Deaths in 2008

The following is a list of notable deaths. 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 deaths of notable animals (that is, those animals with their own Wikipedia articles) are 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 2008

26

• Vitaly Karaev, 46, Mayor of Vladikavkaz, shot. [1]

25

• Dudley Savage, 88, British BBC radio presenter. [2]
• Gerald Schoenfeld, 84, American theater impresario. [3]

24

• Michael Lee, 39, British drummer (Page and Plant, The Cult). [4]
• Kenny MacLean, 52, Canadian bassist (Platinum Blonde). [5]
• Ray Perrault, 82, Canadian politician, Senator (1973–2001), Liberal Leader of Senate (1974–1982), Parkinson's disease. [6]
• Stefan Schörghuber, 47, German brewing magnate. [7]
• Cecil H. Underwood, 86, American politician, Governor of West Virginia (1957–1961, 1997–2001). [8]

23

• Richard Hickox, 60, British conductor, heart attack. [9]
• Robert Lucas, 46, American singer and guitarist (Canned Heat), drug overdose. [10]
• Fred McAlister, 80, American baseball scout (St. Louis Cardinals). [11]

22

• Abdel Nabi Ahmed, 58, Sudanese opposition leader, car crash. [12]
• MC Breed, 37, American rapper, kidney failure. [13]
• Dave Charity, American disc jockey (WPLJ), after long illness. [14]
• Sandro Curzi, 78, Italian journalist, after long illness. [15]
• Mario Fernando Hernández, 41, Honduran politician, Deputy Speaker of the National Congress, shot. [16]
• Ibrahim Nasir, 82, Maldivian President (1968–1978). [17]
• Rashid Rauf, 27, British-born Pakistani Al-Qaeda terrorist, air strike. [18]

21

• Rose Arrick, American actress. [19]
• Augustus Barber, 87, American businessman, cardiac arrest. [20]
• Giacomo Bozzano, 75, Italian boxer. [21] (Italian)
• Marco Allen Chapman, 37, American murderer, execution by lethal injection. [22]
• Tom Gish, 82, American journalist and publisher, kidney failure and heart problems. [23]
• Andrew Rowe, 73, British politician, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent (1983–2001), prostate cancer. [24]

20

• Boris Fyodorov, 50, Russian politician and banker, stroke. [25]
• Robert Jean Hudson, 45, American murderer, execution by lethal injection. [26]
• Betty James, 90, American businesswoman, co-founder of the Slinky company, wife of Richard T. James. [27]
• Janekit Kratsakhon, 48, Thai anti-government activist, grenade attack. [28]
• Bob Jeter, 71, American football player (Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears), heart attack. [29]
• Jan Machulski, 80, Polish actor (Vabank), heart attack. [30]
• Jim Mattox, 65, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives for Texas (1977–1983). [31]
• Gyula Takáts, 97, Hungarian poet, writer and translator. [32] (Hungarian)
• Robert M. White II, 93, American journalist, finalist in the Journalist in Space program. [33]

19

• Farah Weheliye Addo, 68, Somali sports administrator, heart attack. [34]
• Mullah Asad, Afghan Taliban commander, airstrike. [35]
• Clive Barnes, 81, American theatre and dance critic, liver cancer. [36]
• Karl Bissinger, 94, American photographer. [37]
• Carole Caldwell Graebner, 65, American tennis player, cancer. [38]
• John Michael Hayes, 89, American screenwriter (Rear Window). [39]
• Norman McVicker, 68, British cricketer. [40]
• M. N. Nambiar, 89, Indian actor, after short illness. [41]
• Anabel Ochoa, 53, Spanish-born Mexican actress, sexologist, psychoanalyst and radio personality, stroke. [42] (Spanish)

18

• Manuel Castro Ruiz, 90, Mexican Bishop of Yucatán. [43]
• George C. Chesbro, 68, American novelist, heart failure. [44]
• Miguel Delgado Avila, 79, Venezuelan Bishop of Barcelona. [45]
• Paul H. Todd, Jr., 87, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives for Michigan (1965–1967). [46]

17

• Peter Aldis, 81, British footballer. [47]
• Yaakov Alperon, 53, Israeli organized crime mobster, car bomb. [48]
• Ali Ashtari, 45, Iranian electronics salesman accused of spying for Israel, execution by hanging. [49]
• Irving Brecher, 94, American comedy writer, heart attack. [50]
• Ennio de Concini, 84, Italian Academy Award–winning screenwriter. [51] (German)
• Debby, 42, Soviet-born Canadian oldest living polar bear, third-oldest known bear, euthanasia due to multiple organ failure. [52]
• Jean-Marie Demange, 65, French member of the National Assembly, Mayor of Thionville (1995–2008), suicide. [53] (French)
• Jay Katz, 86, German-born American physician and medical ethicist, heart failure. [54]
• Tafadzwa Madondo, 27, Zimbabwean cricketer, motorcycle accident. [55]
• Pete Newell, 93, Canadian-born American college basketball coach. [56]
• Guy Peellaert, 74, Belgian painter, illustrator and photographer, cancer. [57]
• Floyd Weaver, 67, American baseball player. [58]

