Deaths in 2002
Appearance
The following is a list of notable deaths in 2002. Names are listed under the date of death and 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.
January 2002
- 2 – Armi Aavikko, 43, Finnish beauty queen and singer.
- 2 – Zac Foley, 31, bass guitarist for EMF.
- 2 – Michael Howe, 61, British psychologist.
- 3 – Freddy Heineken, 78, Dutch beer magnate.
- 3 – Juan García Esquivel, 83, Mexican bandleader.
- 4 – Nathan Chapman, 31, U.S. Army soldier.
- 6 – John W. Reynolds, Jr., 80, American politician and jurist, Governor of Wisconsin (1963-1965).
- 6 – Fred Taylor, 77, American basketball coach.
- 7 – Jon Lee, 33, British drummer (Feeder).
- 8 – M. S. Bartlett, 91, British statistician.
- 8 – Charles "Nish" Bruce, 45, British soldier.
- 8 - Alexander Prokhorov, 85, Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 8 – Dave Thomas, 69, American entrepreneur, founder of Wendy's hamburger restaurants.
- 10 – Cedric Smith, 84, British statistician.
- 11 – Peggy Antonio, 83, Australian cricketer.
- 11 – Julian Faber, 84, English business executive.
- 11 – Cyrus Vance, 84, former United States Secretary of State, international peacemaker.
- 12 – Stanley Unwin, 90, comedian.
- 13 – Richard Bolt, 90, American physicist.
- 13 – Ted Demme, 38, American film and television director (Blow, The Ref, Yo! MTV Raps).
- 13 – Gregorio Fuentes, 104, Cuban sailor.
- 13 – Ferdinand Weiss, 69, Romanian pianist.
- 14 – David Hamer, 78, Australian politician.
- 15 – Jeremy Hawk, 83, British actor (Elizabeth).
- 16 – Bobo Olson, 73, American boxer.
- 16 – Ron Taylor, 49, American actor (The Wiz, The Simpsons, Rover Dangerfield).
- 16 – Michael Walford, 86, British sportsman.
- 17 – Camilo José Cela, 85, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 17 – Peter Adamson, 71, British actor (Coronation Street).
- 17 – Diana Boddington, 80, British stage manager.
- 17 – Brian Simon, 86, British educationalist and historian.
- 18 – Alex Hannum, 78, pro basketball coach.
- 19 – Jeff Astle, 59, English footballer.
- 19 – Jim Cameron, 71, Australian politician.
- 19 – Roy Conrad, 61, American actor (Patch Adams, Casino, Titan A.E.).
- 20 – Carrie Hamilton, 38, American actress (Cool World, Fame.
- 20 – John Jackson, 77, American blues musician.
- 20 – Luule Viilma, 51, Estonian doctor, esotericist and practitioner of alternative medicine, died in car crash.
- 20 – John Whitehead, 77, American football coach.
- 21 – Peggy Lee, 81, American singer & actress (Lady and the Tramp, Pete Kelly's Blues, The Jazz Singer).
- 22 – Sheldon Allman, 77, Canadian-American singer and actor (Hud, In Cold Blood, The Sons of Kate Elder).
- 22 – Eric de Maré, 91, architectural photographer and writer.
- 22 – Jack Shea, 91, American speed skater.
- 23 – Paul Aars, 67, American stock car driver.
- 23 – Pierre Bourdieu, 71, sociologist.
- 23 – Robert Nozick, 63, philosopher.
- 25 – Winston Place, 87, English cricketer.
- 27 – John A. D. Cooper, 84, American physician and educator.
- 27 – John James, 87, British racing driver.
- 27 – Abelardo Raidi, 87, Venezuelan sportswriter and radio broadcaster.
- 28 – Dick Lane, 73, American football player (Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams) and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- 28 – Astrid Lindgren, 94, Swedish children's book author (Pippi Longstocking), pneumonia.
- 29 – Stephen Wayne Anderson, 48, convicted murderer. executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California.
- 29 – Phil McCall, 76, Scottish actor (Breaking the Waves).
- 31 – Charles Leonhard, 86, American music educator.
February 2002
- 1 – Daniel Pearl, 38, American journalist, beheaded.
- 2 – Ian Clark Hutchison, 99, British politician.
- 2 – Paul Baloff, 41, Exodus vocalist.
- 3 – James Blackwood, 82, American Gospel singer.
- 3 – Rudolf Fleischmann, 98, German nuclear physicist.
- 4 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg, 94, Swedish royal.
- 6 – Max Perutz, 87, founder of molecular biology.
- 6 – Eken Mine, 66, Japanese voice actor.
- 7 – Elisa Bridges, 28, Playboy model.
- 7 – Ellen Demming, 79, American actress.
- 7 – Jack Fairman, 88, British Formula One driver.
- 7 – David Gibson-Watt, Baron Gibson-Watt, 83, British politician.
- 7 – John Taylor, Baron Ingrow, 84, British businessman.
- 8 – Nick Brignola, 65, American jazz saxophonist.
- 8 – William T. Dillard, 87, American retailer.
- 8 – Joachim Hoffmann, 71, German historian.
- 8 – Ong Teng Cheong, 66, former President of Singapore.
- 8 – Bob Wooler, 76, British disc jockey.
