Deaths in August 2008

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

August 2008

31

• Meir Avizohar, 84, Israeli politician and academic. [1]
• Jean-Marie Berckmans, 54, Belgian writer, lung disease. [2] (Dutch)
• Ken Campbell, 66, British actor. [3]
• Jamie Dolan, 39, British footballer (Motherwell F.C.), heart attack. [4]
• Edwin O. Guthman, 89, American Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, amyloidosis. [5]
• Ike Pappas, 75, American CBS journalist, broadcast murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, heart failure. [6]
• Jerry Reed, 71, American country music singer and actor, complications from emphysema. [7]
• Magomed Yevloyev, 37, Ingush journalist and owner of the opposition news website Ingushetiya.ru, shot. [8]

30

• Krishna Kumar Birla, 89, Indian industrialist and politician, after brief illness. [9]
• Tommy Bolt, 92, American professional golfer, 1958 U.S. Open champion, liver failure. [10]
• Robin Bullough, 78, British mathematical physicist. [11]
• Brian Hambly, 71, Australian rugby league player. [12]
• Killer Kowalski, 81, Canadian professional wrestler, heart attack. [13]
• Eldon Rathburn, 92 , Canadian composer, after brief illness. [14]
• Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, 69, Mexican politician, presidential candidate. [15]
• William Howard Wriggins, 90, American academic, ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives (1977–1979). [16]

29

• Bridget Cracroft-Eley, 74, British Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire since 1995. [17]
• Jayshree Gadkar, 66, Indian actress. [18]
• David Lumsden of Cushnie, 75, British Garioch Pursuivant. [19]
• Geoffrey Perkins, 55, British comedy producer, writer and performer, head of comedy for BBC, road accident. [20]
• Peter Snow, 81, British artist and theatre designer. [21]

28

• İlhan Berk, 89, Turkish poet. [22]
• Harold Challenor, 86, British war hero (Operation Speedwell) and corrupt Metropolitan police officer. [23]
• Phil Hill, 81, American racing driver, 1961 Formula One world champion, complications of Parkinson's disease. [24]
• Ralph Kovel, 88, American antiques expert and author, complications of broken hip. [25]
• Gilbert Moorer, 67, American rhythm & blues singer (The Esquires), complications from throat cancer. [26]
• Swami Chidananda Saraswati, 91, Indian spiritual leader, president of the Divine Life Society. [27]
• Sigurbjörn Einarsson, 97, Icelandic bishop of the Church of Iceland (1959–1981). [28] (Icelandic)
• Wonderful Smith, 97, American comedian, natural causes. [29]
• Michel Vastel, 68, Canadian journalist and columnist, throat cancer. [30]

27

• Del Martin, 87, American gay rights activist, first legal same-sex marriage in California, complications from bone fracture. [31]
• Isa Meireles, 76, Portuguese journalist and writer. [32] (Portuguese)
• Chittaranjan Mitra, 82, Indian scientist and administrator.[33]
• Abie Nathan, 81, Israeli peace activist, founder of Voice of Peace radio station. [34]
• Mark Priestley, 32, Australian actor (All Saints), suicide. [35]
• Olavo Setúbal, 85, Brazilian politician and banker, mayor of São Paulo (1975–1979), heart failure. [36]

26

• Pierre Colas, 32, German Mayanist scholar, assistant professor in anthropology at Vanderbilt University, shot. [37]
• Bob Mountford, 56, British footballer (Port Vale, Rochdale), cancer. [38]
• Ed Vega, 72, Puerto Rican novelist. [39]
• Hazel Warp, 93, American stuntwoman (Gone with the Wind). [40]
• Barbara Warren, 65, American triathlete, bicycle crash. [41]

