June 2 facts for kids

June 2 is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 212 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
• 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.

1601–1900

• 1608 – The Colony of Virginia gets a charter, extending borders from "sea to sea".
• 1615 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
• 1676 – Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
• 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
• 1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
• 1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
• 1780 – The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
• 1793 – French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
• 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British.
• 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
• 1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
• 1866 – The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.
• 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.

1901–present

• 1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
• 1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
• 1919 – Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
• 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
• 1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
• 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
• 1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between the two countries, discontinued since 1948.
• 1962 – During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
• 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
• 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
• 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
• 1983 – After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
• 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.
• 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
• 2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
• 2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
• 2022 – Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changed the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to "Türkiye."
• 2023 – A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasor, Odisha in eastern India, results in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1305 – Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, ruler of Ilkhanate (d. 1335)
• 1423 – Ferdinand I of Naples (d. 1494)
• 1489 – Charles, Duke of Vendôme (d. 1537)
• 1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)

1601–1900

• 1602 – Rudolf Christian, Count of East Frisia, Ruler of East Frisia (d. 1628)
• 1621 – Rutger von Ascheberg, Courland-born soldier in Swedish service (d. 1693)
• 1621 – (baptized) Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (d. 1649)
• 1638 – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (d. 1709)
• 1644 – William Salmon, English medical writer (d. 1713)
• 1731 – Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (d. 1802)
• 1739 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1815)
• 1740 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (d. 1814)
• 1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (d. 1795)
• 1773 – John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician, 8th United States Ambassador to Russia (d. 1833)
• 1774 – William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (d. 1850)
• 1813 – Daniel Pollen, Irish-New Zealand politician, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1896)
• 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1905)
• 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
• 1838 – Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900)
• 1840 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (d. 1928)
• 1840 – Émile Munier, French artist (d. 1895)
• 1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (d. 1934)
• 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
• 1861 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress and manager (d. 1935)
• 1863 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian-Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942)
• 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
• 1865 – Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Sierra Leone Creole advocate and activist for cultural nationalism (d. 1960)
• 1866 – Jack O'Connor, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937)
• 1875 – Charles Stewart Mott, American businessman and politician, 50th Mayor of Flint, Michigan (d. 1973)
• 1878 – Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (d. 1912)
• 1881 – Walter Egan, American golfer (d. 1971)
• 1891 – Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (d. 1969)
• 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (d. 1945)
• 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (d. 1981)
• 1899 – Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980)

1901–present

• 1904 – Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (d. 1974)
• 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
• 1907 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
• 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (d. 1987)
• 1910 – Hector Dyer, American sprinter (d. 1990)
• 1911 – Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Barbara Pym, English author (d. 1980)
• 1913 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (d. 2015)
• 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (d. 1992)
• 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (d. 2011)
• 1920 – Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
• 1920 – Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (d. 2014)
• 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Tex Schramm, American businessman (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1998)
• 1921 – Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (d. 2009)
• 1921 – Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (d. 1983)
• 1921 – Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
• 1921 – András Szennay, Hungarian priest (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002)
• 1923 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
• 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977)
• 1926 – Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013)
• 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Colin Brittan, English footballer (d. 2013)
• 1928 – Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (d. 2014)
• 1928 – Ron Reynolds, English footballer (d. 1999)
• 1929 – Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic (d. 2021)
• 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007)
• 1930 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1999)
• 1933 – Sasao Gouland, governor of Chuuk State, Micronesia (d. 2011)
• 1933 – Jerry Lumpe, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
• 1933 – Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (d. 1971)
• 1934 – Johnny Carter, American singer (d. 2009)
• 1935 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2003)
• 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator (d. 2021)
• 1936 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker (d. 2021)
• 1937 – Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge
• 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress (d. 2022)
• 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
• 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer
• 1937 – Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright
• 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author
• 1938 – George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge
• 1939 – Charles Miller, American musician (d. 1980)
• 1939 – John Schlee, American golfer (d. 2000)
• 1940 – Constantine II of Greece (d. 2023)
• 1941 – Ünal Aysal, Turkish businessman
• 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor
• 1941 – Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
• 1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2021)
• 1942 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (d. 2023)
• 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor and director
• 1943 – Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal
• 1944 – Robert Elliott, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (d. 2012)
• 1945 – Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer
• 1945 – Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician
• 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
• 1949 – Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2020)
• 1949 – Frank Rich, American journalist and critic
• 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer
• 1950 – Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2021)
• 1951 – Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (d. 2017)
• 1951 – Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1951 – Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator
• 1952 – Gary Bettman, American sports executive, 14th Commissioner of the National Hockey League
• 1953 – Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist
• 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer
• 1953 – Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic
• 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer
• 1955 – Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor
• 1955 – Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys
• 1955 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1956 – Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver
• 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager
• 1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player
• 1959 – Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer
• 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
• 1959 – Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographer
• 1960 – Olga Bondarenko, Russian runner
• 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer-songwriter and actor
• 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster
• 1961 – Dez Cadena, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1962 – Mark Plaatjes, South African-American runner and coach
• 1963 – Anand Abhyankar, Indian actor (d. 2012)
• 1964 – Caroline Link, German director and screenwriter
• 1965 – Russ Courtnall, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer and journalist
• 1965 – Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
• 1966 – Dayana Cadeau, Haitian born Canadian-American professional bodybuilder
• 1966 – Candace Gingrich, American activist
• 1966 – Pedro Guerra, Spanish singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Catherine King, Australian politician
• 1966 – Petra van Staveren, Dutch swimmer
• 1967 – Remigija Nazarovienė, Lithuanian heptathlete and coach
• 1967 – Mike Stanton, American baseball player
• 1967 – Nadhim Zahawi, British politician
• 1968 – Merril Bainbridge, Australian singer-songwriter
• 1968 – Andy Cohen, American television host
• 1968 – Lester Green, American comedian and actor
• 1969 – Kurt Abbott, American baseball player
• 1969 – Paulo Sérgio, Brazilian footballer
• 1969 – David Wheaton, American tennis player, radio host, and author
• 1970 – B Real, American rapper and actor
• 1971 – Kateřina Jacques, Czech translator and politician
• 1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, game show host, and singer
• 1972 – Raúl Ibañez, American baseball player
• 1972 – Wentworth Miller, American actor and screenwriter
• 1973 – Marko Kristal, Estonian footballer and manager
• 1973 – Neifi Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1974 – Gata Kamsky, Russian-American chess player
• 1974 – Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist
• 1975 – Salvatore Scibona, American author
• 1976 – Earl Boykins, American basketball player
• 1976 – Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2007)
• 1976 – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
• 1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
• 1977 – Teet Allas, Estonian footballer
• 1977 – A.J. Styles, American wrestler
• 1977 – Zachary Quinto, American actor and producer
• 1978 – Dominic Cooper, English actor
• 1978 – Nikki Cox, American actress
• 1978 – Yi So-yeon, biotechnologist and astronaut, the first Korean in space
• 1978 – Justin Long, American actor
• 1979 – Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-American actress
• 1979 – Butterfly Boucher, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-American drummer
• 1980 – Bobby Simmons, American basketball player
• 1980 – Richard Skuse, English rugby player
• 1980 – Abby Wambach, American soccer player and coach
• 1980 – Tomasz Wróblewski, Polish bass player and songwriter
• 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player
• 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
• 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
• 1983 – Chris Higgins, American ice hockey player
• 1983 – Toni Livers, Swiss skier
• 1984 – Jack Afamasaga, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1984 – Feleti Mateo, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
• 1985 – Miyuki Sawashiro, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1986 – Todd Carney, Australian rugby league player
• 1987 – Maryka Holtzhausen, South African netball player
• 1987 – Yoann Huget, French rugby player
• 1987 – Matthew Koma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1987 – Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1987 – Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress
• 1988 – Sergio Agüero, Argentine footballer
• 1988 – Awkwafina, American actress, rapper, and comedian
• 1988 – Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist
• 1989 – Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
• 1990 – Dane Rampe, Australian rules footballer
• 1992 – Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer
• 1993 – Adam Taggart, Australian footballer
• 1996 – Morissette, Filipina singer-songwriter
• 1997 – Scott Wozniak, American YouTuber
• 1999 – Campbell Graham, Australian rugby league player
• 2001 – Kysaiah Pickett, Australian rules footballer
• 2002 – Madison Hu, American actress
• 2002 – Fonua Pole, New Zealand rugby league player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 657 – Pope Eugene I
• 891 – Al-Muwaffaq, Abbasid general (b. 842)
• 910 – Richilde of Provence (b. 845)
• 1200 – Bishop John of Oxford
• 1258 – Peter I, Count of Urgell
• 1292 – Rhys ap Maredudd, Welsh nobleman and rebel leader
• 1418 – Katherine of Lancaster, queen of Henry III of Castile
• 1453 – Álvaro de Luna, Duke of Trujillo, Constable of Castile
• 1567 – Shane O'Neill, head of the O'Neill dynasty in Ireland (b. 1530)
• 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1536)
• 1581 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1525)

1601–1900

• 1603 – Bernard of Wąbrzeźno, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1575)
• 1693 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1621)
• 1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (b. 1607)
• 1716 – Ogata Kōrin, Japanese painter and educator (b. 1658)
• 1754 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (b. 1680)
• 1761 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish businessman (b. 1685)
• 1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician and academic (b. 1713)
• 1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747)
• 1853 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English general (b. 1777)
• 1865 – Ner Middleswarth, American judge and politician (b. 1783)
• 1875 – Józef Kremer, Polish psychologist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1806)
• 1881 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (b. 1801)
• 1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (b. 1807)

1901–present

• 1901 – George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary and author (b. 1844)
• 1927 – Hüseyin Avni Lifij, Turkish painter (b. 1886)
• 1929 – Enrique Gorostieta, Mexican general (b. 1889)
• 1933 – Frank Jarvis, American runner and triple jumper (b. 1878)
• 1937 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870)
• 1941 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1942 – Bunny Berigan, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
• 1947 – John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, English sailor and politician (b. 1867)
• 1948 – Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904)
• 1948 – Karl Brandt, German SS officer (b. 1904)
• 1948 – Karl Gebhardt, German physician (b. 1897)
• 1948 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903)
• 1948 – Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905)
• 1952 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Central Sofia Market Hall (b. 1880)
• 1956 – Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (b. 1886)
• 1959 – Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (b. 1884)
• 1961 – George S. Kaufman, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1889)
• 1962 – Vita Sackville-West, English author and poet (b. 1892)
• 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, German student and activist (b. 1940)
• 1968 – André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
• 1969 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
• 1970 – Orhan Kemal, Turkish author (b. 1914)
• 1970 – Albert Lamorisse, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
• 1970 – Bruce McLaren, New Zealand race car driver and engineer, founded the McLaren racing team (b. 1937)
• 1970 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Spanish anarchist feminist (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese race car driver (b. 1949)
• 1976 – Kenneth Mason, English soldier and geographer (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Juan José Torres, Bolivian general and politician, 61st President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
• 1977 – Albert Bittlmayer, German footballer (b. 1952)
• 1977 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish-born American actor (b. 1931)
• 1978 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and coach (b. 1895)
• 1979 – Jim Hutton, American actor (b. 1934)
• 1982 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (b. 1904)
• 1982 – Shah Abd al-Wahhab, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (b. 1894)
• 1983 – Stan Rogers, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
• 1983 – Ray Stehr, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1913)
• 1986 – Aurèle Joliat, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1901)
• 1987 – Anthony de Mello, Indian-American priest and psychotherapist (b. 1931)
• 1987 – Sammy Kaye, American bandleader and songwriter (b. 1910)
• 1987 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
• 1988 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1924)
• 1989 – Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1907)
• 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1991 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (b. 1927)
• 1992 – Philip Dunne, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1913)
• 1993 – Tahar Djaout, Algerian journalist, writer and poet (b. 1954)
• 1994 – David Stove, Australian philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1927)
• 1996 – John Alton, Hungarian-American cinematographer and director (b. 1901)
• 1996 – Leon Garfield, English author (b. 1921)
• 1996 – Ray Combs, American game show host (b. 1956)
• 1997 – Doc Cheatham, American trumpet player, singer, and bandleader (b. 1905)
• 1997 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis champion (b. 1908)
• 1999 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (b. 1949)
• 2000 – Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist, academic, and politician (b. 1927)
• 2000 – John Schlee, American golfer (b. 1939)
• 2000 – Gerald James Whitrow, English mathematician, cosmologist, and historian (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Imogene Coca, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
• 2001 – Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
• 2002 – Hugo van Lawick, Dutch director and photographer (b. 1937)
• 2003 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Alma Ricard, Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist (b. 1906)
• 2005 – Lucien Cliche, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and educator (b. 1950)
• 2005 – Melita Norwood, English civil servant and spy (b. 1912)
• 2006 – Keith Smith, English rugby player and coach (b. 1952)
• 2007 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (b. 1949)
• 2007 – Huang Ju, Chinese engineer and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1938)
• 2008 – Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Mel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1917)
• 2009 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Adolfo Calero, Nicaraguan businessman and political activist (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Richard Dawson, English-American soldier, actor, television personality, and game show host (b. 1932)
• 2012 – LeRoy Ellis, American basketball player (b. 1940)
• 2012 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (b. 1939)
• 2013 – Mario Bernardi, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Chen Xitong, Chinese politician, 8th Mayor of Beijing (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Mandawuy Yunupingu, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1956)
• 2014 – Ivica Brzić, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1941)
• 2014 – Nikolay Khrenkov, Russian bobsledder (b. 1984)
• 2014 – Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Fernando de Araújo, East Timorese politician, President of East Timor (b. 1963)
• 2015 – Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
• 2017 – Peter Sallis, English actor (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances

• Children's Day (North Korea)
• Christian feast day:
  • Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church).
  • Alexander (martyr)
  • Elmo
  • Felix of Nicosia
  • Marcellinus and Peter
  • Martyrs of Lyon, including Blandina
  • Pope Eugene I
  • Pothinus
  • June 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Civil Aviation Day (Azerbaijan)
• Coronation of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, also Social Forestry Day (Bhutan)
• Day of Hristo Botev (Bulgaria)
• Decoration Day (Canada)
• Festa della Repubblica (Italy)
• Telangana Day (Telangana, India)

See also

In Spanish: 2 de junio para niños