- Aug 1 John Ogdon, English pianist/composer, dies at 52
- Aug 2 Helmer-Rayner Sinisalo, Karelian-Soviet composer (Sampo), and educator, dies at 69
- Aug 3 Antonia Brico, Dutch-American conductor and pianist, dies at 87
- Aug 7 Mickey Leland, American politician (Rep-D-Texas 1979-89), dies with 15 others in plane crash in Ethiopia at 44
- Aug 8 Irv Cottler, American session and touring drummer (Frank Sinatra; Dinah Shore), dies of a heart attack at 71
- Aug 11 John Meillon, Australian actor (Wild Duck, Crocodile Dundee), dies of cirrhosis at 55
- Aug 12 Samuel Okwaraji, Nigerian footballer (b. 1964)
William Shockley (1910-1989)
Aug 12 American physicist who helped invent the transistor (1956 Nobel), who was also known for his racist eugenics views, dies of prostate cancer at 79
- Aug 13 Larkin Smith, American politician (Rep-R-Mississippi 1989), dies in a plane crash at 45
- Aug 13 Tim Richmond, American race car driver (won 13 NASCAR races), dies of AIDS at 34
- Aug 15 Fritz de Jong Edz, Dutch historian (director of IISG), dies at 70
- Aug 16 Amanda Blake [Beverly Louise Neill], American actress (Gunsmoke), dies at 60
- Aug 17 Harry Corbett, English puppeteer (Sooty), TV presenter and magician, dies at 71
- Aug 18 Bert Oosterbosch, Dutch cyclist, dies at 32
- Aug 18 Imry Németh, Hungarian athlete (Olympic gold hammer throw 1948, bronze 1952; WR 1959 59.88m), dies at 72
- Aug 18 Luis Carlos Galan, Colombian presidential candidate, murdered
- Aug 20 George Adamson [Baba ya Simba - "Father of Lions"], British conservationist (Born Free), murdered in Kenya at 82
- Aug 21 Raul Seixas, Brazilian rock singer-songwriter ("Mosca na Sopa" - "Fly In The Soup"), dies of pancreatitis at 44
- Aug 22 Diana Vreeland, French-American fashion editor (Harper's Bazaar, Vogue), dies at 85
Huey P. Newton (1942-1989)
Aug 22 African-American activist, revolutionary and co-founder of the Black Panther Party, shot and murdered by Tyrone Robinson in the streets of Lower Bottoms, Oakland, California at 47
- Aug 22 Johannes "Jan" Teulings, Dutch actor (Lentelied, The Three Wishes), dies of natural causes at 84
- Aug 22 Robert Grondelaers, Belgian cyclist (b. 1933)
- Aug 23 Helen le Clerq, Dutch dancer and choreographer, dies at 57
- Aug 23 Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (b. 1944)
- Aug 23 R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist (anti-psychiatry), and writer (The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise), dies of a heart attack at 61
- Aug 23 Yusef Hawkins, shot by 30 whites in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY in a racially motivated attack
- Aug 25 Gunnar Johnsen Berg, Swiss-Danish composer (Cosmogonie), dies at 80
- Aug 25 Roman Palester, Polish composer (The Weichsel), dies at 81
- Aug 26 Henk Heidweiler, Suriname politician and diplomat (Ambassador to United Nations, 1968-75; Ambassador to United States, 1981-84; Ambassador to Netherlands, 1984-85), dies at 60
- Aug 26 Henk Heidweiller, Suriname politician, dies (b. 1929)
- Aug 26 Irving Stone, American writer (Love is Eternal, Lust for Life), dies at 86
- Aug 28 Joseph Alsop, American political newspaper columnist (Men Around the President), dies at 78
- Aug 29 Peter Scott, British naturalist and explorer, dies at 79
- Aug 30 Dorothy Schiff, American owner and publisher (NY Post), dies at 86
- Aug 30 Joe Collins, American baseball first baseman (World Series 1949–53, 56; New York Yankees), dies at 66
- Aug 30 Joe De Santis, American actor, dies at 80
- Aug 30 Seymour Krim, American journalist, essayist, and literary critic (b. 1922)
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide