2008

January 1

• Death of Erich Kaestner at age 107, in Cologne, Germany, the last German World War I veteran. [118.8]

January 2

• Death of George MacDonald Fraser, writer of Harry Flashman novels, at age 82. [111.78]

January 3

• Death of Yo-Sam Choi, Korean boxer (born 1972). [310]

January 9

• Death of Sir John Harvey-Jones, British chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, at age 83. [107.94]

January 10

• Death of Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress and television personality (born 1921). [310]

January 11

• In Auckland, New Zealand, Sir Edmund Hillary dies of a heart attack in hospital at age 88. He was the first man to climb to the peak of Mount Everest, in 1953, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and made an honorary Nepali citizen. [35] [310]

January 15

• Death of Brad Renfro, American actor (born 1982). [310]

January 16

• Death of Nikola Kljusev, Macedonian Prime Minister (born 1927). [310]

January 17

• Death of Bobby Fischer, American former world champion chess-player, at age 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland. [35] [108.84] [310]

January 19

• Death of Don Wittman, of cancer, age 71; Canadian sports broadcaster for 47 years. [52.77]
• Death of Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (born 1937). [310]

January 22

• Death of Claude Piron, Swiss linguist and psychologist (born 1931). [310]

January 26

• Death of George Habash, Palestinian politician (born 1926). [310]

January 27

• Death of Suharto, former dictator of Indonesia (1966-1998), at age 86. [138.97] [310]
• Death of Gordon B. Hinckley, American Mormon leader (born 1910). [310]

January 28

• Death of Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens (born 1939). [310]

February 2

• Death of Joshua Lederberg, American molecular biologist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1925). [310]

February 4

• Death of Harry Richard Landis, at age 108 in Sun City Center, Florida, the second-last American soldier survivor of World War I. [118.8]

February 5

• Death of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru and tycoon, at about age 91. [113.95] [310]

February 7

• Death of Andrew Bertie, British Grand Master of the Order of Malta (born 1929). [310]

February 9

• Death of Murlidhar Devidas "Baba" Amte, champion of lepers and the handicapped in India, at age 93. [109.93] [310]

February 10

• Death of Roy Scheider, American actor (born 1932). [310]

February 11

• In Timor-Leste, rebels battle presidential guards at the president's home. President José Ramos-Horta is shot and wounded. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and another rebel are killed. [35] [113.49] [310]
• Death of Tom Lantos, American politician (born 1928). [310]

February 12

• In Damascus, Syria, Hezbollah leader Imad Moughniyah is killed by a car bomb attack. Moughniyah was an elusive international terrorist of 25 years, accused or convicted of many high-profile bombings in the 1980s. [35] [113.54] [310]
• Death of Badri Patarkatsishvili, Georgian businessman and politician (born 1955). [310]

February 13

• Death of Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director (born 1915). [310]
• Death of Henri Salvador, French singer (born 1917). [310]

February 14

• At Northern Illinois University, former student Stephen Kazmierczak fires over 50 shots, killing five students and himself, injuring 16 others. [35]

February 18

• Death of Alain Robbe-Grillet, French writer and filmmaker (born 1922). [310]

February 19

• Death of Natalia Bessmertnova, Russian ballerina (born 1941). [310]
• Death of Yegor Letov, Russian singer (born 1964). [310]
• Death of Lydia Shum, Hong Kong comedian and actress (born 1945). [310]

February 23

• Death of Janez DrnovÜek, Slovenian President and Prime Minister of (born 1950). [310]
• Death of Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver (born 1917). [310]

February 27

• Death of William F. Buckley, at age 82 in Stamford, Connecticut; American writer, commentator, host of Firing Line TV show from 1966-99, credited with founding the modern conservative movement in U.S. politics, founded National Review magazine. [35] [109.38] [310]
• Death of Ivan Rebroff, German singer (born 1931). [310]

March 1

• Death of Raúl Reyes, Colombian guerrilla (born 1948). [310]

March 2

• Death of Jeff Healey, Canadian musician (born 1966). [310]

March 3

• Death of Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor (born 1921). [310]
• Death of Norman Smith, English singer and record producer (born 1923). [310]

March 4

• Death of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons game, at age 69. [144.102] [310]

March 5

• Death of Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American author and computer scientist (born 1923). [310]

March 6

• Death of Peter Poreku Dery, Ghanaian cardinal (born 1918). [310]

