Deaths in 2002

See also: Deaths in 2001, other events of 2002, and Deaths in 2003.

Table of contents

1 December 2002
2 November 2002
3 October 2002
4 September 2002
5 August 2002
6 July 2002
7 June 2002
8 May 2002
9 April 2002
10 March 2002
11 February 2002
12 January 2002

December 2002

30 Mary Wesley novelist, author of The Camomile Lawn
27 George Roy Hill, film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting)
26 Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
26 Armand Zildjian, cymbals manufacturer
25 William T. Orr, television executive (brought Maverick, F-Troop and 77 Sunset Strip to TV)
24 Tomas Henriquez, Venezuelan actor
23 Joe Strummer, former singer for The Clash.
22 Kenneth Tobey, prolific character actor (appeared in about 100 films including: 12 OClock High, Gunfight at OK Corral, The Thing From Another World and Airplane)
22 Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana from 1985 to 1992
19 Tony Barr, actor and TV executive
19 Asif Ramzi, Pakistani militant wanted for the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl, blew himself up while making explosives.
18 Ramon John Hnatyshyn, former Governor-General of Canada
17 Hank Luisetti, basketball star and innovator
13 Zal Yanofsky member of Lovin' Spoonful music group.
12 Dee Brown, author (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee)
10 Ian MacNaughton, director of most episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
9 Stan Rice, painter, educator, poet, husband of author Anne Rice
6 Charles Rosen, Pioneer in artificial intelligence
6 Father Philip Berrigan, priest, political activist
5 Roone Arledge, creator of Monday Night Football and Nightline dies at age 71
5 Ne Win, Burmese dictator
3 Glenn Quinn, actor

November 2002

29 Florence Stephenson Mahoney (aged 103), health advocate
26 Verne Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donuts and nicknamed "The Donut King"
25 Rosa Carrillo, Univision news anchor
24 John Rawls, political theorist
21 Hadda Brooks, U.S. jazz singer, pianist and composer, aged 86
19 Prince Alexandre de Merode, International Olympic Committee member
18 James Coburn, actor
17 Pedro Cabrera, Cuban actor and director who was a star in Puerto Rico's television for many years.
17 Abba Eban, Israeli foreign affair minister
17 Milivi Adams, young cancer victim who became the symbol of the fight of many Vieques citizens to have the military out of there.
15 Myra Hindley, the Moors murderess
15 Eddie Bracken, actor
7 Rudolf Augstein, founder and chief editorialist of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel
6 Sid Sackson, board game designer
3 Jonathan Harris, TV's "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space
3 Lonnie Donegan, skiffle musician
2 Charles Sheffield, science fiction author and physicist
2 Brian Behan, Irish writer, younger brother of Brendan Behan
2 Tonio Selwart (aged 106), Bavarian actor and Broadway performer

October 2002

30 Jam Master Jay, DJ of Run DMC assassinated
29 Chang-Lin Tien, educator, 7th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley
28 Margaret Booth (aged 104), Academy Award-winning film editor
25 Richard Harris, Actor
25 Paul Wellstone, United States Senator
24 Winton M. Blount last United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet
24 Harry Hay, US gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder
24 Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright
22 Richard Helms, former CIA director
19 Manuel Alvarez Bravo (aged 100) pre-eminent Mexican photographer
18 Roman Tam, canto-pop singer
13 Stephen Ambrose, historian
10 Christine Stevens, founder of the Animal Welfare Institute
6 Claus von Amsberg, diplomat and husband of the Dutch Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
4 Alphonse Chapanis, a founder of ergonomics
3 Bruce Paltrow, television and film producer
2 Heinz von Foerster, physicist and philosopher, one of the founders of constructivism
1 Walter Annenberg, publisher and philanthropist

