The following is a list of notable deaths in May 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.
May 2004
1 Ejler Bille, 94, Danish artist. Paul Carbutt, 53, English cyclist and Olympian (1976). Vladimir Chernyshov, 52, Russian volleyball player and Olympic champion (1976, 1980). Shimon Even, 68, Israeli computer science researcher. Ram Prakash Gupta, 80, Indian politician. Felix Haug, 52, Swiss pop musician (Double), heart attack. László Karácson, 85, Hungarian army officer and Olympic modern pentathlete (1948). Larkin Kerwin, 79, Canadian physicist. Lojze Kovačič, 75, Slovene writer. Jean-Jacques Laffont, 57, French economist, cancer. John Howland Rowe, 85, American archaeologist and anthropologist.
2 Moe Burtschy, 82, American Major League Baseball player (Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics), heart attack. Duncan Carse, 91, English explorer and actor. Nelson Gidding, 84, American screenwriter, congestive heart failure. Paul Guimard, 83, French writer. John Hammersley, 84, British mathematician. Sahar Helal, 35, Egyptian Olympic synchronized swimmer (1984). Allan Lindberg, 85, Swedish Olympic pole vaulter (1948). Hyam Maccoby, 80, Jewish-British scholar and dramatist. Russ Morrow, 80, American football player (Brooklyn Dodgers). Tony Poeta, 71, Canadian professional ice hockey player (Chicago Black Hawks).Tony Poeta, Sports-Reference / Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
3 Anthony Ainley, 71, British actor (Doctor Who), cancer. Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, 84, British aristocrat and politician. Ken Downing, 86, English racing driver. Darrell Johnson, 75, American MLB catcher and manager, cancer. Volus Jones, 90, American animator. Gilbert Lani Kauhi, 66, American actor and comedian, diabetes. James Mace, 52, American historian, professor, and researcher. Lygia Pape, 77, Brazilian visual artist, sculptor, and filmmaker. Derrick Robins, 89, English cricket player and sports promoter. Vladimir Terebilov, 88, Soviet judge and politician. Gennady Voronin, 69, Soviet Russian Olympic speed skater (1960).
4 John Amberg, 75, American football player (New York Giants). Coxsone Dodd, 72, Jamaican reggae pioneer, heart attack. Tage Frid, 88, Danish woodworker, complications of Alzheimer's disease. Hugh Gillin, 78, American actor (Back to the Future Part III). Torsten Hägerstrand, 87, Swedish geographer, inventor of time geography. Guy Million, 71, French cyclist. Boris Petrovsky, 95, Soviet and Russian general surgeon. David Reimer, 39, Canadian gender-reassignment victim, suicide by gunshot.David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia Erik Smith, 73, German-British music producer. Jean-Pierre Vigier, 84, French theoretical physicist.
5 Thea Beckman, 80, Dutch author of children's books (Crusade in Jeans). Georgia Campbell, 77, American baseball player. John Cornforth, 66, English architectural historian. José Maceda, 87, Filipino composer and ethnomusicologist. Kate Mundt, 74, Danish film actress. Ritsuko Okazaki, 44, Japanese singer-songwriter and author, sepsis. František Sláma, 80, Czech chamber music performer.
6 Virginia Capers, 78, American actress (Raisin, Lady Sings the Blues, Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Tony winner (1974), pneumonia. Joseph Calvitt Clarke Jr., 83, American district judge (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia). Pepper Gomez, 77, American professional wrestler and bodybuilder, gastritis. Kjell Hallbing, (aka Louis Masterson), 69, Norwegian author of westerns.Jeg skrev for å underholde Philip Kapleau, 91, American teacher of Zen Buddhism. Barney Kessel, 80, American jazz guitarist and studio musician, brain cancer. Thanasis Kingley, 75-76, Greek footballer. James A. Krumhansl, 84, American physicist. Joe Lafata, 82, American baseball player (New York Giants). Charlotte Thiele, 85, German actress. Daniel Thompson, 69, American poet.
7 Nick Berg, 26, American businessman and hostage, beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Joseph Crespo, 79, French rugby player. Douglas John Foskett, 85, British librarian. Oliver David Jackson, 84, Australian army officer. William J. Knight, 74, American Vietnam War combat pilot, astronaut and politician, leukemia. Waldemar Milewicz, 48, Polish war journalist, killed in Iraq."Polish TV crew attacked in Iraq" BBC News (May 7, 2004). Retrieved 23 April 20204.
8 Kumao Aochi, 89, Japanese Olympic middle-distance runner (1936). Lewis Caine, 39, Australian organised crime figure, murdered during the Melbourne gangland killings. António Champalimaud, 86, Portuguese banker and industrialist. Valentin Ezhov, 83, Soviet and Russian screenwriter and playwright, stroke. Quentin Hughes, 84, British architect and army officer. Tuts McBride, 87, American baseball player. Robert P. Multhauf, 84, American science historian, curator, and author. John Peel, 91, British politician, MP for Leicester South East (1957–1974). Ronnie Robinson, 53, American basketball player (Memphis Tigers, Utah Stars, Memphis Tams/Sounds).
9 Laxmi Chhaya, 56, Indian actress, dancer and teacher, cancer. Tommy Farrell, 82, American film and television actor. Brenda Fassie, 39, South African singer, AIDS-related complications. Alan Gewirth, 91, American philosopher and author, cancer. Akhmad Kadyrov, 52, Chechen politician, President of Chechnya, land mine explosion. Alan King, 76, American comedian and actor, lung cancer. Lylian Lecomte-Guyonneau, 82, French Olympic fencer (1952). Wayne McLeland, 79, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers). Olive Osmond, 79, American matriarch of the Osmond singing family. Sido L. Ridolfi, 90, American politician. Walter H. Stockmayer, 90, American chemist and university teacher. Percy M. Young, 91, British musicologist.
10 Orvar Bergmark, 73, Swedish football player and manager. Knut Brogaard, 69, Norwegian footballer. Ray Ferritto, 75, American mobster associated with the Cleveland and Los Angeles crime families. Phil Gersh, 92, American talent and literary agent. Eric Kierans, 90, Canadian economist and politician. Portland Mason, 55, British-American child actress and writer. Dale Meinert, 70, American football player (Oklahoma A&M Cowboys, Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals). Ershad Sikder, 49, Bangladeshi politician, criminal, and serial killer, executed. Ibsen Sørensen, 90, Danish Olympic rower (1936). Dennis Wilshaw, 78, English international footballer, heart attack.
11 Mick Doyle, 63, Irish rugby union player and coach, traffic collision. Danny McLennan, 79, Scottish football player and coach.Danny McLennanInternational football coach Abdul Reza Pahlavi, 79, Iranian royal and member of the Pahlavi dynasty. Ku Sang, 84, Korean poet. Hans Senger, 78, Austrian Olympic alpine skier (1952). Alf Valentine, 74, West Indian cricket player. John Whitehead, 55, American R&B artist, shot. Giorgos Zongolopoulos, 101, Greek sculptor, painter and architect.
12 Álvaro Cardoso, 90, Portuguese football player. Syd Hoff, 91, American children's author and cartoonist. John LaPorta, 84, American jazz clarinetist, composer and educator, stroke. Dave Piontek, 69, American professional basketball player (Rochester / Cincinnati Royals, St. Louis Hawks, Chicago Packers). John Robson, 54, English footballer, multiple sclerosis (MS). Alexander Skutch, 99, American naturalist, writer, and ornithologist.
13 Kjell Bækkelund, 74, Norwegian classical pianist. Magnar Estenstad, 79, Norwegian cross-country skier and Olympic silver medalist (1952). Bergfrid Fjose, 89, American politician. Muhammad Nawaz, 79, Pakistani Olympic javelin thrower (1956, 1960). Carlo Scarascia-Mugnozza, 84, Italian politician. Evon Z. Vogt, 86, American cultural anthropologist.
14 Rudi Arndt, 77, American politician. Rip Coleman, 72, American baseball player (New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles). Günter Gaus, 74, German journalist and commentator. Jesús Gil, 71, Spanish businessman and politician, controversial owner of Atlético Madrid football club, stroke. Bill Hoffman, 86, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies). Jack Holland, 56, Irish journalist, novelist, and poet, cancer. Torsten Johansson, 84, Swedish tennis player. Anna Lee, 91, British-American actress, pneumonia. Lu Leonard, 77, American actress (Annie, Micki & Maude, Jake and the Fatman), heart attack. Shaun Sutton, 84, British television executive.
15 Gloria E. Anzaldúa, 61, American writer, academic and feminist, diabetes. Hans Bild, 83, German footballer. Jack Bradbury, 89, American animator (Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia) and comic book artist, kidney failure. Marius Constant, 79, Romanian-French composer and conductor. Gill Fox, 88, American political cartoonist, comic book artist, and animator. Henrique Frade, 69, Brazilian football player. William H. Hinton, 85, American writer, and marxist, author of Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. Narciso Ibáñez Menta, 91, Spanish actor, cardiovascular disease. Tatsuya Mihashi, 80, Japanese actor. Robert K. Morgan, 85, American US Air Force pilot, former pilot of the Memphis Belle, injuries from a fall. Clint Warwick, 63, British bass guitarist (The Moody Blues), hepatitis.
16 Riccardo Brengola, 87, Italian violinist and professor. June Carroll, 87, American lyricist, singer and actress. Jim Colclough, 68, American gridiron football player (Boston Patriots). Simone Del Duca, 91, French businesswoman and philanthropist. Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton, 89, British Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet. Kamala Markandaya, 80, Indian novelist and journalist. Marika Rökk, 90, Egyptian-German actress, heart attack. Billy Stone, 78, American professional football player (Bradley University, Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears). June Taylor, 86, American television dancer and choreographer.
17 Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, 97, South African naturalist and museum official. Willem Endstra, 51, Dutch real state businessman, shot.Endstra’s erfenis eindelijk verdeeld Gunnar Graps, 52, Estonian rock singer and percussionist, heart attack. Ken Mudford, 81, New Zealand Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Buster Narum, 63, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators). Jørgen Nash, 84, Danish poet and performance artist. Tony Randall, 84, American actor (Pillow Talk, The Odd Couple, Inherit the Wind), Emmy winner (1975), pneumonia. James Armstrong Richardson, 82, Canadian member of House of Commons, Minister of Supply and Services, Minister of National Defence. Cathy Rosier, 59, French model and actress, aneurysm. Heidi Sager, 64, German-born Australian canoeist (1960). Ezzedine Salim, 60–61, Iraqi politician, president of the Iraqi Governing Council. Georges Wengler, 85, Luxembourgian Olympic gymnast (1948). Enrique Zobel, 77, Filipino businessman, pilot, and polo player.
18 Çetin Alp, 56, Turkish singer, heart attack. Arnold Orville Beckman, 104, American inventor, industrialist and philanthropist. John Maxwell Cowley, 81, Australian-American physicist and academic. Heinrich Isser, 76, Austrian bobsledder and Olympian (1956). Edgar Jones, 84, American football player (Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns). Elvin Jones, 76, American jazz drummer, John Coltrane Quartet of the 1960s, heart attack. Lincoln Kilpatrick, 72, American actor, lung cancer. Hyacinthe Thiandoum, 83, Senegalese Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of Dakar.
19 Mary Dresselhuys, 97, Dutch actress and comedian. Jack Eckerd, 91, American businessman. Haruhiko Kindaichi, 91, Japanese linguist and a scholar of kokugogaku. Melvin J. Lasky, 84, American journalist, intellectual and anti-communist. Robert David MacDonald, 74, Scottish playwright, translator and theatre director.