Deaths in December 2004

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

December 2004

1

• Fathi Arafat, 71, Palestinian physician, brother of Yasser Arafat and founder of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, stomach cancer. [1]
• Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, 93, Dutch royal, father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, lung and colon cancer. [2]
• David Vienneau, 53, Canadian journalist, pancreatic cancer. [3]

2

• Larry Buchanan, 81, American B-movie director, producer and writer, complications of collapsed lung. [4]
• Kevin Coyne, 60, musician, filmmaker and author, pulmonary fibrosis. [5]
• Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell, 71, Argentine poet & translator. [6]
• Dame Alicia Markova, 94, English ballerina. [7]
• Nadine Shamir, 32, American techno singer/songwriter, complications in childbirth. Archived December 23, 2004, at the Wayback Machine.
• Mona Van Duyn, 83, American poet, US Poet Laureate (1992), bone cancer. [8]

3

• Gerald FitzGerald, 90, Irish nobleman, 8th Duke of Leinster. [9]
• Maria Perschy, 66, Austrian film, stage and TV actor, cancer. [10]
• Helmut Rix, 78, German linguist, car accident. [11]
• Josef Schwammberger, 92, German former Nazi labor camp commander. [12]
• Shiing-Shen Chern, 93, Chinese mathematician, heart failure following heart attack. [13]

4

• Tom Fitzgerald, 53, American soccer coach (University of Tampa), injuries from motorcycle accident. [14]
• Elena Souliotis, 61, Greek operatic soprano, heart failure. [15]

5

• Seymour Ginsburg, 76, American computer scientist, Alzheimer's disease. "[16]". 
• Cristiano Júnior, 24, Brazilian footballer, cardiac arrest after on-field collision. [17]
• Hicham Zerouali, 27, Moroccan footballer, car accident. [18]

6

• Frank Reginald Carey, 92, British World War II fighter ace. [19]
• Raymond Goethals, 83, Belgian soccer coach. [20]
• Adrian Morris, 75, English painter. [21]
• Enrique Salinas, 52, brother of former president of Mexico Carlos Salinas, asphyxiation. [22] (Spanish)

7

• Pacita Abad, 58, Filipino painter. [23]
• Frederick Fennell, 90, American conductor, founder of Eastman Wind Ensemble. [24]
• Jerry Scoggins, 93, American musician ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"), natural causes. [25]
• Jay Van Andel, 80, American co-founder and former chairman of Amway, Parkinson's disease. [26]

8

• Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott, 38, American heavy metal guitarist (Pantera, Damageplan), shot. [27]
• Jackson Mac Low, 82, American poet, composer and performance artist, complications from stroke. [28]
• Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman, 93, British politician and life peer, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1977–1986). [29]

9

• David Brudnoy, 64, American radio talk show host (Boston), Merkel cell carcinoma. [30]
• Paul Edwards, 81, Austrian-born American philosopher. [31]
• Sir Peter Emery, 78, British Conservative politician (Honiton, 1967–1997; East Devon, 1997–2001). [32]
• Philippe Gigantès, 81, Canadian former senator, cancer. [33]
• Lea De Mae, 27, pornographic film actress, brain cancer. [34]
• Sergey Voychenko, 49, Belarusian artist and designer.

10

• Norman Borrett, 87, English sportsman. [35]
• Bob King, 81, American college basketball coach. [36]
• Gary Webb, 49, American investigative reporter ("Dark Alliance"), apparent suicide. [37]

11

• José Luis Cuciuffo, 42, Argentinian footballer and 1986 Football World Cup champion, hunting accident. [38] (Spanish)
• Arthur Lydiard, 87, New Zealand marathon runner and athletics coach. [39]
• M. S. Subbulakshmi, 88, Indian Carnatic musician, heart irregularities. [40]

12

• Antonio Paredes Candia, 81, Bolivian folklorist and writer. [41] (Spanish)
• Simon Combes, 64, British wildlife artist, gored by a buffalo. [42]
• Phaswane Mpe, 34, South African novelist, after short illness. [43]

