May 14

Pre-1600

• 1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks.
• 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
• 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
• 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.

1601–1900

• 1607 – English colonists establish "James Fort," which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas.
• 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
• 1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.
• 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
• 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
• 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
• 1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the Federal government of the United States from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.
• 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River.
• 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
• 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
• 1857 – Mindon Min was crowned as King of Burma in Mandalay, Burma.
• 1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces drive Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston out of Jackson, Mississippi in the Battle of Jackson.
• 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
• 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
• 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.
• 1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.

1901–present

• 1900 – Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games.
• 1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
• 1915 – The May 14 Revolt takes place in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence.
• 1925 – Mrs Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf's earliest and best-known novels, was published.
• 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
• 1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.
• 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
• 1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.
• 1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
• 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
• 1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
• 1953 – Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike.
• 1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
• 1961 – Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
• 1970 – Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
• 1973 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
• 1977 – A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.
• 1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
• 1987 – Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.
• 1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
• 2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
• 2004 – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson are married at Copenhagen Cathedral.
• 2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.
• 2008 – Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police, 39 policemen injured, one police-dog injured and 39 arrested.
• 2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.
• 2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.
• 2021 – China successfully lands Zhurong, the country's first Mars rover.
• 2022 – Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

Pre-1600

• 1316 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1378)
• 1553 – Margaret of Valois, Queen of France (d. 1615)
• 1574 – Francesco Rasi, Italian singer-songwriter, theorbo player, and poet (d. 1621)
• 1592 – Alice Barnham, wife of statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)

1601–1900

• 1630 – Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (d. 1681)
• 1652 – Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (d. 1732)
• 1657 – Sambhaji, Indian emperor (d. 1689)
• 1666 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
• 1679 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1764)
• 1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (d. 1786)
• 1701 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (d. 1782)
• 1710 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (d. 1771)
• 1725 – Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (d. 1802)
• 1727 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (d. 1788)
• 1737 – George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Irish-English politician and diplomat, Governor of Grenada (d. 1806)
• 1752 – Timothy Dwight IV, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1817)
• 1752 – Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist and author (d. 1828)
• 1761 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1816)
• 1771 – Robert Owen, Welsh businessman and social reformer (d. 1858)
• 1771 – Thomas Wedgwood, English photographer (d. 1805)
• 1781 – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian and academic (d. 1873)
• 1794 – Fanny Imlay, daughter of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1816)
• 1814 – Charles Beyer, German-English engineer, co-founded Beyer, Peacock & Company (d. 1876)
• 1817 – Alexander Kaufmann, German poet and educator (d. 1893)
• 1820 – James Martin, Irish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1886)
• 1830 – Antonio Annetto Caruana, Maltese archaeologist and author (d. 1905)
• 1832 – Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1903)
• 1851 – Anna Laurens Dawes, American author and suffragist (d. 1938)
• 1852 – Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (d. 1908)
• 1863 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (d. 1932)
• 1867 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Bavaria (d. 1919)
• 1868 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (d. 1935)
• 1869 – Arthur Rostron, English captain (d. 1940)
• 1872 – Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinal (d. 1961)
• 1878 – J. L. Wilkinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
• 1879 – Fred Englehardt, American jumper (d. 1942)
• 1880 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
• 1881 – Lionel Hill, Australian politician, 30th Premier of South Australia (d. 1963)
• 1881 – George Murray Hulbert, American judge and politician (d. 1950)
• 1885 – Otto Klemperer, German composer and conductor (d. 1973)
• 1887 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
• 1888 – Archie Alexander, American mathematician and engineer (d. 1958)
• 1893 – Louis Verneuil, French actor and playwright (d. 1952)
• 1897 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1959)
• 1897 – Ed Ricketts, American biologist and ecologist (d. 1948)
• 1899 – Charlotte Auerbach, German-Scottish folklorist, geneticist, and zoologist (d. 1994)
• 1899 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (d. 1993)
• 1899 – Earle Combs, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Hal Borland, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
• 1900 – Walter Rehberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1957)
• 1900 – Cai Chang, Chinese first leader of All-China Women's Federation (d. 1990)
• 1900 – Leo Smit, Dutch pianist and composer (d. 1943)
• 1900 – Edgar Wind, German-English historian, author, and academic (d. 1971)