September 2002

?? Brian Williams, Basketball star in the NBA.
- Body not found yet, Tahiti police say it is possibly in the South Pacific. Already declared a murder investigation by the Police and the FBI.
22 Joseph Nathan Kane (aged 103), pre-eminent American historical author and factualist
22 Jan de Hartog, novelist and playwright
21 Angelo Buono, Jr, the "Hillside Strangler"
21 Robert L. Forward, physicist and science fiction author
19 Sergei Bodrov Jr, Russian movie star
18 Bob Hayes, National Football League Dallas Cowboys star, and Olympic games Hall of Fame member.
12 Kim Hunter, actress
11 Johnny Unitas, National Football League Hall of fame quarterback.
8 Alfonso Ramirez Famous Mexican Bullfighter
7 John P. Frank Lawyer whose representation of Ernesto Miranda in 1966 helped create the Miranda Rights reading requirement.
4 Frankie Albert, National Football League star
1 Brandon Hall, College American football University of Minnesota defensive lineman

August 2002

31 Lionel Hampton, jazz musician
27 Richard Ricci, Utah, Handyman, suspected of the kidnapping of 14 year old Elizabeth Smart
25 Dorothy Hewett, Australian poet, playwright and novelist
24 Wayne Simmons, American Football Ex Lions NFL player
24 Hoyt Wilhelm, Baseball Hall of Fame member
19 Abu Nidal, terrorist
19 Sunday Silence, thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes
15 Jesse Brown, former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
14 Larry Rivers, American painter
14 Dave Williams, singer of Drowning Pool
12 Enos Slaughter, baseball Hall of Famer
10 Doris Wishman, cult movie director
6 Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist
5 Josh Ryan Evans, Actor, played Timmy on Passions
5 Chick Hearn, television and radio announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team since 1960
3 Carmen Silvera, UK television and theatre actress. Played Fiona Gray in Dad's Army, Captain Manwaring's secret love, and Edith in Allo Allo
3 (approx date) Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman child- murder victims

July 2002

23 Leo McKern, actor best known for playing Rumpole of the Bailey and one of the Number Twos in The Prisoner
23 William Pierce, rocket scientist, neo-Nazi, author of "The Turner Diaries"
23 Chaim Potok, author
22 Prince Ahmed bin Salman, member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem
19 Alexander Ginzburg, leading Soviet dissident (alternatively Aleksandr Ginzburg)
19 Alan Lomax, documenter of blues and folk songs
16 John Cocke, key figure in the development of RISC architecture
16 Jack Olsen, "True crime" writer
14 Joaquin Balaguer, former President of the Dominican Republic
13 Yousuf Karsh, celebrity portrait photographer
10 John Wallach, journalist
9 Rod Steiger, actor
9 Laurence Janifer, Science Fiction writer
8 Anthony Swithin, fantasy writer, paleontologist
8 Ward Kimball, Disney animator
6 John Frankenheimer, film director
5 Ted Williams, Baseball Hall of Fame member
5 Katy Jurado, actress
4 Winnifred Van Tongerloo, oldest living survivor of the Titanic
4 Benjamin O. Davis Jr, African-American General

June 2002

29 Rosemary Clooney, singer
28 Arthur "Spud" Melin, responsible for marketing hula-hoop and frisbee.
27 John Entwistle, bassist for The Who
26 Jay Berwanger, college football player, first winner of the Heisman Trophy
24 Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk
24 Pierre Werner, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, "father of the Euro"
23 Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panama boxer died after losing his world Flyweight championship to Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas the night before
22 Esther Pauline Friedman, author of the Ann Landers column
22 Darryl Kile, Major League Baseball player, age 33
18 Jack Buck, Major League Baseball announcer
17 Fritz Walter, football player, captain of 1954 World Cup winners.
17 Willie Davenport, Olympic Games champion
14 Jose Bonilla boxing former world champion, of asthma
12 Bill Blass, fashion designer.
10 John Gotti, imprisoned mobster.
11 Robin Crosby, guitarist of rock band Ratt.
6 Hans Janmaat, controversial far-right politician in the Netherlands.
5 Dee Dee Ramone, founding member of The Ramones
4 Fernando BelaÃÂÃÂºnde Terry, democratic president of Peru, 1963-1968 and 1980-1985.
1 Hansie Cronje, South African cricketerer

