Deaths in December 1989

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 1989.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

December 1989

1

• Alvin Ailey, 58, American dancer, director and choreographer, founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, AIDS.
• Leo Amino, 78, Japanese-born American sculptor.
• Michał Antoniewicz, 92, Polish equestrian, dual Olympic medalist.
• Danilo Atienza, 38, Filipino air force pilot, plane crash.
• André Charles Biéler, 93, Swiss-born Canadian painter.
• Billy Lyall, 36, Scottish singer, keyboard player and flautist (The Alan Parsons Project, Bay City Rollers), AIDS.
• Nikolai Patolichev, 81, Soviet politician, Ministry of Foreign Trade.
• Bill Stout, 62, American journalist (CBS News), cardiac arrest.
• Mitchell Ucovich, 74, American NFL footballer (Washington Redskins).
• William Vandivert, 77, American photographer, co-founder of Magnum Photos.

2

• Harland Bartholomew, 100, American civil engineer and urban planner.
• Norman Davis, 76, New Zealand professor of English language and literature (Oxford).
• Keith Ewert, 71, Australian accountant and politician, member of the Australian House of Representatives.
• Oldřich Hanč, 74, Czechoslovakian speed skater and Olympian.
• Ruth Mary Reynolds, 73, American political and civil rights activist.
• Richard Shannon, 69, American film and television actor (The Tin Star).
• William Taylour, 85, British archaeologist (Mycenaean Greece).

3

• Sourou-Migan Apithy, 76, Beninese politician, president of Dahomey.
• Mario Astorri, 69, Italian footballer and coach (Napoli).
• Connie B. Gay, 75, American country musician, cancer.
• Fernando Martín, 27, Spanish basketball player and swimmer, five-time Spanish swimming champion, traffic collision.
• Syed Safdar Hussain Najafi, 57, Pakistani religious leader.
• Jean-Paul Moulinot, 77, French actor.
• Alexander Obukhov, 71, Soviet geophysicist and applied mathematician (atmospheric physics).
• Paul Wei Ping-ao, 60, Chinese and Hong Kong actor (Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon).
• Carlo Rim, 86, French film screenwriter, producer and director.
• Nihal Silva, 35, Sri Lankan comedian and actor, shot.

4

• Gerald Carson, 90, American advertising executive, social historian and writer.
• Émile Janssens, 87, Belgian colonial official and military general.
• Elwyn Jones, 80, Welsh barrister and politician, Lord Chancellor.
• Steve Lembo, 63, American Major League baseballer (Brooklyn Dodgers).
• Kathleen Manners, 95, English aristocrat.
• Angelo Ruggiero, 49, American mobster, member of the Gambino crime family, cancer.
• May Swenson, 76, American poet and playwright, chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

5

• Juan Manuel Acuña, 68, Chilean international footballer (Chile national football team).
• Edoardo Amaldi, 81, Italian physicist, coined the term "neutrino".
• Nathan Huggins, 62, American historian and author, cancer.
• Sofiya Kalistratova, 82, Soviet lawyer and human rights activist.
• Li Keran, 82, Chinese painter and art educator, heart attack.
• George Machin, 66, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Tadeusz Miksa, 63, Polish footballer (Lechia Gdańsk).
• John Pritchard, 68, English conductor, music director of the San Francisco Opera, lung cancer.
• George Selden, 60, American author (The Cricket in Times Square), gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

6

• Frances Bavier, 86, American stage and television actress (The Andy Griffith Show), heart failure.
• C. L. Dellums, 89, American labor activist, leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
• Sammy Fain, 87, American composer ("Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella", "I'll Be Seeing You"), heart attack.
• David Hardman, 88, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Rolf Johannesson, 89, Nazi German and West German naval admiral.
• Marc Lépine, 25, Canadian mass murderer (École Polytechnique massacre), suicide.
• Mélinée Manouchian, 75–76, French-Armenian member of the French Resistance and widow of Missak Manouchian.
• Art Parks, 78, American Major League baseballer (Brooklyn Dodgers).
• John Payne, 77, American film actor (Miracle on 34th Street, The Restless Gun), heart failure.
• Ćamil Sijarić, 75, Yugoslavian novelist and short story writer, traffic collision.

