Deaths in 2009

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2009. Names are listed under the date of death and not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.

Deaths of notable animals (that is, those with their own Wikipedia articles) are also reported here.

A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

November 2009

15

• Hans Matthöfer, 84, German politician. [1] (German)
• Patriarch Pavle, 95, Serbian 44th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, cardiac arrest. [2]
• Miley Cyrus, 16, American singer, songwriter, and actress, car accident. [3] [4]

14

• Moshe Gidron, 84, Israeli Major General. [5]
• Lewis Millett, 88, American Medal of Honor recipient. [6]
• Klaus Steilmann, 80, German entrepreneur. [7] (German)

13

• Ueli Gegenschatz, 38, Swiss BASE jumper, jumping accident. [8] (German)
• Bruce King, 85, American politician, three-term Governor of New Mexico, complications from heart procedure. [9]
• Mara Manzan, 57, Brazilian actress, lung cancer. [10] (Portuguese)
• Tamaz Ninua, 67, Georgian former Minister for State Security, shot. [11]

12

• Mohamed Abdi Aware, Somali judge, Chief Justice of Puntland, shot. [12]
• Vagrich Bakhchanyan, 71, Ukrainian-born American painter, apparent suicide. [13] (Russian)
• Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, 60, Spanish judge, Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice. [14]
• Howard Jacobs, 45, American HIV/AIDS activist, liver cancer. [15]
• Bernard Kolélas, 76, Congolese politician, Mayor of Brazzaville, Prime Minister (1997). [16]
• James R. Lilley, 81, American diplomat, ambassador to South Korea and China, complications linked to prostate cancer. [17]
• Iakovos Protolatis, 78, Greek journalist. [18] (Greek)
• Henri Sérandour, 72, French IOC member, former head of the French National Olympic Committee. [19] (French)
• Josef Singer, 86, Israeli professor emeritus of aeronautics, president of Technion (1982–1986). [20] (Hebrew)
• Eliahu Speiser, 79, Israeli politician and former Member of Knesset. [21]
• Giorgos Thimis, 84, Greek pianist and composer. [22] (Greek)
• Paul Wendkos, 87, American television and film director, complications of a stroke. [23]
• Orig Williams, 78, Welsh wrestler (El Bandito), footballer (Oldham Athletic), television personality and newspaper columnist. [24]
• Emanuel Zisman, 74, Israeli politician, Member of Knesset (1988–1999). [25]

11

• Tony Anselmo, 91, Canadian football executive (Calgary Stampeders). [26]
• Bernie Dittrich, 21, Austrian football player (Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna). [27]
• Ehsan Fattahian, 28, Iranian Kurdish activist, executed by hanging. [28]
• Naftali Feder, 89, Polish-born Israeli politician and Member of Knesset. [29]
• Savvas Hatziioannou, 67, Greek footballer (PAOK F.C.), cancer. [30] (Greek)
• Tom Merriman, 85, American jingle composer, complications from a fall. [31]
• John Jay O'Connor, 79, American lawyer, husband of Sandra Day O'Connor, Alzheimer's disease. [32]
• Helge Reiss, 81, Norwegian actor. [33] (Norwegian)
• Alexandros Tambouras, 97, Greek insurer and businessman. [34] (Greek)

10

• Gheorghe Dinică, 75, Romanian actor, cardiac arrest. [35] (Romanian)
• Robert Enke, 32, German footballer, suicide by train impact. [36]
• William Ganz, 90, Slovakian-born American cardiologist, co-inventor of the pulmonary artery catheter, natural causes. [37]
• Tomaž Humar, 40, Slovenian mountaineer, climbing accident. [38]
• Simple Kapadia, 51, Indian actress and costume designer, cancer. [39]
• David Lloyd, 75, American comedy writer ("Chuckles Bites the Dust"), prostate cancer. [40]
• Uolevi Manninen, 72, Finnish Olympic basketball player. [41] (Finnish)
• Hisaya Morishige, 96, Japanese actor, natural causes. [42]
• John Allen Muhammad, 48, American spree killer (Beltway Sniper), execution by lethal injection. [43]
• José Afonso Ribeiro, 80, Brazilian Roman Catholic Bishop of Borba. [44] (Portuguese)
• Stratos Stasinos, 65, Greek animation director. [45] (Greek)

