2015

Notable Deaths 2015

Jan 1st - Mario Cuomo, American Democratic Party politician and the 52nd Governor of New York (1983-95), dies of a heart condition at 82
Jan 1st - Boris Morukov, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 64
Jan 1st - Ninón Sevilla, Cuban-Mexican actress (Aventurera, Víctimas del Pecado), dies at 85
Jan 1st - Donna Douglas, American actress (Elly May Clampett-The Beverly Hillbillies), dies of pancreatic cancer at 82. Born Doris Smith. Burial site. 
Jan 1st - Omar Karami, Lebanese Prime Minister (1992-94, 2004-05), dies at 80
Jan 2nd - [Little] Jimmy Dickens, American country singer (Grand Ole Opry), dies at 94
Jan 3rd - Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass), first popularly elected African American to the US Senate (1967-79), dies at 95
Jan 4th - Stuart Scott, American sports journalist (ESPN), dies of cancer at 49
Jan 6th - Lance Percival, English actor and comedian (That Was The Week That Was), dies at 81
Jan 7th - Tadeusz Konwicki, Polish writer (Bohin Manor) and film director, dies at 88
Jan 7th - Stéphane Charbonnier [Charb], French cartoonist and editor of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, dies in a terrorist attack at 47
Jan 7th - Jean Cabut [Cabu], French caricaturist (Charlie Hebdo), killed in terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris at 76
Jan 7th - Rod Taylor, Australian actor (Time Machine, The Birds), dies at 84
Jan 8th - Andraé Crouch, American gospel singer (The Color Purple, The Lion King), dies at 72
Jan 10th - Robert Stone, American novelist (Dog Soldiers, WUSA), dies from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 77
Jan 10th - Francesco Rosi, Italian film director ("The Mattei Affair" - Palme d'Or 1972), dies at 92
Jan 11th - Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress (La Dolce Vita) and Miss Sweden 1950, dies at 83
Jan 12th - John Bayley, English academic and writer (Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch), dies at 89
Jan 13th - Ronnie Ronalde [Ronald Charles Waldron], British entertainer and world famous whistler, dies at 91
Jan 15th - Kim Fowley, American record producer (the Runaways), dies at 75
Jan 19th - Anne Kirkbride, English Actress (Deirdre in Coronation Street), dies of breast cancer at 60
Jan 20th - Edgar Froese, German musician (Tangerine Dream), dies at 70
Jan 21st - Martin Honeysett, British cartoonist (Punch, Private Eye), dies at 71
Jan 21st - Pauline Yates, English actress (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin), dies at 85
Jan 23rd - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (2005-2015), dies at 90
Jan 25th - Demis Roussos, Greek singer, dies at 68
Jan 26th - Tom Uren, Australian politician, Australian heritage and conservation campaigner, dies at 93
Jan 27th - Charles Townes, American Physicist (Nobel Prize 1964 for mazer-lazer principle), dies at 99
Jan 29th - Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter (Jean) and poet, dies at 81
Jan 29th - Colleen McCullough, New Zealand-born Australian author (The Thorn Birds), dies at 77
Jan 30th - Carl Djerassi, Austrian-born American chemist, father of the contraceptive pill, dies at 91
Jan 30th - Geraldine McEwan, English actress (Agatha Christie's Miss Marple), dies at 82
Jan 31st - Lizabeth Scott [Emma Matzo], American actress (Desert Fury), dies at 92
Jan 31st - Don Covay [Donald Randolph], American R & B musician and songwriter (Chain of Fools), dies at 78
Jan 31st - Richard von Weizsacker, German politician and 1st president of reunited Germany (1990-94), dies at 94
Feb 1st - Monty Oum, American Animator (RWBY), dies of an allergic reaction at 33
Feb 1st - Beryl Platt [Baroness Platt of Writtle], British Engineer, politician and CEO, dies at 91
Feb 3rd - Sir Martin Gilbert, British historian (Winston Churchill biography), dies at 78
Feb 6th - André Brink, South African writer (Kennis van die aand - 1st Afrikaans book banned), dies at 79
Feb 7th - Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron, English publisher/multi-millionaire, dies of a heart attack at 84
Feb 12th - David Carr, American journalist (New York Times), dies of cancer at 58
