What calendar date did Frank Sinatra die?

Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998.

Sinatra died at age 82 in Los Angeles after suffering another heart attack. He had experienced serious health problems during his final years, including heart and breathing difficulties, high blood pressure, pneumonia, and bladder cancer. His wife, Barbara, was at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The date is sometimes confused with Sinatra’s birth date, December 12, 1915. That date belongs to his birth in Hoboken, New Jersey, not his death. Sinatra’s long career had made him one of the defining American entertainers of the twentieth century, spanning swing-era singing, traditional pop, film, television, and recordings with the Rat Pack.

Tributes followed immediately. The Empire State Building was illuminated in blue, Las Vegas casinos paused their activity for a minute, and recording sales rose sharply. His funeral took place on May 20, 1998, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. He was buried at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.