The following is a list of notable deaths in 2012.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference (and language of reference, if not English).

January 2012

15

• Yevgeny Ginzburg, 66, Russian television director, stroke. [1] (Russian)
• Ben Hana, 54, New Zealand street personality. [2]

14

• Mircea Ciumara, 68, Romanian politician, Minister of Finance (1996–1997), cancer. [3] (Romanian)
• Marv Davidov, 80, American peace activist (The Honeywell Project). [4]
• Arfa Karim, 16, Pakistani student, world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (2004–2008), idiopathic epilepsy seizures. [5]
• Lasse Kolstad, 90, Norwegian actor. [6] (Norwegian)
• Antonio Mistrorigo, 99, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Treviso (1958–1988). [7]
• Txillardegi, 82, Basque writer and politician. [8] (Spanish)
• Rosy Varte, 88, French actress. [9] (French).

13

• Anton Blom, 87, Norwegian journalist. [10] (Norwegian)
• Rauf Denktaş, 87, Turkish Cypriot politician, founder and the first president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, multiple organ failure. [11]
• Lefter Küçükandonyadis, 86, Turkish footballer (Fenerbahçe) and coach, pneumonia. [12] (Turkish)
• Miljan Miljanić, 81, Serbian football player, coach and administrator. [13]
• Abdollah Mojtabavi, 87, Iranian wrestler. [14] (Persian)
• Richard Threlkeld, 74, American reporter (CBS News), traffic collision. [15]
• William Robert Wright, 76, American biographer and politician, Chairman of the Utah Republican Party (1977–1979), Alzheimer's disease. [16]
• Andrzej Krzysztof Wróblewski, 76, Polish journalist. [17] (Polish)

12

• Sadao Bekku, 89, Japanese composer, pneumonia. [18] (Japanese)
• Charlie Collins, 78, American country musician (Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys), stroke. [19]
• Reginald Hill, 75, British crime writer (Dalziel and Pascoe). [20]
• Natalee Holloway, 18, American student, missing since 2005. [21] (declared legally dead on this date)
• Bill Janklow, 72, American politician, Attorney General (1975–1979) and Governor of South Dakota (1979–1987, 1995–2003), brain cancer. [22]
• Shiv Kumari of Kotah, 95, Indian Hindu royal. [23]
• MS-1, 55, Mexican professional wrestler, car accident. [24] (Spanish)
• Aslı Nemutlu, 18, Turkish skier, training accident. [25] (Turkish)
• Charles H. Price II, 80, American businessman and diplomat. [26]
• Hannes Råstam, 56, Swedish journalist. [27] (Swedish)
• Rosalind Runcie, 79, British pianist, widow of Robert Runcie. [28]
• Jim Stanley, 76, American football coach (Oklahoma State Cowboys), cancer. [29]

11

• Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, Iranian nuclear scientist, car bomb. [30]
• Frank Cook, 76, British politician, MP for Stockton North (1983–2010), lung cancer. [31]
• Bohumil Golián, 81, Slovak volleyball player. [32]
• Gilles Jacquier, 43, French journalist, grenade attack. [33]
• Edgar Kaiser, 69, Canadian businessman and philanthropist, owner of the Denver Broncos (1981–1984). [34]
• John Madin, 87, English architect. [35]
• V. Madhusudhan Rao, 94, Indian film director. [36]
• Colm Tucker, 59, Irish rugby union player. [37]

10

• Azeem Daultana, 32, Pakistani politician, Member of the National Assembly, road accident. [38]
• José Freire de Oliveira Neto, 83, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Mossoró (1984–2004). [39]
• Israel Getzler, 92, Israeli historian. [40] (Hebrew)
• Vince Gibson, 78, American college football coach. [41]
• Jack Heron, 85, American college basketball coach (Sacramento State University). [42]
• John McCarthy, 61, Irish mental health campaigner and founder of Mad Pride, motor neurone disease. [43]
• Charlie Pawsey, 88, English rugby league player. [44] (death announced on this date)
• Jean Pigott, 87, Canadian politician and businesswoman, MP for Ottawa—Carleton (1976–1979). [45]
• Cliff Portwood, 74, English footballer and singer. [46]
• Mary Raftery, 54, Irish journalist (States of Fear). [47]
• Takao Sakurai, 70, Japanese boxer, esophageal cancer. [48] (Japanese)
• Syed Shah Mardan Shah-II, 83, Pakistani politician and spiritual leader, heart attack. [49]
• Gevork Vartanian, 87, Soviet intelligence agent, Hero of the Soviet Union. [50]

