Deaths in May 1999

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1999.

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 1999

1

  • Eddie Chamblee, 79, American tenor, alto saxophonist and vocalist.
  • Alish Lambaranski, 84, Soviet and Azerbaijani statesman.
  • Jos LeDuc, 54, Canadian professional wrestler, lung infection.
  • Osman Ahmed Osman, 82, Egyptian engineer, entrepreneur, and politician.
  • Jack Sepkoski, 50, American paleontologist.
  • Brian Shawe-Taylor, 84, British racing driver.

2

  • Thomas C. Cochran, 97, American economic historian and author.
  • Bill Davidson, 64, American football player and coach and college athletics administrator.
  • Igor M. Diakonoff, 84, Russian historian, linguist and translator.
  • Ernest A. Gross, 92, American diplomat and lawyer.
  • Douglas Harkness, 96, Canadian politician, teacher and farmer.
  • Robert Arthur Humphreys, 91, British historian and professor of Latin American studies.
  • Tibor Kalman, 49, American graphic designer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
  • Oliver Reed, 61, British actor (The Devils, Oliver!, The Three Musketeers), alcohol intoxication, heart attack.[1]
  • Włodzimierz Sokorski, 90, Polish communist politician, writer, and brigadier general.
  • Anahit Tsitsikian, 72, Armenian female violinist.

3

4

  • Manny Babbitt, 50, U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War and convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
  • Albert Fearnley, 75, English rugby league football player, and coach.
  • Wilfried Geeroms, 57, Belgian Olympic hurdler, cancer.
  • Jean Marius René Guibé, 89, French naturalist.
  • Mahendra Narayan Nidhi, 77, Nepali politician and Gandhian leader.
  • John Salmon, 88, New Zealand photographer, conservationist, and author.
  • Henry Tiller, 84, Norwegian boxer and Olympic medalist.

5

  • Vasilis Diamantopoulos, 78, Greek actor, heart attack.
  • John Howard, 86, British Army officer during World War II.
  • Américo Paredes, 83, American author.
  • Rodrigo Ruiz, 76, Mexican football player.

6

  • Fehmi Agani, 67, Kosovan sociologist and politician.
  • Keizo Hasegawa, 76, Japanese track and field athlete and Olympian.
  • Kaii Higashiyama, 90, Japanese writer and artist.
  • Sven Meyer, 21, German figure skater, suicide by gunshot.
  • Johnny Morris, 82, British television presenter.
  • Maria Laura Rocca, 81, Italian actress and writer.
  • Mark Tuinei, 39, American football player, drug overdose.

7

  • Joseph Gray, 79, Irish-born English Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Shrewsbury.
  • Leon Hess, 85, American businessman and owner of the New York Jets.
  • Elliot Pinhey, 88, British entomologist.
  • Chen Yanyan, 83, Chinese actress and film producer.
  • Yury Zakharanka, 47, Belarusian minister and oppositional politician, murdered by the Lukashenko regime.

8

  • Edward Abraham, 85, English biochemist, stroke.[2]
  • Dirk Bogarde, 78, British actor (Doctor in the House, The Servant, A Bridge Too Far), heart attack.[3]
  • Ed Gilbert, 67, American voice actor (The Transformers, TaleSpin, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero), lung cancer.
  • Soeman Hs, 95, Indonesian author.
  • John Kotz, 80, American collegiate basketball player and early professional.
  • Michael Nightingale, 76, English actor.
  • Alan Paterson, 70, English high jumper and Olympian.
  • Sally Payne, 86, American actress, stroke.
  • Dana Plato, 34, American actress (Diff'rent Strokes), suicide by overdose.[4]
  • Leon Thomas, 61, American jazz and blues vocalist, heart failure.

9

  • Harry Blech, 89, British violinist and conductor.
  • Shirley Dinsdale, 72, American ventriloquist and television and radio personality, cancer.
  • Derek Fatchett, 53, British politician, heart attack.
  • Jürgen Fuchs, 48, East German writer and dissident, leukemia.
  • Jim Hunt, 95, American athletic trainer.
  • Božidar Kantušer, 77, Slovene composer of classical music, cerebral infarct, stroke.
  • Wynona Lipman, American politician, cancer.
  • Ivan M. Niven, 83, Canadian-American mathematician.
  • George T. Raymond, 84, American civil rights leader.
  • Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya, 96, Indian educationist.
  • Ole Søltoft, 58, Danish actor.

10

  • Hans Granlid, 72, Swedish novelist and literary researcher.
  • Anésia Pinheiro Machado, Brazilian female pilot.
  • John Munonye, 70, Nigerian writer.
  • Carl Powis, 71, American baseball player.
  • Shel Silverstein, 68, American poet, playwright, and cartoonist, heart attack.
  • Eric Willis, 77, Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales (1976).

