Deaths in April 2008

Deaths in 2008 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - →

The following is a list of notable deaths in April 2008.

30

• John Cargher, 89, Australian radio broadcaster, hosted Singers of Renown for 42 years. [1] [2]]
• M. G. Pandithan, 68, Malaysian politician. [3]
• Allan Sparrow, 63, Canadian politician, activist and Toronto city councillor (1974-1980). [4]

29

• John Berkey, 75, American science fiction artist. [5]
• Bo Yang, 88, Chinese writer. [6]
• Gordon Bradley, 74, British footballer and coach (North American Soccer League), Alzheimer's Disease. [7]
• Chuck Daigh, 84, American racing driver, heart & respiratory problems. [8] [9]
• Julie Ege, 64, Norwegian actress, breast cancer. [10] (Norwegian)
• Albert Hofmann, 102, Swiss researcher, chemist and discoverer of LSD. [11]
• Sir Anthony Kershaw, 92, British Conservative MP (1955–1987). [12]
• Charles Tilly, 78, American sociologist, historian and political scientist. [13]

28

• Ivan Caesar, 41, American football player (Boston College, Minnesota Vikings, Portland Forest Dragons), gunshot. [14]
• Max Cherry, 81, Australian Olympics and Commonwealth Games athletics coach, heart attack. [15] [16]
• Jack Hanrahan, 75, American Emmy Award–winning television script writer. [17]
• Sir Derek Higgs, 64, British chairman of Alliance & Leicester, sudden illness. [18]
• Ed Marion, 81, American official in the National Football League from 1960 to 1987. [19]
• Will Robinson, 96, American coach, first African-American Division I college basketball (ISU) coach, Detroit Pistons scout. [20] [21]

27

• "Big" Ron O'Brien, 56, American disc jockey, pneumonia. [22] [23]
• Mike Patrick, 55, American former NFL punter (New England Patriots). [24]
• Marios Tokas, 54, Greek Cypriot composer, cancer. [25] [26]

26

• Pamela Bone, 68, Australian journalist, columnist for The Age, multiple myeloma. [27]
• Henry Brant, 94, Canadian-born American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. [28]
• Wallace Gichere, 53, Kenyan photojournalist. [29]
• Yossi Harel, 90, Israeli captain of Exodus, cardiac arrest. [30]
• Thomas Oteri, 69, American music executive; father of comedienne Cheri Oteri, stabbed. [31]

25

• Enrico Donati, 99, Italian-born American surrealist painter and sculptor. [32]
• Sonny Grandelius, 79, American football player and coach. [33]
• Humphrey Lyttelton, 86, British jazz trumpeter and chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, following surgery for aortic aneurysm. [34]
• John H. McConnell, 84, American owner of Worthington Industries and the Columbus Blue Jackets. [35]

24

• Geraldo Brandão, 68, Portuguese football trainer (FC Penafiel). [36] (Portuguese)
• Tristram Cary, 82, British film and television composer. [37]
• Harry Geris, 60, Canadian Olympic wrestler. [38]
• Jimmy Giuffre, 86, American jazz clarinetist, pneumonia. [39]
• Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, 39, American entertainer, member of Howard Stern's Wack Pack, pneumonia. [40] [41]
• Canhoto da Paraíba, 79, Brazilian musician and violinist, heart attack. [42] (Portuguese)
• Carlos Robalo, 76, Portuguese politician (CDS/PP) and secretary of state (1980–1981). [43] (Portuguese)

23

• Jean-Daniel Cadinot, 64, French film director and producer, heart attack. [44]
• Don Gillis, 85, Canadian-born American sportscaster. [45]
• Martha Kostuch, 58, Canadian environmentalist, multiple system atrophy. [46] [47]
• Loreto Paras-Sulit, 99, Filipino writer. [48]
• Rustam Sani, 64, Malaysian politician, sociologist, political scientist and blogger. [49]
• DeVan Shumway, 77, American spokesman for Richard Nixon's reelection committee, lung disease. [50]
• Harold Stephenson, 87, English first-class cricketer who kept wicket for Somerset. [51]
• William H. Stewart, 86, American surgeon general (1965–1969), complications from renal failure. [52]

