Deaths in February 2009

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The following is a list of notable deaths in February 2009.

February 2009

1

• Charles W. Akers, 88, American historian.
• Joe Ades, 74, American salesman.
• Anna Donald, 42, Australian epidemiologist, breast cancer.
• Lukas Foss, 86, American composer, conductor, pianist and educator, heart attack.
• Tim Grundy, 50, British radio and television presenter, heart attack.
• Michael Homer, 50, American business executive (Netscape), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
• Ranbir Singh Hooda, 94, Indian politician, after long illness.
• Peter Howson, 89, Australian politician, Minister for Air (1964–1968) and Environment, Aborigines and the Arts (1971–1972), fall.
• John A. Knight, c. 78, American church leader, General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene (1985–2001).
• Arieh Levavi, 96, Lithuanian-born Israeli public servant, ambassador to Argentina during capture of Adolf Eichmann. (Hebrew)
• Yoya Martínez, 96, Chilean actress, natural causes. (Spanish)
• Jim McWithey, 81, American race car driver.
• Roy Magee, 79, Northern Irish peace activist.
• Sir Alan Muir Wood, 87, British civil engineer.
• Edward Joseph O'Donnell, 77, American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Lafayette (1994–2002).

2

• Donald Alexander, 87, American government official, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (1973–1977), cancer.
• Paul Birch, 46, English footballer (Aston Villa, Wolves), bone cancer.
• Ralph Carpenter, 99, American antique and architecture preservationist, natural causes.
• Lublin Dilja, 51, Albanian ambassador.
• Yusril Djalinus, 64, Indonesian journalist, co-founder of Tempo Magazine, stroke.
• Russ Germain, 62, Canadian radio presenter, lung cancer.
• Paul Galloway, 74, American journalist (Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune), heart attack.
• Susan Hibbert, 84, British secretary, last surviving British witness to signing of the World War II German Instrument of Surrender.
• Howard Kanovitz, 79, American painter, bacterial infection after heart surgery.
• Ralph Kaplowitz, 89, American basketball player (New York Knicks), kidney failure.
• Fredrik Kayser, 90, Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, after long illness. (Norwegian)
• James E. Long, 68, American politician, North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance (1985–2009), complications of a stroke.
• Jean Martin, 86, French actor (The Battle of Algiers, The Day of the Jackal), cancer. (French)
• Ezzat Negahban, c. 82, Iranian archaeologist. (Persian)
• Joe M. Rodgers, 75, American construction executive, Ambassador to France (1985–1989), cancer.
• Sunny Skylar, 95, American songwriter.
• Jim Wilson, 67, American football player (San Francisco 49ers) and wrestler, cancer.
• Kazuhiro Yamauchi, 76, Japanese baseball player, liver failure.

3

• Ben Blank, 87, American television graphics innovator (CBS, ABC), complications from a stroke.
• Tom Brumley, 73, American steel guitarist (The Buckaroos), heart attack.
• Rabindra Kumar DasGupta, 93, Indian scholar of Bengali and English literature.
• Kurt Demmler, 65, German songwriter, suicide by hanging.
• Sid Finney, 79, British ice hockey player.
• Millard Fuller, 74, American co-founder of Habitat for Humanity International, after short illness.
• Warren Kimbro, 74, American Black Panther, convicted murderer and charitable organization executive, heart attack.
• Mike Maloy, 59, American-born Austrian basketball player, influenza.
• Max Neuhaus, 69, American musician, cancer.
• António dos Reis Rodrigues, 90, Portuguese Roman Catholic prelate Bishop of Madarsuma (1966–1998).
• Jorge Serguera, 76, Cuban journalist, President of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (death announced on this date).
• Sheng-yen, 79, Chinese-born Taiwanese Buddhist Zen master, kidney disease.
• Pavlo Zahrebelnyi, 84, Ukrainian writer, after long illness.

