Died On This Date - Feb. 18

Michelangelo (de Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni)
b. March 6, 1475 d. February 18, 1564
Sculptor, architect, painter. His father had close connections with the Medici family. When Michelangelo was 13, he was sent to painter Ghirlandaio. After two years he come at the sculpture school in the Medici gardens. His works "Battle of the Centaurs" and the "Madonna of the Stairs" was made while he was 16 years old. After Medici was temporarily expelled Michelangelo settled in Bologna and then went to Rome where he produced his first large sculpture "Bacchus."

Earnhardt Sr., Dale
b. April 29, 1951 d. February 18, 2001
Auto Race Car Driver. A legend in the sport of race car driving, he was a 7-time NASCAR Winston Cup Champion. He was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 race.

James, Frank (Alexander)
b. January 10, 1843 d. February 18, 1915
Western Outlaw. He was born Alexander Franklin James in Kearney, Missouri to a Baptist minister. Frank was the first of four children. His father heeding a calling left for California with the intent of preaching to gold miners but contracted cholera and died. Frank's mother Zerelda would remarry two more times before her death resulting in four more children. Frank was self-taught after developing an interest in his late father's sizeable library.

Rossen, Robert
b. March 16, 1908 d. February 18, 1966
Motion Picture Director, Screenwriter, Producer. Born Robert Rosen to Russian-Jewish immigrants, he was raised in a rough neighborhood in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Following a stint as an amateur boxer, he began acting in stock and later became a playwright and director for the Washington Square Players and the Theatre Guild. When his play "The Body Beautiful" (1936) flopped on Broadway, he accepted an offer to come to Hollywood as a screenwriter.

Corbett, James 'Gentleman Jim'
b. September 1, 1866 d. February 18, 1933Professional Boxer. Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1892 to 1897. Known as “Gentleman Jim”, he was born in San Francisco, California. He attended college and even worked as a bank clerk, and learned his boxing not on the street like many young fighters but in sparring clubs like San Francisco's Olympic Club under the tutelage of Walter Watson. He turned professional at age 18 and achieved several impressive victories over Joe Choynski, Peter Jackson and Jake Kilrain.

Luther, Martin
b. November 10, 1483 d. February 18, 1546
Religious Leader, principal figure in the 16th Century "Reformation" of the Christian churches in Europe, Professor, Author, Bible translator.

Mathews, Edwin Lee
b. October 13, 1931 d. February 18, 2001
Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player. The premier third baseman of his era. He was a key member of the excellent Braves teams of the late 1950s His 512 homers ties him with Ernie Banks; and his 486 homers hit as a third baseman were a record until surpassed by Mike Schmidt. He was the starting third baseman for the Braves for fifteen years and two franchise shifts. Mathews once said that his most disappointing moment in baseball came one year after his most memorable.

Gilbreth Jr., Frank B.
b. March 17, 1911 d. February 18, 2001
Author. Born Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Junior in Plainfield, New Jersey the fifth child and eldest son of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, prominent management consultants and time-study experts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey with eleven brothers and sisters and was graduated from the University of Michigan, where he served as editor of the college newspaper, The Michigan Daily. He then worked as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune.

Derickson, Uli
b. August 8, 1944 d. February 18, 2005
American Folk Hero. She was a flight attendant aboard Trans World Airlines Flight 847 that was hijacked by Shiite Muslim terrorists in June 1985. The flight began in Athens, Greece and ended in Beirut, Lebanon, where the crew and 39 passengers were held for 17 days. She is credited with saving many lives by shielding from the terrorists, the passports of passengers whose names sounded Jewish.

Caray, Harry
b. March 1, 1914 d. February 18, 1998
Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Sportscaster. He was born Harry Christopher Carabina in St. Louis, Missouri on March 1, 1914 and was orphaned by age of 10. Caray played semi-pro baseball before beginning his career in broadcasting. Caray learned his craft at stations in Joliet and Kalamazoo, Michigan, eventually doing the play-by-play for the St. Louis Hawks and the University of Missouri football team.

Fernandez, Daniel D.
b. June 30, 1944 d. February 18, 1966
Vietnam War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He was a US Army Specialist 4th Class in Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Division, serving in the Cu Chi, Hau Nghia Province, Republic of Vietnam. On February 18, 1966, his patrol was ambushed by a Viet Cong rifle company and was driven back before it could evacuate an American soldier who had been wounded in the attack.

Devine, Andy
b. October 7, 1905 d. February 18, 1977
Actor. Born in Flagstaff, Arizona, Andy's family moved to Kingman, Arizona when he was 1 year old. His father, having lost a leg as a railroad employee, had used the settlement money to purchase the Beale Hotel and Andy worked there as a child. A large, active boy, he suffered numerous broken bones growing up. His raspy voice was the result of a fall with a stick in his mouth which permanently damaged his vocal cords.

Luske, Hamilton
b. 1903 d. February 18, 1968
Legendary animator and animation director. Directed the timeless Disney films "Pinocchio," "Fantasia" (Pastoral Symphony scenes), "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Peter Pan." He also directed the animation sequences in the classic "Mary Poppins" (1964).

Cooke, Jay
b. August 10, 1821 d. February 18, 1905
Union Civil War Financier. Jay Cooke was born in Sandusky, Ohio. The family estate was named Ogontz in honor of an Indian chief who once lived on the same land. The limestone dwelling overlooked Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. Jay's father, Eleutheros Cooke a lawyer, and mother Martha Caswell, were well educated easterners and very active politically. They braved a difficult journey from the east before settling in the untamed region around Sandusky in 1827.

Robinson, John Cleveland
b. April 10, 1817 d. February 18, 1897
Civil War Union Brigadier General, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He was born in Binghamton, New York, and received a private education at Oxford Academy, New York,; he then entered West Point on July 1, 1835. Dismissed from the school during his third year, in a disciplinary dispute on March 14, 1838, he briefly studied law but wrangled an appointment to the Regular Army, joining the 5th United States Infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant on October 27, 1839.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert (Julius)
b. April 22, 1904 d. February 18, 1967
Nuclear Physicist. Known as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb". Born in New York City, the son of German immigrants and textile importers, Oppenheimer attended Harvard University, where he excelled in languages, Eastern philosophy, physics and chemistry. In 1925, he studied energy and sub-atomic particles at Cavendish Laboratory, England, and a year later, at Gottingen University, he and Max Born developed their classical molecular quantum theory.