Deaths in 2009

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2009. 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.

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.

June 2009

24

• Romeo LeBlanc, 81, Canadian Governor General (1995–1999), after lengthy illness. [1]
• Ed Thomas, 58, American football coach, NFL High School Football Coach of the Year (2003), shot. [2]

23

• Thurman Adams, Jr., 80, American politician, member of the Delaware Senate since 1972, pancreatic cancer. [3]
• Phyllis Busansky, 72, American politician (Hillsborough County, Florida supervisor of elections). [4]
• John Callaway, 72, American journalist, (Chicago Tonight), heart attack. [5]
• Harold H. Carstens, 84, American magazine publisher. [6]
• Gegham Ghandilyan, 35, Armenian actor, car accident. [7]
• İsmet Güney, 77, Cypriot artist and cartoonist, designed flag of the Republic of Cyprus, cancer. [8] (Greek)
• Hanne Hiob, 86, German actress and daughter of Bertolt Brecht. [9]
• Ed McMahon, 86, American television host (Star Search) and announcer (The Tonight Show). [10]
• Aram Miskaryan, 36, Armenian actor, car accident. [11]
• Jerri Nielsen, 57, American physician, treated herself for breast cancer on Antarctica in 1999, breast cancer [12]
• Jackie Swindells, 72, British footballer. [13]

22

• Bert Bank, 94, American radio pioneer and politician, Bataan Death March survivor. [14]
• June Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, 95, British musician and patron of the arts. [15]
• Billy Red Lyons, 77, Canadian professional wrestler, cancer. [16]
• Steve Race, 88, British broadcaster and musician. [17]
• Philip Simmons, 97, American blacksmith. [18]
• Karel Van Miert, 67, Belgian politician, European Commissioner (1989–1999), fall. [19]

21

• José Nicomedes Grossi, 93, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bom Jesus da Lapa. [20] (Portuguese)
• Arthur Luft, 94, Manx politician and deemster. [21]

20

• Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, Iranian student, shot. [22]
• Colin Bean, 82, British actor (Dad's Army). [23]
• Patrick Kombayi, 70, Zimbabwean politician, Senator, complications from 1990 shooting. [24]

19

• Izzat Abdullah, 45, Iraqi karate coach, shot. [25]
• Alberto Andrade, 65, Peruvian politician, pulmonary fibrosis. [26] (Spanish)
• Giovanni Arrighi, 71, Italian economist. [27] (Italian)
• Sir Derrick Bailey, 90, South African-born British cricketer and baronet, son of Sir Abe Bailey. [28]
• Karyn de Laine Bennett-Lund, 57, American-born Norwegian television presenter. [29] (Norwegian)
• H. A. Boucher, 88, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (1970–1974). [30]
• Ron Crocombe, 79, New Zealand academic (University of the South Pacific), heart attack. [31]
• Vicente Ferrer Moncho, 89, Spanish philanthropist. [32]
• Jörg Hube, 65, German actor, cancer. [33] (German)
• Gary Papa, 54, American television sportscaster (WPVI-TV), prostate cancer. [34]
• Herschel Rosenthal, 91, American politician, member of the California Senate (1982–1998). [35]
• Bob Schuler, 66, American politician, member of the Ohio Senate since 2002, cancer. [36]
• Tomoji Tanabe, 113, Japanese supercentenarian, world's oldest living man, heart failure. [37]

18

• Omar Hashi Aden, Somali politician, Minister of Security, suicide bomb attack. [38]
• Hilary J. Boone, Jr., 91, American Thoroughbred breeder and philanthropist. [39]
• Hortensia Bussi, 94, Chilean First Lady (1970–1973), widow of Salvador Allende, natural causes. [40] (Spanish)
• Sir Henry Hodge, 65, British jurist, High Court judge, acute myeloid leukaemia. [41]
• IZ the Wiz, 49, American graffiti artist. [42]
• Ali Akbar Khan, 87, Indian sarod player, kidney failure. [43]

17

• Joji Banuve, 69, Fijian politician, Minister for Local Government and the Environment, after short illness. [44]
• Charles A. Barkley, 59, Canadian politician, Mayor of South Dundas, Ontario. [45]
• José Calvário, 58, Portuguese maestro and orchestrator, complications from heart attack. [46]
• Ralf Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, 80, German-born British sociologist and politician, cancer. [47]
• Alejandro Doria, 72, Argentine film director, pneumonia. [48] (Spanish)
• Eon, 55, British musician, complications from pneumonia. [49]
• Oscar Ferreiro, 63, Argentine actor, after short illness. [50]
• José Ignacio García Hamilton, 65, Argentine politician and historian. [51]
• Wayne L. Horvitz, 88, American labor mediator, cancer. [52]
• John Houghtaling, 92, American businessman and inventor (Magic Fingers vibrating bed), complications from a fall. [53]
• Derek Lacey, 67, British football commentator (BBC Radio Cumbria), stroke. [54]
• Fernando Peña, 46, Uruguayan comedian and actor, liver cancer. [55]
• Darrell Powers, 86, American soldier, served in the 506th Infantry Regiment, natural causes. [56]
• Dusty Rhodes, 82, American baseball player (New York Giants), complications from diabetes and emphysema. [57]
• Hal Riddle, 89, American character actor. [58]
• Ali Said, Somali public servant, chief of police (Mogadishu), shot. [59]
• Perry Salles, 70, Brazilian actor, lung cancer. [60] (Portuguese)
• Shacky Tauro, 49, Zimbabwean footballer, after short illness. [61]
• Tony Wong, 60, Canadian politican. [62]

16

• John Anthony, 76, British Olympic shooter, pneumonia and colorectal cancer. [63]
• Peter Arundell, 75, British racing driver, pulmonary fibrosis. [64]
• Douglas Bunn, 81, British founder and chairman of the All England Jumping Course. [65]
• Emmanuel Constant, 81, Haitian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Les Gonaïves (1966–2003). [66] (French)
• Paul A. Fino, 95, American politician, U.S. Representative from New York (1953–1968). [67]
• Charlie Mariano, 85, American jazz alto saxophonist. [68] (German)

15

• George Belotti, 74, American football player, complications of a stroke. [69]
• Helen Boosalis, 89, American politician, Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska (1975–1983), brain tumor. [70]
• Allan King, 79, Canadian film director (Warrendale, Termini Station, Silence of the North), brain tumor. [71]
• Joseph Klifa, 78, French politician, Mayor of Mulhouse (1981–1989). [72] (French)
• Desmond Moran, 60, Australian criminal, member of Moran family, shot. [73]
• Carolyn Pfeifer-Horchow, 75, American fashion designer and entrepreneur, cancer. [74]
• Ted Tanabe, 46, Japanese professional wrestling referee, heart attack. [75]

14

• Bob Bogle, 75, American guitarist (The Ventures), non-Hodgkin lymphoma. [76]
• Angela Coughlan, 56, Canadian swimmer, Olympic relay bronze medalist (1968), multiple myeloma. [77]
• Ivan Della Mea, 68, Italian singer–songwriter and author, after long illness. [78] (Italian)
• Yasuharu Hasebe, 77, Japanese film director, pneumonia. [79]
• William McIntyre, 91, Canadian jurist, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, throat cancer. [80]
• Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye, 70, Nigerien politician. [81]
• Tony Kempster, 59, British non-League football statistician, cancer. [82]
• Carlos Pardo, 33, Mexican NASCAR race driver, race crash. [83]
• Edith Ronne, 89, American explorer, first American woman to visit Antarctica, cancer. [84]
• Frederick Sontag, 84, American academic and author, professor of philosophy (Pomona College), heart failure. [85]
• Abel Tador, 24, Nigerian footballer, shot. [86]
• Pyotr Velyaminov, 82, Russian actor. [87] (Russian)
• Hal Woodeshick, 76, American baseball player (Houston Colt .45s), after long illness. [88]