25

• Randa Chahal, 54, Lebanese film maker, cancer. [42]
• Marpessa Dawn, 74, American actress (Black Orpheus), heart attack. [43]
• Kevin Duckworth, 44, American NBA basketball player, heart failure resulting from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. [44]
• Ahmed Faraz, 74, Pakistani poet. [45]
• Hardwicke Knight, 97, New Zealand historian. [46]
• Pavle Kozjek, 49, Slovenian mountaineer, climbing accident. [47]
• Jabir Herbert Muhammad, 79, American businessman, long-time manager of Muhammad Ali, complications from heart surgery. [48]
• Vassili Nesterenko, 73, Belarusian physicist. [49] (French)
• Pehr Henrik Nordgren, 64, Finnish composer, after long illness. [50] (Finnish)
• Mario Peña, 56, Peruvian congressman, lymphoma. [51]
• Josef Tal, 97, Israeli composer, natural causes. [52] (German)
• John Thoday, 91, British geneticist. [53]

24

• Gerard W. Ford, 83, American co-founder of Ford Modeling Agency, endocarditis. [54]
• Riitta Immonen, 90, Finnish fashion designer and entrepreneur, co-founder of Marimekko. [55]
• Tad Mosel, 86, American Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright (All the Way Home). [56]
• Morris Sullivan, 91, American co-founder of Sullivan Bluth Studios (An American Tail, The Land Before Time). [57]
• Wei Wei, 88, Chinese poet and writer, liver cancer. [58]

23

• Jimmy Cleveland, 82, American jazz trombonist. [59]
• Ruth Cohen, 78, American actress and extra (Seinfeld), heart attack. [60]
• Leo Elter, 78, American football player, heart failure. [61]
• Steve Foley, 49, American drummer (The Replacements, Bash & Pop), drug overdose. [62]
• Doris Gibson, 98, Peruvian journalist, founder of Caretas magazine. [63]
• Ian Hibell, 74, British cyclist, hit and run car crash. [64]
• Yuri Nosenko, 81, Soviet-born Ukrainian KGB agent who defected to United States, after a long illness. [65]
• John Russell, 89, British-born American art critic and author. [66]
• Thomas Huckle Weller, 93, American virologist, Nobel Prize winner (Medicine, 1954). [67]

22

• Frank Cornish, 40, American football player (Dallas Cowboys), apparent heart attack. [68]
• Jeff MacKay, 59, American film and television actor, (Magnum, P.I., Tales of the Gold Monkey), liver complications. [69]
• Mike J. Manning, 65, Australian-born Papua New Guinean anti-corruption activist and economist, heart attack. [70]
• Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman, 94, American abstract expressionist art collector, natural causes. [71]
• Ralph Young, 90, American singer (Sandler and Young). [72]

21

• Fred Crane, 90, American film and television actor (Gone with the Wind), complications from surgery. [73]
• Iosif Constantin Drăgan, 91, Romanian businessman and historian. [74] (Romanian)
• Jerry Finn, 39, American record producer (Blink-182, Green Day, Morrissey), cerebral hemorrhage. [75]
• Don Fox, 72, British rugby league player (Wakefield). [76]
• Buddy Harman, 79, American session musician, heart failure. [77]
• Lee Eon, 27, South Korean actor and model, motorcycle accident. [78]
• Laurence Urdang, 81, American lexicographer, heart failure. [79]
• Wolfgang Vogel, 82, German lawyer, negotiator in prisoner exchange programs during the Cold War. [80]

20

• Mario Bertok, 79, Croatian chess grandmaster and journalist, drowned. [81] (Croatian)
• Chao Yao-dong, 92, Taiwanese minister of economic affairs, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [82] (Chinese)
• Ed Freeman, 80, American U.S. Army helicopter pilot, recipient of the Medal of Honor, complications of Parkinson's Disease. [83]
• Phil Guy, 68, American blues guitarist, brother of Buddy Guy, pancreatic cancer. [84]
• Larry Hennessy, 79, American basketball player (Philadelphia Warriors, Syracuse Nationals). [85]
• Hua Guofeng, 87, Chinese premier (1976–1980), chairman of the Communist Party of China (1976–1981). [86]
• Edward Jaworski, 82, American Olympic water polo player (1952). [87]
• Dick Jones, 97, American politician, Wyoming state senator (1955–1974), complications from surgery. [88]
• Eric Longworth, 90, British actor (Dad's Army). [89]
• Leopoldo Serran, 66, Brazilian screenwriter, liver cancer. [90]
• Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, American member of the House of Representatives from Ohio since 1999, cerebral hemorrhage. [91]
• Gene Upshaw, 63, American NFL player (Oakland Raiders), executive director of NFLPA, pancreatic cancer. [92]