11

  • José Fernández Aguayo, Spanish photography director.
  • Eqbal Ahmad, 65, Pakistani political scientist, writer and pacifist, heart failure.
  • Josef Dostál, 95, Czech botanist, pteridologist, conservationist and climber.
  • Elaine Fifield, 68, Australian ballerina.
  • Werner Fuchs, 50, German football player, heart attack.
  • George Hunter, 60, Scottish motorcycle speedway rider.
  • Birdy Sweeney, 67, Irish actor and comedian.
  • Robert Thomas, 72, Welsh sculptor.

12

  • William James Morgan, 84, Northern Irish unionist politician.
  • Robert Rose, 47, Australian sportsman and quadriplegic, complications following surgery.
  • Penny Santon, 82, American actress (Matt Houston, Funny Girl, Fletch).
  • Saul Steinberg, 84, Romanian-American cartoonist and illustrator.
  • Jerzy Stroba, 79, Polish Roman Catholic bishop.
  • Daniel Frank Walls, 56, New Zealand theoretical physicist, cancer.

13

  • Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz, 88, Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar.
  • Roy Crowson, 84, English biologist.
  • Meg Greenfield, 68, American editorial writer, cancer.
  • Motohiko Hino, 53, Japanese jazz drummer, liver failure.
  • Giuseppe Petrilli, 86, Italian professor and European Commissioner.
  • Gene Sarazen, 97, American golf player, complications of pneumonia.
  • John Whiting, 90, American sociologist and anthropologist.

14

  • Manuel del Cabral, 92, Dominican poet, writer, and diplomat.
  • Buck Houghton, 84, American television producer and writer, pulmonary emphysema.
  • Tang Pao-yun, 55, Taiwanese actress.
  • Joseph F. Smith, 79, American politician.
  • William Tucker, 38, American guitarist, suicide.
  • Grete Weil, 92, German writer.
  • Asrat Woldeyes, 70, Ethiopian surgeon, heart ailment.
  • Jerry Wunderlich, 73, American set decorator (The Exorcist, The Last Tycoon, WarGames).
  • Nitya Chaitanya Yati, 74, Indian philosopher, psychologist, author and poet.

15

  • Valeh Barshadly, 71, Azerbaijani Minister of Defense.
  • Lily Fayol, 84, French singer.
  • Rob Gretton, 46, British band manager (Joy Division, New Order), heart attack.
  • Ernst Mosch, 73, German musician, composer and conductor.
  • Kenneth Riches, 90, British Anglican bishop.
  • Bob Wilson, 85, American gridiron football player.

16

  • Minder Coleman, 95, American artist.
  • Cam Fraser, 67, Canadian football player.
  • Bobby Goldman, 60, American bridge player, writer, and official.
  • George Hill Hodel, 91, American physician and suspect in several murders.
  • Andy Norval, 87, Australian rugby player.
  • Lembit Oll, 33, Estonian chess grandmaster, suicide.

17

  • James Broughton, 85, American poet, playwright and filmmaker, heart failure.
  • Bruce Fairbairn, 49, Canadian musician and record producer.
  • Božidar Finka, 73, Croatian linguist and lexicographer.
  • Henry Jones, 86, American actor, complications from a fall.
  • Thelma Kalama, 68, American Olympic swimmer.
  • Ed Rimkus, 85, American of Lithuanian descent bobsledder.

18

  • Juan Manuel Couder, 64, Spanish tennis player.
  • Hayrettin Erkmen, 84, Turkish politician.
  • Dias Gomes, 76, Brazilian playwright, traffic collision.
  • Hank Herring, 76, American boxer.
  • Miguel Pedro Mundo, 61, American bishop of the Catholic Church.
  • Augustus Pablo, 44, Jamaican record producer and musician, respiratory failure.
  • Freddy Randall, 78, English jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
  • Betty Robinson, 87, American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 m, Alzheimer's disease.

19

  • James Blades, 97, English percussionist.
  • Candy Candido, 85, American radio performer, bass player and voice actor.
  • Rebecca Elson, 39, Canadian–American astronomer and writer, cancer.
  • Larry Markes, 77, American comedian, singer and screenwriter.
  • John McSweeney, Jr., 83, American film editor.
  • Vera Scarth-Johnson, 87, British-Australian botanist and botanical illustrator.
  • Xhafer Spahiu, 75, Albanian politician.
  • Alister Williamson, 80, Australian-British actor.

20

  • William Alfred, 76, American playwright, poet, and academic.
  • Renato Gei, 78, Italian football player and manager.
  • James E. Hill, 77, United States Air Force general and World War II flying ace, cancer.
  • Robert Rhodes James, 66, British politician.
  • Carlos Quirino, 89, Filipino biographer and historian.
  • Colette Ripert, 69, French actress.

21

  • Vanessa Brown, 71, Austrian-American actress, breast cancer.
  • Jozef Cleber, 82, Dutch trombonist, violinist, and composer.
  • Colin Hayes, 75, Australian trainer of thoroughbred racehorses.
  • Norman Rossington, 70, English actor.
  • Mario Tagliaferri, 71, Italian prelate of the Catholic Church.
  • Fulvio Tomizza, 64, Italian writer.

