Deaths in 2008

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

A typical entry appears in the following sequence:

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

May 2008

17

• Zélia Gattai, 91, Brazilian writer and novelist, widow of Jorge Amado. [1] (Portuguese)
• D. Aubrey Moodie, 99, Canadian politician. [2]
• Lionel Van Deerlin, 93, American politician and journalist, Representative from California (1963–1981). [3]

16

• William Blease, Baron Blease, 93, British politician. [4]
• Henry Canoy, 84, Filipino businessman, founder of Radio Mindanao Network. [5]
• Sandy Howard, 80, American film and television producer (A Man Called Horse), Alzheimer's disease. [6]
• Robert Mondavi, 94, American winemaker, benefactor of the Mondavi Center, member of the California Hall of Fame. [7]

15

• Tommy Burns, 51, Scottish football player and manager (Celtic, Kilmarnock, Reading), melanoma. [8]
• Robert Dunlop, 47, British motorcycle racer, chest injuries. [9]
• Will Elder, 86, American comic book artist (Mad, Little Annie Fanny), Parkinson's disease. [10] [11]
• Bob Florence, 75, American jazz composer and arranger, pneumonia. [12]
• Youssef Idilbi, 32, Dutch actor, suicide. [13] (Dutch)
• Willis Lamb, 94, American physicist, recipient of 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics, complications of gallstone disorder. [14]
• Jim Nelson, 78, American aerospace entrepreneur, cancer. [15]
• Flip Schulke, 77, American photographer, heart failure. [16]

14

• Frith Banbury, 96, British stage director and actor. [17]
• Arthur Burks, 92, American mathematician and computer pioneer, Alzheimer's disease. [18]
• Warren Cowan, 87, American publicist, cancer. [19]
• Fred Moselen, 67, New Zealand Scouting national secretary, cancer. [20]
• Yuri Rytkheu, 78, Russian Chukchi language writer. [21] (Russian)
• Mario Schoemberger, 56, Brazilian film, television and stage actor, cancer. [22] (Portuguese)
• Wander Taffo, 53, Brazilian musician, heart failure. [23] (Portuguese)
• Astrid Zachrison, 113, Swedish supercentenarian, oldest Swede ever. [24]

13

• Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, 78, Kuwaiti emir (2006). [25]
• Lucius D. Battle, 89, American ambassador to Egypt (1964–1967), Parkinson's disease. [26]
• Bernardin Gantin, 86, Beninese cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. [27]
• John Phillip Law, 70, American actor (Barbarella). [28]
• Larry McKeon, 63, American politician, first openly gay member of the Illinois General Assembly, stroke. [29]
• Muriel More, 89, British pianist. [30]
• Colea Răutu, 95, Romanian actor, cirrhosis. [31]
• Ron Stone, 72, American news anchor (KHOU, KPRC in Houston), prostate cancer. [32]
• Costică Toma, 80, Romanian football goalkeeper (Romania, Steaua Bucureşti). [33]

12

• Penny Banner, 73, American professional wrestler, cancer. [34]
• Seamus Casey, 27, New Zealand opera singer, car accident. [35]
• Leo Garibaldi, 78, American professional wrestler, complications from Alzheimer's disease. [36]
• Oakley Hall, 87, American novelist (Warlock), kidney disease and cancer. [37]
• Lidiya Masterkova, 81, Russian-born French painter. [38] (Russian)
• Robert Rauschenberg, 82, American pop artist, heart failure. [39]
• Irena Sendler, 98, Polish humanitarian, saved 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. [40]
• Irene Vilar, 77, Portuguese sculptor. [41] (Portuguese)

11

• Sam Dauya, 70, Zimbabwean founder of Dynamos F.C. football team. [42]
• Eugen Jesser, 62, Austrian director of the Vienna Boys' Choir. [43]
• Alema Leota, 80, American alleged organized crime leader, 1978 candidate for Governor of Hawaii, injuries from car accident. [44]
• Raymattja Marika, 49, Australian Yolngu scholar, linguist, educator and cultural advocate, heart attack. [45]
• Bruno Neves, 27, Portuguese cyclist, crash during race. [46] (Portuguese)
• Dottie Rambo, 74, American gospel singer, bus crash. [47]
• Bill Rankin, 84, American UCLA basketball player and high school basketball coach, Parkinson's disease. [48]
• John Rutsey, 55, Canadian drummer (Rush). [49]
• Heather Stohler, 29, American model for Calvin Klein, fire. [50]
• Jeff Torrington, 72, British novelist, Parkinson's disease. [51]
• Curtis Whitley, 39, American football player (San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders). [52] [53]