March 10

• Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, United Kingdom, is found dead on Bwlch Glas mountain in north Wales. [35]

March 12

• Death of Lazare Ponticelli, at age 110, France's last surviving veteran of World War I. [57] [118.8] [207.98] [310]

March 14

• Death of Chiara Lubich, Italian Catholic activist (born 1920). [310]

March 18

• Death of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer, in Sri Lanka at age 90 (born 1917 in Somerset, England). [57] [139.114] [310]
• Death of Anthony Minghella, British film director (The English Patient, Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley) and writer, at age 54, following a cancer operation (born 1954). [57] [310]

March 19

• Death of Hugo Claus, Flemish writer, painter and film director (born 1929). [310]
• Death of Paul Scofield, English actor (born 1922). [310]

March 22

• Death of Adolfo Suárez Rivera, Mexican cardinal (born 1927). [310]

March 24

• Death of Neil Aspinall in New York at age 66 from lung cancer. Aspinall ran the Apple Corps music company for The Beatles, as chief executive from 1970 to 2007. [57] [141.90] [310]
• Richard Widmark, actor (Tommy Udo - Kiss of Death), dies in Roxbury, Connecticut, USA, at age 93. [35] [310]
• In Iowa City, Iowa, USA, former bank executive Steven Sueppel, facing trial for embezzlement, beats to death his wife Sheryl Sueppel and the couple's four adopted children, then kills himself by ramming his car into a highway sign post. [35]

March 26

• Top commander Pedro Antonio Marín (Manuel Marulanda) of Colombian leftist rebel group FARC dies of a heart attack at age 78. [57] [210.42] [310]

March 27

• Death of Jean-Marie Balestre, French sports executive (born 1921). [310]

March 30

• Death of Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photojournalist (born 1942). [310]

March 31

• Death of Jules Dassin, American film director (born 1911). [310]

April 1

• Death of Pedro Zaragoza Orts, mayor of Benidorm (1950-67), transformed the town to a tourist resort, at age 85. [142.105]

April 3

• Death of Hrvoje Custic, Croatian footballer (born 1983). [310]

April 5

• Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter), American actor (Moses - The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes) and activist (1960s Civil Rights, National Rifle Association) dies at age 84 in Beverly Hills, California. Heston won Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Ben Hur. Heston also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and was chairman of the American Film Institute. [57] [145.95] [310]

April 10

• Death of Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal (born 1919). [310]

April 12

• Death of Patrick Hillery, 6th President of Ireland (born 1923). [310]

April 13

• Death of John Archibald Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (born 1911). [310]
• Death of Brandi Hawbaker, poker player, suicide at age 26. [320.27]

April 14

• Death of Ollie Johnston, American animator (born 1912). [310]

April 15

• Death of Benoît Lamy, Belgian motion picture writer-director (born 1945). [310]

April 16

• Death of Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (born 1917). [310]

April 17

• Death of Aimé Césaire, French Martinican poet and politician (born 1913). [310]

April 19

• Death of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, at age 72. [148.93]

April 21

• Death of Al Wilson, soul singer (The Snake, Show and Tell, Count the Days), at age 68 of kidney failure in Fontana, California (born 1939). [105]

April 29

• Death of Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist who discovered hallucinogenic drug LSD in 1938, at age 102 of a heart attack in Basel, Switzerland. [35] [149.98] [310]

May 1

• A US navy ship off the coast of Somalia makes a missile attack on the home of Aden Hashi Ayro in Dusamareb, killing him and at least ten other people. Ayro was military leader of al-Shabab, in control of most of Somalia. [57]
• Death of Anthony Mamo, 1st President of Malta (born 1909). [310]

May 2

• A plane crashes in southern Sudan, killing at least 22, including Sudan's defence minister Dominic Dim Deng and senior presidential adviser Justin Yak. The plane's pilot reported engine trouble, but the plane blew up before he could make an emergency landing. [57]
• Death of Mildred Loving in the USA, at age 68. Loving was a black who married a white, and the ACLU fought for court recognition that the state could not infringe on marriage. [208.105]
• Death of Philipp von Boeselager, German military officer (born 1917). [310]

May 3

• Death of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Spanish Prime Minister of (born 1926). [310]

May 6

• In Jackson, Georgia, USA, convicted murderer William Earl Lynd is executed by lethal injection, at age 53. Lynd was convicted of killing Ginger Moore in December 1988. [35]

