Deaths in April 2008

1

Mosko Alkalai, 77, Israeli actor (Blaumilch Canal, The Fox in the Chicken Coop, Yana's Friends), respiratory failure.

Triston Jay Amero, 26, American hotel bomber, pulmonary edema.

Shosh Atari, 58, Israeli radio presenter and actress, heart attack.

Péter Baczakó, 56, Hungarian weightlifter, 1980 Olympic champion, cancer.

Sabin Bălaşa, 75, Romanian painter, heart attack.

Sherry Britton, 89, American burlesque dancer turned actor (Guys and Dolls).

Wally Bronner, 81, American founder of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, cancer.

Audrey Cahn, 102, Australian nutritionist and microbiologist.

Jim Finney, 83, British football referee.

Gabriel Mkhumane, Swazi opposition leader, shot.

Licínio Pereira da Silva, 63, Portuguese last political prisoner of PIDE during Estado Novo, nosocomial infection. (Portuguese)

Floyd Simmons, 84, American decathlon Olympic bronze medallist (1948, 1952) and actor (South Pacific).

Otto Soemarwoto, 82, Indonesian professor and ecologist, Order of the Golden Ark recipient. (Indonesian)

Marvin Stone, 26, American basketball player for Saudi Arabian Al-Ittihad (Jeddah) team, heart attack.

2

Norberto Collado Abreu, 87, Cuban naval officer, helmsman of the yacht Granma which carried Fidel Castro to Cuba in 1956.

Johnny Byrne, 72, Irish writer and script editor (Doctor Who, Heartbeat).

Sir Geoffrey Cox, 97, British founder of ITN News at Ten.

David Henshaw, 76, Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Geelong (1982–1996).

Ray Poole, 86, American football player (New York Giants), cancer.

Yakup Satar, 110, Crimean-born supercentenarian, believed to be the last Turkish veteran of World War I.

Mona Seilitz, 65, Swedish actress and entertainer, cancer. (Swedish)

Adam Studziński, 97, Polish Roman Catholic Dominican priest, World War II chaplain of Polish forces.

Taotao, 36, Chinese oldest captive giant panda, brain thrombus and cerebral hemorrhage.

3

Johnny Byrne, 73, Irish writer (Doctor Who, Space: 1999).

Andrew Crozier, 64, British poet, brain tumour.

Hrvoje Ćustić, 24, Croatian footballer (NK Zadar), head injury.

William D. Eberle, 84, American businessman, U.S. Trade Representative (1971–1974), kidney failure.

Frosty Freeze, 44, American B-boy, breakdancer and member of the Rock Steady Crew.

Jeremy R. Knowles, 72, British-born Harvard University dean of Arts and Sciences (1991–2002), prostate cancer.

Ivan Korade, 44, Croatian general and murder suspect, apparent suicide by gunshot.

Vladimir Preclik, 78, Czech sculptor and writer.

Robert Tomasulo, 73, American computer scientist.

4

Harley Dickinson, 69, Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1982–1992).

Fay McKay, 78, American entertainer ("The Twelve Daze of Christmas").

Jerry Rosholt, 85, American journalist and historian.

Wu Xueqian, 87, Chinese politician, foreign minister (1982–1988).

5

Giuseppe Attardi, 84, American molecular biologist.

Iris Burton, 77, American talent agent, pneumonia and complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Eugene Ehrlich, 85, American lexicographer and author.

Alex Grasshoff, 79, American documentary filmmaker known for having his Academy Award revoked.

Charlton Heston, 84, American actor (Ben-Hur, Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes), NRA president, pneumonia.

Walt Masterson, 87, American baseball player, stroke.

McKelvey, 9, British race horse, euthanised after fall during Grand National.

Frank Opsal, 79, Canadian Olympic shooter.

Steve Sinnott, 56, British general secretary of the National Union of Teachers since 2004.

Jeu Sprengers, 69, Dutch chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association.

Wang Donglei, 23, Chinese footballer, car accident. (Chinese)

Michael White, 59, Australian inventor of narrative therapy, cardiac arrest.

Sibte Hasan Zaidi, 89, Indian pathologist and toxicologist.

6

James Barrier, 55, American wrestler.

Lakshman de Alwis, 68, Sri Lankan national athletics coach, suicide bomb attack.

Tony Davies, 68, New Zealand rugby union player (All Blacks).