4

• Antonie Dixon, 40, New Zealand murderer, suicide.
• Christophe Dupouey, 40, French cyclist, World Cross Country Champion (1996), suicide.
• Arnljot Eggen, 85, Norwegian writer. (Norwegian)
• Herbert Hamrol, 106, American centenarian, one of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, pneumonia.
• Ramón Hernández, 68, Puerto Rican baseball player. (Spanish)
• Lux Interior, 62, American singer, songwriter and musician (The Cramps), aortic dissection.
• Ed Schwartz, 62, American radio personality, kidney and heart disease.
• Mark Shepherd, 86, American chairman of Texas Instruments (1976–1988), complications from pulmonary fibrosis.
• David Snow, 84, British ornithologist.

5

• Sigurd Andersson, 82, Swedish Olympic bronze medal-winning (1952) cross-country skier. (Swedish)
• Albert Barillé, 88, French television screenwriter and producer. (German)
• John W. Grace, 82, Canadian Privacy Commissioner (1983–1990), heart attack.
• Khalid Hasan, 74, Pakistani journalist and author, cancer.
• George Hughes, 83, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers).
• Payton Jordan, 91, American coach of 1968 United States Olympic track and field team, cancer.
• Leo Orenstein, 89, Canadian director, producer and writer.
• Raaphi Persitz, 74, Israeli chess master.
• Dana Vávrová, 41, Czech-born German actress and film director, cancer. (German)
• Noah Weinberg, 78, American-born Israeli rabbi, founder of Aish HaTorah.
• Xiangzhong Yang, 49, Chinese-born American stem cell scientist, cancer.

6

• Bashir Ahmad, 68, Indian-born Scottish politician, MSP for Glasgow region, heart attack.
• Philip Carey, 83, American actor (One Life to Live), lung cancer.
• Alfred Flores, 92, Guamanian rancher and politician, member of the Legislature of Guam.
• George Karpati, 74, Canadian neurologist.
• Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye, 86, Senegalese curator of the House of Slaves Memorial.
• Shirley Jean Rickert, 82, American actress (Our Gang), after long illness.
• Susan Walsh, 60, American actress, natural causes.
• James Whitmore, 87, American actor (Oklahoma!. Planet of the Apes, The Shawshank Redemption), lung cancer.

7

• Molly Bee, 69, American country singer ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"), complications from a stroke.
• Jack Cover, 88, American scientist, inventor of the Taser, pneumonia.
• Blossom Dearie, 82, American jazz singer and pianist (Schoolhouse Rock!), after long illness.
• Reg Evans, 80, Australian actor, bushfire.
• John Gabler, 78, American baseball pitcher (New York Yankees, Washington Senators).
• Sir George Godber, 100, British physician and public servant, Chief Medical Officer (1960–1973).
• Richard Gordon, 61, British author, heart attack. (Chinese)
• Joe Haverty, 72, Irish footballer (Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Millwall, Republic of Ireland).
• Betty Jameson, 89, American golfer, three-time major championship winner.
• Jacques Lancelot, 88, French clarinetist, heart failure. (Japanese)
• Mel Kaufman, 50, American football player (Washington Redskins).
• Brian Naylor, 78, Australian news presenter, bushfire.
• Jorge Reyes, 56, Mexican musician (Chac Mool), heart attack. (Spanish)
• Sarah Roache, 60, British actress.
• Piotr Stańczak, 42, Polish geologist, beheaded.
• Richard Zann, 64, Australian ornithologist, bushfire.

8

• Guy Chichester, 73, American activist, founding member of Clamshell Alliance.
• Marian Cozma, 26, Romanian handball player, stabbed.
• William Alexander Deer, 98, British geologist, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1971–1973).
• Sigurdur Helgason, 87, Icelandic business executive, CEO of Icelandair and pioneer of low cost airlines.
• Wesley L. McDonald, 84, American admiral and naval aviator.
• Neil McNeill, 87, Australian politician, member of the House of Representatives (1961–1963).
• Francis Dennis Ramsay, 83, Scottish painter.
• Terry Spencer, 90, British RAF fighter pilot and war photographer, cancer.
• Bob Stephen, 50, Canadian football player, heart attack.