13

• Khalil Abi-Nader, 87, Lebanese Maronite Archbishop of Beirut (1986–1996). [89]
• Christian Albin, 61, Swiss-born American executive chef (The Four Seasons Restaurant), cancer. [90]
• Bashir Aushev, 62, Russian official, Deputy Prime Minister of Ingushetia (2002–2008), shot. [91]
• Tom Costello, 77, Irish horse breeder. [92]
• Otilio Galíndez, 73, Venezuelan poet and composer. [93]
• Mitsuharu Misawa, 46, Japanese professional wrestler, spinal cord injury. [94]
• Douglas Quijano, 64, Filipino talent agent. [95]
• John Saville, 93, British Marxist economic and social historian. [96]

12

• Shailaja Acharya, 65, Nepalese politician, Deputy Prime Minister (1998), Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia. [97]
• John Crellin, 58, Manx motorcycle racer and civil engineer, race accident. [98]
• Peter Gowan, 63, British academic, professor of international relations (London Metropolitan University), mesothelioma. [99]
• Félix Malloum, 76, Chadian politician, President (1975–1979), cardiac arrest. [100] (French)
• Georgy Vainer, 71, Russian writer, after long illness. [101] (Russian)
• Peter Wheeler, 65, British chemical engineer and businessman, owner of TVR, after short illness. [102]

11

• Viacheslav Aliabiev, 75, Ukrainian footballer (Shakhtyor Stalino), USSR Cup winner (1961, 1962), cancer. [103]
• Marian Goliński, 59, Polish politician, car accident. [104] (Polish)
• Jürgen Gosch, 65, German theatre director, cancer. [105] (German)
• Jakob Kjersem, 83, Norwegian Olympic athlete. [106] (Norwegian)
• Frank J. Low, 75, American physicist and astronomer. [107]
• Christel Peters, 93, German actress. [108] (German)
• Carl Pursell, 76, American politician, U.S. Representative from Michigan (1977–1993), heart disease. [109]
• Ricardo Rangel, 85, Mozambican photojournalist. [110]
• Roger Terry, 87, American airman (Tuskegee Airmen), heart failure. [111]

10

• Barry Beckett, 66, American record producer, session musician, keyboardist (Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), after long illness. [112]
• Lamana Ould Cheikh, Malian military intelligence officer, shot. [113]
• Jack Eddy, 78, American astronomer. [114]
• Tenniel Evans, 83, British actor. [115]
• Xaver Frick, 96, Liechtensteinian Olympic athlete and cross-country skier. [116]
• Aza Gazgireeva, Russian jurist, senior judge in Ingushetia, shot. [117]
• Woodie Held, 77, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians), brain cancer. [118]
• Huey Long, 105, American singer (The Ink Spots). [119]
• Michel Nguyên Khác Ngu, 100, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Long Xuyen (1960–1997). [120]
• Jack Nimitz, 79, American jazz baritone saxophonist, complications from emphysema. [121]
• Richard Quick, 66, American swimming and diving coach, brain tumor. [122]
• Stelios Skevofilakas, c.69, Greek footballer (AEK Athens), stomach cancer. [123] (Greek)
• Helle Virkner, 83, Danish actress, cancer. [124]

9

• Duke Bainum, 56, American politician (Hawaii House of Representatives, Honolulu City Council), aortic aneurysm. [125]
• Norman E. Brinker, 78, American restaurateur (Brinker International), aspiration pneumonia. [126]
• Ray Hamrick, 88, American baseball player (Philadelphia Blue Jays). [127]
• Edward Hanrahan, 88, American lawyer, State's Attorney (Cook County, Illinois), leukemia. [128]
• Jean Hugel, 84, French winemaker (Alsace wine), cancer. [129]
• Jack Littrell, 80, American baseball player, Alzheimer's disease. [130]
• Dick May, 78, American racing driver, after long illness. [131]
• Michael Roof, 32, American actor (xXx, Black Hawk Down, The Dukes of Hazzard), suicide by hanging. [132]
• Dave Simons, 54, American comic book artist, cancer. [133]
• Mal Sondock, 74, American radio personality, after short illness. [134] (German)
• Arne Tovik, 53, Norwegian newspaper editor and journalist. [135] (Norwegian)
• Karl Michael Vogler, 80, German actor. [136] (German)

