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.
- James Griffin, 78, American mayor of Buffalo, New York (1978–1994). [4]
- Bukhuti Gurgenidze, 74, Georgian chess grandmaster. [5] (Russian)
- Thomas McHale, 45, American football player (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). [6]
- László Nedeczky, 95, Hungarian fencer. [7] (Hungarian)
- Oscar Ratnoff, 91, American hematologist, physician, researcher. [8] [9]
- J. R. Simplot, 99, American businessman, original McDonald's french fries supplier. [10]
- Tero "Camu Tao" Smith, 30, American rapper-producer, lung cancer. [11]
- Clementine Solignac, 113, French supercentenarian, world's fourth oldest person. [12] (French)
- Ernst Stuhlinger, 94, German-born American rocket scientist. [13]
- Dommy Ursua, 72, Filipino flyweight boxer. [14]
- Adam Baruch, 63, Israeli journalist, writer and art critic, diabetes complications. [15]
- Tano Cimarosa, 86, Italian actor. [16] (Italian)
- Rob Knox, 18, British actor, stabbed. [17]
- Eugenio Garza Lagüera, 84, Mexican businessman, former president of FEMSA, natural causes. [18]
- Dick Martin, 86, American comedian (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), respiratory complications. [19]
- Jimmy McGriff, 72, American jazz and blues organist. [20]
- Alan Brien, 83, British journalist and critic. [21]
- Cornell Capa, 90, American photographer. [22]
- Roberto Freire, 81, Brazilian writer and psychiatrist, created somatherapy. [23] (Portuguese)
- Geremi González, 33, Venezuelan baseball player, lightning strike. [24]
- Dritan Hoxha, 39, Albanian businessman, car accident. [25]
- Thelma Keane, 82, Australian-born American who inspired The Family Circus comic strip, Alzheimer's disease. [26]
- Heinrich Kwiatkowski, 81, German footballer, member of 1954 World Cup squad.[27]
- Jefferson Peres, 76, Brazilian senator from Amazonas, heart attack. [28] (Portuguese)
- Bruce "Utah" Phillips, 73, American folk singer and political activist, heart failure. [29] [30]
- Robert Asprin, 61, American science fiction and fantasy writer (MythAdventures), heart attack. [31]
- Charlie Booth, 104, Australian athlete, inventor of the starting block. [32]
- Jack Mildren, 58, American football player, Oklahoma's lieutenant governor (1990–1995), stomach cancer. [33]
- Paul Patrick, 58, British gay rights activist, chronic lung condition. [34]
- Boris Tropanets, 44, Moldovan football player, coach of national youth team, after long illness. [35] [36] (Russian)
- Daniel Guzmán-García, 111, Colombian supercentenarian. [37]
- Brian Keenan, 66, Irish IRA commander, subsequent peace activist, cancer. [38] [39]
- Michelle Meldrum, 39, American rock guitarist (Phantom Blue, Meldrum), cystic growth on the brain. [40]
- Siegmund Nissel, 86, German-born British violinist (Amadeus Quartet). [41]
- Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, 77, Portuguese artist, long illness. [42] (Portuguese)
- Torcato Sepúlveda, 57, Portuguese journalist. [43] (Portuguese)
- Iona Banks, 87, British actress (Pobol y Cwm). [44]
- Crispin Beltran, 75, Filipino congressman and labor leader, head injuries from a fall. [45]
- Viktor Bortsov, 73, Russian actor, intestinal cancer. [46] (Russian)
- Margot Boyd, 94, British actress (Marjorie Antrobus on The Archers). [47]
- Thomas Burlison, Baron Burlison, 71, British footballer and trade unionist. [48]
- Howard Dill, 73, Canadian award-winning agriculturalist, liver cancer. [49] [50]
- Joachim Erwin, 58, German politician, mayor of Düsseldorf, colorectal cancer. [51]
- Herb Hash, 97, American baseball pitcher (Boston Red Sox), stroke. [52]
