Famous Deaths for 17th October 2026

1786 – Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss artist (b. 1723)
1873 – Robert McClure, Irish explorer who discovered the Northwest passage, dies at 66
1921 – Yaa Asantewaa, Ghanaian queen of Ashanti Empire, led fight against British colonialism, dies at 80 or 81
1947 – Hélène van Zuylen, French pioneering author of the Belle Époque era, first woman to compete in an international motor race, and member of the Rothschild family, dies at 84
1979 – Karel Reiner, Czech pianist, composer, and Theresienstadt concentration camp survivor, dies at 69
1991 – J. G. Devlin, Northern Irish actor (No Surrender), dies at 84
1993 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German anti-Nazi theologian and pacifist, dies at 84
2003 – Janice Rule, American actress (Alvarez Kelly; The Doctor’s Wife), dies at 72
2005 – Ba Jin, Chinese writer and anarchist (The Family), dies at 100
2017 – Julian May, American sci-fi author (Golden Torc, Magnificat), dies at 86

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