d. Apr. 14, 1820), 4th United States Attorney General. He served under President Thomas Jefferson from March 1801 until March 1805. He also served as Acting Secretary of State under President Jefferson. He subsequently went on to serve as Governor of Massachusetts from December 1808 until May 1809. He was from Massachusetts. He died in Worcester, Massachusetts a month before his 71st birthday.
1689 ~ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Mary Pierrepont; d. Aug. 21, 1762), British aristocrat and writer. She died at age 73 in London, England.
1531 ~ Archduchess Maria of Austria (d. Dec. 11, 1581), Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and second wife of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1515 ~ 1592). They married in 1546. She was of the House of Habsburg. She was the daughter of Ferdinand, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. She died at age 50.
Events that Changed the World:
2022 ~ A mass shooting occurred at the Geneva Presbyterian Church, a predominately Taiwanese congregation, in Laguna Woods, California. Five people were wounded. Dr. John Cheng was killed after confronting and tackling the shooter, allowing other congregants to disarm him.
2009 ~ General Electric finally began its government-mandated cleanup of the polluted Hudson River. Between 1947 and 1977, GE had dumped harmful chemicals (PCBs) into the river from its plants in Hudson Falls and Port Edward. In 1984, a 200-mile stretch of the river had been declared a Superfund site. GE fought the EPA until finally began the cleanup process.
2008 ~ California became the second United States state to legalize same-sex marriage after the California Supreme Court ruled a previous ban on such marriages to be unconstitutional. In 2004, Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages.
2006 ~ The Cloud Gate, also known as The Bean, was formally dedicated at Chicago’s Millennium Park.
1991 ~ Édith Cresson (b. 1934) became the first female Prime Minister of France. She served in that Office until April 1992.
1974 ~ Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked and Israeli school in Ma’a lot. 115 people were taken hostage, including over 100 school children. Thirty-one people were killed in the massacre, including 22 children.
1972 ~ Alabama Governor George Wallace (1919 ~ 1998) was shot while campaigning in Maryland for the Presidency. He would be paralyzed from his injuries and spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
1970 ~ President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) appointed Anna Mae Hays (1920 ~ 2018) and Elizabeth Hoisington (1918 ~ 2007) as the first female United States Army Generals.
1970 ~ Two students were killed at Jackson State University in Mississippi by police during an anti-Vietnam war student protest.
1963 ~ NASA launched its final Project Mercury mission. Gordon Cooper (1927 ~ 2004) was the astronaut aboard, becoming the first American to spend more than a day in space. He was also the last American astronaut to go into space alone.
1948 ~ Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded Israel, thus beginning the 1948 Israel’s War of Independence. The war lasted until March 1949.
1942 ~ The bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was signed into law.
1942 ~ Gasoline rationing took place in 17 States, mostly along the East Coast.
1940 ~ McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The initial restaurant was owned and run by two brothers ~ Richard (1909 ~ 1998) and Maurice (1902 ~ 1971) McDonald.
1940 ~ Nylon stockings first went on sale to the general public. The stockins were sold at Gimbels Department Stores all over the country, for $1.35 apiece, the equivalent of $21 in 2020, which made them more expensive than silk.
1928 ~ Mickey Mouse made his debut in the cartoon, Plane Crazy.
1911 ~ The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Standard Oil Company of New York v. United States, where it was held that Standard Oil was an unreasonable monopoly under the Sherman Anti-trust Act. The company was rodered to be broken up.
1905 ~ Las Vegas, Nevada was founded when 110 acres were auctioned off. These areas would later become downtown Las Vegas.
1869 ~ Susan B. Anthony (1820 ~ 1906) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 ~ 1902) formed the National Woman Suffrage Association.
1862 ~ President Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) signed a bill creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture, the precursor to the United States Department of Agriculture.
1817 ~ The first private mental health hospital in the United States opened in Philadelphia.
