Deaths in 2008
The following is a list of notable deaths in 2008. Names are listed by date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.
Please note that there is long-standing consensus that deaths of notable animals, i.e. those with their own Wikipedia articles, are reported here.
A typical entry appears in the following sequence:
- Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.
- Geoffrey Perkins, 55, British comedy producer, writer and performer, head of comedy for BBC, road accident. [1]
- Sigurbjörn Einarsson, 97, Icelandic bishop of the Church of Iceland (1959–1981). [2] (Icelandic)
- Phil Hill, 81, American racing driver, 1961 Formula One world champion, complications of Parkinson's disease. [3]
- Michel Vastel, 68, Canadian journalist and columnist, throat cancer. [4]
- Del Martin, 87, American gay rights activist, first legal same-sex marriage in California, complications from bone fracture. [5]
- Isa Meireles, 76, Portuguese journalist and writer. [6] (Portuguese)
- Abie Nathan, 81, Israeli peace activist, founder of Voice of Peace radio station. [7]
- Mark Priestley, 32, Australian actor (All Saints), suicide. [8]
- Olavo Egydio Setubal, 85, Brazilian politician and banker, mayor of São Paulo (1975–1979), heart failure. [9]
- Manuel Simões, 91, Portuguese fado music producer. [10] (Portuguese)
- Bob Mountford, 56, British footballer (Port Vale, Rochdale), cancer. [11]
- Hazel Warp, 93, American stuntwoman. [12]
- Barbara Warren, 65, American triathlete, bicycle crash. [13]
- Kevin Duckworth, 44, American NBA basketball player, heart failure resulting from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. [14]
- Ahmed Faraz, 74, Pakistani poet. [15] [16]
- Jabir Herbert Muhammad, 79, American businessman, long-time manager of Muhammad Ali, complications from heart surgery. [17]
- Pehr Henrik Nordgren, 64, Finnish composer, after long illness. [18] (Finnish)
- Mario Peña, 56, Peruvian congressman, lymphoma. [19]
- Joseph Tal, 97, Israeli composer, natural causes. [20] (German)
- Gerard Ford, 83, American co-founder of Ford Modeling Agency, endocarditis. [21]
- Riitta Immonen, 90, Finnish fashion designer and entrepreneur. [22]
- Tad Mosel, 86, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. [23]
- Wei Wei, 88, Chinese poet and writer, liver cancer. [24]
- Ruth Cohen, 78, American actress and extra (Seinfeld), heart attack. [25]
- Leo Elter, 78, American football player, heart failure. [26]
- Steve Foley, 49, American drummer (The Replacements, Bash & Pop), drug overdose. [27]
- Yuri Nosenko, 81, Soviet-born Ukrainian KGB agent who defected to United States, after a long illness. [28]
- John Russell, 89, British-born American art critic and author. [29]
- Wayne Stewart, 57, American managing editor (The Topeka Capital-Journal), cancer. [30]
- Thomas Huckle Weller, 93, American virologist, Nobel Prize winner (Medicine, 1954). [31]
- Carl Aschan, 102, Swedish-born British intelligence officer and spy during World War II. [32]
- Frank Cornish, 40, American football player (Dallas Cowboys), apparent heart attack. [33]
- Jeff MacKay, 59, American film and television actor, (Magnum, P.I., Tales of the Gold Monkey), liver complications. [34]
- Gladys Powers, 109, British-born Canadian last female veteran of World War I, served with the WAAC and WRAF. [35]
- Ralph Young, 90, American singer (Sandler and Young). [36]
- Fred Crane, 90, American film and television actor (Gone with the Wind), complications from surgery. [37]
- Iosif Constantin Drăgan, 91, Romanian businessman and historian. [38] (Romanian)
- Jerry Finn, 39, American record producer (Blink-182, Green Day, Morrissey), cerebral hemorrhage. [39]
- Don Fox, 72, British rugby league player (Wakefield). [40]
- Buddy Harman, 79, American session musician, heart failure. [41]
- Wolfgang Vogel, 82, German lawyer, envoy in prisoner exchange programs during the Cold War. [42]
- Mario Bertok, 79, Croatian chess grandmaster and journalist, drowned. [43] (Croatian)
- Chao Yao-dong, 92, Taiwanese minister of economic affairs, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [44] (Chinese)
- Phil Guy, 68, American blues guitarist, brother of Buddy Guy, pancreatic cancer. [45]
- Larry Hennessy, 79, American basketball player (Philadelphia Warriors, Syracuse Nationals). [46]
- Hua Guofeng, 87, Chinese premier (1976–1980), chairman of the Communist Party of China (1976–1981). [47]
- Leopoldo Serran, 66, Brazilian screenwriter, liver cancer. [48]
- Adrian Sudbury, 27, British journalist, campaigned for better awareness of bone marrow donation, leukaemia. [49]
- Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, American member of the House of Representatives from Ohio since 1999, cerebral hemorrhage. [50]
- Gene Upshaw, 63, American NFL player (Oakland Raiders), executive director of NFLPA, pancreatic cancer. [51]
- Leo Abse, 91, British politician, MP (1958–1987), reformer of laws on homosexuality and divorce. [52]
- Julius Carry, 56, American actor (The Last Dragon), pancreatic cancer. [53]
- John Challis, 18, American founder of Courage of Life Foundation, liver cancer. [54]
- Binyamin Gibli, 89, Israeli head of military intelligence. [55]
- Bob Humphrys, 56, British BBC sports presenter, lung cancer. [56]
- Algimantas Masiulis, 77, Lithuanian film actor. [57] (Russian)
- Habib Miyan, 139?, Indian claimant to title of world's oldest person. [58]
- LeRoi Moore, 46, American saxophonist (Dave Matthews Band), complications from ATV accident. [59]
- Mikhail Mukasei, 101, Russian spy. [60]
- Levy Mwanawasa, 59, Zambian politician, president since 2002, complications from stroke. [61]
- Paul Starr, 48, American make-up artist. [62]
- John Brandl, 70, American public policy expert and politician, member of Minnesota legislature. [63]
- Manny Farber, 91, American film critic and painter. [64]
- Genuine Risk, 31, American racehorse, 1980 Kentucky Derby winner. [65]
- Thomas K. Hearn, Jr., 71, American academic, president of Wake Forest University (1983–2005). [66]
- Pervis Jackson, 70, American R&B bass singer (The Spinners), cancer. [67]
- Floyd Peters, 72, American football player, complications from Alzheimer's disease. [68]
- Joe Shikany, 58, American guitarist and singer, hit by falling tree. [69]
- Dave Freeman, 47, American author (100 Things To Do Before You Die), injuries from a fall. [70]
- Maudie Hopkins, 93, American last certified Civil War widow. [71]
- Vincent Kehoe, 86, American make-up artist, author and president of RCMA Professional Products. [72] [73]
- Farooq al-Obeidi, 59, Iraqi politician, deputy leader of local Sunni Awakening Council, suicide attack. [74]
- Philip Saffman, 77, American mathematician. [75]
- Franco Sensi, 82, Italian businessman, president of A.S. Roma since 1993, respiratory failure. [76]
- Hugh Butt, 98, American physician. [77]
- Dorival Caymmi, 94, Brazilian songwriter and singer, multiple organ failure. [78]
- Michel-Gaspard Coppenrath, 72, Tahitian archbishop of Papeete, ruptured aneurysm. [79]
- Ronnie Drew, 73, Irish singer, founding member of The Dubliners, after long illness. [80]
- Masanobu Fukuoka, 95, Japanese microbiologist, pioneer of no-till grain cultivation. [81] (Japanese)
- Otto Leisner, 91, Danish television host. [82] (Danish)
- Elena Leuşteanu, 73, Romanian gymnast and three-time Olympic medalist, pancreatic cancer. [83] (Romanian)
- Fanny Mickey, 78, Argentine-born Colombian theatre actress, renal failure. [84] (Spanish)
- Johnny Moore, 70, Jamaican trumpeter, founding member of The Skatalites, cancer. [85]
- Alfred Rainer, 20, Austrian Nordic combined skier, paragliding accident. [86]
- Carlos Meglia, 50, Argentine comic book artist. [87]
- James Orthwein, 84, American businessman, cancer. [88]
- Leroy Sievers, 53, American journalist, colon cancer. [89]