May 2002

26 Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian marathon runner
23 Sam Snead, golfer
22 (remains discovered; actual death probably took place sometime in 2001), Chandra Levy, U.S. Congressional intern
21 Niki de Saint Phalle, french artist
20 Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and popular science author
19 John Gorton, 19th Prime Minister of Australia
17 Joe Black, Baseball first Black pitcher to win a World Series game.
16 Edwin Alonzo Boyd, noted Canadian bank-robber and prison escaper of the 1950s.
16 Alec Campbell, Australia's last surviving ANZAC died in a nursing home, aged 103.
13 Ruth Cracknell, redoubtable Australian actress most famous for the long-running role of Maggie Beare in the series "Mother and Son", aged 76.
12 Joseph Bonanno, Sicilian, former boss of a Mafia crime family.
7 Seattle Slew, last triple crown winner on 25th anniversary of winning Kentucky Derby
6 Pim Fortuyn, controversial politician in the Netherlands, shot.
5 Hugo Banzer SuÃÂÃÂ¡rez, president of Bolivia, as dictator 1971-1978 and democratic president 1997-2001.
3 Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, current president of Somaliland and former prime minister of Somalia and British Somaliland.
3 Mohan Singh Oberoi (aged 103), Indian hotelier and retailer

April 2002

28 Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician
Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie doll
27 Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Industrialist and art collector
25 Lisa Lopes, Singer with band TLC
25 Indra Devi (aged 102), "Yoga teacher to the stars"
23 Linda Boreman better known as Linda Lovelace, porn star turned political activist
19 (Body discovered), Layne Staley, Singer with band Alice In Chains
18 Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian anthropologist
16 Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater
16 Robert Urich, Actor cancer
15 Byron White, US athlete and Supreme Court justice
8 Maria Felix, superstar Mexican actress
9 Leopold Vietoris (aged 110), Austrian mathematician
7 John Agar, actor in monster movies
5 Layne Staley, Singer with band Alice In Chains

March 2002

31 Barry Took, UK comedian and writer, also wrote in the US
30 Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (aged 101), the Queen mother, member of the British Royal Family.
27 Milton Berle, Mr. Television, US comedian
27 Dudley Moore, UK actor and writer
25 Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator
20 Ivan Novikoff (aged 102), Russian premier ballet master
18 Maude Farris-Luse (aged 115), Oldest Person in the World
11 Rudolf Hell (aged 100), German inventor and manufacturer

February 2002

27 Spike Milligan, UK comedian, writer and actor
24 Leo Ornstein (aged 109), radical composer/pianist
22 Sir Raymond Firth (aged 100), British anthropologist
22 Chuck Jones, US animator
21 John Thaw, British actor, most famous for the detective series,Morse and The Sweeney.
15 Mike Daar Baseball San Diego Padres prospect
15 Howard K. Smith, TV journalist
15 Kevin Smith (actor), played Ares on Xena series
12 Theresa Ferber Bernstein (aged 111), artist
11 Barry Foster, British actor.
9 Princess Margaret, British royal family (sister of Queen Elizabeth II)
6 Max Perutz, founder of molecular biology

January 2002

28 Dick 'Night Train' Lane American Football,NFL Hall of Famer
28 Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author
23 Robert Nozick, philosopher
22 Peggy Lee, US Singer, Actress
16 Carl Bobo Olson, boxer, world Middleweight champion in 1953 and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
14 Ted Demme, film and television director
12 Stanley Unwin, comedian
11 Cyrus Vance, former United States Secretary of State, international peacemaker.
8 Dave Thomas, US entrepreneur, founder of Wendy's hamburger restaurants.
3 Freddy Heineken, beer magnate.