19

• Leo Abse, 91, British politician, MP (1958–1987), reformer of laws on homosexuality and divorce. [93]
• Julius Carry, 56, American actor (The Last Dragon), pancreatic cancer. [94]
• Binyamin Gibli, 89, Israeli head of military intelligence. [95]
• Bob Humphrys, 56, British BBC sports presenter, lung cancer. [96]
• Algimantas Masiulis, 77, Lithuanian actor. [97] (Russian)
• Habib Miyan, 139?, Indian claimant to title of world's oldest person. [98]
• LeRoi Moore, 46, American saxophonist (Dave Matthews Band), complications from ATV accident. [99]
• Mikhail Mukasei, 101, Russian spy. [100]
• Levy Mwanawasa, 59, Zambian politician, president since 2002, complications from stroke. [101]
• Diane Webber, 76, American model and actress. [102]

18

• Jeannette Eyerly, 100, American author and columnist. [103]
• Manny Farber, 91, American film critic and painter. [104]
• Genuine Risk, 31, American racehorse, 1980 Kentucky Derby winner. [105]
• Pervis Jackson, 70, American R&B bass singer (The Spinners), cancer. [106]
• Jumoke, 18, American western lowland gorilla, complications of early pregnancy. [107]
• Floyd Peters, 72, American football player, complications from Alzheimer's disease. [108]

17

• Marie Fisher, 77, Australian politician, Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1978–1988). [109]
• Dave Freeman, 47, American author (100 Things To Do Before You Die), injuries from fall. [110]
• Maudie Hopkins, 93, American last certified Civil War widow. [111]
• Philip Saffman, 77, American mathematician. [112]
• Franco Sensi, 82, Italian businessman, president of A.S. Roma since 1993, respiratory failure. [113]

16

• Hugh Butt, 98, American physician. [114]
• Dorival Caymmi, 94, Brazilian songwriter and singer, multiple organ failure. [115]
• Roberta Collins, 63, American actress, drug overdose. [116]
• Michel-Gaspard Coppenrath, 72, Tahitian archbishop of Papeete (1973–1999), ruptured aneurysm. [117]
• Ronnie Drew, 73, Irish singer, founding member of The Dubliners, after long illness. [118]
• Masanobu Fukuoka, 95, Japanese microbiologist, pioneer of no-till grain cultivation. [119]
• Elena Leuşteanu, 73, Romanian gymnast and three-time Olympic medalist, pancreatic cancer. [120] (Romanian)
• Fanny Mikey, 78, Argentine-born Colombian theatre actress, renal failure. [121]
• Johnny Moore, 70, Jamaican trumpeter, founding member of The Skatalites, cancer. [122]
• Alfred Rainer, 20, Austrian Nordic combined skier, paragliding accident. [123]
• Helge Uuetoa, 71, Estonian stage designer, beaten. [124] (Estonian)

15

• Carlos Meglia, 50, Argentine comic book artist. [125]
• James Orthwein, 84, American businessman, cancer. [126]
• Gladys Powers, 109, British-born last World War I veteran living in Canada, served with the WAAC and WRAF. [127]
• Leroy Sievers, 53, American journalist, colon cancer. [128]
• Vic Toweel, 79, South African boxer, bantamweight world champion (1952–1954). [129]
• Jerry Wexler, 91, American record producer, heart failure. [130]
• Darrin Winston, 42, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies, 1997–1998), leukemia. [131]