22

  • Milton Banana, 64, Brazilian bossa nova and jazz drummer.
  • Loleh Bellon, 74, French stage and film actress and playwright.
  • Mark Edward Bradley, 92, United States Air Force general and aviator pioneer.
  • Rubén W. Cavallotti, 74, Uruguayan-Argentine film director.
  • Duilio Coletti, 92, Italian film director and screenwriter, heart attack.
  • Alfred Kubel, 90, American politician.

23

  • Arthur Edward Ellis, 84, English football referee, cancer.
  • Owen Hart, 34, Canadian professional wrestler (WWF), injuries sustained from fall.
  • John T. Hayward, 90, American naval aviator during World War II, cancer.
  • Asa Singh Mastana, 71, Indian musician and singer.
  • John Prentice, 78, American cartoonist (Rip Kirby).
  • Albert Charles Smith, 93, American botanist.

24

  • Irene Bache, 98, British artist.
  • Guru Hanuman, 98, Indian wrestling coach, car crash.
  • T. N. Gopinathan Nair, 81, Indian dramatist, novelist, poet and screenwriter.
  • Ramón Rubial, 92, Spanish socialist leader.
  • Arnaldo Silva, 55, Portuguese football player.

25

  • Fredda Brilliant, 96, Polish sculptor and actress.>
  • Hillary Brooke, 84, American film actress, pulmonary embolism.
  • Horst Frank, 69, German film actor, stroke.
  • René Gallice, 80, French football player.
  • Paul Moss, 90, American gridiron football player.[5]
  • Bal Dattatreya Tilak, 80, Indian chemical engineer.

26

  • William Cutolo, 49, American mobster (Colombo crime family), murdered.
  • Sir Hugh Fish, 76, English chemist.
  • Belli Lalitha, 25, Indian folk singer, homicide.
  • Felipe Rodríguez, 73, Puerto Rican singer of boleros, fall.
  • Paul Sacher, 93, Swiss conductor, patron and impresario.
  • Waldo Semon, 100, American inventor.
  • Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, 89, Austrian political scientist and journalist.
  • Jack Wells, 88, Canadian radio and television broadcaster.

27

  • Alice Adams, 72, American short story writer and novelist.
  • Zach de Beer, 70, South African politician and businessman, stroke.
  • Francine Everett, 84, American actress and singer.
  • Timo Lampén, 64, Finnish basketball player.
  • William T. Moore, 81, American attorney and politician.
  • Leah Ray, 84, American singer and actress.
  • James Rowland, 76, Australian air chief marshal.
  • Violet Webb, 84, English track and field athlete and Olympic medalist.

28

  • Michael Barkai, 64, Israeli Navy general, suicide.
  • Peter Bostock, 87, British Anglican priest.
  • Florence MacMichael, 80, American character actress.
  • Raphael Recanati, 75, Israeli-American shipping magnate, banker, and philanthropist, heart failure.
  • Lady Rowlands, 95, American film actress.
  • Petrus Van Theemsche, 83, Belgian racing cyclist.<
  • B. Vittalacharya, 79, Indian film director and producer.

29

  • Joe Busch, 91, Australian rugby player.
  • João Carlos de Oliveira, 45, Brazilian athlete, complications of alcoholism.
  • Bernard Lajarrige, 87, French film and television actor.
  • Mattia Moreni, 78, Italian sculptor and painter.
  • Richard Ray, 72, American politician.

30

  • Don Harper, 78, Australian composer.
  • Sonia Chadwick Hawkes, 67, English archaeologist, cancer.
  • William R. Lawley Jr., 78, United States Army Air Forces officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor.
  • Kalju Lepik, 78, Estonian poet.
  • Paul S. Newman, 75, American writer of comic books and strips, heart attack.

31

  • Emilio Baldonedo, 82, Argentine football player and manager.
  • Inayat Hussain Bhatti, 71, Pakistani actor, script writer, social worker and columnist.
  • Don Biederman, 59, Canadian stock car racer, brain aneurysm.
  • Nicolas Bréhal, 46, French novelist and literary critic.
  • Davor Dujmović, 29, Bosnian Serb actor, suicide.
  • Willibald Hahn, 89, Austrian football player and manager.
  • Anatoli Ivanov, 71, Soviet and Russian writer.
  • Auguste Le Breton, 86, French novelist, lung cancer.
  • Radomir Lukić, 84, Serbian jurist and academic.
  • Charles Pierce, 72, American female impersonator.
  • Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha, 69, Indian politician.

Other websites

References

  1. ↑ Blackstock, Colin (3 May 1999). "Oliver Reed dies after last drink". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "Edward Abraham - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  3. ↑ Aljean Harmetz (9 May 1999). "Dirk Bogarde, 78, Matinee Idol Turned Serious Actor, Dies". The New York Times. p. 1 38. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "Dana Plato, 34, Star of 'Diff'rent Strokes'". The New York Times. 10 May 1999. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Paul Moss Stats - Pro-Football-Reference.com". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
Preceded by
Deaths in 1998
Deaths by year Succeeded by
Deaths in 2000