Feb 12th - Steve Strange [Steven Harrington] pop singer (Visage) and nightclub host, dies of a heart attack at 55
Feb 12th - Gary Owens, American disc jockey/TV host (Laugh In, Gong Show), dies at 80
Feb 13th - John McCabe, British composer and pianist, dies at 75
Feb 14th - Louis Jourdan, French actor (Gigi, Octopussy), dies at 93
Feb 14th - Philip Levine, American poet (1995 Pulitzer prize), dies at 87
Feb 14th - Alan Howard, British actor (Royal Shakespeare Company), dies at 77
Feb 14th - Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (Ferrero SpA) created Nutella, dies at 89
Feb 16th - Lesley Gore, American singer (It's My Party, You Don't Own Me), dies of lung cancer at 68
Feb 21st - Bruce Sinofsky, American documentary film director (Brother's Keeper), dies at 58 from diabetes complications
Feb 21st - Clark Terry, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 94
Feb 26th - Earl Lloyd, 1st American American to play basketball in the NBA, dies at 86
Feb 26th - Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi American activist and blogger, killed by assailants in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Feb 27th - Leonard Nimoy, American actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible), dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 83
Feb 27th - Malcolm Boyd, American Episcopal Priest, author and civil rights activist, dies at 91
Feb 27th - Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician, dies at 55, shot four times in Moscow
Feb 28th - Alex [Alexander] Johnson, American professional baseball player, dies at 72
Feb 28th - Anthony Mason, NBA forward (NY Knicks, Charlotte Hornets), dies at 48 of a heart attack
Feb 28th - Yaşar Kemal, Turkish writer (Memed, My Hawk), dies at 91
Mar 1st - Minnie Minoso, Cuban American baseball player (1st black player for White Socks), dies at 92
Mar 1st - Orrin Keepsnews, American Jazz record label executive and producer (Riverside records), dies at 91
Mar 2nd - Mal Peet, British children's author, dies at 67
Mar 8th - Lew Soloff, American jazz trumpeter (Blood, Sweat and Tears), dies at 71
Mar 9th - James Molyneaux [Baron Molyneaux of Killead], MP (Ulster unionist), dies at 94
Mar 12th - Terry Pratchett, English author of fantasy novels (Discworld), dies of Alzheimer's disease at 66
Mar 12th - Michael Graves, American postmodernist architect and designer, dies at 80
Mar 13th - Al Rosen, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians) and baseball executive, dies at 91
Mar 14th - Valentin Rasputin, Russian writer (To Live and Remember) dies at 77
Mar 15th - Robert Clatworthy, English sculptor, dies at 87
Mar 16th - Andy Fraser, English bass guitarist (Free), dies at 62
Mar 20th - Malcolm Fraser, Australian Prime Minister (Liberal, 1975-83), dies at 84
Mar 20th - Robert Kastenmeier, American politician (Rep-D-WI, 1959-91), dies at 91
Mar 20th - Gregory Walcott, American actor (Plan 9 from Outer Space), dies at 87
Mar 21st - Chuck Bednarik 'Concrete Charlie', American professional football player for the Philadelphia Eagles, dies at 89
Mar 21st - Leon Brittan, [Baron Brittan of Spennithorne] British politician and Home Secretary, dies at 75
Mar 23rd - Lee Kuan Yew, Founding father of modern Singapore and 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-90), dies of pneumonia at 91
Mar 26th - John Renbourn, English folk guitarist and songwriter (Pentangle), dies of a heart attack at 70
Mar 26th - Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet (Nobel Prize for Literature - 2011), dies at 83
Mar 28th - Gene Saks, American actor/director (One & Only, Prisoner of 2nd Ave), dies at 93
Apr 1st - Cynthia Lennon [nee Powell], wife of Beatle John Lennon, dies of cancer at 75
Apr 1st - Eddie LeBaron, American football player, dies at 85
Apr 1st - John Paul Hammerschmidt, (Rep-R-AR, 1967-93 ), dies at 92
Apr 3rd - Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist, dies at 73
Apr 4th - Elmer Lach, Canadian professional ice hockey player, dies at 97
Apr 5th - Richard Dysart, American actor (Leland MacKenzie - LA Law), dies at 86
Apr 6th - James Best [Jewel Franklin Guy],American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Sounder), dies at 88