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, Sri Lankan highways minister, suicide bomb attack.

Abdou Latif Guèye, 52, Senegalese politician, sixth vice-president of the National Assembly (2007–2008), car accident. (French)

Kuruppu Karunaratne, 47, Sri Lankan Olympic marathoner, suicide bomb attack.

Abraham Osheroff, 92, American social activist, veteran of the Spanish Civil War (Abraham Lincoln Brigade), heart attack.

Gib Shanley, 76, American radio sportscaster (Cleveland Browns).

Teoh Chye Hin, 94, Malaysian secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation (1974–1978).

7

Ludu Daw Amar, 92, Burmese journalist, writer and activist.

Kunio Egashira, 70, Japanese chairman of Ajinomoto, pancreatic cancer.

Ruth Greenglass, 84, American atomic spy for the Soviet Union, wife of David Greenglass, sister-in-law of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Bobby Howard, 63, American football player (San Diego Chargers), cancer.

Sir Frank Little, 82, Australian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Melbourne (1974–1996).

Joe Shell, 89, American member of the California State Assembly (1953–1963).

Mark Speight, 42, British TV presenter (SMart), suicide by hanging.

Gloria Taylor, 57, British activist and mother of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor, heart attack.

Andrei Tolubeyev, 63, Russian actor, after long illness. (Russian)

Esko Tommola, 77, Finnish news anchor, after long illness. (Finnish)

Phil Urso, 82, American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer.

8

Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley, 79, British Green Party member of the House of Lords.

Cedella Booker, 81, Jamaican mother of Bob Marley, natural causes.

John Button, 74, Australian senator, minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce (1983–1993), pancreatic cancer.

Loren Driscoll, 79, American tenor.

Graham Higman, 91, British mathematician.

Seaman Jacobs, 96, American television writer (The Red Skelton Show, F Troop, The Jeffersons), cardiac arrest.

Stanley Kamel, 65, American actor (Monk, Domino, Cagney & Lacey), heart attack.

Ogawa Kunio, 80, Japanese novelist.

Hersh Lyons, 92, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals).

Nadezhda Rumyantseva, 77, Russian actress, after long illness.

Jacqueline Voltaire, 59, British-born Mexican soap opera actress for Televisa, malignant melanoma.

Kees Wijdekop, 94, Dutch Olympic canoer.

9

Abu Ubaidah al-Masri, Pakistani al-Qaeda senior operative, death from probable hepatitis confirmed on this date.

George Butler, 76, American record producer and A&R man (Blue Note, Columbia), complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Herman Carr, 83, American physicist, pioneer of MRI, heart disease.

Diego Catalán, 80, Spanish philologist, grandson of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, heart disease. (Spanish)

Burt Glinn, 82, American photographer, kidney failure and pneumonia.

Michael Golomb, 98, American mathematician.

Erkki Junkkarinen, 78, Finnish singer. (Finnish)

Bob Kames, 82, American polka musician, songwriter and popularizer of the Chicken Dance, prostate cancer.

Daniela Klemenschits, 25, Austrian tennis player, abdominal cancer.

Lloyd Lamble, 94, Australian actor.

Jacques Morel, 85, French actor, voice of Obelix. (French)

Choubeila Rached, 75, Tunisian singer.

Elizabeth Stefan, 112, American supercentenarian, verified seventh-oldest person in the world.

Marvin Sylvor, 75, American carousel designer, kidney failure.

10

Francis Coleman, 84, Canadian-born British conductor, television producer and director.

Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, 88, Mexican cardinal, archbishop emeritus of Mexico.

Peter Dubovský, 86, Slovak Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Banská Bystrica (1991–1997).

Robert W. Greene, 78, American investigative journalist, heart failure.

Dickson Mabon, 82, British Labour and Social Democratic Party MP (1955–1983).

Jeremiah Nyagah, 87, Kenyan politician, after short illness.

Marcel Pertry, 86, Belgian footballer (Cercle Brugge). (Dutch)

Gopal Raju, 80, American publisher, pioneer of Indian ethnic media in USA (India Abroad, Indo-Asian News Service), jaundice.

Kim Santow, 67, Australian judge (NSW Supreme Court), chancellor of the University of Sydney (2001–2007), brain tumour.

11

Claude Abbes, 80, French football player. (French)

Clyde Cook, 72, American president of Biola University (1982–2007).

Willoughby Goddard, 81, British actor (Young Sherlock Holmes).

