Deaths in December 2007

Deaths in 2007 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2007.

December 2007

31

• Tommy Dickson, 78, British footballer (Linfield, Northern Ireland), after long illness. [1]
• Tony Elliott, 48, American football player (New Orleans Saints), natural causes. [2]
• Ralph Emmerson, 94, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Knaresborough (1972–1979). [3]
• Michael Goldberg, 83, American abstract expressionist painter, heart attack. [4]
• Bill Idelson, 88, American actor and script writer, complications from a broken hip. [5]
• Kathryn Ish, 71, American television, voiceover and theater actress (Laverne & Shirley), cancer. [6]
• Milton L. Klein, 97, Canadian politician, Member of Parliament for Cartier (1963–1968). [7]
• Markku Peltola, 51, Finnish actor and musician. [8] (Finnish)
• Muhammad Osman Said, 85, Libyan Prime Minister (1960–1963). [9]
• Ettore Sottsass, 90, Italian designer, heart failure. [10]

30

• Bert Bolin, 82, Swedish meteorologist, stomach cancer. [11]
• Kinkri Devi, 82, Indian environmentalist. [12]
• Laila Kaland, 68, Norwegian politician, MP (1985–2001), after long illness. [13] (Norwegian)
• Jorge Machiñena, 71, Uruguayan deputy (1985–2000), President of the Chamber (1996–1997), heart attack. [14] [15] (Spanish)
• Leonard B. Meyer, 89, American musicologist. [16]
• Victor Navarra, 55, American coordinator for New York Marathon, cancer. [17].
• Doreen Norton, 85, British nursing pioneer. [18]
• Willie Robinson, 81, American blues singer, injuries from a fire. [19]
• Ric Williamson, 55, American chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, heart attack. [20]
• Louis Wolfson, 95, American businessman, bred and raced 1978 U.S. Triple Crown champion Affirmed, colon cancer. [21]

29

• Olayr Coan, 48, Brazilian actor and theater director, car accident. [22] (Portuguese)
• Phil Dusenberry, 71, American advertising executive, lung cancer. [23]
• Kevin Greening, 44, British former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey. [24]
• Vincent Gruppuso, 67, American businessman, founder of Kozy Shack puddings, complications from diabetes. [25]
• Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, 74, Yemeni politician, Parliamentary speaker since 1993, cancer. [26]
• Joan Ingpen, 91, British classical music manager (Ingpen & Williams), launched the career of Luciano Pavarotti. [27]
• Nonja, 55, Indonesian Sumatran orangutan thought to be world's oldest. [28]
• Phil O'Donnell, 35, Scottish footballer (Motherwell) with one Scotland cap, heart failure. [29] [30]
• H. D. Thoreau, Jr., 84, American track-and-field authority and Olympics official, complications from Alzheimer's and stroke. [31]
• Shu Uemura, 79, Japanese makeup artist, pneumonia. [32]

28

• Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami, 25, Iranian basketball player, road accident. [33]
• Serigne Saliou Mbacké, 92, Senegalese religious leader, fifth caliph of the Mouride Islamic movement. [34]
• Sun Daolin, 86, Chinese actor. [35]
• Tab Thacker, 45, American NCAA wrestling champion, actor (Police Academy films, City Heat, Wildcats), diabetes complications. [36]

27

• Kit Ahern, 92, Irish politician. [37]
• Ben D. Altamirano, 77, American politician, member of the New Mexico Senate since 1971, heart attack. [38]
• Ben Bamfuchile, 47, Zambian coach of the Namibia national football team, after short illness. [39]
• Benazir Bhutto, 54, Pakistani Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister (1988–1990, 1993–1996), assassinated. [40]
• Edward A. Brennan, 73, American businessman, former Chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company. [41]
• Sir Howard Colvin, 88, British architectural historian. [42]
• Steven Florio, 58, American businessman, former CEO of Condé Nast, heart attack. [43]
• Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 85, Polish film director. [44] (Polish)
• Jaan Kross, 87, Estonian writer. [45] (Estonian)
• Ed LaDou, 52, American pizza chef, popularized gourmet California-style pizzas, cancer. [46]
• Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, 94, Brazilian pretender to the title Emperor of Brazil. [47] (Portuguese)
• Peter Wing, 93, Canadian politician, mayor of Kamloops, North America's first mayor of Chinese descent, stroke. [48]

