20 December Deaths

December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).

Deaths

217 – Zephyrinus, pope of the Catholic Church
860 – Æthelbald, king of Wessex (b. 834)
910 – Alfonso III, king of Asturias
977 – Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Japanese statesman (b. 925)
1295 – Margaret of Provence, French queen (b. 1221)
1326 – Peter of Moscow, Russian metropolitan bishop
1340 – John I, duke of Bavaria (b. 1329)
1355 – Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
1552 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (b. 1499)
1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (b. 1510)
1658 – Jean Jannon, French designer and typefounder (b. 1580)
1722 – Kangxi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1654)
1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (b. 1652)
1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (b. 1675)
1765 – Louis, dauphin of France (b. 1729)
1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (b. 1692)
1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (b. 1729)
1812 – Sacagawea, American explorer (b. 1788)
1820 – John Bell, American farmer (b. 1750)
1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (b. 1820)
1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (b. 1797)
1893 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (b. 1840)
1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (b. 1863)
1916 – Arthur Morgan, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Queensland (b. 1856)
1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (b. 1882)
1919 – Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1835)
1920 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (b. 1863)
1921 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (b. 1850)
1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
1929 – Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (b. 1838)
1935 – Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1882)
1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
1938 – Matilda Howell, American archer (b. 1859)
1939 – Hans Langsdorff, German captain (b. 1894)
1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian-Estonian poet and author (b. 1887)
1950 – Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1885)
1954 – James Hilton, English-American author and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1956 – Ramón Carrillo, Argentinian neurologist and physician (b. 1906)
1959 – Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1885)
1961 – Moss Hart, American director and playwright (b. 1904)
1961 – Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
1968 – John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1971 – Roy O. Disney, American banker and businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1893)
1972 – Adolfo Orsi, Italian businessman (b. 1888)
1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (b. 1904)
1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
1974 – R. A. Bevan, English advertiser (b. 1901)
1974 – Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (b. 1896)
1974 – André Jolivet, French guitarist and composer (b. 1905)
1976 – Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1887)
1984 – Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (b. 1933)
1984 – Dmitry Ustinov, Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1976-84) (b. 1908)
1986 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959)
1991 – Simone Beck, French chef and author (b. 1904)
1991 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, singer, and sculptor (b. 1903)
1991 – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942)
1993 – W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (b. 1900)
1993 – Nazife Güran, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1921)
1994 – Dean Rusk, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
1995 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (b. 1938)
1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)
1997 – Denise Levertov, English-American poet and translator (b. 1923)
1997 – Dick Spooner, English cricketer (b. 1919)
1997 – Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
1999 – Riccardo Freda, Egyptian-Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1909)
1999 – Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)
2005 – Raoul Bott, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1923)
2006 – Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929)
2008 – Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
2008 – Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (b. 1925)
2008 – Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (b. 1912)
2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
2009 – Arnold Stang, American actor (b. 1918)
2010 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920)
2010 – K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (b. 1914)
2011 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2012 – Stan Charlton, English footballer and manager (b. 1929)
2012 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (b. 1929)
2012 – Eagle Keys, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1923)
2012 – Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1919)
2013 – Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (b. 1930)
2014 – Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Swedish surgeon and academic (b. 1929)
2014 – John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (b. 1915)

Source: wikipedia