Deaths in December 2004

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The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2004.

December 2004

31

• John Chataway, 57, Canadian politician, complications from stroke. [1]
• Gérard Debreu, 83, French-born American Nobel Prize-winning economist (Economics, 1983), natural causes. [2]
• George Wackenhut, 85, American businessman, founder of Wackenhut Corporation, heart failure. [3]

30

• Artie Shaw, 94, American jazz musician, complications of diabetes. [4] [5]

29

• Julius Axelrod, 92, American Nobel Prize-winning biochemist (Medicine, 1970), natural causes. [6]
• William Boyett, 77, American actor (Adam-12), complications from pneumonia and kidney failure. [7]
• John Bridgeman, 88, British sculptor. [8]
• Ken Burkhart, 89, American Major League Baseball pitcher and umpire, emphysema. [9]
• Liddy Holloway, 57, New Zealand actress (Shortland Street) and writer, liver cancer. [10]

28

• Jerry Orbach, 69, American actor (Law & Order), prostate cancer. [11]
• Susan Sontag, 71, American author, literary theorist and activist, acute myeloid leukemia. [12]

27

• Hank Garland, 74, American studio guitarist (Elvis Presley, Charlie Parker), staphylococcus infection. [13]
• Heorhiy Kirpa, 58, Ukrainian industrialist and politician (Transport Minister since 2002), shot. [14]

26

• Troy Broadbridge, 24, Australian AFL player (Melbourne), in 2004 Asian tsunami. [15]
• Jonathan Drummond-Webb, 45, South African paediatric heart surgeon, suicide by overdose. [16]
• Marianne Heiberg, 59, Norwegian diplomat, Oslo Accords mediator, heart attack. [17]
• Bhumi Jensen, 21, Thai prince, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [18]
• Eddie Layton, 77, American organist (New York Yankees), after short illness. [19]
• The Rt Hon Sir Angus Ogilvy, 76, British businessman, husband of HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy, throat cancer. [20]
• Reggie White, 43, American football player, cardiac arrhythmia. [21]
• Robert Whymant, 60, British journalist (The Times) and author, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [22]

25

• Jane Muskie, 77, American former model and bookkeeper, widow of politician Edmund Muskie, Alzheimer's disease. [23]
• Antony Preston, 66, British naval historian and writer.^{[citation needed]}
• Gennady Strekalov, 64, Russian cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, cancer. [24]

24

• Capt. Richard Annand, 90, British soldier, first Victoria Cross recipient of World War II. [25]
• Sir Anthony Meyer, 84, British Conservative MP (West Flintshire, 1970–1983; Clwyd North-West, 1983–1992), cancer. [26]
• Johnny Oates, 58, American Major League Baseball catcher (Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees) and manager (Orioles, Texas Rangers), brain tumor. [27]

23

• John W. Duarte, 85, British classical guitarist and writer, cancer. [28]
• P. V. Narasimha Rao, 83, Indian Prime Minister (1991–1996), heart attack. [29]
• Richard Abel Smith, 71, British Army officer and landowner, stroke. [30]

22

• Doug Ault, 54, American Major League Baseball player (Toronto Blue Jays), suicide by gunshot. [31]

21

• Lennart Bernadotte, 95, Swedish prince. [32]

20

• Jack Newfield, 66, American journalist, metastatic kidney cancer. [33]
• Son Seals, 62, American blues musician, complications of diabetes. [34]

19

• Michael Alexander, 84, British soldier and Prominente German Prisoner of War. [35]
• Herbert C. Brown, 92, British Nobel Prize-winning chemist (Chemistry, 1979), heart attack. [36]
• Mel Gabler, 89, American conservative textbook critic, brain hemorrhage after fall. [37]
• Renata Tebaldi, 82, Italian opera singer, after short illness. [38]

18

• Noel Beaton, 78, Australian MP (Bendigo, 1960–1969) and journalist, after short illness. [39]
• Vijay Hazare, 89, Indian cricketer, Captain of India (1951–1953), illness following intestinal cancer. [40]
• Albert Nordengen, 81, Norwegian Conservative politician, Mayor of Oslo (1976–1990), heart failure. [41] (Norwegian)
• Anthony Sampson, 78, British journalist and author, official biographer of Nelson Mandela, heart attack. [42]
• Tokugawa Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu, 92, Japanese member of imperial family, blood poisoning. [43]

17

• Dick Heckstall-Smith, 70, British saxophone player (Colosseum, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers), cancer. [44]
• Tom Wesselmann, 73, American pop artist, following heart surgery. [45]

16

• Ted Abernathy, 71, American baseball player. [46]
• Agnes Martin, 92, American abstract painter, pneumonia. [47]
• Bobby Mattick, 89, American former baseball player and manager, stroke. [48]
• Lawrence O'Brien, 53, Member of the Canadian House of Commons, cancer. [49]
• Freddie Perren, 61, American Grammy Award-winning producer. [50]

15

• Chiang Fang-liang, 88, widow of Chiang Ching-kuo and First Lady of the Republic of China on Taiwan (1978–1988), pulmonary and cardiac failure. [51]
• Vassal Gadoengin, 61, Nauruan politician and then-incumbent Speaker of Parliament, heart attack. [52]
• Pauline LaFon Gore, 92, mother of former US vice-president Al Gore, wife of Albert Gore, Sr.. [53]
• Jim Holliday, pornographic film producer and historian, complications from diabetes. [54]
• Rodney O'Gliasain Kennedy-Minott, 76, former United States Ambassador to Sweden, complications of pancreatitis. [55]
• Lorenzo "Larry" J. Ponza Jr., 86, baseball pitching machine innovator, cancer-related illness. [56]
• Athena Starwoman, 59, astrologer, breast cancer. [57]

14

• Harry Bowcott, 97, Welsh rugby union player (London Welsh, Wales) and president of the Welsh Rugby Union. [58]
• Candice Daly, 41, American film and TV actor (The Young and the Restless). [59]
• Sidonie Goossens, 105, British harpist. [60]
• Rod Kanehl, 70, American baseball player who hit the first grand slam in the Mets history, heart attack. [61]
• Fernando Poe, Jr., 65, Filipino actor and former presidential candidate, stroke. [62]

13

• Syed Mir Qasim, 83, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (1971–1975). [63]
• Andre Rodgers, 70, first Bahamian to play in Major League Baseball. [64]
• Bernarda Bryson Shahn, 101, painter, lithographer, widow of Ben Shahn. [65]
• David Wheeler, 77, computer scientist. [66]

12

• Antonio Paredes Candia, 81, Bolivian folklorist and writer. [67] (Spanish)
• Simon Combes, 64, British wildlife artist, gored by a buffalo. [68]
• Phaswane Mpe, 34, South African novelist, after short illness. [69]

11

• José Luis Cuciuffo, 42, Argentinian footballer and 1986 Football World Cup champion, hunting accident. [70] (Spanish)
• Arthur Lydiard, 87, New Zealand marathon runner and athletics coach. [71]
• M. S. Subbulakshmi, 88, Indian Carnatic musician, heart irregularities. [72]

10

• Bob King, 81, American college basketball coach. [73]
• Gary Webb, 49, American investigative reporter ("Dark Alliance"), apparent suicide. [74]

9

• David Brudnoy, 64, American radio talk show host (Boston), Merkel cell carcinoma. [75]
• Sir Peter Emery, 78, British Conservative politician (Honiton, 1967–1997; East Devon, 1997–2001). [76]
• Philippe Gigantès, 81, Canadian former senator, cancer. [77]
• Lea De Mae, 27, pornographic film actress, brain cancer. [78]
• Sergey Voychenko, 49, Belarusian artist and designer.^{[citation needed]}

8

• Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott, 38, American heavy metal guitarist (Pantera, Damageplan), shot. [79]
• Jackson Mac Low, 82, American poet, composer and performance artist, complications from stroke. [80]
• Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman, 93, British politician and life peer, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1977–1986). [81]

7

• Frederick Fennell, 90, American conductor, founder of Eastman Wind Ensemble. [82]
• Jerry Scoggins, 93, American musician ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"), natural causes. [83]
• Jay Van Andel, 80, American co-founder and former chairman of Amway, Parkinson's disease. [84]

6

• Raymond Goethals, 83, Belgian soccer coach. [85]
• Enrique Salinas, 52, brother of former president of Mexico Carlos Salinas, asphyxiation. [86] (Spanish)

5

• Seymour Ginsburg, 76, American computer scientist, Alzheimer's disease. [87]PDF
• Cristiano Júnior, 24, Brazilian footballer, cardiac arrest after on-field collision. [88]
• Hicham Zerouali, 27, Moroccan footballer, car accident. [89]

4

• Tom Fitzgerald, 53, American soccer coach (University of Tampa), injuries from motorcycle accident. [90]
• Elena Souliotis, 61, Greek operatic soprano, heart failure. [91]

3

• Gerald FitzGerald, 90, Irish nobleman, 8th Duke of Leinster. [92]
• Maria Perschy, 66, Austrian film, stage and TV actor, cancer. [93]
• Josef Schwammberger, 92, German former Nazi labor camp commander. [94]
• Shiing-Shen Chern, 93, Chinese mathematician, heart failure following heart attack. [95]

2

• Larry Buchanan, 81, American B-movie director, producer and writer, complications of collapsed lung. [96]
• Kevin Coyne, 60, musician, filmmaker and author, pulmonary fibrosis. [97]
• Dame Alicia Markova, 94, ballerina. [98]
• Nadine Shamir, 32, American techno singer/songwriter, complications in childbirth. [99]
• Mona Van Duyn, 83, American poet, US Poet Laureate (1992), bone cancer. [100]

1

• Fathi Arafat, 71, Palestinian physician, brother of Yasser Arafat and founder of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, stomach cancer. [101]
• Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, 93, Dutch royal, father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, cancer. [102]
• Bill Brown, 73, Scottish goalkeeper (Tottenham Hotspur, Scotland). [103]
• Emma Verona Johnston, 114, American supercentenarian, oldest documented person in the United States. [104]
• David Vienneau, 53, Canadian journalist, pancreatic cancer. [105]