1755 ~ Laredo, Texas was founded.
1730 ~ Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676 ~ 1745) became the de facto first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1718 ~ James Puckle (1677 ~ 1724) patented the first working multi-shot machine gun in England. It became known as the Puckle gun.
1567 ~ Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 ~ 1587), married her third husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earle of Bothwell (1534 ~ 1578).
1536 ~ Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536), Queen consort of England, was forced to stand trial on charges of treason, adultery, and incest. She was ultimately found guilty and condemned to death. She was executed 4 days later on May 19, 1536.
Good-Byes:
2020 ~ Fred Willard (né Frederick Charles Willard, Jr.; b. Sept. 18, 1933), American comic actor who spun gold from oblivion. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He died at age 86 in Los Angeles, California.
2015 ~ Elisabeth Bing (née Elisabeth Dorothea Koenigsberger; b. July 8, 1914), German-born physical therapist and natural-birth campaigner who popularized Lamaze. Her family left Germany in 1933 to escape potential Nazi persecution. Her family had been Jewish but converted to Protestantism before her birth. She was known as the Mother of Lamaze. She was born in Berlin, Germany. She died in New York New York. She was 100 years old.
2013 ~ Thomas M. Messer (né Thomas Maria Messer; b. Feb. 9, 1920), Czech-American museum director who tended the Guggenheim Foundation. He was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He died at age 93 in New York, New York.
2012 ~ Carlos Fuentes (né Carlos Fuentes Macías; b. Nov. 11, 1928), Mexican author. He was born in Panama City, Panama. He died at age 83 in Mexico City, Mexico.
2010 ~ Moshe Greenberg (b. July 10, 1928), American-Israeli scholar and rabbi. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 81 in Jerusalem, Israel.
2009 ~ Wayman Tisdale (né Wayman Lawrence Tisdale; b. June 9, 1964), African-American professional NBA basketball player who became a guitarist. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He died of cancer three weeks before his 45th birthday in Tucson, Oklahoma.
2008 ~ Willis Lamb, Jr. (né Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr.; b. July 12, 1913), American physicist and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was born in Los Angeles, California. He died at age 94 in Tucson, Arizona.
2007 ~ Jerry Falwell (né Jerry Lamon Falwell; b. Aug. 11, 1933), Evangelical preacher and conservative activist. He was the cofounder of the Moral Majority. He was born and died in Lynchburg, Virginia. He died of sudden cardiac arrest at age 73.
2003 ~ June Carter Cash (née Valerie June Carter; b. June 23, 1929), American country singer and wife of Johnny Cash. She was born in Maces Spring, Virginia. She died at age 73 of complications following heart-valve replacement surgery in Nashville, Tennessee.
1991 ~ Andreas Floer (b. Aug. 23, 1956), German mathematician. He died by suicide at age 34.
1986 ~ Theodore H. White (né Theodore Harold White; b. May 6, 1915), American historian and writer. He was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He died of a stroke nine days after his 71st birthday in New York, New York.
1978 ~ Sir Robert Menzies (né Robert Gordon Menzies; b. Dec. 20, 1894), Prime Minister of Australia. He served for 2 for two terms from 1939 to 1941 and 1949 to 1966. He died of a heart attack at age 83 in Malvern, Victoria, Australia.
1971 ~ Donald F. Duncan, Sr. (né Donald Franklin Duncan; b. June 6, 1892), American toymaker and founder of the Duncan Toys Company. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He was died of complications of a stroke 22 days before his 79th birthday in Palm Springs, California.
1967 ~ Opal Kunz (né Opal Logan Gilberson; b. Nov. 6, 1894), American aviator and chief organizer of the Betsy Ross Air Corps, an organization of pre-World War II female pilots. She was born in Missouri. She died at age 72 in Auburn, California.
1967 ~ Edward Hopper (b. July 22, 1882), American realist painter. He was born in Nyack, New York. He died at age 84 in Manhattan, New York.