- Zelma Henderson, 88, American last surviving plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education, pancreatic cancer. [53]
- Barclay Howard, 55, British golfer, leukemia. [54]
- Hamilton Jordan, 63, American politician, Jimmy Carter's White House chief of staff (1979–1980), mesothelioma. [55][56]
- Martin Kelly, 42, British plastic surgeon, husband of Natascha McElhone, heart attack. [57]
- Cy Leonard, 82, Canadian ventriloquist. [58]
- Gellért Raksányi, 82, Hungarian actor. [59] (Hungarian)
- Ali Sadikin, 80, Indonesian politician, governor of Jakarta (1966–1977), liver cancer. [60] [61]
- S. K. Trimurti, 96, Indonesian journalist, first minister of labor and employment, natural causes. [62] (Indonesian)
- Nigel Cassidy, 62, British [63]
- Jack Duffy, 81, Canadian comedian, natural causes. [64]
- Chaim Flom, Israeli scholar and rosh yeshiva. [65]
- Huntington Hartford, 97, American businessman and philanthropist. [66]
- Rimma Kazakova, 76, Russian poet. [67]
- Kjell Kristian Rike, 63, Norwegian sports commentator. [68]
- Vijay Tendulkar, 80, Indian playwright, myasthenia gravis. [69]
- Pietro Cascella, 87, Italian contemporary artist. [70]
- Irma Cordoba, 94, Argentine actress, natural causes. [71] (Spanish)
- Lloyd Moore, 95, American NASCAR driver (1949–1955). [72]
- Elemore Morgan, Jr., 76, American landscape artist. [73]
- Joseph Pevney, 96, American film director. [74]
- John Fitzsimmons, 68, British Roman Catholic priest and broadcaster, after long illness. [75]
- Thomas Flatley, 76, American real estate tycoon and philanthropist, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. [76]
- Zélia Gattai, 91, Brazilian writer and novelist, wife of Jorge Amado. [77] (Portuguese)
- Wilfrid Mellers, 94, British composer and author. [78]
- D. Aubrey Moodie, 99, Canadian politician. [79]
- Jack Rayner, 87, Australian rugby league player. [80]
- Sophan Sophiaan, 64, Indonesian actor and politician, motorcycle accident. [81]
- Joyce Trimmer, 80, Canadian politician, mayor of Scarborough, Ontario (1988–1994), cancer. [82]
- Lionel Van Deerlin, 93, American politician and journalist, representative from California (1963–1981).[83]
- William Blease, Baron Blease, 93, British politician. [84]
- Henry Canoy, 84, Filipino businessman, founder of Radio Mindanao Network. [85]
- Sandy Howard, 80, American film and television producer (A Man Called Horse), Alzheimer's disease. [86]
- Robert Mondavi, 94, American winemaker, benefactor of the Mondavi Center, member of the California Hall of Fame. [87]
- Jimmy Slyde, 80, American tap dancer. [88]
- Tommy Burns, 51, Scottish football player and manager (Celtic, Kilmarnock, Reading), melanoma. [89]
- Tove Billington Bye, 79, Norwegian politician. [90] (Norwegian)
- Robert Dunlop, 47, British motorcycle racer, chest injuries. [91]
- Will Elder, 86, American comic book artist (Mad, Little Annie Fanny), Parkinson's disease. [92] [93]
- Bob Florence, 75, American jazz composer and arranger, pneumonia. [94]
- Youssef Idilbi, 32, Dutch actor, suicide. [95] (Dutch)
- Willis Lamb, 94, American physicist, Nobel laureate in physics (1955), complications of gallstone disorder. [96]
- Earl Leggett, 75, American football player and coach. [97]
- Jim Nelson, 78, American aerospace entrepreneur, cancer. [98]
- Flip Schulke, 77, American photographer, heart failure. [99]
- Frith Banbury, 96, British stage director and actor. [100]
- Arthur Burks, 92, American mathematician and computer pioneer, Alzheimer's disease. [101]
- Warren Cowan, 87, American publicist, cancer. [102]
- Derek Goodwin, 88, British ornithologist. [103]
- Jay Morago, 90, American first Governor of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona (1954 - 1960), cancer. [104]
