Deaths in December 2004

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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.
• Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, 93, Dutch royal, father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, lung and colon cancer.
• David Vienneau, 53, Canadian journalist, pancreatic cancer.

2

• Larry Buchanan, 81, American B-movie director, producer and writer, complications of collapsed lung.
• Kevin Coyne, 60, musician, filmmaker and author, pulmonary fibrosis.
• Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell, 71, Argentine poet & translator.
• Dame Alicia Markova, 94, English ballerina.
• 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.

3

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

4

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

5

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

6

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

7

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

8

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

9

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

10

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

11

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

12

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

13

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

14

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

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

16

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

17

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

18

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

19

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

20

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

21

• Lennart Bernadotte, 95, Swedish prince.

22

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

23

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

24

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

25

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

26

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

27

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

28

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

29

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

30

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

31

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