9

• Ron Caron, 82, Canadian ice hockey administrator, General Manager of the St. Louis Blues (1983–1993, 1996). [51]
• Brian Curvis, 74, Welsh boxer, leukaemia. [52] (death announced on this date).
• Alex DeCroce, 75, American politician, New Jersey General Assembly Minority Leader (since 2004). [53]
• Bill Dickie, 82, Scottish football administrator. [54]
• Ruth Fernández, 92, Puerto Rican contralto and politician, Senator (1973–1981). [55] (Spanish)
• Bridie Gallagher, 87, Irish singer. [56]
• Augusto Gansser-Biaggi, 101, Swiss geologist. [57] (German)
• Koizumi Junsaku, 87, Japanese painter and pottery artist, pneumonia. [58] (Japanese)
• Mae Laborde, 102, American actress. [59]
• John Both Puok, Sudanese politician. [60]
• William G. Roll, 85, American psychologist and parapsychologist. [61]
• Malam Bacai Sanhá, 64, Guinea-Bissauan politician, President (1999–2000; since 2009). [62]
• Larry Solway, 83, Canadian radio personality and author. [63]
• Pyotr Vasilevsky, 55, Belarusian football player and coach. [64] (Russian)
• Aldo Zenhäusern, 60, Swiss Olympic ice hockey player (1976). [65]

8

• Dave Alexander, 73, American blues singer and pianist, suicide. [66]
• Herb Clarke, 84, American television weatherman (WCAU-TV), NATAS Governor's Award winner (2007), Alzheimer's disease. [67]
• Glenn Cox, 80, American baseball player (Kansas City Athletics). [68]
• Franz Dorfer, 61, Austrian Olympic boxer (1976). [69] (German)
• Dmitry Machinsky, 74, Russian archaeologist. [70] (Russian)
• Graham Rathbone, 69, Welsh footballer, dementia. [71]
• Alexis Weissenberg, 82, Bulgarian-born French pianist. [72]

7

• Ibrahim Aslan, 77, Egyptian novelist and short story writer, heart failure. [73]
• Tony Blankley, 63, British-born American conservative commentator, newspaper editor and child actor, stomach cancer. [74]
• Richard Hopkins, 47, British television producer (Strictly Come Dancing), cancer. [75]
• Hideaki Nitani, 81, Japanese actor (Tokyo Drifter), pneumonia. [76] (Japanese)
• Clarence Cullam Pope, 81, American prelate, Episcopal Bishop of Fort Worth (1986–1994). [77]
• Herbert Wilf, 80, American mathematician. [78]

6

• Louise Gibson Annand, 96, Scottish artist. [79]
• Tom Ardolino, 56, American drummer (NRBQ). [80]
• Nicole Bogner, 27, Austrian musician (Visions of Atlantis), illness. [81]
• Gabriel Cadis, 60, Israeli attorney, chairman of the Jaffa Orthodox Church Association, stabbed. [82]
• John Celardo, 93, American comic strip artist (Tarzan, Buz Sawyer). [83]
• Bob Holness, 83, South African-born British quiz show host and actor (Blockbusters). [84]
• Eleftherios Katsaitis, 82, Greek-born British Orthodox hierarch, Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Great Britain (1987–1994). [85] (Greek)
• W. Francis McBeth, 78, American composer. [86]
• Frank James McGarr, 90, American federal district judge. [87]
• John McWhinnie, 43, American rare book dealer and gallerist, drowned. [88]
• Ellen Pence, 63, American sociologist and social activist, creator of the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, breast cancer. [89]
• Louis Rech, 85, Italian-born Luxembourgian politician, Mayor of Dudelange (1985–1993). [90] (German)
• Clive Shell, 64, Welsh international rugby player. [91] (death announced on this date).
• Danilo Slivnik, 61, Slovene journalist and author, suicide. [92]