- Fred Moselen, 67, New Zealand Scouting national secretary, cancer. [105]
- Yuri Rytkheu, 78, Russian Chukchi language writer. [106]
- Mario Schoemberger, 56, Brazilian film, television and stage actor, cancer. [107] (Portuguese)
- Wander Taffo, 53, Brazilian musician, heart failure. [108] (Portuguese)
- Astrid Zachrison, 112, Swedish supercentenarian, oldest Swede ever. [109]
- Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, 78, Kuwaiti emir (2006). [110]
- Lucius D. Battle, 89, American ambassador to Egypt (1964–1967), Parkinson's disease. [111]
- Bernardin Gantin, 86, Beninese cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. [112]
- John Phillip Law, 70, American actor (Barbarella). [113]
- Larry McKeon, 63, American politician, first openly gay member of the Illinois General Assembly, stroke. [114]
- Muriel More, 89, British pianist. [115]
- Colea Răutu, 95, Romanian actor, cirrhosis. [116]
- Ron Stone, 72, American news anchor (KHOU, KPRC in Houston), prostate cancer. [117]
- Costică Toma, 80, Romanian football goalkeeper (Romania, Steaua Bucureşti). [118]
- Penny Banner, 73, American professional wrestler, cancer. [119]
- Seamus Casey, 27, New Zealand opera singer, car accident. [120]
- Leo Garibaldi, 78, American professional wrestler, Alzheimer's disease. [121]
- Oakley Hall, 87, American novelist (Warlock), kidney disease and cancer. [122]
- Beverly Rae Kimes, 68, American writer and automobile historian. [123]
- James Lemkin, 81, British lawyer and political philosopher. [124]
- Lidiya Masterkova, 81, Russian-born French painter. [125] (Russian)
- Robert Rauschenberg, 82, American pop artist, heart failure. [126]
- Irena Sendler, 98, Polish humanitarian, saved 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. [127]
- Irene Vilar, 77, Portuguese sculptor. [128] (Portuguese)
- Sam Dauya, 70, Zimbabwean founder of Dynamos F.C. football team. [129]
- Eugen Jesser, 62, Austrian director of the Vienna Boys' Choir. [130]
- Alema Leota, 80, American alleged organized crime leader, 1978 candidate for governor of Hawaii, injuries from car accident. [131]
- Raymattja Marika, 49, Australian Yolngu scholar, linguist, educator and cultural advocate, heart attack. [132]
- Bruno Neves, 27, Portuguese cyclist, crash during race. [133]
- Dottie Rambo, 74, American gospel singer, bus crash. [134]
- Bill Rankin, 84, American UCLA basketball player and high school basketball coach, Parkinson's disease. [135]
- John Rutsey, 55, Canadian drummer (Rush), heart attack. [136]
- Heather Stohler, 29, American model for Calvin Klein, fire. [137]
- Dick Sutcliffe, 90, American animator, creator of Davey and Goliath, stroke. [138]
- Jeff Torrington, 72, British novelist (Swing Hammer Swing), Parkinson's disease. [139]
- Curtis Whitley, 39, American football player (San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders). [140] [141]
- Leyla Gencer, 79, Turkish soprano opera singer, respiratory and cardiac failure. [142]
- Paul Haeberlin, 84, French chef and restaurateur (L'Auberge de l'Ill). [143]
- Jessie Jacobs, 17, Australian actress and singer, fell under train. [144] [145]
- Liao Feng-Teh, 57, Taiwanese incoming interior minister, heart attack. [146]
- Peter Thurnham, 69, British MP for Bolton North East (1983–1997), pancreatic cancer. [147]
- Jack Gibson, 79, Australian rugby league player and coach, selected as "Coach of the Century". [148]
- Judy Grable, 82, American female professional wrestler. [149]
- Shmuel Katz, 93, Israeli writer, historian and journalist. [150]
- Arthur Kroeger, 76, Canadian civil servant (1958–1992), academic and chancellor of Carleton University (1993–2002). [151]
