Deaths in 2008

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2008. Names are listed under the date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.

A typical entry appears in the following sequence:

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

May 2008

10

• Leyla Gencer, 79, Turkish soprano opera singer, respiratory and cardiac failure. [1]
• Paul Haeberlin, 84, French chef and restaurateur (L'Auberge de l'Ill), one of Michelin's oldest three-star restaurants. [2]
• Liao Feng-Teh, 57, Taiwanese incoming interior minister, heart attack. [3]

9

• Jack Gibson, 79, Australian rugby league player and coach, selected as Coach of the Century. [4]
• Judy Grable, 82, American female professional wrestler. [5]
• Arthur Kroeger, 76, Canadian civil servant (1958–1992), academic and chancellor of Carleton University (1993–2002). [6]
• Nuala O'Faolain, 68, Irish journalist and author, lung cancer. [7][8]
• Ronald A. Parise, 56, American astronaut, brain tumor. [9]
• Pascal Sevran, 62, French television presenter and producer, lyricist and writer, lung cancer. [10] (French)
• Sinan Sofuoğlu, 25, Turkish motorcycle racer, training crash. [11] (Turkish)
• Artur da Távola, 72, Brazilian journalist, writer and politician, heart disease. [12] (Portuguese)

8

• Eddy Arnold, 89, American country music singer. [13]
• Willem Brakman, 85, Dutch author. [14] (Dutch)
• Ian Brodie, 72, British foreign correspondent (The Daily Telegraph). [15]
• Jose Feria, 91, Filipino supreme court justice (1986–1987). [16]
• Murray Jarvik, 84, American academic and co-inventor of the nicotine patch, heart failure. [17]
• Luigi Malerba, 81, Italian writer. [18] (Italian)
• Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, 42, Mexican federal police anti-drug coordinator, shot. [19]
• John Reames, 65, British football administrator and manager, cancer. [20]
• François Sterchele, 26, Belgian footballer (Belgium, Club Brugge), car accident. [21]

7

• Phil Armstrong, New Zealand radio producer (Paul Holmes Breakfast Show), stomach cancer. [22]
• Thijs Wöltgens, 64, Dutch politician, mayor of Kerkrade (1994–2000), senator (1995–2005). [23] (Dutch)

6

• John Jay Iselin, 74, American public-access television innovator, descendent of John Jay, pneumonia. [24]
• Franz Jackson, 95, American saxophonist. [25]
• Ray Michie, Baroness Michie of Gallanach, 74, British Liberal Democrat politician. [26]

5

• Sam Aubrey, 85, American basketball player and coach (Oklahoma State Cowboys). [27]
• Lucien Jeunesse, 89, French radio game presenter (Le Jeu des 1000 Francs). [28] (French)
• Park Kyung-ni, 82, South Korean novelist, lung cancer. [29]
• Irv Robbins, 90, American businessman, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain. [30] [31]
• Jerry Wallace, 79, American country music singer, heart failure. [32]
• Witold Woyda, 68, Polish fencer, double gold medallist at the 1972 Summer Olympics, lung cancer. [33]

4

• John Altieri, 38, American actor (Jersey Boys), pneumonia. [34]
• Joaquim Carlos, Portuguese football player (Portugal, SL Benfica), after long illness. [35] (Portuguese)
• Alvin Colt, 92, American Tony Award–winning costume designer (On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Pipe Dream, Li'l Abner). [36]
• Moisey Feigin, 103, Russian artist, Guinness World Record–holder for the oldest professional working artist. [37]
• Jaime Gómez, 78, Mexican footballer, goalkeeper for Guadalajara (1956–1970), pancreatic cancer. [38]
• Richard Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham, 71, British Liberal Democrat politician, cancer. [39]
• Kishan Maharaj, 84, Indian musician, leading exponent of the Benares gharana tabla, stroke. [40]
• Robert Marsh, 83, American president of American Telecast, heart failure. [41]
• Colin Murdoch, 79, New Zealand inventor of the disposable hypodermic syringe and the tranquilizer gun, cancer. [42]
• F. R. Wallace, Jr., 91, American mayor of Chesterfield, New Jersey (1975–1981), natural causes. [43]

