Deaths Date 2008 | History by KabAstro

Deaths 1 - 200 of 681

Jan 4 Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist and newspaper editor (La Prensa; El Nuevo Diario), dies of heart disease at 75
Jan 5 Clinton Grybas, Australian sports commentator (b. 1975)
Jan 5 Irene Reid, American jazz singer ("I Must Be Doing Something Right"). dies at 77
Jan 5 Thomas Gray, English pioneering anaesthetist, dies at 94
Jan 7 Alwyn Schlebusch, South African vice state president (b. 1917)
Jan 8 Clyde Otis, American songwriter and music producer (b. c. 1924)
Jan 8 George Moore, Australian jockey (Epsom Derby 1967, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 1959, Prix du Jockey Club 1960, Irish 1000 Guineas 1959, 5 x Doomben 10,000, 3 x Sydney Cup), dies at 84
Jan 9 John Harvey-Jones, English businessman and chairman of ICI (1982-87), dies at 83
Jan 9 Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer, and "honorary mayor" of Hollywood, dies at 84
Jan 9 Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist (b. 1977)
Jan 9 William Quinn, Irish Republican Army soldier (b. 1950)
Jan 10 (Walter) "Pete" Candoli, American jazz, big band, and session trumpeter (Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; Henry Mancini; The Brothers Candoli), dies of prostate cancer at 84
Jan 10 Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (b. 1967)
Jan 10 Maila Nurmi [Syrjäniemi], Finnish-American actress (The Vampira Show), dies at 85
Jan 10 Mikhail Minin, Russian Soviet soldier (b. 1922)

Jan 11 Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)

Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)

Jan 11 New Zealand explorer and mountaineer who was 1st to scale Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay, dies from a heart attack at 88

Jan 13 Johnny Podres, American baseball player (b. 1932)
Jan 13 Sergei Larin, Lithuanian operatic tenor, dies at 51
Jan 14 Judah Folkman, American pediatric surgeon and cancer researcher (angiogenesis), dies of a heart attack at 74
Jan 15 Brad Renfro, American actor (The Client), dies of heroin overdose at 25
Jan 15 Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, English Game Designer (Zombies Ate My Neighbors), dies of cancer (b. 1964)
Jan 17 Allan Melvin, American character actor (Brady Bunch, All in Family), dies of cancer at 84

Bobby Fischer (1943-2008)

Jan 17 American chess player (world champion 1972-75), dies of renal failure at 64

Jan 17 Rod Allen [Bainbridge] British pop-rock singer and bassist (Fortunes - "You've Got Your Troubles"; "Here It Comes Again"), dies of cancer at 63
Jan 18 Frank Lewin, German-American composer and music theorist (Yale, 1971-92), dies at 82
Jan 18 Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman (co-owner Cleveland/Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams 1979–2008), dies at 80
Jan 18 John Stroger American politician (Cook County (Illinois) Board of Commissioners, 1970-2006), dies at 78
Jan 18 John Stroger, first African-American Cook County Board President (b. 1929)
Jan 19 Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster for CBC (b. 1936)
Jan 19 John Stewart, American pop-folk singer, guitsrist, banjo player (Kingston Trio, 1961-67), and songwriter ("Daydream Believer"), dies of a stroke at 68
Jan 19 Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (The Birds; The Bob Newhart Show - "Emily"), dies at 70
Jan 20 Louis de Cazenave, France's oldest living man (oldest survivor from WWI), dies at 110
Jan 20 Tālivaldis Ķeniņš, Latvian-Canadian composer, organist, and pedagogue, dies at 88
Jan 21 Marie Smith Jones, last native speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
Jan 21 Pam Barrett, Canadian politician (b. 1953)

Heath Ledger (1979-2008)

Jan 22 Australian-American Actor (Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight), dies of a drug overdose at 28

Jan 22 Miles Lerman, Polish-American activist (b. 1920)
Jan 22 Roberto Gari, American actor (b. 1920)
Jan 22 Ștefan Niculescu, Romanian composer, dies at 80
Jan 24 J. Robert Hooper, American politician, dies at 71
Jan 24 Randy Salerno, co-anchor of Chicago's CBS 2 News (b. 1963)
Jan 25 Christopher Allport, American actor (To Live and Die in L.A.), dies at 60
Jan 25 Evelyn Barbirolli, English musician (b. 1911)
Jan 26 Christian Brando, American actor and son of Marlon Brando, dies of pneumonia at 49
Jan 26 Viktor Schreckengost, American industrial designer, dies at 101
Jan 27 Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1995-2008), dies at 97
Jan 27 Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)

Suharto (1921-2008)

Jan 27 Indonesian army officer and 2nd President of Indonesia (1967-98), dies at 86

