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.
March 2008
19
- Sir Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Sri-Lankan/British science fiction author (2001: A Space Odyssey), cardio-respiratory attack. [1]
- Hugo Claus, 78, Belgian author, euthanized due to Alzheimer's.[2]
- John Dowie, 93, Australian sculptor, stroke [3]
- Raghuvaran, 60, Indian actor, cardiac arrest [4]
JORDAN WESCOCK LOVES WENNIE IN HIS POOPY BUTT
18
- Jyrki Hämäläinen, 65, Finnish journalist, long-time editor of Suosikki magazine, unknown reasons. [5]
- Anthony Minghella, 54, British Oscar-winning film director and chairman of the BFI, post-surgical haemorrhage. [6]
- Geoffrey Pearson, 80, Canadian diplomat, son of former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. [7] [8]
- Oreste Rizzini, 67, Italian actor and dubber (Michael Douglas), stomach cancer. [9] (Italian)
17
- Roland Arnall, 68, American owner of the Ameriquest Mortgage Company and Ambassador to the Netherlands (2006–2008), cancer. [10]
16
- Anura Bandaranaike, 59, Sri Lankan politician. [11]
- Bill Brown, 95, Australian cricket captain, member of 1948 Invincibles team. [12] [13]
- Ola Brunkert, 61, Swedish session drummer for ABBA, injuries from accidental fall. [14] [15]
- Ivan Dixon, 76, American actor and director (Hogan's Heroes), hemorrhage. [16]
- Gary Hart, 66, American professional wrestling manager, heart attack. [17]
- John Hewer, 86, British actor (Captain Birdseye), natural causes. [18]
- Metropolitan Laurus, 80, Czechoslovakian-born American first hierarch of the ROCOR. [19]
- Daniel MacMaster, 39, American rock vocalist (Bonham), staph infection. [20]
- Rodrigues Maximiano, 61, Portuguese magistrate, after long illness. [21] (Portuguese)
- Bob Purkey, 78, American baseball player. [22]
- Kjell Swanberg, 63, Swedish columnist. [23] [24] (Swedish)
- Jonathan Williams, 79, American poet, photographer and publisher, founder of The Jargon Society. [25]
15
- Mikey Dread, 54, Jamaican singer, producer and broadcaster, brain tumor. [26]
- Vytautas Kernagis, 56, Lithuanian singer, television announcer, gastric cancer. [27] (Lithuanian)
- G. David Low, 52, American astronaut, colon cancer. [28]
- Ken Reardon, 86, Canadian ice hockey defenceman (Montreal Canadiens), Alzheimer's disease. [29]
- Ross Scaife, 47, American classicist and digital humanist, cancer. [30]
- Vicki van Meter, 26, American pilot, apparent suicide by gunshot. [31]
14
- Gary Binfield, 42, British swimmer, 1988 Olympic relay finalist, and 15-time All-American at the University of South Carolina. [32]
- Clyde Cameron, 95, Australian politician, MP (1949–1980), Minister in the Whitlam Government. [33]
- Mike Dawson, 54, American football player, heart attack. [34]
- Chiara Lubich, 88, Italian Catholic activist, founder of the Focolare Movement. [35]
13
- Taslim Arif, 53, Pakistani cricketer, lung infection. [36]
- Tessa Birnie, 73, New Zealand concert pianist. [37]
- Bill Bolick, 90, American country music performer, The Blue Sky Boys. [38]
- Iosif Boyarsky, 90, Russian former Soyuzmultfilm director, one of the fathers of Soviet animation. [39]
- Peter Cullen, 65, Australian environmental scientist and salinity expert, cardiac arrest. [40]
- Martin Fierro, 66, American saxophonist, cancer. [41]
- Scarlet Garcia, 23, Filipino model and actress, shot. [42]
- David Mwenje, 55, Kenyan politician. [43]
- Rafael Tufiño, 85, Puerto Rican painter and printmaker, lung cancer. [44]
12
- Erwin Geschonneck, 101, German actor. [45]
- Jorge Guinzburg, 59, Argentine journalist and comedian, pulmonary infection. [46] [47]
- Alun Hoddinott, 78, Welsh composer. [48]
- Cassià Maria Just, 81, Spanish cleric, former abbot of Santa Maria de Montserrat, stroke. [49] (Spanish)
- Howard Metzenbaum, 90, American politician, former Senator from Ohio (1974, 1976–1995). [50]
