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.
- Smoky Dawson, 94, Australian country music performer. [1]
- Michele Greco, 84, Italian Mafia boss, lung cancer. [2] (Italian)
- Kon Ichikawa, 92, Japanese film director (Tokyo Olympiad,The Burmese Harp), pneumonia. [3]
- Henri Salvador, 90, French jazz singer and guitarist, aneurysm.[4]
- Ron Chippindale, 75, New Zealand retired chief air accident investigator, car accident. [5]
- Imad Mugniyah, 45, Lebanese senior member of Hezbollah, car bomb. [6] [7] [8]
- Badri Patarkatsishvili, 52, Georgian business oligarch and politician.[9]
- Wilson Hermosa González, 64, Bolivian componist musician Kjarkas. [10]
- Sergio "Angese" Angeletti, 56, Italian cartoonist. [11] (Italian)
- Freddie Bell, 76, American rhythm and blues singer, cancer. [12]
- Emilio Carballido, 82, Mexican playwright, heart attack. [13] (Spanish)
- Tom Lantos, 80, American Representative from California (1981-2008), only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress, esophageal cancer.[14]
- Stephane Peru, 26, French comic book colorist, heart attack. [15]
- Frank Piasecki, 88, American inventor of the Chinook helicopter. [16]
- Rahatullah, 18, Pakistani cricketer for Peshawar and the Under-19 national side, shot. [17]
- Alfredo Reinado, 40, East Timorese rebel, shot during attack on José Ramos-Horta. [18]
- Kirk Browning, 86, American television director, heart attack.[19]
- Alaa Abdulkareem Fartusi, 29, Iraqi journalist and cameraman, bomb blast. [20]
- Adeline Jay Geo-Karis, 89, American politician, member of Illinois State Senate (1979–2007), natural causes. [21]
- Steve Gerber, 60, American comic book writer, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [22]
- Ove Jørstad, 37, Norwegian footballer, cardiac arrest. [23] (Norwegian)
- Ron Leavitt, 60, American co-creator of Married With Children, lung cancer. [24]
- Peter Marginter, 73, Austrian author. [25] (German)
- Inga Nielsen, 61, Danish soprano, cancer. [26]
- Roy Scheider, 75, American Academy Award-nominated actor (The French Connection, Jaws, All That Jazz), staph infection. [27]
- Baba Amte, 93, Indian social activist, RLA recipient. [28]
- Vumile Dladla, 25, South African football player, car crash. [29]
- Guy Tchingoma, 22, Gabonese football player, on-field collision. [30]
- Mindrolling Trichen, 78, Tibetan ceremonial head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. [31]
- Scot Halpin, 54, American one time drummer for The Who.
- Ah Meng, 48, Sumatran orangutan, tourist icon at Singapore Zoo. [32]
- Richard Altick, 92, professor of Victorian Literature. [33]
- Eva Dahlbeck, 87, Swedish actress and writer, infection. [34]
- Frank Dixon, 87, American molecular biologist, founder of Scripps Research Institute, aortic stenosis. [35]
- Robert Jastrow, 82, American astronomer, physicist and cosmologist, pneumonia. [36]
- Stephen Arusei Kipkorir, 37, Kenyan long-distance runer, car crash. [37]
- Rudie Sypkes, 57, Australian founder of the Chickenfeed retail chain, pulmonary fibrosis. [38]
- Phyllis A. Whitney, 104, American mystery novelist (A Place for Ann), pneumonia. [39]
- Alberto Bustamante Belaunde, 57, Peruvian politician, Prime Minister (1999–2000), heart attack. [40] (Spanish)
- Andrew Bertie, 78, British Grand Master of the Order of Malta. [41] (Italian)
- Hoang Minh Chinh, 85, Vietnamese dissident, pancreatic cancer. [42]
- John Dillenberger, 89, American Hartford Seminary President (1978–1983). [43]
- Karl Ehrhardt, 83, American New York Mets fan known for his signs in the crowd. [44]
- Andrew Harwood, 62, Australian radio & TV presenter (It's Academic, Jeopardy!), actor (The Paul Hogan Show), asthma attack.[45]
- Sławomir Kulpowicz, 56, Polish pianist. [46] (Polish)
- Helen Mayer, 75, Australian politician, member for Chisholm (1983–1987). (death notice in The Age, 11 February 2008)
- Benny Neyman, 56, Dutch singer, cancer. [47] (Dutch)
- Guy Severin, 81, Russian academician and engineer. [48] (Russian)
- Kunal Singh, 31, Indian actor, suicide by hanging. [49]
- Frank Wayman, 76, British former footballer, struck by motorcycle. [50]
- John Alvin, 59, American artist best known for movie posters (Star Wars, Blade Runner, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), heart attack. [51]
- Max Bănuş, 72, Romanian journalist, heart attack. [52] [53] (Romanian)
