Deaths in December 2008

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2008.

December 2008

1

• Paul Benedict, 70, American television actor (The Jeffersons).
• James Bree, 85, British film and television actor, illness.
• Betty Goodwin, 85, Canadian artist.
• Tom Kirby, 61, Irish darts player, pancreatic cancer.
• Siegfried Knappe, 91, German Wehrmacht artillery and General Staff officer, author (Soldat).
• Mikel Laboa, 74, Spanish Basque singer and songwriter.
• Raymond F. Lederer, 70, American politician, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (1977–1981), lung cancer.
• Emanuel Rackman, 98, American Orthodox rabbi.
• H. Sridhar, 50, Indian sound engineer, heart attack.
• Dorothy Sterling, 95, American writer and historian.
• Joseph B. Wirthlin, 91, American Mormon prelate, Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, natural causes.

2

• Carlos María Abascal Carranza, 59, Mexican public official, Secretary of the Interior (2005–2006), cancer.
• Kathleen Baskin-Ball, 50, American minister (United Methodist Church), cancer.
• Frank Crean, 92, Australian politician, Treasurer (1972–1974), Deputy Prime Minister (1975), after short illness.
• Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, 81, American writer, filmmaker and scholar, after long illness.
• Leïla Karam, 80, Lebanese actress, after long illness.
• Margarita Karapanou, 62, Greek author, respiratory problems.
• Pyotr Latyshev, 60, Russian politician, presidential envoy to Urals Federal District.
• Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale, 97, British aristocrat and politician.
• Henry Molaison, 82, American amnesiac, subject of brain science study, respiratory failure.
• Odetta, 77, American folk singer and human rights activist, heart disease.
• Ted Rogers, 75, Canadian businessman, CEO of Rogers Communications and owner of the Toronto Blue Jays, heart failure.

3

• William Pierson, Jr., 97, American art historian.
• Oliver Selfridge, 82, British-born American computer scientist, pioneer of artificial intelligence, injuries from a fall.
• William Spoelhof, 98, American academic, President of Calvin College (1951–1976), complications from a fall.
• Ignacio Uria Mendizabal, 71, Spanish businessman, shot.
• Elmer Valentine, 85, American nightclub owner.
• Derek Wadsworth, 69, British composer and jazz trombonist.
• Alex Widmer, 52, Swiss executive, CEO of Julius Baer bank.
• Robert Zajonc, 85, Polish-born American psychologist, pancreatic cancer.

4

• Forrest J. Ackerman, 92, American science fiction expert, heart failure.
• Steve Bradley, 32, American wrestler.
• Jan Kemp, 59, American academic, exposed bias in passing college football players, complications from Alzheimer's disease.
• Party Arty, 29, American rapper.
• Warren M. Robbins, 85, American art collector, complications from a fall.
• Richard Van Allan, 73, British opera singer, lung cancer.

5

• A. Bernard Ackerman, 72, American dermatopathologist, heart failure.
• Alexy II, 79, Estonian-born Russian primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1990, heart failure.
• Jimmy Anderson, 55, American rodeo clown, heart disease.
• George Brecht, 82, American artist (Fluxus), natural causes.
• Martyn Crook, 52, Australian footballer and coach, heart attack.
• Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, 80, Romanian politician, cancer.
• Nina Foch, 84, Dutch-born American actress (Executive Suite), myelodysplasia.
• Beverly Garland, 82, American actress (My Three Sons), after long illness.
• Paris Herouni, 75, Armenian scientist and professor.
• Sir Basil Kelly, 88, British politician and jurist, after short illness.
• Rawson Macharia, 96, Kenyan perjurer against Jomo Kenyatta, traffic accident.
• Jean-Pierre Nguema, 76, Gabonese politician, member of the Senate of Gabon.
• Anca Parghel, 51, Romanian singer, ovarian cancer.
• Richard Topus, 84, American World War II messenger pigeon trainer and business executive, kidney failure.
• Dick Vertlieb, 78, American baseball and basketball executive.

