Died On This Date

April 15

Lincoln, Abraham
b. February 12, 1809 d. April 15, 1865
Sixteenth United States President. As newly elected Abraham Lincoln made his way by train to Washington to assume the Presidency, the Union was fast disintegrating with secession by South Carolina followed by seven other Southern States. A Confederate government was already operating in the South. After taking the oath of office with outgoing President Buchanan beside him, he assumed the responsibility for preserving the Union by reversing secession.

Greta Garbo (Greta Lovisa Gustafsson)
b. September 18, 1905 d. April 15, 1990
Legendary Actress. Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905 in Stockholm, Sweden to poor parents. She went to work at the age of 14, first as a lather girl in a barbershop, and then as a clerk in a department store. In her first motion picture, "Luffar-Petter" (1922) she played a bathing beauty. She studied at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm from 1922 to 1924.

Damien, Joseph
b. January 3, 1840 d. April 15, 1889
The man who gave his life for the lepers of Hawaii. Joseph de Veuster was born to a farm family in Tremeloo, Belgium. Opting to follow in his brother's and sister's footsteps into a religious vocation, he entered religious life as a lay brother assuming the name of Damien after a physician-saint from the fourth century. Volunteering to join his order at the Sacred Hearts Mission in Hawaii, he arrived and was ordained a Catholic priest in Honolulu with an assignment to the leper colony. Cause of death: Leprosy (Hansen's Disease)

Leroux, Gaston
b. May 6, 1868 d. April 15, 1927
Writer. His work includes "The Phantom of the Opera."

Marquise de Pompadour, Jeanne Antoinette
b. December 29, 1721 d. April 15, 1764
Madame de Pompadour was born Jeanne-Antionette Poisson. Her father had left the family in 1725, when she was four, to escape his creditors. When Jeanne-Antionette was nine years old, her mother had taken her to a fortune teller and was told that one day she would become the mistress of a king. Her mother insisted on giving her the best education because of her belief that she would marry a rich man.

Smith, Edward John
b. January 27, 1850 d. April 15, 1912
Mariner. He was the Captain of the "RMS Titanic," and by most accounts, he was last seen on the bridge of the ship. However, there are several disputed reports of his last moments. His last reported words (also disputed) were "Be British," and his body was never recovered. Born in Handley, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, England, he began his seafaring career as an apprentice on a clipper ship in 1869. In 1880, he joined the White Star Line as a Fourth Officer on the "Celtic." Cause of death: Drowned.

Lowery, Louis R
b. July 24, 1916 d. April 15, 1987
United States Marine Corps Sergeant. Combat photographer. He photographed the raising of the first American Flag on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima on February 23. 1945. This flag was later replaced by the flag in the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.

Anderson, Johannes
b. July 30, 1887 d. April 15, 1950
World War I Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. Served in the United States Army during World War I as a First Sergeant in Company B, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Infantry Division. He was awarded the CMOH for his bravery at Consenvoye, France, on October 8, 1918. His citation reads “While his company was being held up by intense artillery and machinegun fire, 1st Sgt. Anderson, without aid, voluntarily left the company and worked his way to the rear of the nest that was offering the most stubborn.

Astor IV., John Jacob
b. July 13, 1864 d. April 15, 1912
Businessman, Disaster Victim. A victim of the RMS Titanic sinking, he was the great-grandson of patriarch John Jacob Astor I, the grandson of "landlord of New York" William Backhouse Astor, and the son of THE Mrs. William Astor, nee Caroline Schermerhorn, legendary queen of New York's elite "400." Cause of death: Titanic sinking.

Ramage, Lawson
b. January 18, 1909 d. April 15, 1990
World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. A 1931 Graduate of the USNA, he served during World War II in the United States Navy commanding several submarines. He was awarded the CMOH for his bravery while at the naval rank of Commander, and while commanding the submarine “USS Parche” in the Pacific Ocean on July 31, 1944.

Button, William Robert
b. December 5, 1895 d. April 15, 1921
Corporal Button received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism & conspicuous gallantry & intrepidity in actual conflict with the enemy near Grande Riviere, Repulic of Haiti, on the night of October 31-November 1, 1919, resulting in the death of Charlemagne Peralte, the supreme bandit chief in the Republic of Haiti, & the killing, capture & dispersal of about 1,200 of his outlaw followers. Corporal Button not only distinguished himself by his excellent judgment & leadership.

Ramone (Hyman), Joey (Jeffrey)
b. May 19, 1951 d. April 15, 2001Singer. Punk Rocker and lead singer for the seminal rock band "The Ramones." Cause of death: Lymphatic cancer

Straus, Isidor
b. February 6, 1845 d. April 15, 1912
US Congressman, Macy's Department Store Owner and merchant. However, he is best remembered for his dignified manner of death aboard the RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Born in Otterberg, Germany, of a cultivated family, his father, a successful merchant suffered from political repression and emigrated with the family in 1852, setting up a general store in Talbotton, Georgia. Young Isidor was educated in local public schools. Cause of death: Titanic sinking

Guggenheim, Benjamin
b. October 26, 1865 d. April 15, 1912
American businessman. A native of Philadelphia and son of mining industrialist Meyer Guggenheim. First class passenger who perished at sea in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Faced with impending death Mr. Guggenheim and his valet surrendered their lifebelts to a ship's steward and returned to their cabin suites to change into formal evening attire.