5

• Richard Alf, 59, American businessman, co-founder and chairman of San Diego Comic-Con International, pancreatic cancer. [93]
• Selwyn Baptiste, 75, Trinidadian-born British musician and festival organiser. [94]
• Don Carter, 85, American professional bowler, complication from pneumonia and emphysema. [95]
• Samson H. Chowdhury, 86, Bangladeshi businessman. [96]
• Biţu Fălticineanu, 86, Romanian theater director, after long illness. [97] (Romanian)
• Idwal Fisher, 76, Welsh rugby player. [98]
• Hikaru Hayashi, 80, Japanese composer. [99] (Japanese)
• Frank Ackerman Hill, 92, American U.S. Air Force commander of the 33rd Air Division. [100]
• Frederica Sagor Maas, 111, American silent film screenwriter (The Plastic Age), playwright, memoirist and author. [101]
• Amit Saigal, 46, Indian rock magazine publisher, concert promoter and musician, drowned. [102]
• Alexander Sizonenko, 52, Russian basketball player, world's tallest person (1991). [103] (Russian)

4

• Eve Arnold, 99, American photographer. [104]
• Ruben Ayala, 89, American politician, California State Senator (1974–1998), first elected Mayor of Chino, California (1964–1966). [105]
• James F. Crow, 95, American geneticist. [106]
• Byron Donzis, 79, American inventor of the flak jacket, stroke. [107]
• Paul Fauks, 87, American minor league sports director (St. Louis Cardinals). [108]
• Harry Fowler, 85, British character actor. [109]
• Gatewood Galbraith, 64, American lawyer and author, complications from chronic emphysema. [110]
• Sir Archibald Glenn, 100, Australian industrialist, Chancellor of La Trobe University. [111]
• Kalpana, 65, Indian actress. [112]
• Kerry McGregor, 37, British singer and reality contestant (The X Factor), bladder cancer. [113]
• Bobby McKenzie, 83, Australian football player. [114]
• Juan Carlos Mendizábal, 60, Argentine journalist, liver cancer. [115]
• Carmen Naranjo, 83, Costa Rican novelist, poet and essayist, cancer. [116] (Spanish)
• Hisako Ōishi, 75, Japanese politician. [117] (Japanese)
• Rod Robbie, 83, Canadian architect. [118]
• Mitch Shirota, 78, American racehorse jockey and trainer. [119]
• Xaver Unsinn, 82, German Olympic ice hockey player and coach. [120] (German)

3

• Charles W. Bailey, 81, American journalist and novelist (Seven Days in May), Parkinson's disease. [121]
• Gene Bartow, 81, American college basketball coach (UAB, UCLA), stomach cancer. [122]
• Angelo Bowers, 26, American comedian, traffic collision. [123]
• Robert L. Carter, 94, American civil rights activist (Sweatt v. Painter) and judge, complications from a stroke. [124]
• Ray Costict, 56, American football player (New England Patriots). [125]
• Miguel Couturier, 61, Mexican actor (Miss Bala, Once Upon a Time in Mexico), cancer. [126] (Spanish)
• Willi Entenmann, 68, German football player and coach, heart attack. [127] (German)
• Juan Escudero, 91, Spanish footballer. [128]
• John David Lewis, 56, American political scientist. [129]
• Winifred Milius Lubell, 97, American illustrator and writer, heart failure. [130]
• Enrique de Melchor, 61, Spanish flamenco guitarist, cancer. [131]
• Stepan Oshchepkov, 77, Russian canoeist, Olympic gold medalist (1964). [132] (Russian)
• Yadid Rubin, 74, Israeli painter. [133] (Hebrew)
• Felix Shuman, 87, American actor (Damien: Omen II, The Fury). [134]
• Josef Škvorecký, 87, Czech writer and publisher, cancer. [135]
• Miguel Terekhov, 83, Uruguayan-born American ballet dancer and teacher, complications of lung fibrosis. [136]
• Vicar, 77, Chilean cartoonist. [137] (Spanish)
• Bob Weston, 64, British guitarist and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac), gastrointestinal hemorrhage. [138] (body found on this date)

