Deaths in 2008

The following is a list of notable deaths in 2008. Names are listed by date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.

Please note that deaths of notable animals (that is, those animals with their own Wikipedia articles) are reported here.

A typical entry appears in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

October 2008

11

• Alton Ellis, 64?, Jamaican singer, lymphatic cancer. [1]
• Jörg Haider, 58, Austrian politician, Governor of Carinthia (1989–1991, 1999–2008), leader of the BZÖ, car accident. [2]

10

• James Benson, 63, American entrepreneur (SpaceDev), brain tumor. [3]
• Sid Hudson, 93, American baseball player. [4]
• Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak, 100, Pakistani politician and diplomat, after long illness. [5]
• Kazuyoshi Miura, 61, Japanese businessman, suicide by hanging. [6]
• Javad Nurbakhsh, 81, Iranian spiritual leader. [7]
• Alexey Prokurorov, 44, Russian cross-country skier, car accident. [8]

9

• Gidget Gein, 39, American bassist (Marilyn Manson), drug overdose. [9]
• Francisco Ibáñez San Pedro, 60, Mexican actor and comedian, complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. [10] (Spanish)
• David Letts, 69, American winemaker, heart failure. [11]
• Bert Loxley, 74, British footballer and manager, after long illness. [12]
• Ardeshir Mohassess, 70, Iranian illustrator and cartoonist. [13] (Persian)
• Saleh al-Ogaili, Iraqi MP, roadside bomb. [14]

8

• Daniel De Gale, 21, British leukemia campaigner, after short illness. [15]
• Bob Friend, 70, British newscaster, cancer. [16]
• Eileen Herlie, 90, British-born American actress (All My Children), complications of pneumonia. [17]
• Norman Hogg, Baron Hogg of Cumbernauld, 70, British politician, MP (1979–1997), cancer. [18]

7

• Bruce Dal Canton, 66, American baseball player, esophageal cancer. [19]
• Peter Copley, 93, British actor. [20]
• George Kissell, 88, American baseball coach (St. Louis Cardinals), car accident. [21]
• George Emil Palade, 95, Romanian cell biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1974). [22]

6

• Peter Avery, 85, British scholar and Iranian specialist. [23]
• Larry Belcher, 61, American politician, member of the Kentucky House of Representatives (1999–2002, since 2006), car accident. [24]
• Paavo Haavikko, 77, Finnish poet and playwright, after long illness. [25]
• Olga Kaljakin, 57, American art director, film poster designer, emphysema. [26]
• Kim Ji-hoo, 23, South Korean actor, suicide by hanging. [27]
• Nadia Nerina, 80, South African ballerina. [28]
• Janaka Perera, 62, Sri Lankan general and politician, bomb blast injuries. [29]
• Glenister Sheil, 78, Australian medical practitioner and politician, Senator (1974–1981, 1984–1990). [30]
• Anne Margrethe Strømsheim, 95, Norwegian resistance member. [31] (Norwegian)
• Sir John Young, 88, Australian jurist, Chief Justice of Victoria (1974–1991), Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria (1974–1995). [32]

5

• Ernest Beutler, 80, American hematologist, lymphoma. [33]
• Kim Chan, 93/94?, American actor. [34]
• Leopoldo Elia, 82, Italian legal scholar, President of the Constitutional Court, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994). [35] (Italian)
• Howard G. Munson, 84, American judge. [36]
• Ken Ogata, 71, Japanese actor (The Ballad of Narayama), liver cancer. [37]
• Hans Richter, 89, German actor and director (Emil and the Detectives). [38] (German)
• Lloyd Thaxton, 81, American television personality, multiple myeloma. [39]