Jan 28 Bengt Lindström, Swedish artist, dies at 82
Jan 28 Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece (b. 1939)
Jan 29 Margaret Truman, American presidential daughter, singer and writer (Murder at FBI), dies at 83
Jan 29 Philippe Khorsand, French actor (b. 1948)
Jan 29 Raymond Jacobs, American Marine Corp sergeant (one of the WWII Iwo Jima flag planters), and news journalist, dies at 82
Jan 30 Gunnar Reynir Sveinsson, Icelandic classical, choral, and jazz composer (Samstæður; Fyrir þitt friðarorð - For Your Peace), dies at 79
Jan 30 Jeremy Beadle, British television host (Beadle's About), dies of pneumonia at 59
Jan 30 Marcial Maciel, Mexican Catholic priest (founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi), dies at 79
Jan 30 Roland Selmeczi, Hungarian stage and screen actor, and film dubber, dies in a car crash at 38
Jan 31 Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug (b. 1997)
Feb 1 Shell Kepler [Michelle Alaine Kepler], American actress (General Hospital), dies from renal failure at 49
Feb 2 Earl Butz, 18th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1971-76), dies at 98
Feb 2 Herbert "Barry" Morse, British-Canadian actor (The Fugitive, Space: 1999, Winds of War), dies at 89
Feb 2 Katoucha, Guinean model and activist (b. 1960)
Feb 3 Douglas Fraser, Scottish pilot (b. 1916)
Feb 4 Chris Anderson, American jazz pianist (Charlie Parker; Dinah Washington; Charlie Haden), dies of a stroke at 81
Feb 4 Stefan Meller, Polish diplomat and 9th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-06), dies at 65

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918-2008)

