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.

January 2008

21

• Jiří Sequens, 85, Czech film director. [1] (Czech)
• Luiz Carlos Tourinho, 43, Brazilian actor. [2] (Portuguese)

20

• Louis de Cazenave, 110, French supercentenarian, one of the last two official surviving French World War I veterans. [3]
• Sandra Harvey, 49, Australian journalist and author, cancer. [4]
• Abdul Latif, 52, British restaurateur. [5]
• Duilio Loi, 78, Italian boxer, Alzheimer's disease. [6] (Italian)
• James LeVoy Sorenson, 86, American medical device inventor and billionaire philanthropist, cancer. [7]

19

• Creighton Burns, 82, Australian editor of The Age newspaper (1981–1989), cancer. [8]
• Frances Lewine, 86, American journalist and White House Correspondent, stroke. [9]
• Andy Palacio, 47, Belizean musician and UNESCO Artist for Peace, heart attack followed by stroke. [10]
• Suzanne Pleshette, 70, American actress (The Bob Newhart Show, The Birds), respiratory failure. [11]
• Eugene Sawyer, 73, American politician, Mayor of Chicago (1987–1989), series of strokes. [12]
• John Stewart, 68, American musician (The Kingston Trio), stroke. [13]
• Don Wittman, 71, Canadian sports broadcaster for CBC, cancer. [14]

18

• Uzi Cohen, 55, Israeli Likud politician, heart attack. [15]
• Pier Miranda Ferraro, 83, Italian opera tenor, cardiac arrest. [16]
• Wally Fielding, 88, British footballer (Everton). [17]
• Georgia Frontiere, 80, American majority-owner of NFL team Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams, breast cancer. [18]
• Bertram James, 92, British World War II airman, participant in The Great Escape. [19]
• Frank Lewin, 82, American composer, heart failure. [20]
• Ugo Pirro, 87, Italian screenwriter. [21]
• Anthony M. Solomon, 88, American President of Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1980–1985), kidney failure.
• John Stroger, 78, American politician, former President of the Cook County, Illinois Board, stroke. [22]

17

• Edward Clark Bryant, 92, American statistician and founder of Westat [23]
• Carlos, 64, French singer, cancer. [24] (French)
• Trevor Drayton, 52, Australian winemaker, accidental explosion. [25]
• Bobby Fischer, 64, American chess grandmaster, world champion (1972–1975), kidney failure. [26]
• Edward D. Hoch, 77, American writer of detective fiction. [27]
• Ernie Holmes, 59, American Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle (1972–1977), car accident. [28]
• Alejandro Illescas, Mexican voice actor. [29] (Spanish)
• John McHale, 86, American player and executive in Major League Baseball. [30] [31]
• Allan Melvin, 84, American actor (The Brady Bunch), cancer. [32]
• Trevor Sprigg, 61, Australian Liberal politician, Western Australian Legislative Assembly whip, heart attack. [33]
• Anne-Lise Thurler, 47, Swiss writer. [34] (German)
• Jinzo Toriumi, 78, Japanese novelist and screenwriter (Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Armored Trooper Votoms), liver cancer. [35]

16

• Jorge de Bagration, 63, Spanish racing car driver, claimant to throne of the Royal House of Georgia. [36] (Spanish)
• Raymond Cambefort, 107, French World War I veteran. [37] (French)
• Nikola Kljusev, 80, Macedonian politician and economist, first Prime Minister of Macedonia (1991–1992). [38]
• Pierre Lambert, 87, French Trotskyist leader and presidential candidate. [39] (French)
• Munjuku Nguvauva II, 84, Namibian traditional tribal chief, complications from strokes. [40]
• Hone Tuwhare, 85, New Zealand Māori poet. [41]
• Bungo Yoshida, 73, Japanese Bunraku puppeteer, liver cancer. [42]
• Elias Zoghby, 96, Egyptian Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Baalbek. [43]