10

• Leyla Gencer, 79, Turkish soprano opera singer, respiratory and cardiac failure. [54]
• Paul Haeberlin, 84, French chef and restaurateur (L'Auberge de l'Ill). [55]
• Jessie Jacobs, 17, Australian actress and singer, fell under train. [56] [57]
• Liao Feng-Teh, 57, Taiwanese incoming interior minister, heart attack. [58]
• Peter Thurnham, 69, British MP for Bolton North East (1983–1997), pancreatic cancer. [59]

9

• Jack Gibson, 79, Australian rugby league player and coach, selected as "Coach of the Century". [60]
• Judy Grable, 82, American female professional wrestler. [61]
• Shmuel Katz, 93, Israeli writer, historian and journalist. [62]
• Arthur Kroeger, 76, Canadian civil servant (1958–1992), academic and chancellor of Carleton University (1993–2002). [63]
• Nuala O'Faolain, 68, Irish journalist and author, lung cancer. [64] [65]
• Ronald A. Parise, 56, American astronaut, brain tumor. [66]
• Esteban Robles Espinosa, Mexican police commander, shot. [67]
• Pascal Sevran, 62, French television presenter and producer, lyricist and writer, lung cancer. [68]
• Sinan Sofuoğlu, 25, Turkish motorcycle racer, training crash. [69] (Turkish)
• Artur da Távola, 72, Brazilian journalist, writer and politician, heart disease. [70] (Portuguese)

8

• Eddy Arnold, 89, American country music singer. [71]
• Willem Brakman, 85, Dutch author. [72] (Dutch)
• Ian Brodie, 72, British foreign correspondent (The Daily Telegraph). [73]
• Jose Feria, 91, Filipino supreme court justice (1986–1987). [74]
• Murray Jarvik, 84, American academic and co-inventor of the nicotine patch, heart failure. [75]
• Larry Levine, 80, American Grammy-winning audio engineer (Wall of Sound), emphysema. [76]
• Luigi Malerba, 81, Italian writer. [77] (Italian)
• Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, 42, Mexican federal police anti-drug coordinator, shot. [78]
• François Sterchele, 26, Belgian footballer (Belgium, Club Brugge), car accident. [79]

7

• Phil Armstrong, New Zealand radio producer (Paul Holmes Breakfast Show), stomach cancer. [80]
• LonPaul Ellrich, 37, American multi-instrumentalist (Marmoset, Sardina). [81]
• Clifford Jones, 80, American politician, Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman, prostate cancer.[82]
• Thijs Wöltgens, 64, Dutch politician, mayor of Kerkrade (1994–2000), senator (1995–2005). [83] (Dutch)

6

• John Jay Iselin, 74, American public-access television innovator, descendent of John Jay, pneumonia. [84]
• Franz Jackson, 95, American saxophonist. [85]
• Ray Michie, Baroness Michie of Gallanach, 74, British Liberal Democrat politician, cancer. [86]
• John Reames, 65, British football manager and administrator, cancer. [87]

5

• Giuseppe Attardi, 84, American molecular biologist. [88]
• Sam Aubrey, 85, American basketball player and coach (Oklahoma State Cowboys). [89]
• Hugh Bradner, 92, American scientist credited with inventing the wetsuit. [90]
• Lucien Jeunesse, 89, French radio game presenter (Le Jeu des 1000 Francs). [91] (French)
• Park Kyung-ni, 82, South Korean novelist, lung cancer. [92]
• Irv Robbins, 90, American businessman, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain. [93] [94]
• Alma Hogan Snell, 85, American Crow tribal nation historian, herbalist, granddaughter of Pretty Shield. [95]
• Jerry Wallace, 79, American country music singer, heart failure. [96]
• Witold Woyda, 68, Polish fencer, double gold medallist at the 1972 Summer Olympics, lung cancer. [97]

