Deaths in 2011

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2011.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference (and language of reference, if not English).

May 2011

23

• Nasser Hejazi, 61, Iranian football player and manager, cancer. [1]
• Sam Faust, 26, Australian rugby league player, leukemia. [2]

22

• Joseph Brooks, 73, American Grammy-winning songwriter ("You Light Up My Life"), apparent suicide. [3]
• Matej Ferjan, 34, Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider. [4]
• Bob Gould, 74, Australian activist and bookseller. [5]
• Ralph Hunt, 83, Australian politician. [6]
• Joe Steffy, 85, American college football player (Army), 1947 Outland Trophy winner. [7]

21

• Bill Hunter, 71, Australian actor (Muriel's Wedding), cancer. [8]
• Hiroyuki Nagato, 77, Japanese actor, cerebrovascular disease. [9] (Japanese)
• Padraig Kennelly, 82, Irish publisher (Kerry's Eye), editor and journalist. [10]
• Bill Rechin, 80, American cartoonist (Crock), complications from esophageal cancer. [11]

20

• Michael Bell, 74, Irish politician, Teachta Dála for Louth (1982–2002). [12]
• John Cigna, 75, American radio personality (KDKA). [13]
• Ivan Gibbs, 83, Australian politician, Queensland MLA for Albert (1974–1989), cancer. [14]
• Eduard Janota, 59, Czech politician, Finance Minister (2009–2010), cardiac arrest. [15] (Czech)
• Donald Krim, 65, American businessman, president of Kino International, cancer. [16]
• Randy Savage, 58, American professional wrestler, car crash following heart attack. [17]

19

Nasser Hejazi, Iranian footballist

• Don H. Barden, 67, American businessman, lung cancer. [18]
• Austin Box, 22, American college football player (University of Oklahoma), suspected overdose. [19]
• Garret FitzGerald, 85, Irish politician, Taoiseach (1981–1982; 1982–1987) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1973–1977), after short illness. [20]
• Kathy Kirby, 72, British singer, after short illness. [21]
• William Kloefkorn, 78, American poet. [22]
• Vladimir Ryzhkin, 80, Russian Olympic gold medal-winning (1956) footballer. [23] (Russian)

18

• John Fortino, 76, Italian-born Canadian businessman, founder of Fortinos supermarket chain, cancer. [24]
• Leonard Kastle, 82, American composer and filmmaker (The Honeymoon Killers). [25]
• Frank L. Lacy, 87, American blues and jazz guitarist. [26]
• Frank Upton, 76, English footballer (Derby County, Chelsea), after short illness. [27]
• Dick Wimmer, 74, American author, heart complications. [28]
• Randall Wreghitt, 55, American theatrical producer, carbon monoxide poisoning. [29]

17

• Sean Dunphy, 73, Irish entertainer. [30]
• Joseph Galibardy, 96, Indian Olympic gold medal-winning (1936) field hockey player. [31]
• James M. Hewgley, Jr., 94, American politician, Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma (1966–1970). [32]
• Harmon Killebrew, 74, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Minnesota Twins), esophageal cancer. [33]
• Gregory Lewis, 57, American journalist (Miami Sun-Sentinel), cancer. [34]

16

• Douglas Blubaugh, 76, American Olympic gold-medal winning (1960) wrestler, motorcycle accident. [35]
• Bob Davis, 82, Australian football player. [36]
• Nathaniel Davis, 86, American diplomat, cancer. [37]
• Edward Hardwicke, 78, British actor (Sherlock Holmes), son of Sir Cedric Hardwicke. [38]
• Kiyoshi Kodama, 77, Japanese actor, stomach cancer. [39] (Japanese)
• David Parry, 76, American football official, co-ordinater of NCAA officials, Parkinson's disease. [40]
• Bill Skiles, 79, American comedian (Skiles and Henderson), kidney cancer. [41]
• James Warren, 74, American NHRA racer. [42]