6

• John Cumming, 78, Scottish footballer (Hearts, Scotland).
• Larry Devlin, 86, American CIA agent, emphysema.
• Catherine Hagel, 114, American supercentenarian, third oldest validated living person.
• Sir Curtis Keeble, 82, British diplomat, Ambassador to the USSR (1978–1982).
• Gérard Lauzier, 76, French cartoonist and film director, after long illness.
• Elliot Manyika, 53, Zimbabwean politician, road accident.
• Richard Marsland, 32, Australian radio host, apparent suicide.
• Lloyd Ohlin, 90, American criminologist, complications of Shy–Drager syndrome.
• Ivan Semedi, 87, Ukrainian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of Mukacheve.
• Sunny von Bülow, 76, American heiress, cardiopulmonary arrest.

7

• Abul Ahsan, 71, Bangladeshi diplomat and politician, cardiac arrest.
• Marky Cielo, 20, Filipino Igorot actor, suspected acute pancreatitis.
• Jimmy Gourley, 82, American jazz guitarist. (French)
• Herbert Hutner, 99, American chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Arts (1982–1990).
• George Kuzma, 83, American Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys.
• Georges Nguyen Van Loc, 75, French police officer, writer and actor. (French)
• James H. Pomerene, 88, American electrical engineer.
• Roger Sonnabend, 83, American hotelier.
• John Ellis Williams, 84, British author.
• Dennis Yost, 65, American singer (Classics IV), respiratory failure.
• Mahbub Jamal Zahedi, 79, Pakistani journalist and philatelist, paralysis.

8

• Manzoor Hussain Atif, 81, Pakistani field hockey player and administrator, after long illness.
• Frank K. Edmondson, 96, American astronomer.
• Kerryn McCann, 41, Australian athlete, breast cancer.
• Xavier Perrot, 76, Swiss auto racer. (German)
• Oliver Postgate, 83, British animator (Bagpuss, Clangers).
• Robert Prosky, 77, American actor (The Natural, Broadcast News, Hill Street Blues), complications from a heart procedure.
• Bob Spiers, 63, British television director (Absolutely Fabulous, Fawlty Towers), after long illness.
• William S. Stevens, 60, American lawyer, heart attack.
• Hillary Waugh, 88, American mystery writer.

9

• Jonathan Bailey, 69, British Angelican prelate, Bishop of Derby (1995–2005) and Clerk of the Closet (1997–2005).
• Ibrahim Dossey, 36, Ghanaian footballer, car accident.
• James Fergason, 74, American inventor.
• Yuri Glazkov, 69, Russian cosmonaut.
• Dražan Jerković, 72, Croatian football player and manager, heart failure.
• José María Larrauri Lafuente, 90, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of Vitoria.
• Brenda Leipsic, 66, Canadian politician, lung cancer.
• Howard Pack, 90, American businessman, shipping magnate, heart failure.
• William Neff Patman, 81, American politician, U.S. Representative for Texas (1981–1985), cancer.
• George Turman, 80, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Montana (1981–1989), natural causes.

10

• Henning Christiansen, 76, Danish composer.
• Mildred Constantine, 95, American curator (Museum of Modern Art), heart failure.
• Munawwar Hasan, 44, Indian politician, car accident.
• Dorothy Porter, 54, Australian poet (The Monkey's Mask), breast cancer.
• Didith Reyes, 60, Filipino singer, heart attack and rupture of the pancreas.
• Chris Richardson, 28, American basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters), natural causes.
• Sal Yvars, 84, American baseball player (New York Giants), amyloidosis.

11

• Ali Alatas, 76, Indonesian politician, Foreign Minister (1988–1999), heart attack.
• Maddie Blaustein, 48, American voice actress (Pokémon), after an illness.
• Ron Carey, 72, American labor leader (Teamsters), lung cancer.
• Robert Chandler, 80, American CBS executive, heart failure.
• Elie Amsini Kiswaya, 80, Congolese Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of Sakania-Kipushi.
• Bettie Page, 85, American pin-up model and actress, complications from a heart attack.
• Robert Shepherd, 71, American academic lawyer.
• Yeh Shih-tao, 83, Taiwanese writer, colorectal cancer.

12

• David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss, 96, British aristocrat and public servant.
• Avery Dulles, 90, American Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, theologian and cardinal.
• Max Elbin, 88, American golfer, president of the PGA (1965−1968), heart failure.
• Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, 85, American virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1976).
• Sigitas Geda, 65, Lithuanian poet. (Lithuanian)
• Robert G. Heft, 67, Creator of the 50-star flag of the United States, heart attack
• Van Johnson, 92, American actor (Battleground, The Caine Mutiny, Brigadoon, Batman), natural causes.
• Emmanuel Kasonde, 72, Zambian economist and politician, Finance Minister (1967−1971).
• Tassos Papadopoulos, 74, Cypriot politician, President (2003−2008), small cell lung carcinoma.
• Maksym Pashayev, 20, Ukrainian footballer, car accident.
• Amalia Solórzano, 97, Mexican First Lady (1934–1940), respiratory complications.
• Robin Toner, 54, American journalist (The New York Times), colon cancer.

13

• Doris Totten Chase, 85, American painter and sculptor.
• Sir David Clutterbuck, 95, British admiral.
• John Drake, 49, New Zealand rugby union player.
• Mario Alvarez Dugan, 77, Dominican journalist and newspaper editor, heart problems.
• Otto Felix, 65, American actor, amyloidosis.
• Vince Karalius, 76, British rugby league player, cancer.
• Shan Lloyd, 55, British journalist, wife of actor Hugh Lloyd.
• David Margolis, 78, American industrialist, cardiac arrest.
• Maurice Meersman, 86, Belgian cyclist.
• Kjartan Slettemark, 76, Norwegian political artist, heart failure. (Norwegian)
• Kathy Staff, 80, British actress (Last of the Summer Wine), brain tumour.
• Horst Tappert, 85, German actor (Derrick).

14

• Mike Bell, 37, American professional wrestler.
• Hank Goldup, 90, Canadian ice hockey player.
• William Kaufmann, 90, American nuclear strategist, adviser to seven Defense Secretaries, Alzheimer's disease.
• Carl Kotchian, 94, American aviation executive, president of Lockheed.
• Gastón Parra Luzardo, 75, Venezuelan academic and banker, after long illness.
• Candida Tobin, 82, British music educator.
• Nick Willhite, 67, American baseball pitcher, cancer.

15

• Valentin Berlinsky, 83, Russian cellist, after long illness.
• Mike Blum, 65, Canadian football player (Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats), cerebral hemorrhage.
• Carlo Caracciolo, 83, Italian publisher (La Repubblica).
• León Febres Cordero, 77, Ecuadorian president (1984–1988), complications from pulmonary emphysema.
• Davey Graham, 68, British guitarist, lung cancer.
• Wanda Koczeska, 71, Polish actress.
• David Lieber, 83, Polish-born American biblical scholar, lung ailment.
• John W. Powell, 89, Chinese-born American journalist tried for sedition, complications from pneumonia.
• Gian Franco Romagnoli, 82, Italian chef, author, television personality.
• Clyde Sproat, 78, American musician.
• Anne-Catharina Vestly, 88, Norwegian children's writer and actress.
• John Webster, 95, Australian activist.
• Jay E. Welch, 83, American musician, founder of the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus.

16

• Peg Batty, 88, New Zealand cricketer.
• Sam Bottoms, 53, American actor (Apocalypse Now, The Outlaw Josie Wales), glioblastoma multiforme.
• Richard Coleman, 78, British actor.
• George Constantinou, 75, Cypriot-born Papua New Guinean businessman, aggravated assault during carjacking.
• Julius Fast, 89, American writer.
• Harold Gramatges, 90, Cuban composer and pianist.
• Joe Krol, 89, Canadian football player (Toronto Argonauts).
• John E. Sprizzo, 73, American jurist, organ failure.
• Zlatko Šugman, 76, Slovenian actor, illness.