9

• Robert Woodruff Anderson, 91, American Academy Award–nominated playwright and screenwriter, pneumonia.
• Kazys Bradūnas, 91, Lithuanian émigré, poet and editor. (Lithuanian)
• Marc Burrows, 30, British footballer, cancer.
• Gareth Alban Davies, 82, British academic and poet.
• Reg Davies, 79, Welsh footballer (Newcastle United, Swansea Town, Wales).
• Eluana Englaro, 38, Italian patient in right to die case, withdrawal of nutrition.
• Neville Hamilton, 48, British footballer.
• Vic Lewis, 89, British jazz guitarist. Archived February 12, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• Orlando "Cachaito" López, 76, Cuban bassist (Buena Vista Social Club), complications from prostate surgery.
• Don Maclennan, 79, South African poet and playwright.
• Maria Orwid, 78, Polish psychiatrist.
• Peer Portner, 69, Kenyan-born British developer of ventricular assist device, cancer.
• Sean F. Scott, 39, American amyotrophic lateral sclerosis activist, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

10

• Jan Błoński, 78, Polish literary critic, Holocaust scholar.
• Carolyn George, 81, American dancer and photographer, primary lateral sclerosis.
• Leila Hadley, 83, American travel writer.
• Philippe Kourouma, 76, Guinean Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of N’Zérékoré.
• Berting Labra, 75, Filipino character actor, emphysema.
• Jeremy Lusk, 24, American motocross racer, brain injury.
• Jean-Baptiste Mintsa-Mi-Mba, 60, Gabonese politician. (French)

11

• Estelle Bennett, 67, American singer (The Ronettes), colon cancer.
• Virgil Lee Griffin, 64, American Ku Klux Klan leader.
• Willem Johan Kolff, 97, Dutch-born American physician, inventor of the artificial kidney.
• Sir Peter Leng, 83, British Army general.
• Penny Ramsey, Australian actress, cancer.
• Rail Rzayev, 64, Azerbaijani general, head of the Air Force, shot.
• Marina Svetlova, 86, French-born American ballerina and teacher, complications from stroke.
• Mildred Wolfe, 96, American artist, after long illness.

12

• Hermann Becht, 69, German opera singer. (German)
• Vasanti N. Bhat-Nayak, 70 or 71, Indian professor of combinatorics and graph theory.
• Giacomo Bulgarelli, 68, Italian footballer, after long illness.
• Alison Des Forges, 66, American human rights activist, plane crash.
• Beverly Eckert, 57, American 9/11 widow and activist, member of 9/11 Family Steering Committee, plane crash.
• Evan Ira Farber, 87, American Faculty Emeritus (Earlham College).
• Ed Grothus, 85, American anti-nuclear activist, cancer.
• Lis Hartel, 87, Danish equestrian.
• Hugh Leonard, 82, Irish playwright, multiple ailments.
• Mat Mathews, 84, Dutch jazz accordionist. (Dutch)
• Coleman Mellett, 34, American jazz guitarist (Chuck Mangione's band), plane crash.
• Domenica Niehoff, 63, German prostitution activist, complications from lung disease.
• Gerry Niewood, 65, American jazz saxophonist (Chuck Mangione's band), plane crash.
• Malcolm Toon, 92, American ambassador (Czechoslovakia 1969–71, Yugoslavia 1971–75, Israel 1975–76, USSR 1976–79).
• Ted Uhlaender, 68, American baseball player (Twins, Indians, Reds), heart attack.
• Aasiya Zubair, 37, American businesswoman, co-founder of Bridges TV, beheaded.