May 8

• Death of François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (born 1982). [310]

May 10

• Death of Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (born 1928). [310]

May 12

• Death of Robert Rauschenberg, American pop artist (born 1925). [310]
• Death of Irena Sendler, at age 98. Sendler saved Jews from Warsaw ghetto during World War II, and received Poland's White Eagle in 2003. [209.110] [310]

May 13

• Death of Bernardin Gantin, Beninese cardinal (born 1922). [310]

May 15

• Death of the former Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah. [57] (May 13 [310])
• Death of Willis Lamb, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913). [310]

May 23

• Death of Cornell Capa, Hungarian-American photographer (born 1918). [310]

May 25

• Death of Jack Simplot, American multibillionaire potato farmer, at age 99. [215.105]

May 26

• Death of Sydney Pollack, Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmaker (Our of Africa) and actor (Tootsie, Michael Clayton), at age 73 from cancer, in Los Angeles. [35] [310]

May 28

• Death of Sven Davidson, Swedish tennis player (born 1928). [310]

May 29

• In Panama City, Panama, a helicopter crashes into a warehouse, killing eleven people, including Chile's national police chief, General Jose Alejandro Bernales. [57]

June 1

• Death of Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer, after a long illness, in Paris at age 71. [57] [211] [310]
• Death of Tommy Lapid, Israeli television presenter, journalist, and politician (born 1931). [310]

June 2

• Death of Bo Diddley, American musician (born 1928). [310]

June 3

• Death of Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (born 1917). [310]

June 4

• Death of John Reginald Surdeval Routh, British prankster, at age 80. [216.105]
• Death of Agata Mróz-Olszewska, Polish volleyball player (born 1982). [310]

June 7

• Death of Dino Risi, Italian director (born 1916). [310]

June 8

• Death of èaban Bajramovic, Serbian musician (born 1936). [310]

June 9

• Death of Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer (born 1931). [310]
• Death of Karen Asrian, Armenian chess grandmaster (born 1980). [310]

June 10

• Death of Vo Van Kiet, prime minister of Vietnam (1991-97), architect of Vietnam's transformation from a socialist system to a market economy, at age 85 in Singapore. [57]
• Death of Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyzstani writer (born 1928). [310]

June 11

• Death of Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (born 1939). [310]
• Death of Vo Van Kiet, Vietnamese prime minister (born 1922). [310]

June 13

• Death of Tim Russert, American journalist (born 1950). [310]

June 15

• Death of Arthur Galston, botanist, age 88; discovered Agent Orange herbicide. [221.94]
• Death of Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (born 1946). [310]

June 17

• Death of American actress and dancer Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea), at age 86 of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. [35] [310]

June 18

• Death of Jean Delannoy, French film director (born 1908). [310]

June 21

• Death of Scott Kalitta, American drag racer (born 1962). [310]

June 22

• American comedian George Carlin dies of heart failure in Los Angeles, California, at age 71. [35] [310]

June 23

• Death of Arthur Chung, President of Guyana (born 1918). [310]

June 24

• Death of Leonid Hurwicz, American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917). [310]

June 27

• Death of Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, former army chief, in India, at age 94. [222.95] [310]

June 28

• Death of Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (born 1987). [310]

June 29

• Death of Don S. Davis, American actor (born 1942). [310]

July 4

• Death of Jesse Helms, American politician (five terms in Senate 1973-2003), at age 86. [223.95] [310]
• Death of Evelyn Keyes, American actress (born 1916). [310]

July 5

• Death of René Harris, President of Nauru (born 1947). [310]

July 9

• Death of Seamus Brennan, Irish politician (born 1948). [310]

July 11

• Death of Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and inventor (born 1908). [310]

July 12

• Death of former US White House press secretary Tony Snow, at age 53, of cancer. [57] [310]

July 13

• Death of Bronislaw Geremek, Polish historian and politician, at age 76. [229.98] [310]

July 15

• Death of György Kolonics, Hungarian canoeist (born 1972). [310]

July 22

• Estelle Getty, actor (Sophia - The Golden Girls, Golden Palace, Nurses, Blossom, and Empty Nest, films Tootsie, Mask, Copacabana, Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot, Stuart Little, Emmy (1988) and Golden Globe (1986) Awards) dies at age 84 in California (born 1923). [105] [310]

July 23

• Death of Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician (born 1924). [310]