- 9 – Princess Margaret, 71, British royal family (sister of Queen Elizabeth II).
- 9 – Peggy Taylor, 74, American singer and radio announcer.
- 10 – John Erickson, 72, British historian.
- 10 – Ramón Arellano Félix, 37, Mexican drug trafficker
- 11 – Barry Foster, 74, British actor, heart attack.
- 12 – Theresa Bernstein, 111, American artist.
- 12 – William Lee Dwyer, 72, American federal judge.
- 12 – George Eiferman, 76, bodybuilder, won Mr.Universe in 1962.
- 12 – John Eriksen, 44, Danish footballer.
- 13 – Waylon Jennings, 64, country music performer, actor, disc jockey, former member of Buddy Holly's band.
- 14 – Mick Tucker, 54, drummer for the glam rock band Sweet.
- 15 – Mike Darr, 25, baseball player.
- 15 – Howard K. Smith, 87, TV journalist.
- 15 – Kevin Smith, 38, played Ares on Xena series.
- 16 – John W. Gardner, 89, American politician.
- 16 – Sir Walter Winterbottom, 89, British football manager.
- 17 – Ross Dowson, 84, Canadian Trotskyist politician.
- 18 – Gabriel Mariano, 73, Cape Verdean writer.
- 19 – Billy Hall, 61, American politician.
- 19 – Virginia Hamilton, 67, award-winning African American children's book author.
- 21 – A. L. Barker, 83, British author.
- 21 – Trevor Hampton, 89, British diver.
- 21 – John Thaw, 60, British actor, most famous for the detective series Morse and The Sweeney, cancer.
- 22 – Sir Roden Cutler, 85, Australian diplomat.
- 22 – Sir Raymond Firth, 100, British anthropologist.
- 22 – David James, 80, Welsh cricketer.
- 22 – Chuck Jones, 89, American animator, creator of Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, heart failure.
- 22 – Brendan O'Dowda, 76, Irish tenor.
- 22 – Jonas Savimbi, 67, Angolan revolutionary, leader of UNITA, multiple gunshot wounds.
- 24 – Martin Esslin, 83, writer and drama producer.
- 24 – David Hawkins, 88, American philosopher.
- 24 – Leo Ornstein, 109, radical composer/pianist.
- 25 – Afaq Hussain, 62, Pakistani cricketer.
- 27 – Spike Milligan, 83, Irish actor, comedian and writer.
- 28 – Mary Stuart, 75, soap opera actress best known for her 35-year starring role on Search for Tomorrow.
- 28 – John Russell Taylor, 84, Canadian politician.
March 2002
- 1 – David Mann, 85, American songwriter.
- 1 – Roger Plumpton Wilson, 96, British Anglican prelate.
- 3 – G. M. C. Balayogi, 61, Indian lawyer and politician.
- 3 – Calvin Carrière, 80, American fiddler.
- 3 – Al Pollard, 73, NFL player and broadcaster, lymphoma. [1]
- 3 – Roy Porter, 55, British historian.
- 6 – Bryan Fogarty, 32, Canadian ice hockey player.
- 6 – David Jenkins, 89, Welsh librarian.
- 6 – Donald Wilson, 91, British television writer and producer.
- 7 – Franziska Rochat-Moser, 35, Swiss marathon runner.
- 8 – Bill Johnson, 85, American football player.
- 11 – Rudolf Hell, 100, German inventor and manufacturer.
- 13 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, 102, German philosopher.
- 14 – Cherry Wilder, 71, New Zealand writer.
- 14 – Tan Yu, 75, Filipino entrepreneur.
- 15 – Sylvester Weaver, 93, American advertising executive, father of Sigourney Weaver.
- 16 – Sir Marcus Fox, 74, British politician.
- 17 – Rosetta LeNoire, 90, African-American stage and television actress.
- 17 – Bill Davis, 60, American football coach.
- 18 – Reginald Covill, 96, British cricketer.
- 18 – Maude Farris-Luse, 115, supercentenarian and one-time "Oldest Recognized Person in the World".
- 18 – Gösta Winbergh, 58, Swedish operatic tenor.
- 20 – John E. Gray, 95, American educational administrator, President of Lamar University.
- 20 – Ivan Novikoff, 102, Russian premier ballet master.
- 20 – Richard Robinson, 51, English cricketer.
- 21 – James F. Blake, 89, American bus driver, antagonist for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 22 – Sir Kingsford Dibela, 70, Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.
- 23 – Ben Hollioake, 24, English cricketer.
- 24 – Dorothy DeLay, 84, American violin instructor.
- 24 – César Milstein, 74, Argentinian biochemist.
- 24 – Frank G. White, 92, American army general.
- 25 – Ken Traill, 75, British rugby league player.
- 25 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, 81, British football commentator.
- 26 – Roy Calvert, 88, New Zealand WWII air force officer.
- 27 – Milton Berle, 93, American comedian dubbed "Mr. Television".
- 27 – Sir Louis Matheson, 90, British university administrator, Vice Chancellor of Monash University.
- 27 – Dudley Moore, 66, British actor and writer.
- 27 – Billy Wilder, 95, Austrian-born American film director (Double Indemnity).
- 28 – Tikka Khan, 86, Pakistani army general.