13

• Gianna Maria Canale, 81, Italian actress.
• Joe Goldstein, 81, American sports promoter, heart attack and stroke.
• Geshe Gyeltsen, 85, Tibetan spiritual leader, founder of Thubten Dhargye Ling.
• Alfred J. Kahn, 90, American child welfare expert.
• Jean Laroyenne, 78, French Olympic bronze medal-winning (1952) fencer.
• Dilys Laye, 74, British actress, cancer.
• Julius Patching, 92, Australian Olympic official.
• Corky Trinidad, 69, Filipino-born American cartoonist, pancreatic cancer.
• Edward Upward, 105, British writer, chest infection.
• Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh, 83, Azerbaijani poet, after long illness.

14

• Sir Bernard Ashley, 82, British businessman, cancer.
• Louie Bellson, 84, American jazz drummer, complications from Parkinson's disease.
• Luís Andrés Edo, 82, Spanish anarchist.
• Kjersti Graver, 63, Norwegian public servant, Consumer Ombudsman (1987–1995). (Norwegian)
• Buck Griffin, 85, American rockabilly musician, heart failure.
• Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., 90, American publisher, son of Alfred A. Knopf, complications from fall.
• John McGlinn, 55, American conductor and historian of musicals.
• Boris Yavitz, 85, Georgian-born American academic, dean of Columbia Business School (1975–1982), prostate cancer.

15

• Damon E. Allen, 88, American optometrist.
• Joe Cuba, 78, American musician, complications of a bacterial infection.
• Noble Doss, 88, American football player.
• Diether Haenicke, 73, American academic, Western Michigan University President (1985–1998, 2006–2007), head injury.
• William R. Sharpe, Jr., 80, American politician, West Virginia Senate (1960–1980, 1984–2009), President pro tem (1990–2009).
• Carl Venne, 62, American chairman of the Crow Nation since 2002, natural causes.

16

• Dorothy Bridges, 93, American actress and poet, wife of Lloyd Bridges, mother of Beau and Jeff Bridges, age-related causes.
• Konrad Dannenberg, 96, German-born American rocket scientist, natural causes.
• Sir Ernest Harrison, 82, British businessman.
• Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, 86, South Korean Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Seoul (1968–1998).
• Edward Salia, 56, Ghanaian politician, Minister of State (1995), throat infection.
• Travis, 13, American-born chimpanzee, television commercial animal, shot.

17

• Doris Abrahams, 88, American theatrical producer (Equus), heart failure.
• Eric Blau, 87, American theatrical producer (Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris), pneumonia.
• Conchita Cintrón, 86, Chilean-born Portuguese bullfighter, heart attack. (Portuguese)
• Edhi Handoko, 48, Indonesian chess grandmaster, heart attack.
• Victor Kiernan, 95, British historian.
• Gazanfer Özcan, 78, Turkish actor, respiratory disease.
• Robert Robideau, 61, American Native Americans activist.
• Shabnam Romani, 80, Pakistani poet and writer, after long illness.
• Gyula Sáringer, 81, Hungarian agronomist. (Hungarian)
• Brad Van Pelt, 57, American football player (New York Giants), heart attack.
• Mike Whitmarsh, 46, American beach volleyball and basketball player, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

18

• Jacques Bino, 50, French Guadeloupean trade union official, shot.
• Viking Björk, 90, Swedish surgeon.
• J. Max Bond, Jr., 73, American architect, cancer.
• Snooks Eaglin, 73, American guitarist, heart attack.
• Raymond Alvah Hanson, 85, American inventor.
• John Kanzius, 64, American inventor, pneumonia.
• Robert Luff, 94, British theatre producer and impresario.
• Luigi Nobile, 87, Italian footballer. (Italian)
• Tayeb Salih, 80, Sudanese writer (Season of Migration to the North).
• Kamila Skolimowska, 26, Polish hammer thrower, 2000 Olympics gold medalist, pulmonary embolism.
• Andrew Tsien Chih-ch'un, 83, Taiwanese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Hwalien (1992–2001), heart attack.

