The following is a list of notable deaths. Names are listed by date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.

Deaths of notable animals (that is, those animals with their own Wikipedia articles) are also reported here.

A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

December 2008

10

• Dorothy Porter, 54, Australian poet, breast cancer. [1]
• Didith Reyes, 60, Filipino singer. [2]

9

• Ibrahim Dossey, 36, Ghanaian footballer, car accident. [3]
• Yuri Glazkov, 69, Russian cosmonaut. [4]
• José María Larrauri Lafuente, 90, Spanish Bishop of the Vitoria. [5] (Spanish)

8

• Manzoor Hussain Atif, 81, Pakistani field hockey player and administrator, after long illness. [6]
• Mohammad Bobi, Afghan Taliban commander, airstrike. [7]
• John Cumming, 78, British footballer. [8]
• Kerryn McCann, 41, Australian athlete, liver cancer. [9]
• Oliver Postgate, 83, British animator (Bagpuss, Clangers). [10]
• Robert Prosky, 77, American actor (Hill Street Blues), complications from a heart procedure. [11]
• Bob Spiers, 63, British television director (Absolutely Fabulous, Fawlty Towers), after long illness. [12]

7

• Abul Ahsan, 71, Bangladeshi diplomat and politician, cardiac arrest. [13]
• António Alçada Baptista, 81, Portuguese writer. [14] (Portuguese)
• Marky Cielo, 20, Filipino actor, sudden unexplained death syndrome. [15]
• Alice King, 78, American first lady of New Mexico, stroke. [16]
• George Kuzma, 83, American Bishop of Van Nuys. [17]
• Gérard Lauzier, 76, French cartoonist and film director, after long illness. [18]
• Georges Nguyen Van Loc, 75, French policeman, writer and actor. [19] (French)
• Roger Sonnabend, 83, American hotelier. [20]
• Dennis Yost, 65, American singer (Classics IV), respiratory failure. [21]

6

• Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, Greek student, shot. [22]
• Catherine Hagel, 114, American supercentenarian, third oldest validated living person. [23]
• Elliot Manyika, 53, Zimbabwean politician, road accident. [24]
• Richard Marsland, 32, Australian radio host, apparent suicide. [25]
• Ivan Semedi, 87, Ukrainian Bishop of Mukacheve. [26]
• Sunny von Bülow, 76, American heiress, cardiopulmonary arrest. [27]

5

• Alexy II, 79, Estonian-born Russian primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1990, heart failure. [28]
• Jimmy Anderson, 55, American rodeo clown. [29]
• George Brecht, 82, American artist (Fluxus), natural causes. [30] (German)
• Martyn Crook, 52, Australian footballer and coach, heart attack. [31]
• Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, 80, Romanian politician, cancer. [32]
• Nina Foch, 84, Dutch-born American actress, myelodysplasia. [33]
• Joseph Gardner, 38, American murderer, execution by lethal injection. [34]
• Beverly Garland, 82, American actress (My Three Sons), after long illness. [35]
• Rúnar Júlíusson, 63, Icelandic musician (Thor's Hammer), cardiac arrest. [36]
• Sir Basil Kelly, 88, British politician and judge, after short illness. [37]
• Dominic Mallary, 24, American hard core singer (Last Lights), blood clot caused during performance. [38]
• Anca Parghel, 51, Romanian singer, ovarian cancer. [39]
• Dick Vertlieb, American baseball and basketball executive. [40]

4

• Forrest J. Ackerman, 92, American science fiction expert, heart failure. [41]
• Steve Bradley, 32, American wrestler. [42]
• Patrick H. Norton, 86, American businessman, after short illness. [43]
• Donna Stewart-Hardaway, 75, American actress (The Wizard of Oz). [44]
• Richard Van Allan, 73, British opera singer, lung cancer. [45]
• Alex Widmer, 52, Swiss CEO of Julius Baer bank. [46]

