April 16 facts for kids

2025 Calendar

April 16 in recent years

April 16 is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 259 days remain until the end of the year.

On this day, April 16th, many important events have happened throughout history. People were born, and others passed away. Let's explore some of these moments!

Events
Births
Deaths
Holidays and Observances
See also

Events

Early History (Before 1600)

1457 BC – The Battle of Megiddo took place. This is one of the very first battles that was recorded in great detail, giving us a good look into ancient warfare.
73 AD – The Jewish fortress of Masada fell to the Romans. This happened after a long siege that lasted several months, marking the end of the First Jewish–Roman War.
1346 – Stefan Dušan, known as "the Mighty," was crowned Emperor of the Serbs in Skopje. His large empire covered a big part of the Balkans.
1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros began in Spain. This was a rebellion against the rule of Charles V.
1582 – Spanish explorer Hernando de Lerma founded the city of Salta, which is now in Argentina.

From 1601 to 1900

1746 – The Battle of Culloden was fought in Scotland. It was between the Jacobites, who were supported by France, and the British Hanoverian forces led by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. After this battle, many traditional ways of life in the Scottish Highlands were stopped, and many people were forced to leave their homes during the Highland Clearances.
1780 – Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg started the University of Münster.
1799 – During the French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon led his forces in the Battle of Mount Tabor. They pushed the Ottoman Turks back across the River Jordan near Acre.
1818 – The United States Senate approved the Rush–Bagot Treaty. This agreement helped limit the number of naval ships on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
1838 – The French Army took control of Veracruz during the Pastry War.
1847 – A conflict known as the Wanganui Campaign began in New Zealand. This happened after an incident involving a Māori person and an English sailor.
1853 – India's first passenger train service opened. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway ran from Bori Bunder to Thane.
1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a group dedicated to natural history in Scotland, was officially closed.
1862 – During the American Civil War, a battle took place at Lee's Mills in Virginia.
1862 – Also during the American Civil War, the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act became law. This law ended slavery in the District of Columbia.
1863 – In the American Civil War, during the Vicksburg campaign, gunboats led by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter sailed past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.
1878 – The government of the Grand Duchy of Finland announced the creation of the city of Kotka. It was built on islands south of the old Kymi parish.
1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson was involved in his final notable confrontation.

From 1901 to Today

1908 – The Natural Bridges National Monument was created in Utah.
1910 – The Boston Arena, the oldest indoor ice hockey rink still used for the sport today, opened for the first time.
1912 – Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
1917 – During the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd, Russia, after being in exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organized a day of "prayer and fasting." This was a response to the terrible Jallianwala Bagh massacre that happened three days earlier, where British colonial troops killed Indian protesters.
1919 – In the Polish–Lithuanian War, the Polish Army started the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo was signed. This agreement helped Germany and the Soviet Union restart their diplomatic relations.
1941 – During World War II, British ships attacked and destroyed the Italian-German Tarigo convoy in the Battle of the Tarigo Convoy.
1941 – Also in World War II, the Axis powers put the Nazi-linked Ustaše in charge of the Independent State of Croatia after Operation 25.
1942 – King George VI gave the George Cross award to the people of Malta. This was to honor their bravery during the war.
1944 – In World War II, Allied forces began bombing Belgrade. About 1,100 people died in this bombing, which happened on Orthodox Christian Easter.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army started its final attack on German forces around Berlin. Nearly one million soldiers fought in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
1945 – The United States Army freed the Nazi high-security prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C, also known as Colditz.
1945 – More than 7,000 people died when the German transport ship Goya was sunk by a Soviet submarine.
1947 – An explosion on a cargo ship in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, caused the city to catch fire. Nearly 600 people died.
1947 – Bernard Baruch first used the term "Cold War" to describe the tense relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1948 – The Organization of European Economic Co-operation was created.
1961 – In a speech broadcast across the country, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced that he was a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba would become a Communist country.
1963 – U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous open letter from Birmingham Jail. He wrote it while in prison in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting against segregation.
1972 – The Apollo program continued with the launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
2001 – India and Bangladesh began a five-day border conflict. They could not agree on how to resolve their border disputes.
2003 – The Treaty of Accession was signed in Athens. This agreement allowed ten new countries to join the European Union.
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Baze v. Rees case that execution by lethal injection does not go against the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
2012 – The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out the 2011 Norway attacks, began in Oslo, Norway.
2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. It was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.
2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre started when Boko Haram fighters attacked government soldiers in Baga.
2014 – The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsized and sank near Jindo Island. This tragic event killed 304 passengers and crew.
2016 – Ecuador had its worst earthquake in almost 40 years. It killed 676 people and injured 6,274 others.

Births

Born Before 1600

1488 – Jungjong of Joseon, a Korean king (died 1544)
1495 – Petrus Apianus, a German mathematician and astronomer (died 1557)
1516 – Tabinshwehti, a Burmese king (died 1550)
1569 – John Davies, an English poet and lawyer (died 1626)

Born Between 1601 and 1900

1635 – Frans van Mieris the Elder, a Dutch painter (died 1681)
1646 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, a French architect (died 1708)
1660 – Hans Sloane, an Irish-English physician and academic (died 1753)
1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, an English poet and politician (died 1715)
1682 – John Hadley, an English mathematician who invented the octant (died 1744)
1697 – Johann Gottlieb Görner, a German organist and composer (died 1778)
1728 – Joseph Black, a French-Scottish physician and chemist (died 1799)
1730 – Henry Clinton, an English general and politician (died 1795)
1755 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, a French painter (died 1842)
1786 – John Franklin, an English admiral and politician (died 1847)
1800 – George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, an English field marshal and politician (died 1888)
1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, an American journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 1864)
1821 – Ford Madox Brown, a French-English soldier and painter (died 1893)
1823 – Gotthold Eisenstein, a German mathematician and academic (died 1852)
1826 – Sir James Corry, 1st Baronet, a British politician (died 1891)
1827 – Octave Crémazie, a Canadian poet and bookseller (died 1879)
1839 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, an Italian politician (died 1908)
1834 – Charles Lennox Richardson, an English merchant (died 1862)
1844 – Anatole France, a French journalist, novelist, and poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 1924)
1847 – Hans Auer, a Swiss-Austrian architect who designed the Federal Palace of Switzerland (died 1906)
1848 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, an Indian author and activist (died 1919)
1851 – Ponnambalam Ramanathan, a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (died 1930)
1864 – Rose Talbot Bullard, an American medical doctor and professor (died 1915)
1865 – Harry Chauvel, an Australian general (died 1945)
1866 – José de Diego, a Puerto Rican journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 1918)
1867 – Wilbur Wright, an American inventor (died 1912)
1871 – John Millington Synge, an Irish author, poet, and playwright (died 1909)
1874 – Jōtarō Watanabe, a Japanese general (died 1936)
1878 – R. E. Foster, an English cricketer and footballer (died 1914)
1882 – Seth Bingham, an American organist and composer (died 1972)
1884 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, an English cricketer, journalist, and politician (died 1963)
1885 – Leó Weiner, a Hungarian composer and educator (died 1960)
1886 – Michalis Dorizas, a Greek-American football player and javelin thrower (died 1957)
1886 – Ernst Thälmann, a German politician (died 1944)
1888 – Billy Minter, an English footballer and manager (died 1940)
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, a famous English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (died 1977)
1890 – Fred Root, an English cricketer and umpire (died 1954)
1890 – Gertrude Chandler Warner, an American author and educator (died 1979)
1891 – Dorothy P. Lathrop, an American author and illustrator (died 1980)
1892 – Dora Richter, a German transgender woman (died unknown)
1892 – Howard Mumford Jones, an American author, critic, and academic (died 1980)
1893 – Germaine Guèvremont, a Canadian journalist and author (died 1968)
1893 – John Norton, an American hurdler (died 1979)
1895 – Ove Arup, an English-Danish engineer and businessman who founded Arup (died 1988)
1896 – Robert Henry Best, an American journalist (died 1952)
1896 – Árpád Weisz, a Hungarian footballer (died 1944)
1899 – Osman Achmatowicz, a Polish chemist and academic (died 1988)
1900 – Polly Adler, a Russian-American author (died 1962)

Born From 1901 to Today

1903 – Paul Waner, an American baseball player and manager (died 1965)
1904 – Fifi D'Orsay, a Canadian-American actress and singer (died 1983)
1905 – Frits Philips, a Dutch businessman (died 2005)
1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, a Canadian inventor and businessman who founded Bombardier Inc. (died 1964)
1907 – August Eigruber, an Austrian-German politician (died 1947)
1908 – Ellis Marsalis, Sr., an American businessman and activist (died 2004)
1908 – Ray Ventura, a French jazz bandleader (died 1979)
1910 – Berton Roueché, an American journalist and author (died 1994)
1911 – Guy Burgess, an English-Russian spy (died 1963)
1914 – John Hodiak, an American actor (died 1955)
1915 – Robert Speck, a Canadian politician (died 1972)
1916 – Behçet Necatigil, a Turkish author, poet, and translator (died 1979)
1917 – Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli (died 2013)
1917 – Barry Nelson, an American actor (died 2007)
1918 – Hsuan Hua, a Chinese-American monk and author (died 1995)
1918 – Spike Milligan, an Irish actor, comedian, and writer (died 2002)
1919 – Merce Cunningham, an American dancer and choreographer (died 2009)
1919 – Nilla Pizzi, an Italian singer (died 2011)
1919 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, a Mexican architect (died 2013)
1920 – Ananda Dassanayake, a Sri Lankan politician (died 2012)
1920 – Prince Georg of Denmark (died 1986)
1921 – Wolfgang Leonhard, a German historian and author (died 2014)
1921 – Peter Ustinov, an English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2004)
1922 – Kingsley Amis, an English novelist, poet, and critic (died 1995)
1922 – Lawrence N. Guarino, an American colonel (died 2014)
1922 – Leo Tindemans, a Belgian politician (died 2014)
1923 – Warren Barker, an American composer (died 2006)
1923 – Arch A. Moore Jr., an American sergeant, lawyer, and politician (died 2015)
1924 – John Harvey-Jones, an English academic and businessman (died 2008)
1924 – Henry Mancini, an American composer and conductor (died 1994)
1924 – Madanjeet Singh, an Indian diplomat, author, and philanthropist (died 2013)
1926 – Pierre Fabre, a French pharmacist who founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (died 2013)
1927 – Edie Adams, an American actress and singer (died 2008)
1927 – Pope Benedict XVI (died 2022)
1927 – Rolf Schult, a German actor (died 2013)
1928 – Night Train Lane, an American football player (died 2002)
1929 – Roy Hamilton, an American singer (died 1969)
1929 – Ralph Slatyer, an Australian biologist and ecologist (died 2012)
1929 – Ed Townsend, an American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2003)
1930 – Doug Beasy, an Australian footballer and educator (died 2013)
1930 – Herbie Mann, an American flute player and composer (died 2003)
1931 – Julian Carroll, an American politician (died 2023)
1932 – Maury Meyers, an American lawyer and politician (died 2014)
1933 – Marcos Alonso Imaz, a Spanish footballer (died 2012)
1933 – Joan Bakewell, an English journalist and author
1933 – Perry Botkin Jr., an American composer, arranger and musician (died 2021)
1933 – Vera Krepkina, a Russian long jumper (died 2023)
1933 – Ike Pappas, an American journalist and actor (died 2008)
1934 – Vince Hill, an English singer-songwriter (died 2023)
1934 – Robert Stigwood, an Australian producer and manager (died 2016)
1934 – Barrie Unsworth, an Australian politician
1934 – Vicar, a Chilean cartoonist (died 2012)
1935 – Marcel Carrière, a Canadian director and screenwriter
1935 – Sarah Kirsch, a German poet and author (died 2013)
1935 – Lennart Risberg, a Swedish boxer (died 2013)
1935 – Dominique Venner, a French journalist and historian (died 2013)
1935 – Bobby Vinton, an American singer
1936 – Vadim Kuzmin, a Russian physicist and academic (died 2015)
1937 – Gert Potgieter, a South African hurdler and coach
1937 – George Steele, an American wrestler and actor (died 2017)
1938 – Rich Rollins, an American baseball player
1938 – Gordon Wilson, a Scottish lawyer and politician (died 2017)
1939 – John Amabile, an American football player and coach (died 2012)
1939 – Dusty Springfield, an English singer and record producer (died 1999)
1940 – Benoît Bouchard, a Canadian academic and politician
1940 – David Holford, a Barbadian cricketer
1940 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
1940 – Joan Snyder, an American painter
1940 – Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, an English banker and politician
1941 – Allan Segal, an American director and producer (died 2012)
1942 – Jim Lonborg, an American baseball pitcher
1942 – Sir Frank Williams, an English businessman who founded the Williams F1 Racing Team (died 2021)
1943 – Petro Tyschtschenko, an Austrian-German businessman
1943 – John Watkins, an Australian cricketer
1945 – Tom Allen, an American lawyer and politician
1946 – Margot Adler, an American journalist and author (died 2014)
1946 – Ernst Bakker, a Dutch politician (died 2014)
1946 – Johnnie Lewis, a Liberian lawyer and politician (died 2015)
1946 – R. Carlos Nakai, an American flute player
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a famous American basketball player and coach
1947 – Gerry Rafferty, a Scottish singer-songwriter (died 2011)
1948 – Reg Alcock, a Canadian businessman and politician (died 2011)
1950 – David Graf, an American actor (died 2001)
1950 – Colleen Hewett, an Australian singer and actress
1951 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, a Romanian author and photographer
1952 – Michel Blanc, a French actor and director
1952 – Esther Roth-Shahamorov, an Israeli sprinter and hurdler
1953 – Peter Garrett, an Australian singer-songwriter and politician
1954 – Ellen Barkin, an American actress
1954 – John Bowe, an Australian racing driver
1954 – Mike Zuke, a Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
1956 – David M. Brown, an American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 2003)
1956 – T Lavitz, an American keyboard player, composer, and producer (died 2010)
1956 – Lise-Marie Morerod, a Swiss skier
1957 – Patricia De Martelaere, a Belgian philosopher, author, and academic (died 2009)
1958 – Tim Flach, an English photographer and director
1958 – Ulf Wakenius, a Swedish guitarist
1959 – Alison Ramsay, an English-Scottish field hockey player and lawyer
1960 – Wahab Akbar, a Filipino politician (died 2007)
1960 – Rafael Benítez, a Spanish footballer and manager
1960 – Pierre Littbarski, a German footballer and manager
1961 – Jarbom Gamlin, an Indian lawyer and politician (died 2014)
1962 – Anna Dello Russo, an Italian journalist
1963 – Saleem Malik, a Pakistani cricketer
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, an American singer
1964 – Esbjörn Svensson, a Swedish pianist (died 2008)
1965 – Yves-François Blanchet, a Canadian politician
1965 – Jon Cryer, an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Martin Lawrence, an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Jarle Vespestad, a Norwegian drummer
1968 – Vickie Guerrero, an American wrestler and manager
1968 – Rüdiger Stenzel, a German runner
1969 – Patrik Järbyn, a Swedish skier
1969 – Fernando Viña, an American baseball player and sportscaster
1970 – Dero Goi, a German singer-songwriter and drummer
1970 – Margreth Olin, a Norwegian filmmaker
1970 – Walt Williams, an American basketball player
1971 – Cameron Blades, an Australian rugby player
1971 – Selena, a famous American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (died 1995)
1971 – Seigo Yamamoto, a Japanese racing driver
1971 – Natasha Zvereva, a Belarusian tennis player
1972 – Conchita Martínez, a Spanish-American tennis player
1972 – Tracy K. Smith, an American poet and educator
1973 – Akon, a Senegalese-American singer, rapper and songwriter
1973 – Charlotta Sörenstam, a Swedish golfer
1973 – Teddy Cobeña, a Spanish-Ecuadorian sculptor
1976 – Lukas Haas, an American actor and musician
1976 – Kelli O'Hara, an American actress and singer
1977 – Freddie Ljungberg, a Swedish footballer
1979 – Christijan Albers, a Dutch racing driver
1979 – Lars Börgeling, a German pole vaulter
1979 – Daniel Browne, a New Zealand rugby player
1981 – Anestis Agritis, a Greek footballer
1981 – Maya Dunietz, an Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist
1981 – Matthieu Proulx, a Canadian football player
1982 – Gina Carano, an American mixed martial artist and actress
1982 – Boris Diaw, a French basketball player
1982 – Jonathan Vilma, an American football player
1983 – Marié Digby, an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1983 – Cat Osterman, an American softball player
1984 – Teddy Blass, an American composer and producer
1984 – Claire Foy, an English actress
1984 – Tucker Fredricks, an American speed skater
1984 – Paweł Kieszek, a Polish footballer
1984 – Kerron Stewart, a Jamaican sprinter
1985 – Luol Deng, a Sudanese-English basketball player
1985 – Nate Diaz, an American mixed martial artist
1985 – Brendon Leonard, a New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Taye Taiwo, a Nigerian footballer
1986 – Shinji Okazaki, a Japanese footballer
1986 – Peter Regin, a Danish ice hockey player
1986 – Epke Zonderland, a Dutch gymnast
1987 – Cenk Akyol, a Turkish basketball player
1987 – Aaron Lennon, an English international footballer
1988 – Kyle Okposo, an American ice hockey player
1990 – Reggie Jackson, an American basketball player
1990 – Vangelis Mantzaris, a Greek basketball player
1990 – Tony McQuay, an American sprinter
1991 – Nolan Arenado, an American baseball player
1991 – Kim Kyung-jung, a South Korean footballer
1993 – Chance the Rapper, an American rapper
1993 – Mirai Nagasu, a Japanese-American figure skater
1996 – Anya Taylor-Joy, an Argentine-British actress
1996 – Taylor Townsend, an American tennis player
2002 – Sadie Sink, an American actress