15

F. Jay Taylor, American academic

• Maico Buncio, 22, Filipino motorcycle racer, racing accident. [43]
• John Feikens, 93, American federal judge, after long illness. [44]
• Bob Flanigan, 84, American singer (The Four Freshmen) and musician. [45]
• Pete Lovely, 85, American racecar driver. [46]
• M-Bone, 22, American rapper and dancer (Cali Swag District), shot. [47]
• William Pennington, 88, American casino executive (Circus Circus Enterprises), Parkinson's disease. [48]
• Barbara Stuart, 81, American actress (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.). [49]
• F. Jay Taylor, 87, American academic, President of Louisiana Tech University (1962–1987). [50]
• Mahendra Singh Tikait, 76, Indian farming union leader, bone cancer. [51]
• Samuel Wanjiru, 24, Kenyan Olympic gold medal-winning (2008) marathon runner, fall from balcony. [52]

14

• Ferial Alibali, 78, Albanian actress. [53] (Albanian)
• James Richard Cheek, 74, American diplomat, Ambassador to Sudan (1989–1992) and Argentina (1993–1996). [54]
• Murray Handwerker, 89, American businessman (Nathan's Famous). [55]
• Michael Onslow, 7th Earl of Onslow, 73, British politician. [56]
• Birgitta Trotzig, 81, Swedish author. [57]
• Ernie Walker, 82, Scottish football administrator. [58]
• Joseph Wershba, 90, American television producer and reporter. [59]

13

Derek Boogaard, Canadian hockey player

• Derek Boogaard, 28, Canadian hockey player (Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers), accidental overdose of alcohol and oxycodone. [60]
• Stephen De Staebler, 78, American sculptor and printmaker, complications from cancer. [61]
• Pam Gems, 85, British playwright. [62]
• Bernard Greenhouse, 95, American cellist. [63]
• Robert Litherland, 80, British politician, MP for Manchester Central (1979–1997), cancer. [64]
• Princess Maria Elisabeth of Orléans-Braganza, 96, German noblewoman. [65] (Portuguese)
• Wallace McCain, 81, Canadian businessman, co-founder of McCain Foods, pancreatic cancer. [66]
• Mel Queen, 69, American baseball player (Reds, Angels) and pitching coach (Blue Jays). [67]
• Jack Richardson, 81, Canadian record producer (The Guess Who). [68]
• Bruce Ricker, 68, American film documentarian and producer (Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser). [69]
• Badal Sarkar, 85, Indian dramatist, colon cancer. [70]
• Piotr Żyżelewicz, 46, Polish drummer (Voo Voo), stroke. [71]

12

• Aaron Douglas, 21, American college football player (University of Alabama). [72]
• Daryl Hawks, 38, American sportscaster (WMAQ-TV). [73] (body found on this date)
• Mose Jefferson, 68, American businessman, cancer. [74]
• Jack Jones, 86, American Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter (Los Angeles Times), lung disease. [75]
• Lloyd Knibb, 80, Jamaican drummer (The Skatalites), liver cancer. [76]
• Luigi del Gallo Roccagiovine, 88, Italian nobleman and Roman Catholic prelate, Titular Bishop of Camplum (since 1982). [77]
• Ron Springs, 54, American football player (Cowboys, Buccaneers), complications from surgery. [78]
• Miyu Uehara, 24, Japanese glamour model, apparent suicide by hanging. [79]
• Jack Keil Wolf, 76, American information theorist, cancer. [80]

11

• Mario Bertini, 67, Italian footballer, complications during an operation. [81] (Italian)
• Maurice Goldhaber, 100, American physicist. [82]
• Leo Kahn, 94, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Staples, complications from a series of strokes. [83]
• Albert Kanene Obiefuna, 81, Nigerian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Onitsha (1995–2003). [84]
• Reach Sambath, 47, Cambodian journalist, stroke. [85]
• Robert Traylor, 34, American basketball player (Bucks, Cavaliers, Hornets), suspected heart attack. [86] (body found on this date)
• Snooky Young, 92, American jazz trumpeter, complications of a lung ailment. [87]

10

Zim Ngqawana, South African jazz saxophonist

• Omar Ahmad, 46, American entrepreneur and politician, Mayor of San Carlos, California (2007–2011), heart attack. [88]
• Michael Baze, 24, American jockey. [89]
• Bill Bergesch, 89, American baseball executive (New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds). [90]
• Vasilis Bozikis, 67, Greek photojournalist, cancer. [91] (Greek)
• Mia Amber Davis, 36, American plus-size model and actress (Road Trip), postoperative complications. [92]
• Cleve Dean, 57, American arm wrestling champion, heart attack. [93]
• Bill Gallo, 88, American cartoonist and newspaper columnist, complications from pneumonia. [94]
• Patrick Galvin, 83, Irish writer. [95]
• M. S. Gurupadaswamy, 89, Indian politician and minister, heart attack. [96]
• Héctor Medina, 35, Honduran journalist, shot. [97]
• Zim Ngqawana, 51, South African jazz saxophonist, stroke. [98]
• Burt Reinhardt, 91, American broadcast executive, President of CNN (1982–1990), complications from strokes. [99]
• Stanley Wright, 62, American jazz musician. [100]
• Norma Zimmer, 87, American entertainer (The Lawrence Welk Show). [101]

9

File:LIDIA GUEILER TEJADA.jpg

Lidia Gueiler Tejada, Bolivian politician

• Gerald Bordman, 79, American playwright (American Musical Theatre) and author, cancer. [102]
• David Cairns, 44, British politician, MP for Greenock and Inverclyde (2001–2005) and Inverclyde (since 2005), acute pancreatitis. [103]
• Robert Ellsworth, 84, American politician and diplomat, Representative from Kansas (1961–1967), Ambassador to NATO (1969–1971), complications from pneumonia. [104]
• Epiphanios of Vryoula, 76. American Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Spain and Portugal. [105]
• Henry Feffer, 93, American professor and spine surgeon, treated Saddam Hussein, heart failure. [106]
• Dolores Fuller, 88, American actress (Glen or Glenda), and songwriter ("Rock-A-Hula Baby"). [107]
• Jeff Gralnick, 72, American television news producer. [108]
• Lidia Gueiler Tejada, 89, Bolivian politician, acting President (1979–1980), after a long illness. [109]
• Manos Loukakis, 60, Greek poet and literary critic, cancer. [110] (Greek)
• Ivo Pešák, 66, Czech singer, dancer and comic performer. [111] (Polish)
• Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, 82, Nepali politician, Foreign Minister (1986–1990), altitude sickness. [112]
• Wouter Weylandt, 26, Belgian road bicycle racer, race crash. [113]

8

Li Desheng, Chinese general

• Huthaifa al-Batawi, Iraqi al-Qaeda leader, shot. [114]
• Moayed al-Saleh, Iraqi brigadier general, head of counter-terrorism in Baghdad, shot. [115]
• Wallace Clark, 84, Northern Irish maritime writer. [116]
• Cornell Dupree, 68, American jazz and R&B guitarist, complications from emphysema. [117]
• Gheorghe Guţiu, 87, Romanian Catholic hierarch, Archbishop of Cluj-Gherla (1994–2002). [118]
• Li Desheng, 95, Chinese People's Liberation Army general. [119] (Chinese)
• Charles McPhee, 49, American radio host, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. [120]
• Greg Percival, 86, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1977–1978; 1986–1988). [121]
• Soňa Pertlová, 23, Czech chessplayer, cancer. [122]
• Lionel Rose, 62, Australian world champion boxer. [123]
• Hilton Rosemarin, 58, Canadian set decorator (Three Men and a Baby, Cocktail, Jumper), brain cancer. [124]
• Carlos Trillo, 68, Argentine comic book writer (Cybersix). [125] (Spanish)
• Galina Urbanovich, 93, Russian Olympic gold and silver medal-winning (1952) gymnast. [126]
• Arkady Vaksberg, 83, Russian journalist, critic and biographer. [127] (Russian)
• Sir Ronald Waterhouse, 85, British jurist. [128]

7

Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist and Nobel laureate

• Johnny Albino, 93, Puerto Rican bolero singer, heart attack. [129] (Spanish)
• Seve Ballesteros, 54, Spanish golfer, brain cancer. [130]
• Nikos Boutachidis, 56, Greek football club secretary, heart failure. [131] (Greek)
• Willard Boyle, 86, Canadian physicist, Nobel laureate (2009). [132]
• Jack Gordon, 66, American politician, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives (1972–1980), State Senator (1980–1992; 1996–2011), brain cancer. [133]
• Ross Hagen, 72, American actor (Daktari, Speedway). [134]
• Allyson Hennessy, 63, Trinidadian broadcaster. [135]
• Eilert Määttä, 75, Swedish ice hockey player and coach. [136] (Swedish)
• Gunter Sachs, 78, German photographer, author and multi-millionaire industrialist, suicide by gunshot. [137]
• Ella Schuler, 113, American supercentenarian. [138]
• Robert Stempel, 77, American automobile executive, Chairman and CEO of General Motors (1990–1992). [139]
• Kate Swift, 87, American writer, stomach cancer. [140]
• John Walker, 67, American musician (The Walker Brothers), liver cancer. [141]
• George Webley, 53, British broadcaster and music arranger. [142]
• Doric Wilson, 72, American playwright and gay activist. [143]

6

Quazi Nuruzzaman, Bangladeshi war veteran

• Barry Connolly, 72, Australian football player. [144]
• Oniroku Dan, 80, Japanese author, esophageal cancer. [145]
• Lawrence Johnson, 97, American boat trailer inventor and manufacturer, natural causes. [146]
• Horace Freeland Judson, 80, American science historian (The Great Betrayal: Fraud In Science), complications of a stroke. [147]
• Quazi Nuruzzaman, 86, Bangladeshi veteran of the Liberation War, natural causes. [148]
• Duane Pillette, 88, American baseball player (Yankees, Browns, Orioles, Phillies). [149]
• Mike Spoerndle, 59, American music club founder (Toad's Place). [150] (body discovered on this date)
• R. M. Tollefson, 100, American boat builder (Tollycraft). [151]
• Dick Walsh, 85, American baseball executive, first commissioner of the North American Soccer League. [152]
• Yoon Ki-Won, 24, South Korean football player, suicide by inhaling toxic fumes. [153]

5

Claude Choules, last combat veteran of World War I

• Leslie Audus, 99, British professor of botany (University of London), expert on plant growth hormones. [154]
• Alice Bridges, 94, American Olympic bronze medal-winning (1936) swimmer. [155]
• Halit Çelenk, 89, Turkish lawyer and socialist activist, cancer and asthma. [156]
• Claude Choules, 110, British-born Australian veteran, last combat veteran of World War I. [157]
• Thomas Compaoré, 23, Burkinabé basketball player, heart attack. [158] (German)
• Elvis Gordon, 52, British Olympic judoka, pancreatic cancer. [159]
• Salomón Hakim, 81, Colombian neurosurgeon, researcher and inventor. [160]
• Arthur Laurents, 93, American playwright, librettist, stage director, and screenwriter (Anastasia, Rope, West Side Story). [161]
• Dougie McCracken, 46, Scottish football player (Ayr United), suspected suicide. [162]
• Yosef Merimovich, 86, Israeli football player and manager. [163] (Hebrew).
• Nigel Pickering, 81, American guitarist (Spanky and Our Gang), liver cancer. [164]
• Rolo Puente, 71, Argentine actor, pulmonary emphysema. [165]
• Dana Wynter, 79, German-born British actress (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), heart failure. [166]

4

Thomas G. Nelson, American federal judge

• Lázaro Blanco, 73, Mexican photographer, cancer. [167] (Spanish)
• Velzoe Brown, 101, American jazz pianist. [168]
• Frans de Kok, 87, Dutch conductor. [169] (Dutch)
• Néstor Groppa, Argentine poet. [170] (Spanish)
• Jacques Georges Habib Hafouri, 94, Syrian Catholic hierarch, Archbishop of Hassaké-Nisibi (1982–1996). [171]
• Jagdish Khebudkar, 77, Indian writer, renal failure. [172]
• Sammy McCrory, 86, Northern Irish footballer. [173]
• Mary Murphy, 80, American actress (The Wild One). [174]
• Thomas G. Nelson, 74, American federal judge, complications from declining health. [175]
• Françoise Olivier-Coupeau, 51, French politician, cancer. [176] (French)
• Frans Sammut, 66, Maltese writer, natural causes. [177]
• Bernard Stasi, 80, French politician, Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories (1973–1974), Alzheimer's disease. [178] (French)
• Richard Steinheimer, 81, American railroad photographer, Alzheimer's disease. [179]
• Louis Stumberg, 87, American businessman, introduced Tex Mex TV dinners, after long illness. [180]
• Sada Thompson, 83, American actress (Family), lung disease. [181]

3

Jackie Cooper, American actor

• Paul Ackerley, 61, New Zealand hockey player and coach, skin cancer. [182]
• Robert Brout, 82, American-born Belgian theoretical physicist. [183] (French)
• Odell Brown, 70, American jazz organist and songwriter ("Sexual Healing") [184]
• Jackie Cooper, 88, American actor (Skippy, Our Gang, Superman) and director (M*A*S*H). [185]
• Sergo Kotrikadze, 74, Georgian football player and coach, heart attack. [186] (Russian)
• Mildred Robbins Leet, 88, American philanthropist, co-founder of Trickle Up, complications of a fall. [187]
• Patrick Roy, 53, French politician, pancreatic cancer. [188] (French)
• Thanasis Veggos, 83, Greek actor, stroke. [189]
• Des Williams, 83, South African Olympic boxer. [190]

2

Alexander Lazarev, Russian actor

• Leonid Abalkin, 80, Russian economist. [191]
• Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, 46, Kuwaiti Al-Qaeda computer expert, shot. [192]
• Darnay Hoffman, 63, American lawyer, defended Bernard Goetz and Joel Steinberg, suicide by stabbing. [193]
• Danny Kassap, 28, Congolese-born Canadian long-distance runner. [194]
• Osama bin Laden, 54, Saudi founder of Al-Qaeda, planned September 11 attacks, shot. [195]
• Alexander Lazarev, 73, Russian actor. [196] (Russian)
• Eddie Lewis, 76, English footballer (Manchester United, West Ham United), cancer. [197] (death announced on this date)
• Ernest Mothle, 69, South African jazz musician. [198]
• René Emilio Ponce, 64, Salvadoran general and defence minister, army chief of staff during the Civil War. [199]
• David Sencer, 86, American public health official, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1966–1977), heart disease. [200]
• Shigeo Yaegashi, 78, Japanese footballer. [201] (Japanese)

1

J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., American mathematician and nuclear scientist

• Alex, 52, Indian actor and magician, after short illness. [202]
• Spyrydon Babskyi, 52, Ukrainian Orthodox hierarch, Archbishop of Vinnytsya in UOC-KP (1992–1993). [203] (Russian)
• Sir Henry Cooper, 76, British Olympic heavyweight boxer. [204]
• Ginger Evans, 74, Welsh cricketer. [205]
• Agustín García-Gasco Vicente, 80, Spanish Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Valencia (1992–2009), cardiac arrest. [206]
• Moshe Landau, 99, Israeli jurist, Chief Justice (1980–1982), presided over Adolf Eichmann's trial (1961). [207]
• Ted Lowe, 90, British snooker commentator. [208]
• Steven Orszag, 68, American mathematician, chronic lymphomic leukemia. [209]
• Ivan Slavkov, 70, Bulgarian sports official. [210]
• William O. Taylor II, 78, American journalist and publisher (The Boston Globe), brain tumor. [211]
• Reynaldo Uy, 59, Filipino politician, Mayor of Calbayog, shot. [212]
• J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., 87, American mathematician and nuclear scientist. [213]

April 2011

See Deaths in April 2011.

March 2011

See Deaths in March 2011.

February 2011

See Deaths in February 2011.

January 2011

See Deaths in January 2011.

External links

• General obituaries
  • Legacy.com/Associated Press
  • Variety magazine
• Australian obituaries
  • The Sydney Morning Herald
• Canadian obituaries
  • The Globe & Mail
  • The Star
• Dutch obituaries
  • NRC Handelsblad (Dutch)

• German obituaries
  • Der Tagesspiegel (German)
• South African obituaries
  • Mail & Guardian
• United Kingdom obituaries
  • The Guardian
  • The Independent
  • The Scotsman
  • The Telegraph

• United States obituaries
  • The Boston Globe
  • Los Angeles Times
  • The Miami Herald
  • The New York Times
  • The Washington Post

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2010, Deaths in 2009, Deaths in 2008, Deaths in 2007, Deaths in 2006, Deaths in 2005, Deaths in 2004, Deaths in 2003, Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, Deaths in 2000, Deaths in 1999, Deaths in 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, ...