7

• Haystacks Calhoun, 55, American professional wrestler.
• Phil Dokes, 34, American NFL footballer (Buffalo Bills), heart failure.
• Hans Hartung, 85, German-French abstract painter and soldier.
• Lucien Le Guével, 74, French racing cyclist.
• Carlos DeLuna, 27, American convicted murderer, executed.
• Stuart Novins, 75, American television journalist, CBS News correspondent, respiratory failure.
• Sirima, 25, English-French singer, murdered.
• Vadim Spiridonov, 45, Soviet film actor and director, heart failure.
• Luis Calderón Vega, 77–78, Mexican politician and writer, co-founder of the National Action Party.
• Melchior Wezel, 86, Swiss gymnast and Olympic gold medalist.

8

• Albert Barrett, 86, English footballer (Fulham).
• Bruno Carette, 33, French humorist and comedian, member of Les Nuls.
• Szymon Datner, 87, Polish historian and Holocaust survivor.
• Max Grundig, 81, German businessman, founder of Grundig AG.
• Mykola Livytskyi, 82, Soviet Ukrainian politician, prime minister and president of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile.
• Stanley Steingut, 69, American politician, speaker of the New York State Assembly, lung cancer.

9

• Brett Austin, 30, New Zealand swimmer and Olympian.
• Edward J. Bloustein, 64, American president of Rutgers University, heart attack.
• Gunnar Bøe, 72, Norwegian politician and economist.
• William P. Ennis, 85, American general in the United States Army.
• Basil Hayward, 61, English footballer and manager (Port Vale), heart attack.
• Takeshi Kaikō, 58, Japanese novelist, short-story writer and journalist, esophageal cancer.
• Doug Scovil, 62, American football player and NFL coach (Philadelphia Eagles), heart attack.
• S. Somasundaram, 70, Indian Carnatic vocalist.
• R. G. Springsteen, 85, American B movie and television director.

10

• Frank Baker, 71, English footballer (Stoke City).
• Sam Barkas, 79, English footballer and manager (Bradford City, England).
• Paul Collaer, 98, Belgian musicologist, pianist and conductor.
• George Edmonds, 96, English professional footballer (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
• Nico Gardener, 83, Latvian-born British bridge player.
• Frank Gulotta, 82, American judge, diabetes.
• Frederick Hedges, 86, Canadian rower and Olympic medalist.
• Robin Hughes, 69, Argentinian-born British actor, liver disease.
• Steve Sebo, 75, American football and baseball player and coach.
• Harold Thomas, 75, Welsh rugby union and rugby league player (Salford, Wales).
• Huang Zhen, 80, Chinese politician, ambassador to Hungary, Indonesia and France.

11

• Allez France, 19, American Thoroughbred racehorse.
• Carlos Almaraz, 48, Mexican-born American artist, AIDS.
• John Buxton, 76, British poet and ornithologist.
• Lindsay Crosby, 51, American actor and singer, suicide.
• Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 94, American photographer (Harper's Bazaar), pneumonia.
• Howard Lang, 78, English actor (The Onedin Line).

12

• Carlos Barral, 60–61, Spanish poet and politician, member of the European Parliament, abdominal aortic aneurysm.
• Sid Colin, 74, English scriptwriter (The Army Game).
• Helen Creighton, 90, Canadian folklorist and author.
• Bill Kennedy, 77, Scottish footballer (Southampton).
• Suihō Tagawa, 90, Japanese manga artist.