- Nikol Faridani, 72, Iranian aerial photographer, prostate cancer. [54]
- John Grimsley, 45, American football linebacker (Houston Oilers, Miami Dolphins), accidental gunshot. [55]
- George Hekkers, 84, American former NFL player. [56]
- John McWethy, 61, American television news correspondent (ABC News), skiing accident. [57]
- Dieter Noll, 80, German author. [58]
- Ruth Stafford Peale, 101, American writer, widow of Norman Vincent Peale. [59]
- Tony Rolt, 89, British former racing driver and last living participant in the first F1 World Championship race. [60]
- Gwenc'hlan Le Scouëzec, 78, French leader of the Druids of Brittany. [61] (French)
- Kenny Konz, 79, American football defensive back (Cleveland Browns), pneumonia. [62]
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 91?, Indian founder of Transcendental Meditation movement, former guru to The Beatles. [63]
- Vitaliy Ponomarenko, 33, Ukrainian powerlifting champion, heart condition. [64]
- Augusta Dabney, 89, American actress. [65]
- Tata Güines, 77, Cuban percussionist, kidney infection. [66]
- Harry Richard Landis, 108, American second-to-last World War I veteran. [67]
- Stefan Meller, 65, Polish diplomat, foreign minister (2005–2006). [68]
- Boris Nebieridze, 65, Ukrainian film director, brain tumor. [69] (Russian)
- Nikolay Popov, 76, Russian chief designer of T-80 tank, after long illness. [70] [71] (Russian)
- Peter Thomas, Baron Thomas of Gwydir, 87, British Conservative Party chairman (1970–1972), Welsh Secretary (1970–1974). [72]
- Ralph White, 66, American cinematographer, photographed wreck of RMS Titanic, aortic aneurysm. [73]
- Samuel Boyle, 59, American bureau chief (New York City) of Associated Press (1981–2002), lung cancer. [74]
- Sheldon Brown, 63, American bicycle mechanic and technical authority, heart attack. [75]
- Charles Fernley Fawcett, 92, American adventurer, actor and freedom fighter. [76]
- Ernesto Illy, 82, Italian food chemist and chairman of the illy coffee company. [77]
- Jorge Liderman, 50, Argentine-American composer, apparent suicide by train impact. [78]
- Jackie Orszaczky, 59, Hungarian-born Australian musician, cancer. [79]
- Charley van de Weerd, 86, Dutch football player. [80] (Dutch)
- Gus Arriola, 90, American cartoonist (Gordo), Parkinson's disease. [81]
- Ahmad Bourghani, 48, Iranian politician, heart failure. [82]
- Earl Butz, 98, American politician, Secretary of Agriculture (1971–1976). [83]
- Heinrich Dahlinger, 85, German field handball player, entrepreneur, kidney failure. [84] (German)
- Joshua Lederberg, 82, American Nobel Prize–winning molecular biologist. [85]
- Barry Morse, 89, British-born Canadian actor (The Fugitive, Space: 1999). [86]
- Daoud Soumain, Chadian general, Army Chief of Staff, killed during battle in the War in Chad. [87]
- Roger Testu, 94, French cartoonist. [88] (French)
- Ed Vargo, 79, American baseball umpire. [89]
- Edward Wilson, 60, British actor (When the Boat Comes In), director of the National Youth Theatre, cancer. [90]
- Hélio Quaglia Barbosa, 66, Brazilian member of the Superior Court of Justice, multiple organ failure. [91] (Portuguese}
- Floyd Boring, 92, American Secret Service agent, helped foil Truman assassination attempt. [92]
- Beto Carrero, 70, Brazilian theme park owner (Beto Carrero World), endocarditis. [93] (Portuguese)
- Al DeMao, 87, American football center for the Washington Redskins (1945-1953). [94]
- Ralph DiGia, 93, American WWII conscientious objector and peace activist with War Resisters League. [95]
- Joan Eikelboom, 38, Dutch equestrian. [96] (Dutch).
- Allan Grant, 88, American photojournalist for Life magazine. [97]
- Earl Greenburg, 61, American former head of NBC daytime, melanoma. [98]
- Russi Karanjia, 95, Indian journalist, former editor of Blitz. [99]
- Władysław Kawula, 70, Polish footballer. [100] (Polish)
- Shell Kepler, 49, American actress (General Hospital), renal failure. [101] [102]
- Hans Roth, 91, Austrian entrepreneur. [103] (German)
- Ralph Wallace, 58, American politician, Democratic member of the Texas State House (1977–1992). [104]
External links
- Obituaries on the Web
- General
- US
- South Africa
- UK
- Australia
- Specialized websites
For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2007, Deaths in 2006, Deaths in 2005, Deaths in 2004, Deaths in 2003, Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, ...