The following is a list of notable deaths in January 2004.
Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence: Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.
January 2004
1 Charlie Elliott, 91, English cricketer. Harold Henning, 69, South African golfer. Elma Lewis, 82, American arts leader. Yevgeniy Migunov, 82, Russian artist, cartoonist, animation and art director, and screenwriter. Jerry Oliver, 59, American racing driver. Frederick Redlich, 93, Austrian-American dean of the Yale University School of Medicine. John Stoneham, 95, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox). Igor Torkar, 90, Slovenian writer, playwright, and poet.
2 Dinu Adameșteanu, 90, Romanian-Italian archaeologist. Etta Moten Barnett, 102, American actress (Porgy and Bess), pancreatic cancer. Lynn Cartwright, 76, American actress (A League of Their Own, The Cry Baby Killer, The Wasp Woman), dementia. Jess Collins, 80, American visual artist. Geoff Edrich, 85, English first-class cricket player. John Grandy, 90, British Royal Air Force officer. Paul Hopkins, 99, American baseball player (Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns). Maria Clara Lobregat, 82, Filipina politician, heart attack. Sheila McKechnie, 55, Scottish trade unionist, housing campaigner and consumer activist, cancer. Kamal El Sheikh, 84, Egyptian film director. Dennis Silverthorne, 80, American Olympic pairs figure skater (1948).
3 Lillian Beckwith, 87, English author. Des Corcoran, 75, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia. Taylor Duncan, 50, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics). Pierre Flamion, 79, French football manager and player. T. G. Jones, 86, Welsh football player. William Craig Reynolds, 70, American fluid physicist and mechanical engineer. Leon Wagner, 69, American Major League Baseball player. Beatrice Winde, 79, American actress, cancer.
4 Joan Aiken, 79, English author (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase). Benjamin Allmark, 92, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1958-1962). Robert Brisco, 75, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1974-1980, 1984-1988). Gary Cleveland, 61, American Olympic weightlifter (1964). James Counsilman, 83, American swimming coach, Parkinson's disease. Johannes Fehring, 77, Austrian composer. Brian Gibson, 59, English film director (What's Love Got to Do With It, The Juror, Poltergeist II: The Other Side), bone cancer. Jake Hess, 76, American southern gospel singer. Bob Kercher, 84, American football player (Georgetown Hoyas, Green Bay Packers). Refik Memišević, 47, Yugoslav wrestler and Olympian (1980, 1984). Allen H. Miner, 86, American director and screenwriter. Jeff Nuttall, 70, English poet, actor, artist, jazz trumpeter, and author. Helena Růžičková, 67, Czech actress and comedian, stomach cancer. Michael Whitney Straight, 87, American magazine publisher, author and a confessed spy for the KGB, pancreatic cancer. Dorota Terakowska, 65, Polish writer and journalist. John Toland, 91, American author and historian, pneumonia. Gábor Török, 67, Hungarian football goalkeeper and Olympian (1960).
5 Jean Claes, 69, Belgian footballer. Thomas Daly, 90, Australian Army officer. Charles Dumas, 66, American Olympic High Jump gold medalist (1956, 1960), cancer. John Guerin, 64, American percussionist, heart failure. Norman Heatley, 92, British biochemist. Vivian Jenkins, 92, Welsh rugby player and sports journalist. Tug McGraw, 59, American baseball player (New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies), brain cancer. Hans Wilhelmsson, 67, Swedish speed skater and Olympian (1960).
6 Vera Bradford, 99, Australian pianist and piano teacher. Pierre Charles, 49, Dominican politician, Prime Minister (2000-2004), heart attack. Sumita Devi, 68, Bangladeshi film actress. John Evans, 74, British footballer. Philip Gilbert, 72, Canadian actor. António Jorge, 77, Portuguese Olympic sports shooter (1960). Nicolas Mosar, 76, Luxembourgish politician, jurist, and diplomat. Markku Salminen, 57, Finnish orienteering athlete. Francesco Scavullo, 82, American fashion photographer. Reg Smith, 91, English football player and manager. Thomas Stockham, 70, American scientist, known as the "father of digital recording". Theo Timmermans, 78, Dutch footballer.