Feb 5 Indian guru who developed Transcendental Meditation, dies at 90

Feb 6 Dieter Noll, German writer (Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt), dies at 80
Feb 6 John McWethy, American journalist (b. 1947)
Feb 6 Tony Rolt, English auto racer (24 Hours of Le Mans 1953; British Empire Trophy 1939), dies at 89
Feb 7 (Wilhelmus) "Benny" Neyman, Dutch pop singer ("I Don't Know How"; "Waarom fluister ik je naam nog"), dies of cancer at 56
Feb 7 Leona Wood, American surrealist painter and ballet and folk dancer dies at 86
Feb 7 Tamara Desni [Brodsky], German-born British actress (The Green Finger, Hell's Cargo), dies from natural causes at 97
Feb 8 Chua Ek Kay, Singaporean painter (b. 1947)
Feb 8 Eva Dahlbeck, Swedish actress (Brink of Life, Dreams, A Lesson in Love), dies of infection and Alzheimer's disease at 87
Feb 9 Christopher Hyatt, American Occultist, Philosopher and Author, dies at 64
Feb 9 Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian avant-garde painter, poet and sculptor. (b. 1931)
Feb 9 Scott Halpin, American drummer plucked out of the audience to fill in for incapacitated Keith Moon of The Who, dies of a brain tumor at 53
Feb 9 Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal, the eleventh Mindrolling Trichen, Tibetan Buddhist lama of the Nyingma school (b. 1930)
Feb 10 Roy Scheider, American actor (Jaws, The French Connection, Marathon Man, Paper Lion), dies at 75
Feb 10 Steve Gerber, American comics writer (b. 1947)
Feb 11 Frank Piasecki, American aeronautical designer and helicopter aviation pioneer (PV Engineering Forum; Piasecki Helicopter Corp; Piasecki Aircraft Company), dies at 88
Feb 11 Patsy O. Sherman, American chemist and co-inventor of Scotchgard, dies at 77 [1]
Feb 11 Tom Lantos, American politician (Rep-D-California 1981-2008), dies at 80
Feb 12 David Groh, American actor (Rhoda - "Joe"; Another Day - "Don"), dies of kidney cancer at 68
Feb 12 Oscar Brodney, American screenwriter (The Glenn Miller Story), dies at 100
Feb 13 Henri Salvador, French-Caribbean pop singer, guitarist, and cabaret, dies of an aneurysm at 90
Feb 13 Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director (Matatabi, Money Talks), dies at 92
Feb 13 Roger Voisin, American classical trumpet player (Boston Symphony, 1935-83), dies at 89
Feb 14 Perry Lopez, American actor (Chinatown, Death Wish 4), dies at 78
Feb 15 Amnon Netzer, Iranian-Israeli historian (b. 1934)
Feb 15 Ashley Callie, South African actress (b. 1976)
Feb 18 Alain Robbe-Grillet, French novelist (Voyeur) and film maker, dies of heart failure at 85
Feb 18 Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress, dies at 52
Feb 18 Sir Richard Knowles, British politician (b. 1917)
Feb 19 (Attilio) "Teo" Macero, American jazz saxophonist, composer and record producer (Miles Davis - "Bitches Brew"; Dave Brubeck - "Time Out"), dies at 82
Feb 19 Lydia Shum, Hong Kong comedian and actress (b. 1945)
Feb 19 Natalia Bessmertnova, Soviet ballerina (Bolshoi, Lenin Prize 1970), dies at 66
Feb 19 Richard D'Aeth, British educationist (Hughes Hall Cambridge), dies at 96
Feb 19 Yegor Letov, Russian rock poet, songwriter, and singer (Grazhdanskaya Oborona), dies of heart failure at 43
Feb 20 Allen Strange, American composer (Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls), dies at 64
Feb 20 Emily Perry, English Actress (b. 1907)
Feb 20 Larry Davis (criminal)
Feb 21 Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
Feb 21 Sunny Lowry, First British woman to swim the English Channel (b. 1911)
Feb 22 Maurice Laing, English builder (John Laing & Son), dies at 90
Feb 23 Denis Lazure, Canadian physician and politician, dies at 82
Feb 23 Douglas Fraser, Scottish pilot, first to land at Newfoundland Airport on January 11, 1938 (b. 1916)
Feb 23 Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian prime minister and president (b. 1950)
Feb 23 Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and motorsport journalist (b. 1917)
Feb 23 Roger Foulon, Belgian writer (Un été dans la Fagne), dies at 84
Feb 24 Larry Norman, American musician and pioneer of Christian rock music ("Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?"), dies at 60
Feb 24 Pearl Witherington, British WW II secret agent for the Special Operations Executive, dies at 93
Feb 24 Philip Bodner, American jazz clarinetist and studio musician (also played flute, oboe, saxophone, piccolo, and English horn), dies at 90
Feb 25 Hans Raj Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India (b. 1912)
Feb 25 Static Major, American singer (b. 1974)
Feb 26 (George) "Buddy" Miles, American rock drummer (The Electric Flag; Band of Gypsies), dies of congestive heart disease at 60
Feb 26 Dick Fletcher, American meteorologist, dies at 65
Feb 26 Glory Mukwati, Zimbabwean politician
Feb 26 John Yates, Anglican bishop (Bishop of Lambeth), dies at 82
Feb 27 Anthony Blond, British publisher (The Publishing Game, Book Book), dies at 79
Feb 27 Boyd Coddington, American auto designer (owner Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop) and television host (American Hot Rod on TLC), dies of sepsis at 63
Feb 27 Myron Cope, American sports broadcaster (b. 1929)
Feb 27 William F. Buckley Jr, American conservative author and commentator (National Review, Firing Line), dies of a heart attack at 82
Feb 28 Mike Smith, British rock singer and keyboardist (Dave Clark Five - "Glad All Over"), dies of pneumonia at 64
Feb 29 Jerry Groom, American College Football HOF center (Notre Dame; NFL Pro Bowl 1954; Chicago Cardinals), dies at 78
Mar 2 Jeff Healey, Canadian blues singer and lap-steel guitarist ("Angel Eyes"), dies of sarcoma at 41
Mar 3 Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor, dies at 86
Mar 3 Norman "Hurricane" Smith, British sound engineer (The Beatles, 1962-65), producer (Pink Floyd; The Pretty Things), and musician ("Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?"; "Don't Let It Die"), dies at 85
Mar 3 Norman O'Neill, Australian cricket batsman (42 Tests @ 45.55, 6 x 100s; NSW CA), dies at 71
Mar 4 Elena Nathanael, Greek film actress (b. 1941)
Mar 4 Gary Gygax, American fantasy author and role-playing games creator (Dungeons & Dragons), dies at 69
Mar 4 George Walter, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (b. 1928)
Mar 4 Leonard Rosenman, American Academy and Emmy Award-winning film and television composer (Rebel Without A Cause; Star Trek IV; Bound for Glory; Sybill), dies of a heart attack at 83
Mar 4 Semka Sokolovic-Bertok, Yugoslavian-born Croatian actress (b. 1935)

Joseph Weizenbaum (1923-2008)

Mar 5 German-American computer scientist (ELIZA, "Computer Power and Human Reason"), dies at 85