- Vic Toweel, 80, South African boxer, bantamweight world champion (1952–1954). [90]
- Jerry Wexler, 91, American record producer, heart failure. [91]
- Darrin Winston, 42, United States MLB pitcher (Philadelphia Phillies, 1997–1998), leukemia. [92]
- Seiji Aochi, 66 Japanese ski jumper, stomach cancer. [93]
- Allen Bares, 71, American member of the Louisiana State Legislature (1972–1992), French language proponent, stroke. [94]
- Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart, 66, British politician and local government leader, cancer. [95]
- Ralph Feigin, 70, American pediatrician, lung cancer. [96]
- Percy Irausquin, 39, Aruban fashion designer, cerebral hemorrhage. [97]
- Davy McCall, 46, British cyclist, car crash. [98]
- Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 45, American murderer, member of the Texas Seven, execution by lethal injection. [99]
- Lita Roza, 82, British singer, first British female to top the UK singles chart. [100]
- Sandy Allen, 53, American tallest woman in the world (according to Guinness World Records). [101]
- Henri Cartan, 104, French mathematician. [102] (French)
- Bill Gwatney, 48, American politician, Arkansas state senator (1992–2002), chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, shot. [103]
- John MacDougall, 60, British politician, MP for Glenrothes since 2005 and Central Fife (2001–2005), mesothelioma. [104]
- Nollaig Ó Gadhra, 64, Irish language activist, journalist and historian, co-founder of Teilifís na Gaeilge. [105]
- Dino Toso, 39, Italian automotive engineer, Renault F1 director of aerodynamics, cancer. [106] [107]
- Jack Weil, 107, American founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, oldest working CEO. [108]
- Christie Allen, 53, Australian pop singer, pancreatic cancer. [109]
- Michael Baxandall, 74, British art historian, Parkinson's disease. [110]
- Mick Clough, 80, Australian politician, member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for Bathurst (1976–1988, 1995–1999). [111]
- Donald Erb, 81, American composer. [112]
- George Gick, 92, American Major League Baseball player (Chicago White Sox). [113]
- Rust Hills, 83, American fiction editor (Esquire), cardiac arrest. [114]
- Lester Hogan, 88, American physicist, complications of Alzheimer's disease. [115]
- Vilma Jamnická, 101, Austro-Hungarian-born Slovakian actress and astrologer. [116] (Slovak)
- Francis Lacassin, 76, French editor. [117] (France)
- Orlando Ríos, 60, Cuban percussionist and singer, leader of Nueva Generación orchestra. [118]
- Ivonice Satie, 57, Brazilian dancer and choreographer, cancer. [119] (Portuguese)
- Herm Schneidman, 94, American football player. [120]
- Stan Storimans, 39, Dutch photojournalist and cameraman, mortar fire. [121]
- Bill Stulla, 97, American children's television show host. [122]
- Dottie Wiltse Collins, 84, American AAGPBL baseball pitcher (Fort Wayne Daisies). [123]
- Agneta Bolme Börjefors, 67, Swedish television presenter and royal reporter. [124] (Swedish)
- Henry B. R. Brown, 82, American investment banker, aneurysm. [125]
- John S. Bull, 73, American NASA astronaut. [126]
- Sir Bill Cotton, 80, British television executive. [127]
- George Deem, 75, American artist, lung cancer. [128]
- George Furth, 75, American playwright, actor and librettist, collaborator with Stephen Sondheim. [129]
- Don Helms, 81, American steel guitarist. [130]
- James Hoyt, 83, American soldier, member of the Buchenwald liberation team. [131]
- Anatoly Khrapaty, 45, Kazakhstani Olympic weightlifter (USSR and Kazakhstan), motorcycle accident. [132]
- Günther Schifter, 84, Austrian journalist and radio presenter. [133] (German)
- Fred Sinowatz, 79, Austrian politician, chancellor of Austria (1983–1986). [134]
- Darren Taylor, 42, American gang member turned peacemaker, cancer. [135]
- Rhoshii Wells, 31, American boxer, Olympic medallist, shot. [136]
- Lee Clark, 71, Canadian politician, MP for Brandon—Souris (1983–1993). [137]
