Famous individuals with diseases, date of death between 1846-1945

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In 1846, diethyl ether was used successfully in the earliest (well-publicised) demonstration of surgical anaesthesia. This led to an explosion of modern anaesthetic techniques and new surgical possibilities.

 

This article will cover the period from 1846 to 1945.

 

Age-related diseases

•  Cataracts: Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901)
  

 

Bacterial infections and Mycoses

• Cholera:  
• James K. Polk, President of the United States of America (1795-1849; recorded CoD)
  
• (Infectious) cystitis: Wyatt Earp (1848-1929; chronic; recorded CoD) 
  
• Gangrene:
• Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898; refused treatment; recorded CoD)
• Pneumonia: 
  
• Martha Jane Cannary (1852-1903; recorded CoD)
  
• Virgil Earp (1843-1905; recorded CoD)
• Pulmonary tuberculosis:
  
• Doc Holliday (1851-1887; recorded CoD)
  

 

Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal diseases and abnormalities

• Epilepsy: Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) 
  
• Haemophilia B: Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-1884; recorded CoD) 

 

Diseases of mixed or unclear aetiology

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Lou Gehrig (1903-1941; recorded CoD)

 

Disputed and debated diagnoses

• Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849; most likely pericarditis secondary to tuberculosis; read more)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893; recorded CoD: cholera; possible suicide by arsenic poisoning; read more)
• Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man") (1862-1890; possibilities: Proteus syndrome)

 

Immune system diseases

• Pernicious anaemia: Annie Oakley (1860-1926; recorded CoD)
  

 

Neoplasms

• Laryngeal cancer: Frederick III, German Emperor (1831-1888; recorded CoD)
• Leukoplakia: Sigmund Freud (oral, transformed into SCC)
• Liver cancer: H.C. Andersen (1805-1875; recorded CoD)
• Squamous cell carcinoma: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939; oral; euthanised)

 

Outdated diagnostic labels

• Rheumatism: Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901)

 

Psychiatric and neuropsychiatric diseases

• Depression: Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901; severe depressive episode; trigger: the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861)

 

Vascular diseases

• Pulmonary haemorrhage: Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881; recorded CoD; no known cause; aged 59)
• Stroke
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900; recorded CoD; aged 55)
• Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924; recorded CoD; aged 53)

 

Wounds, injuries, and sequelae thereof

• Chronic brain injury: Phineas Gage (1823-1860; in 1848 a tampering iron was propelled through his head; permanent epilepsy, personality changed; recorded CoD was status epilepticus; aged 36)

 

"The luckiest man on the face of the earth"

Fans, for the past two weeks, you've been reading about a bad break. [pause] Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

When you look around, wouldn't you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine-looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. – Thank you.

Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939, two weeks after his diagnosis with ALS. He died in June 1941 at age 37.