9

• Al Cervi, 92, American basketball player and coach (Rochester Royals, Syracuse Nationals). [46]
• Clen Denning, 98, Australian footballer, oldest surviving VFL player. [47]
• Earsell Mackbee, 68, American football player (Minnesota Vikings), complications of a stroke. [48]
• Notis Pergialis, 89, Greek actor, author and lyricist. [49] (Greek)
• Nelson Javier Portillo, Honduran mayor, shot. [50] (Spanish)
• Mehdi Sahabi, 66, Iranian writer and translator, heart attack. [51]
• Charles Proctor Sifton, 74, American federal judge, sarcoidosis. [52]
• Stephen Edmund Verney, 90, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Repton (1977–1985). [53]
• Nick Waterlow, 69, British-born Australian artistic director and curator, stabbed. [54]

8

• Jerry Fuchs, 34, American drummer (Maserati, !!!), fall. [55]
• Armin Gessert, 46, German video game developer, heart attack. [56]
• Vitaly Ginzburg, 93, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate. [57]
• Burleigh Hines, 77, American journalist. [58]
• Malcolm Laycock, 71, British radio DJ. [59]
• Arda Mandikian, 85, Greek soprano, after long illness. [60] (Greek)
• Amir Qavidel, 62, Iranian film director, liver failure. [61]
• Igor Starygin, 63, Russian actor, complications of a stroke. [62] (Russian)
• Peter Storer, 81, American broadcasting executive, President of Storer Communications. [63]

7

• Alyona Bondarchuk, 47, Russian actress, cancer. [64] (Russian)
• Vic Davies, 55, Australian radio presenter, lung cancer. [65]
• Anselmo Duarte, 89, Brazilian actor, screenwriter and film director, complications of a stroke. [66] (Portuguese)
• Bernardo Garza Sada, 79, Mexican businessman, founder of ALFA. [67]
• Donald Harington, 73, American author, cancer. [68]
• Chris Harman, 66, British socialist journalist and activist. [69]
• Billy Ingham, 57, British footballer (Burnley). [70]
• Joe Maross, 86, American actor, cardiac arrest. [71]
• Humberto Luis Rivas, 72, Argentinian photographer. [72]

6

• Manuel Arvizu, 90, Mexican Roman Catholic Bishop of Jesús María del Nayar. [73]
• István Belovai, 71, Hungarian double agent. [74] (German)
• Bachir Boumaza, 82, Algerian politician. [75] (French)
• Marion Coles, 94, American dancer. [76]
• Nick Counter, 69, American film executive and lawyer. [77]
• Dimitri De Fauw, 28, Belgian track cyclist, suicide. [78] (Dutch)
• Abraham Escudero Montoya, 69, Colombian Roman Catholic Bishop of Palmira. [79] (Spanish)
• Jacno, 52, French musician, cancer. [80] (French)
• Otomar Krejča, 87, Czech theatre director. [81] (Czech)
• Hans Lund, 59, American poker player, cancer. [82]
• Antonio Rosario Mennonna, 103, Italian Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. [83] (German)
• Thomas O'Malley, 94, American aerospace engineer. [84]
• Günter Naumann, 83, German actor. [85] (German)
• Manuel Solís, 91, Panamanian President (1988–1989), pulmonary edema. [86] (Spanish)

5

• Peter Chen Bolu, 96, Chinese Roman Catholic Bishop of Daming. [87]
• Adam Firestorm, 32, New Zealand-born Canadian professional wrestler, suicide. [88]
• Robert Gutman, 67, Estonian actor. [89], (Estonian)
• Khuda Bakhsh Khaskhail, 32, Pakistani boxer, cardiac arrest. [90]
• Félix Luna, 84, Argentinian historian, after long illness. [91]
• Stella Májová, 86, Czech actress. [92] (Czech)
• Tom Sparks, 33, American reality television contestant (Wipeout), stroke. [93]

4

• Win Aung, 65, Burmese politician and military officer, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–2004). [94]
• William H. Avery, 98, American politician, Representative for Kansas (1955–1965), Governor of Kansas (1965–1967). [95]
• Don Beaven, 85, New Zealand scientist and diabetes researcher, house fire. [96]
• Ivan Biakov, 65, Russian Olympic gold medal-winning biathlete (1972, 1976). [97] (Ukrainian)
• Hubertus Brandenburg, 85, German-born Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockholm (1977–1998). [98] (Swedish).
• Stefano Chiodi, 52, Italian footballer. [99] (Italian)
• Art D'Lugoff, 85, American jazz nightclub owner (The Village Gate), heart attack. [100]
• Kabun Mutō, 82, Japanese politician, Minister for Foreign Affairs (1993), pancreatic cancer. [101]
• Thomas P. O'Malley, 79, American Jesuit and academic, President of Loyola Marymount University (1991–1999), heart attack. [102]
• Antonio Pelle, 77, Italian 'Ndrangheta boss, heart attack. [103]