- John Esmonde, 71, British television writer, half of Esmonde and Larbey (Please Sir!, The Good Life). [138]
- Isaac Hayes, 65, American soul and funk musician ("Theme from Shaft"), actor (South Park), stroke. [139]
- William A. Knowlton, 88, American general. [140]
- Howard G. Minsky, 94, American film producer (Love Story). [141]
- Terence Rigby, 71, British actor, lung cancer. [142]
- Alexander Slobodyanik, 65, Ukrainian pianist, meningitis. [143]
- František Tikal, 75, Czech ice hockey player. [144] (German)
- David Nigel de Lorentz Young, 76, British Bishop of Ripon (1977–1999). [145]
- Todd Bachman, 62, American CEO of Bachman, father of Elisabeth Bachman, stabbed. [146]
- Sir Stanley Bailey, 81, British chief constable of Northumbria Police (1975–1991). [147]
- Peter Coe, 88, British athletics coach, father of Sebastian Coe. [148]
- Colm Condon, 87, Irish lawyer, Attorney General (1965–1973). [149]
- Bob Cunis, 67, New Zealand cricketer. [150]
- Mahmoud Darwish, 67, Palestinian poet, complications from open heart surgery. [151]
- Jacob Landau, 74, American journalist, attorney, co-founder of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, after long illness. [152]
- Bernie Mac, 50, American comedian and actor (The Bernie Mac Show, Bad Santa), complications from pneumonia. [153]
- Denis Vetchinov, 32, Russian army major, recipient of Hero of the Russian Federation award, killed in action. [154]
- Vivian Shun-wen Wu, 95, Taiwanese entrepreneur, chairwoman of Yulon Motor, heart failure. [155]
- Antonio Gava, 78, Italian politician, minister of the interior (1988–1990), after long illness. [156]
- Orville Moody, 74, American professional golfer, winner of 1969 U.S. Open. [157]
- Eleo Pomare, 70, Colombian modern dance choreographer, cancer. [158]
- Irma Mae Weule, 109, American, oldest survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. [159]
- Bernie Brillstein, 77, American film producer, chronic pulmonary disease. [160]
- Juan Bustos, 72, Chilean politician, liver cancer. [161]
- Simon Gray, 71, British playwright, prostate cancer. [162]
- Ralph Klein, 77, Israeli basketball player and coach, intestinal cancer. [163]
- Andrea Pininfarina, 51, Italian businessman, CEO of Pininfarina, motorcycle accident. [164]
- Nicole von Ruden, 40, American television producer (Dr. Phil), brain cancer. [165]
- Robert Nason Beck, 80, American scientist, myelodysplasia. [166]
- Jean Cooke, 90, British artist, wife of John Bratby. [167]
- John K. Cooley, 80, American author (Unholy Wars), journalist and expert of Middle East affairs, cancer. [168]
- Princess Francine of Montenegro, 58, Montenegrin fashion designer, wife of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro. [169]
- Jennifer Hilary, 65, British actress. [170]
- Karl Kuehl, 70, American baseball scout, coach and manager (Montreal Expos), pulmonary fibrosis. [171]
- Anthony Russo, 71, American whistleblower (Pentagon Papers). [172]
- Jud Taylor, 68, American television director and actor, kidney failure. [173]
- Manuel de Almeida Trindade, 90, Portuguese bishop of Aveiro (1962–1988). [174] (Portuguese)
- Bruno Dallansky, 79, Austrian actor. [175] (German)
- Robert Hazard, 59, American musician and songwriter ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), pancreatic cancer. [176]
- Jack Kamen, 88, American comic book artist (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror), cancer. [177]
- Reg Lindsay, 79, Australian country music singer and songwriter, pneumonia. [178]
- José Medellín, 33, Mexican convicted murderer, execution in Texas by lethal injection. [179]
- Gary Mooney, 78, American animator (Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, George of the Jungle). [180]
- Daniel L. Norris, 73, Canadian commissioner of the Northwest Territories (1989–1994), heart failure. [181]
- Eva Pflug, 79, German actress (Raumpatrouille Orion). [182] (German)