- Nuala O'Faolain, 68, Irish journalist and author, lung cancer. [152] [153]
- Ronald A. Parise, 56, American astronaut, brain tumor. [154]
- Esteban Robles Espinosa, Mexican police commander, shot. [155]
- Pascal Sevran, 62, French television presenter and producer, lyricist and writer, lung cancer. [156]
- Sinan Sofuoğlu, 25, Turkish motorcycle racer, training crash. [157]
- Artur da Távola, 72, Brazilian journalist, writer and politician, heart disease. [158] (Portuguese)
- Eddy Arnold, 89, American country music singer. [159]
- Willem Brakman, 85, Dutch author. [160] (Dutch)
- Ian Brodie, 72, British foreign correspondent (The Daily Telegraph). [161]
- Jose Feria, 91, Filipino supreme court justice (1986–1987). [162]
- Murray Jarvik, 84, American academic and co-inventor of the nicotine patch, heart failure. [163]
- Larry Levine, 80, American Grammy-winning audio engineer (Wall of Sound), emphysema. [164]
- Luigi Malerba, 81, Italian writer. [165]
- Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, 42, Mexican federal police anti-drug coordinator, shot. [166]
- François Sterchele, 26, Belgian footballer (Belgium, Club Brugge), car accident. [167]
- Phil Armstrong, New Zealand radio producer (Paul Holmes Breakfast Show), stomach cancer. [168]
- LonPaul Ellrich, 37, American multi-instrumentalist (Marmoset, Sardina). [169]
- Clifford Jones, 80, American politician, Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman, prostate cancer. [170]
- Fred J. Taylor, 89, British angler and writer. [171]
- Thijs Wöltgens, 64, Dutch politician, mayor of Kerkrade (1994–2000), senator (1995–2005). [172] (Dutch)
- John Jay Iselin, 74, American public television innovator, descendent of John Jay, pneumonia. [173]
- Franz Jackson, 95, American saxophonist. [174]
- Harvey Karman, 84, American psychologist and women's reproductive health advocate, inventor of the Karman cannula, stroke. [175]
- Ray Michie, Baroness Michie of Gallanach, 74, British Liberal Democrat politician, cancer. [176]
- John Reames, 65, British football manager and administrator, cancer. [177]
- Philipp von Schoeller, 86, Austrian horse-riding champion and member of the International Olympic Committee. [178]
- Giuseppe Attardi, 84, American molecular biologist. [179]
- Sam Aubrey, 85, American basketball player and coach (Oklahoma State Cowboys). [180]
- Thomas Boggs, 63, American drummer (Box Tops), owner of Huey's Restaurants. [181]
- Hugh Bradner, 92, American scientist credited with inventing the wetsuit. [182]
- Lucien Jeunesse, 89, French radio game presenter (Le Jeu des 1000 Francs). [183] (French)
- Park Kyung-ni, 82, South Korean novelist, lung cancer. [184]
- Irv Robbins, 90, American businessman, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain. [185] [186]
- Alma Hogan Snell, 85, American Crow tribal nation historian, herbalist, granddaughter of Pretty Shield. [187]
- Jerry Wallace, 79, American country music singer, heart failure. [188]
- Witold Woyda, 68, Polish fencer, double gold medallist at the 1972 Summer Olympics, lung cancer. [189]
- John Altieri, 38, American actor (Jersey Boys), pneumonia. [190]
- Joaquim Carlos, Portuguese football player (Portugal, SL Benfica), after long illness. [191] (Portuguese)
- Alvin Colt, 92, American Tony Award–winning costume designer (On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Pipe Dream, Li'l Abner). [192]
- Jaime Gómez, 78, Mexican footballer, goalkeeper for Guadalajara (1956–1970), pancreatic cancer. [193]
- Fred Haines, 72, American screenwriter and film director, lung cancer. [194]
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