13

• Paul Crowe, 65, American NFL footballer (San Francisco 49ers).
• Peter de la Mare, 69, New Zealand physical organic chemist.
• Michele Fanelli, 82, Italian long-distance runner and Olympian.
• Sammy Lerner, 86, Romanian-born American film and musical songwriter, cancer.
• Roderick Mackenzie, 85, Scottish soldier and peer, chief of Clan Mackenzie.
• Felix McGrogan, 75, Scottish footballer (Kilmarnock).
• Stan Randall, 81, Canadian businessman and politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

14

• Lucien Aguettand, 88, French art director.
• Reuben Bennett, 75, Scottish professional footballer and manager (Hull City).
• Robert D. Blue, 91, American politician, governor of Iowa, stroke.
• Ants Eskola, 81, Estonian actor, singer and artist.
• Gerry Healy, 76, British political activist, leader of the Workers Revolutionary Party.
• Seiichi Katsumata, 81, Japanese politician, Soviet spy, member of the House of Representatives.
• Jock Mahoney, 70, American actor and stuntman (The Range Rider), stroke.
• Frederick Nolting, 78, American diplomat, ambassador to South Vietnam, cardio-pulmonary arrest.
• Georges Poitou, 63, French mathematician.
• Andrei Sakharov, 68, Soviet nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics, dilated cardiomyopathy.
• Howard Walton, 73, British tennis and table tennis player.

15

• Anders "Akka" Andersson, 52, Swedish ice hockey player and dual Olympian.
• Ben Barzman, 79, Canadian journalist, screenwriter and novelist (El Cid), stroke.
• Emile de Antonio, 70, American documentary director (Rush to Judgment), heart attack.
• José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, 42, Colombian drug lord, leader of the Medellín Cartel, shot.
• Charles Holland, 81, British road-racing cyclist and Olympic medalist.
• Mikhail Kuznetsov, 76, Soviet flying ace, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Philly Lutaaya, 38, Ugandan musician, AIDS.
• Arnold Moss, 79, American actor, lung cancer.
• Diptendu Pramanick, 79, Indian film personality.
• Ali Şen, 70, Turkish actor.
• Vanja Sutlić, 64, Yugoslavian philosopher.
• Edward Underdown, 81, English actor.

16

• Niccolo d'Ardia Caracciolo, 48, Irish artist, traffic collision.
• Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, 76, Argentinian racing driver, pancreatic cancer.
• Charlie Long, 51, American AFL football player (Boston Patriots).
• Silvana Mangano, 59, Italian film actress (The Verona Trial), lung cancer.
• Gianni Poggi, 68, Italian tenor.
• Aileen Pringle, 94, American stage and silent-screen actress.
• John Ramsbotham, 83, British Anglican clergyman, Bishop of Wakefield.
• René Tavernier, 74, French poet and philosopher.
• Lee Van Cleef, 64, American actor (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), heart attack.
• Robert Smith Vance, 58, American judge, letter bomb.
• Marjorie Westbury, 84, English radio actress and singer.
• Priscilla White, 89, American diabetes researcher, heart attack.

17

• Gilbert Allart, 87, French hurdler and Olympian.
• Walt Bachrach, 84, American politician, mayor of Cincinnati, stroke.
• Edward Boyd, 72–73, Scottish writer (The View from Daniel Pike).
• Zeb Eaton, 69, American Major League baseballer (Detroit Tigers).
• Ghalib Halasa, 57, Jordanian novelist and short story writer.
• Gustav Engel, 96, German historian.
• Josephine Hill, 90, American silent-screen actress.
• Asen Panchev, 83, Bulgarian international footballer (Levski Sofia, Bulgaria).
• Luciano Salce, 67, Italian film director and actor (Le pillole di Ercole), myocardial infarction.
• Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa, 94, Romanian politician, journalist and diplomat, ambassador to the Soviet Union.
• Albert Coady Wedemeyer, 93, American army general.
• William Wiswesser, 75, American chemist (Wiswesser line notation).

