- Dec 1 Gene Baker, American baseball infielder (MLB All-Star 1955; World Series 1960; Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 74
- Dec 1 William "Pop" Gates, American Basketball Hall of Fame guard and coach (Harlem Globetrotters "Legends" Ring 1995), dies at 82
- Dec 2 Charlie Byrd, American jazz and bossa nova guitarist (Desfinado), dies of lung cancer at 74
- Dec 2 Joey Adams [Joseph Abramowitz], American comedian, actor and columnist (ABC's Back That Fact), dies at 88
- Dec 3 "Scatman" John [Larkin], American jazz pianist and singer ("Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)"), dies of lung cancer at 57
- Dec 3 Conrad Hunte, Barbadian cricketer (great West Indian opener 1958-66), dies at 67
- Dec 3 Horst Mahseli, Polish soccer striker (9 caps; Legia Warsaw), dies at 65
- Dec 3 Jarl Wahlström, 12th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1918)
- Dec 3 John Archer [Ralph Bowman], American actor (Destination: Moon, White Heat, Blue Hawaii), dies of lung cancer at 84
- Dec 3 Madeline Kahn, American stage and screen actress (What's Up, Doc?; Young Frankenstein; Paper Moon; Blazing Saddles), and singer, dies of ovarian cancer at 57
- Dec 4 Rose Elizabeth Bird, California Supreme Court Justice (1977-87), dies at 63
- Dec 4 Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricket fast bowler (11 Tests, 42 wickets), dies from a heart attack at 44
- Dec 5 Robert Parris, American composer (Book of Imaginary Beings), dies at 75
- Dec 7 Hans Boswinkel, Dutch stage and screen actor (Surprise Attack; Tutorials in Love), theater director, and trade unionist, dies of lung cancer at 64
- Dec 8 Péter Kuczka, Hungarian writer (b. 1923)
Franjo Tuđman (1922-1999)
Dec 10 Croatian politician and President of Croatia (1990-1999), dies of stomach cancer at 77
- Dec 10 Lex Goudsmit, Dutch actor (Fiddler on the Roof, Thomas en Senior op het spoor van Brute Berend), dies at 86
- Dec 10 Rick Danko, Canadian rock bassist and singer (The Band - "Stagefright"), dies of heart failure at 55
- Dec 10 Shirley Hemphill, American actress (b. 1947)
- Dec 11 Charles Earland, American jazz Hammond organist, and bandleader, dies of heart failure at 58
- Dec 12 Joe Benner, American pistol shooter and coach (Olympic gold 1952; World C'ship gold 1949, 52, 54), dies at 82
- Dec 12 Joseph Heller, American author (Catch-22), dies at 76
- Dec 12 Leo Smit, American classical pianist, composer (The Alchemy of Love), teacher and photographer, dies of congestive heart failure at 78
- Dec 12 Paul Cadmus, American artist (The Fleet's In!), dies at 94
- Dec 13 Allen Breed, American inventor of the first automotive airbag sensor, dies of a heart attack while suffering from lung cancer, at 72
- Dec 14 Dave Shogren, American rock bassist (The Doobie Brothers, 1970-71), dies at 49
- Dec 15 George Elrick, Scottish-British singer ("I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones"), and broadcaster known as 'The Smiling Voice of Radio' (BBC's "Housewives' Choice"), dies at 95
- Dec 17 Grover Washington Jr., American jazz saxophonist ("Just The Two Of Us"; "Mr Magic"; "Let It Flow"), dies of a heart attack at 56
- Dec 17 Rex Allen, American singer-songwriter known as the "the Arizona Cowboy", and actor (Frontier Doctor - "Dr. Baxter"), dies at 78
- Dec 18 Robert Bresson, French film director (A Man Escaped, Balthazar, at Random), dies at 98
- Dec 18 Robert Dougall, English TV host and broadcaster, dies at 86
- Dec 19 Bal Dani, Indian cricket all-rounder (1 Test, 1 wicket; Maharashtra, Services), dies at 66
- Dec 19 Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (James Bond films, 1963-99), WWII army veteran and POW, dies in a car crash at 85
- Dec 20 Riccardo Freda, Italian film director and screenwriter (Theodora, Slave Empress), dies at 90
- Dec 20 [Clarence] Hank Snow, Canadian country singer ("I'm Moving On"; "I Went To Your Wedding"), dies of heart failure at 85
- Dec 21 John Arnatt, British actor (A Challenge for Robin Hood, Circumstantial Evidence), dies at 82
- Dec 23 Marcel Landowski, French composer (Un enfant appelle), dies at 84
- Dec 24 Bill Bowerman, American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, dies at 88
- Dec 24 João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- Dec 24 Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician, (Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of France 1968-9), dies at 92)
- Dec 24 Zeke Carey, American R&B singer (The Flamingos - "Goodnight Sweetheart"; "I Only Have Eyes For You"), dies of a heart attack at 66
- Dec 25 Peter Jeffrey, British character actor (Dr Phibes Rides Again, Twinsanity), dies at 70
Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999)
Dec 26 American singer-songwriter and soul musician ("Freddie's Dead"; "Superfly"), dies from complications of type 2 diabetes at 57
- Dec 26 Shankar Dayal Sharma, Indian politician and 9th President of India (1992-97), dies at 81
- Dec 27 Bernard Chacksfield, British Air Vice-Marshal, dies at 86
- Dec 28 Clayton Moore, American actor (The Lone Ranger), dies at 85
- Dec 29 Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)
- Dec 30 Donald Eugene Webb, American murderer (record length on FBI Most Wanted List), dies in hiding at 68
- Dec 30 Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer, dies at 90
- Dec 30 Sarah Knauss, American, once considered the world's oldest living person (b. 1880)
- Dec 31 Elliot Richardson, American attorney and administrator (Secretary of Defense, 1973; Attorney General, 1973; Ambassador to UK, 1975-76; Secretary of Commerce, 1976-77), and WWII veteran, dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 79
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide