Famous People Who Died in March a to z

Bella Abzug was a leading liberal activist and politician in the 1960s and 1970s, especially known for her work for women’s rights.

Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist and author of Things Fall Apart, a work that in part led to his being called the "patriarch of the African novel."

Syed Ahmed Khan was an Indian educator, politician and Islamic reformer whose work inspired a new generation of Muslims and pioneered the revival of Indian Islam in the late 19th century.

Howard H. Aiken was a 20th century mathematician and engineer who came up with the idea behind the Mark I, a forerunner to modern computing devices.

Albert, first duke of Prussia and last grand master of the Teutonic Knights, is known chiefly for ending the Teutonic Knights' government of East Prussia.

Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher, mystic, writer and the father of Louisa May Alcott, became an itinerant teacher before settling in Boston to found his own school.

Louisa May Alcott was an American author who wrote the classic novel Little Women, as well as various works under pseudonyms.

Raúl Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and is known best for being the first democratically elected president of Argentina.

Eugene Allen was a distinguished butler for the White House who served under eight presidents, including Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Born into slavery in 1760, Richard Allen bought his freedom at age 17 and went on to found the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1816.

Sherwood Anderson was a U.S. short-story writer and novelist known for his groundbreaking characterization and narrative forms.

Susan B. Anthony was a prominent American civil rights activist and leader during the women's suffrage movement of the 1800s.

Marshall Herff Applewhite was the leader of the Heaven's Gate religious group. He was a self-proclaimed prophet. He died in the group's mass suicide in 1997.

Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas was the foremost medieval Scholasticist and father of the Thomistic school of theology.

Antonin Artaud was a French actor, costume designer and writer who revolutionized drama with his idea of a Theater of Cruelty.

Fur trader and real estate investor John Jacob Astor was one of the leading businessmen of his day and the founder of an American fur trade dynasty.

Madeleine Force Astor married 47-year-old John Jacob Astor in her late teens. The marriage was cut short when he died in the sinking of the Titanic.

Crispus Attucks was an African-American man killed during the Boston Massacre, making him the first casualty of the American Revolution.

As Emperor of Rome from 161-180, Marcus Aurelius kept the empire safe from the Parthians and Germans, but is best known for his intellectual pursuits.

American singer LaVern Baker helped pioneer the R&B sound in the 1950s and released multiple hits with Atlantic Records, including the famous "Tweedle Dee."

Cristóbal Balenciaga was a Spanish-French fashion designer and the leading couturier of Spain in the 1920s-30s. He moved to Paris during the Spanish Civil War.

Roland Barthes was a French literary philosopher whose work influenced structuralism, semiotics and anthropology.

Edward Bates was a 19th century politician and lawyer who served as U.S. attorney general under President Abraham Lincoln.

A professor and a poet, Katharine Lee Bates wrote the poem "America the Beautiful." Her poem became the lyrics to the popular American ballad still enjoyed today.

Jean Baudrillard was a French postmodern social theorist and philosopher who developed theories of "hyperreality" and "simulacrum."

Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congressional clergyman, best known for his Protestant sermons and his involvement in a high-profile adultery scandal.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German composer and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras.

John Belushi was an actor and comedian, one of the first performers on "Saturday Night Live" and one half of the Blues Brothers.

Milton Berle was a Jewish-American comedian who started in vaudeville acts, and was a success in the early days of TV, becoming known as "Uncle Miltie."

Perhaps the most famous actress of all time, Sarah Bernhardt is regarded as one of the finest actors of the 19th century, appearing on the stage and in some of the earliest films ever produced.

Charles H. Best was a physiologist and medical researcher who co-discovered the use of insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

Biggie Smalls, also known as Notorious B.I.G., was a revered hip-hop artist and face of East Coast gangsta rap. He was shot and killed on March 9, 1997.

Harry Blackmun was the 98th U.S. Supreme Court Justice, known for his landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade.

Jim Bowie was a fighter in Texas Revolution who died during the defense of the Alamo. He became an American folk hero and the "Bowie Knife" is named after him.

Charlotte Brontë was an English 19th century writer whose novel Jane Eyre is considered a classic of Western literature.

Formerly enslaved, Blanche K. Bruce made history as the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate.

Jerome Brudos was a serial murderer and necrophile who murdered four women in Oregon during the 1960s. He was known as the "The Lust Killer" and "The Shoe Fetish Slayer."

Prolific author Pearl S. Buck earned a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Good Earth. She was also the first female to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Author and poet Charles Bukowski wrote the gritty poetry book Love is a Dog from Hell, and the novels Barfly and Factotum, both of which were made into films.

George Burns was a comedian who worked in vaudeville, radio, film and television. His long-time performance partner and wife was comedienne Gracie Allen. Burns lived until age 100.

James Cagney was an Academy Award-winning actor who was known for playing gangsters and short-fused tough guys.

John C. Calhoun was an American congressman, secretary of war, seventh vice president, senator and secretary of state. He championed states' rights and slavery.

Comedian John Candy was a regular performer for the Second City comedy troupe’s TV show, SCTV, and co-starred with Tom Hanks in the movie Splash.

Howard Carter was a British archaeologist who excavated King Tut's tomb beginning in 1922.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Mississippi River, claiming the region for France.

Marc Chagall was a French artist whose work was generally based on emotional association rather than traditional pictorial fundamentals.

Charlie Christian was a pioneering electric jazz guitarist of the mid-20th century who would go on to greatly influence his successors.

Hugo Chávez served as president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. During his presidency, he sold oil to Cuba and resisted efforts to stop narcotic trafficking in Columbia, and subsequently strained relations with the United States.

An author of more than 100 books, Arthur C. Clarke’s imagination and insight influenced modern science via works like his classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Patsy Cline was a celebrated country singer best known for her crossover hits, including "Crazy" and "Walking After Midnight."

Constantine I was the first Christian Roman Emperor. He ruled at the beginning of the 4th century and began the evolution of the empire into a Christian state.

Actor Jackie Coogan played Charlie Chaplin's sidekick in the silent film The Kid and Uncle Fester on the TV sitcom The Addams Family.

Alistair Cooke was a British-born journalist who worked in newspaper, radio and television. He hosted television's Masterpiece Theatre.

Working with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello was part of one of most popular comedy duos of the 20th century.

British actor, songwriter and playwright Noël Coward was one of the top figures of 20th century theater, using wit to deal with major social issues.

Davy Crockett was a frontiersman, legendary folk hero and three-time Congressman. He fought in the War of 1812 and died at the Alamo in the Texas Revolution.

German inventor Gottlieb Daimler patented one of the first successful internal-combustion engines and later founded the Daimler company, which produced the first Mercedes car in 1899.

Glenn Woodward Davis won the 1946 Heisman Trophy as a halfback at Army, setting single season records for average yards per carry, 11.5 in 1945.

Embracing nontraditional scales and tonal structures, Claude Debussy became one of the most highly regarded composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is seen as the founder of musical impressionism.

Philip Dick is an American novelist and short story writer best known for his science fiction short stories, many of which have been translated to film.

Joe DiMaggio was one of the best all-round baseball players in the history of the game, helping the NY Yankees to nine World Series titles.

John Donne, leading English poet of the Metaphysical school, is often considered the greatest loved poet in the English language.

Austrian physicist Christian Doppler first described the Doppler effect, in reference to the observed frequency of light and sound waves, in the paper "Concerning the Coloured Light of Double Stars."