18

• Ewen Bain, 64, Scottish cartoonist (Angus Og), influenza.
• Brad Beckman, 24, American NFL football player (New York Giants), traffic collision.
• Olwen Brogan, 89, British archaeologist.
• Bobby Capó, 67, Puerto Rican musician, heart attack.
• George Harvie-Watt, 86, British barrister and politician, Member of Parliament.
• Sydney Irving, 71, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Enar Josefsson, 73, Swedish cross-country skier and Olympic medalist.
• Jack Kilpatrick, 72, British ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist.
• Louise Little, early 90s, Grenadian-born American activist.
• Jerzy Rutkowski, 75, Polish political activist and resistance fighter.
• Robert E. Robinson, 42, American attorney and council member, murdered.
• William Saltonstall, 84, American educator, principal of Phillips Exeter Academy.
• Stanley Senanayake, 72, Sri Lankan police officer, Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police.
• Jean Strauss, 77, Luxembourgian sprint canoeist and Olympian.

19

• Herbert Blaize, 71, Grenadian politician, prime minister of Grenada, prostate cancer.
• Abdul Jalil Choudhury, 63–64, Bengali Deobandi Islamic scholar and politician, member of Assam Legislative Assembly.
• Audrey Christie, 77, American actress, singer and dancer (The Voice of the Turtle), emphysema.
• Lois Darling, 72, American author and illustrator, leukemia.
• Barthold Fles, 87, Dutch-born American literary agent and author, diabetes.
• Stella Gibbons, 87, English author, journalist and poet (Cold Comfort Farm).
• John Heddle, 46, British politician, Member of Parliament, suicide.
• Floyd Jones, 72, American blues musician (On the Road Again), heart failure.
• Óndra Łysohorsky, 84, Czechoslovakian poet.
• Kirill Mazurov, 75, Soviet politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia.
• Georges Rouquier, 80, French film director, screenwriter and actor.
• Henry Theel, 72, Finnish singer.

20

• Irma Beilke, 85, German operatic soprano and concert singer (Städtische Oper Berlin).
• Kurt Böhme, 81, German bass.
• Elisheva Cohen, 78, German-born Israeli designer and museum curator.
• Gentry Crowell, 57, American politician, Tennessee Secretary of State, suicide.
• Jiro Harada, 95, Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army.
• Donald L. McFaul, 32, American Navy SEAL, killed in U.S. invasion of Panama.

21

• Ján Cikker, 78, Czechoslovakian composer.
• Sir Hugh Elliott, 76, British ornithologist, conservationist and hereditary peer.
• Inma de Santis, 30, Spanish actress, car accident.
• Rotimi Fani-Kayode, 34, Nigerian-born English photographer, AIDS.
• Elsie Griffin, 94, English opera singer.
• Harry Hibbs, 47, Canadian musician, cancer.
• Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, 63, American Major League baseballer (St. Louis Browns) and convicted murderer.
• Soedjatmoko, 67, Indonesian politician and diplomat, ambassador to the United States, cardiac arrest.
• Ethel Swanbeck, 96, American politician, member of Ohio House of Representatives.
• José Zacarías Tallet, 96, Cuban writer.
• Dwane Wallace, 78, American aircraft designer, president of Cessna.
• Edmund Warwick, 82, British actor.

22

• Andrés do Barro, 42, Spanish singer-songwriter, liver cancer.
• Samuel Beckett, 83, Irish-French novelist, playwright and short story writer, Nobel laureate in Literature, emphysema.
• Howard Bowen, 81, American economist, president of Grinnell College and the University of Iowa.
• Theodore M. Burton, 82, American Mormon Genealogical Department director.
• Archie Campbell, 86, American Major League baseballer (Cincinnati Reds).
• Giorgio Cavallon, 85, Italian-born American abstract artist.
• Harry Kraf, 82, American politician, member of the New York State Senate.
• Vasile Milea, 62, Romanian general and politician, Minister of National Defence, suicide.
• Gustavo Pizarro, 73, Chilean international footballer.
• Massimo Serato, 72, Italian film actor (El Cid, The Sun Still Rises), heart attack.

23

• Jeff Alexander, 79, American conductor, arranger and composer, cancer.
• Peter Bennett, 72, British stage and television actor.
• John Cavendish, 73, British politician (House of Lords).
• Milko Gaydarski, 43, Bulgarian international footballer and Olympic medalist (Levski Sofia, Bulgaria).
• Clem Hawke, 91, Australian politician, father of Bob Hawke, stroke.
• Shahzad Khalil, 44–45, Pakistani television director and producer (Tanhaiyaan), heart attack.
• Lord Richard Percy, 68, English zoologist.
• Richard Rado, 83, German-born British mathematician (Erdős–Rado theorem).
• Lennart Strandberg, 74, Swedish sprinter and Olympian.