19

• Chet Bulger, 91, American football player (Chicago Cardinals), natural causes.
• Frank Carlton, 92, English rugby league player.
• Ronald Dearing, Baron Dearing, 78, British life peer and civil servant, cancer.
• Kelly Groucutt, 63, British bass guitar player (Electric Light Orchestra), heart attack.
• Edmund Hlawka, 92, Austrian mathematician.
• Ibrahim Hussein, 72, Malaysian artist, heart attack.
• Ian L. Jenkins, 64, British public official, Surgeon General (2002–2006), Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle (2008–2009).
• Oreste Lionello, 81, Italian actor, entertainer and film dubber, after long illness.
• Nonnie Moore, 87, American fashion editor (GQ, Harper's Bazaar), choking accident.
• Keith W. Nolan, 44, American military historian.
• Harrison Ridley Jr., 70, American jazz presenter, after short illness.
• Miika Tenkula, 34, Finnish guitarist and songwriter (Sentenced).
• Anna Watt, 85, British entertainer (Fran and Anna), natural causes.
• Thomas Jerome Welsh, 87, American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Allentown (1983–1997).
• James White, 86, British politician, MP for Glasgow Pollok (1970–1987).

20

• Marcella Althaus-Reid, 56, Argentine-born British Queer theologian, professor of contextual theology (University of Edinburgh).
• Friedrich Berentzen, 81, German industrialist. (German)
• James I. C. Boyd, 87, British railway historian.
• Fine Cotton, 31, Australian thoroughbred racehorse involved in sports betting substitution scandal.
• Antonio De Rosso, 68, Italian religious leader, founder of the Orthodox Church in Italy.
• Mary Jacobus, 52, American journalist, cerebral hemorrhage.
• William Jorden, 85, American journalist and diplomat, lung cancer.
• Larry H. Miller, 64, American businessman, owner of the Utah Jazz, complications of diabetes.
• Christopher Nolan, 43, Irish author, winner of the Whitbread Prize (1988), pulmonary aspiration.
• Julius Nota, 37, Slovak footballer and coach, stabbed. (Slovak)
• Robert Quarry, 83, American film and television actor.
• Fats Sadi, 81, Belgian jazz musician, vocalist and composer.
• Socks, 19, American Presidential cat of the Clinton family, euthanized.
• Shraga Weil, 90, Israeli painter. (Hebrew)

21

• Ian Alger, 82, American psychiatrist, heart failure.
• Fannie Kauffman, 84, Canadian-born Mexican actress and comedian, natural causes. (Spanish)
• Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro, 79, Russian-born Israeli mathematician, Parkinson's disease.
• Mary Printz, 82, American switchboard operator, inspiration for Bells Are Ringing.
• Wilton G. S. Sankawulo, 71, Liberian politician and academic, Chairman of the Council of State (1995–1996), heart failure.
• Victor Zarnowitz, 89, Polish-born American economist, heart attack.

22

• Candido Cannavò, 78, Italian sports journalist, editor-in-chief of La Gazzetta dello Sport (1983–2002), cerebral hemorrhage.
• Barbara Marshall, 64, American journalist and politician, member of the Honolulu City Council since 2002, colon cancer.
• Rhena Schweitzer Miller, 90, American humanitarian, daughter of Albert Schweitzer.
• Derrell Palmer, 86, American football player (Cleveland Browns), natural causes.
• Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung, 89, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal, archbishop of Hanoi (1994–2005).
• Sławomir Rutka, 31, Polish football player, suicide. (Spanish).
• Howard Zieff, 81, American film director (Private Benjamin), complications from Parkinson's disease.