- 29 – Rico Yan, 27, Filipino movie & TV actor.
- 30 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 101, British consort of King George VI; mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
- 31 – Lady Anne Brewis, 91, English botanist.
- 31 – Barry Took, 73, British comedian and writer.
April 2002
- 1 – Umer Rashid, 26, English cricketer, drowning.
- 1 – John S. Samuel, 88, American Air Force general.
- 2 – John R. Pierce, 92, American engineer and author.
- 2 – Robert Lawson Vaught, 75, American mathematician.
- 4 – Don Allard, 66, American football player (New York Titans, New England Patriots) and coach.
- 5 – Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough, 89, British aristocrat.
- 5 – Layne Staley, 34, former Alice in Chains lead singer.
- 6 – Nobu McCarthy, 67, Canadian actress.
- 6 – Margaret Wingfield, 90, British political activist.
- 7 – John Agar, 82, American actor.
- 8 – María Félix, 88, Mexican film star.
- 8 – Helen Gilbert, 80 American artist.
- 9 – Leopold Vietoris, 110, Austrian mathematician.
- 10 – Géza Hofi, 75 Hungarian humorist.
- 11 – J. William Stanton, 78, American politician.
- 14 – Buck Baker, 83, American member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame
- 14 – John Boda, 79, American composer and music professor.
- 14 – Sir Michael Kerr, 81, British jurist.
- 15 – Will Reed, 91, British composer.
- 15 – Byron White, 84, United States Supreme Court justice.
- 16 – Franz Krienbühl, 73, Swiss speed skater.
- 16 – Robert Urich, 55, American TV actor.
- 17 – Richard Green, 21, Canadian soldier.
- 18 – Thor Heyerdahl, 87, Norwegian anthropologist.
- 18 – Cy Laurie, 75, British musician.
- 18 – Nathan Lloyd Smith, 26, Canadian soldier.
- 20 – Vlastimil Brodský, 81, Czech actor.
- 21 – Terry Walsh, 62, British stuntman.
- 22 – Albrecht Becker, 95, German production designer and actor.
- 22 – Allen Morris, 92, American historian.
- 23 – Linda Lovelace, 53, former porn star turned political activist, car crash.
- 23 – Ted Kroll, 82, American golfer.
- 25 – Lisa Lopes, 30, American singer, car crash.
- 25 – Indra Devi, 102, "yoga teacher to the stars".
- 26 – Alton Coleman, 46, convicted spree killer, execution by lethal injection.
- 27 – Ruth Handler, 85, inventor of the Barbie doll.
- 27 – Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, 81, German Industrialist and art collector.
- 28 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician.
- 28 – Sir Peter Parker, 77, British businessman.
- 28 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler.
- 28 – John Wilkinson, 82, American sound engineer.
- 29 – Liam O'Sullivan, Scottish footballer, drugs overdose. [2]
May 2002
- 1 – John Nathan-Turner, 54, British television producer.
- 2 – William Thomas Tutte, 84, Bletchley Park cryptographer and British, later Canadian, mathematician.
- 3 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, 91, British Labour politician and female life peer.
- 3 – Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, 73, president of Somaliland and formerly prime minister of Somalia and British Somaliland.
- 3 – Mohan Singh Oberoi, 103, Indian hotelier and retailer.
- 4 – Abu Turab al-Zahiri, 79, Saudi Arabian writer of Arab Indian descent
- 5 – Sir Clarence Seignoret 83, president of Dominica (1983–1993).
- 5 – Hugo Banzer Suárez, 75, president of Bolivia, as dictator 1971-1978 and democratic president 1997-2001.
- 5 – Mike Todd, Jr., 72, American film producer.
- 6 – Otis Blackwell, 71, American singer-songwriter and pianist.
- 6 – Pim Fortuyn, 54, assassinated Dutch politician.
- 7 – Sir Bernard Burrows, 91, British diplomat.
- 7 – Sir Ewart Jones, 91, Welsh chemist.
- 7 – Seattle Slew, 28, last living triple crown winner on 25th anniversary of winning Kentucky Derby.
- 8 – Sir Edward Jackson, 76, English diplomat.
- 9 – Robert Layton, 76, Canadian politician.
- 9 – James Simpson, 90, British explorer.
- 10 – Lynda Lyon Block, 54, convicted murderer, executed by electric chair in Alabama.
- 10 – John Cunniff, 57, American hockey player and coach.
- 10 – Henry W. Hofstetter, 87, American optometrist.
- 10 – Leslie Dale Martin, 35, convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in Louisiana.
- 10 – Tom Moore, 88, American athletics promoter.
- 11 – Joseph Bonanno, 97, Sicilian former Mafia boss.
- 12 – Richard Chorley, 74, English geographer.
- 13 – Morihiro Saito, 74, a teacher of the Japanese martial art of aikido.
- 13 – Ruth Cracknell, 76, redoubtable Australian actress most famous for the long-running role of Maggie Beare in the series "Mother and Son".
- 13 – Valery Lobanovsky, 63, former Ukrainian coach.
- 14 – Sir Derek Birley, 75, British educationist and writer.
- 15 – Bernard Benjamin, 92, British statistician.
- 15 – Bryan Pringle, 67, British actor.
- 15 – Nellie Shabalala, 49, South African singer and wife of leader/founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Joseph Shabalala.
- 16 – Edwin Alonzo Boyd, 88, Canadian bank-robber and prison escapee of the 1950s.
- 16 – Alec Campbell, 103, Australia's last surviving ANZAC died in a nursing home.
- 16 – Dorothy Van, 74, American actress.
- 17 – Joe Black, 78, American first Black baseball pitcher to win a World Series game.
- 17 – Earl Hammond, 80, American voice actor best known for voicing Mumm Ra and Jaga in the television series Thundercats.
- 17 – Bobby Robinson, 98, American baseball player.
- 17 – Little Johnny Taylor, 59, American singer.
- 18 – Davey Boy Smith, 39, 'British Bulldog' professional wrestler.
- 18 – Gordon Wharmby, 68, British actor (Last of the Summer Wine)
- 19 – John Gorton, 90, 19th Prime Minister of Australia.
- 19 – Otar Lordkipanidze, 72, Georgian archaeologist.
- 20 – Stephen Jay Gould, 60, paleontologist and popular science author.
- 21 – Niki de Saint Phalle, 71, French artist.
- 21 – Roy Paul, 82, Welsh footballer.
- 22 – Dick Hern, 81, British racehorse trainer.
- 22 – (remains discovered; actual death probably took place on or around May 1, 2001), Chandra Levy, 24, U.S. Congressional intern.
- 22 – Creighton Miller, 79, American football player and attorney.
- 23 – Sam Snead, 89, golfer.
- 25 – Pat Coombs, 75, English actress.
- 25 – Jack Pollard, 75, Australian sports journalist.
- 26 – John Alexander Moore, 86, American biologist.
- 26 – Mamo Wolde, 69, Ethiopian marathon runner.
- 28 – Napoleon Beazley, 25, convicted juvenile offender, executed by lethal injection in Texas.
- 28 – Mildred Benson, 96, American children's author.
June 2002
- 1 – Hansie Cronje, 32, South African cricketer, air crash.
- 4 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, 89, democratic president of Peru, 1963–1968 and 1980–1985.
- 4 – John W. Cunningham, 86, American author.
- 4 – Caroline Knapp, 42, author of Drinking: A Love Story.
- 5 – Dee Dee Ramone, 50, founding member of The Ramones.
- 5 – Alex Watson, 70, Australian rugby league player.
- 6 – Peter Cowan, 87, Australian writer.
- 6 – Hans Janmaat, 67, controversial far-right politician in the Netherlands.
- 7 – Rodney Hilton, 85, British historian.
- 7 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy, 85, British-born Belgian royal.
- 8 – George Mudie, 86, Jamaican cricketer.
- 9 – Paul Chubb, 53, Australian actor.
- 10 – John Gotti, 61, imprisoned mobster.
- 11 – Robbin Crosby, 42, guitarist of rock band Ratt.
- 11 – Margaret E. Lynn, 78, American theater director.
- 11 – Robert Roswell Palmer, 93, American historian and writer.
- 12 – Bill Blass, 79, fashion designer.
- 13 – John Hope, 83, American meteorologist.
- 14 – Jose Bonilla, 34, boxing former world champion, of asthma.
- 14 – June Jordan, 65, American writer and teacher, of breast cancer.
- 15 – Said Belqola, 45, Moroccan referee of the 1998 FIFA World Cup final.
- 17 – Willie Davenport, 59, American gold medal-winning Olympic hurdler.
- 17 – John C. Davies II, 82, American politician.
- 17 – Fritz Walter, 81, football player, captain of 1954 World Cup winners.
- 18 – Nancy Addison, 54, soap actress, cancer.
- 18 – Jack Buck, 77, Major League Baseball announcer.
- 18 – Michael Coulson, 74, British lawyer and politician.
- 19 – Count Flemming Valdemar of Rosenborg, 80, Danish prince.
- 21 – Henry Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel, 80, British jurist.
- 21 – Patrick Kelly, 73, English cricketer.
- 22 – David O. Cooke, 81, American Department of Defense official.
- 22 – Darryl Kile, 33, Major League Baseball player.
- 22 – Ann Landers, 83, author & syndicated newspaper columnist.
- 23 – Pedro "El Rockero" Alcazar, 26, Panamanian boxer; died after losing his world Flyweight championship to Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas the night before.
- 23 – Arnold Weinstock, 77, British businessman.
- 24 – Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 86, 17th Duke of Norfolk.
- 24 – Pierre Werner, 88, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, "father of the Euro".
- 25 – Gordon Park Baker, 64, Anglo-American philosopher.
- 25 – Jean Corbeil, 68, Canadian politician.
- 26 – Barbara G. Adams, 57, British Egyptologist.
- 26 – Clarence D. Bell, 88, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.
- 26 – Jay Berwanger, 88, college football player, first winner of the Heisman Trophy.
- 26 – Arnold Brown, 88, British General of the Salvation Army.
- 26 – James Morgan, 63, British journalist.
- 27 – John Entwistle, 57, English bassist (The Who), heart attack.
- 27 – Russ Freeman, 76, American pianist.
- 27 – Robert L. J. Long, 82, American admiral.
- 27 – Jack Webster, 78, Canadian police officer.
- 28 – Arthur "Spud" Melin, responsible for marketing hula-hoop and frisbee.
- 29 – Rosemary Clooney, 74, singer.
- 29 – Jan Tomasz Zamoyski, 90, Polish politician.
- 30 – Pete Gray, 87, American one-armed baseball player.
- 30 – Dave Wilson, 70, American television director.
July 2002
- 3 – Michel Henry, 80, French philosopher.
- 4 – Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, 90, American physicist.
- 4 – Sir Jake Saunders, 84, British banker.
- 4 – Winnifred Van Tongerloo, 98, oldest living survivor of the Titanic.
- 4 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., 89, African-American General.
- 5 – Ted Williams, 83, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame.
- 5 – Katy Jurado, 68, Mexican actress who was once married to Ernest Borgnine.
- 6 – Dhirubhai Ambani, 69, Indian businessman.
- 6 – Stuart Shorter, 33, homeless activist.
- 6 – John Frankenheimer, 74, film director.
- 7 – Decherd Turner, 79, American librarian and book collector.
- 8 – Sir Robert Bellinger, 92, former Lord Mayor of London.
- 8 – Ward Kimball, 88, Disney animator.
- 8 – Patrick Rodger, 81, British Anglican prelate, former Bishop of Oxford.
- 9 – Laurence Janifer, 69, science fiction writer.
- 9 – William Robinson, 85, Canadian Anglican prelate, Bishop of Ottawa.
- 9 – Ron Scarlett, 91, New Zealand paleozoologist.
- 9 – Dave Sorenson, 54, former NBA and Ohio State University basketball player.
- 9 – Rod Steiger, 77, American actor, kidney failure.
- 10 – John Wallach, 59, journalist and philanthropist.
- 11 – Roy Orrock, 81, British World War II pilot.
- 12 – Edward Lee Howard, 51, American CIA agent who defected to the Soviet Union.
- 13 – Yousuf Karsh, 93, celebrity portrait photographer as "Karsh of Ottawa".
- 13 – Eric Price, 83, English cricketer.
- 14 – Joaquín Balaguer, 95, former President of the Dominican Republic.
- 15 – Gavin Muir, 50. British actor and musician.
- 15 – Camillus Perera, 64, Sri Lankan cricket umpire.
- 16 – Alan Charles Clark, 82, British Roman Catholic prelate.
- 16 – John Cocke, 77, key figure in the development of RISC architecture.
- 16 – Jack Olsen, 77, "True crime" writer.
- 17 – Charles I. Krause, 90, American labor leader.
- 18 - Metin Toker, 78, Turkish journalist and one time politician
- 19 – Dave Carter, 49, American singer-songwriter.
- 19 – Alexander Ginzburg, 65, leading Soviet dissident.
- 19 – Alan Lomax, documenter of blues and folk songs.
- 21 – John Cunningham, 84, British World War II fighter pilot.
- 21 – Antti Koivumäki, 25, Finnish poet and keyboardist (Aavikko)
- 22 – Joyce Cooper, 93, British Olympic swimmer.
- 22 – Marion Montgomery, 67, American jazz singer.
- 22 – Prince Ahmed bin Salman, member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem.
- 22 – Chuck Traynor, 64, American pornographer.
- 23 – Bill Bell, 70, New Zealand cricketer.
- 23 – Alberto Castillo, 87, Argentine tango singer and actor.
- 23 – Leo McKern, 82, Australian actor best known for playing Rumpole of the Bailey and one of the Number Twos in The Prisoner.
- 23 – William Pierce, American neo-Nazi, author of The Turner Diaries.
- 23 – Chaim Potok, 73, American author.
- 24 – Maurice Denham, 92, British actor.
- 24 – Mike Clark, 61, former NFL kicker.
- 25 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher.
- 27 – Krishan Kant, 75, Indian politician, Vice-President (1997–2002).
- 29 – Peter Bayliss, 80, British actor.
- 30 – Fred Jordan, 80, British folk singer.
- 31 – Pauline Chan Bo-Lin, 29, Hong Kong actress, suicide.
August 2002
- 1 – Theo Bruce, 79, Australian long jumper.
- 1 – Jack Tighe, 88, American baseball coach.
- 3 – Kathleen Hughes-Hallett, 84, Canadian Olympic fencer.
- 3 – Peter Miles, 64, American actor.
- 3 – Carmen Silvera, 80, UK television and theatre actress (Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!).
- 5 – Josh Ryan Evans, 20, American actor ("Timmy" on Passions).
- 5 – Chick Hearn, 85, television and radio announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team since 1960.
- 5 – Franco Lucentini, 82, Italian writer (The Sunday Woman).
- 5 – Darrell Porter, 50, American baseball player.
- 6 – Jim Crawford, 54, Scottish motor racing driver.
- 6 – Edsger Dijkstra, 72, computer scientist.
- 7 – Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, 100, British aristocrat.
- 9 – George Alfred Barnard, 86, British statistician.
- 10 – Doris Wishman, 90, cult movie director.
- 12 – Enos Slaughter, 86, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame.
- 12 – Marjorie Williamson, 89, university administrator.
- 14 – Peter R. Hunt, 77, British film editor.