3

• Oliver Selfridge, 82, British-born American computer scientist, pioneer of artificial intelligence, injuries from a fall. [47]
• William Spoelhof, 98, American President of Calvin College (1951–1976), complications from a fall. [48]
• Ignacio Uria Mendizabal, 71, Spanish businessman, shot. [49]
• Elmer Valentine, 85, American nightclub owner. [50]
• Robert Zajonc, 85, Polish-born American psychologist, pancreatic cancer. [51]

2

• Carlos María Abascal Carranza, 59, Mexican Secretary of the Interior (2005–2006), cancer. [52]
• Kathleen Baskin-Ball, 50, American United Methodist pastor, cancer. [53]
• Frank Crean, 92, Australian politician, Treasurer (1972–1974), Deputy Prime Minister (1975), after short illness. [54]
• Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, 81, American writer, filmmaker and scholar. [55]
• Margarita Karapanou, 62, Greek author, respiratory problems. [56]
• Pyotr Latyshev, 60, Russian politician, presidential envoy to Urals Federal District. [57]
• Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale, 97, British aristocrat and politician. [58]
• Henry Molaison, 82, American amnesiac, subject of brain science study, respiratory failure. [59]
• Odetta, 77, American folk singer and human rights activist, heart disease. [60]
• Konstantinos Papachronis, 31, Greek actor, motorcycle accident. [61]
• Edward Samuel Rogers, 75, Canadian businessman, CEO of Rogers Communications, heart failure. [62]

1

• Paul Benedict, 70, American television actor (The Jeffersons). [63]
• Betty Goodwin, 85 Canadian artist. [64]
• Beth Hoffman, 58, American managing editor (The Freeman). [65]
• Tom Kirby, 61, Irish darts player, pancreatic cancer. [66]
• Mikel Laboa, 74, Spanish Basque singer and songwriter. [67] (Spanish)
• Raymond F. Lederer, 70, American politician, member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania (1977–1981), cancer. [68]
• Emanuel Rackman, 98, American Orthodox rabbi. [69]
• H. Sridhar, 50, Indian sound engineer, heart attack. [70]
• Dorothy Sterling, 95, American writer and historian. [71]
• Joseph B. Wirthlin, 91, American oldest living Mormon Apostle, natural causes. [72]

November 2008

See Deaths in November 2008.

October 2008

See Deaths in October 2008.

September 2008

See Deaths in September 2008.

August 2008

See Deaths in August 2008.

July 2008

See Deaths in July 2008.

June 2008

See Deaths in June 2008.

May 2008

See Deaths in May 2008.

April 2008

See Deaths in April 2008.

March 2008

See Deaths in March 2008.

February 2008

See Deaths in February 2008.

January 2008

See Deaths in January 2008.

External links

Template:Wikinewshas

• English language obituaries on the Web
  • General
    • Obituaries.com
    • Recent AP Obituaries
    • Variety Magazine Obituaries
  • US
    • The New York Times: Obituaries
    • Washington Post: Obituaries
    • The Boston Globe: Obituaries
    • Los Angeles Times: Obituaries
  • South Africa
    • Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Obituaries
  • UK
    • The Daily Telegraph: Obituaries
    • The Guardian: Obituaries
    • The Independent: Obituaries
    • The Times: Obituaries
    • The Scotsman: Obituaries
    • Lasting Tribute: Obituaries
  • Australia
    • The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): Obituaries
  • Canada
    • The Globe and Mail: Obituaries

• Specialized websites
  • Dead or Alive
  • Dead People Server
  • Death List
  • Died Today
  • Entertainment Insiders
  • Famous Dead Database
  • Find a Grave
  • Legacy.com
  • Life In Legacy
  • Very Important Patients
  • Writers We've Lost
  • Written in Stone - Literary deaths

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2007, Deaths in 2006, Deaths in 2005, Deaths in 2004, Deaths in 2003, Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, ...