26

• Raúl Bernao, 66, Argentine footballer, hepatitis. [49]
• Jim Castiglia, 89, American football and baseball player, natural causes. [50]
• Joe Dolan, 68, Irish singer and entertainer, brain haemorrhage. [51] [52]
• John A. Garraty, 87, American biographer, heart failure. [53]
• Andrew Grima, 86, British jeweller. [54]
• Voitto Liukkonen, 67, Finnish sports commentator. [55] (Finnish)
• Paul D. MacLean, 94, American physician, developed triune brain concept, heart attack. [56]
• Nina Menshikova, 79, Russian actress. [57] (Russian)
• Stu Nahan, 81, American sportscaster, lymphoma. [58]
• John Pappenheimer, 92, American physiologist, respiratory failure. [59]

25

• Jim Beauchamp, 68, American Major League Baseball player and coach, leukemia. [60]
• Tommy Harmer, 79, British footballer (Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and Chelsea). [61]
• John Hayes, 80, New Zealand test cricketer. [62]
• Patricia Kirkwood, 86, British actress, Alzheimer's disease. [63]
• Hugh Massingberd, 60, British genealogist and journalist, former The Daily Telegraph obituary editor. [64] [65] [66]
• Mighty King Kong, 34, Kenyan reggae musician. [67]
• Hans Otte, 81, German avant-garde composer and pianist. [68]
• G. P. Sippy, 93, Indian film producer and director. [69]
• Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr., 17, American student, tiger attack. [70]
• Tatiana, 4, Siberian tiger at San Francisco Zoo, mauled a visitor to death, shot. [71]

24

• Jim Angel, 67, Australian radio newsreader, stroke. [72]
• Cláudio Camunguelo, 60, Brazilian composer and singer, diabetes. [73] (Portuguese)
• Reinhard Heß, 62, German ski jumping coach, pancreatic cancer. [74]
• Wilhelmina Jashemski, 97, American archaeologist, renal failure. [75]
• Andreas Matzbacher, 25, Austrian cyclist, car accident. [76]
• Nicholas Pumfrey, 56, British judge, stroke. [77]
• George Warrington, 55, American transportation official, President of Amtrak (1998–2002), pancreatic cancer. [78]

23

• Dale Baird, 71, American thoroughbred horse trainer, car crash. [79]
• Evelyn Gandy, 87, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi (1976–1980). [80]
• W.F. Ganong, 83, American neuroendocrinologist, prostate cancer. [81]
• Michael Kidd, 92, American film and stage choreographer, cancer. [82]
• Aloísio Lorscheider, 83, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal, heart failure. [83]
• Tyler MacDuff, 82, American actor. [84]
• Hans Mild, 73, Swedish footballer and ice hockey player. [85](Swedish)
• Oscar Peterson, 82, Canadian jazz pianist, kidney failure and complications from a stroke. [86] [87]
• Rhoda Pritzker, 93, American philanthropist, member of the Pritzker family. [88]
• Ferreira Queimado, 94, Portuguese former chairman of S.L. Benfica, after long illness. [89] [90] (Portuguese)
• Kevin Sinclair, 65, New Zealand-born Hong Kong reporter, editor and columnist for the South China Morning Post, cancer. [91]
• Osvaldo Reyes, 88, Chilean painter, stroke. [92] (Spanish)
• Frank Swaelen, 77, Belgian politician, former President of the Senate and Minister of State. [93] [94] (Dutch)