1949 ~ Hugh Kingsmill (né Hugh Kingsmill Lund; b. Nov. 21, 1889), British author. He was born in London, England. He died at age 59.
1948 ~ Monsignor Edward J. Flanagan (né Edward Joseph Flanagan, b. July 13, 1886), Irish-born Catholic priest and founder the orphanage known as Boys Town. He was born in Leabeg, County Roscommon, Ireland. He died of a heart attack at age 61 in Berlin, Germany.
1924 ~ Paul-Henri-Benjamin d’Estournelles de Constant (b. Nov. 22, 1852), French diplomat and recipient of the 1909 Nobel Peace Prize. He was an advocate of international arbitration. He died at age 71.
1914 ~ Ida Freund (b. Apr. 15, 1863), Austrian chemist and educator. In 1881, she moved to England. She was the first woman to teach chemistry at a university in England. She was known for baking a set of periodic table cupcakes as a teaching aids. She died a month after her 51st birthday following surgery in Cambridge, England.
1886 ~ Emily Dickinson (née Emily Elizabeth Dickinson; b. Dec. 10, 1830), American poet. She was born and died in Amherst, Massachusetts. She died at age 55.
1852 ~ Louisa Johnson Adams (née Louisa Catherina Johnson; b. Feb. 12, 1775), First Lady of the United States and wife of President John Quincy Adams. She was born in London, England. She died at age 77 in Washington, D.C.
1792 ~ Maria Luisa of Spain (b. Nov. 24, 1745), Holy Roman Empress consort and wife of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747 ~ 1792). They married in 1764. They had several children including Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. She was of the House of Bourbon. She was the daughter of Charles III, King of Spain and Princess Maria Amalia of Poland and Saxony. She was born on her mother’s 21st birthday. She was Roman Catholic. She died at age 46.
1786 ~ Eva Ekeblad (née Eva De la Gardie; b. July 10, 1724), Swedish noblewoman and agronomist. She is best known for discovering a method to make alcohol and flour from potatoes. She was the first woman member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She died at age 61.
1591 ~ Dmitry of Uglich (b. Oct. 19, 1582), member of the Russian royal family. He was the crown prince. He was of the House of Rurik. He was the youngest son of Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia (Ivan the Terrible) and Maria Nagaya. He was Eastern Orthodox. He is believed to have been murdered at age 8.
1470 ~ Charles VIII, King of Sweden (b. Oct. 1409). He ruled for several intermittent years. In between ruling, he was deposed twice. He was married three times. His first wife was Birgitta Turesdotter. Little is known of her life. His second wife was Catherine Karlsdotter (d. 1450). His third wife had been his mistress with whom he had two children was Kristina Abramsdotter (1432 ~ 1492). He married his last wife on his deathbed. She had been his royal mistress but was named queen consort. He was of the House of Bonde. He was the son of Knut Tordsson Bonde and Margareta Karlsdotter. He was Roman Catholic. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about age 60 at the time of his death.
1157 ~ Yuri Dolgorukiy (b. 1099), Grand Prince of Keiv and founder of Moscow. He was known as The Long Arm. He was married twice. His first wife was Agiorovna of Cumans. His second wife was Helena of Constantinople. Little is known of his wives. He was of the Rurik Dynasty. He was the son of Vladimmir II Monomakh and Eufemia of Constantinople. The date of his birth is unknown. He is believed to have been about 57 or 58 at the time of his death.
926 ~ Zhuang Zong (b. Dec. 2, 885), Chinese emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. He died at age 40.
884 ~ Pope Marinus I. He is sometimes referred to as Pope Martin I. He was pope from December 882 until his death in May 884. The date of his birth is unknown.
392 ~ Valentinian II (b. 371), Roman Emperor. The exact date of his birth is unknown. He ruled over the Roman Empire from November 375 until his death 12 years later.
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