13

• Donald S. Jones. 76, American admiral. [44]
• Syed Mir Qasim, 83, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (1971–1975). [45]
• Andre Rodgers, 70, first Bahamian to play in Major League Baseball. [46]
• Bernarda Bryson Shahn, 101, painter, lithographer, widow of Ben Shahn. [47]
• David Wheeler, 77, computer scientist. [48]

14

• Harry Bowcott, 97, Welsh rugby union player (London Welsh, Wales) and president of the Welsh Rugby Union. [49]
• Candice Daly, 41, American film and TV actor (The Young and the Restless). [50]
• Sidonie Goossens, 105, British harpist. [51]
• Rod Kanehl, 70, American baseball player who hit the first grand slam in the New York Mets history, heart attack. [52]
• Fernando Poe, Jr., 65, Filipino actor and former presidential candidate, stroke. [53]
• Robert Watson, 81, American artist, cancer. [54]

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. [55]
• Harry Errington, 94, British firefighter, recipient of the George Cross. [56]
• Vassal Gadoengin, 61, Nauruan politician and then-incumbent Speaker of Parliament, heart attack. [57]
• Pauline LaFon Gore, 92, mother of former US vice-president Al Gore, wife of Albert Gore, Sr.. [58]
• Jiban Ghosh, 69, Indian cricket umpire. [59]
• Jim Holliday, pornographic film producer and historian, complications from diabetes. [60]
• Rodney O'Gliasain Kennedy-Minott, 76, former United States Ambassador to Sweden, complications of pancreatitis. [61]
• Lorenzo "Larry" J. Ponza Jr., 86, baseball pitching machine innovator, cancer-related illness. [62]
• Athena Starwoman, 59, astrologer, breast cancer. [63]

16

• Ted Abernathy, 71, American baseball player. [64]
• Richard B. Fisher, 68, American banker, cancer. [65]
• Agnes Martin, 92, American abstract painter, pneumonia. [66]
• Bobby Mattick, 89, American former baseball player and manager, stroke. [67]
• Lawrence O'Brien, 53, Member of the Canadian House of Commons, cancer. [68]
• Freddie Perren, 61, American Grammy Award-winning record producer. [69]

17

• Dick Heckstall-Smith, 70, British saxophone player (Colosseum, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers), cancer. [70]
• Janina Niedźwiecka, 82, Polish film editor. [71]
• Tom Wesselmann, 73, American pop artist, following heart surgery. [72]
• Sir James Wilson, 83, British army general. [73]

18

• Noel Beaton, 78, Australian MP (Bendigo, 1960–1969) and journalist, after short illness.[74]
• John W. Downey, 77, American classical musician. [75]
• Vijay Hazare, 89, Indian cricketer, Captain of India (1951–1953), illness following intestinal cancer. [76]
• Albert Nordengen, 81, Norwegian Conservative politician, Mayor of Oslo (1976–1990), heart failure. [77] (Norwegian)
• Anthony Sampson, 78, British journalist and author, official biographer of Nelson Mandela, heart attack. [78]
• Princess Takamatsu, 92, Japanese member of the imperial family, blood poisoning. [79]

19

• Michael Alexander, 84, British soldier and Prominente German Prisoner of War. [80]
• Richard Best, 88, British film editor. [81]
• Herbert C. Brown, 92, British Nobel Prize-winning chemist (Chemistry, 1979), heart attack. [82]
• Mel Gabler, 89, American conservative textbook critic, brain hemorrhage after fall. [83]
• Renata Tebaldi, 82, Italian opera singer, after short illness. [84]

20

• Jack Newfield, 66, American journalist, metastatic kidney cancer. [85]
• Son Seals, 62, American blues musician, complications of diabetes. [86]

21

• Lennart Bernadotte, 95, Swedish prince. [87]

22

• Doug Ault, 54, American Major League Baseball player (Toronto Blue Jays), suicide by gunshot. [88]

