| | 1312 - Piers Gaveston, French favorite of Edward II of England |
| | 1542 - Leo Jud, Swiss reformer (b. 1482) |
| | 1545 - Abraomas Kulvietis Lithuanian reformer (b. 1509) |
| | 1584 - François, Duke of Anjou (b. 1555) |
| | 1608 - Alberico Gentili, Italian jurist (b. 1551) |
| | 1650 - Matthäus Merian, Swiss engraver (b. 1593) |
| | 1747 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (b. 1669) |
| | 1762 - Johann Ernst Eberlin, German composer (b. 1702) |
| | 1768 - Benjamin Tasker, provincial Governor of Maryland (b. 1690) |
| | 1805 - Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter (b. 1724) |
| | 1820 - Joseph Banks, English naturalist and botanist (b. 1743) |
| | 1844 - Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (b. 1772) |
| | 1902 - Albert, King of Saxony (b. 1828) |
| | 1921 - Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet (b. 1888) |
| | 1937 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (b. 1860) |
| | 1939 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878) |
| | 1953 - Julius Rosenberg, American spy (executed) (b. 1918) |
| | 1953 - Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (executed) (b. 1915) |
| | 1956 - Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (IBM) (b. 1874) |
| | 1966 - Ed Wynn, American actor (b. 1886) |
| | 1968 - James Joseph Sweeney, American Catholic prelate (b. 1898) |
| | 1975 - Sam Giancana, gangster (b.1908) |
| | 1977 - Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist (b. 1933) |
| | 1977 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell, English Chief Girl Guide (b. 1889) |
| | 1979 - Paul Popenoe, American eugenicist (b. 1888) |
| | 1986 - Coluche, French comedian (b. 1944) |
| | 1986 - Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963) |
| | 1987 - Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (b. 1981) |
| | 1988 - Fernand Seguin, French Canadian biologist (b. 1922) |
| | 1988 - Gladys Noon Spellman, Maryland Congresswoman |
| | 1993 - William Golding, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1911) |
| | 1996 - G. David Schine, American businessman (b. 1927) |
| | 1997 - Bobby Helms, American singer (b. 1933) |
| | 2003 - Laura Sadler, English actress (b. 1980) |