The following is a list of notable deaths in February 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.

• Lillian Boyer, 88, American wing walker.^[1]
• James Drake, 81, British civil engineer, pioneer of the national motorway network.^[2]
• Blaze Foley, 39, American country music singer-songwriter, poet and artist, shot.^[3]
• Elaine de Kooning, 70, American artist.^[4]
• Grace Hayes, 93, American actress, singer, vaudeville entertainer and nightclub owner.^[5]
• J.C. Hoel, 84, American motorcycle racer, and founder of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.^[6]
• Kenneth Morris, 71, American composer of gospel music.^[7]
• Erik Persson (footballer), 79, Swedish international footballer and Olympian.
• John Tootoosis, 89, Canadian First Nations leader.

• Yuri Bogatyryov, 41, Soviet actor (At Home Among Strangers), medication clash related to heart attack.
• Marie Poland Fish, 88, American oceanographer and marine biologist.^[8]
• Vladimír Lulek, 35, Czech family murderer, executed.
• Ondrej Nepela, 38, Czechoslovakian figure skater and Olympic gold medalist, lymph node cancer.^[9]
• Arnold Nordmeyer, 87, New Zealand politician, Leader of the Opposition.^[10]
• Nuno Oliveira, 63, Portuguese equestrian, horse trainer and dressage instructor.
• Walter M. Scott, 82, American set decorator (The Sound of Music, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
• Marie Syrkin, 89, American writer and Zionist activist.^[11]

• John Cassavetes, 59, Greek-American actor (Johnny Staccato, The Dirty Dozen), cirrhosis of the liver.^[12]
• Glenna Collett-Vare, 85, American amateur golfer, inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame.^[13]
• Betty Farrington, 90, American actress.
• Joan Grant, 81, English writer of historical novels (Winged Pharaoh).
• Frank Hursley, 86, half of American husband-and-wife television screenwriting duo Frank and Doris Hursley (General Hospital).
• Nina Kirsanova, 91, Russian-born Yugoslavian ballet dancer.
• Ebbe Langberg, 55, Danish actor and film director.
• John McCauley, 89, Australian Air Force senior commander, Chief of Air Force, stroke.^[14]
• Louis H. Narcisse, 67, American religious leader, founder of Mt. Zion Spiritual Church, heart attack.
• Lionel Newman, 73, American conductor, pianist and composer (Academy Award for Best Original Score for Hello, Dolly!), cardiac arrest.^[15]
• Kim Sung-jun, 35, South Korean boxer (WBC light flyweight champion), suicide by jumping.

• Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns, 68, American mandolinist, half of comedy duo Homer and Jethro, prostate cancer.^[16]
• Medford Bryan Evans, 81, college professor and Conservative political activist.
• Thorkild Hansen, 62, Danish novelist (Coast of Slaves, Ships of Slaves, Islands of Slaves).
• Trevor Lucas, 45, Australian folk singer (Fotheringay), heart attack.^[17]
• Grandizo Munis, 76, Spanish Trotskyist politician.^[18]
• Ham Seok-heon, 87, Korean Quaker.^[19]
• Ferris Webster, 76, American film editor (The Manchurian Candidate, The Great Escape).

• André Cheuva, 80, French international footballer and manager (Lille OSC).^[20]
• Roy Chicago, Nigerian musician and band leader.
• Percy Hoskins, 84, British crime reporter (Daily Express).
• Emrys James, 60, Welsh Shakespearean actor.^[21]
• Rajinder Kaur, 57, Indian journalist and politician, shot by terrorists.
• Joe Morrison, 51, American NFL footballer and coach (New York Giants), congestive heart failure.^[22]
• Killer Joe Piro, 67, American dance instructor, kidney disease.^[23]
• Joe Raposo, 51, American composer, singer and pianist (Sesame Street theme, Bein' Green), non-Hodgkin lymphoma.^[24]

• Suri Bhagavantam, 79, Indian scientist, vice chancellor of Osmania University, director of Indian Institute of Science.
• André Cayatte, 80, French filmmaker (Il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu).^[25]
• Ron Field, 55, American choreographer and dancer (Cabaret), brain lesions.^[26]
• Chris Gueffroy, 20, East German, last to be killed by use of firearms at the Berlin Wall.^[27]
• Netty Herawaty, 59, Indonesian actress (Rodrigo de Villa).
• Undine Smith Moore, 84, American composer and professor of music (Scenes from the Life of a Martyr), stroke.^[28]
• Otto Schulmann, 86, German-born conductor and vocal teacher.
• King Tubby, 48, Jamaican sound engineer, shot.^[29]
• Barbara W. Tuchman, 77, American historian and author (The Guns of August, Stilwell and the American Experience in China), stroke.^[30]

• Eric Jay, 81, British Anglican priest.
• Giuseppe Puca, 33, Italian criminal, boss of Nuova Camorra Organizzata, murdered after shootout.
• Sixto Rovina, 28, Netherlands Antilles international footballer, heart attack during game.
• Gilbert Simondon, 64, French philosopher.
• William Campbell Steere, 81, American botanist, expert on bryophytes, director of New York Botanical Garden.^[31]
• Simon Virsaladze, 80, Georgian ballet, film and opera designer.^[32]
• Prince Wilhelm Victor of Prussia, 69, German nobleman and diplomat.

• Cyril Luckham, 81, English film, television and theatre actor (Doctor Who, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em).
• Begum Khurshid Mirza, 70, Pakistani television and film actress.
• Webster B. Todd, 89, American Chairman of New Jersey Republican State Committee, heart attack.^[33]

• Ken Adachi, 59–60, Canadian writer and literary critic (Toronto Star).^[34]
• Bill Dalley, 87, New Zealand rugby union player (Canterbury, All Blacks).
• Osamu Tezuka, 60, Japanese artist and animator (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion), stomach cancer.^[35]

• Darnley Alexander, 69, Nigerian jurist, Chief Justice of Nigeria.
• Irving Brown, 77, American trade unionist (Presidential Medal of Freedom).^[36]
• Agustín Ramos Calero, 69, decorated Puerto Rican soldier in the U.S. Army.^[37]
• Wayne Hays, 77, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, heart attack.^[38]
• Panini Ilangakoon, 69, Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament.
• Dan Kelly, 52, Canadian-American sportscaster, lung cancer.^[39]
• Emily Kimbrough, 89, American author and journalist (Our Hearts Were Young and Gay).^[40]
• Herbert Ryman, 78, American artist and Disney Imagineer (Sleeping Beauty Castle), cancer.^[41]

• Charles L. Bolte, 93, United States Army general, vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, stroke.^[42]
• T. E. B. Clarke, 81, British screenwriter (The Lavender Hill Mob).^[43]
• Leon Festinger, 69, American social psychologist (cognitive dissonance, social comparison theory), cancer.^[44]
• Roland Gross, 80, American film editor and television editor (None but the Lonely Heart).
• George O'Hanlon, 76, American actor, comedian and writer (The Jetsons), stroke.^[45]
• Cecil C. Steiner, 92, American dentist (Steiner method of analysis).
• Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 83, ruler of Abu Dhabi.^[46]
• Katharine Lane Weems, 89, American sculptor (Dolphins of the Sea, Lotta Fountain).

• Thomas Bernhard, 58, Austrian novelist and playwright (Correction, Extinction), heart attack.^[47]
• Jorge Romero Brest, 83, Argentinian art critic.
• Attilio Dottesio, 79, Italian film actor and singer.
• Pat Finucane, 39, Irish lawyer, murdered.^[48]
• Pandit Narendra Sharma, 75, Indian writer and poet (Satyam Shivam Sundaram theme).
• Bill Speer, 46, Canadian NHL ice hockey player (Boston Bruins), snowmobile accident.^[49]

• Ernestine Barrier, 80, American stage, film and television actress (Project Moonbase).
• Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark, 79, member of the Greek Royal family.
• Hans Hellmut Kirst, 74, German novelist (Die Nacht der Generale).^[50]
• Hip Linkchain, 52, American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (Change My Blues, That Will Never Do), mesothelioma cancer.^[51]
• Richard Roud, 59, American writer on film, co-founder of the New York Film Festival.^[52]
• Geoff Selby, 23, Australian rugby league footballer (Illawarra Steelers, St. George Dragons), car accident.^[53]
• Dave Tarras, appr. 94, Ukrainian-American clarinetist and bandleader, pneumonia.^[54]

• James Bond, 89, American ornithologist, curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (Birds of the West Indies).^[55]
• Vincent Crane, 45, English keyboardist (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster), suicide by drug overdose.^[56]
• Krishnarao Dhulap, 68, leader of Peasants and Workers Party of India.
• Vincent Žuk-Hryškievič, 86, Belarusian politician, president of the government-in-exile of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.

• Hüseyin Akbaş, 56, Turkish wrestler and dual Olympic medalist.^[57]
• Sita Devi, 71, Indian Princess Consort of Vuyyur, the "Indian Wallis Simpson".
• Daniel Fox, 61, American polymer chemist (LEXAN).^[58]
• Robert Kerns, 55, American baritone (Vienna State Opera).
• Lee E. McMahon, 57, American computer scientist (sed stream editor).
• Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, 77, Indonesian statesman and economist, Prime Minister of Indonesia, heart attack.^[59]
• Sabo Bakin Zuwo, 54, Nigerian politician, Governor of Kano State.

• Andy Black, 72, Scottish international footballer (Manchester City, Scotland).^[60]
• Ida Ehre, 88, Austrian-German actor, theatre director and manager, heart attack.^[61]
• Mirza Abdul Halim, 23, Singaporean police constable, murdered.^[62]
• Paco Lagerstrom, 74, Swedish-American applied mathematician and aeronautical engineer (Caltech).^[63]

• Rudolf Brill, 89, German chemist.^[64]
• Francesco Buccitelli, 66, Italian artist, mayor of Pacentro.
• Ian Fraser, 78, British judge, member of the House of Lords, car accident.^[65]
• Lefty Gomez, 80, American Major League baseball player (New York Yankees), congestive heart failure.^[66]
• Guy Laroche, 67, French fashion designer.^[67]
• Marguerite Roberts, 83, American screenwriter, blacklisted for not cooperating with House Un-American Activities Committee, arteriosclerosis.^[68]
• Hanne Sobek, 88, German international footballer (Hertha BSC, Germany).^[69]

• John Bailey, 76, British screen and TV actor (The Forsyte Saga).^[70]
• Mildred Burke, 73, American professional wrestler, women's world champion, stroke.^[71]
• Dixie Deans, 75, Royal Air Force sergeant, Second World War bomber pilot.^[72]
• Dina Halpern, 79, Polish-born American actress.^[73]
• Kathleen Hite, 71, American writer for radio and television (Gunsmoke, The Waltons).^[74]

• Edward Beetham, 74, British colonial official, Resident Commissioner in Swaziland, Governor of Trinidad and Tobago.
• Rick Burks, 28, American musician and actor (Blood Diner), car accident.
• Eric F. Goldman, 72, American historian, presidential advisor (The Open Mind).^[75]
• Alec Merrison, 64, British physicist, vice-chancellor of University of Bristol, director of Lloyds Bank.^[76]
• Jack de Sequeira, 73, Indian politician, Leader of the Opposition of the Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly.
• Rosa Slade Gragg, 84, American activist and politician.^[77]

• Julio César Chaves, 81, Paraguayan historian.
• Percy Chen, 88, Trinidad-born Chinese lawyer, founding member of Hong Kong Bar Association.^[78]
• Erika Köth, 63, German operatic soprano.^[79]
• Anthony Leeds, 64, American anthropologist, heart attack.^[80]
• Betty Mars, 44, French singer and actress, Eurovision song contestant, suicide by jumping.
• Aleksandr Medvedkin, 88, Soviet film director (Happiness).
• Manuel Rosas, 76, Mexican international footballer (Atlante F.C., Mexico).^[81]

• Robert Dorning, 75, English musician, ballet dancer and actor, diabetes.
• Sándor Márai, 88, Hungarian writer, poet and journalist (Embers).^[82]
• Otar Taktakishvili, 64, Georgian composer and conductor (Sonata for Flute and Piano, Mindia).^[83]
• Alex Thépot, 82, French international footballer and Olympian (Red Star FC, France).^[84]

• Roxanne Arlen, 58, American film and stage actress.
• Harry Brand, 93, American press agent, credited with the fame of Shirley Temple, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe, heart attack.^[85]
• Raymond Gower, 72, British politician, member of the House of Commons, heart attack.^[86]
• Abel Wolman, 96, American engineer, pioneer in sanitary engineering.^[87]
• Joan Woodbury, 73, American actress (The Eagle's Brood, Brenda Starr, Reporter).^[88]

• David Mowbray Balme, 76, British professor, Principal of the University College of the Gold Coast.^[89]
• Ramito, 73, Puerto Rican composer (Qué Bonita Bandera), suicide by gunshot.
• Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, 82, Tibetan nobleman and statesman, Finance Minister of Tibet, stomach cancer.^[90]
• Roy Tyner, 55, American NASCAR Grand National driver, gunshot.^[91]

• Sparky Adams, 94, American Major League baseballer (Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals).^[92]
• Paul M. Bator, 59, Hungarian-born American legal scholar and Supreme Court advocate, Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.^[93]
• Norris Cotton, 88, American politician, US senator.^[94]
• Joe Harvey, 70, English footballer and manager (Newcastle United, Bradford City).^[95]
• Margo Lion, 89, Ottoman-French singer and actress (Threepenny Opera).
• Paulaseer, 68, Indian preacher, 'faith healer'.
• Mallica Reynolds, 78, Jamaican artist and religious leader (Shining the Spring).^[96]
• William Thayer Tutt, 76, American ice hockey and figure skating executive.^[97]

• Paula Banholzer, 87, German love interest of Bertolt Brecht.
• Angna Enters, 91, American dancer, mime, painter and writer (Lost Angel, Tenth Avenue Angel).^[98]
• Robert Foulk, 80, American television and film actor (Lassie).

• Roy Eldridge, 78, American jazz trumpeter.^[99]
• Joseph Fenton, appr. 46, Northern Ireland estate agent, killed by Provisional Irish Republican Army (body found on this date).^[100]
• Reunald Jones, 78, American jazz trumpeter.^[101]
• Mouloud Mammeri, 71, Algerian writer, anthropologist and linguist, car accident.^[102]
• Clayton Robson, 87, Indian-born English first-class cricketer.^[103]

• Paul Oswald Ahnert, 91, German astronomer (Kalender für Sternfreunde).^[104]
• Shiba P. Chatterjee, 86, Indian Professor of Geography.
• Mauricio Garcés, 62, Mexican actor and comedian (Fray Don Juan, Modisto de señoras).^[105]
• Kim Hyun-chul, 87, Korean independence activist and politician, Prime Minister of South Korea.
• Konrad Lorenz, 85, Austrian zoologist and author (Man Meets Dog), Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Nazi supporter.^[106]
• Sayuti Melik, 80, Indonesian political agitant (Proclamation of Indonesian Independence).
• Gilberto Molina, 52, Colombian emerald magnate and drug trafficker (Medellín cartel), murdered.^[107]
• Joe Silver, 66, American stage, television, film and radio actor, heart attack.^[108]

• Richard Armour, 82, American poet and author.^[109]
• Bernard Beryl Brodie, 81, English-born American biochemical and neurochemical pharmacology scientist.^[110]
• Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira, 78, Brazilian lexicographer, translator and writer (Aurélio Dictionary).^[111]
• Hermann Burger, 46, Swiss poet and novelist (Die Wasserfallfinsternis von Badgastein), suicide.^[112]
• Everett E. Hatcher, 46, American Special Agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, shot during undercover operation.^[113]
• Douglas Kendrew, 79, British army general and rugby union player (Leicester, England), Governor of Western Australia.^[114]
• Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, 100, Indian yoga teacher.
• Alton C. Parker, 81, Canadian police officer, first black Canadian detective.^[115]
• Pak Se-yong, 86, North Korean poet and politician (Aegukka – North Korean national anthem).