1901–present

• 1901 – Robert Ritter, German psychologist and physician (d. 1951)
• 1903 – Billie Dove, American actress (d. 1997)
• 1904 – Hans Albert Einstein, Swiss-American engineer and educator (d. 1973)
• 1904 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (d. 1961)
• 1905 – Jean Daniélou, French cardinal and theologian (d. 1974)
• 1905 – Herbert Morrison, American journalist (d. 1989)
• 1905 – Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (d. 1981)
• 1907 – Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (d. 1974)
• 1910 – Ne Win, Burmese army general and politician, 4th President of Burma (d. 2002)
• 1914 – Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1983)
• 1914 – William Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (d. 2002)
• 1916 – Robert F. Christy, Canadian-American physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
• 1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (d. 2001)
• 1917 – Lou Harrison, American composer and critic (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Richard Deacon, American actor (d. 1984)
• 1922 – Franjo Tuđman, Croatian historian and politician, 1st President of Croatia (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2019)
• 1923 – Mrinal Sen, Bangladeshi-Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
• 1925 – Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Patrice Munsel, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
• 1926 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and actor (d. 1984)
• 1927 – Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist and author (d. 2022)
• 1928 – Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch engineer, author, and academic (d. 2015)
• 1929 – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (d. 2013)
• 1929 – Henry McGee, English actor and singer (d. 2006)
• 1929 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
• 1930 – William James, Australian general and physician (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Alvin Lucier, American composer and academic (d. 2021)
• 1933 – Siân Phillips, Welsh actress and singer
• 1935 – Ethel Johnson, American professional wrestler (d. 2018)
• 1936 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1973)
• 1936 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1987)
• 1940 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
• 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (d. 2003)
• 1942 – Byron Dorgan, American lawyer and politician
• 1942 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (d. 2014)
• 1942 – Tony Pérez, Cuban-American baseball player and manager
• 1943 – Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
• 1943 – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland
• 1944 – Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist
• 1944 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm
• 1944 – David Kelly, Welsh scientist (d. 2003)
• 1945 – Francesca Annis, English actress
• 1945 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer
• 1947 – Ana Martín, Mexican actress, singer, producer and former model (Miss Mexico 1963)
• 1948 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer and coach (d. 2007)
• 1952 – David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1952 – Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence
• 1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1952 – Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1953 – Tom Cochrane, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1955 – Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach
• 1955 – Big Van Vader, American wrestler and football player (d. 2018)
• 1956 – Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
• 1956 – Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist
• 1958 – Christine Brennan, American journalist and author
• 1958 – Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer
• 1959 – Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer
• 1959 – Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player
• 1959 – Robert Greene, American author and translator
• 1959 – Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1959 – Heather Wheeler, English politician
• 1960 – Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet
• 1960 – Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer
• 1960 – Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
• 1961 – Tim Roth, English actor and director
• 1961 – Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1962 – Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1962 – C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor
• 1962 – Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director
• 1963 – Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach
• 1964 – Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer
• 1966 – Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter
• 1966 – Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model
• 1966 – Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1967 – Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist (d. 2022)
• 1968 – Greg Davies Welsh actor, comedian, writer and presenter
• 1969 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
• 1969 – Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2021)
• 1971 – Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1971 – Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager
• 1972 – Ike Moriz, German-South African singer-songwriter, producer and actor
• 1972 – Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security
• 1973 – Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress
• 1973 – Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist
• 1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist
• 1976 – Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer
• 1977 – Roy Halladay, American baseball player (d. 2017)
• 1977 – Ada Nicodemou, Cypriot-Australian actress
• 1978 – Brent Harvey, Australian footballer
• 1978 – Eddie House, American basketball player
• 1979 – Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1979 – Clinton Morrison, Irish international footballer
• 1980 – Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater
• 1981 – Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense
• 1983 – Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1983 – Frank Gore, American football player
• 1983 – Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1983 – Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director
• 1984 – Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer
• 1984 – Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter
• 1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook
• 1985 – Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1985 – Zack Ryder, American wrestler
• 1986 – Clay Matthews III, American football player
• 1987 – François Steyn, South African rugby player
• 1989 – Rob Gronkowski, American football player
• 1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer
• 1993 – Kyle Freeland, American baseball player
• 1993 – Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player
• 1994 – Marquinhos, Brazilian footballer
• 1994 – Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer
• 1994 – Bronte Campbell, Australian swimmer
• 1995 – Rose Lavelle, American soccer player
• 1996 – Blake Brockington, American trans man and activist (d. 2015)
• 1996 – Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ
• 1996 – Pokimane, Moroccan-Canadian internet personality
• 1997 – Rúben Dias, Portuguese footballer
• 2001 – Jack Hughes, American hockey player
• 2002 – Zach Edey, Canadian basketball player

Pre-1600

• 649 – Pope Theodore I
• 934 – Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor
• 964 – Pope John XII (b. 927)
• 1080 – Walcher, Bishop of Durham
• 1219 – William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (b. 1147)
• 1576 – Tahmasp I, Shah of Persia (b. 1514)

1601–1900

• 1603 – Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1543)
• 1608 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
• 1610 – Henry IV of France (b. 1553)
• 1643 – Louis XIII of France (b. 1601)
• 1649 – Friedrich Spanheim, Swiss theologian and academic (b. 1600)
• 1667 – Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1601)
• 1688 – Antoine Furetière, French scholar, lexicographer, and author (b. 1619)
• 1754 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French playwright and producer (b. 1692)
• 1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1710)
• 1847 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German pianist and composer (b. 1805)
• 1860 – Ludwig Bechstein, German author (b. 1801)
• 1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (b. 1797)
• 1878 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (b. 1830)
• 1881 – Mary Seacole, Jamaican-English nurse and author (b. 1805)
• 1889 – Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1809)
• 1893 – Ernst Kummer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1810)