Harry Goonatilake, 78, Sri Lankan Air Force Commander (1976–1981).

Joan Jackson, 92, British muse of poet John Betjeman.

Bob Pellegrini, 73, American football linebacker (Philadelphia Eagles).

Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, 91, American author, daughter of Florenz Ziegfeld and Billie Burke, heart failure.

12

Cecilia Colledge, 87, British figure skater and 1936 Olympic silver medallist.

Valda Cooper, 92, Australian-born American journalist for the Associated Press.

Dieter Eppler, 81, German film actor and radio drama director.

Donald Forbes, 73, British convicted murderer.

Patrick Hillery, 84, Irish president (1976–1990) and minister (1959–1973), European commissioner for Ortoli Commission.

Abbas Katouzian, 86, Iranian painter.

Artur Maurício, 63, Portuguese Constitutional Court president (2004–2007), after long illness. (Portuguese)

Barbara McDermott, 95, American survivor of the RMS Lusitania sinking.

Buzz Nutter, 77, American football player (Colts, Steelers), heart failure.

Augusta Wallace, 78, New Zealand district judge (1975–1990), after long illness.

Dwaine Wilson, 47, American former Canadian Football League player, drowned.

Jerry Zucker, 58, Israeli-born American businessman, cancer.

13

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, 51, American kidnapper.

Larry Elliott, 72, American college football coach (Washburn University).

Robert Greacen, 87, Irish poet.

Michael Mills, 80, Irish first government ombudsman (1984–1994).

John Archibald Wheeler, 96, American physicist who coined the term "black hole", pneumonia.

Khasan Yandiyev, 52, Russian deputy head of Ingushetia Supreme Court, shot.

Ross Yockey, 64, American Emmy Award-winning author, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

14

Olivia Cenizal, 81, Filipino actress.

Miguel Galván, 50, Mexican actor and comedian, respiratory arrest.

Madeline Lee Gilford, 84, American actress and theatrical producer, wife of Jack Gilford.

Werner "Frick" Groebli, 92, Swiss ice skating comedian (Frick and Frack).

Tommy Holmes, 91, American baseball player (Boston Braves).

Ollie Johnston, 95, American animator (Cinderella, Pinocchio, Mary Poppins), the last of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men".

Marisa Sannia, 61, Italian singer. (Italian)

Robert Somervaille, 86, Australian lawyer, chairman of the Australian Telecommunications Commission (1987–1991).

June Travis, 93, American actress.

15

Imre Antal, 72, Hungarian pianist, TV personality, actor and humorist, cancer.

David K. Brown, 79/80, British naval architect.

David Cass, 71, American economist.

Sean Costello, 28, American blues guitarist and singer.

Hazel Court, 82, British actress (The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven), heart attack.

Clifford Davies, 59, American musician, drummer for Ted Nugent, apparent suicide by gunshot.

Brian Davison, 65, British musician, drummer for progressive rock band The Nice.

Parvin Dowlatabadi, 84, Iranian children's author and poet, heart attack.

Renata Fronzi, 82, Argentine-born Brazilian actress, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. (Portuguese)

Miguel Galván, 50, Mexican comedian and TV personality, respiratory arrest.

Hendrik S. Houthakker, 83, American economist.

Fernand Jaccard, 100, Swiss football midfielder. (French)

Benoît Lamy, 62, Belgian motion picture writer-director.

Krister Stendahl, 86, Swedish Lutheran theologian and bishop.

Mahinarangi Tocker, 52, New Zealand musician, asthma attack.

16

Joe Alston, 81, American badminton player and FBI agent.

Lucia Cunanan, 80, Filipino restaurateur credited with inventing sisig, murdered by hammer.

Joe Feeney, 76, American tenor (The Lawrence Welk Show), emphysema.

Edward Norton Lorenz, 90, American professor of meteorology, cancer.

Fadel Shana'a, 24, Palestinian Reuters cameraman, flechette shell.

Joseph Solman, 99, American painter with Works Progress Administration.

17

Aimé Césaire, 94, French Martiniquan poet and politician.

Richard Chopping, 90, British illustrator (James Bond).

Gwyneth Dunwoody, 77, British Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, following open heart surgery.

Danny Federici, 58, American keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, melanoma.

Nicolette Goulet, 52, American actress (The Guiding Light), daughter of Robert Goulet, breast cancer.

