Deaths in October 2004

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

31

• Don Briscoe, 64, American stage and television actor (Dark Shadows), heart disease. [1]
• Sir David Gore-Booth, 61, British diplomat. [2]

30

• Rein Otsason, 73, Estonian economist and banker, heart failure. [3]
• Peggy Ryan, 80, American actress (All Ashore, Hawaii Five-O), singer and dancer. [4]

29

• HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, 102, British royal, aunt of Queen Elizabeth II. [5]
• Jacinto João, 60, Portuguese footballer, heart attack. [6]
• Edward Oliver LeBlanc, 81, Dominican political leader, chief minister (1961–1967) and premier (1967–1974). [7]
• Vaughn Meader, 68, American Grammy-winning comedian and JFK impersonator, emphysema. [8]
• Gerard Ross Norton, VC, 89, South African soldier and Victoria Cross recipient (1944), [9]
• Peter Twinn, 88, British mathematician, World War II codebreaker, and entomologist. [10]

28

• Rosalind Hicks, 85, British literary guardian and daughter of Agatha Christie. [11]
• Shosei Koda, 24, Japanese backpacker, beheaded by kidnappers in Iraq. [12]
• Jimmy McLarnin, 96, British boxer, two-time welterweight world champion (1933, 1934). [13]
• Gil Mellé, 72, American artist, jazz saxophonist and film and television composer, heart attack. [14]
• Graham Roberts, 75, British actor (The Archers, Z-Cars). [15]
• Ted Taylor, 79, Mexican-born American theoretical physicist, nuclear weapon designer and eventual nuclear disarmament advocate, coronary artery disease. [16]
• William E. Wallace, 87, American chemist, complications from Parkinson's disease. [17]

27

• Al Clouston, 94, Canadian storyteller and humourist. [18]
• Lester Lanin, 97, American jazz big band leader. [19]
• Paulo Sérgio Oliveira da Silva ("Serginho"), 30, Brazilian footballer (São Caetano), heart attack during match. [20]

26

• Bobby Ávila, 79, Mexican MLB All-Star and AL batting champion (1954), complications of diabetes. [21]
• Paul F. Iams, 89, American businessman, founder of the Iams pet food company, complications from broken hip. [22]

25

• Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra, 84, Indian politician (foreign minister, 1979–1980), cardiac arrest. [23]
• John Peel, 65, British BBC disc jockey and guru of the British independent music scene, heart attack. [24]

24

• Randy Dorton, 50, American engine builder (Hendrick Motorsports), plane crash. [25]
• Ricky Hendrick, 24, American NASCAR stock car driver and partial team owner (Hendrick Motorsports), plane crash. [26]
• James Aloysius Hickey, 84, American Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. (1980–2000), Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio (1974–1980). [27]
• Jokin Ormaetxea, 24, Spanish professional cyclist, car accident. [28]

23

• Robert Merrill, 87, American operatic baritone, natural causes. [29]
• Bill Nicholson, 85, British football manager (Tottenham Hotspur, 1958–1974), player, coach, and scout. [30]
• George Silk, 87, New Zealand WWII photojournalist (Life), congestive heart failure. [31]

22

• Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., 82, American naval pioneer (first African American fleet commander and admiral), complications from stroke. [32]
• Jean-François Leuba, Swiss National Council President (1995–1996), lawyer and jurist. [33] (French)
• Katherine Victor, 81, American cult film actress. [34]

21

• Adnan al-Ghoul, Palestinian Hamas chief explosives expert, alleged "father" of the Qassam rocket, targeted killing by the IDF. [35]
• Everett Rogers, 73, American communication scholar and sociologist, founder of diffusion of innovations theory. [36]
• Victoria Snelgrove, 21, American college junior, shot with pepper spray projectile by Boston Police. [37]

20

• Veronika Cherkasova, 45, Belarus journalist, stabbed. [38]
• Anthony Hecht, 81, American poet, lymphoma. [39]
• Chuck Hiller, 70, American Major League baseball player and coach, first National League player to hit a World Series grand slam, leukemia. [40]
• Tevfik Gelenbe, 73, Turkish actor and comedian, complications of cancer. [41] (Turkish)
• Lynda Lee-Potter, 69, British newspaper columnist (Daily Mail), brain tumour. [42]

19

• Anita Bitri, c. 36, Albanian pop singer, carbon monoxide poisoning. [43]
• Frank Chapple, 83, British trade unionist (General Secretary of EETPU, 1966–1984). [44]
• Kenneth E. Iverson, 84, Canadian computer scientist, inventor of the APL programming language, stroke. [45]
• Paul Nitze, 97, American diplomat and Cold War arms negotiator. [46]
• Sang Lee, 51, Korean-American three-cushion billiard player, stomach cancer. [47]
• Lewis Urry, 77, Canadian chemical engineer and inventor (alkaline battery, lithium battery). [48]

18

• Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, 52, Indian bandit known as "Jungle Cat", shot by Special Task Force. [49]

17

• Julius Harris, 81, American actor (Live and Let Die, Super Fly, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three), heart failure. [50]
• Betty Hill, 85, American alien abduction claimant, lung cancer. [51]
• Ray Boone, 81, American Major League Baseball player, patriarch of first third-generation MLB family, after long illness. [52]