22

• Cameron Argetsinger, 87, American auto racing pioneer. [53]
• Monna Bell, 70, Chilean singer, stroke. [54] (Spanish)
• Ed Chynoweth, 66, Canadian president of the Western Hockey League (1972–1995) and CHL (1975–1995), cancer. [55]
• Paul Davis, 60, American singer ("I Go Crazy," "'65 Love Affair," "Cool Night"), heart attack. [56]
• Safdar Kiyani, 60, Pakistani teacher and pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Balochistan, shot. [57]
• Francisco Martins Rodrigues, 81, Portuguese anti-Fascist resistant, Marxist-Leninist Committee founder, cancer. [58] (Portuguese)
• Ernst Vlcek, 67, Austrian science fiction author (Perry Rhodan). [59] (German)

21

• Darell Garretson, 76, American professional basketball referee. [60] [61]
• Aaron Shearer, 88, American classical guitarist. [62]
• Carmem Silva, 92, Brazilian actress, multiple organ failure. [63] (Portuguese)
• Al Wilson, 68, American soul singer ("Show and Tell"), kidney failure. [64]

20

• Richard Alexander, 73, British politician, Conservative MP for Newark (1979–1997), cancer. [65]
• Bebe Barron, 82, American composer, pioneer of electronic music. [66]
• Gazanfer Bilge, 85, Turkish freestyle wrestler, 1948 Olympic champion. [67]
• Farid Chopel, 55, French actor and singer, cancer. [68] (French)
• Orish Grinstead, 27, American rhythm and blues singer, member of 702, kidney failure [69]
• Monica Lovinescu, 84, Romanian writer. [70] (Romanian)
• Derek McKay, 58, Scottish footballer (Deveronvale, Dundee, Aberdeen, Barrow), heart attack. [71]
• VL Mike, 30, American rapper, shot. [72]
• Nissan Nativ, 86, Israeli director, actor and acting teacher. [73]
• Tariq Niazi, 68, Pakistani field hockey player, member of 1968 Olympic gold medal team, cardiac arrest. [74]
• Geoff Polites, 60, Australian chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover. [75] [76]
• William R. Snodgrass, 85, American government official, Comptroller of Tennessee (1955–1999). [77]
• Harry Ulinski, 83, American football player (Washington Redskins), sepsis. [78]

19

• Alessandro Cevese, 57, Italian ambassador to South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar, car accident. [79]
• Lawrence Hertzog, 56, American television writer and producer, cancer. [80]
• Alfonso López Trujillo, 72, Colombian Catholic archbishop, president of Pontifical Council for the Family, diabetes. [81]
• John Marzano, 45, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox), co-host of Leading Off on mlb.com, injuries from a fall. [82]
• Eduardo Melo Peixoto, 80, Portuguese Catholic vicar in Braga, far-right-wing and anticommunist activist. [83] (Portuguese)
• Germaine Tillion, 100, French anthropologist, member of French Resistance. [84]
• Constant Vanden Stock, 93, Belgian former president of RSC Anderlecht football club. [85] (Dutch)

18

• Peter Howard, 80, American music director and arranger, complications of Parkinson's Disease. [86]
• Zoya Krakhmalnikova, 79, Russian dissident and writer. [87] (Russian)
• Kay Linaker, 94, American actress and screenwriter (The Blob). [88]
• Palmira Cabrita Matias, Portuguese founder of SOS Children's Villages in Portugal. [89] (Portuguese)
• Joy Page, 83, American actress (Casablanca), complications from a stroke and pneumonia. [90]
• Rosalie Ritz, 84, American courtroom artist (O.J. Simpson Trial, Sirhan Sirhan trial), lung cancer. [91]
• William W. Warner, 88, American biologist and writer, complications of Alzheimer's Disease. [92]

17

• Lou Allen, 83, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers). [93]
• Aimé Césaire, 94, French Martiniquan poet and politician. [94]
• Richard Chopping, 90, British illustrator. [95]
• Gwyneth Dunwoody, 77, British Labour member of parliament for Crewe and Nantwich, following open heart surgery. [96]
• Danny Federici, 58, American keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, melanoma. [97]
• Nicolette Goulet, 52, American actress (The Guiding Light), daughter of Robert Goulet, breast cancer. [98]
• George Pollard, 89, American portrait painter (Harry Truman, Muhammad Ali), pneumonia. [99]
• Rosario Sanchez, 88, Spanish female anti-Franco veteran of the Spanish Civil War. [100]
• Mikhail Tanich, 84, Russian poet, kidney problems. [101] (Russian)

16

• Joe Alston, 81, American badminton player and FBI agent. [102]
• Lucia Cunanan, 80, Filipino restaurateur credited with inventing sisig, murdered by hammer. [103] [104]
• Joe Feeney, 76, American tenor (The Lawrence Welk Show). [105]
• Pedro Bandeira Freire, 68, Portuguese writer, founder and director of Cinema Quarteto. [106] (Portuguese)
• Edward Norton Lorenz, 90, American professor of meteorology, cancer. [107]
• Fadel Shana'a, 23, Palestinian Reuters cameraman, flechette shell. [108]
• Joseph Solman, 99, American painter with Works Progress Administration. [109]