7 Shalva Apkhazava, 23, Georgian footballer, heart failure. Piotr Kowalski, 76, Polish artist, sculptor, and architect. Jaap Kraaier, 90, Dutch flatwater canoeist and Olympic medalist (1936). Vladimir Lavrinenko, 71, Soviet-Georgian swimmer and Olympian (1952). Khenpo Jigme Puntsok, 70, Nyingma lama and Terton from Sertha Region. Natalya Smirnitskaya, 76, Soviet javelin thrower. Ingrid Thulin, 77, Swedish actress (Cries and Whispers, Brink of Life, The Silence), cancer. Léonce-Albert Van Peteghem, 87, Belgian Roman Catholic Bishop. Mario Zatelli, 91, French football player and manager.
8 Charles Brown, 57, American actor (King Hedley II, Trading Places, Kennedy), prostate cancer. Delfín Benítez Cáceres, 93, Paraguayan football player. John A. Gambling, 73, American radio host (Rambling with Gambling), heart attack. Tom Kindness, 74, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1975-1987). Reginald H. Morris, 85, British-Canadian cinematographer (Porky's, A Christmas Story, Black Christmas). Piet van Overbeek, 77, Dutch footballer. Hal Shaper, 72, South African songwriter. Louis Stanley, 92, British author, journalist, team principal of BRM, stroke. Frank Ténot, 78, French press agent, pataphysician, and jazz critic.
9 Norberto Bobbio, 94, Italian senator, jurist, philosopher and political scientist. Lyndon Brook, 77, British actor. Harriet Creighton, 94, American botanist, geneticist and educator. Yinka Dare, 31, Nigerian basketball player (George Washington Colonials, New Jersey Nets), heart attack. Nissim Ezekiel, 79, Indian poet, playwright and art critic. Rainer Hildebrandt, 89, German anti-communist resistance fighter and historian. Myron E. Leavitt, 73, American politician. Rogério Sganzerla, 57, Brazilian filmmaker, brain tumor.
10 Marvin Crawford, 71, American Olympic skier (1956). Billy Klüver, 76, American electrical engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Sidney Miller, 87, American actor, director and songwriter, Parkinson's disease. Princess Kira of Prussia, 60, German princess. Sir Henry Leask, 90, British general.Lieutenant General Sir Henry Leask Ewald Pyle, 93, American baseball player (St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, New York Giants). Alexandra Ripley, 70, American author (Scarlett).
11 Max D. Barnes, 67, country singer and songwriter. Clement Conger, 91, American museum curator, pneumonia. Perry Belmont Duryea Jr., 82, American politician, traffic collision. Spalding Gray, 62, American actor (The Killing Fields, The Paper) and writer (Swimming to Cambodia), suicide by drowning. Blair Harding, 33, New Zealand rugby league footballer. Bernard Mayeur, 65, French Olympic basketball player (1960). Mervyn Pike, Baroness Pike, 85, British politician and life peer. Asrul Sani, 76, Indonesian writer, poet and screenwriter.
12 Petter Jakob Bjerve, 90, Norwegian economist, statistician and politician. James M. Early, 81, American electrical engineer. Ramakrishna Hegde, 77, Indian politician. Olga Ladyzhenskaya, 81, Soviet and Russian mathematician. Randy VanWarmer, 48, American singer and songwriter ("Just When I Needed You Most"), leukemia. William T. Young, 85, American businessman. Robert C. Zampano, 75, American district judge (United States District Court for the District of Connecticut).