July 25

• Death of Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (born 1928). [310]
• Death of Randy Pausch, American author and computer scientist (born 1960). [310]

July 27

• Death of Youssef Chahine, Egyptian film director (born 1926). [310]

July 29

• Death of Mate Parlov, Croatian boxer (born 1948). [310]

August 1

• Death of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (born 1916). [310]

August 3

• Death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian author and dissident, Nobel Prize laureate, at age 89. [231.82] [310]

August 9

• American actor/comedian Bernie Mac (The Bernie Mac Show, Ocean's Eleven, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Transformers) dies in a Chicago hospital from complications due to pneumonia, at age 50. [105] [310]
• Death of Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet laureate, at age 67. [232.75] [310]

August 10

• American singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes (Hot Buttered Soul album, theme from Shaft, voice of Chef from South Park) dies at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 65. [57] [310]

August 11

• Death of Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician (born 1929). [310]

August 13

• Death of Jack A. Weil, maker of western cowboy clothing, Rockmont Ranch Wear, at age 107. [251.82]
• Death of Henri Cartan, French mathematician (born 1904). [310]

August 15

• Death of Jerry Wexler, American music producer (born 1917). [310]

August 16

• Death of Ronnie Drew, Irish singer (born 1934). [310]
• Death of Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese microbiologist (born 1913). [310]

August 19

• Zambian leader Levy Mwanawasa dies at age 59 in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke in June. [57] [310]

August 20

• In Los Angeles, Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, dies of complications from a vehicle accident in June, at age 46. [35]
• Death of Hua Guofeng, chairman of China's Communist Party (1976-81), at age 87, in Beijing, China (born 1921). [57] [310]

August 23

• Death of Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, Soviet KGB defector, at age 80 in the USA. [233.101]
• Death of Thomas Huckle Weller, American virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915). [310]

August 28

• Death of Phil Hill, American race car driver (born 1927). [310]

September 1

• Thomas J. Bata, Canadian shoe company industrialist, dies in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at age 93. [105]
• Death of singer and actor Jerry Reed, known as "The Guitar Man" of country music, at age of 71. [35]
• Death of Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (born 1940). [310]

September 6

• Death of Anita Page, actress (Our Dancing Daughters, While the City Sleeps, The Broadway Melody), at age 98. [105] [310]
• Death of Antonio Innocenti, Italian cardinal (born 1915). [310]

September 9

• Death of Nouhak Phoumsavanh, President of Laos (born 1910). [310]

September 12

• Death of David Foster Wallace, American writer (born 1962). [310]

September 16

• Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright dies at age 65, from cancer. [57] (September 15 [310])

September 18

• Death of Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (born 1931). [310]

September 23

• In Kauhajoki, Finland, 22-year-old student Matti Juhani Saari kills ten people at a college before shooting himself and later dying in hospital. [57]

September 27

• American film actor Paul Newman dies of cancer at age 83, in Connecticut. Some notable films: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Color of Money, (Best Actor Oscar award). [57] [275.93] (September 26 [310])

October 1

• Death of Boris Efimov, Russian political cartoonist (born 1900). [310]

October 4

• Death of Edward Albert "Ted" Briggs at age 85, last of three susvivors of the sinking of the HMS Hood in World War II. [276.102]

October 6

• Death of Paavo Haavikko, Finnish poet (born 1931). [310]

October 8

• Death of George Emil Palade, Romanian cell biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912). [310]

October 10

• Death of Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (born 1947). [310]
• Death of Alexey Prokurorov, Russian cross-country skier (born 1964). [310]

October 11

• Death of Jörg Haider, Austrian politician (born 1950). [310]

October 13

• Death of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, gambler and ganster, at age 79 in Miami, Florida, USA. [266.99]
• Death of Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (born 1971). [310]
• Death of Antonio José González Zumárraga, Ecuadorian cardinal (born 1925). [310]

October 20

• Death of Soeur Emmanuelle, Belgian-born French nun (born 1908). [310]

October 25

• Death of Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani singer (born 1942). [310]

October 26

• Death of Tony Hillerman, American writer (born 1925). [310]

October 31

• Death of Pulitzer Prize-winning author (The Good War) Louis "Studs" Terkel in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at age 96. [57] [310]

November 1

• Death of Jacques Piccard, Swiss explorer and engineer (born 1922). [310]
• Death of Yma Sumac, Peruvian soprano (born 1922). [310]