- Ovidiu Iuliu Moldovan, 66, Romanian actor, cancer. [51]
- Károly Németh, 85, Hungarian politician. [52]
- Lazare Ponticelli, 110, last French veteran of World War I. [53]
- Asesela Ravuvu, 77, Fijian politician and former University of the South Pacific academic, natural causes. [54]
11
- J. I. Albrecht, 77, American-born Canadian manager and director in the Canadian Football League, complications from earlier stroke. [55]
- Edoardo Luciani, 91, Italian politician, younger brother of Pope John Paul I. [56]
- John Roderick, 93, American journalist, heart failure and pneumonia. [57]
- Phyllis Spira, 64, South African prima ballerina, complications of surgery. [58]
- Michael J. Todd, 50, British Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. [59]
- Zakaria Md Deros, 62, Malaysian former politician, heart attack. [60]
10
- Richard Biegenwald, 67, American serial killer. [61]
- William Richard Bradford, 61, American serial killer, natural causes. [62]
- Hugh Brown, 88, British Labour politician, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (1974–1979). [63]
- Chuck Day, 65, American blues guitarist, wrote the distinctive riff in "Secret Agent Man". [64]
- Kurt Eberling, Sr., 77, German-American inventor of SpaghettiOs, cancer. [65]
- Marianne Gullestad, 62, Norwegian social anthropologist, after long illness. [66] (Norwegian)
- Dennis Irwin, 56, American jazz double bassist, complications of cancer. [67]
- Ana Kalandadze, 83, Georgian poet. [68]
- Vangelis Kazan, 70, Greek actor. [69] (Greek)
- Lee Ho-seong, 41, South Korean baseball player (Haitai Tigers), suicide by drowning. [70]
- Radovan Lukavský, 88, Czech actor. [71] (Czech)
- Rogério Ribeiro, 78, Portuguese painter. [72] (Portuguese)
- Otto Schnellbacher, 84, American football and basketball player, cancer. [73]
- Dave Stevens, 52, American illustrator, creator of The Rocketeer, leukemia. [74]
9
- Harriet Casdin-Silver, 83, American holographic artist, pneumonia.[75]
- Gus Giordano, 84, American Emmy Award-winning jazz dancer. [76]
- Simon Reisman, 88, Canadian chief negotiator of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, cardiac arrest. [77]
- Varvara Semennikova, 117?, Russian who claimed to be oldest living person. [78]
8
- Al-Bandari bint Abdul Aziz Al Saud, 80, Saudi sister of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. [79]
- Carol Barnes, 63, British ITN news presenter, stroke. [80]
- Charles A. Gillespie, Jr., 72, American diplomat, Ambassador to Colombia and Chile, cancer. [81]
- Miguel Lemos, 52, Portuguese journalist (RTP). [82] (Portuguese)
- Jane Lumb, 65, British actress and model, breast cancer. [83]
- Donald C. MacDonald, 94, Canadian politician, former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. [84]
- Les Smith, 80, British ex-Aston Villa footballer, cancer. [85]
7
- Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 72, Spanish noblewoman and author. [86]
- Isaías Carrasco, 43, Spanish Basque politician (PSE-EE), shot. [87]
- Leonardo Costagliola, 87, Italian football goalkeeper (ACF Fiorentina). [88] (Italian)
- Dick Durrell, 82, American founding publisher of People magazine, lung cancer. [89]
- Leon Greenman, 97, British Holocaust survivor, only Englishman sent to Auschwitz. [90]
- Julius Paltiel, 83, Norwegian Holocaust survivor. [91] [92]
- Francis Pym, 86, British Conservative Party politician, Foreign Secretary (1982–1983). [93]
- Cliff Thomas, 66, American songwriter, musician and bandleader (Cliff Thomas Trio). [94]
6
- Don Curtis, 80, American professional wrestler, stroke. [95] [96] [97]
- Gustaw Holoubek, 84, Polish film and theatre actor and politician. [98]
- Erica Jesselson, 86, American benefactor of Jewish arts and education. [99]
- Stanislav Konopásek, 94, Czechoslovakian Olympic silver medallist in ice hockey (1948). [100]