8

• Omar Bongo, 73, Gabonese politician, President (1967–2009), heart attack. [137]
• Frank Dasso, 91, American baseball player. [138]
• Sheila Finestone, 82, Canadian politician, MP for Mount Royal (1984–1999) and Senator (1999–2002), cancer. [139]
• Aage Rou Jensen, 84, Danish footballer. [140] (Danish)
• Nathan Marsters, 29, Canadian ice hockey player, car accident. [141]
• Harold Norse, 92, American poet. [142]
• Johnny Palermo, 27, American actor, car accident. [143]
• Habib Tanvir, 85, Indian playwright and theatre director, after short illness. [144]

7

• Roy Boe, 79, American businessman, owner of the New Jersey Nets (1969–1978) and New York Islanders (1972–1979), heart failure. [145]
• Hugh Hopper, 64, British progressive rock bassist and composer (Soft Machine), leukaemia. [146]
• Willie Kilmarnock, 87, British footballer (Motherwell F.C.). [147]
• Gordon Lennon, 26, British footballer (Dumbarton F.C.), car crash. [148]
• Kenny Rankin, 69, American singer-songwriter, lung cancer. [149]
• Sarah Snyder, 51, American newspaper reporter and editor (The Boston Globe), cancer. [150]
• Peter Townsend, 81, British sociologist, pneumonia. [151]
• Baron Vaea, 88, Tongan politician, Prime Minister (1991–2000), after short illness. [152]

6

• Charles Arnold-Baker, 90, British historian. [153]
• Jean Dausset, 92, French immunologist, Nobel Prize in Medicine (1980). [154] (French)
• Mary Howard de Liagre, 96, American actress (Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Swamp Water). [155]
• Musost Khutiyev, Russian official, aide to Chechen Deputy Prime Minister, former separatist brigadier general, shot. [156]
• Despina Lelekou-Tataki, 82, Greek author, stroke. [157] (Greek)
• Jim Owens, 82, American college football coach (Washington Huskies), complications from hypertension and heart problems. [158]
• Pio Sagapolutele, 39, American Samoan football player (Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots), aneurysm. [159]

5

• Bernard Barker, 92, Cuban-born American intelligence operative, Watergate burglar, lung cancer. [160]
• Peter L. Bernstein, 90, American economic historian, pneumonia. [161]
• Alan Berkman, 63, American physician and activist, lymphoma. [162]
• Fleur Cowles, 101, American writer, editor and artist. [163]
• Baciro Dabó, 51, Guinea-Bissauan presidential candidate, shot. [164]
• Jeff Hanson, 31, American singer–songwriter, fall. [165]
• Ola Hudson, American costume designer (Diana Ross, The Pointer Sisters) and mother of Slash, lung cancer. [166]
• Richard Jacobs, 83, American real estate developer, owner of the Cleveland Indians (1986–2001), after long illness. [167]
• Luo Jing, 48, Chinese news anchor, lymphoma. [168]
• Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, 53, Russian general, Interior Minister for the Republic of Dagestan, shot. [169]
• Del Monroe, 73, American actor (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), leukemia. [170]
• Rajeev Motwani, 47, Indian-born American academic, advisor for Google, Inc.. [171]
• Boris Pokrovsky, 97, Russian opera director, People's Artist of the USSR. [172] (Russian)
• Helder Proença, Guinea-Bissauan politician, Minister of Defense, shot. [173]
• Haydn Tanner, 92, British rugby union player. [174]
• George Edward Wahlen, 84, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient, after long illness. [175]

4

• Lev Brovarsky, 60, Ukrainian Soviet-era footballer and coach. [176] (Russian)
• Robert Colescott, 83, American painter, U.S. representative to Venice Biennale (1997). [177]
• Ward Costello, 89, American actor and composer, complications from a stroke. [178]
• Manuel Curry, 84, American law enforcement officer, longest serving active-duty police officer. [179]
• Philip D. Curtin, 87, American historian, pneumonia. [180]
• Luc Alfons de Hovre, 83, Belgian Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels. [181]
• John F. Henning, 93, American politician and diplomat, United States Ambassador to New Zealand (1967–1969). [182]
• Dorothy Layton, 96, American actress (County Hospital). [183]
• Chris O'Brien, 57, Australian oncologist, surgeon on the reality television program RPA, brain tumour. [184]
• Jean Sagadeev, 42, Russian musician, suspected suicide by hanging. [185] (Russian)
• Randy Smith, 60, American basketball player (Buffalo Braves), 1978 NBA All-Star Game MVP, heart attack. [186]