16

• Tibor Gyurkovics, 77, Hungarian poet, writer and publicist. [59] (Hungarian)
• Salah al-Deen Hafez, 70, Egyptian writer. [60]
• Bruno Maldaner, 84, Brazilian Bishop of Frederico Westphalen. [61]
• Wolfgang Schmitz, 85, Austrian Minister of Finance (1964–1968), President of Oesterreichische Nationalbank. [62]
• Reg Varney, 92, British comedy actor (On the Buses). [63]

15

• Glen Brand, 85, American wrestler, Olympic gold medalist (1948). [64]
• Donald Finkel, 79, American poet, complications from Alzheimer's disease. [65]
• Christel Goltz, 96, German soprano. [66]
• Grace Hartigan, 86, American painter, liver failure. [67]
• Jan Krugier, 80, Polish art dealer. [68]
• Ivan Southall, 87, Australian children's author, cancer. [69]

14

• Knut Bjørnsen, 76, Norwegian sports commentator and journalist, pancreatic cancer. [70] (Norwegian)
• Michael Ugwu Eneja, 89, Nigerian Bishop of Enugu. [71]
• Sir Bernard Feilden, 89, British conservation activist and restoration architect. [72]
• Irving Gertz, 93, American composer. [73]
• Adrian Kantrowitz, 90, American physician, performed the first pediatric heart transplant, heart failure. [74]
• Tsvetanka Khristova, 46, Bulgarian athlete, Olympic dual medallist in discus throw, cancer. [75]
• Shaukat Hussein Mazari, 60, Pakistani politician, heart attack. [76]
• Ajit Kumar Panja, 72, Indian politician, oral cancer. [77]
• João Martins Pereira, 75, Portuguese journalist and historian, founder of the Movement of Socialist Left, cancer. [78] (Portuguese)
• Norbert Schmelzer, 87, Dutch politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971–1973). [79] (Dutch)

13

• Andrew Ashwood, 51, American radio personality and executive. [80]
• Sergei Bekhterev, 50, Russian actor, after long illness. [81]
• François Caradec, 84, French writer, member of Oulipo and Collège de 'pataphysique. [82] (French)
• Marcello Fondato, 84, Italian screenwriter and director. [83] (Italian)
• Bette Garber, 65, American photographer, pneumonia. [84]
• Mustapha Oukacha, 75, Moroccan politician, president of the Assembly of Councillors. [85]
• Pedro Pinheiro, 68, Portuguese actor, cancer. [86] (Portuguese)
• Ian Ridley, 74, Australian footballer (Melbourne Demons), emphysema. [87]
• Paco Ignacio Taibo I, 84, Mexican writer and journalist, pneumonia. [88]
• Nikolay Vereshchagin, 99, Russian biologist, mammoth researcher. [89]

12

• Paula Goodspeed, 30, American American Idol contestant, apparent suicide by overdose. [90]
• Catherine Baker Knoll, 78, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania since 2003, neuroendocrine cancer. [91]
• Vladas Michelevicius, 84, Lithuanian Bishop of Vilkaviškis. [92]
• Mitch Mitchell, 61, British drummer (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), natural causes. [93]
• Serge Nigg, 84, French composer. [94] (French)
• Arte Phillips, 49, American choreographer. [95]
• Howard Reig, 87, American radio and television announcer (NBC Nightly News). [96]
• Paul Stephan Robinson, 55, American president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, cardiac arrest. [97]
• Raymond Routledge, 77, American bodybuilder, AAU Mr. America (1961). [98]
• Lasse Sandberg, 84, Swedish writer and illustrator of children's literature. [99] (Swedish)
• Marian Kazimierz Zimałek, 77, Polish Auxiliary Bishop of Sandomierz. [100]

11

• Mustafa Şekip Birgöl, 105, Turkish last veteran of the Turkish War of Independence. [101]
• C. Harmon Brown, 78, American physician, pioneer of sports medicine, cancer. [102]
• Tom Hunt, 85, American chairman of Hunt Petroleum, leukemia. [103]
• Alessandro Maggiolini, 77, Italian Bishop of Como, lung cancer. [104]
• María Elena Marqués, 83, Mexican actress, heart failure. [105]
• Herb Score, 75, American baseball pitcher and broadcaster (Cleveland Indians), after long illness. [106]
• Jack Scott, 85, British weather forecaster, cancer. [107]