17

• Turgun Alimatov, 85, Uzbek musician.
• Ismet Bajramović, 42, Bosnian reputed organized crime figure and wartime commander, suicide by gunshot.
• Sammy Baugh, 94, American football player (Washington Redskins) and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• Freddy Breck, 66, German schlager singer, cancer. (German)
• Jennifer Gale, 47, American transgender politician, cardiac arrest.
• Ved Prakash Goyal, 82, Indian politician, brain tumor.
• Gregoire, 66, African-born primate, oldest known chimpanzee.
• Justin Levens, 28, American mixed martial art fighter, possible suicide by gunshot.
• Luis Félix López, 76, Ecuadorian writer and politician, Secretary of Government, stabbed. (Spanish)
• Willoughby Sharp, 72, American artist, art dealer, curator and impresario, throat cancer.
• Dave Smith, 53, American baseball pitcher (Houston Astros), heart attack.
• Feliciano Vierra Tavares, 88, American musician and singer, father of the Tavares Brothers, prostate cancer.
• Henry Ashby Turner, 76, American historian, melanoma.
• Nina Varlamova, 54, Russian politician, mayor of Kandalaksha, stabbed.

18

• Majel Barrett, 76, American actress (Star Trek), widow of science fiction writer Gene Roddenberry, leukemia.
• Peter Malam Brothers, 91, British Royal Air Force pilot, Battle of Britain ace.
• Pete Case, 67, American football player (New York Giants), after long illness.
• John Costelloe, 47, American actor (The Sopranos, Kazaam, Die Hard 2), suicide by gunshot.
• Jack Douglas, 81, British comedy actor (Carry On films), pneumonia.
• W. Mark Felt, 95, American public official, Deputy Director of the FBI, "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal, heart failure.
• Hannah Frank, 100, British sculptor.
• Nahla Hussain al-Shaly, 37, Iraqi women's rights activist, shot and decapitated.
• Robert Jonquet, 83, French footballer, after long illness.
• Ian MacMillan, 67, American author.
• Conor Cruise O'Brien, 91, Irish politician, writer and academic.
• Ivan Rabuzin, 87, Croatian painter.
• Harold Snyder, 86, American pharmaceuticals magnate, pioneer of generic drugs, respiratory failure.
• Paul Weyrich, 66, American conservative activist, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation think tank, diabetes.

19

• James Bevel, 72, American civil rights leader, pancreatic cancer.
• Page Cavanaugh, 86, American jazz pianist and singer, kidney failure.
• Carol Chomsky, 78, American linguist, wife of Noam Chomsky, cancer.
• Michael Connell, 45, American political strategist, plane crash.
• Kenny Cox, 68, American jazz musician, lung cancer.
• Sir Bernard Crick, 79, British political theorist, cancer.
• Dock Ellis, 63, American baseball player, cirrhosis.
• Neal Kenyon, 79, American theater director.
• Joe L. Kincheloe, 58, American professor, heart attack.
• Matt Kofler, 49, American football player (Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts).
• Derek Stanford, 90, British poet and critic.
• Sam Tingle, 87, Zimbabwean racing driver.

20

• Samuele Bacchiocchi, 70, Italian theologian, liver cancer.
• Joseph Conombo, 91, Burkinabé politician, Prime Minister of Upper Volta (1978–1980). (French)
• Jack Kuehler, 76, American electrical engineer, president of I.B.M. (1989–1993), Parkinson's disease.
• Gabriel Larraín Valdivieso, 83, Chilean Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the diocese of Santiago de Chile.
• Olga Lepeshinskaya, 92, Ukrainian-born Russian ballerina.
• Joel Mandelstam, 89, British biochemist and microbiologist.
• Adrian Mitchell, 76, British poet, heart attack.
• Robert Mulligan, 83, American film director (To Kill a Mockingbird), heart disease.
• Albin Planinc, 64, Slovenian chess grandmaster, after long illness.
• Dorothy Sarnoff, 94, American self-help consultant, opera singer and actress.
• Igor Troubetzkoy, 96, Russian auto racer.