November 4

• Plane crash in Mexico kills fifteen, including Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouriño. [308.11] [310]

November 5

• Best-selling author Michael Crichton (The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, TV show ER) dies in Los Angeles at age 66 from cancer. [57] (November 5 [310])

November 8

• Death of Mieczyslaw Rakowski, age 81, Polish communist journalist (24-year editor of Polityka), politician. [308.99]

November 9

• Indonesia executes three Muslim militants for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim, and Ali Ghufron are executed by firing squad on Nusakambangan island in central Java. [105] [258.52]

November 10

• South African singer Miriam Makeba dies of a heart attack after a concert in Italy at age 76. [35] [310]
• Death of Kiyoshi Ito, Japanese mathematician (born 1915). [310]

November 11

• Death of Jack Scott, British meteorologist (BBC), at age 85. [340.109]

November 12

• Death of Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (born 1947). [310]

November 13

• Death of Paco Ignacio Taibo I, Mexican writer and journalist (born 1924). [310]

November 14

• Death of Tsvetanka Khristova, Bulgarian athlete (born 1962). [310]

November 16

• Death of Reg Varney, British actor (Stan Butcher - On the Buses), at age 92. [340.109]

November 20

• Death of Boris Fyodorov, Russian economic reformer, at age 50. [279.88]

November 22

• Death of Ibrahim Nasir, Maldivian President (born 1926). [310]

November 26

• Death of Edna Parker, world's oldest living person, at age 115. [105]

November 27

• Death of Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Indian Prime Minister (born 1931). [310]

November 29

• Jorn Utzon, Danish architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House, dies at age 90, after suffering a heart attack. [57] [310]
• Death of Jorn Utzon at age 90, architect of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. [311.104]

December 1

• Death of Mikel Laboa, Basque singer and songwriter (born 1934). [310]

December 2

• Canadian media magnate Ted Rogers, founder and CEO of Rogers Communications, dies at age 75 in Toronto, Ontario. [105]
• Death of Odetta, American singer (born 1930). [310]

December 5

• Patriarch Alexiy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, dies at age 79, outside Moscow. [57] [310]
• Death of Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress (born 1924). [310]

December 6

• US heiress Martha "Sunny" von Bulow dies at age 76 in New York, following 28 years in a coma. [57]
• Police in Greece shoot and kill 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, leading to days of rioting throughout the country. [57] [310]

December 9

• Death of Yuri Glazkov, Russian cosmonaut (born 1939). [310]
• Death of Dražan Jerkovic, Croatian football player and manager (born 1936). [310]

December 11

• Ali Alatas, foreign minister of Indonesia, dies at age 76 in Singapore. [57]
• Death of Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923). [310]
• Death of Bettie Page, American pin-up model (born 1923). [310]

December 12

• Death of Avery Dulles, American Roman Catholic Cardinal (born 1918). [310]
• Death of Van Johnson, American actor (born 1916). [310]
• Death of Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot politician (born 1934). [310]

December 13

• Death of Horst Tappert, German actor (born 1923). [310]

December 16

• Death of Gaetano Lo Presti, at age 52, of an apparent suicide in Palermo's Paglarelli jail in Italy. [341.79]

December 17

• Sammy Baugh, football player who set numerous passing records with the Washington Redskins (1937-1952), dies at age 94 in Rotan, Texas, USA. [105]

December 18

• Mark Felt, the mysterious "Deep Throat" source who helped reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein crack the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, dies at age 95 in Santa Rosa, California. [35] [310]
• Death of Majel Barrett, American actress (born 1932). [310]
• Death of Porsche publicist Bob Carlson in Atlanta, Georgia, USA of gallbladder cancer, at age 60. [329.10]

December 20

• Olga Lepeshinskaya, Russian ballerina who danced with the Bolshoi for over 30 years dies at age 92 in Moscow. [57] [310]
• Death of Robert Mulligan, American director (born 1925). [310]

December 22

• Death of Lansana Conté, President of Guinea (born 1934). [310]

December 24

• Harold Pinter, influential British playwright (32 plays, 22 screenplays, Nobel Prize for literature 2005), voice of political protest, dies of cancer at age 78. [105] [310]
• Death of Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist (born 1927). [310]

December 25

• Eartha Kitt, American sultry singer ("Santa Baby"), dancer and actress (Catwoman in Batman, two Emmy awards) dies in New York at age 81 of colon cancer. [105] [310]