24

• Victor Fontana, 41, Romanian biathlete and Olympian, shot.
• Danny Huwé, 56, Belgian journalist, shot by sniper.
• Charles Moore, 79, British hereditary peer, managing director of the Financial Times.
• Ernest Nathan Morial, 60, American politician, Mayor of New Orleans, heart attack.
• Florică Murariu, 34, Romanian international rugby union player (Steaua București, Romania), shot.
• Roger Pigaut, 70, French actor and film director, cardiovascular disease.
• Ollie Savatsky, 78, American NFL footballer (Cleveland Rams).

25

• Benny Binion, 85, American career criminal who established illegal gambling operations, heart failure.
• Gus Dahlström, 83, Swedish film actor.
• Betty Garde, 84, American actress (Call Northside 777, Cry of the City).
• Türkan Hanımsultan, 70, Ottoman princess and chemical engineer, daughter of Enver Pasha.
• George Hotchkiss, 83, American NBL basketball coach (Oshkosh All-Stars).
• Frederick F. Houser, 85, American politician and judge, Lieutenant Governor of California, heart attack.
• Masaad Kassis, 71, Israeli Arab politician, member of the Knesset.
• Joseph Livingston, 84, American business journalist and columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner.
• Jean-Étienne Marie, 72, French composer of contemporary music.
• Billy Martin, 61, American Major League baseballer and manager (New York Yankees), traffic collision.
• Riccardo Morandi, 87, Italian civil engineer, noted for his bridge designs.
• Robert Pirosh, 79, American screenwriter and director (Battleground, Go for Broke!), heart failure.
• Bo Randall, 80, American knifemaker, founded Randall Made Knives.
• Wally Ris, 65, American swimmer, dual Olympic gold medalist and world record holder.
• Domenico Scala, 86, Italian cinematographer (Ossessione).
• A. J. Seymour, 75, Guyanese poet, essayist and memoirist.
• Romanian politicians executed by firing squad:
  • Elena Ceaușescu, 73, deputy prime minister
  • Nicolae Ceaușescu, 71, president

26

• Lennox Berkeley, 86, English composer, respiratory infection.
• Walter Bromley-Davenport, 86, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Sybil Cholmondeley, 95, British noblewoman and socialite, Chief Staff Officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service.
• Buck Crump, 85, Canadian president of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
• Doug Harvey, 65, Canadian NHL ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens), cirrhosis.
• Kōyō Ishikawa, 85, Japanese photographer.
• Paul Jennings, 71, English author.
• Roy Joiner, 83, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs).
• K. P. Krishnakumar, 31, Indian sculptor and painter, suicide.
• Jörgen Lehmann, 91, Danish-Swedish physician and chemist (tuberculosis).
• James J. Manderino, 57, American politician, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, heart attack.
• Maryon Pearson, 88, Canadian spouse of the prime minister.
• K. Shankar Pillai, 87, Indian cartoonist, founded Shankar's Weekly.
• Mohan Singh, 80, Indian army general and politician, member of the Rajya Sabha, cancer.
• Peggy Thorpe-Bates, 75, English actress (Rumpole of the Bailey).
• Seán Walsh, 64, Irish politician.

27

• Rodney Arismendi, 76, Uruguayan politician and political writer.
• Kurt Baum, 89, Austro-Hungarian–born American tenor (Metropolitan Opera).
• Maurice Dunkley, 75, English footballer (Manchester City) and first-class cricketer (Northamptonshire).
• Finlay Hart, 87–88, Scottish communist politician.
• Gene Johnson, 87, American football and basketball coach, created the full-court press.
• Dada Amir Haider Khan, 89, Pakistani communist activist.
• Gerard Maarse, 60, Dutch speed skater and dual Olympian.
• Arthur Rhames, 32, American guitarist, tenor saxophonist, and pianist, AIDS.
• Walter Rose, 77, German footballer and manager (SpVgg Leipzig).
• John Monteath Robertson, 89, Scottish chemist and crystallographer.
• Ron Ulmer, 76, New Zealand track cyclist and national champion.
• George William Weidler, 63, American saxophonist and songwriter, husband of Doris Day.