Zoya Krakhmalnikova, 79, Russian Christian dissident and writer.

George Pollard, 89, American portrait painter (Harry Truman, Muhammad Ali), pneumonia.

Rosario Sánchez Mora, 88, Spanish female anti-Franco veteran of the Spanish Civil War.

Mikhail Tanich, 84, Russian poet, kidney problems. (Russian)

Su-Lin Young, 96, American explorer.

18

Peter Howard, 80, American music director and arranger, complications of Parkinson's Disease.

Michael de Larrabeiti, 73, British author (The Borrible Trilogy).

Kay Linaker, 94, American actress and screenwriter (The Blob).

Joy Page, 83, American actress (Casablanca), complications from a stroke and pneumonia.

Rosalie Ritz, 84, American courtroom artist (O.J. Simpson Trial, Sirhan Sirhan trial), lung cancer.

William W. Warner, 88, American biologist and writer, complications of Alzheimer's disease.

19

Bob Bledsaw, 65, American founder of Judges Guild, cancer.

Alessandro Cevese, 57, Italian ambassador to South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar, car accident.

Lawrence Hertzog, 56, American television writer and producer (Nowhere Man), cancer.

Alfonso López Trujillo, 72, Colombian Catholic archbishop, president of Pontifical Council for the Family, diabetes.

John Marzano, 45, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox), co-host of Leading Off on mlb.com, injuries from a fall.

Germaine Tillion, 100, French anthropologist, member of French Resistance.

Constant Vanden Stock, 93, Belgian president of RSC Anderlecht football club.

20

Richard Alexander, 73, British politician, Conservative MP for Newark (1979–1997), cancer.

Bebe Barron, 82, American composer, pioneer of electronic music.

Gazanfer Bilge, 85, Turkish freestyle wrestler, 1948 Olympic champion.

Farid Chopel, 55, French actor and singer, cancer. (French)

Orish Grinstead, 27, American rhythm and blues singer, member of 702, kidney failure.

Monica Lovinescu, 84, Romanian writer.

Derek McKay, 58, Scottish footballer (Deveronvale, Dundee, Aberdeen, Barrow), heart attack.

VL Mike, 30, American rapper, shot.

Nissan Nativ, 86, Israeli director, actor and acting teacher.

Tariq Niazi, 68, Pakistani field hockey player, member of 1968 Olympic gold medal team, cardiac arrest.

Geoff Polites, 60, Australian CEO of Jaguar Land Rover.

William R. Snodgrass, 85, American government official, Comptroller of Tennessee (1955–1999).

Harry Ulinski, 83, American football player (Washington Redskins), sepsis.

Geoff Ward, 81, English cricketer (Kent and Essex).

21

Darell Garretson, 76, American professional basketball referee.

Aaron Shearer, 88, American classical guitarist.

Carmen Silva, 92, Brazilian actress, multiple organ failure. (Portuguese)

Al Wilson, 68, American soul singer ("Show and Tell"), kidney failure.

22

Cameron Argetsinger, 87, American auto racing pioneer.

Monna Bell, 70, Chilean singer, stroke.

Bob Childers, 61, American singer-songwriter, emphysema.

Ed Chynoweth, 66, Canadian president of the Western Hockey League (1972–1995) and CHL (1975–1995), cancer.

Paul Davis, 60, American singer ("I Go Crazy", "'65 Love Affair", "Cool Night"), heart attack.

Safdar Kiyani, 60, Pakistani teacher and pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Balochistan, shot.

Dora Ratjen, 89, German high jumper, disguised as female to compete for Nazi Germany at 1936 Summer Olympics.

Francisco Martins Rodrigues, 81, Portuguese anti-Fascist resistant, Marxist-Leninist Committee founder, cancer. (Portuguese)

Daniel Lee Siebert, 54, American serial killer, pancreatic cancer.

23

Jean-Daniel Cadinot, 64, French film director and producer, heart attack.

Don Gillis, 85, Canadian-born American sportscaster.

Martha Kostuch, 58, Canadian environmentalist, multiple system atrophy.

Cook Lougheed, 86, American entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Loreto Paras-Sulit, 99, Filipino writer.

Rustam Sani, 64, Malaysian politician, sociologist, political scientist and blogger.

Harold Stephenson, 87, British first-class wicketkeeper (Somerset).

William H. Stewart, 86, American surgeon general (1965–1969), complications from renal failure.