14

• Seiji Aochi, 66 Japanese ski jumper, stomach cancer. [132]
• Allen Bares, 71, American member of the Louisiana State Legislature (1972–1992), French language proponent, stroke. [133]
• Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart, 66, British politician and local government leader, cancer. [134]
• Ralph Feigin, 70, American pediatrician, lung cancer. [135]
• Percy Irausquin, 39, Aruban fashion designer, cerebral hemorrhage. [136]
• Marius Maziers, 93, French prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. [137]
• Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 45, American murderer, member of the Texas Seven, execution by lethal injection. [138]
• Lita Roza, 82, British singer, first British female to top the UK singles chart. [139]
• Bob Worthington, 72, American honorary consul of the Cook Islands to the United States (1985–2008). [140]

13

• Sandy Allen, 53, American tallest woman in the world (according to Guinness World Records). [141]
• Henri Cartan, 104, French mathematician. [142]
• Bill Gwatney, 48, American politician, Arkansas state senator (1992–2002), Democratic Party of Arkansas chairman, shot. [143]
• John MacDougall, 60, British politician, MP for Glenrothes since 2005 and Central Fife (2001–2005), mesothelioma. [144]
• Missy, 40, American pornographic actress, accidental overdose of prescription medication. [145]
• Nollaig Ó Gadhra, 64, Irish language activist, journalist and historian, co-founder of Teilifís na Gaeilge. [146]
• Dino Toso, 39, Italian automotive engineer, Renault F1 director of aerodynamics, cancer. [147]
• Jack Weil, 107, American founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, oldest working CEO. [148]
• Stuart Cary Welch, 80, American scholar and collector of Indian and Islamic art. [149]

12

• Christie Allen, 53, Australian pop singer, pancreatic cancer. [150]
• Michael Baxandall, 74, British art historian, Parkinson's disease. [151]
• Gilles Bilodeau, 53, Canadian National Hockey League and World Hockey Association player. [152]
• Mick Clough, 80, Australian politician, member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1976–1988, 1991–1999). [153]
• Dottie Wiltse Collins, 84, American AAGPBL baseball pitcher (Fort Wayne Daisies). [154]
• Donald Erb, 81, American avant-garde composer. [155]
• George Gick, 92, American Major League Baseball player (Chicago White Sox). [156]
• Rust Hills, 83, American fiction editor (Esquire), cardiac arrest. [157]
• Lester Hogan, 88, American physicist, complications of Alzheimer's disease. [158]
• Vilma Jamnická, 101, Austro-Hungarian-born Slovakian actress and astrologer. [159] (Slovak)
• Francis Lacassin, 76, French editor. [160] (France)
• Marcel Leroux, c. 70, French climatologist. [161]
• Herm Schneidman, 94, American football player. [162]
• Stan Storimans, 39, Dutch photojournalist and cameraman, mortar fire. [163]
• Bill Stulla, 97, American children's television show host. [164]

11

• Agneta Bolme Börjefors, 67, Swedish television presenter and royal reporter. [165] (Swedish)
• Henry B. R. Brown, 82, American investment banker, aneurysm. [166]
• John S. Bull, 73, American NASA astronaut. [167]
• Sir Bill Cotton, 80, British television executive. [168]
• George Deem, 75, American artist, lung cancer. [169]
• George Furth, 75, American playwright, actor and librettist, collaborator with Stephen Sondheim. [170]
• Don Helms, 81, American steel guitarist. [171]
• James Hoyt, 83, American soldier, member of the Buchenwald liberation team. [172]
• Anatoly Khrapaty, 45, Kazakh Olympic weightlifter (USSR and Kazakhstan), motorcycle accident. [173]
• Günther Schifter, 84, Austrian journalist and radio presenter. [174] (German)
• Fred Sinowatz, 79, Austrian politician, chancellor of Austria (1983–1986). [175]
• Darren Taylor, 42, American gang member turned peacemaker, cancer. [176]
• Rhoshii Wells, 31, American boxer, Olympic medallist, shot. [177]