10

• Sarah Blacher Cohen, 72, American professor of Jewish literature, complications of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. [108]
• Vladimir Goncharov, 61, Russian footballer (FC Zenit). [109] (Russian)
• Kiyoshi Itō, 93, Japanese mathematician, respiratory failure. [110]
• Nikola Kavaja, 76, Serbian anti-communist activist and hijacker, heart attack. [111]
• Ana Lagoa, 75, Portuguese soprano, Alzheimer's disease. [112] (Portuguese)
• Miriam Makeba, 76, South African singer, heart attack. [113]
• Pavel Marikovsky, 96, Russian-born Kazakhstani biologist, professor and writer. [114] (Russian)
• Arthur Shawcross, 63, American serial killer, cardiac arrest. [115]
• Wannes Van de Velde, 71, Belgian singer and artist, leukemia. [116]

9

• Fernand Goux, 108, French penultimate veteran of World War I. [117] (French)
• Huda bin Abdul Haq, 48, Indonesian terrorist in 2002 Bali bombings, execution by firing squad. [118]
• Hok Lundy, 58, Cambodian National Police Commissioner, helicopter crash. [119]
• Carl D. Keith, 88, American co-inventor of the catalytic converter. [120]
• Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, 46, Indonesian terrorist in 2002 Bali bombings, execution by firing squad. [121]
• Jack Reader, 82, American football referee, cancer. [122]
• Preacher Roe, 92, American baseball pitcher (St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers), colon cancer. [123]
• Stanisław Różewicz, 84, Polish film director. [124]
• Imam Samudra, 38, Indonesian terrorist in 2002 Bali bombings, execution by firing squad. [125]

8

• Régis Genaux, 35, Belgian footballer, heart failure due to pulmonary embolism. [126]
• Hedley Howarth, 64, New Zealand cricketer. [127]
• Joe Hyams, 85, American Hollywood columnist and author, coronary artery disease. [128]
• Li Ximing, 82, Chinese leader of Beijing Communist Party. [129]
• Hidetaka Nishiyama, 80, Japanese karate master, cancer. [130]
• Mieczysław Rakowski, 81, Polish politician, Prime Minister (1988–1989), Workers' Party General Secretary (1989–1990), cancer. [131]
• Florence Wald, 91, American nurse, hospice pioneer. [132]
• Sherwood Wirt, 97, American journalist and author. [133]

7

• José Bezerra Coutinho, 98, Brazilian Bishop of Estância. [134]
• Raul da Costa Camelo, 84, Portuguese abstract painter. [135] (Portuguese)
• Heiko Engelkes, 75, German television journalist (ARD), cancer. [136] (German)
• Tiago Freitas, 29, Portuguese linguist. [137] (Portuguese)
• Tony Flood, 76, British weightlifter, pancreatic cancer. [138]
• Wik Jongsma, 65, Dutch actor, cancer. [139] (Dutch)
• Heather Pick, 38, American newscaster (WBNS-TV), breast cancer. [140]
• Jody Reynolds, 75, American singer and guitarist, liver cancer. [141]
• Lyle Williams, 66, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives for Ohio (1979–1985), heart attack. [142]
• Abraham Woods, 80, American civil rights leader, cancer. [143]

6

• Rute Cruz, 28, Portuguese television journalist (TVI), cancer. [144] (Portuguese)
• Ronald Davis, 52, American health advocate, president of the AMA (2007–2008), pancreatic cancer. [145]
• Carmelo Echenagusia Uribe, 76, Spanish Auxiliary Bishop of Bilbao. [146]
• Sir Paul Greening, 80, British admiral and courtier. [147]
• Sir John Hermon, 79, British police officer, Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (1980–1989), Alzheimer's disease. [148]
• Michael Hinz, 68, German actor (The Bridge, The Longest Day), stroke. [149] (German)
• Larry James, 61, American track athlete and Olympic gold medalist (1968), cancer. [150]
• Phil Reed, 59, American politician, member of New York City Council (1998–2005), complications of pneumonia from leukemia. [151]
• Joe Wendryhoski, 69, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints), complications from cancer and stroke. [152]
• George Winterton, 61, Australian lawyer and professor of constitutional law, cancer. [153]

5

• Baldev Raj Chopra, 94, Indian film director, after long illness. [154]
• Sofron Dmyterko, 91, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk. [155]
• Michael Higgins, 88, American actor, heart failure. [156]
• John Leonard, 69, American media and cultural critic, complications from lung cancer. [157]
• James Liddy, 74, Irish-born American poet, complications from renal cancer. [158]
• Norm Marshall, 89, Canadian broadcaster. [159]
• Clark Miller, 70, American football player, heart attack. [160]
• MiLù, 82, Portuguese actress (O Costa do Castelo) and singer, pulmonary infection. [161] (Portuguese)
• Evelio Arias Ramos, 42, Mexican comedian, respiratory arrest. [162] (Spanish)