- Alberto Achacaz Walakial, 79, Chilean craftsman, one of the last full-blooded Alacaluf, blood poisoning. [183]
- Don Grissom, 65, American documentary filmmaker (Slavery and the Making of America). [184]
- Karl Hischier, 83, Swiss cross-country skier (1952 Winter Olympics). [185] (German)
- Sally Insul, 92, American actress, heart failure. [186]
- Craig Jones, 23, British motorcycle racer, head injuries from a race crash. [187]
- Peter Kass, 85, American actor, director and teacher. [188]
- Eri Kawai, 43, Japanese pop and classical singer, liver cancer. [189]
- Robert Maheu, 90, American businessman, aide to Howard Hughes. [190]
- Nicola Rescigno, 92, American opera conductor, complications from broken femur. [191]
- Johnny Thio, 63, Belgian football player and coach, myocardial rupture. [192]
- Greg Weld, 64, American racing driver and businessman, heart attack. [193]
- Joe Yonto, 83, American football assistant coach (Notre Dame). [194]
- Anton Allemann, 72, Swiss international footballer (PSV Eindhoven, 1.FC Nürnberg, Grasshopper Zürich), heart attack. [195] (French)
- Skip Caray, 68, American broadcaster for baseball (Atlanta Braves) and basketball (Hawks), son of Harry Caray, bronchitis. [196]
- Erik Darling, 74, American songwriter, folk musician, lymphoma. [197]
- Linda Field, 45, American actress, wife of Steve Stoliar. [198]
- Jeffrey S. Medkeff, 39, American astronomer and science writer, liver cancer. [199]
- Robert Montgomery, 78, American lawyer. [200]
- Aurelius H. Piper Sr., 92, American hereditary chief of the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation since 1959, natural causes. [201]
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 89, Russian novelist and historian, Nobel Prize winner (1970), heart failure. [202]
- Louis Teicher, 83, American classical pianist (Ferrante & Teicher), heart failure. [203]
- Thomas John Ashton, 3rd Baron Ashton of Hyde, 81, British aristocrat and banker. [204]
- Fujio Akatsuka, 72, Japanese manga artist, pneumonia. [205]
- Rolf Bae, 33, Norwegian mountaineer, fall from K2. [206]
- Geoffrey Ballard, 76, Canadian businessman and fuel cell scientist, founder of Ballard Power Systems. [207]
- Pérez Celis, 69, Argentine plastic artist, leukaemia. [208]
- Helga Gitmark, 78, Norwegian politician. [209] (Norwegian)
- Christopher Gonzalez, 65, Jamaican sculptor and painter, cancer. [210]
- Allen Kolstad, 76, American politician, lieutenant governor of Montana (1988–1991), cancer. [211]
- Ger McDonnell, 37, Irish mountaineer, first Irishman to reach K2 summit, climbing accident. [212] [213]
- Peter Rodman, 64, American foreign policy expert, leukemia. [214]
- Memo Salamanca, 83, Mexican bandleader and composer. [215]
- John F. Seiberling, 89, American politician, representative from Ohio (1971–1987), respiratory failure. [216] [217]
- Tadashi Hattori, 100, Japanese composer and conductor. [218]
- Dick Barrymore, 74, American skiing documentary filmmaker, brain cancer. [219]
- Pauline Baynes, 85, British illustrator (Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings). [220]
- Bertrand Castelli, 78, American artist and producer (Hair, Richard), accident. [221]
- Peter Jackson, 80, Australian fashion designer, prostate cancer. [222]
- Ashok Mankad, 61, Indian cricketer. [223]
- Timur Otus, 43, American actor, suicide. [224]
- Jerome Staller, 62, American economist, founder of the Center for Forensic Economic Studies, kidney disease. [225]
- Harkishan Singh Surjeet, 92, Indian politician, cardiac arrest. [226]
- Butch White, 72, British cricketer (Hampshire, Glamorgan, England). [227]
See Deaths in July 2008.
See Deaths in June 2008.
See Deaths in May 2008.
See Deaths in April 2008.
See Deaths in March 2008.
External links
- English language obituaries on the Web
- General
- US
- South Africa
- UK
- Australia
- Specialized websites
For earlier deaths, see 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, ...