15

• K. M. Adimoolam, 69, Indian abstract artist. [44]
• Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, 43, British video game developer (Paperboy, Zombies Ate My Neighbors), pancreatic cancer. [45]
• Eduardo Hontiveros, 84, Filipino Jesuit composer of Roman Catholic liturgical songs, stroke. [46]
• Jason MacIntyre, 34, British road bicycle racer, road accident. [47]
• Brad Renfro, 25, American actor (The Client, Ghost World). [48]

14

• Józef Bartosik, 90, Polish World War II veteran and rear admiral. [49]
• Don Cardwell, 72, American baseball pitcher. [50]
• Selim Al Deen, 58, Bangladeshi dramatist, cardiac arrest. [51]
• Judah Folkman, 74, American cancer researcher, apparent heart attack. [52]
• Richard Knerr, 82, United States co-founder of toy manufacturer Wham-O (hula hoop, Frisbee), stroke. [53]
• Vincenz Liechtenstein, 57, Austrian politician. [54] (German)
• Tommy Limby, 60, Swedish cross-country skier. [55] (Swedish)
• Johnny Steele, 91, British football manager of Barnsley FC (1960–1971, 1972–1973). [56]
• Carsten Thomassen, 38, Norwegian journalist, terrorist attack. [57]
• Milton Wolff, 92, American veteran of the Spanish Civil War. [58]
• Wu Jin, 74, Taiwanese Minister for Education (1996–1998), cancer.[59]

13

• Hermann Denz, 59, Austrian sociologist. [60] (German)
• John Harvey, 87, British politician, Conservative MP for Walthamstow East (1955–1966). [61]
• Sergey Larin, 51, Lithuanian tenor. [62]
• Johnny Podres, 75, American baseball pitcher, first World Series MVP. [63]
• Jafar Shahidi, 89, Iranian linguist and historian. [64]
• Patricia Verdugo, 61, Chilean writer, journalist and human rights violations investigator, cancer. [65]
• Walter Zimper, 65, Austrian politician. [66] (German)

12

• Gennady Bachinsky, 36, Russian television and radio personality, car accident. [67]
• Isobel Bennett, 98, Australian marine scientist. [68]
• Gwendolyn T. Britt, 66, American Maryland state senator since 2003. [69]
• Sir Howard Dalton, 63, British microbiologist, former Chief Scientific Adviser at DEFRA. [70]
• Ralph Emmerson, 94, British Bishop of Knaresborough (1972–1979). [71]
• Ángel González, 82, Spanish poet. [72]
• Marty Hendin, 59, American vice president of community relations for the St. Louis Cardinals, cancer. [73]
• Leszek Jezierski, 79, Polish football player and trainer. [74] (Polish)
• Anatoly Kyarov, Russian head of the Kabardino-Balkaria police, shot. [75]
• Jennifer Musa, 90, Irish-born Pakistani politician. [76]
• Louis Alexandre Raimon, 85, French hairdresser. [77]
• John Stoll, 54, American rock music promoter, following long illness. [78]
• Stanisław Wycech, 105, last known Polish World War I veteran. [79]

11

• José Bello, 103, Spanish intellectual and writer. [80]
• Pete Candoli, 84, American big band-era jazz trumpeter, prostate cancer. [81]
• Murray Cohl, 78, Canadian film producer, co-founder of the Toronto Film Festival and Canada's Walk of Fame, liver cancer. [82]
• Bob Enos, 60, American trumpeter for Roomful of Blues. [83]
• Albert Féraud, 86, French sculptor. [84] (German)
• Sir Edmund Hillary, 88, New Zealand mountaineer, first (with Tenzing Norgay) to reach summit of Mount Everest, heart failure. [85]
• Carl Karcher, 90, American founder of Carl's Jr restaurants, complications from Parkinson's Disease. [86]
• Frank Loughran, 77, Australian soccer international player. [87]
• Nancy Phelan, 94, Australian writer. [88]
• Walter Weber, 91, Swiss politician. [89] (German)