24

Lucy Appleby, 88, British traditional cheesemaker.

Tristram Cary, 82, British film and television composer (Doctor Who, The Ladykillers, Quatermass and the Pit).

James Day, 89, American television host, respiratory failure.

Harry Geris, 60, Canadian Olympic wrestler.

Jimmy Giuffre, 86, American jazz clarinetist, pneumonia.

Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, 39, American entertainer, member of Howard Stern's Wack Pack, pneumonia.

Carlos Robalo, 76, Portuguese politician, Secretary of State (1980–1981). (Portuguese)

Trilochan Singh, 85, Indian field hockey player, member of the gold medal-winning 1948 Summer Olympics team.

25

Enrico Donati, 99, Italian-born American surrealist painter and sculptor.

Sonny Grandelius, 79, American football player and coach.

R. Laird Harris, 97, American Presbyterian minister and Old Testament scholar.

Humphrey Lyttelton, 86, British jazz trumpeter and chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, following surgery for aortic aneurysm.

John H. McConnell, 84, American owner of Worthington Industries and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

26

Henry Brant, 94, Canadian-born American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.

Moisey Feigin, 103, Russian artist, Guinness World Record–holder for the oldest professional working artist.

Wallace Gichere, 53, Kenyan photojournalist.

Yossi Harel, 90, Israeli captain of Exodus, cardiac arrest.

Carmen Scarpitta, 74, Italian actress,

27

Art Johnson, 88, American baseball player.

Ram Gupta, 72, Indian cricket umpire.

Ron O'Brien, 56, American disc jockey, pneumonia.

Mike Patrick, 55, American former NFL punter (New England Patriots).

Hal Stein, 79, American jazz musician.

Marios Tokas, 54, Greek Cypriot composer, cancer.

Sallie Wilson, 76, American ballerina, cancer.

Frances Yeend, 95, American soprano opera singer.

28

Diana Barnato Walker, 90, British aviator, first British woman to break the sound barrier.

John Barron, 74, Irish hurler.

Ivan Caesar, 41, American football player (Boston College, Minnesota Vikings, Portland Forest Dragons), gunshot.

Max Cherry, 81, Australian Olympics and Commonwealth Games athletics coach, heart attack.

Tarka Cordell, 40, British musician, suicide.

John Patrick Crecine, 69, American president of Georgia Tech (1987–1994).

Hans Eder, 81, Austrian Olympic skier.

Jack Hanrahan, 75, American Emmy Award–winning television script writer.

Sir Derek Higgs, 64, British chairman of Alliance & Leicester, sudden illness.

Ed Marion, 81, American official in the National Football League from 1960 to 1987.

Will Robinson, 96, American coach, first African American Division I college basketball (ISU) coach, Detroit Pistons scout.

29

John Berkey, 75, American science fiction artist.

Bo Yang, 88, Taiwanese writer.

Ernesto Bonino, 86, Italian singer. (Italian)

Gordon Bradley, 74, British footballer and coach (North American Soccer League), Alzheimer's disease.

Lewis Croft, 88, American actor (Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz).

Chuck Daigh, 84, American racing driver, heart and respiratory disease.

Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, 87, Iranian Anglican Bishop, first ethnic Iranian Christian bishop since the 7th century.

Julie Ege, 64, Norwegian actress (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), breast cancer.

Tatsuo Hasegawa, 92, Japanese automotive engineer, development chief of the first Toyota Corolla.

Albert Hofmann, 102, Swiss researcher, chemist and discoverer of LSD, heart attack.

Sir Anthony Kershaw, 92, British Conservative MP (1955–1987).

Francis Mahoney, 80, American basketball player (Boston Celtics).

Charles Tilly, 78, American sociologist, historian and political scientist.

Micky Waller, 66, British drummer (Jeff Beck Group, Cyril Davies), liver failure.

30

John Cargher, 89, Australian radio broadcaster, hosted Singers of Renown since 1966.

Juancho Evertsz, 85, Dutch Antillean politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles (1973–1977). (Dutch)

Ling Ling, 22, Chinese panda, lived in Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, oldest giant panda in Japan, heart failure.

M. G. Pandithan, 68, Malaysian politician, leukemia.

Clarence Ross, 84, American bodybuilder.

Allan Sparrow, 63, Canadian politician, activist and Toronto city councillor (1974–1980), colorectal cancer.