- 14 – Larry Rivers, 78, American painter.
- 14 – Dave Williams, 30, singer of Drowning Pool.
- 15 – Jesse Brown, 58, former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
- 16 – Ola Belle Reed, 85, American singer.
- 18 – Edward Crew, 84, British air marshal.
- 18 – David Keynes Hill, 87, British biophysicist.
- 19 – Abu Nidal, 65, terrorist.
- 19 – Sunday Silence, 16, thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
- 20 – Augustine Geve, Solomon Islands Cabinet Minister, assassinated.
- 22 – Allan George Bromley, 55, computer scientist, historian of computing.
- 22 – Bruce Duncan Guimaraens, 66, Portuguese wine maker.
- 23 – Hoyt Wilhelm, 80, American baseball player who played for nine different teams and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame.
- 24 – Wayne Simmons, 32, American Football player.
- 25 – Dorothy Hewett, 79, Australian poet, playwright and novelist.
- 27 – Edwin Sill Fussell, 80, American scholar of English literature.
- 27 – George Mitchell, 85, Scottish musician (The Black and White Minstrel Show).
- 27 – John S. Wilson, 89, American music critic.
- 29 – Paul Tripp, 91, American musician and TV host.
- 30 – Thomas J. Anderson, 91, American publisher and politician.
- 30 – Maia Berzina, 91, Russian geographer, cartographer and ethnologer.
- 31 – Lionel Hampton, 94, jazz musician.
- 31 – George Porter, 81, British Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.
September 2002
- 1 – Peter Ramsden, 68, British rugby league player.
- 2 – Sir Robert Wilson, 75, British astronomer.
- 3 – Ted Ross, 68, American actor.
- 3 – Len Wilkinson, 85, British cricketer.
- 4 – Frankie Albert, 82, National Football League star.
- 5 – Robert W. Brooks, 49, American mathematician.
- 5 – Cliff Gorman, 65, American actor.
- 5 – David Todd Wilkinson, 67, American cosmologist.
- 7 – Uziel Gal, 78, designer of the Uzi submachine gun.
- 7 – Don Smith, 73, Canadian ice hockey player.
- 8 – Marco Siffredi, 23, Snowborder.
- 9 – Geoffrey Dummer, 92, British engineer.
- 11 – Johnny Unitas, 69, American football player (Baltimore Colts) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- 12 – Kim Hunter, 79, American stage, television and Oscar-winning film actress (played "Stella Kowalski" in the original Broadway and film versions of A Streetcar Named Desire).
- 13 – Charles Herbert Lowe, 82, American biologist.
- 13 – George Stanley, 95, Canadian historian and public servant.
- 14 – Paul Williams, 87, American saxophonist.
- 15 – Robert William Pope, 86, British Anglican prelate, Dean of Gibraltar.
- 16 – Archibald Hall, 78, British criminal.
- 17 – Denys Fisher, 84, British inventor of the Spirograph.
- 18 – Bob Hayes, 59, American football player Dallas Cowboys and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- 19 – Sergei Bodrov Jr., 30, Russian movie star.
- 19 – James Macdonald, 83, Scottish-born Australian ornithologist.
- 20 – Necdet Kent, 91, Turkish diplomat and humanitarian.
- 20 – Bob Wallace, 53, American computer scientist.
- 21 – Henry Pybus Bell-Irving, 89, Canadian Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
- 21 – Angelo Buono, Jr., 67, the "Hillside Strangler".
- 21 – Robert L. Forward, 70, physicist and science fiction author.
- 22 – Joseph Nathan Kane, 103, American historian and author.
- 22 – Jan de Hartog, 88, novelist and playwright.
- 22 – Anthony Milner, 77, British musician.
- 23 – Vernon Corea, 75, Sri Lankan-born British radio broadcaster.
- 24 – Mike Webster, 50, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame).
- 24 – George Wilson, 86, British cricketer.
- 25 – Arnold Ross, 96, American mathematician.
- 26 – Thomas S. Smith, 84, American politician, member of the New Jersey General Assembly.
- 27 – David Granger, 99, American bobsledder.
- 27 – Bill Pearson, 80, New Zealand writer.
- 30 – Robert Battersby, 77, British soldier and politician.
- 30 – Arthur Hazlerigg, 2nd Baron Hazlerigg, 92, British cricketer and soldier.
- 30 – Meinhard Michael Moser, 78, Swiss mycologist.
- 30 – Ewart Oakeshott, 86, British illustrator.
October 2002
- 1 – Walter Annenberg, 94, publisher and philanthropist.
- 1 – Ted Serong, 86, Australian soldier.
- 2 – Norman O. Brown, 89, American classicist.
- 2 – Heinz von Foerster, 90, physicist and philosopher, one of the founders of constructivism.
- 2 – Alexander Sinclair, 91, Canadian ice hockey player.
- 3 – John Erritt, 71, British civil servant.
- 3 – Bruce Paltrow, 58, television and film producer, father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow with Blythe Danner.
- 4 – Alphonse Chapanis, a founder of ergonomics.
- 4 – Barbara Fawkes, 87, British nurse.
- 4 – Ahmad Mahmoud, 70, Iranian novelist.
- 5 – Morag Hood, 59, Scottish actress.
