Famous People Who Died in May a to z

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi’s father, was a leader of India’s nationalist movement and became India’s first prime minister after its independence.

St. Philip Neri was best known as an Italian priest who helped his congregation and others in need. He was canonized in 1622.

Eliot Ness was a law enforcement official in Chicago, best known for his efforts to enforce Prohibition as head of "The Untouchables."

Daniel O'Connell was a 19th century Irish political leader. He worked to repeal of the Act of Union which combined Ireland and Great Britain.

In 1897, Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to a newspaper about the existence of Santa Claus and got the famous response, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, noted for her style and elegance, was the wife of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. first lady. She later married Aristotle Onassis.

Juan Carlos Onetti was an Uruguayan novelist and short-story writer whose existential works, including A Brief Life, chronicled the decay of modern urban life.

James Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who is best remembered for the phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Sometimes called "the Devil's Violinist," Niccolò Paganini's virtuoso talent, accompanied by his extraordinary dexterity and flexibility, gave him an almost mythic reputation—he is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was the leader of a large Washington-based prostitution ring and became known as the D.C. Madame.

Half of the notorious Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie Parker became one of America's most famous outlaws. She and partner Clyde Barrow robbed banks and small businesses, leaving a bloody train of murder victims in their wake.

Mina Stevens was an astronomer who was a pioneer in the classification of stellar spectra.

American boxer Floyd Patterson was the first to hold the world heavyweight championship twice. He won a gold medal in the 1952 Olympic Games.

New York City resident Etan Patz disappeared in 1979, when he was 6 years old. Nearly 33 years later, in May 2012, New Jersey resident Pedro Hernandez confessed to the murder.

Walker Percy was a novelist known chiefly for his first novel, The Moviegoer, which explored spiritual emptiness.

Frances Perkins was the first female to serve in the U.S. presidential cabinet. As secretary of labor, she helped with the New Deal and Social Security.

Charles Perrault was a French poet and author known for writing the Mother Goose fairy tales.

Mary Pickford was a legendary silent film actress and was known as "America’s sweetheart." She was a founder of United Artists and helped establish the Academy.

Dana Plato was a child actress on the television show Diff'rent Strokes. She fell into drug addiction and died of an overdose in 1999.

Sydney Pollack is an Oscar-winning film director, producer and actor. His director credits include Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor.

Fritz Pollard was the first African American to play in the Rose Bowl, the first African-American NFL coach and one of the NFL's first black players.

Pope Benedict XIV (originally Prospero Lambertini) was head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1740 to 1758.

Steve Prefontaine is best known as the runner who once held the U.S. record in every long-distance event. He died in a car crash in 1974 at age 24.

George Psalmanazar was best known for posing as the first Formosan to visit Europe.

Tito Puente was a musical pioneer, mixing musical styles with Latin sounds and experimenting in fusing Latin music with jazz.

Jiang Qing was the wife of Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung and implemented policies during the country’s Cultural Revolution.

Experimental jazz pianist, songwriter, composer and bandleader Sun Ra formed the band Arkestra in the 1950s and played in it until his death in 1993.

Gilda Radner was an award-winning actress and comedian known for her work on Saturday Night Live. She was married to fellow comedian Gene Wilder.

Tony Randall was an actor who played popular television character Felix Unger on the hit series The Odd Couple.

A. Philip Randolph was a labor leader and social activist who fought for the rights of African-American laborers, including better wages and working conditions.

Jeannette Rankin was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. She helped pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and was a committed pacifist.

James T. Rapier served in Congress as a U.S. Representative from Alabama. He was one of only three black congressmen during Reconstruction and helped to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

American artist Robert Rauschenberg is best known for paving the way for pop art of the 1960's with fellow artist Jasper Johns.

Charles Nelson Reilly was a Tony-Award winning actor also known for a variety of roles on TV programs, including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Match Game.