10

• Lee Clark, 71, Canadian politician, MP for Brandon—Souris (1983–1993). [178]
• John Esmonde, 71, British television writer, half of Esmonde and Larbey (Please Sir!, The Good Life). [179]
• Isaac Hayes, 65, American soul and funk musician ("Theme from Shaft"), actor (South Park), stroke. [180]
• William A. Knowlton, 88, American general. [181]
• Howard G. Minsky, 94, American film producer (Love Story). [182]
• Terence Rigby, 71, British actor, lung cancer. [183]
• Alexander Slobodyanik, 65, Ukrainian pianist, meningitis. [184]
• František Tikal, 75, Czech ice hockey player. [185] (German)
• David Nigel de Lorentz Young, 76, British Bishop of Ripon (1977–1999). [186]

9

• Sir Stanley Bailey, 81, British chief constable of Northumbria Police (1975–1991). [187]
• Peter Coe, 88, British athletics coach, father of Sebastian Coe. [188]
• Colm Condon, 87, Irish lawyer, Attorney General (1965–1973). [189]
• Bob Cunis, 67, New Zealand cricketer. [190]
• Mahmoud Darwish, 67, Palestinian poet, complications from open heart surgery. [191]
• Archie Elliott, Lord Elliott, 85, British judge. [192]
• Jacob Landau, 74, American journalist, attorney, co-founder of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, after long illness. [193]
• Bernie Mac, 50, American comedian and actor (The Bernie Mac Show, Bad Santa, Friday), complications from pneumonia. [194]
• Gilbert Morand, 85, French military patrol runner. [195] (French)
• Greg Urwin, 61, Australian diplomat, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (2004–2008), cancer. [196]
• Denis Vetchinov, 32, Russian army major, recipient of Hero of the Russian Federation award, killed in action. [197]
• Vivian Shun-wen Wu, 95, Taiwanese entrepreneur, chairwoman of Yulon Motor, heart failure. [198]

8

• Ralph Edward Dodge, 101, American bishop of the Methodist Church. [199]
• Antonio Gava, 78, Italian politician, minister of the interior (1988–1990), after long illness. [200]
• Orville Moody, 74, American professional golfer, winner of 1969 U.S. Open. [201]
• Eleo Pomare, 70, Colombian modern dance choreographer, cancer. [202]
• Henk Starreveld, 94, Dutch Olympic canoer. [203]

7

• Bernie Brillstein, 77, American film producer, chronic pulmonary disease. [204]
• Juan Bustos, 72, Chilean politician, liver cancer. [205]
• Ralph Klein, 77, Israeli basketball player and coach, intestinal cancer. [206]
• Andrea Pininfarina, 51, Italian businessman, CEO of Pininfarina, motorcycle accident. [207]
• Clarence Rost, 94, Canadian ice hockey player. [208]

6

• Robert Nason Beck, 80, American scientist, myelodysplasia. [209]
• John K. Cooley, 80, American author (Unholy Wars), journalist and expert of Middle East affairs, cancer. [210]
• Princess Francine of Montenegro, 58, Montenegrin fashion designer, wife of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro. [211]
• Gene Galusha, 66, American actor and narrator. [212]
• Simon Gray, 71, British playwright. abdominal aortic aneurysm. [213]
• Karl Kuehl, 70, American baseball scout, coach and manager (Montreal Expos), pulmonary fibrosis. [214]
• Anthony Russo, 71, American whistleblower (Pentagon Papers). [215]
• Jud Taylor, 68, American television director and actor, kidney failure. [216]
• Reg Whitehouse, 75, Canadian football player (Saskatchewan Roughriders). [217]

5

• Bruno Dallansky, 79, Austrian actor. [218] (German)
• Robert Hazard, 59, American musician and songwriter ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), pancreatic cancer. [219]
• Jack Kamen, 88, American comic book artist (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror), cancer. [220]
• Reg Lindsay, 79, Australian country music singer and songwriter, pneumonia. [221]
• José Medellín, 33, Mexican convicted murderer, execution in Texas by lethal injection. [222]
• Gary Mooney, 78, American animator (Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, George of the Jungle), cancer. [223]
• Daniel L. Norris, 73, Canadian commissioner of the Northwest Territories (1989–1994), heart failure. [224]
• Eva Pflug, 79, German actress (Raumpatrouille Orion). [225] (German)
• Manuel de Almeida Trindade, 90, Portuguese bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aveiro (1962–1988). [226] (Portuguese)