- 6 – Claus von Amsberg, 76, diplomat; husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
- 8 – Phyllis Calvert, 87, British actress.
- 9 – Jim Martin, 78, American football player.
- 9 – Aileen Wuornos, 46, convicted of killing six men, lethal injection.
- 10 – Joe Wood, 86, American baseball player.
- 11 – William J. Field, 93, British politician.
- 12 – Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick, 89. British general.
- 12 – Audrey Mestre, 28, French world record-setting free diver.
- 12 – Nozomi Momoi, 24, Japanese AV idol.
- 12 – Sidney W. Pink, 86, American movie director and producer.
- 13 – Stephen Ambrose, 66, historian and author of "Band of Brothers".
- 13 – Keene Curtis, 79, American actor.
- 13 – Jim Higgins, 71, British politician.
- 14 – S. William Green, 72, American politician.
- 15 – Jack Lee, 89, British film director.
- 16 – William Macmillan, 75, Scottish minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
- 17 – Derek Bell, 66, member of The Chieftains, harpist.
- 17 – Henri Renaud, 67, French jazz pianist and record company executive.
- 18 – Sir Cecil Blacker, 86, British army general.
- 18 – Roman Tam, 52, Hong Kong canto-pop singer.
- 19 – Manuel Alvarez Bravo, 100, pre-eminent Mexican photographer.
- 20 – Barbara Berjer, 82, soap opera actress for over thirty years.
- 20 – Elisabeth Furse, 92, German-born British war-time agent.
- 21 – Beatrice Serota, Baroness Serota, 83, British politician.
- 22 – Richard Helms, 89, former CIA director.
- 23 – David Henry Lewis, 85, New Zealand sailor and adventurer.
- 24 – Winton M. Blount, 81, last United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet.
- 24 – Adolph Green, 87, American lyricist and playwright.
- 24 – Harry Hay, 90, American gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder.
- 25 – Richard Harris, 72, Irish actor & singer, Hodgkin's disease.
- 25 – René Thom, 79, French mathematician.
- 25 – Paul Wellstone, 58, United States Senator.
- 28 – Margaret Booth, 104, Academy Award-winning film editor.
- 28 – Erling Persson, 85, Swedish businessman, founder of H&M.
- 28 – Sir Patrick Russell, 76, British jurist.
- 29 – Chang-Lin Tien, educator, 7th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.
- 29 – Richard Jenkin, 77, Cornish nationalist politician.
- 29 – Glenn McQueen, 41, Canadian film animator.
- 30 – Jam Master Jay, 37, DJ of Run DMC, murdered.
- 31 – Yuri Ahronovitch, 70, Russian conductor.
- 31 – Sir Napier Crookenden, 87, British Army general.
- 31 – Baroness Hylton-Foster, 94, British peer.
November 2002
- 1 – Edward Brooke, 85, Canadian Olympic fencer.
- 1 – Sir Charles Wilson, 93, British political scientist.
- 2 – Brian Behan, 75, Irish writer, younger brother of Brendan Behan.
- 2 – Lo Lieh, 63, Hong King actor.
- 2 – Dame Felicity Peake, 89, British Director of the Women's Royal Air Force.
- 2 – Tonio Selwart, 106, Bavarian actor and Broadway performer.
- 2 – Charles Sheffield, 67, science fiction author and physicist.
- 3 – Jonathan Harris, 87, TV's "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space.
- 3 – Lonnie Donegan, 71, skiffle musician.
- 3 – William Packard, 69, American poet and author.
- 4 – Antonio Margheriti, 72, Italian filmmaker, heart attack.
- 5 – Billy Guy, 66, American singer.
- 6 – Brian James, 61, English cricketer.
- 6 – Sid Sackson, 82, board game designer.
- 7 – Rudolf Augstein, 79, founder and chief editorialist of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel.
- 8 – Dorothy Mackie Low, 86, British novelist.
- 9 – Dick Johnson, 85, American test pilot.
- 9 – Merlin Santana, 26, actor.
- 9 – William Schutz, 76, American psychologist.
- 10 – Steve Durbano, 50, ice hockey player, lung cancer.
- 11 – David Steel, 92, Scottish minister.
- 13 – Irv Rubin, 57, Canadian chairman of the Jewish Defence League.
- 14 – Eddie Bracken, 87, actor.
- 14 – Mir Qazi, 38, Pakistani convicted criminal, executed by lethal injection in Virginia.
- 15 – Myra Hindley, 60, the Moors murderess.
- 15 – John Joseph Stewart,79, New Zealand rugby coach.
- 16 – Rupert E. Billingham, 81, British biologist.
- 16 – Sir George Gardiner, 67, British politician.
- 17 – Abba Eban, 88, Israeli foreign affair minister.
- 18 – James Coburn, 74, Oscar-winning actor, heart attack.
- 19 – Prince Alexandre de Merode, 68, International Olympic Committee member, lung cancer.
- 19 – George Fullerton, 79, South African cricketer.
- 20 – George Guest, 78, British organist and choirmaster.
- 20 – Ben Webb, 45, Canadian journalist.
- 20 – Zhang Shuguang, 82, Chinese politician
- 21 – Prince Takamado, 47, Japanese prince
- 21 – Hadda Brooks, 86, American jazz singer, pianist and composer.