Deaths

Passed Away Before 1600

AD 69 – Otho, a Roman emperor (born 32 AD)
665 – Fructuosus of Braga, a French archbishop and saint
1090 – Sikelgaita, a duchess of Apulia (born around 1040)
1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev (born 1050)
1118 – Adelaide del Vasto, a regent of Sicily (born unknown)
1198 – Frederick I, Duke of Austria (born 1175)
1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (born 1191)
1375 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, an English nobleman and soldier (born 1347)
1496 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy (born 1489)
1587 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (born 1497)

Passed Away Between 1601 and 1900

1640 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (born 1579)
1645 – Tobias Hume, a Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (born 1569)
1687 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, an English poet and politician (born 1628)
1689 – Aphra Behn, an English author and playwright (born 1640)
1742 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, an Italian poet and translator (born 1672)
1756 – Jacques Cassini, a French astronomer (born 1677)
1783 – Christian Mayer, a Czech astronomer and educator (born 1719)
1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, a French mathematician, cosmologist, and author (born 1707)
1828 – Francisco Goya, a Spanish-French painter and illustrator (born 1746)
1846 – Domenico Dragonetti, an Italian bassist and composer (born 1763)
1850 – Marie Tussaud, a French-English sculptor who founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (born 1761)
1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, a French historian and philosopher (born 1805)
1879 – Bernadette Soubirous, a French nun and saint (born 1844)
1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, a Polish physicist and chemist (born 1845)
1899 – Emilio Jacinto, a Filipino journalist and activist (born 1875)

Passed Away From 1901 to Today

1904 – Maximilian Kronberger, a German poet and author (born 1888)
1904 – Samuel Smiles, a Scottish-English author (born 1812)
1914 – George William Hill, an American astronomer and mathematician (born 1838)
1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, an American businessman and politician (born 1841)
1925 – Stefan Nerezov, a Bulgarian general (born 1867)
1928 – Henry Birks, a Canadian businessman who founded Henry Birks and Sons (born 1840)
1928 – Roman Steinberg, an Estonian wrestler (born 1900)
1930 – José Carlos Mariátegui, a Peruvian journalist, philosopher, and activist (born 1894)
1935 – Panait Istrati, a Romanian journalist and author (born 1884)
1937 – Jay Johnson Morrow, an American military engineer and politician (born 1870)
1938 – Steve Bloomer, an English footballer and manager (born 1874)
1940 – Tony D'Arcy, an Irish Republican who died during a hunger strike (born 1908)
1941 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, an English economist and civil servant (born 1880)
1942 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1878)
1942 – Denis St. George Daly, an Irish polo player (born 1862)
1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, a Swiss-American race car driver and engineer (born 1884)
1947 – Rudolf Höss, a German SS officer (born 1900)
1950 – Eduard Oja, an Estonian composer, conductor, and critic (born 1905)
1950 – Anders Peter Nielsen, a Danish target shooter (born 1867)
1955 – David Kirkwood, a Scottish engineer and politician (born 1872)
1958 – Rosalind Franklin, an English biophysicist and academic (born 1920)
1960 – Mihály Fekete, a Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director (born 1884)
1961 – Carl Hovland, an American psychologist and academic (born 1912)
1965 – Francis Balfour, an English soldier and colonial administrator (born 1884)
1965 – Sydney Chaplin, an English actor and comedian, brother of Charlie Chaplin (born 1885)
1966 – Eric Lambert, an Australian author (born 1918)
1968 – Fay Bainter, an American actress (born 1893)
1968 – Edna Ferber, an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1885)
1969 – Hem Vejakorn, a Thai illustrator and painter (born 1904)
1970 – Richard Neutra, an Austrian-American architect (born 1892)
1970 – Péter Veres, a Hungarian politician (born 1897)
1972 – Yasunari Kawabata, a Japanese novelist and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1899)
1972 – Frank O'Connor, an Australian public servant (born 1894)
1973 – István Kertész, a Hungarian conductor and educator (born 1929)
1978 – Lucius D. Clay, an American officer and military governor (born 1898)
1980 – Morris Stoloff, an American composer (born 1898)
1985 – Scott Brady, an American actor (born 1924)
1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, a Palestinian commander who founded Fatah (born 1935)
1988 – Youri Egorov, a Russian pianist (born 1954)
1989 – Jocko Conlan, an American baseball player and umpire (born 1899)
1989 – Kaoru Ishikawa a Japanese author and educator (born 1915)
1989 – Miles Lawrence, an English cricketer (born 1940)
1989 – Hakkı Yeten, a Turkish footballer, manager and president (born 1910)
1991 – David Lean, an English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1908)
1992 – Neville Brand, an American actor (born 1920)
1992 – Alexandru Nicolschi, a Romanian spy and activist (born 1915)
1992 – Andy Russell, an American singer and actor (born 1919)
1994 – Paul-Émilien Dalpé, a Canadian labor unionist (born 1919)
1994 – Ralph Ellison, an American novelist and critic (born 1913)
1996 – Lucille Bremer, an American actress and dancer (born 1917)
1997 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, a Colombian politician (born 1921)
1997 – Roland Topor, a French actor, director, and painter (born 1938)