4

• Harry Bath, 83, Australian rugby league player and coach, after long illness. [40]
• Ted Briggs, 85, British sailor, last survivor of the sinking of HMS Hood. [41]
• Craig Fertig, 66, American football player and coach, kidney failure. [42]
• Alfred Gallodoro, 95, American jazz musician, after brief illness. [43]
• Levi Kereama, 27, Australian 2003 Australian Idol contestant, apparent suicide by jumping. [44]
• Saul Laskin, 90, Canadian politician, first mayor of Thunder Bay, Ontario. [45]
• Peter Vansittart, 88, British writer. [46]

3

• Zulfiqar Ahmed, 82, Pakistani cricketer, cardiac arrest. [47]
• Mahir al-Zubaydi, Iraqi al-Qaeda leader, shot. [48]
• Györgyi Albert, 44, Hungarian journalist and media personality, heart attack. [49] (Hungarian)
• László Csiki, 64, Hungarian poet. [50] (Hungarian)
• Jean Foyer, 87, French politician, Minister of Justice (1962–1967) and Minister of Health (1972–1973). [51] (French)
• Johnny "J", 39, American hip-hop producer, apparent suicide by jumping. [52]
• Rajendra Singh Lodha, 66, Indian accountant, chairman of the Birla Corporation, heart attack. [53]
• Joseph Mongiello, 81, American associate regional commissioner of Immigration Service, after long illness. [54]
• Robert Murphy, 83, American paratrooper on D-day, cancer. [55]
• George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth, 87, British politician, businessman and journalist, MP (1952–1973), viral infection. [56]

2

• Bonnie Bluh, 82, American feminist writer, aortic dissection. [57].
• Choi Jin-sil, 39, South Korean actress, suicide by hanging. [58]
• Rob Guest, 58, British-born New Zealand actor and singer, stroke. [59]
• Shaharom Husain, 88, Malaysian historian. [60]
• Arnold Klayman, 82, American inventor of the Sound Retrieval System. [61]

1

• Robert Arthur, 83, American radio personality. [62]
• Audrey Blignault, 92, South African writer. [63]
• Ian Collier, British actor and singer. [64]
• Robert Couturier, 103, French sculptor. [65] (French)
• Boris Efimov, 109, Russian political cartoonist. [66]
• Vassily Gryazev, 80, Russian weapons engineer, designer of the GSh-30-1 cannon. [67] (Russian)
• Val Jansante, 88, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers). [68]
• Detlef Lewe, 69, German canoeist, 1972 Olympic bronze medalist. [69] (German)
• House Peters, Jr., 92, American actor (Mr. Clean), pneumonia. [70]
• Nick Reynolds, 75, American folk musician (The Kingston Trio), acute respiratory disease. [71]
• LeJuan Simon, 27, Trinidadian athlete, complications of pulmonary hypertension. [72]
• Charles Wright, 76, American novelist, heart failure. [73]

September 2008

See Deaths in September 2008.

August 2008

See Deaths in August 2008.

July 2008

See Deaths in July 2008.

June 2008

See Deaths in June 2008.

May 2008

See Deaths in May 2008.

April 2008

See Deaths in April 2008.

March 2008

See Deaths in March 2008.

February 2008

See Deaths in February 2008.

January 2008

See Deaths in January 2008.

External links

• English language obituaries on the Web
  • General
    • Obituaries.com
    • Recent AP Obituaries
    • Variety Magazine Obituaries
  • US
    • The New York Times: Obituaries
    • Washington Post: Obituaries
    • The Boston Globe: Obituaries
    • Los Angeles Times: Obituaries
  • South Africa
    • Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Obituaries
  • UK
    • The Daily Telegraph: Obituaries
    • The Guardian: Obituaries
    • The Independent: Obituaries
    • The Times: Obituaries
    • The Scotsman: Obituaries
    • Lasting Tribute: Obituaries
  • Australia
    • The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): Obituaries

• Specialized websites
  • Dead or Alive
  • Dead People Server
  • Death List
  • Died Today
  • Entertainment Insiders
  • Famous Dead Database
  • Find a Grave
  • Life In Legacy
  • Very Important Patients
  • Writers We've Lost
  • Written in Stone - Literary deaths

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, ...