22

• Joe Ames, 86, American singer (Ames Brothers), heart attack. [95]
• Chrysostomos I, 80, Cyprian prelate, Archbishop of Cyprus (1977–2006). [96]
• Sir Charles Court, 96, Australian politician, Premier of Western Australia (1974–1982). [97]
• Sylvan Fox, 79, American journalist, complications from pneumonia. [98]
• Andrew Glyn, 64, British economist. [99]
• Julien Gracq, 97, French writer. [100] (French)
• Leila Backman Shull, 113, American supercentenarian, seventh-oldest living person in the world. [101]
• Lucien Teisseire, 88, French road bicycle racer. [102]
• Marvin Wachman, 90, American historian, President of Lincoln University and Temple University, heart failure. [103]
• Ruth Wallis, 87, American singer-songwriter, complications of Alzheimer's disease. [104]
• Takashi Yamamoto, 58, Japanese politician. [105] (Japanese)

21

• Carol Bly, 77, American author and poet, ovarian cancer. [106]
• Kex Gorin, 56, British drummer (Magnum), kidney cancer. [107]
• Ken Hendricks, 66, American contractor and billionaire, fall from roof. [108]
• Hans Imhoff, 85, German businessman, founder of Imhoff Chocolate Museum in Cologne. [109] (German)
• Jack Lamabe, 71, American Major League Baseball pitcher. [110]
• Ken Lee, 75, Chinese-born Australian businessman, owner and co-founder of Bing Lee superstores, cancer. [111]
• Saadia Marciano, 57, Israeli Black Panthers leader, member of the Knesset. [112]
• Norton Nascimento, 45, Brazilian actor, heart failure. [113] (Portuguese)
• Jiří Pauer, 88, Czech composer, theatre director and academic. [114]
• Jeani Read, 60, Canadian journalist, cancer. [115]
• Battista Serioli, 107, Italian World War I veteran. [116] (Italian)

20

• Tommy Byrne, 87, American baseball player. [117]
• Jeanne Carmen, 77, American actress and pin-up girl, lymphoma. [118]
• Arabella Churchill, 58, British founder of Children's World charity, granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill, pancreatic cancer. [119]
• Russell Coffey, 109, American serviceman, one of three known remaining American veterans of World War I. [120]
• Lorne Davis, 77, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens) and scout (Edmonton Oilers). [121]
• Ted Finn, 68, Canadian intelligence official, director of CSIS (1984–1987). [122]
• Peer Hultberg, 72, Danish author and psychoanalyst. [123] (Danish)
• Lydia Mendoza, 91, American Tejano music singer and guitarist. [124]
• Nataline Sarkisyan, 17, American student denied health insurance claim, leukemia. [125]
• Kazumi Tanaka, 56, Japanese voice actor, brother of Ryouichi Tanaka, heart failure. [126]
• Robbie Williams, 45, Australian politician, first Indigenous Australian Brisbane City councillor, former ATSIC commissioner, heart attack. [127] [128]

19

• Frank Capra, Jr., 73, American movie studio executive, son of director Frank Capra, prostate cancer. [129] [130]
• James Costigan, 81, American actor and television writer (Eleanor and Franklin), heart failure. [131]
• John A. Garraty, 87, American historian, heart failure. [132]
• Albert L. O'Neil, 87, American politician, Boston City Council (1971–1999). [133]

18

• Walter Bowart, 68, American co-founder of East Village Other, colon cancer. [134]
• Gerald Le Dain, 83, Canadian jurist, Justice of the Supreme Court. [135]
• Carl Graff-Wang, 64, Norwegian Olympic handball player. [136]
• Samuel Karlin, 83, American mathematician, heart attack. [137]
• Jack Linkletter, 70, American television host, son of Art Linkletter, lymphoma. [138]
• Motiur Rahman, 58, Indian politician, Rashtriya Janata Dal member of the Rajya Sabha since 2005, heart attack. [139]
• Bill Strauss, 60, American writer and satirist, founder of political comedy group Capitol Steps, pancreatic cancer. [140]