28

• Solomon Birnbaum, 98, Austro-Hungarian, British and Canadian expert in Yiddish linguistics and Hebrew paleography.
• Marin Ceaușescu, 73, Romanian economist and diplomat, brother of Nicolae Ceaușescu, suicide.
• Brian Coburn, 53, English actor who portrayed himself as Scottish.
• Earl Patrick Freeman, 57, Canadian professional wrestler, heart attack.
• Karl Humenberger, 83, Austrian footballer and manager (Floridsdorfer, Austria).
• Pavel Kurochkin, 89, Soviet army general.
• Ricardo López Méndez, 86, Mexican poet and lyricist ("Amor").
• Hermann Oberth, 95, Austro-Hungarian–born German physicist and rocket pioneer.
• Ian Parry, 24, British photographer and photojournalist, plane crash.
• Charles Rinker, 78, American lyricist.
• William Scott, 76, Northern Irish abstract painter, Alzheimer's disease.

29

• Süreyya Ağaoğlu, 86, Azerbaijani-born Turkish writer and lawyer, cerebral hemorrhage.
• Adrien Albert, 82, Australian medicinal chemist.
• Scott Burton, 50, American sculptor, AIDS.
• Saman Piyasiri Fernando, 31, Sri Lankan politician, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, murdered.
• Hap Glaudi, 77, American sportscaster (WWL-TV), lung cancer.
• Marion Keisker, 72, American record producer, first person to record Elvis Presley.
• Saša Večtomov (born Alexandr Večtomov), 59, Czechoslovakian cellist, suicide.
• Bernard Lewis Welch, 77–78, British statistician (Welch's t-test), stroke.

30

• Sten Abel, 90, Norwegian sailor and Olympic medalist.
• Øyvind Anker, 85, Norwegian librarian.
• Charles H. Blosser, 94, American after whom Blosser Municipal Airport is named.
• Augusto Del Noce, 79, Italian philosopher and political thinker.
• Paul-Henri Grauwin, 75, French army doctor.
• Etienne Leroux, 67, South African writer.
• Esther McCoy, 85, American architectural historian and author, emphysema.
• Yasuji Miyazaki, 73, Japanese swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.
• Fumiteru Nakano, 74, Japanese tennis player.
• Madoline Thomas, 99, Welsh actress, complications from broken hip.

31

• Christia Adair, 96, American suffragist and civil rights activist.
• Lilly Daché, 97, French-born American hatmaker.
• Georges de Bourguignon, 79, Belgian fencer and Olympic medalist.
• Margaret Gordon, 50, British children's book illustrator (The Wombles).
• Clarence Hammar, 90, Swedish sailor and Olympic medalist.
• Ignatius Kilage, 48, Papua New Guinean politician, Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.
• Mihály Lantos, 61, Hungarian international footballer and manager (MTK Hungária, Hungary).
• Francis B. Loomis Jr., 86, American general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
• Wendell Mosley, 57, American football player and coach.
• Bendt Rothe, 68, Danish actor (Gertrud).
• Gerhard Schröder, 79, West German politician, Minister of Defence.
• Madhuri Singh, 66, Indian politician, member of Lok Sabha.

Unknown date

• Martin Bartesch, 63, Romanian-born member of the SS (Mauthausen concentration camp).
• Ruth Moore, 85–86, American writer.
• Nora O'Mahoney, 76–77, Irish actress and lay missionary (Darby O'Gill and the Little People).
• Dietrich Prinz, 86, German-born computer science pioneer.
• Yem Sambaur, 76, Cambodian politician, Prime Minister of Cambodia.