Apr 10th - Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer (leg spinner) and commentator, dies at 84
Apr 12th - Sheila Kitzinger, British author, anthropologist & child birth educator, dies at 86
Apr 13th - Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist and writer, dies at 74
Apr 13th - Günter Grass, German writer (The Tin Drum) and playwright and Nobel Prize laureate (1999), dies at 87
Apr 15th - Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor (Anne of Green Gables), dies of a brain hemorrhage, at 48
Apr 18th - Joseph Lechleider, American electrical engineer (invented DSL/high speed internet technology), dies at 82
Apr 20th - Bob St. Clair "The Geek", American football player, dies at 84
Apr 20th - Sir Raymond Carr, English historian and warden (St Antony's College Oxford), dies at 96
Apr 23rd - Sawyer Sweeten, American actor (Everyone Loves Raymond), commits suicide at 19
Apr 26th - Jayne Meadows, American actress and wife of Steve Allen, dies at 95
Apr 29th - Calvin Peete, PGA golfer (12 PGA wins), dies at 71
Apr 29th - Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman and founder of Weight Watchers, dies at 91
Apr 30th - Ben E. King [Benjamin Earl Nelson], American soul singer (Stand by Me), dies at 76
May 1st - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (Yeoman Rand in Star Trek), dies at 85
May 2nd - Ruth Rendell, English thriller writer (Inspector Wexford novels), dies at 85
May 2nd - Maya Plisetskaya, Russian Ballerina (Bolshoi Ballet), dies at 89
May 2nd - Guy Carawan, American folk singer and folklorist (We Shall Overcome") dies at 87
May 6th - Errol Brown, British-Jamaican singer-songwriter (Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing), dies at 71
May 6th - Jim [James] Wright, American politician (D-Texas) (Speaker of the House 1987-1989), dies at 92
May 9th - Kenan Evren, Turkish soldier and politician, (President of Turkey 1980-1989 by military coup), dies at 97
May 9th - Elizabeth Wilson, American screen and stage actress (Tony Award 1972), dies at 94
May 14th - B.B. King, American Blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, dies at 89
May 15th - Garo Yepremian, American NFL place kicker (Miami Dolphins), dies at 70
May 16th - Dean Potter, American free climber and BASE jumper, dies in a BASE jumping accident at Yosemite National Park, aged 43
May 21st - Louis Johnson, American bassist and vocalist (Brothers Johnson), dies at 60
May 23rd - Anne Meara, American Comedian and actress (Stiller & Meara, Archie's Place), dies at 85
May 23rd - John Nash, American mathematician (subject of movie "A Beautiful Mind") and Nobel laureate, dies in a car crash at 86
May 24th - Tanith Lee, British Science-fiction author (The Flat-Earth Cycle), dies of cancer at 67
May 29th - Doris Hart, American tennis player (6 Grand Slams) dies at 89
May 29th - Henry Carr, American athlete (2 Olympic golds 200m and 4x400m relay 1964), dies at 72
May 30th - Joseph [Beau] Biden III, American politician and son of Vice-President Joe Biden, dies of cancer at 47
Jun 1st - Charles Kennedy, British politician (Liberal Democrat leader 1999-2006), dies at 55
Jun 1st - Jean Ritchie, American folk singer, dies at 92
Jun 2nd - Irwin Rose, American biologist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 2004), dies at 88
Jun 3rd - Bevo Francis, American basketball player (college basketball record scorer), dies at 82
Jun 4th - Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer (Palatino and Optima), dies at 96
Jun 5th - Alan Bond, Australian tycoon/yachtsman (America's Cup), dies at 77
Jun 5th - Richard Johnson, British stage and screen actor and producer, dies at 87
Jun 5th - Jerry Collins, Samoan-born New Zealand rugby player (All Blacks), dies in a car crash at 34
Jun 5th - Tariq Aziz, Iraqi politician and close adviser to Saddam Hussein, dies at 79
Jun 6th - Ronnie Gilbert, American folk singer (The Weavers), dies at 88
Jun 6th - Ludvik Vaculik, Czech writer (Two Thousand Words), dies at 88
Jun 6th - Vincent Bugliosi, American attorney/author (Helter-Skelter), dies at 80
Jun 9th - James Last, German-born composer and big band leader, dies at 86