15

• Imre Antal, 72, Hungarian pianist, TV personality, actor and humorist, cancer. [110] (Hungarian)
• David Cass, 71, American economist. [111]
• Sean Costello, 28, American blues guitarist and singer. [112]
• Hazel Court, 82, British actress (The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven), heart attack. [113]
• Clifford Davies, 59, American musician, former drummer for Ted Nugent, apparent suicide by gunshot. [114]
• Brian Davison, 65, British musician, former drummer for progressive rock band The Nice. [115]
• Parvin Dowlatabadi, 84, Iranian children's author and poet, heart attack. [116] [117]
• Renata Fronzi, 82, Argentine-born Brazilian actress, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [118] (Portuguese)
• Miguel Galván, 50, Mexican comedian and TV personality, respiratory arrest. [119]
• Hendrik S. Houthakker, 83, American economist. [120]
• Fernand Jaccard, 100, Swiss football midfielder. [121] (French)
• Benoît Lamy, 62, Belgian motion picture writer-director. [122] (French)
• Krister Stendahl, 86, Swedish Lutheran theologian and bishop. [123]
• Mahinarangi Tocker, 52, New Zealand musician, asthma attack. [124]

14

• Horst Bingel, 74, German author. [125] (German)
• Olivia Cenizal, 81, Filipino actress. [126]
• Angela Feroldi, 110, Italian supercentenarian. [127]
• Madeline Lee Gilford, 84, American actress and theatrical producer, wife of the late Jack Gilford. [128]
• Werner "Frick" Groebli, 92, Swiss ice skating comedian (Frick and Frack). [129]
• Tommy Holmes, 91, American baseball player (Boston Braves). [130]
• Jamaica Jackson, 26, American football linebacker (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Berlin Thunder), cardiac arrhythmia. [131]
• Ollie Johnston, 95, American animator, the last of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men". [132]
• Marisa Sannia, 61, Italian singer. [133] (Italian)
• Donald Sloan, 81, Scottish rugby union player (Edinburgh Academical, Scotland). [134]
• Robert Somervaille, 86, Australian lawyer, chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1987–1991). [135]
• June Travis, 93, American actress. [136]
• Stan Flack, 42, American web pioneer and founder of MacMinute. [137]

13

• Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, 51, American kidnapper. [138]
• Brandi Hawbaker, 26, American poker player, suicide. [139]
• Eduardo Martins, 68, Brazilian journalist and author, cancer and respiratory failure. [140] (Portuguese)
• Michael Mills, 80, Irish government ombudsman (1984–1994). [141]
• Valentina Pugacheva, 73, Russian actress, respiratory problems. [142] (Russian)
• Mark Speight, 42, British TV presenter, body found on this date after suicide by hanging. [143]
• John Archibald Wheeler, 96, American physicist who coined the term "black hole", pneumonia. [144]
• Khasan Yandiyev, 51, Russian deputy head of Ingushetia Supreme Court, shot. [145]

12

• Cecilia Colledge, 87, British figure skater and 1936 Olympic silver medallist. [146]
• Valda Cooper, 92, Australian-born American journalist for the Associated Press. [147]
• Dieter Eppler, 81, German film actor and radio drama director. [148] (German)
• Donald Forbes, 73, British convicted murderer. [149]
• Patrick Hillery, 84, Irish president (1976–1990) and minister (1959–1973), European commissioner for Ortoli Commission. [150]
• Abbas Katouzian, 86, Iranian painter. [151]
• Artur Maurício, 63, Portuguese Constitutional Court president (2004–2007), after long illness. [152] (Portuguese)
• Barbara McDermott, 95, American survivor of the RMS Lusitania sinking. [153]
• Buzz Nutter, 77, American football player (Colts, Steelers), heart failure. [154]
• Augusta Wallace, 78, New Zealand district judge (1975–1990), after long illness. [155]
• Jerry Zucker, 58, Israeli-born American businessman, cancer. [156] [157]

11

• Claude Abbes, 80, French football player. [158] (French)
• Clyde Cook, 72, American president of Biola University (1982–2007). [159]
• Willoughby Goddard, 81, British actor. [160]
• Harry Goonatilake, 78, Sri Lankan Air Force Commander (1976–1981). [161]
• Robert Hartmann, 91, American speechwriter for President Gerald Ford, cardiac arrest. [162]
• Joan Jackson, 92, British muse of poet John Betjeman. [163]
• Jack Lemmon, 80, American journalist and editor for The Washington Post, cardiac arrest. [164]
• Bob Pellegrini, 73, American football linebacker (Philadelphia Eagles). [165]

10

• Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, 88, Mexican cardinal, archbishop emeritus of Mexico. [166] (Spanish)
• Robert W. Greene, 78, American investigative journalist, heart failure. [167]
• Andy Knight, 46, Canadian animator and director, stroke. [168]
• Dickson Mabon, 82, British Labour and SDP MP (1955–1983). [169]
• Shomu Mukherjee, 65, Indian director and producer. [170]
• Jeremiah Nyagah, 87, Kenyan politician, after short illness. [171]
• Kim Santow, 67, Australian judge (NSW Supreme Court), chancellor of the University of Sydney (2001–2007), brain tumour. [172]

9

• Abu Ubaidah al-Masri, Pakistani Al Qaeda senior operative, death from probable hepatitis confirmed on this date. [173]
• Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley, 79, British Green Party member of the House of Lords. [174]
• George Butler, 71, American record producer and A&R man (Blue Note, Columbia), complications from Alzheimer's disease. [175]
• Herman Carr, 83, American physicist, pioneer of MRI, heart disease. [176]
• Diego Catalán, 80, Spanish philologist, grandson of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, heart disease. [177] (Spanish)
• Burt Glinn, 82, American photographer, kidney failure and pneumonia. [178]
• Erkki Junkkarinen, 78, Finnish singer. [179] (Finnish)
• Bob Kames, 82, American polka musician, songwriter and popularizer of the Chicken Dance, prostate cancer. [180]
• Daniela Klemenschits, 25, Austrian tennis player, abdominal cancer. [181]
• Steffen Krauß, 43, German footballer. [182] (German)
• Lloyd Lamble, 94, Australian actor. [183]
• Jacques Morel, 85, French actor, voice of Obelix. [184] (French)
• Flora Pereira, 79, Portuguese Fado singer. [185] (Portuguese)
• Choubeila Rached, 75, Tunisian singer. [186]
• Elizabeth Stefan, 112, American supercentenarian, verified seventh-oldest person in the world. [187]
• Marvin Sylvor, 75, American carousel designer, kidney failure. [188]
• Aline Wainwright, 78, Canadian feminist, cancer. [189]

8

• Cedella Booker, 81, Jamaican mother of Bob Marley, natural causes. [190]
• John Button, 74, Australian senator, minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce (1983–1993), pancreatic cancer. [191]
• Graham Higman, 91, British mathematician. [192]
• Seaman Jacobs, 96, American television writer, cardiac arrest. [193]
• Stanley Kamel, 65, American actor (Monk), heart attack. [194]
• Ogawa Kunio, 80, Japanese novelist. [195]
• Hersh Lyons, 92, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals). [196]
• M. Lois Murphy, 91, American pediatric oncologist. [197]
• Nadezhda Rumyantseva, 77, Russian actress, after long illness. [198] (Russian)
• Jacqueline Voltaire, 59, British-born Mexican soap opera actress for Televisa, cancer. [199] (Spanish)

7

• Ludu Daw Amar, 92, Burmese journalist, writer and activist. [200]
• Kunio Egashira, 70, Japanese chairman of Ajinomoto, pancreatic cancer. [201]
• Sir Frank Little, 82, Australian Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of the archdiocese of Melbourne. [202]
• Joe Shell, 89, American member of the California State Assembly (1953–1963). [203]
• Gloria Taylor, 57, British activist and mother of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor, heart attack. [204]
• Andrei Tolubeyev, 63, Russian actor, after long illness. [205] (Russian)
• Esko Tommola, 77, Finnish news anchor, after long illness. [206] (Finnish)
• Phil Urso, 82, American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. [207]

6

• Lakshman de Alwis, 68, Sri Lankan national athletics coach, suicide bomb attack. [208]
• Tony Davies, 68, New Zealand rugby union player (All Blacks). [209]
• Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, Sri Lankan highways minister, suicide bomb attack. [210]
• Kuruppu Karunaratne, 47, Sri Lankan Olympic marathoner, suicide bomb attack. [211]
• Abraham Osheroff, 92, American social activist, veteran of the Spanish Civil War (Abraham Lincoln Brigade), heart attack. [212]
• Gib Shanley, 76, American radio sportscaster (Cleveland Browns). [213]
• Teoh Chye Hin, 94, Malaysian secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation (1974–1978). [214]

5

• Herbert Breiteneder, 54, Austrian European Rallycross Championship runner-up (1987, 1988), rally accident. [215] (German)
• Iris Burton, 77, American talent agent, pneumonia and complications of Alzheimer's disease. [216]
• Evangelino da Costa Neves, 82, Brazilian former president of Coritiba football club, multiple organ failure. [217] (Portuguese)
• Alex Grasshoff, 79, American documentary filmmaker known for his Academy Awardrevocation revoked. [218]
• Eugene Ehrlich, 85, American lexicographer and author. [219]
• Charlton Heston, 84, American Academy Award–winning film actor (Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments), NRA president. [220]
• Engla Höglund, 10, Swedish murder victim. [221]
• Sarah Lee, 76, American professional wrestler, Alzheimer's disease. [222]
• Walt Masterson, 87, American baseball player, stroke. [223]
• McKelvey, 9, British race horse, euthanised after fall during Grand National. [224]
• Saad Razuqui, Iraqi army commander, shot. [225] (Spanish)
• Steve Sinnott, 56, British general secretary of the National Union of Teachers since 2004. [226]
• Jeu Sprengers, 69, Dutch chairman of the Royal Netherlands Football Association. [227]
• Michael White, 59, Australian inventor of narrative therapy, cardiac arrest. [228]
• Kaku Yamanaka, 113, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest person in Japan. [229]

4

• Fay McKay, 78, American entertainer ("The Twelve Daze of Christmas"). [230]
• Jerry Rosholt, 85, American journalist and historian. [231]
• Wu Xueqian, 87, Chinese politician, foreign minister (1982–1988). [232]

3

• Johnny Byrne, 73, Irish writer (Doctor Who, Space: 1999). [233]
• Andrew Crozier, 64, British poet, brain tumour. [234]
• Hrvoje Ćustić, 24, Croatian footballer (NK Zadar), head injury. [235]
• William D. Eberle, 84, American businessman, U.S. Trade Representative (1971–1974), kidney failure. [236]
• Frosty Freeze, 44, American B-boy, breakdancer and member of the Rock Steady Crew. [237]
• Jeremy Knowles, 72, British-born Harvard University dean of Arts and Sciences (1991–2002), prostate cancer. [238]
• Ivan Korade, 44, Croatian general and murder suspect, apparent suicide by gunshot. [239]
• Brendan O'Brien, 67, Irish musician (The Dixies), probable heart attack. [240]
• Vladimir Preclik, 78, Czech sculptor and writer. [241]

2

• Norberto Collado Abreu, 87, Cuban naval officer, helmsman of the yacht Granma which carried Fidel Castro to Cuba in 1956. [242]
• Sir Geoffrey Cox, 97, British founder of ITN News at Ten. [243]
• Ray Poole, 86, American football player (New York Giants), cancer. [244]
• Yakup Satar, 110, Crimean-born supercentenarian, believed to be the last Turkish veteran of World War I. [245] (Turkish)
• Mona Seilitz, 65, Swedish actress and entertainer, cancer. [246] [247] (Swedish)
• Adam Studziński, 97, Polish Roman Catholic Dominican priest, World War II chaplain of Polish forces. [248]
• Taotao, 36, China's oldest captive giant panda, brain thrombus and cerebral hemorrhage. [249]

1

• Mosko Alkalai, 77, Israeli actor (Blaumilch Canal, The Fox in the Chicken Coop, Yana's Friends), respiratory failure. [250] [251]
• Triston Jay Amero, 26, American hotel bomber, pulmonary edema. [252]
• Shosh Atari, 58, Israeli radio presenter and actress, heart attack. [253]
• Péter Baczakó, 56, Hungarian weightlifter, 1980 Olympic champion, cancer. [254]
• Sabin Bălaşa, 75, Romanian painter, heart attack. [255]
• Sherry Britton, 89, American burlesque dancer turned musical stage actress (Guys and Dolls). [256] [257]
• Wally Bronner, 81, American founder of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, cancer. [258]
• Jim Finney, 83, British football referee. [259]
• Licínio Pereira da Silva, 63, Portuguese last political prisoner of PIDE during Estado Novo, nosocomial infection. [260] (Portuguese)
• Floyd Simmons, 84, American decathlon Olympic bronze medallist (1948, 1952) and actor (South Pacific). [261] [262]
• Marvin Stone, 26, American basketball player for Saudi Arabian Al-Ittihad (Jeddah) team, heart attack. [263]