4

• Alberto Achacaz Walakial, 79, Chilean craftsman, one of the last full-blooded Alacaluf, blood poisoning. [227]
• Sally Insul, 92, American actress, heart failure. [228]
• Craig Jones, 23, British motorcycle racer, head injuries from a race crash. [229]
• Peter Kass, 85, American actor, director and teacher. [230]
• Eri Kawai, 43, Japanese pop and classical singer, liver cancer. [231]
• Robert Maheu, 90, American businessman, aide to Howard Hughes. [232]
• Nicola Rescigno, 92, American opera conductor, complications from broken femur. [233]
• Johnny Thio, 63, Belgian football player and coach, myocardial rupture. [234]
• Greg Weld, 64, American racing driver and businessman, heart attack. [235]

3

• Anton Allemann, 72, Swiss footballer (PSV Eindhoven, 1. FC Nuremberg, Grasshopper Zürich), heart attack. [236] (French)
• Skip Caray, 68, American broadcaster for baseball (Atlanta Braves) and basketball (Hawks), son of Harry Caray, bronchitis. [237]
• Erik Darling, 74, American songwriter, folk musician, lymphoma. [238]
• Roger Dean, 65, British guitarist, brain cancer. [239]
• Babatunde Jose, 82, Nigerian journalist and newspaper editor. [240]
• Jeffrey S. Medkeff, 39, American astronomer and science writer, liver cancer. [241]
• Robert Montgomery, 78, American lawyer. [242]
• Aurelius H. Piper Sr., 92, American hereditary chief of the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation since 1959, natural causes. [243]
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 89, Russian novelist and historian, Nobel Prize winner (1970), heart failure. [244]
• Louis Teicher, 83, American classical pianist (Ferrante & Teicher), heart failure. [245]

2

• Fujio Akatsuka, 72, Japanese manga artist, pneumonia. [246]
• Thomas John Ashton, 3rd Baron Ashton of Hyde, 81, British aristocrat and banker. [247]
• Rolf Bae, 33, Norwegian mountaineer, fall from K2. [248]
• Geoffrey Ballard, 76, Canadian businessman and fuel cell scientist, founder of Ballard Power Systems. [249]
• Pérez Celis, 69, Argentine plastic artist, leukaemia. [250]
• Affonso Évora, 89, Brazilian Olympic bronze medal-winning (1948) basketball player. [251]
• Helga Gitmark, 78, Norwegian politician. [252] (Norwegian)
• Christopher González, 65, Jamaican sculptor and painter, cancer. [253]
• Kåre Grøndahl Hagem, 93, Norwegian politician. [254] (Norwegian)
• Allen Kolstad, 76, American politician, lieutenant governor of Montana (1988–1991), cancer. [255]
• Ger McDonnell, 37, Irish mountaineer, first Irishman to reach K2 summit, climbing accident. [256]
• Peter Rodman, 64, American foreign policy expert, leukemia. [257]
• John F. Seiberling, 89, American politician, representative from Ohio (1971–1987), respiratory failure. [258]

1

• Carlos Aponte, 69, Colombian footballer. [259] (Spanish)
• Pauline Baynes, 85, British illustrator (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings). [260]
• Peter Jackson, 80, Australian fashion designer, prostate cancer. [261]
• Ashok Mankad, 61, Indian cricketer. [262]
• Chief Mqalo, 91, South African Chief of the AmaKhuze Tribe, Alice. [263]
• Harkishan Singh Surjeet, 92, Indian politician, cardiac arrest. [264]
• Butch White, 72, British cricketer (Hampshire, Glamorgan, England). [265]