17

• Don Chevrier, 69, Canadian sportscaster. [141]
• Joel Dorn, 65, American jazz, pop and R&B record producer, heart attack. [142]
• Jim Holstein, 77, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers). [143]
• Tom Murphy, 83, American politician, speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives (1973–2002), complications of a stroke. [144]
• Jack Zander, 99, American animator (Tom and Jerry). [145]

16

• Dan Fogelberg, 56, American singer-songwriter ("Same Old Lang Syne"), prostate cancer. [146]
• Harald Genzmer, 98, German composer of classical music. [147] (German)
• Ismail Gulgee, 81, Pakistani painter, homicide by strangulation. [148]
• Serge Vinçon, 58, French politician. [149] (French)

15

• John Berg, 58, American actor, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. [150]
• Jean Bottéro, 93, French historian. [151] (French)
• St. Clair Bourne, 64, American documentary filmmaker (Half Past Autumn), pulmonary embolism. [152]
• Julia Carson, 69, American member of the House of Representatives from Indiana since 1997, lung cancer. [153]
• Gerard Fairtlough, 77, British biochemist and entrepreneur. [154]
• Andrzeja Górska, 91, Polish nun, abbess of the Grey Ursulines. [155] (Polish)
• Ryan Gracie, 33, Brazilian martial artist. [156]
• Clem Jones, 89, Australian Lord Mayor of Brisbane (1961–1975), pneumonia. [157] [158]
• Diane Middlebrook, 68, American biographer and poet, cancer. [159]
• Tejeshwar Singh, 60, Indian publisher, newsreader and theatre activist, cardiac arrest. [160]
• Ace Vergel, 55, Filipino actor, cardiac arrest. [161]
• Jonathan Witchell, 33, British BBC reporter for Radio Kent. [162]

14

• Issam al-Zaim, 67, Syrian economist, heart attack. [163]
• Hank Kaplan, 87, American boxing historian, cancer. [164]
• Maria Lauterbach, 20, American marine and murder victim. [165]
• Clarence Marshall, 82, American Major League Baseball pitcher (New York Yankees). [166]
• Frank Morgan, 73, American saxophonist. [167]
• Hryhoriy Nestor, 116?, Ukrainian who claimed to be the oldest person in the world. [168]
• Emory Sekaquaptewa, 78, American indigenous Hopi anthropologist. [169]

13

• Philippe Clay, 80, French singer and actor. [170]
• Fuat Deniz, 40, Swedish-Assyrian sociologist, homicide by stabbing. [171]
• Wiggo Hanssen, 84, Norwegian Olympic speed skater. [172]
• Laura Huxley, 96, American musician and author, widow of Aldous Huxley, cancer. [173]
• Alain Payet, 60, French adult film director. [174] (French)
• Robert Russin, 93, American sculptor. [175]
• Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, American musician, actor (Dances With Wolves) and Native American activist, leukemia. [176]

12

• Basuki, 51, Indonesian comedian. [177]
• Ted Corbitt, 88, American ultramarathon runner, respiratory complications. [178]
• Shawn Eckardt, 40, American bodyguard and businessman, conspired to assault Nancy Kerrigan, natural causes. [179]
• Josep Guinovart, 80, Spanish artist. [180] (Spanish)
• François al-Hajj, 54, Lebanese Army general, roadside bomb. [181] [182]
• Alfons Maria Stickler, 97, Austrian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. [183] (German)
• Jim Nevill, 80, British government official, former head of Scotland Yard bomb squad. [184]
• Ike Turner, 76, American R&B musician and record producer, ex-husband of singer Tina Turner, cocaine overdose. [185] [186]
• Schuster Vance, 47, American actor, cancer. [187]
• Lee Vincent, 91, American bassist and radio personality (WILK), heart failure. [188]
• Yuli Mikhailovich Vorontsov, 78, Russian diplomat, former ambassador to the United Nations and United States. [189]