13 Joan Reventós i Carner, 76, Spanish politician. Lee Chang-hoon, 68, South Korean long-distance runner and Olympian (1956, 1960). Rafael Gambra Ciudad, 83, Spanish philosopher. Phillip Crosby, 69, American actor and singer, son of crooner Bing Crosby, heart attack. Mike Goliat, 82, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Browns). Fritz Hamer, 91, German botanist. David N. Henderson, 82, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1961-1977). Tom Hurndall, 22, British political activist, gunshot wound. Robert Kolesar, 82, American football player (Michigan Wolverines, Cleveland Browns). William Lawrence, 97, Australian politician. Jan Leszczyński, 57, Polish footballer. Arne Næss, Jr., 66, Norwegian mountaineer and businessman, former husband of Diana Ross, accidental death. Dave Penna, 46, American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. Harold Shipman, 57, British serial killer, suicide by hanging. Zeno Vendler, 82, American philosopher and linguist. Keraca Visulčeva, 92, Macedonian and Bulgarian artist.
14 Terje Bakken, 25, Norwegian black metal musician (Windir), hypothermia. Jack Cady, 71, American science fiction writer. Catherine Craig, 88, American actress. Uta Hagen, 84, German-American actress (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Reversal of Fortune, The Boys from Brazil), Tony winner (1951, 1963), stroke. Joaquín Nin-Culmell, 95, Cuban-Spanish composer, concert pianist and emeritus professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley, heart attack. Ron O'Neal, 66, American actor (Superfly, Red Dawn, A Different World), pancreatic cancer. Eduard Sibiryakov, 62, Soviet Olympic volleyball player (1964, 1968). Eric Sturgess, 83, South African tennis player, winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles (five mixed doubles, one men's doubles).
15 Maarouf al-Dawalibi, 94, Syrian politician, prime minister (1951, 1961-1962). Andy Barbe, 80, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs). André Barrais, 83, French Olympic basketball player (1948). Alex Barris, 81, Canadian actor and writer, stroke. Stoycho Vassilev Breskovski, 69, Bulgarian paleontologist. Ambroise-Marie Carré, 95, French Catholic priest, member of the Académie française. Johnny Cronshey, 77, English speed skater and Olympian (1948, 1956). Antoni Czortek, 89, Polish boxer and Olympian (1936). Jim Devlin, 81, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians). Sunday Emmanuel, 25, Nigerian athlete and Olympian (2000), car accident. Olivia Goldsmith, 55, American author, heart attack. Mohammad Yunus Saleem, 92, Indian politician, scholar, and lawyer. Manik Chandra Saha, 48, Bangladeshi journalist, bombing. Delia Scala, 74, Italian ballerina, actress and singer, breast cancer. Gus Suhr, 98, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates). Attila Timár-Geng, 79, Hungarian Olympic basketball player (1948).
16 Slavomír Bartoň, 77, Czech Olympic ice hockey player (1952, 1956). Alexander Eliraz, 89, Israeli Olympic sports shooter (1952). John Siomos, 56, American rock drummer. Kalevi Sorsa, 73, Finnish politician, prime minister (1972–1975, 1977–1979, 1982–1987). Albert Tillman, 76, American educator and underwater diver.
17 Walter Auffenberg, 75, American biologist. Raymond Bonham Carter, 74, British banker and father of Helena Bonham Carter. Harry Brecheen, 89, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns). Hersh Freeman, 75, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Redlegs, Chicago Cubs). Harold Laurance, 88, British Olympic weightlifter (1936). Czesław Niemen, 64, Polish musician, cancer. Zenobia Powell Perry, 95, American composer, professor and civil rights activist. Rafael Cordero Santiago, 61, Puerto Rican politician, mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, cerebral hemorrhage. Carlton R. Sickles, 82, American lawyer and politician (U.S. Representative for Maryland's at-large congressional seat). Ray Stark, 88, American film producer (Funny Girl, Steel Magnolias, Annie), heart attack. Noble Willingham, 72, American actor (Walker, Texas Ranger, City Slickers, Norma Rae), heart attack.
18 Hook Dillon, 80, American basketball player (Washington Capitols). Peter Ward Fay, 79, American historian.