21

• Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck, 92, British noble.
• James Fulton, 58, Canadian politician, MP for Skeena (1979–1993), colon cancer.
• Teddy Gueritz, 89, British Royal Navy Admiral.
• Christopher Hibbert, 84, British historian.
• Ron Hornaday, Sr., 77, American NASCAR driver, cancer.
• Al Meyerhoff, 61, American lawyer, complications from leukemia.
• Carlos Manuel Santiago, 82, Puerto Rican baseball player (Negro Leagues), heart failure.
• Dale Wasserman, 94, American playwright (Man of La Mancha), heart failure.
• Maurice Zilber, 88, Egyptian horse trainer, cancer.

22

• Anand Babla, 54, Fijian politician, MP (1992–2006), after long illness.
• Coy Bacon, 66, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Washington Redskins).
• Lansana Conté, 74, Guinean politician, President of Guinea since 1984, after long illness.
• Norm Cook, 53, American basketball player (Kansas Jayhawks, Boston Celtics).
• Ossie Dawson, 89, South African cricketer.
• James Lebon, 49, British music video director and hairdresser.
• Jani Lehtonen, 40, Finnish pole vaulter. (Finnish)
• Robert J. Marshall, 90, American minister, president of the Lutheran Church in America (1968–1978), heart failure.
• Hugh Myers, 78, American chess player and author.
• Alfred Shaheen, 86, American textile manufacturer, popularized the Hawaiian shirt, complications of diabetes.
• Guy Warren, 85, Ghanaian jazz musician, illness.

23

• Clint Ballard, Jr., 77, American songwriter ("You're No Good").
• Manuel Benitez, 39, American child actor and FBI fugitive, shot.
• Narciso Bernardo, 71, Filipino basketball player, cardiac arrest.
• Thomas Congdon, 77, American editor, Parkinson's disease and heart failure.
• Frank Krog, 54, Norwegian actor. (Norwegian)
• Mitsugu Saotome, 82, Japanese author, stomach cancer.
• Héctor Thomas, 70, Venezuelan Olympic decathlete, cancer.
• Thierry de la Villehuchet, 65, French money manager and businessman, apparent suicide.
• Eric Wilson, 96, British recipient of the Victoria Cross.
• Arnold Jacob Wolf, 84, American rabbi, heart attack.

24

• Ian Ballinger, 83, New Zealand sport shooter, 1968 Olympic medallist.
• Ray Deakin, 49, British footballer (Bolton Wanderers, Burnley), brain cancer.
• Stanley Eveling, 83, British playwright.
• Gordon Fairweather, 85, Canadian politician, MP for Royal, New Brunswick (1962–1977).
• Samuel P. Huntington, 81, American political scientist, heart failure and complications of diabetes.
• Ai Iijima, 36, Japanese media personality and AIDS activist, former adult film actress, pneumonia.
• Harold Pinter, 78, British playwright (The Homecoming), recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (2005), throat cancer.
• Rik Renders, 86, Belgian cyclist.
• Alf Robertson, 67, Swedish singer and composer. (Swedish)
• Ralph Harris, 87, British journalist, respiratory failure.

25

• Edd Cartier, 94, American illustrator (The Shadow).
• Alvah Chapman, Jr., 87, American publisher and philanthropist, pneumonia.
• Justin Eilers, 30, American mixed martial artist, shot.
• Olívio Aurélio Fazza, 83, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Diocese of Foz do Iguaçu.
• Leo Frankowski, 65, American science fiction author.
• William Glendon, 89, American attorney.
• Eartha Kitt, 81, American singer and actress (Batman, The Emperor's New Groove), colon cancer.
• Ann Savage, 87, American actress (Detour), complications from stroke.
• Robert Ward, 70, American blues singer and guitarist.
• Colin White, 57, British naval historian, cancer.