23

• Richard Abel Smith, 71, British Army officer and landowner, stroke. [89]
• Richard Barnet, 75, American political activist. [90]
• John W. Duarte, 85, British classical guitarist and writer, cancer. [91]
• Ifor James, 73, British horn player. [92]
• Roger Moorey, 67, British archaeologist and historian. [93]
• P. V. Narasimha Rao, 83, Indian Prime Minister (1991–1996), heart attack. [94]

24

• Capt. Richard Annand, 90, British soldier, first Victoria Cross recipient of World War II. [95]
• Sir Anthony Meyer, 84, British Conservative MP (West Flintshire, 1970–1983; Clwyd North-West, 1983–1992), cancer. [96]
• Johnny Oates, 58, American Major League Baseball catcher (Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees) and manager (Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers), brain tumor. [97]
• Dame Rosemary Rue, 76, British physician and civil servant. [98]

25

• Sandy Cameron, 66, Canadian politician. [99]
• James Hunter Blair, 78, Scottish preservationist. [100]
• Jane Muskie, 77, American former model and bookkeeper, widow of politician Edmund Muskie, Alzheimer's disease. [101]
• Antony Preston, 66, British naval historian and writer.
• Eddie Spicer, 82, English footballer (Liverpool). [102]
• Gennady Strekalov, 64, Russian cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, cancer. [103]

26

• Troy Broadbridge, 24, Australian Football League player (Melbourne), in 2004 Asian tsunami. [104]
• Jonathan Drummond-Webb, 45, South African paediatric heart surgeon, suicide by overdose. [105]
• Kristina Fröjmark, 47, Swedish reality TV show star, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [106]
• Garard Green, 80, British actor. [107]
• Marianne Heiberg, 59, Norwegian diplomat, Oslo Accords mediator, heart attack. [108]
• Bhumi Jensen, 21, Thai prince, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [109]
• Sujeewa Kamalasuriya, 39, Sri Lankan cricketer, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [110]
• Sigurd Køhn, 45, Norwegian composer, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [111]
• Eddie Layton, 77, American organist (New York Yankees), after short illness. [112]
• David McKay, 83, Australian journalist and racing driver, cancer. [113]
• Sir Angus Ogilvy, 76, British businessman, husband of HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy, throat cancer. [114]
• Markus Sandlund, 29, Swedish cellist, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [115]
• Aki Sirkesalo, 42, Finnish musician, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [116]
• Mieszko Talarczyk, 30, Swedish musician, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [117]
• Reggie White, 43, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers) and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, cardiac arrhythmia. [118]
• Robert Whymant, 60, British journalist (The Times) and author, in 2004 Asian tsunami. [119]

27

• Hank Garland, 74, American studio guitarist (Elvis Presley, Charlie Parker), staphylococcus infection. [120]
• Heorhiy Kirpa, 58, Ukrainian industrialist and politician (Transport Minister since 2002), shot. [121]

28

• Jerry Orbach, 69, American actor (Law & Order), prostate cancer. [122]
• Susan Sontag, 71, American author, literary theorist and activist, acute myeloid leukemia. [123]

29

• Julius Axelrod, 92, American Nobel Prize-winning biochemist (Medicine, 1970), natural causes. [124]
• William Boyett, 77, American actor (Adam-12), complications from pneumonia and kidney failure. [125]
• John Bridgeman, 88, British sculptor. [126]
• Ken Burkhart, 89, American Major League Baseball pitcher and umpire, emphysema. [127]
• Arthur B. Chapman, 96, British-born American geneticist. [128]
• Liddy Holloway, 57, New Zealand actress (Shortland Street) and writer, liver cancer. [129]

30

• Mark Fiennes, 71, English photographer and illustrator. [130]
• Masao Kato, 57, Japanese go player. [131]
• Artie Shaw, 94, American jazz musician, complications of diabetes. [132]

31

• John Chataway, 57, Canadian politician, complications from stroke. [133]
• Gérard Debreu, 83, French-born American Nobel Prize-winning economist (Economics, 1983), natural causes. [134]
• George Wackenhut, 85, American businessman, founder of Wackenhut Corporation, heart failure. [135]