4

• Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, 96, Russian politician, chairwoman of Tuvan Parliament (1940–1944). [163] (Russian)
• Lennart Bergelin, 83, Swedish tennis player and coach, heart failure. [164]
• Jheryl Busby, 59, American record executive. [165]
• Gérald Coppenrath, 86, French journalist and senator (1959–1962) for Tahiti, brother of Hubert and Michel Coppenrath. [166] (French)
• Michael Crichton, 66, American writer (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, ER), throat cancer. [167]
• Marshall Fritz, 65, American libertarian (World's Smallest Political Quiz, Advocates for Self Government), pancreatic cancer. [168]
• Rosella Hightower, 88, American ballerina, stroke. [169]
• Byron Lee, 73, Jamaican musician and record producer, bladder cancer. [170]
• Syd Lucas, 108, British World War I veteran. [171]
• Juan Camilo Mouriño, 37, Mexican Secretary of the Interior since 2008, plane crash. [172]
• José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, 51, Mexican politician, plane crash. [173]
• Chris Thurston, American rapper, cardiac arrest. [174]

3

• John Adams, 89, British rear admiral. [175]
• Mike Davis, 68, American boating advocate. [176]
• Alan Ford, 84, American swimmer, emphysema. [177]
• Edward Scott McMichael, 53, American tuba player, bludgeoned. [178]
• Brooks Mileson, 60, British football club owner (Gretna F.C.), complications from chronic fatigue syndrome and brain infection. [179]
• Lalit Mohan Sharma, 80, Indian jurist, Chief Justice (1992–1993). [180]
• Edward Sheehan, 78, American foreign correspondent, allergic reaction to medication. [181]
• Cecil W. Stoughton, 88, American Presidential photographer (Kennedy, Johnson), complications from hip replacement. [182]
• John Trudeau, 81, American music promoter, founder of the Britt Festival, heart failure. [183]
• I. Bernard Weinstein, 78, American cancer researcher, kidney disease. [184]

2

• Ahmed al-Mirghani, 67, Sudanese politician, President (1986–1989). [185]
• Joseph Alliluyev, 63, Russian cardiologist, grandson of Joseph Stalin. [186]
• James Armsey, 90, American automotive executive, director of the Ford Foundation (1960–1967). [187]
• Madelyn Dunham, 86, American maternal grandmother of Barack Obama, cancer. [188]
• George F. Grant, 102, American angler, author and conservationist, natural causes. [189]
• Kenneth P. Johnson, 74, American newspaper editor (Dallas Times Herald), heart infection. [190]
• Jim Koleff, 55, Canadian hockey player and coach, cancer. [191]
• Oscar Lathlin, 61, Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba since 1990. [192]
• Domenico Leccisi, 88, Italian politician, stole corpse of Benito Mussolini, heart and respiratory disease. [193]
• Henry Loomis, 89, American Director of Voice of America (1958–1965), complications of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Pick's diseases. [194]
• Elijah Mudenda, 71, Zambian politician, Prime Minister (1975–1977). [195]
• Joe Rollins, 90, American attorney and author. [196]
• Bill Stall, 71, American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (Los Angeles Times), complications from pulmonary disease. [197]
• Terence Tolbert, 44, American political campaign director for Barack Obama in Nevada, heart attack. [198]

1

• Badaró, 75, Brazilian-born Portuguese comedian, cancer. [199] (Portuguese)
• Jimmy Carl Black, 70, American Cheyenne drummer and vocalist (The Mothers of Invention), lung cancer. [200]
• Dermot Curtis, 76, Irish footballer and manager, after long illness. [201]
• David DeCaires, 70, Guyanese journalist and editor, founder of Stabroek News, complications from heart attack. [202]
• Nathaniel Mayer, 64, American rhythm & blues singer, stroke. [203]
• Jacques Piccard, 86, Belgian-born Swiss oceanologist and explorer. [204]
• Rosetta Reitz, 84, American jazz historian and record company founder, cardiopulmonary disease. [205]
• Jack Reno, 72, American country music singer, brain cancer. [206]
• Tiffany Sloan, 35, American model. [207]
• Shakir Stewart, 34, American vice president of Def Jam Recordings, suicide by gunshot. [208]
• Yma Sumac, 86, Peruvian soprano, cancer. [209]
• Tan Jiazhen, 99, Chinese geneticist, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [210]

October 2008

See Deaths in October 2008.

September 2008

See Deaths in September 2008.

August 2008

See Deaths in August 2008.

July 2008

See Deaths in July 2008.

June 2008

See Deaths in June 2008.

May 2008

See Deaths in May 2008.

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

• English language 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
  • Canada
    • The Globe and Mail: Obituaries

• Specialized websites
  • Dead or Alive
  • Dead People Server
  • Death List
  • Died Today
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  • Famous Dead Database
  • Find a Grave
  • Legacy.com
  • 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, ...