Deaths in May 1996

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1996.

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 1996

1 Herbert Brownell, 92, American politician, cancer. Billy Byers, 69, American jazz trombonist and arranger. François Chalais, 76, French journalist, leukemia. Jim Gleeson, 84, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds). Eric Houghton, 85, English football player and manager. David M. Kennedy, 90, American diplomat, cardiovascular disease. Luana Patten, 57, American actress (Song of the South, Johnny Tremain, Joe Dakota), respiratory failure.

2 Emile Habibi, 74, Palestinian-Israeli writer and communist politician, cancer. Pinky Jorgensen, 81, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds). Danny Kamekona, 60, American actor (The Karate Kid Part II, Problem Child, Honeymoon in Vegas). María Luisa Ponte, 77, Spanish actress. Tony Romeo, 58, American football player (Dallas Texans, Boston Patriots). Henri Rust, 89, Dutch film editor. Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby, 97, British politician. Eugen Wiesberger Jr., 62, Austrian Olympic wrestler (1956, 1960, 1964).

3 Guy Casaril, 62, French film director. Jimmy Everett, 87, American baseball player. Donald G. Fink, 84, American engineer. Tim Gullikson, 44, American tennis player and coach, brain cancer. Anna Jordaens, 68, Belgian Olympic gymnast (1948). Alex Kellner, 71, American baseball player (Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics, Cincinnati Redlegs, St. Louis Cardinals). Hermann Kesten, 96, German writer. Detlev Kittstein, 52, German Olympic field hockey player (1968, 1972). Patsy Montana, 87, American country music singer-songwriter. Ray Stevens, 60, American professional wrestler, heart attack. Jack Weston, 71, American actor (Dirty Dancing, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Ritz), lymphoma. Keith Daniel Williams, 48, American murderer, execution by lethal injection.

4 Jean Crépin, 87, French Army officer during World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. Roy Cullinan, 63, Australian rules footballer. Edward E. Haddock, 84, American politician. Gus Keriazakos, 64, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics). Eduardo Franco Raymundo, 62, Spanish chess player.

5 Gaëtan Duval, 65, Mauritian politician. Earl Hastings, 72, Canadian politician, member of the Senate of Canada (1966-). David Lasser, 94, American writer and political activist. Rodney M. Love, 87, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1965–1967). Jokūbas Minkevičius, 75, Lithuanian politician. Roy O'Donnell, 88, Australian rules footballer. Ai Qing, 86, Chinese poet. Salli Terri, 73, Canadian-American singer and arranger. Włodzimierz Zawadzki, 84, Polish Olympic rower (1936). Charles H. Zimmerman, 88, American aeronautical engineer.

6 Donald T. Campbell, 79, American psychologist and scholar. Geoffrey S. Dawes, 78, British fetal physiologist. Ed Love, 85, American animator. Hamlet Mkhitaryan, 33, Soviet/Russian football player, brain cancer. Wally Nightingale, 40, British musician, drug-related illness. Suzanne Ridgeway, 78, American film actress. Leo Joseph Suenens, 91, Belgian Roman Catholic cardinal, thrombosis. Ko van Tongeren, 82, Dutch Olympic canoeist (1936).

7 William Copley, 77, American painter, writer, and gallerist. Sigurður Jónsson, 37, Icelandic Olympic alpine skier (1976, 1980). Don McNeill, 88, American radio personality. Albert Meltzer, 76, British anarchist. Narciso G. Reyes, 82, Filipino diplomat and author. José Lázaro Robles, 72, Brazilian football player. Howard Smith, 76, British diplomat. Draško Vilfan, 82, Slovenian Olympic swimmer (1936).

8 Beryl Burton, 58, English racing cyclist, heart attack. Serge Chermayeff, 95, Russian-British architect, industrial designer, and writer. Luis Miguel Dominguín, 69, Spanish bullfighter, cerebral hemorrhage. Robert Geib, 84, Luxembourgish Olympic football player (1936). Ludwig Hoelscher, 88, German composer, musician and music educator. Bill Naito, 70, American businessman, civic leader and philanthropist, cancer. Emy Pettersson, 87, Swedish Olympic sprinter (1928). Celedonio Romero, 83, Spanish musician. Karl Ullrich, 85, German SS officer during World War II. Garth Williams, 84, American children's illustrator.

9 Khaptad Baba, 116, Nepalese spiritual saint. Lu Dingyi, 89, Chinese politician. Carl Fallberg, 80, American cartoonist and artist. Gustave Gingras, 78, Canadian physician. Calvin Waller, 58, United States Army lieutenant general, complications from a heart attack.

10 Jože Babič, 79, Slovenian filmmaker. Margaret Bell, 79, Canadian high jumper and Olympian (1936). Poul Borum, 61, Danish poet and writer. Ronald Bush, 87, New Zealand sportsman. Joe Holden, 82, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies), manager and scout. Alex Newkirk, 79, American baseball player. Ethel Smith, 93, American organist. Curt Teichert, 91, German-American palaeontologist and geologist. Don John Young, 85, American district judge (United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio).

11 Nnamdi Azikiwe, 91, President of Nigeria. Ademir de Menezes, 73, Brazilian football player and manager. Col Geelan, 69, Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Kurao Hiroshima, 67, Japanese long-distance runner and Olympian (1956, 1960). Øivind Johannessen, 71, Norwegian football player. Bob Pfohl, 69, American football player (Baltimore Colts). Sam Ragan, 80, American poet. Vittorio Sala, 77, Italian screenwriter and film director. Princess Maria de los Dolores of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, 86, Sicillian princess. Mikheil Tumanishvili, 75, Soviet theatre director. Merrill B. Twining, 93, United States Marine Corps general. Ivan Vyshnevskyi, 39, Ukrainian football player, melanoma. Margaret Wright, 76, American politician and community activist. Notable Americans killed in the plane crash of ValuJet Flight 592: Rodney Culver, 26, American football player (Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers). Walter Hyatt, 46, singer and songwriter. Candi Kubeck, 35, airline pilot. Notable climbers killed in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster Scott Fischer, 40, American mountaineer. Rob Hall, 35, New Zealand mountaineer. Yasuko Namba, 47, Japanese businesswoman. Andy Harris, 31, New Zealand mountain guide.

12 Ghazaleh Alizadeh, 47, Iranian poet and writer, suicide. Richard Kendall Brooke, 66, South African ornithologist. Max Carlos, 60, Australian Olympic boxer (1956). Chang Eun-kyung, 44, South Korean Olympic judoka (1976). Homer Keller, 81, American composer of contemporary classical music. Stan Priddy, 75, American Olympic ice hockey player (1948). Mohamed Abdel Rahman, 81, Egyptian fencer and Olympian (1936, 1948, 1952). Martin Roman, 86, German jazz pianist.

13 Fred Barnes, 75, Australian rules footballer. Harry Hyde, 71, American NASCAR crew chief, myocardial infarction. William Hughes Mulligan, 78, American judge. Morris Edward Opler, 89, American anthropologist. Chaim Menachem Rabin, 80, Israeli linguist.

14 Marian Barone, 72, American gymnast and Olympian (1948, 1952). Vera Chapman, 98, British writer. Edward Gurney, 82, American attorney and politician. Jan Hertl, 67, Czech football player. Sridharan Jeganathan, 44, Sri Lankan cricket player. Henry Norrström, 78, Swedish Olympic long-distance runner (1952). Ludwig Preiß, 85, German politician. Dick Randall, 70, American filmmaker. Adone Stellin, 75, Italian association football player and Olympian (1948). Kumi Sugai, 77, Japanese painter, sculptor and printmaker. Antero Tukiainen, 80, Finnish Olympic rower (1952). Usilaimani, 62, Tamil actor. Leopold Šťastný, 84, Czechoslovak soccer player and coach.

15 Nordine Ben Ali, 76, Algerian-French football player and manager. Charles B. Fulton, 86, American district judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Javier del Granado, 83, Bolivian writer. Iosif Matusec, 89, Romanian Olympic gymnast (1936). Newt V. Mills, 96, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1937–1943). Paul Nogier, 87, French neurologist and physician. Virgil Walter Ross, 88, American animator. Eric Thompson, 68, British cyclist and Olympian (1956, 1960).

16 Danilo Alvim, 75, Brazilian football player and manager, pneumonia. Jeremy Michael Boorda, 56, American admiral, suicide. Claude Gordon, 80, American trumpeter, band director, educator, and author, cancer. Olga Madar, 80, American labor unionist.

17 Scott Brayton, 37, American open-wheel racing driver, racing accident. Willis Conover, 75, American radio producer, lung cancer. Mary Haas, 86, American linguist. Rusi Modi, 71, Indian cricket player. Nick Origlass, 88, Australian Trotskyist politician. Johnny "Guitar" Watson, 61, American musician and singer-songwriter, myocardial infarction.

18 Czesław Bobrowski, 92, Polish politician and economist. Mario Braggiotti, 90, American pianist, composer and raconteur. Dawee Chullasapya, 81, Thai Air Force air marshal. Chet Forte, 60, American television director and sports radio talk show host, heart attack. Kevin Gilbert, 29, American musician, accidental asphyxiation. Yosef Porat, 86, German-Israeli chess player. T. B. Werapitiya, 71, Sri Lankan cricket player.

19 John Beradino, 79, American baseball player and actor, pancreatic cancer. Herbert Büchs, 82, German Air Force officer. Jake Ford, 50, American basketball player (Seattle SuperSonics). Hideji Hōjō, 93, Japanese author, novelist, and playwright. Janaki Ramachandran, 72, Indian actor and politician, cardiac arrest. Margaret Rawlings, 89, English actress. Charles Verlinden, 89, Belgian medievalist. Zygmunt Ziembiński, 75, Polish legal philosopher and logician.

20 Bimal Bose, 77, Indian cricketer. Noè Cruciani, 33, Italian Olympic boxer (1984). Jean-Jacques Delbo, 87, French actor. Dean Harens, 75, American actor. Bill Kempling, 75, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1972–1993). Filiberto Manzo, 66, Mexican Olympic basketball player (1952). Jon Pertwee, 76, English actor, comedian, cabaret performer and TV presenter, heart attack. Janez Vidic, 73, Slovene painter and illustrator.

21 Vladimir Belyakov, 78, Soviet Olympic gymnast (1952). Paul Delph, 39, American musician. Raffaele di Paco, 87, Italian road racing cyclist. Karl Hoffmann, 81, German Indologist. Arvo Huutoniemi, 82, Finnish Olympic discus thrower (1948, 1952). Fernando Volio Jiménez, 71, Costa Rican politician. Lash LaRue, 78, American actor, pulmonary emphysema. Fritz Ligges, 57, German Olympic equestrian (1964, 1972, 1984), heart attack.

22 Robert Christie, 82, Canadian actor and director. Émile Frantz, 86, Luxembourgian Olympic wrestler (1928). Cuthbert Hurd, 85, American computer scientist and entrepreneur. Seymour H. Knox III, 70, American sports executive. Veikko Lavi, 84, Finnish singer, songwriter and writer. Maurice Piot, 83, French Olympic fencer (1952). Rex Rogers, 79, Australian cricketer. George H. Smith, 73, American writer. Wong Peng Soon, 78, Malaysian badminton player, pneumonia.

23 Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, 46, Egyptian al-Qaeda leader, drowned. Patrick Cargill, 77, English actor, brain cancer. Dorothy Hyson, 81, American actress, stroke. Sim Iness, 65, American Olympic discus thrower (1952). Evert Karlsson, 75, Swedish ski jumper and Olympian (1948). Bernhard Klodt, 69, German football player, heart attack. Kronid Lyubarsky, 62, Soviet dissident, heart attack. Tanju Okan, 57, Turkish recording artist and singer, cirrhosis. Peter Pasetti, 79, German actor, cancer. Yevgeny Rodionov, 19, Russian soldier, execution by beheading. Eric Thompson, 68, British cyclist and Olympian (1956, 1960).

24 John Abbott, 90, English actor.