- January 28
- Death of American author Jerome David Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye) of natural causes at age 91 in New Hampshire, USA. [105] [615]
- February 1
- Death of Steingrímur Hermannsson, 19th Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1928). [615]
- February 7
- Death of André Kolingba, 4th President of the Central African Republic (born 1936). [615]
- February 8
- US Democratic Representative John Murtha, chairman of the House of Representatives defense appropriations subcommittee, dies at age 77, from complications related to gallbladder surgery. [35]
- February 9
- Death of Francine Irving Neff; US Treasurer (1974-77). [548.99]
- February 10
- Charles Nesbitt Wilson, US Democratic congressman for Texas (1973-96), dies at age 76 of cardiopulmonary arrest in Texas; for 24 years Wilson supported sending weapons and money to Afghanistan in the 1980s versus the Soviet Union. [57] [534.84] [615]
- February 11
- Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (four-time winner of British designer of the year, Commander of the British Empire), dies at age 40 in London, England. [105]
- February 12
- Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili is killed when his sled flips during a practice run just prior to the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. [57] [424.33]
- February 18
- Death of John Babcock in Canada at age 109, last known Canadian veteran of World War I. [541.5]
- February 20
- Former U.S. secretary of state Alexander Haig dies at age 85 in Baltimore of complications from an infection. [105] [615]
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- February 23
- Death of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo at age 42 after 85 days on hunger strike in Havana, Cuba. [57]
- March 20
- Death of former Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in Kathmandu at age 86. [57] [615]
- March 22
- Death of James Black, British pharmacologist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1924). [615]
- March 24
- Hollywood actor Robert Culp (Kelly Robinson - I Spy, Bill Maxwell - The Greatest American Hero, Everybody Loves Raymond) dies at age 79. [57] [615]
- March 27
- Death of Vasily Smyslov, Soviet-Russian chess grandmaster (born 1921). [615]
- April 1
- Death of Dr. Edward Roberts, founder of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), "father of the personal computer", inventor of the Altair 8800 computer, at age 68 after a long bout of pneumonia. [57]
- April 4
- Death of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Ney Terreblanche, beaten to death by two farm workers at his home in Ventersdorp, South Africa, at age 69; founder of Afrikaner Resistance Movement in 1973. [57] [535.88] [615]
- April 10
- The Polish presidential Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft crashes in thick fog while attempting to land in Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 on board, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, Poland's army chief Franciszek Gagor, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek, and other officials. [105] [615] [626.234]
- April 17
- Cuba's most famous cigar maker, Alejandro Robaina, dies at age 91. [57]
- April 21
- Death of Dorothy Height, pioneering voice of the US civil rights movement, at age 98 of natural causes in Washington, D.C. Height was leader of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, an advocate for gender equality and the desegregation of the US armed forces. [57]
- April 22
- Death of former International Olympic Committee president (1980-2001) Juan Antonio Samaranch, of heart problems at age 89 in Barcelona, Spain. [57]
- April 25
- British author Alan Sillitoe (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner) dies at age 82 in London, England. [57] [615]
- May 4
- Death of Ernie Harwell from cancer at age 92, Detroit Tigers' radio announcer for more than 40 years. [105]
- May 5
- Death of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, age 58 after a long battle with kidney and heart ailments. [35] [615]
- May 9
- Death of Lena Horne at age 92; American nightclub singer, actress ("Stormy Weather", "Cabin in the Sky"). [615] [1110.42]
- May 28
- Death of Gary Coleman, American actor (Arnold Jackson - Diff'rent Strokes 1978-85) at age 42 in Utah of a brain hemorrhage after a fall. [57] [615]
- May 29
- Death of Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, and Blue Velvet) at age 74 in Venice, California, from prostate cancer. [57] [615]
- May 31
- Chris Haney, co-creators of the Trivial Pursuit board game (1979), dies in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at age 59, after a long illness. [105]
- June 3
- US actress Rue McClanahan (Blanche - The Golden Girls, Golden Palace) dies following a stroke at age 76. [57] [615]