1998 – Alberto Calderón, an Argentinian-American mathematician and academic (born 1920)
1998 – Fred Davis, an English snooker player (born 1913)
1998 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, a Canadian super-centenarian (born 1880)
1999 – Skip Spence, a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1946)
2001 – Robert Osterloh, an American actor (born 1918)
2001 – Michael Ritchie, an American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938)
2001 – Alec Stock, an English footballer and manager (born 1917)
2002 – Billy Ayre, an English footballer and manager (born 1952)
2002 – Ruth Fertel, an American businesswoman who founded Ruth's Chris Steak House (born 1927)
2002 – Robert Urich, an American actor (born 1946)
2003 – Graham Jarvis, a Canadian actor (born 1930)
2003 – Graham Stuart Thomas, an English horticulturalist and author (born 1909)
2005 – Kay Walsh, an English actress, singer, and dancer (born 1911)
2007 – Frank Bateson, a New Zealand astronomer (born 1909)
2007 – Gaétan Duchesne, a Canadian ice hockey player (born 1962)
2007 – Maria Lenk, a Brazilian swimmer (born 1915)
2007 – Chandrabose Suthaharan, a Sri Lankan journalist
2008 – Edward Norton Lorenz, an American mathematician and meteorologist (born 1917)
2010 – Rasim Delić, a Bosnian general (born 1949)
2010 – Daryl Gates, an American police officer (born 1926)
2011 – Gerry Alexander, a Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (born 1928)
2011 – Allan Blakeney, a Canadian scholar and politician (born 1925)
2011 – Sol Saks, an American screenwriter and producer (born 1910)
2012 – Sári Barabás, a Hungarian soprano (born 1914)
2012 – Marian Biskup, a Polish author and academic (born 1922)
2012 – Alan Hacker, an English clarinet player and conductor (born 1938)
2012 – George Kunda, a Zambian lawyer and politician (born 1956)
2012 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, a Danish businessman (born 1913)
2012 – Carlo Petrini, an Italian footballer and coach (born 1948)
2013 – Charles Bruzon, a Gibraltarian politician (born 1938)
2013 – Ali Kafi, an Algerian politician (born 1928)
2013 – Siegfried Ludwig, an Austrian politician (born 1926)
2013 – Pentti Lund, a Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1925)
2013 – George Beverly Shea, a Canadian-American singer-songwriter (born 1909)
2013 – Pat Summerall, an American football player and sportscaster (born 1930)
2013 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, a Mexican architect (born 1919)
2014 – Gyude Bryant, a Liberian businessman and politician (born 1949)
2014 – Aulis Rytkönen, a Finnish footballer and manager (born 1929)
2014 – Ernst Florian Winter, an Austrian-American historian and political scientist (born 1923)
2015 – Valery Belousov, a Russian ice hockey player and coach (born 1948)
2015 – Stanislav Gross, a Czech lawyer and politician (born 1969)
2018 – Harry Anderson, an American actor and magician (born 1952)
2021 – Andrew Peacock, an Australian politician (born 1939)
2021 – Helen McCrory, a British actress (born 1968)
2021 – Liam Scarlett, a British choreographer (born 1986)
2021 – John Dawes, a Welsh rugby union player (born 1940)

Holidays and Observances

Christian feast day:
- Benedict Joseph Labre
- Bernadette Soubirous
- Drogo
- Engratia
- Fructuosus of Braga
- Isabella Gilmore (Church of England)
- Martyrs of Zaragoza
- Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni) (Anglican Church of Canada, Episcopal Church)
- Turibius of Astorga
- April 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States)
Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)
Emancipation Day (Washington, D.C., United States)
Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary)
National Healthcare Decisions Day (United States)
Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
World Voice Day