26

• Israel Horowitz, 92, American record producer.
• Gösta Krantz, 83, Swedish actor. (Swedish)
• Mikhail Krichevsky, 111, Ukrainian supercentenarian.
• Alan W. Lear, 55, Scottish writer.
• George Miller, 69, British footballer and manager (Falkirk FC, Wolverhampton Wanderers), cancer.
• Sir Kenneth Stoddart, 94, British Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside (1979–1989).
• Dick Voris, 86, American football player and coach.
• J. Lamar Worzel, 89, American oceanographer, heart attack.
• Wyvetter H. Younge, 78, American politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 1975, surgical complications.

27

• Arild Andresen, 80, Norwegian footballer and ice hockey player (Vålerenga). (Norwegian)
• Rodrigo Arango Velásquez, 83, Colombian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of the Diocese of Buga.
• Delaney Bramlett, 69, American songwriter and record producer, complications from gallbladder surgery.
• Sailor Brown, 93, British footballer and manager.
• Roque Cordero, 91, Panamanian-born American composer.
• John Fenton, 87, British Anglican priest and New Testament scholar.
• Robert Graham, 70, Mexican-born American sculptor, husband of actress Anjelica Huston, after long illness.
• Ian Harland, 76, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Carlisle (1989–2000), after long illness.
• Lars Hollmer, 60, Swedish musician. (Swedish)
• Tuanku Ja'afar, 86, Malaysian King (1994–1999), Great Ruler of Negeri Sembilan since 1967.
• Patricia Kneale, 83, British actress.
• Iain MacLean, 55, Australian politician, Western Australian MLC for North Metropolitan (1994–1996) and MLA for Wanneroo (1996–2001).
• Christine Maggiore, 51, American AIDS denialist.
• Sahu Mewalal, 82, Indian footballer, natural causes.
• Alfred Pfaff, 82, German footballer, 1954 FIFA World Cup winner. (German)

28

• Quentin C. Aanenson, 87, American fighter pilot, cancer.
• A. O. L. Atkin, 83, American mathematician, complications from a fall.
• Willie Clark, 90, Scottish footballer (Hibernian, St Johnstone).
• Vincent Ford, 68, Jamaican reggae songwriter ("No Woman, No Cry"), complications from diabetes.
• Donald Gleason, 88, American physician, creator of prostate cancer test, heart attack.
• Sir Michael Levey, 81, British art historian, Director of the National Gallery (1973–1986).
• Oliver Lincoln Lundquist, 92, American architect and industrial designer, created the United Nations logo, prostate cancer.
• Haralamb Zincă, 85, Romanian writer, Alzheimer's disease. (Romanian)

29

• Manjit Bawa, 67, Indian painter, after long illness.
• William Ellis Green, 85, Australian cartoonist.
• Jim Horne, 91, American model, heart failure.
• Freddie Hubbard, 70, American jazz trumpeter, complications from a heart attack.
• Victor H. Krulak, 95, American Marine Corps officer.
• Vladislav Lalicki, 73, Serbian production designer. (Serbian)
• Ted Lapidus, 79, French fashion designer, respiratory failure.
• Daniel Nagrin, 91, American choreographer and dancer.
• Alan Sargeson, 78, Australian chemist.
• Harlington Wood Jr., 88, American lawyer.

30

• Roy Boehm, 84, American Navy SEAL commander.
• Stewart Cleveland Cureton, 78, American pastor, President of the National Baptist Convention (1999).
• Richard Genelle, 47, American actor (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers: Zeo), heart attack.
• Bernie Hamilton, 80, American actor (Starsky and Hutch), cardiac arrest.
• Paul Hofmann, 96, Austrian writer, informant against the Nazis.
• Peter Karmel, 86, Australian economist.
• Roy Saari, 63, American swimmer, Olympic gold medalist (1964).

31

• Premjit Lall, 68, Indian tennis player, after long illness.
• Kazbek Pagiyev, 49, Russian politician, mayor of Vladikavkaz, shot.
• Brad Sullivan, 77, American actor (Slap Shot), liver cancer.
• Vic Washington, 62, American football player (San Francisco 49ers).
• Donald E. Westlake, 75, American mystery writer, heart attack.