- June 12
- Hungarian-born British restaurant critic Egon Ronay (Egon Ronay's Guide to Hotels and Restaurants) dies at age 94 in Berkshire, England after a short illness. [57]
- June 18
- Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago (Blindness, Memorial do Convento, Nobel Prize for literature 1998), dies at age 87. [57] [615]
- Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner (age 49) is executed by firing squad in Draper (Salt Lake City), Utah, USA. Gardner spent 25 years in prison on death row for the murder of a lawyer during an attempt to escape a court hearing. This is the first execution by firing squad in the USA in 14 years. [57]
- June 20
- Manute Bol, 7-foot 7-inch (2.3m) NBA basketball legend (Washington Bullets) from southern Sudan, dies at age 47 of kidney problems in Virginia, USA. [57]
- Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of Sunni militant group Jundullah, is executed by hanging in Tehran, Iran for his involvement in bombings and raids in Sistan-Baluchistan province. [57]
- June 23
- Death of Mohammed Mzali, former Prime Minister of Tunisia (born 1925). [615]
- June 26
- Death of Algirdas Brazauskas, 9th President of Lithuania (born 1932). [615]
- June 28
- U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, longest serving member ever of the Congress (Democrat, Representative for West Virginia 1952-58, Senator for West Virginia 1958-2010), dies at age 92 in Washington, D.C. [35] [615]
- July 3
- Mohammed Oudeh (AKA Abu Daoud), the self-confessed mastermind behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, dies of kidney failure in hospital in Damascus, Syria, at age 73. [57] [615]
- July 13
- George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees owner (1973-), dies at age 80 in Tampa, Florida, after a heart attack. [105]
- July 19
- David Warren, Australian scientist who invented the flight data recorder ("black box") dies at age 85. [35]
- July 21
- John E. Irving, one of the heads of the Irving business empire in Canada, dies in Saint John, New Brunswick at age 78. [105]
- Death of John E. Irving in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, at age 78; Irving Oil executive, member of Order of Canada, business magnate. [475.A2]
- August 5
- Death of Godfrey Binaisa, 5th President of Uganda (born 1920). [615]
- August 10
- A 1957 DeHavilland DHC-3T float plane crashes near a remote fishing village in Alaska, killing former U.S. Republican senator Ted Stevens at age 86 and four others. [105]
- August 11
- Dan Rostenkowski, Illinois Democratic Representative (1958-94), dies at age 82. [35]
- August 12
- Death of Guido de Marco, 6th President of Malta (born 1931). [615]
- August 17
- Death of Francesco Cossiga, 63rd Prime Minister and 8th President of Italy (born 1928). [615]
- August 28
- Death of Sinan Hasani, 10th President of Yugoslavia (born 1922). [615]
- September 22
- Death of Eddie Fisher at age 82 in Berkeley, California, USA; singer, teen idol in the 1950s ("Thinking of You", "Oh! My Pa-Pa"). [35] [615]
- September 26
- British millionaire businessman owner of Segway, Jimi Heselden, is found dead at age 62 at the bottom of a cliff in a river near Leeds, England with one of the two-wheeled electric scooters near his body. Heselden was also chairman of Hesco Bastion. [35]
- October 7
- Death of Milka Planinc, former Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (born 1924). [615]
- October 20
- Death of Farooq Leghari, 9th President of Pakistan (born 1940). [615]
- October 23
- Death of David Thompson, 6th Prime Minister of Barbados (born 1961). [615]
- October 27
- Death of Néstor Kirchner, 54th President of Argentina (born 1950). [615] [801.50] [802.36]
- October 28
- Death of Jonathan Motzfeldt, 1st Prime Minister of Greenland (born 1938). [615]
- November 3
- Death of Viktor Chernomyrdin, 31st Prime Minister of Russia (1992-98) (born 1938). [615] [635.89]
- Death of Purushottama Lal at age 81, publisher (Writers Workshop) and poet of Calcutta, India. [803.105]
- November 8
- Death of Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera, commander of junta in Argentina. [632.98]
- November 18
- Death of Brian Marsden at age 73; head of Central Bureau for Astronomic Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union. [801.111]
- December 9
- Death of John E. duPont at age 72 of natural causes in Laurel Highlands State Correctional Facility in Somerset, Pennsylvania, USA; millionaire heir to a chemical fortune. [1481.4]
- December 25
- Death of Carlos Andrés Pérez, 55th President of Venezuela (born 1922). [615]
- December 26
- Death of Salvador Jorge Blanco, 48th President of the Dominican Republic (born 1926). [615]
- December 30
- Death of Paul Calle in Connecticut, USA; US stamp designer (1967-1998). [1161.2]
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