10

• Rod Allen, 63, British singer and bassist (The Fortunes). [90]
• Christopher Bowman, 40, American Olympic figure skater, possible drug overdose. [91]
• Dave Day, American banjoist/rhythm guitarist (The Monks), heart attack. [92]
• Andrés Henestrosa, 101, Mexican writer and politician, major proponent of the Zapotec language. [93]
• George Laking, 95, New Zealand diplomat and public servant. [94]
• Allan McEachern, 81, Canadian jurist, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. [95]
• Mikhail Minin, 85, Russian soldier who raised the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building in 1945. [96]
• Freddy Nieuland, 63, Belgian singer and drummer (Wallace Collection). [97] (Dutch)
• Maila Nurmi, 86, Finnish actress (Vampira in Plan 9 from Outer Space). [98] [99]
• Stélio Valle, 57, Brazilian singer, stroke. [100]. (Portuguese)
• Zhang Lichang, 68, Chinese member of CPC politburo. [101]

9

• Paul Aimson, 64, British footballer, heart attack. [102]
• Jorge Anaya, 81, Argentinian admiral, heart failure.[103]
• Adam Butler, 76, British Member of Parliament (1970–1987) and minister. [104]
• Carmine Furletti, 81, Brazilian industrialist, former president of Cruzeiro. [105] (Portuguese)
• Gemina, 21, African giraffe at the Santa Barbara Zoo with a neck deformity, euthanized. [106]
• Mehran Ghassemi, 30, Iranian journalist, heart failure. [107] (Persian)
• Johnny Grant, 84, American entertainer, honorary Mayor of Hollywood. [108] [109]
• Sir John Harvey-Jones, 83, British businessman and media personality. [110]
• Walter J. Kavanaugh, 74, American Republican Party politician, complications from diabetes. [111]
• Sir John Willis, 70, British Air Chief Marshal. [112]
• Tim Willoughby, 53, Australian Olympic rowing medallist, heart attack. [113]

8

• D.M. Dassanayake, 54, Sri Lankan Minister of Nation Building, roadside bomb. [114] [115] [116]
• Jim Dooley, 77, American professional football player and coach (Chicago Bears). [117]
• David Grove, New Zealand developer of Clean Language. [118]
• Guy Hance, 74, Belgian politician. [119] (French)
• Bjarni Jónsson, 73, Icelandic painter. [120] (Icelandic)
• Moshe Levi, 71, Israeli Chief of Staff of the Defense Forces (1983–1987), stroke. [121]
• George Moore, 84, Australian former champion jockey and trainer. [122]
• Clyde Otis, 83, American songwriter and record producer. [123]
• Steve Ridzik, 78, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies), heart disease. [124]
• Mohammad Sadli, 85, Indonesian politician. [125]

7

• Philip Agee, 72, American former CIA agent, complications from perforated ulcer surgery. [126]
• Raffaello de Banfield, 85, British composer. [127] (German)
• Bill Belew, 76, American costume designer for Elvis Presley. [128]
• Robert Chandran, 57, Singaporean CEO of Chemoil, helicopter crash. [129]
• Maryvonne Dupureur, 70, French athlete and Olympic medalist. [130] (French)
• Houston I. Flournoy, 78, American member of California State Assembly (1961–1967), California State Controller (1967–1975). [131]
• Kurt Gerdau, 77, German sailor, writer and publisher. [132] (German)
• Detlef Kraus, 88, German pianist. [133] (German)
• Andrey Kurennoy, 35, Russian athlete, former national triple jump champion. [134]
• Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, 77, American former owner of the Boston Red Sox, natural causes. [135]
• Boris Lurie, 83, American artist and writer. [136]
• Manfred Mautner Markhof, 80, Austrian industrialist and politician. [137] (German)
• Vincent Meli, 87, American member of the Detroit Partnership, bone cancer. [138]
• Bozo Miller, 99, American competitive eater, natural causes. [139]
• Hans Monderman, 62, Dutch traffic engineer. [140]
• Marcel Mouly, 88, French painter. [141] (French)
• Njoo Kiem Bie, 81, Indonesian professional badminton player. [142] (Indonesian)
• Alwyn Schlebusch, 90, South African politician, Vice State President (1981–1984). [143]
• Jean-Claude Vrinat, 71, French owner of Taillevent restaurant, cancer. [144]
• Wei Wenhua, 41, Chinese blogger and murder victim, beaten. [145]

6

• Shmuel Berenbaum, 87, American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva, cancer. [146]
• Jack Brod, 98, American last original tenant of the Empire State Building. [147]
• Arafan Camara, 60, Guinean politican. [148] (Portuguese)
• János Körmendi, 80, Hungarian Kossuth Prize-winning actor. [149] (Hungarian)
• Bob LeMond, 94, American radio announcer. [150]
• Cy Leslie, 85, American founder of Pickwick Records and MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group. [151]
• Alekos Michaelides, 74, Cypriot politician, former foreign minister. [152]
• Ken Nelson, 96, American record producer and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. [153]
• Anders Paulrud, 56, Swedish writer and journalist, lung cancer. [154]
• Pramod Karan Sethi, 80, Indian orthopaedic surgeon, inventor of the Jaipur leg, cardiac arrest. [155]
• Vittorio Tomassetti, 77, Italian bishop. [156] [157](Italian)

5

• John Ashley, 77, Canadian referee in the National Hockey League, heart failure. [158]
• Rowan Ayers, 85, British television producer. [159]
• Giovanni Rinaldo Coronas, 89, Italian politician, former police chief and interior minister. [160] (Italian)
• Phillip S. Figa, 56, American federal judge, cancer. [161]
• Raymond Forni, 66, French politician, former National Assembly president, leukemia. [162]
• Clinton Grybas, 32, Australian sports commentator. [163] [164]
• Louis Hon, 83, French footballer. [165]
• Edward Kłosiński, 65, Polish cinematographer. [166] (Polish)
• Galiano Pahor, 53, Croatian actor, cancer. [167] (Croatian)
• José Roberto Preto, 62, Brazilian politician, pulmonary condition. [168] (Portuguese)
• Irene Reid, 77, American jazz singer and actress, cardiac arrest. [169]
• İhsan Saraçlar, 79, Turkish jurist and politician. [170] (Turkish)
• Jana Shearer, 21, American murder victim. [171]

4

• Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan, 67, Russian footballer, champion of USSR, hit by car. [172] (Russian)
• Bjørn Odmar Andersen, 64, Norwegian footballer. [173] (Norwegian)
• Sir Bernard Audley, 83, British businessman and philanthropist. [174]
• Keith Baxter, 36, British drummer of rock band 3 Colours Red, liver failure. [175]
• Brandi Borr, 39, American stand-up comedian, breast cancer. [176]
• Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, 75, Nicaraguan editor of El Nuevo Diario, heart failure. [177] (Spanish)
• Joyce Carlson, 84, American artist, designer of Disney's It's a Small World rides, cancer. [178]
• Stig Claesson, 79, Swedish writer. [179] (Swedish)
• Arcani Crosswords, 32, American rapper, accidental self-inflicted gunshot. [180]
• Vernon Derrick, 74, American musician. [181]
• Mort Garson, 83, Canadian electronic musician, renal failure. [182]
• Herbert Keppler, 82, American photojournalist. [183]
• Marianne Kiefer, 79, German actress. [184] (German)
• Mary Marques, 111, American supercentenarian, Massachusetts' oldest person. [185]
• Jimmy Nah, 39, Singaporean comedian. [186]
• José Luiz Pacheco, 82, Portuguese author and critic. [187] (Portuguese)
• Graham Percy, 69, British illustrator of children's books. [188]
• Bill Ramsey, 87, American baseball player. [189]
• Romeiro, 74, Brazilian footballer, heart attack. [190]. (Portuguese)
• Herbert Swope Jr., 92, American film producer and director. [191]
• Herbert John Walker, 88, New Zealand politician, former cabinet minister. [192]

3

• Aleksandr Abdulov, 54, Russian actor, lung cancer. [193] (Russian)
• Jack Aranson, 83, British actor, pneumonia. [194]
• Werner Dollinger, 89, German politician. [195] (German)
• Petru Dugulescu, 62, Romanian Baptist pastor, poet and politician, heart attack. [196]
• Milt Dunnell, 102, Canadian sportswriter. [197]
• Butch Felker, 62, American mayor of Topeka, Kansas, cancer. [198]
• Virgílio Galassi, 84, Brazilian politician, multiple organ failure. [199] (Portuguese)
• Joseph Lazarow, 84, American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. [200]
• Herman Le Compte, 78, Belgian doctor, the 'Vitamin Doctor', heart attack. [201] (Dutch), [202]
• Antônio Matias, 43, Portuguese judoka. [203] (Portuguese)
• John O'Donohue, 53, Irish poet and philosopher. [204]
• Andrew J. Olmsted, 37, American army blogger in Iraq, shot. [205]
• Lisandro Otero, 75, Cuban author. [206] (Portuguese)
• Haymo Pockberger, 82, Austrian actor and radio moderator. [207] (German)
• Manolo Reyes, 83, American pioneering Spanish-language newscaster, Parkinson's disease. [208]
• Jimmy Stewart, 76, British racing driver. [209]
• O. G. Style, 37, American rapper, brain aneurysm. [210]
• Lilia Zaiarna, 46 Ukranian pianist, cancer

2

• Yo-Sam Choi, 35, South Korean boxer, former WBC Light Flyweight Champion, cerebral hemorrhage. [211]
• Lee S. Dreyfus, 81, American politician, Governor of Wisconsin (1979–1983). [212]
• George MacDonald Fraser, 82, British novelist and non-fiction writer (Flashman series), cancer. [213]
• Brice Mack, 90, American background painter for Walt Disney Animation Studios. [214]
• Ben Marlin, 31, American bassist (Disgorge), cancer. [215]
• G. G. Njuguna Ngengi, Kenyan politician, homicide. [216]
• Julio Martínez Pradanos, 84, Chilean sports journalist, cancer. [217]
• Robert C. Schnitzer, 101, American actor, producer, educator, and theater administrator. [218]
• Günter Schubert, 69, German actor. [219]
• Gerry Staley, 87, American baseball pitcher (Chicago White Sox). [220].
• Galyani Vadhana, 84, Thai princess, eldest sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, cancer. [221]

1

• Salvatore Bonanno, 75, American mobster, heart attack. [222]
• Peter Caffrey, 58, Irish actor. [223]
• Pratap Chandra Chunder, 88, Indian cabinet minister (1977–1980), heart disease. [224] [225]
• Dennis Clifton, 54, American musician (Cornbread Red) and studio engineer, cancer. [226]
• Harold Corsini, 88, American photographer, stroke. [227]
• Harald Deilmann, 87, German architect and author. [228] (German)
• Irena Górska-Damięcka, 97, Polish actress. [229] (Polish)
• John Granville, 33, American diplomat, homicide. [230]
• Erich Kästner, 107, German jurist and last known German World War I veteran. [231] (German)
• Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, 47, Sri Lankan politician, former cabinet minister, assassination by gunshot. [232] [233]
• Fred Pillsbury, 85, American editorial writer (The Boston Globe), heart attack. [234]
• Lucas Sang, 46, Kenyan runner and 1988 Olympian, homicide. [235]
• Wanda Sieradzka de Ruig, 85, Polish author, poet, journalist and translator. [236] [237] (Polish)
• Oleg Tolmachev, 88, Russian ice hockey player and coach. [238] (Russian)

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
  • Dead or Alive
  • Dead People Server
  • Death List
  • Died Today
  • Entertainment Insiders
  • Famous Dead Database
  • Find a Grave
  • Life In Legacy
  • The Blog of Death
  • The Death Pool
  • 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, ...