2

• Ian Bargh, 76, British-born Canadian jazz pianist, lung cancer. [139]
• D.W. Barron, 76, British computer scientist. [140]
• Ivan Călin, 76, Moldovan politician, Acting President of the Moldovan Parliament (2009). [141] (Russian)
• William P. Carey, 81, American businessman (W. P. Carey & Co.) and philanthropist. [142]
• Ioan Drăgan, 46, Romanian footballer (FC Brașov), colorectal cancer. [143] (Romanian)
• Odin Fottoh, 73, Tajik composer. [144] (Russian)
• Vivi Friedman, 44, Finnish film director, cancer. [145]
• Yoshiro Hayashi, 89, Japanese golfer. [146] (Japanese)
• Gordon Hirabayashi, 93, American civil rights activist (Hirabayashi v. United States). [147]
• Jim Huber, 67, American sports commentator (CNN, TNT). [148]
• Elli Konstantoudaki, 39, Greek journalist. [149] (Greek)
• Anatoly Kolesov, 73, Russian wrestler, Olympic gold medalist (1964), after long illness. [150] (Russian)
• Howie Koplitz, 73, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators). [151]
• Helmut Müller-Brühl, 78, German conductor. [152] (German)
• Larry Reinhardt, 63, American rock guitarist (Iron Butterfly, Captain Beyond), liver cirrhosis. [153]
• Ambjørg Sælthun, 89, Norwegian politician. [154] (Norwegian)
• Paulo Rodrigues da Silva, 25, Brazilian footballer, car crash. [155] (Portuguese)
• Arend Voortman, 81, Dutch politician. [156] (Dutch)
• Hugh Edwin Young, 94, American economist, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1968–1977). [157]

1

• Gary Ablett, 46, English footballer (Liverpool, Everton, Birmingham City), non-Hodgkin lymphoma. [158]
• Bob Anderson, 89, British Olympic fencer (1952), film fight director and choreographer (Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings). [159]
• Jan Baas, 94, Dutch politician. [160] (Dutch)
• Alfredo Battisti, 86, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Udine (1972–2000). [161] (Italian)
• Jorge Andrés Boero, 38, Argentine motorcycle racer, Dakar rally crash. [162]
• Anders Frandsen, 51, Danish singer and television presenter. [163] (Danish)
• Jean-Marc de Grijs, 41, Belgian football official, after short illness. [164] (Dutch)
• Kiro Gligorov, 94, Macedonian politician, first democratically elected President (1991–1999). [165]
• Jan Groover, 68 American photographer. [166]
• Hermann Guggiari, 87, Paraguayan engineer and sculptor. [167] (Spanish)
• Frank Horwill, 84, British athletics coach. [168]
• Ed Jenkins, 78, American politician, Representative from Georgia (1977–1993). [169]
• Nay Win Maung, 49, Burmese physician and pro-democracy activist, heart attack. [170]
• Fred Milano, 72, American doo-wop singer (The Belmonts, Dion and the Belmonts), lung cancer. [171]
• Nina Miranda, 86, Uruguayan tango singer and composer. [172] (Spanish)
• Marcelle Narbonne, 113, French supercentenarian, oldest person in Europe. [173] (French)
• Carlos Soria, 63, Argentine politician, Secretary of Intelligence (2002), Governor of Río Negro (since 2011), shot. [174]
• Yafa Yarkoni, 86, Israeli singer. [175]

External links

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2011, Deaths in 2010, Deaths in 2009, Deaths in 2008, Deaths in 2007, Deaths in 2006, Deaths in 2005, Deaths in 2004, Deaths in 2003, Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, Deaths in 2000, Deaths in 1999, Deaths in 1998, Deaths in 1997, Deaths in 1996, Deaths in 1995, Deaths in 1994, Deaths in 1993, Deaths in 1992, Deaths in 1991, Deaths in 1990, Deaths in 1989, ...