3

• Charles August, 90, American businessman, founder of Monro Muffler and Brake. [104]
• Francisco Ayala, 103, Spanish novelist, natural causes. [105] (Spanish)
• Archie Baird, 90, Scottish footballer (Aberdeen). [106]
• Carl Ballantine, 92, American actor (McHale's Navy). [107]
• Kari Bashir, 35, Afghan Taliban commander. [108] (German)
• Brother Blue, 88, American storyteller, performance artist, after short illness. [109]
• Dodo Chichinadze, 85, Georgian actress. [110]
• Shel Dorf, 76, American founder of the San Diego Comic-Con, diabetes-related complications. [111]
• Parry Gordon, 64, English rugby league player. [112]
• Vashram Khorani, 49, Indian politician, MLA in the Vidhan Sabha of Gujarat, heart attack. [113]
• Jyrki Kovaleff, 55, Finnish actor, prostate cancer. [114] (Finnish)
• Tamás Lossonczy, 105, Hungarian abstract painter. [115] (Hungarian)
• John Mashek, 77, American political reporter, heart attack. [116]
• Toshiyuki Mimura, 61, Japanese baseball player and manager (Hiroshima Toyo Carp). [117]
• Erik Sædén, 85, Swedish bass-baritone and hovsångare. [118] (Swedish)
• Sotiris Sgouros, 80, Greek folk musician, clarinetist and singer. [119] (Greek)

2

• Princess Haya bint Abdulaziz, 80, Saudi royal, sister of King Abdullah. [120]
• Nien Cheng, 94, Chinese author and political prisoner. [121]
• Lou Filippo, 83, American boxing referee and judge, member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame, stroke. [122]
• Ida Frabboni, 113, Italian supercentenarian. [123] (Italian)
• Evelyn Hofer, 87, German-born photographer. [124]
• Shabattai Kalmanovich, 61, Russian former KGB spy, President of WBC Spartak Moscow Region, shot. [125]
• Keith Kettleborough, 74, British footballer (Sheffield United) [126]
• José Luis López Vázquez, 87, Spanish actor, after long illness. [127] (Spanish)
• Fyodor Loshchenkov, 94, Russian First Secretary of the Yaroslavl Obkom (1961–1986). [128] (Russian)
• Phil Lumpkin, 57, American NBA player and high school basketball coach, pneumonia. [129]
• Roman Moravec, 59, Slovak Olympic high jumper. [130]
• Beverley O'Sullivan, 28, Irish singer, car crash. [131]
• Amir Pnueli, 68, Israeli computer scientist and Turing Award winner. [132]
• Glenn Remick, 58, American founder of American Darters Association, member of National Darts Hall of Fame, amyloidosis. [133]
• Mark Smith, 49, British bassist (The Waterboys) and record producer. [134]
• Leonard Steinberg, Baron Steinberg, 73, British businessman and life peer. [135]
• Jorge Vargas, 68, Mexican actor, complications of colon cancer surgery. [136] (Spanish)

1

• Ghalia Hassan Fayyad, 110, Palestinian supercentenarian, age-related causes. [137]
• Sakher Habash, 69, Palestinian party official (Fatah), stroke. [138]
• Seán Mac Fionnghaile, 57, Irish actor, cancer. [139]
• Endel Laas, 94, Estonian forest scientist. [140] (Estonian)
• Arturo Salazar Mejía, 88, Colombian Roman Catholic Bishop of Pasto. [141] (Spanish)
• Alda Merini, 78, Italian poet. [142] (Italian)
• Gopal Mishra, 77, Indian journalist, after short illness. [143]
• Gus Mitges, 90, Canadian politician, MP for Grey—Simcoe (1972–1988) and Bruce—Grey (1988–1993). [144]
• Alan Ogg, 42, American basketball player (Miami Heat), complications from staphylococcal infection. [145]
• Robert H. Rines, 87, American scientist, inventor, composer and Loch Ness Monster expert, heart failure. [146]
• Antonio Sergio, 59, Portuguese radio personality, heart attack. [147] (Portuguese)
• Achim Stocker, 74, German football official, Chairman of SC Freiburg, heart attack. [148] (German)
• George Zoritch, 92, Russian-born American dancer. [149]

October 2009

See Deaths in October 2009.

September 2009

See Deaths in September 2009.

August 2009

See Deaths in August 2009.

July 2009

See Deaths in July 2009.

June 2009

See Deaths in June 2009.

May 2009

See Deaths in May 2009.

April 2009

See Deaths in April 2009.

March 2009

See Deaths in March 2009.

February 2009

See Deaths in February 2009.

January 2009

See Deaths in January 2009.

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2008, Deaths in 2007, Deaths in 2006, Deaths in 2005, Deaths in 2004, Deaths in 2003, Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, ...