4

• John Altieri, 38, American actor (Jersey Boys), pneumonia. [98]
• Joaquim Carlos, Portuguese football player (Portugal, SL Benfica), after long illness. [99] (Portuguese)
• Alvin Colt, 92, American Tony Award–winning costume designer (On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Pipe Dream, Li'l Abner). [100]
• Jaime Gómez, 78, Mexican footballer, goalkeeper for Guadalajara (1956–1970), pancreatic cancer. [101]
• Richard Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham, 71, British Liberal Democrat politician, cancer. [102]
• Kishan Maharaj, 84, Indian musician, leading exponent of the Benares gharana tabla, stroke. [103]
• Robert Marsh, 83, American president of American Telecast, heart failure. [104]
• Colin Murdoch, 79, New Zealand inventor of the disposable hypodermic syringe and the tranquilizer gun, cancer. [105]
• Judit Trethon, 57, Hungarian publicist, car accident. [106] (Hungarian)
• F. R. Wallace, Jr., 91, American mayor of Chesterfield, New Jersey (1975–1981), natural causes. [107]

3

• Charles Caccia, 78, Canadian politician, environmentalist and Liberal MP for Davenport (1968–2004), complications from a stroke. [108]
• Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, 82, Spanish prime minister (1981–1982), natural causes. [109]
• Eight Belles, 3, American racehorse, 2008 Kentucky Derby 2nd place finisher, euthanized. [110]
• Martin Finnegan, 27, Irish motorbike racer, race crash. [111]
• Lynne Cooper Harvey, 92, American radio producer, Radio Hall of Fame member, wife of radio personality Paul Harvey, leukemia. [112]
• Ted Key, 95, American cartoonist (Hazel), bladder cancer and stroke. [113]
• R.R. Knudson, 75, American sports writer. [114]
• Morgan Sparks, 91, American engineer, inventor of the first practical bipolar junction transistor. [115]

2

• Carole Dekeijser, 48, Belgian painter, lung cancer. [116] (French)
• Dominic Dim Deng, Sudanese politician, defence minister for Southern Sudan, plane crash. [117]
• Robert M. Isaac, 80, American politician, mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado (1979–1997), pneumonia. [118]
• Mildred Loving, 68, American civil rights pioneer, challenged Virginia interracial marriage law (Loving v. Virginia). [119]
• Ilyas Malayev, 72, Uzbekistani musician and poet, pancreatic cancer. [120]
• Beverlee McKinsey, 72, American soap opera actress (Guiding Light), complications from kidney transplant. [121]
• Alastair Michie, 86, British painter, sculptor and illustrator. [122]
• Izold Pustylnik, 70, Ukrainian-born Estonian astronomer. [123]
• Mike Titcomb, 75 , British rugby union referee, kidney failure. [124]
• Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr., 93, American thoroughbred racehorse trainer (Ruffian). [125]
• Justin Yak, Sudanese politician, minister for cabinet affairs for Southern Sudan (2006–2007), plane crash. [126]

1

• Nasimuddin Amin, 54, Malaysian entrepreneur and founder of Naza, lung cancer. [127]
• Bernard Archard, 91, British actor. [128]
• Buzzie Bavasi, 93, American baseball executive (Dodgers, Angels, Padres). [129]
• Mary Berry, 90, British musicologist and nun. [130]
• Philipp von Boeselager, 90, German World War II anti-Hitler conspirator. [131]
• Danton Burroughs, 64, American businessman, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs, apparent smoke inhalation. [132]
• Nirmala Deshpande, 78, Indian peace activist, brief illness. [133]
• Elaine Dundy, 86, American writer and actress. [134]
• Frédéric H. Fajardie, 60, French writer, cancer. [135] (French)
• Aden Hashi Farah, Somali leader of Al-Shabab insurgent group, air strike. [136]
• Jim Hager, 61, American country music singer and television actor (Hee Haw), heart attack. [137]
• Mark Kendall, 49, British footballer (Tottenham, Newport County, Wolverhampton). [138]
• Sir Anthony Mamo, 99, Maltese politician, first president of the Republic of Malta. [139]
• Alberto Estima de Oliveira, 74, Portuguese poet. [140] (Portuguese)
• Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, American escort agency proprietor, apparent suicide by hanging. [141] [142]
• J.J. Voskuil, 82, Dutch author, euthanasia. [143]

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

• 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
  • The Blog of Death
  • 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, ...