- 21 – Arturo Guzman Decena founder of Los Zetas
- 21 – J. Roger Pichette, 81, Canadian politician.
- 22 – Joan Barclay, 88, American actress.
- 22 – Christine Marion Fraser, 64, Scottish novelist.
- 23 – Roberto Matta, 91 Chilean artist.
- 24 – John Rawls, 81, political theorist.
- 25 – Gordon Davidson, 87, Australian politician.
- 25 – David Drummond, 8th Earl of Perth, 95, British politician and aristocrat.
- 26 – Verne Winchell, 87, founder of Winchell's Donuts (nicknamed "The Donut King").
- 27 – Stanley Black, 89, British musician.
- 27 – Ronald Gerard Connors, 87, American Roman Catholic bishop in the Dominican Republic.
- 28 – Billy Pearson, 82, American jockey.
- 29 – David Weiss, 93, American novelist.
- 30 – Tim Woods, 68, professional wrestler who wrestled as Mr. Wrestling, heart attack.
December 2002
- 1 – Michael Oliver, 65, British classical music broadcaster and writer.
- 2 – Derek Robinson, 61, British nuclear physicist.
- 2 – Fay Gillis Wells, 94, American pioneer aviator.
- 3 – Glenn Quinn, 32, Irish actor (Roseanne, Angel).
- 5 – Roone Arledge, 71, Creator of Monday Night Football and Nightline.
- 5 – Ne Win, 91, Burmese dictator.
- 6 – Father Philip Berrigan, 79, priest, political activist, cancer.
- 6 – Charles Rosen, 85, pioneer in artificial intelligence.
- 7 – Barbara Howard, 76, Canadian artist.
- 7 – Paddy Tunney, 81, Irish traditional artist.
- 8 – Charles Rosen, 85, American computer scientist.
- 9 – Stan Rice, 60, painter, educator, poet, husband of author Anne Rice, cancer.
- 9 – To Huu, 82, Vietnamese poet and politician.
- 10 – Desmond Keith Carter, 35, convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in North Carolina.
- 10 – Earl Henry, 85, American baseball player.
- 10 – Andres Küng, 57, Swedish journalist, writer, entrepreneur and politician of Estonian origin.
- 10 – Steve Llewellyn, 78, Welsh rugby league player.
- 10 – Ian MacNaughton, 76, director of most episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
- 11 – Kay Rose, 80, American Oscar-winning sound editor.
- 12 – Dee Brown, 94, author (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee).
- 12 – Edward Harrison, 92, English cricketer and squash player.
- 12 – Jay Wesley Neill, 37. convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma.
- 13 – Zal Yanofsky, 57, member of The Lovin' Spoonful music group.
- 14 – Jack Bradley, 86, English footballer.
- 15 – Arthur Jeph Parker, 79, American set decorator.
- 17 – John Aubrey Davis, Sr., 90, American civil rights activist.
- 17 – Hank Luisetti, 86, basketball star and innovator.
- 18 – Ramon John Hnatyshyn, 68, former Governor-General of Canada, pancreatitis.
- 18 – Sir Bert Millichip, 88, British football administrator.
- 18 – Wayne Owens, 65, former U.S. Congressman (D-UT), heart attack.
- 19 – Guy Bordelon, 80, American Korean War flying ace.
- 19 – Stephen Fleck, 90, American psychiatrist.
- 19 – Arthur Rowley, 76, English footballer, holder of the record for most career league goals scored.
- 20 – Joanne Campbell, 38, British actress who starred in the comedy series, Me and My Girl (1980s).
- 20 – James Richard Ham, 91, American Roman Catholic prelate.
- 22 – Desmond Hoyte, 73, President of Guyana from 1985 to 1992.
- 22 – Joe Morgan, 57, New Zealand rugby union player.
- 22 – Joe Strummer, 50, former singer for The Clash.
- 22 – Kenneth Tobey, 85, prolific character actor (appeared in about 100 films including: Twelve O'Clock High, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Thing from Another World and Airplane!).
- 23 – Jimmy Osborne, 94, Australian soccer player.
- 24 – James Ferman, 72, American film censor.
- 24 – Tita Merello, 98, Argentinian actress and singer.
- 24 – V.K. Ramasamy, 76, Indian actor.
- 24 – Jake Thackray, 64, English singer-songwriter, heart failure.
- 25 – Gabriel Almond, 91, American political scientist.
- 25 – William T. Orr, 85, television executive (brought Maverick, F-Troop and 77 Sunset Strip to TV).
- 25 – Davina Whitehouse, 90, British-born New Zealand actress.
- 26 – Herb Ritts, 50, celebrity photographer.
- 26 – Armand Zildjian, 81, cymbals manufacturer.
- 27 – George Roy Hill, 81, film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting).
- 28 – Meri Wilson, 53, American singer.
- 29 – Don Clarke, 69, New Zealand rugby player.
- 30 – Mary Wesley, 90, novelist, author of The Camomile Lawn.
- 31 – Billy Morris, 84, Welsh footballer.
- 31 – Kevin MacMichael, 51, Canadian guitarist and singer-songwriter (Cutting Crew).