3

• Shitsuko Araki, 111, Japanese supercentenarian. [187] (Japanese)
• Geoffrey Bingham, 90, Australian evangelical Christian writer. [188]
• David Bromige, 75, British-born Canadian poet, winner of the Pushcart Prize, complications from diabetes. [189]
• Sam Butera, 81, American saxophonist, Alzheimer's disease. [190]
• James F. Calvert, 88, American naval officer, 46th Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, heart failure. [191]
• David Carradine, 72, American actor (Kung Fu, Kill Bill), hanging. [192]
• Do Kum-bong, 79, South Korean actress. [193]
• Sam George, 56, Canadian activist, native rights campaigner involved with the Ipperwash Crisis, pancreatic and lung cancer. [194]
• Thomas Gill, 87, American politician, U.S. Representative from Hawaii (1963–1965), after long illness. [195]
• Frank G. Harrison, 69, American politician, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (1983–1985), natural causes. [196]
• Geir Høgsnes, 58, Norwegian sociologist. [197] (Norwegian)
• Nikandros Kepesis, 95, Greek politician, natural causes. [198] (Greek)
• Peter J. Landin, British computer scientist, natural causes. [199]
• David Marks, 49, American actor, heart attack. [200]
• Benoit Marleau, 72, Canadian actor, cancer. [201] (French)
• Bruce McLachlan, 67, Australian horse racing trainer, heart attack. [202]
• John Campbell Ross, 110, Australian supercentenarian, last surviving Australian veteran of World War I. [203]
• Shih Kien, 96, Hong Kong actor (Enter the Dragon). [204]
• Koko Taylor, 80, American blues musician, complications from gastrointestinal surgery. [205]
• Moloko Temo, 134?, South African claimant to the world's oldest person title. [206]

2

• David Eddings, 77, American fantasy author. [207]
• FrancEye, 87, American poet. [208]
• Alfred Kern, 85, American novelist and professor. [209]
• Tony Maggs, 72, South African racing driver, cancer. [210]
• Palghat R. Raghu, 81, Burmese-born Indian musician, cardiac arrest. [211]
• Horst Siebert, 71, German economist. [212] (German)
• Kidane-Mariam Teklehaimanot, 75, Ethiopian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Adigrat. [213]
• Paul O. Williams, 74. American science fiction author, aortic dissection. [214]

1

• Alaa Abdel-Wahab, 37, Iraqi sports journalist, bomb attack. [215]
• Silvio Barbato, 50, Italian-born Brazilian conductor and composer, plane crash. [216]
• Thomas Berry, 94, American cultural historian and ecotheologian. [217]
• Johanna Boost-Dalloyaux, 110, Dutch supercentenarian. [218] (Dutch)
• Bob Christie, 85, American racing driver. [219]
• Erich Heine, 41, South African-born German executive, director of ThyssenKrupp, plane crash. [220] (German)
• Ernest May, 80, American historian (Harvard University), complications from cancer surgery. [221]
• Fatma Ceren Necipoğlu, 37, Turkish classical harpist and educator (Anadolu University in Eskişehir), plane crash. [222]
• Vincent O'Brien, 92, Irish race horse trainer. [223]
• Prince Pedro Luís of Orléans-Braganza, 26, Brazilian prince, plane crash. [224]
• Alexander S. Potupa, 64, Belarussian politician, physicist, economist and writer. [225]
• Jerry Rosenberg, 72, American jailhouse lawyer, natural causes. [226]
• Dirk du Toit, 65, South African politician, suspected heart failure. [227]
• Elspeth Wood, 110, British supercentenarian. [228]

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.

External links

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, ...