23

• Marie Boas Hall, 89, American historian.
• Tom Cole, 75, American screenwriter and playwright, multiple myeloma.
• Sverre Fehn, 84, Norwegian architect.
• Lorna Frampton, 88, British Olympic swimmer.
• Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook, 96, Canadian portrait sculptor.
• August Kiuru, 86, Finnish Olympic silver medal-winning (1948, 1956) cross-country skier.
• Seppo Kolehmainen, 76, Finnish actor, after long illness.
• James Leslie, 50, British politician, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim (1998–2003), heart attack.
• Noel Martin, 86, American graphic designer, leukemia.
• Laurence Payne, 89, British actor (Sexton Blake).
• Tuulikki Pietilä, 92, Finnish graphic artist.
• Franciszek Starowieyski, 78, Polish artist.
• Scott Symons, 75, Canadian writer.
• David Taylor, 79, American banker.

24

• Jean Battersby, 80, Australian arts executive, esophageal cancer.
• Svatopluk Havelka, 83, Czech composer. (Czech)
• Edward Judd, 76, British actor (The Day the Earth Caught Fire).
• Antoinette K-Doe, 66, American bar owner, heart attack.
• Pearl Lang, 87, American dancer and choreographer, heart attack.
• Dondi Ledesma, 50, Filipino bassist, heart failure.
• James D. McGinnis, 77, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (1977–1981), cancer.
• Max Théret, 96, French businessman, founder of the Fnac electronics retailer.

25

• Randall Bewley, 53, American guitarist (Pylon), heart attack.
• Ian Carr, 75, British writer and musician (Nucleus), after long illness.
• Philip José Farmer, 91, American writer (Riverworld).
• Bill Holm, 65, American author and poet, heart attack.
• Molly Kool, 93, Canadian sailor, North America's first licensed female sea captain.
• Roger C. Kormendi, 59, American economist, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.
• Howard Menger, 87, American ufologist.
• Atieno Odhiambo, 63, Kenyan academic, dementia.
• Clarence Swensen, 91, American actor (munchkin in The Wizard of Oz), complications of a stroke.

26

• Rick Beckett, 54, American radio broadcaster (WOOD (AM)), heart attack.
• William H. Behle, 99, American ornithologist.
• Ruth Drexel, 78, German actress (Der Bulle von Tölz). (German)
• Johnny Kerr, 76, American basketball player, coach, and color commentator (Chicago Bulls), prostate cancer.
• Morley Street, 25, British racehorse.
• Sir Michael Quinlan, 78, British civil servant, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (1988–1992).
• Wendy Richard, 65, British actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders), breast cancer.
• Nell Soto, 82, American politician, member of the California State Senate (2000–2006), complications from stroke.
• Wilbert Tatum, 76, American publisher (New York Amsterdam News), multiple organ failure.
• Norm Van Lier, 61, American basketball player (Chicago Bulls).

27

• John Alvin, 91, American actor, complications of a fall.
• Alan Landers, 68, American smoking model turned opponent, throat and lung cancer.
• Robert E. A. Lee, 87, American documentary film producer, cancer.
• James Page Mackey, 95, Canadian chief of Toronto Police Service (1958–1970).
• Manea Mănescu, 92, Romanian Prime Minister (1974–1979).
• Alastair McCorquodale, 83, British athlete and cricketer, silver medallist at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
• John Francis Marchment Middleton, 87, British anthropologist.
• Gerriet Postma, 76, Dutch painter.
• Dorothea Holt Redmond, 98, American movie artist and illustrator.
• Geoffrey Smith, 80, British gardening expert and presenter.

28

• Tomás Altamirano Mantovani, 49, Panamanian politician, National Assembly deputy, traffic accident.
• Mark H. Beers, 54, American geriatrician, complications from diabetes.
• Ode Burrell, 69, American football player (Houston Oilers), complications from diabetes.
• Paul Harvey, 90, American radio broadcaster.
• Johnny Holiday, 96, American actor.
• Alvin Klein, 73, American theater critic, heart attack.
• Al Lewis, 84, American children's television host, natural causes.
• Manila, 26, American Thoroughbred racehorse, aortic ring rupture.
• Miguel Serrano, 91, Chilean poet, diplomat and neo-Nazi, stroke. (Spanish)
• Tom Sturdivant, 78, American baseball player (New York Yankees).