11

• Ashleigh Aston Moore, 26, American-born Canadian actress, accidental heroin overdose. [190]
• Allan Berube, 61, American gay historian and writer, complications from stomach ulcers. [191]
• José Luis Calva, 38, Mexican writer, serial killer and cannibal, apparent suicide. [192]
• Freddie Fields, 84, American Hollywood agent, producer and studio executive, lung cancer. [193]
• Pat Hannigan, 71, Canadian NHL ice hockey player. [194]
• Christie Hennessy, 62, Irish singer and songwriter, cancer. [195]
• Nicholas Kao Se Tseien, 110, Chinese supercentenarian, world's oldest Catholic priest. [196]
• Karl Ludwig, Archduke of Austria, 89, Austrian son of Emperor Charles I of Austria. [197] [198] (German).
• Ottomar Pinto, 76 , Brazilian politician, Governor of Roraima (2004–2007), heart attack. [199]
• Tatsuzō Shimaoka, 88, Japanese potter, living national treasure, acute liver failure. [200]
• Terry Yates, 57, American biologist, discovered source of hantavirus, brain cancer. [201]

10

• George Morris, 76, American football player (Georgia Tech, San Francisco 49ers), apparent heart attack. [202]
• Aqsa Parvez, 16, Canadian allegedly killed for refusing to wear hijab, strangled. [203]
• Jerry Ricks, 67, American blues guitarist. [204]
• Gordon Samuels, 84, Australian Governor of New South Wales (1996–2001). [205] [206]
• Henrietta Yurchenko, 91, American folklorist. [207]

9

• Wayne Howard, 58, American comic book artist (Charlton Comics), heart attack. [208]
• Jim Langley, 78, British footballer for England, Fulham, and QPR, heart attack. [209]
• Matthew J. Murray, 24, American spree killer, suicide by gunshot. [210]
• Elspeth Rostow, 90, American academic, University of Texas dean, widow of Walt Whitman Rostow, heart attack. [211]
• Kurt Schmied, 81, Austrian footballer, former member of the national team. [212] (German)
• Thore Skogman, 76, Swedish musician, stroke. [213] (Swedish)
• Rafael Sperafico, 26, Brazilian racing driver, race crash. [214]
• J. Fife Symington Jr., 97, American diplomat to Trinidad and Tobago, complications of old age. [215]
• Gordon Zahn, 84, American Catholic peace activist, co-founder of Pax Christi USA, complications of Alzheimer's disease. [216]

8

• Donald Burton, 73, British actor, husband of actress Carroll Baker, emphysema. [217]
• Ioan Fiscuteanu, 70, Romanian actor, colon cancer. [218]
• Dmitry Grigorieff, 89, American Episcoplian prelate, dean emeritus of Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington D.C., cardiac arrest. [219]
• Roger King, 63, American TV executive (King World, CBS), developed Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Oprah Winfrey Show, stroke. [220]
• Gerardo García Pimentel, 24, Mexican crime reporter, homicide by gunshot. [221]
• Al Scaduto, 79, American cartoonist (They'll Do It Every Time). [222]

7

• Noel Forster, 75, British artist. [223]
• Fuad Hassan, 78, Indonesian Minister of Education (1985–1993), cancer. [224]
• John Hollowbread, 73, British football goalkeeper (Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton). [225]

6

• Wolfgang Assbrock, 55, German politician, member of the CDU and Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. [226] (German)
• George Bednar, 65, American football player and Harvey Wallbanger cocktail promoter. [227]
• Mike Donkin, 56, British reporter and journalist (BBC News), cancer. [228]
• Katy French, 24, Irish model, suspected overdose. [229] [230]
• Jacques Hébert, 84, Canadian politician, Senator (1983–1998). [231]
• John Hill, 95, British politician, Conservative MP for South Norfolk (1955–1974). [232]
• Murray Klein, 84, American businessman, co-owner of New York City's Zabar's food emporium, lung cancer. [233][234]
• Shelley Rohde, 74, British journalist and author. [235]
• Ken Southworth, 89, American cartoon animator (Hanna-Barbera, Walt Disney Animation Studios), stroke. [236]
• András Szöllősy, 86, Hungarian composer. [237]