3

• Charles Caccia, 78, Canadian politician, environmentalist and Liberal MP for Davenport (1968–2004), complications from a stroke. [44]
• Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, 82, Spanish prime minister (1981–1982), natural causes. [45] (Spanish)
• Eight Belles, 3, American racehorse, 2008 Kentucky Derby 2nd place finisher, euthanized. [46]
• Martin Finnegan, 27, Irish motorbike racer, race crash. [47]
• Lynne Cooper Harvey, 92, American radio producer, Radio Hall of Fame member, wife of radio personality Paul Harvey, leukemia. [48]
• Ted Key, 95, American cartoonist (Hazel), bladder cancer and stroke. [49]
• R.R. Knudson, 75, American sports writer. [50]
• Morgan Sparks, 91, American engineer, inventor of the first practical bipolar junction transistor. [51]

2

• Nasimuddin Amin, 54, Malaysian entrepreneur and founder of Naza, lung cancer. [52]
• Carole Dekeijser, 48, Belgian painter, lung cancer. [53] (French)
• Dominic Dim Deng, Sudanese politician, defence minister for Southern Sudan, plane crash. [54]
• Robert M. Isaac, 80, American politician, mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado (1979–1997), pneumonia. [55]
• Mildred Loving, 68, American civil rights pioneer, challenged Virginia interracial marriage law (Loving v. Virginia). [56]
• Ilyas Malayev, 72, Uzbekistani musician and poet, pancreatic cancer. [57]
• Beverlee McKinsey, 67, American soap opera actress, natural causes. [58]
• Mike Titcomb, 75 , British rugby union referee, kidney failure. [59]
• Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr., 93, American thoroughbred racehorse trainer (Ruffian). [60]
• Justin Yak, Sudanese politician, minister for cabinet affairs for Southern Sudan (2006–2007), plane crash. [61]

1

• Bernard Archard, 91, British actor. [62]
• Buzzie Bavasi, 93, American baseball executive (Dodgers, Angels, Padres). [63]
• Mary Berry, 90, British musicologist and nun. [64]
• Philipp von Boeselager, 90, German World War II anti-Hitler conspirator. [65]
• Danton Burroughs, 64, American businessman, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs, apparent smoke inhalation. [66]
• Elaine Dundy, 86, American writer and actress. [67]
• Frédéric H. Fajardie, 60, French writer, cancer. [68] (French)
• Aden Hashi Farah, Somali leader of Al-Shabab insurgent group, air strike. [69]
• Jim Hager, 61, American country music singer and television actor (Hee Haw), heart attack. [70]
• Mark Kendall, 49, British footballer (Tottenham, Newport County, Wolverhampton). [71]
• Sir Anthony Mamo, 99, Maltese politician, first president of the Republic of Malta. [72]
• Alberto Estima de Oliveira, 74, Portuguese poet. [73] (Portuguese)
• Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, American escort agency proprietor, apparent suicide by hanging. [74] [75]
• J.J. Voskuil, 82, Dutch author, euthanasia. [76]

April 2008

See Deaths in April 2008.

March 2008

See Deaths in March 2008.

February 2008

See Deaths in February 2008.

January 2008

See Deaths in January 2008.

External links

• Obituaries on the Web
  • General
    • Obituaries.com
    • Recent AP Obituaries
    • Variety Magazine Obituaries
  • US
    • The New York Times: Obituaries
    • Washington Post: Obituaries
    • The Boston Globe: Obituaries
    • Los Angeles Times: Obituaries
  • South Africa
    • Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Obituaries
  • UK
    • The Daily Telegraph: Obituaries
    • The Guardian: Obituaries
    • The Independent: Obituaries
    • The Times: Obituaries
    • The Scotsman: Obituaries
    • Lasting Tribute: Obituaries
  • Australia
    • The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): Obituaries

• Specialized websites
  • The Blog of Death
  • Dead or Alive
  • Dead People Server
  • Death List
  • Died Today
  • Entertainment Insiders
  • Famous Dead Database
  • Find a Grave
  • Life In Legacy
  • Very Important Patients
  • Writers We've Lost
  • Written in Stone - Literary deaths

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, ...