Deaths in May 1989
The following is a list of notable deaths in May 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.
May 1989
1
Antonio Janigro , 71, Italian cellist and conductor.
Sally Kirkland , 76, fashion editor at Vogue and Life , emphysema.
Scooter Lowry , 69, American child actor (Our Gang ). (body found on this date)
Marion Mack , 87, American film actress (The General ), heart failure.
Edward Ochab , 82, Polish communist politician, Chairman of the Polish Council of State.
Muneyoshi Tokugawa , 91, Japanese army officer and politician.
Douglass Watson , 68, American actor (Another World ), heart attack.[ 1]
David Webster , 44, South African anti-apartheid activist, assassinated.
2
Bennie Benjamin , 81, Virgin Islands–born American songwriter (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood , Wheel of Fortune )).
James Crabe , 57, American cinematographer (Rocky , The China Syndrome , The Karate Kid ), complications of AIDS.
Veniamin Kaverin , 87, Russian writer and dramatist.
Gerald Scarpelli , 60–61, American mobster and hitman (Chicago Outfit ), suicide.
Giuseppe Siri , 82, Italian cardinal, Archbishop of Genoa.[ 2]
Maki Yūkō , 95, Japanese mountain climber.
3
Sheikh Abbas , 76–77, Algerian diplomat and writer, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris .
Gordon Dailley , 77, Canadian-born British ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist.
Christine Jorgensen , 62, American trans-gender woman, actress and singer, bladder and lung cancer.[ 3]
Muriel Ostriche , 92, American silent-screen actress.
Roland Robinson , 82, British politician (Member of Parliament ), and diplomat (Governor of Bermuda ).
William Squire , 72, Welsh actor (Callan ).
4
Adnan Khayr Allah , 49, Iraqi military officer and Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law, Minister of Defence , helicopter crash.
Chalam , 59, Indian film actor (Mattilo Manikyam ).
Morris Copeland , 93, American economist (flow of funds analysis ).
Larry Fleisher , 58, American attorney and sports agent, founded the National Basketball Players Association , heart attack.[ 4]
John R. Heller Jr. , 84, American director of the National Cancer Institute , known for the Tuskegee syphilis study .
Herschel C. Loveless , 77, American politician, Governor of Iowa, lung cancer.[ 5]
James McKeown , 88, Irish missionary in the Gold Coast (Ghana ), founded the Church of Pentecost .
Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay , 68, Indian writer.
Lydia Pasternak Slater , 87, Soviet research chemist and poet.
Jean-Marie Tjibaou , 53, French New Caledonian politician, leader of Kanak independence movement, assassinated.
Evelle J. Younger , 70, American lawyer, Attorney General of California .
5
Hermann Hölter , 89, German modern pentathlete, Nazi German army general.
Sister Mary Leo , 94, New Zealand religious sister, trained some of the world's best sopranos.
Wolfgang Neuss , 65, German actor and Kabarett artist, cancer.
Jennifer Hodge de Silva , 38, Canadian filmmaker.
Naval Tata , 84, Indian industrialist and philanthropist.
Stefan E. Warschawski , 85, Russian-born American mathematician (conformal maps , minimal surfaces , harmonic functions ).
6
Earl Blaik , American football player and coach (United States Military Academy ).[ 6]
Tally Brown , 64, American singer and actress.
Adolfo Constanzo , 26, Cuban-American serial killer, drug dealer and cult leader, assisted suicide.
Thakin Soe , 82–83, Burmese politician, founding member of the Communist Party of Burma .
L. D. Weldon , 80–81, American track and field coach of decathletes.
7
Miranda Campa , 75, Swiss-Italian actress.
Frank Cluskey , 59, Irish politician, leader of the Labour Party, cancer.
Willie Covan , 91, American tap dancer, actor and vaudeville performer (The Duke Is Tops ).
Darío Echandía , 91, Colombian politician, acting president of Colombia, Colombian ambassador to the U.K.
Earl J. Hamilton , 89–90, American historian.
Mills Lane , 77, American banker (Citizens & Southern National Bank ).
John Whittet , 63, American officer in the U.S. Navy, drowned.
8
Hendrik Allik , 88, Estonian politician (Estonian Communist Party ).
Felice Mario Boano , 85–86, Italian automobile designer and coachbuilder (Fiat ).
Mariga Guinness , 56, English-born architectural conservationist, co-founder of the Irish Georgian Society , heart attack.
Andreas Hillgruber , 64, German historian, throat cancer.[ 7]
Tony Lucadello , 76, American professional baseball scout, suicide by shooting.
Ruggero Maccari , 69, Italian screenwriter (Profumo di donna , La Famiglia ).
Rudolf Uhlenhaut , 82, British-German engineer (Mercedes-Benz ).[ 8]
9
Karl Brunner , 73, Swiss economist.[ 9]
Timothy Farrell , 66, American actor (Jail Bait , The Violent Years , Glen or Glenda )
Alex Fraser , 72, Canadian politician, member of the B.C. Legislative Assembly .
Fred Halsted , 47, American gay pornographic film director and actor, suicide.
Enrique Lucero , 68, Mexican actor (Canoa: A Shameful Memory ).
Kenneth A. Roberts , 76, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives, heart failure.[ 10]
Keith Whitley , 34, American country music singer and songwriter (When You Say Nothing at All , I'm No Stranger to the Rain ), alcohol poisoning.[ 11]
10
Wilhelm Bleckwenn , 82, Nazi German Wehrmacht general.
Joseph Brennan , 88, American ABL basketballer (Brooklyn Visitations ).
Richard Green , 52, American teacher, New York City Schools Chancellor , cardiac arrest due to asthma.
Dimitar Ilievski-Murato , 35, Yugoslavian mountaineer, first Macedonian to climb Mount Everest.
Stewart Perowne , 87, British diplomat and archaeologist of the Middle East.[ 12]
Kalu Rinpoche , 84, Tibetan Buddhist lama and teacher.
Woody Shaw , 44, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader, kidney failure.[ 13]
Hassler Whitney , 82, American mathematician (singularity theory ), stroke.[ 14]
11
Vin Brown , 67, Australian rules footballer.
Xiao Wangdong , 78, Chinese Communist revolutionary and a lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army.
12
13
14
15
16
Lamar Allen , 74, American college football player and coach, and Negro League baseballer.
Ralph Gibson , 83, Australian communist organiser and writer.
Josephine R. Hilgard , 83, American developmental psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
Théodore Strawinsky , 82, Russian-Swiss painter.
17
Hallvard Eika , 68, Norwegian politician, member of the Norwegian Parliament.
Walter Gross , 85, German actor.
Finn Juhl , 77, Danish architect, interior and industrial designer.
Lucia Moholy , 95, Austro-Hungarian–born photographer and publications editor.
Specs Toporcer , 90, American Major League baseballer, injuries sustained from a fall.
18
Donald Hiss , 82, American legal secretary, younger brother of Alger Hiss .[ 16]
Hermann Höcherl , 77, German politician and lawyer, member of the Nazi Party.
Ed McIlvenny , 64, Scottish footballer who represented the United States.
Dorothy Ruth , 67, American daughter of US baseballer Babe Ruth and his mistress Juanita Jennings.
19
Anton Diffring , 72, German actor, cancer.
Abel Herzberg , 95, Dutch lawyer and writer.
John J. Muccio , 89, Italian-American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, Iceland and South Korea.[ 17]
Gerd Oswald , 79, German director of American film and television, cancer.
Yiannis Papaioannou , 79, Greek composer and teacher.
Robert Webber , 64, American actor, Lou Gehrig's disease.[ 18]
20
John Hicks , 85, British economist, Nobel Memorial laureate in Economic Sciences.
Pavel Juráček , 53, Czech screenwriter and film director.
Lyn Murray , 79, English-American composer, conductor and arranger of music, cancer.[ 19]
Warren G. Magnuson , 84, American lawyer and politician, President pro tempore of the United States Senate.[ 20]
Gilda Radner , 42, American actress, comedian, writer and singer, ovarian cancer.[ 21]
Mike Reinbach , 39, American Major League baseballer, car accident.
Gōgen Yamaguchi , 80, Japanese martial artist, subarachnoid hemorrhage.
21
22
23
Ansa Ikonen , 75, Finnish film and theatre actress.
James Kay Thomas , 87, American lawyer and politician, Attorney General of West Virginia.
George Thomas , 61, American NFL footballer.
Georgy Tovstonogov , 73, Russian-Georgian theatre director, heart attack.
Earle Wilson , 73, American triple-jumper and Olympian.
24
S. K. Dey , 82, Indian politician.
Guus Dräger , 71, Dutch footballer.
Tom Harper , 86, American football player and coach.
Steve McCall , 55, American jazz drummer.
Tripti Mitra , 63, Indian actress.
25
Ben H. Brown Jr. , 75, American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, cancer.
Ab DeMarco , 73, Canadian ice hockey player.
Jean Despeaux , 73, French boxer and Olympic gold medalist.
Soma Wickremanayake , 74, Sri Lankan educator and politician, member of the Ceylonese Parliament.
26
27
28
Wally Anderzunas , 43, American basketballer.
Abbas Nalbandian , 39–40, Iranian playwright, suicide.
Iván Palazzese , 27, Italian-Venezuelan motorcycle racer, racing accident.
Baltasar Lopes da Silva , 82, Portuguese writer, poet and linguist, cerebrovascular disease.
John M. Systermans , Belgian-missionary and priest.
Muttathu Varkey , 76, Indian novelist, short story writer and poet.
29
Nora Barlow , 103, British botanist and geneticist, granddaughter of Charles Darwin.
John Cipollina , 45, American guitarist, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
George C. Homans , 78, American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, heart ailment.[ 25]
Joseph Van Ingelgem , 77, Belgian international footballer.
Donald L. Katz , 81, American chemist and chemical engineer.
Tariq Mehmood , 50, Pakistani military officer of Pakistan Army, parachute accident.
Giuseppe Patanè , 57, Italian opera conductor, heart attack.
Bob Waters , 50, American footballer, Lou Gehrig's disease.
30
Jane Fauntz , 78, American swimmer and diver, and Olympic medalist, leukemia.
James Harry Lacey , 72, British Royal Air Force fighter pilot in World War II.
Thoreau MacDonald , 88, Canadian illustrator, graphic and book designer, and artist.
Zinka Milanov , 83, Croatian operatic dramatic soprano, stroke.[ 26]
Claude Pepper , 88, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, stomach cancer.
31
Heinz Hasselberg , 75, German cyclist and Olympian.
Edward Hubbard , 51, English architectural historian, ankylosing spondylitis.
C. L. R. James , 88, Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist writer, chest infection.[ 27]
Owen Lattimore , 88, American Orientalist and writer.[ 28]
Raisa Orlova , 70, Russian writer and American studies scholar.
G. Vanmikanathan , 88, Indian scholar and author.
Unknown date
References
^ "Douglass Watson, 67, Theater and TV Actor" . The New York Times . May 6, 1989. p. 1 10. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Giuseppe Cardinal Siri Of Genoa Is Dead at 82" . The New York Times . May 3, 1989. p. D 27. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ John T. McQuiston (May 4, 1989). "Christine Jorgensen, 62, Is Dead; Was First to Have a Sex Change" . The New York Times . p. D 22. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Fleisher Service Tomorrow" . The New York Times . May 7, 1989. p. 1 44. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Herschel Loveless, 77, Ex-Governor of Iowa" . The New York Times . May 6, 1989. p. 1 10. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ William N. Wallace (May 7, 1989). "Earl (Red) Blaik, 92, Army's Top Football Coach" . The New York Times . p. 1 44. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Eric Pace (May 25, 1989). "Andreas Hillgruber, 64, Historian In West German Dispute, Is Dead" . The New York Times . p. D 22. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Automotive Engineer, 82" . The New York Times . May 20, 1989. p. 1 34. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Eric Pace (May 10, 1989). "Prof. Karl Brunner Is Dead at 73; Economist and Early Monetarist" . The New York Times . p. D 29. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Kenneth Roberts, 76, Former House Member" . The New York Times . May 12, 1989. p. B 10. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Keith Whitley Is Dead; Country Singer Was 33" . The New York Times . May 13, 1989. p. 1 31. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Stewart Perowne, 87, Diplomat and Author" . The New York Times . May 16, 1989. p. B 6. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Jon Pareles (May 12, 1989). "Woody Herman Shaw, 44, Jazz Trumpeter, Dies" . The New York Times . p. B 10. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Glenn Fowler (May 12, 1989). "Hassler Whitney, Geometrician; He Eased 'Mathematics Anxiety' " . The New York Times . p. B 10. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Nicholas Wilder, 51, Artist and Art Dealer" . The New York Times . May 16, 1989. p. B 6. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Glenn Fowler (May 20, 1989). "Donald Hiss, 82, Ex-U.S. Official And Lawyer in Washington Firm" . The New York Times . p. 1 34. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Howard W. French (May 22, 1989). "John J. Muccio, 89; Was U.S. Diplomat In Several Countries" . The New York Times . p. D 11. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ G. S. Bourdain (May 20, 1989). "ROBERT WEBBER, ACTOR, DIES AT 64" . The New York Times . p. 1 34. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Lyn Murray, 79, Dies; Composed Film Scores" . The New York Times . June 10, 1989. p. 1 12. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Wolfgang Saxon (May 21, 1989). "Warren G. Magnuson Dies at 84; Held Powerful Positions in Senate" . The New York Times . p. 1 46. Retrieved July 4, 2023 .
^ Dennis Hevesi (May 21, 1989). "Gilda Radner, 42, Comic Original Of 'Saturday Night Live' Zaniness" . The New York Times . p. 1 46. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Glenn Collins (May 23, 1989). "Margot Zemach, 57, Author, Dies; Also Illustrated Books for Children" . The New York Times . p. A 27. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Alfonso A. Narvaez (May 26, 1989). "Dr. Robert R. Sears, 80, Is Dead; Child Pyschologist and Educator" . The New York Times . p. A 18. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "Phineas Newborn Jr., 57, Top Jazz Pianist" . The New York Times . May 28, 1989. p. 1 38. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ "George Homans, 78, Sociologist And Harvard Professor Emeritus" . The New York Times . May 31, 1989. p. A 20. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Harold C. Schonberg (May 31, 1989). "Zinka Milanov, Soprano, Is Dead at 83" . The New York Times . p. A 20. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ C. Gerald Fraser (June 2, 1989). "C. L. R. James, Historian, Critic And Pan-Africanist, Is Dead at 88" . The New York Times . p. D 15. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Eric Pace (June 1, 1989). "Owen Lattimore, Far East Scholar Accused by McCarthy, Dies at 88" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved March 24, 2024 .