- Peter Proeku Dery, 89, Ghanaian cardinal, Archbishop of Tamale (1974–1994). [101]
- K. Sivanesan, 51, Sri Lankan Tamil Parliament member (TNA), roadside bomb. [102]
- Malvin Wald, 90, American Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (The Naked City). [103]
5
- John Callaghan, 81, American sportscaster (WNAC-TV), lung cancer. [104]
- Eve Carson, 22, American student leader (UNC Chapel Hill), shot. [105]
- Derek Dooley, 78, British footballer and former chairman of Sheffield United. [106]
- Jimmy Faulkner, Irish guitarist. [107]
- Elfriede Kaun, 93, German 1936 Olympic bronze medallist in the high jump. [108] (German)
- Nader Khalili, 72, Iranian architect, heart failure. [109]
- John C. Mackie, 87, American Representative from Michigan (1965–1967). [110]
- Richard Miles McCool, 86, American Medal of Honor recipient for actions during World War II. [111]
- Joel Serrão, 88, Portuguese historian, after long illness. [112] (Portuguese)
- Joseph Weizenbaum, 85, German-born American computer scientist, inventor of ELIZA computer language, stroke. [113]
4
- Erwin Ballabio, 89, Swiss footballer. [114] (German)
- Gary Gygax, 69, American co-creator of role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. [115]
- Enrico Job, 74, Italian scenographer. [116] (Italian)
- Elena Nathanael, 67, Greek actress, lung cancer. [117] (Greek)
- Leonard Rosenman, 83, American Academy Award-winning composer, heart attack. [118]
- Semka Sokolović-Bertok, 72, Croatian actress, stroke. [119] (Croatian)
- George Walter, 79, Antiguan Premier (1971–1976), heart attack. [120]
3
- Ramón Barquín, 93, Cuban army colonel and diplomat, opponent of Fulgencio Batista, cancer. [121]
- William Brice, 86, American abstract artist, complications from a fall. [122]
- Giuseppe Di Stefano, 86, Italian operatic tenor, after long coma following assault. [123]
- Donald S. Lopez, Sr., 84, American deputy director of the National Air and Space Museum, heart attack. [124]
- Norm O'Neill, 71, Australian cricketer. [125]
- Annemarie Renger, 88, German politician (SPD), Speaker of Parliament (1972–1976). [126] (German)
- Iván Ríos, 45, Colombian FARC commander. [127]
- Norman "Hurricane" Smith, 85, British singer, recording engineer (The Beatles, Pink Floyd) and record producer. [128] [129]
- Kenneth Woollcombe, 84, British Bishop of Oxford (1971–1978). [130]
2
- Sofiko Chiaureli, 70, Georgian actress. [131]
- Roger Gill, 35, Guyanese Olympic sprinter, car accident. [132]
- Jeff Healey, 41, Canadian jazz and blues-rock guitarist and vocalist, cancer. [133]
- Carl Hoddle, 40, British football player, suspected heart attack. [134]
- Paul Raymond, 82, British pornographic magazine publisher and property magnate. [135]
- Frederick Seitz, 96, American physicist who co-discovered the Wigner-Seitz cell. [136]
1
- Haroldo de Andrade, 73, Brazilian radio presenter (Rádio Globo), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [137] (Portuguese)
- Stella Bruce, 67, Indian Tamil writer, suicide by hanging. [138]
- Kevin John Dunn, 57, British Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle (2004–2008), pneumonia. [139] [140]
- Bhanbhagta Gurung, 86, Nepalese Gurkha soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross. [141]
- Raúl Reyes, 59, Colombian FARC second-in-command, airstrike. [142]
- Sid Spindler, 75, Polish-born Australian senator (Democrats) (1990–1996), liver cancer. [143]
- Andrey Tissin, 32, Russian world and European canoeing champion, Olympian and coach, drowning. [144] (Russian)
- George Toley, 91, American collegiate tennis coach. [145]
February 2008
January 2008
External links
- Obituaries on the Web
- General
- US
- South Africa
- UK
- Australia
- Specialized websites
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, ...