References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 June 28.

2004 January 2 Death of Paul Hopkins, Reported to be the oldest living former Major League Baseball player (born 1904). [25] Death of Etta Moten Barnett, American actress (born 1901). [25] Death of Lynn Cartwright, American actress (born 1927). [25] January 4 Death of Joan Aiken, English author (born 1924). [25] January 6 Death of Tug McGraw, baseball player (born 1944). [25] Death of Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (born 1954). [25] January 7 Death of Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (born 1926). [25] January 9 Death of Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosophist (born 1909). [25] January 11 Death of Mairtín Crawford, Irish poet (born 1967). [25] January 12 Death of Randy VanWarmer, American singer and songwriter (born 1955). [25] January 13 In England, serial killer Harold Shipman is found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison, four years after being convicted of murdering 15 patients in Cheshire. Shipman was blamed for the deaths of a further 200 patients at an inquest 18 months ago and some reports claimed that he may have murdered as many as 400 or 500 people. [25] January 14 Death of Terje "Valfar" Bakken, Norwegian musician (born 1978). [25] Death of Uta Hagen, German actress (born 1919). [25] January 22 Death of Ann Miller, American dancer and actress (born 1923). [25] Death of Jack Tunney, Canadian wrestling promoter (born 1935). [25] January 27 Death of Jack Paar, American television show host (born 1918). [25] January 29 Death of M. M. Kaye, British writer (born 1908). [25] January 31 Death of Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (born 1913). [25] February 5 John Hench dies, at age 95. Hench worked at The Walt Disney Company for 64 years, the longest of any Disney employee. He worked on animation, and took part in the creation of all Disney parks. [6] February 14 Death of Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (born 1970). [25] February 17 Death of José López Portillo, President of Mexico (born 1920). [25] February 19 Death of Archibald Paton Thornton, British historian. [25] February 21 Death of John Charles CBE, Welsh footballer (born 1931). [25] February 23 Death of Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (born 1945). [25] February 24 Death of John Randolph, American actor (born 1915). [25] February 26 Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. [25] Death of Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (born 1905). [25] February 27 Death of Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (born 1910). [25] February 28 Death of Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and Librarian of Congress (born 1914). [25] March 2 Death of Cormac McAnallen, Irish footballer (born 1980). [25] Death of Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (born 1918). [25] Death of Marge Schott, baseball team owner (born 1928). [25] March 4 Death of Claude Nougaro, French singer (born 1929). [25] Death of Stephen Sprouse, American fashion designer, artist, and photographer (born 1953). [25] March 5 Death of Priscilla Paris, American singer (born 1953). [25] March 7 Death of Paul Winfield, American actor (heart attack) (born 1941). [25] March 8 Death of Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (born 1948). [25] Death of Robert Pastorelli, American actor (born 1954). [25] Death of Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, American film personality and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter (born 1926). [25] March 15 Death of John Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1925). [25] March 20 Death of Juliana, Queen Mother of the Netherlands (born 1909). [25] March 22 Death of Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas. [25] March 26 Death of Jan Berry, American singer (born 1941). [25] Death of Jan Sterling, American actress (born 1921). [25] March 29 Death of Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (born 1921). [25] (March 29 [5]) March 30 Death of Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (born 1908). [25] April 1 Death of Carrie Snodgress, American actress (born 1946). [25] April 15 Death of Ray Condo, Canadian musician (born 1950). [25] April 17 Death of Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (born 1908). [25] April 18 Death of Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (born 1920). [25] April 19 Death of Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (born 1925). [25] Death of John Maynard Smith, English biologist (born 1920). [25] April 22 Death of Pat Tillman, American football player and U.S. Army Ranger (killed in action) (born 1976). [25] April 24 Death of Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (born 1906). [25] April 25 Death of Thom Gunn, British poet (born 1929). [25] May 9 Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny. [25] Death of Alan King, American actor (born 1927). [5] [25] May 14 Death of Anna Lee, British actress (born 1913). [25] May 17 Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the Iraqi Governing Council, is killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad. [25] Death of Tony Randall, American actor (born 1920). [25] May 22 Death of Richard Biggs, American actor (born 1960). [25] Death of Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (born 1945). [25] May 25 Death of Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (born 1917). [25] May 28 Death of Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-born automobile executive (born 1934). [25] Death of Bob Couture, Canadian musician (born 1940). [25] May 29 Death of Archibald Cox, American Watergate special prosecutor (born 1912). [25] Death of Jack Rosenthal, English playwright (born 1931). [25] Death of Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (born 1925). [25] June 2 Death of Loyd Sigmon, American amateur ("ham") radio broadcastor (born 1909). [25] June 5 Death of Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, at age 93 (born 1911). [25] [129] Death of Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (born 1941). [25] June 7 Death of Quorthon, founder of Swedish black metal band, Bathory (born 1966). [25] June 10 Death of Ray Charles, American singer and musician (born 1930). [5] [25] June 11 Death of Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (born 1946). [25] Death of Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (born 1904). [25] June 13 Death of Dick Durrance, American skier (born 1914). [25] June 16 Death of Thanom Kittikachorn, Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1912). [25] June 20 Death of Jim Bacon, Premier of Tasmania (born 1950). [25] June 21 Death of Ron Ashman, former footballer and football manager (born 1926). [25] June 22 Death of Mattie Stepanek, American poet (born 1990). [25] June 26 Death of Naomi Shemer, Israeli songwriter (born 1931). [25] June 27 Death of Darrell Russell, American race car driver (born 1968). [25] Death of George Patton IV, American general (born 1923). [5] [25] July 1 Death of Peter Barnes, English writer (born 1931). [25] Death of Marlon Brando, American actor (born 1924). [25] Death of Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer (born 1909). [25] July 2 Death of John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (born 1919). [25] July 3 Death of Percy Wickman, Canadian politician (born 1941). [25] July 4 Death of Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (born 1920). [25] July 5 Death of Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (born 1923). [25] Death of Rodger Ward, American race car driver (born 1921). [25] July 6 Death of Austrian President, Thomas Kleistl (born 1932). Kleistl died in office two days before the end of his term of office. He had been president since 1992. He had been the Austrian ambasador to the United Nations (1978) and the Ambasador to the U. S. A. (1982). [25] [37] July 9 Death of Isabel Sanford, Harlem actress (born 1917). [25] July 10 German TV actress Inge Meysel dies at age 94. During the previous 40 years she had starred in over 100 TV productions. [37] July 12 Death of Betty Oliphant, co-founder of National Ballet of Canada (born 1918). [25] July 13 Death of Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (born 1930). [25] July 19 Death of Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (born 1911). [25] July 21 Death of Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1918). [25] July 28 Death of Francis Crick, English molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1916). [25] Death of Sam Edwards, American actor (born 1915). [25] August 1 Death of Philip Abelson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913). [25] August 3 Death of Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (born 1908). [25] August 6 Death of Rick James, American musician (born 1948). [25] August 8 Death of Fay Wray, Canadian actress (born 1907). [25] August 12 Death of Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1919). [25] August 13 Death of Julia Child, American chef (born 1912). [25] August 14 Death of Czeslaw Milosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911). [25] August 15 Death of Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1916). [25] August 17 Death of Thea Astley, Australian writer (born 1925). [25] Death of Gérard Souzay, French baritone (born 1918). [25] August 18 Death of Elmer Bernstein, American composer (born 1922). [25] Death of Charlie Waller, American singer and guitarist (born 1935). [25] August 24 Death of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (born 1926). [25] August 26 Death of Laura Branigan, American singer (born 1957). [25] August 27 Death of Willie Crawford, baseball player (born 1946). [25] August 30 Death of Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (born 1906). [25] Death of Indian Larry, custom motorcycle builder (born 1949). [25] September 1 Death of Ahmed Kuftaro, Grand Mufti of Syria (born 1915). [25] September 8 Death of Frank Thomas, American animator (Walt Disney Company) (born 1912). [6] [25] September 10 Death of Brock Adams, American politician (born 1927). [25] September 11 Death of Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (helicopter crash) (born 1949). [25] September 13 Death of Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (born 1925). [25] September 14 Death of Ove Sprogøe, Danish Actor (born 1919). [25] September 15 Death of Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (cancer) (born 1948). [25] September 18 Death of Norman Cantor, Canadian historian (born 1929). [25] September 19 Death of Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian-born civil servant (born 1919). [25] Death of Skeeter Davis, American singer (born 1931). [25] Death of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., American businessman, musician, and activist. [25] September 22 Death of Ray Traylor, American professional wrestler (born 1962). [25] September 24 Death of Françoise Sagan, French writer (born 1935). [25] September 26 Death of Marianna Komlos American professional wrestler and fitness model (born 1969). [25] October 1 Death of Bruce Palmer, Canadian musician (Buffalo Springfield) (born 1946). [25] October 3 Death of John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer at age 44 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (born 1960). [25] [56] Death of Janet Leigh, American actress (born 1927). [25] October 4 Death of Gordon Cooper, astronaut (born 1927). [25] October 5 Death of Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor (born 1921). [25] Death of Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1916). [25] October 8 Death of Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (born 1930). [25] Death of James Chace, American historian (born 1931). [25] Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage held by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi insurgent, is killed after a failed escape attempt. [25] October 10 Death of Ken Caminiti, baseball player (heart attack) (born 1963). [25] Death of Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (born 1952). [25] October 16 Death of Pierre Salinger, John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (born 1925). [25] October 20 Death of Anthony Hecht, American poet (born 1923). [25] October 23 Death of Robert Merrill, American baritone (born 1919). [25] October 24 Death of Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver and owner (born 1980). [25] October 25 Death of John Peel, British radio disc jockey (born 1939). [25] October 28 Death of Jimmy McLarnin, Irish-born boxer (born 1907). [25] October 29 Death of Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (born 1923). [25] Death of Peter Twinn, English mathematician and World War II code-breaker (born 1916). [25] October 30 Death of Peggy Ryan, American actress (born 1924). [25] November 1 Death of Mac Dre, American rapper (born 1970). [25] November 2 Death of Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (born 1957). [25] Death of H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan-al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (born 1918). [25] Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh is assassinated in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Mohammed Bouyeri. [25] November 7 Death of Howard Keel, American singer and actor (born 1919). [25] Death of Eddie Charlton, Australian snooker player (born 1929). [25] November 11 Death of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1929). [25] November 13 Death of Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (born 1968). [5] [25] November 14 Death of Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (born 1945). [25] November 15 Death of John Morgan, British-born comedian (born 1930). [25] November 19 Death of John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1927). [25] November 23 Death of Rafael Eitan, Israeli politician (born 1929). [25] November 28 A male Po'o-uli dies of avian malaria at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda before it can breed, making the species in all probability extinct. [25] November 29 Death of John Drew Barrymore, American actor (born 1932). [25] Death of Bernard Robinson, English footballer (born 1911). [25] December 1 Death of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (born 1911). [25] December 2 Death of Alicia Markova, English ballerina (born 1910). [25] Death of Mona Van Duyn, American poet (born 1921). [25] December 5 Death of Seymour Ginsburg, American computer scientist (born 1928). [25] December 7 Death of Frederick Fennell, American conductor (born 1914). [25] December 8 Nathan Gale shoots and kills guitarist Dimebag Darrell onstage in Colombus, Ohio. [25] December 10 Death of Gary Webb, American journalist known for his investigation into the Iran-Contra affair (born 1955). [25] December 18 Death of Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (born 1926). [25] December 19 Death of Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912). [25] Death of Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (born 1922). [25] December 20 Death of Son Seals, American guitarist (born 1942). [25] December 23 Death of P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (born 1921). [25] December 24 Death of Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (born 1926). [25] December 26 Death of Mieszko Talarczyk, Swedish guitarist/musician (Nasum) (born 1974). [25] Death of Reggie White, American football player (born 1961). [25] December 27 Death of Hank Garland, American guitarist (born 1930). [25] December 28 Death of Jerry Orbach, American actor (born 1935). [5] [25] Death of Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (born 1933). [25] The Ukrainian transport minister, Heorhiy Kyrpa, is found shot dead, in a suspected suicide. [25] December 30 Death of Artie Shaw, American musician (born 1910). [25] December 31 Death of Gerard Debreu, French-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921). [25]