1954 deaths

Andre_Derain

André Derain (, French: [ɑ̃dʁe dəʁɛ̃]; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.

Wilhelm_Furtwangler

Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler (UK: FOORT-veng-glər, US: -⁠lər, German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfʊɐ̯tvɛŋlɐ]; 25 January 1886 – 30 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major influence for many later conductors, and his name is often mentioned when discussing their interpretative styles.Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic.
Although not an adherent of Nazism, he was the leading conductor to remain in Germany during the Nazi regime. Despite his open opposition to antisemitism and the ubiquity of Nazi symbolism, the regime did not seek to suppress him, at Joseph Goebbels' insistence, for propaganda reasons. This situation caused lasting controversy, and the extent to which his presence lent prestige to Nazi Germany is still debated.

Sidonie-Gabrielle_Colette

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (French: [sidɔni ɡabʁijɛl kɔlɛt]; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was the basis for the 1958 film and the 1973 stage production of the same name. Her short story collection The Tendrils of the Vine is also famous in France.

Fred_Miller_(American_football,_born_1906)

Frederick C. Miller (January 26, 1906 – December 17, 1954) was a college football player, an All-American tackle under head coach Knute Rockne at the University of Notre Dame, posthumously elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1985. He later served as an unpaid assistant coach for the Irish, flying in from Milwaukee several times a week.Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Miller was the son of Carl A. Miller of Germany, and Clara Miller (no relation), a daughter of Miller Brewing Company founder Frederick Miller, also a German immigrant.Succeeding his younger cousin Harry John (1919–1992), Miller became the president of the family brewing company in 1947 at age 41 and had a major role in bringing Major League Baseball to Wisconsin, moving the Braves from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953. He coaxed Lou Perini into moving them into the new County Stadium and was made a director for the team. The Braves later played in consecutive World Series in 1957 and 1958, both against the New York Yankees. Both series went the full seven games with Milwaukee winning the former and New York the latter.

George_Hampel_(politician)

George F. L. Hampel, Sr., (August 27, 1885 – May 15, 1954) was an American politician, accountant and bookseller from Milwaukee who served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Socialist (1931–1932) and two terms in the Wisconsin State Senate as a Progressive (1937–1944). Hampel at various times identified himself as a Social Democrat/Socialist, and Progressive; and joined the Republicans when the Progressives rejoined the latter party.

Henri_Laurent

Henri Albert Fernand Laurent (1 April 1881 in Beaulieu-sur-Loire – 14 February 1954 in La Rochelle) was a French fencer who competed in the early 20th century.
He participated in fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won the bronze medal in the masters épée. He was defeated by fellow French fencer Emile Bougnol in the semi-final.

Suzanne_Noël

Suzanne Blanche Gros Noël (1878–1954), also known as Madame Noël, was one of the world’s first plastic surgeons and the first female plastic surgeon in the world. She was known for her efficient face lift technique, the “petite operation.” Noël was also a very active feminist, a philosophy which was considered radical for a practicing cosmetic surgeon. She is the founder of Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE) and had a career spanning from 1916 to 1950.
At the outbreak of the war in 1914, without having been able to defend her doctoral thesis, like all the interns, Suzanne Gros was allowed to practise medicine in the city. She then joined Professor Morestin at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital in Paris. In 1916, she trained in the techniques of reparative and corrective surgery. From there, under extremely precarious conditions, she participates in the war effort by operating on the “broken mouths”, the wounded in the face.

Bob_Simmons_(surfer)

Robert Wilson Simmons (March 29, 1919 – September 26, 1954) was an American surfer and surfboard shaper, considered to be the father of the modern surfboard.
Simmons was born in Los Angeles, California. During his early teens, he developed a tumor on his left ankle which nearly caused his leg to be amputated. After beating the cancer, Bob was involved in a serious motorcycle collision. He studied mathematics at the California Institute of Technology but dropped out.While staying in the hospital he was advised to try surfing. He first rode a surfboard at age 20 at Newport Beach, California. Simmons was also famous for being one of the first to incorporate fiberglass and polyester resin to create a lightweight, durable surfboard.In 1954, Simmons drowned while surfing at Windansea Beach in San Diego, California.

Edwin_Rolfe

Edwin Rolfe (September 7, 1909 – May 24, 1954) was an American poet and journalist. His first collected poetry appeared in an anthology of four poets called We Gather Strength (1933). Three more collections followed, none of which were conventionally published. To My Contemporaries (1936) was published by the small Dynamo Press and included works by Archibald MacLeish. First Love and Other Poems (1951) was sold to subscribers. Permit Me Refuge (1955) was posthumous and published by the California Quarterly, whose editor Philip Stevenson took up a collection from Rolfe's friends, such as Albert Maltz, to pay for it. Thomas McGrath wrote its foreword. Rolfe's poetry was inseparable from historical events: it responded to the Great Depression, the Spanish Civil War, and the era of McCarthyism. As a poet and journalist, he contributed extensively to The Daily Worker between 1927 and 1939.

Anto_Carte

Antoine "Anto" Carte (8 December 1886 - 15 February 1954) was a Belgian painter.
Antoine Carto was born in Mons in 1886. His father was a joiner. Anto Carte was first apprenticed to François Depooter, an interior painter, and then studied art at the academies of Mons and Brussels, and in Paris. He started working in a Symbolist style, but after the First World War became a Flemish Expressionist painter in the style of the painters of the group of Sint-Martens-Latem like Gustave Van de Woestijne. In 1917 he had his first exposition, of illustrations he made for a work by Emile Verhaeren. He exposed together with the Flemish Expressionists at the 1923 Salon d'Automne in Paris. He had a solo exhibition in Pittsburgh, at the Carnegie Institute, in 1924, where all 60 paintings were sold. Retrospective exhibitions at the Museum of Mons were organised in 1949 and in 1995.Later in his career, he designed many posters and stained glass windows, including in 1927 the windows for a new building at the University of Mons-Hainaut. He also designed a 50 Belgian Francs banknote.In 1928, he founded the art group Groupe Nervia together with Louis Buisseret. From 1932 on, he was a professor at the La Cambre school and at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.He lived most of his career in Braine-le-Château, and died in Ixelles in 1954.