Mar 6 Peter Poreku Cardinal Dery Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Tamale, Ghana
Mar 7 Francis Pym, British politician (Foreign Secretary 1982-83), dies at 86
Mar 8 Carol Barnes, British television news journalist (ITN; ITV), dies a few days after suffering a stroke at 63
Mar 10 Charles "Chuck" and "Bing" Day, American session guitarist, bassist and blues performer dies at 65
Mar 10 Richard Fran Biegenwald, American serial killer (b. 1940)
Mar 11 Dave Stevens, American illustrator and comic artist (The Rocketeer), dies at 52
Mar 12 Alun Hoddinott, Welsh composer (Floriture), dies at 78
Mar 12 Howard Metzenbaum, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), dies at 90
Mar 12 Jorge Guinzburg, Argentine journalist, producer, humorist, and TV, theater and radio host (b. 1949)
Mar 12 Lazare Ponticelli, the last "poilu", French foot soldier of World War One, dies at 110 (b. 1897)
Mar 14 Chiara Lubich, Italian Catholic activist and leader and foundress of the Focolare (b. 1920)
Mar 14 Melville "Mel" Brandt, American actor and NBC staff announcer (Faraway Hill), dies at 88
Mar 14 Taslim Arif, Pakistan cricket wicket-keeper (6 Tests; top score 210no v Aust 1980), dies of lung infection at 53
Mar 15 Ken Reardon, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman and executive (Stanley Cup 1946; NHL All-Star 1946-50; Montreal Canadiens), dies at 86
Mar 15 Mikey Dread [Michael Campbell], Jamaican reggae singer, producer ("Rocker's Delight"), and broadcaster (BBC), dies of a brain tumor at 53
Mar 15 Sarla Thakral, first Indian woman to fly an aircraft (1936), dies at about 94
Mar 15 Vytautas Kernagis, Lithuanian pop-rock-folk singer-songwriter, and poet, dies of stomach cancer at 56
Mar 16 Bill Brown, Australian cricket batsman (22 Tests, 4 x 100, HS 206no; NSWCA, Queensland), dies at 95
Mar 16 G. David Low, American astronaut (b. 1956)
Mar 16 Gary Hart, American professional wrestling manager and wrestler (b. 1942)
Mar 16 Ivan Dixon, American actor, director and civil rights activist (Car Wash, Hogan's Heroes, The Final War of Olly Winter), dies of renal failure at 76
Mar 16 John Hewer, English actor famous for portraying Captain Birdseye in British commercials, dies at 86
Mar 16 Ola Brunkert, Swedish pop, rock and jazz drummer (ABBA), dies from injuries after a fall at 61
Mar 17 Roland Arnall, American businessman and U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, dies at 68
Mar 18 Andrew Britton, Author (b. 1981)
Mar 18 Anthony Minghella, English Oscar winning film director (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley), dies at 54

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Mar 19 English sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), dies of post-polio syndrome at 90

Mar 19 Hugo Claus, Belgian writer (Cool Lover, Sugar), dies at 78

Paul Scofield (1922-2008)

Mar 19 English actor (A Man for All Seasons and Quiz Show), dies from leukemia at 86

Mar 19 Raghuvaran, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam actor (b. 1948)
Mar 20 Brian Wilde, English actor (b. 1921)
Mar 20 Eric Ashton, English rugby league footballer (b. 1935)
Mar 20 Klaus Dinger, German electronic rock musician (Neu!; Kraftwerk; La Düsseldorf), dies of heart failure at 61
Mar 20 Shoban Babu, Indian actor (b. 1937)
Mar 21 Merv Wallace, New Zealand cricket batsman and captain (13 Tests, 5 x 50; Auckland), dies at 91
Mar 21 Patti Bown, American jazz pianist and composer (Gene Ammons, Quincy Jones), dies at 77
Mar 22 Cachao [Israel López], Cuban double-bassist, and composer (co-inventor of 'mambo' with his brother, Orestes López), dies at 89
Mar 24 Chalmers "Spanky" Alford‎, American gospel, neo-soul, and session guitarist (Mighty Clouds of Joy; Raphael Saadiq; D'Angelo), dies of complications from diabetes at 52 [1]
Mar 24 Hal Riney, American advertising executive (b. 1932)
Mar 24 Mary Joan Nielubowicz, US Navy Rear Admiral and nurse (Director of the Navy Nurse Corps, 1983-87), dies at 79
Mar 24 Neil Aspinall, British music executive (The Beatles), dies of lung cancer at 66
Mar 24 Richard Widmark, American actor (Madigan, Murder on the Orient Express, Judgement at Nuremberg), dies complications following a fall at 93
Mar 25 Ben Carnevale, American basketball coach (b. 1915)
Mar 25 Rafael Azcona, Spanish screenwriter (b. 1926)
Mar 26 Manuel Marulanda Velez aka Tirofijo, founder and lifelong leader of Colombian rebel group FARC-EP, dies of a heart attack at 77
Mar 26 Robert Fagles, American translator and professor (b. 1933)
Mar 26 Wally Phillips, American radio personality, known for Chicago's WGN's morning radio show, dies at 82
Mar 27 George Pruteanu, Romanian literary critic and politician (b. 1947)