1901–present

• 1906 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1829)
• 1912 – Frederik VIII of Denmark (b. 1843)
• 1912 – August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (b. 1849)
• 1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1841)
• 1919 – Henry J. Heinz, American businessman, founded the H. J. Heinz Company (b. 1844)
• 1923 – N. G. Chandavarkar, Indian jurist and politician (b. 1855)
• 1923 – Charles de Freycinet, French engineer and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
• 1931 – David Belasco, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1853)
• 1934 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (b. 1872)
• 1935 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (b. 1868)
• 1936 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (b. 1861)
• 1940 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian author and activist (b. 1869)
• 1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (b. 1902)
• 1943 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
• 1945 – Heber J. Grant, American religious leader, 7th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
• 1945 – Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (b. 1913)
• 1945 – Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist (b. 1852)
• 1953 – Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American painter and photographer (b. 1893)
• 1954 – Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (b. 1888)
• 1956 – Joan Malleson, English physician (b. 1889)
• 1957 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (b. 1884)
• 1959 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (b. 1897)
• 1959 – Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (b. 1862)
• 1960 – Lucrezia Bori, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1887)
• 1962 – Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1880)
• 1965 – Frances Perkins, American workers-rights advocate, U.S. Secretary of Labor (b. 1880)
• 1968 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
• 1969 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (b. 1893)
• 1969 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (b. 1884)
• 1973 – Jean Gebser, German linguist, philosopher, and poet (b. 1905)
• 1976 – Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and producer (b. 1943)
• 1979 – Jean Rhys, Dominican-English novelist (b. 1890)
• 1980 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (b. 1912)
• 1982 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1983 – Roger J. Traynor, American academic and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican politician, 46th President of Mexico (b. 1900)
• 1984 – Ted Hicks, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (b. 1910)
• 1984 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (b. 1906)
• 1987 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer (b. 1918)
• 1987 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovenian poet and playwright (b. 1914)
• 1988 – Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958) (b. 1886)
• 1991 – Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (b. 1910)
• 1991 – Jiang Qing, Chinese revolutionary, actress, and politician, member of the Gang of Four (b. 1914)
• 1992 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (b. 1899)
• 1993 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1908)
• 1994 – Cihat Arman, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1915)
• 1994 – W. Graham Claytor Jr., American businessman, lieutenant, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1914)
• 1995 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (b. 1934)
• 1997 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (b. 1925)
• 1998 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
• 1998 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (b. 1915)
• 2000 – Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 84th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
• 2001 – Paul Bénichou, French writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian (b. 1908)
• 2001 – Gil Langley, Australian cricketer, footballer, and politician (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player and coach (b. 1940)
• 2003 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Robert Stack, American actor and producer (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Jimmy Martin, American musician (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Lew Anderson, American actor and saxophonist (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (b. 1905)
• 2006 – Eva Norvind, Mexican actress, director, and producer (b. 1944)
• 2007 – Mary Scheier, American sculptor and educator (b. 1908)
• 2007 – Ülo Jõgi, Estonian historian and author (b. 1921)
• 2010 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (b. 1938)
• 2010 – Norman Hand, American football player (b. 1972)
• 2010 – Goh Keng Swee, Singaporean soldier and politician, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918)
• 2012 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Mario Trejo, Argentinian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Wayne Brown, American accountant and politician, 14th Mayor of Mesa (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Arsen Chilingaryan, Armenian footballer and manager (b. 1962)
• 2013 – Asghar Ali Engineer, Indian author and activist (b. 1939)
• 2013 – Ray Guy, Canadian journalist (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Jeffrey Kruger, English-American businessman (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Emanuel Raymond Lewis, American librarian and author (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Morvin Simon, New Zealand historian, composer, and conductor (b. 1944)
• 2015 – B.B. King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Micheál O'Brien, Irish footballer and hurler (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Stanton J. Peale, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1937)
• 2015 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (b. 1953)
• 2016 – Darwyn Cooke, American comic book writer and artist (b. 1962)
• 2017 – Powers Boothe, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2018 – Tom Wolfe, American author (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Tim Conway, American actor, writer, and comedian (b. 1933)
• 2019 – Grumpy Cat, American cat and internet meme celebrity (b. 2012)
• 2023 – Doyle Brunson, American poker player (b. 1933)
• 2024 – Don Perlin, American comic book artist, writer, and editor (b. 1929)
• 2024 – Netiporn Sanesangkhom, Thai political activist (b. 1995)

• Christian feast day:
  • Boniface of Tarsus
  • Engelmund of Velsen
  • Matthias the Apostle (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion)
  • Michael Garicoïts
  • Mo Chutu of Lismore (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Victor and Corona
  • May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest day on which the first day of Sanja Matsuri can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third weekend of May. (Sensō-ji, Tokyo)
• Flag Day (Paraguay)
• Hastings Banda's Birthday (Malawi)
• National Unification Day (Liberia)
• The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival. (Izumo-taisha)

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on May 14