16

• Doug Bennett, 52, Canadian rock singer (Doug and the Slugs), after long illness. [53]
• Vincent Brome, 94, British biographer and novelist. [54]
• Uzi Hitman, 52, Israeli singer, songwriter and composer, heart attack. [55]
• Pierre Salinger, 79, American journalist, Senator (California, 1964) and Press Secretary to John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, heart failure. [56]

15

• Bill Eyden, 74, British jazz drummer. [57]
• Dave Godin, 68, British soul music promoter and journalist, coined the term "northern soul". [58]
• Irv Novick, 88, American comic book artist. [59]

14

• Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell, 67, British historian and member of the House of Lords, complications of emphysema. [60]
• Ivan Shamiakin, 83, Soviet Belarusian writer. [61]
• Cordell Jackson, 81, American rockabilly musician. [62]
• Sheila Keith, 84, British actress. [63]

13

• Erik Bye, 78, Norwegian journalist (AP, BBC, NRK), radio/TV host, actor, singer/songwriter, cancer. [64]
• Nirupa Roy, 73, Indian film actress, heart attack. [65]
• Bernice Rubens, 76, British Booker Prize-winning novelist (The Elected Member), complications from stroke. [66]
• Tetsu Yano, 80, Japanese science fiction writer and translator, founder of the Science Fiction Writers of Japan. [67]
• Ivor Wood, 72, British animator (Paddington Bear, The Wombles), cancer. [68]

12

11

• Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, 82, British peer, politician and landowner. [69]
• Ben Komproe, 62, Netherlands Antilles politician, Prime Minister (2003) and Minister of Justice (2003–2004), kidney failure and complications from gastric surgery. [70]
• Mary Loos, 94, American actress, screenwriter, and novelist, complications from stroke. [71]
• Keith Miller, 84, Australian test cricketer, Australian rules footballer, fighter pilot and journalist. [72]
• Gulshan Rai, 80, Indian film producer and distributor, after long illness. [73]
• Lillian Zuckerman, 88, American character actress. [74]

10

• Ken Caminiti, 41, American baseball player, drug overdose. [75]
• Christopher Reeve, 52, American actor (Superman and sequels), stem cell research campaigner, heart failure caused by septicemia. [76]
• Arthur H. Robinson, 89, American cartographer and geographer, after short illness. [77]
• Maurice Shadbolt, 72, New Zealand novelist, playwright and journalist, Alzheimer's disease. [78]

9

• Maxime Faget, 83, American aerospace engineer (NASA, Space Shuttle program), designer of the Mercury space capsule, bladder cancer. [79]

8

• Jacques Derrida, 74, French philosopher (deconstruction), pancreatic cancer. [80]
• Johnny Sturm, 88, American baseball player (New York Yankees) and minor league manager, congestive heart failure. [81]

7

• Kenneth Bigley, 62, British civil engineer taken hostage in Iraq, beheaded by hostage takers. [82]
• T. J. Binyon, 68, British author, Oxford professor, Pushkin scholar and crime novelist. [83]
• Tony Lanfranchi, 69, British racing driver, cancer. [84]
• Hildy Parks, 78, American actress, writer and TV producer, complications of stroke. [85]

6

• Frederica de Laguna, 98, American anthropologist and archaeologist, studied Alaskan native cultures. [86]
• Johnny Kelley, 97, American long-distance runner and Olympian (1936, 1948). [87]
• Pete McCarthy, 51, British travel writer and broadcaster, cancer. [88]
• Marvin Santiago, 56, Puerto Rican salsa singer, complications of diabetes. [89]
• Veríssimo Correia Seabra, 57, Bissau-Guinean military commander, beaten to death in mutiny. [90]
• Harbhajan Singh Yogi, 75, spiritual leader and head of the Sikh Dharma in the western hemisphere, heart failure. [91]

5

• Maurice Wilkins, 87, New Zealand-born British physicist and molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1962) for work on DNA. [92]
• Rodney Dangerfield, 82, American comedian and actor (Easy Money, Caddyshack), complications from heart surgery. [93]

4

• Helmut Bantz, 83, German gymnast and Olympian (gold medal in pommel horse gymnastics, 1956), after long illness. [94]
• Gordon Cooper, 77, American NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, heart failure. [95]
• William H. Dobelle, 62, American biomedical researcher, eye doctor and inventor (artificial vision research), complications of diabetes. [96]

3

• John Cerutti, 44, American MLB baseball player, announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, natural causes. [97]
• Ralph Citro, 78, American boxing historian, archivist and cutman, member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. [98]
• Tish Daija, 78, Albanian composer. [99] (Albanian)
• Janet Leigh, 77, American actress (Psycho, The Manchurian Candidate), vasculitis. [100]
• Frits van Turenhout, 91, Dutch sports journalist. [101] (Dutch)

2

• Max Geldray, 88, Dutch jazz harmonica player often credited as the world's first, and Goon Show performer. [102]
• Fialho Gouveia, 69, Portuguese radio and TV presenter, respiratory failure. [103]
• Nick Skorich, 83, American NFL offensive lineman and coach (Philadelphia Eagles), after heart valve surgery. [104]

1

• Richard Avedon, 81, American portrait and fashion photographer, cerebral hemorrhage. [105]
• Joyce Jillson, 58, American astrologer, newspaper columnist, author and actress, kidney failure. [106]
• Bruce Palmer, 58, Canadian bassist (Buffalo Springfield), heart attack. [107]