Keith Relf was a founding memeber of the Yardbirds, one of the pivotal British rock bands of the 1960s. Relf is also remembered for his unusual, untimely death.

Silversmith Paul Revere took part in the Boston Tea Party and famously alerted the Lexington Minutemen about the approach of the British in 1775.

American actor Robert Reed played the quintessential family man Mike Brady in the enduring sitcom The Brady Bunch.

Philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. was the only son of John D. Rockefeller and heir to his fortune. He is known for building Rockefeller Center in New York City.

John D. Rockefeller was the head of the Standard Oil Company and one of the world's richest men. He used his fortune to fund ongoing philanthropic causes.

Jimmie Rodgers was a country singer who became famous for his style of yodeling. He was one of the first country superstars, and is remembered as the father of country music.

Rubens was a Flemish Baroque painter who is best known for his religious and mythological compositions, with an emphasis on sensuality.

Madame de Récamier was a Parisian hostess who attracted her time's literary and political big wigs and inspired the wrath of Napoleon.

Cyrus S. Eaton was a Canadian industrialist and formed the third largest steel company in the United States.

Bobby Sands was an Irish nationalist who led a hunger strike in prison in 1981. He was elected Member of Parliament during the strike and died May 5, 1981.

Vidal Sassoon revolutionized women’s hairstyles in the post-war years and created an international hair-products empire which proclaimed "If you don't look good, we don't look good."

Mary Seacole was a Jamaican nurse who cared for British soldiers at the battlefront during the Crimean War.

Maurice Sendak is a Caldecott award-winning children's book author and illustrator best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are.

Shel Silverstein was a poet and musician known for children’s books such as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Frank Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century, forging a career as an award-winning singer and film actor.

Sam Snead was an American pro golfer who won a record 82 PGA tournaments.

Jean Stapleton was an American actress best known for her award-winning role as Edith Bunker in the hit TV series All in the Family.

Jeb Stuart was a General and cavalry leader for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He worked closely with General Robert E. Lee.

Donna Summer was a singer-songwriter who became the "Queen of Disco" in the 1970s with such hits as "Love to Love You Baby," "I Feel Love" and "Last Dance."

A student of such famed physicists as Albert Einstein and Max Planck, Leo Szilard was key in getting the United States to work on the atomic bomb.

Helen Taft was a schoolteacher, political adviser and U.S. First Lady who was the wife of President William Howard Taft.

Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American painter who frequently depicted biblical scenes and is best known for the paintings "Nicodemus Visiting Jesus," "The Banjo Lesson" and "The Thankful Poor." He was the first African-American painter to gain international fame.

Jessie Tarbox was a photographer and photojournalist. She was the first woman to be hired as a staff photographer on a U.S. newspaper.

American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, Henry David Thoreau was a New England Transcendentalist and author of the book Walden.

Rafael Trujillo was a dictator of the Dominican Republic for decades. He was assassinated in 1961.

James Van Der Zee was a renowned, Harlem-based photographer known for his posed, storied pictures capturing African-American citizenry and celebrity.

Author Voltaire wrote the satirical novella Candide and, despite controversy during his lifetime, is widely considered one of France's greatest Enlightenment writers.

Madam C.J. Walker was the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire. Her business was worth more than $1 million at the time of her death.

Martha Washington was the wife of President George Washington and thus the original first lady of the United States.

Doc Watson was a blind American guitarist/singer and folk music pioneer whose unprecedented flat-picking style and interpretations of traditional American songs influenced generations of musicians.

Richard Wilson is one of Britain's earliest landscape painters and is best known for the picturesque effects and serenity in his pieces.

Wilbur Wright is best known for developing the first successful airplane with his brother, Orville.

Rosalyn S. Yalow was a Nobel Prize-winning medical physicist who conducted groundbreaking research on type II diabetes.

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was the 13th president of Nigeria for 3 years before his death in 2010.

Adam Yauch (aka MCA) was a co-founder and member of the Beastie Boys, the popular rap group.