5

• M. V. Dhond, 93, Indian literary and art critic. [238] (Marathi)
• Robin Gloag, 64, British co-founder of Stagecoach Group, car accident. [239]
• Arnold Hardy, 85, American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, complications from hip surgery. [240]
• Andrew Imbrie, 86, American composer. [241]
• Dan Iosif, 57, Romanian revolutionary, lung cancer. [242]
• Jillian Kesner-Graver, 58, American actress (Happy Days), Orson Welles historian, staph infection. [243]
• Alois Kracher, 48, Austrian winemaker, pancreatic cancer. [244]
• George Paraskevaides, 91, Cypriot businessman (Joannou & Paraskevaides) and philanthropist. [245]
• Karlheinz Stockhausen, 79, German composer. [246]
• Tony Tenser, 87, British film producer. [247]
• Rene Villanueva, 53, Filipino playwright and author, stroke. [248] [249]
• John Winter, 83, Australian athlete, 1948 Olympics high jump gold medalist. [250]

4

• Chad "Pimp C" Butler, 33, American rap artist (UGK), sleep apnea and accidental overdose. [251] [252]
• Jake Gaudaur, 87, Canadian Commissioner of the CFL (1968–1984), cancer. [253] [254]
• Jay H. Gordon, 77, American politician, Vermont Auditor of Accounts (1965–1969), smoke inhalation. [255] [256]
• Norval Morrisseau, 75, Canadian Ojibwe artist, founder of the Woodlands Style, Parkinson's disease. [257]
• David "Chip" Reese, 56, American professional poker player, heart attack. [258]
• Herman Rose, 98, American cityscape painter, cancer. [259]
• Carlos Valdes, 81, Cuban conga player, respiratory failure. [260]

3

• Art Arfons, 81, American jet-car driver and drag racer, three-time world land speed record holder. [261]
• John Belgrave, 67, New Zealand public servant, Chief Ombudsman (2003–2007), cancer. [262]
• Jaime Fuster, 66, Puerto Rican politician and jurist, Resident Commissioner (1985–1992), heart attack. [263] (Spanish)
• Susumu Katsumata, 63, Japanese manga artist and illustrator, melanoma. [264] (Japanese)
• James Kemsley, 59, Australian cartoonist (Ginger Meggs), motor neurone disease. [265]
• Liliana Macellari, 78, Italian translator and literary agent, widow of Anthony Burgess. [266]
• Keshav Meshram, 70, Indian writer and critic, lung cancer. [267]
• Lord Bloody Wog Rolo, 62, Australian activist, renal cell carcinoma. [268]

2

• Jennifer Alexander, 35, Canadian-born American ballet dancer, car accident. [269]
• Robert O. Anderson, 90, American founder and former CEO of ARCO. [270]
• Elizabeth Hardwick, 91, American co-founder of The New York Review of Books. [271]
• David Maybury-Lewis, 78, British anthropologist. [272]
• Eleonora Rossi Drago, 82, Italian actress, cerebral haemorrhage. [273] (Italian)
• Les Shannon, 81, British footballer and manager. [274]
• Thomas Torrance, 94, British theologian. [275]

1

• Rassim al-Jumaili, 69, Iraqi actor and comedian, kidney failure. [276]
• Jennifer Davidson, 38, American executive, senior vice president of programming and scheduling for Cartoon Network. [277]
• Elisabeth Eybers, 92, South African-born poet. [278] (Afrikaans)
• Tony Fall, 67, British rally driver and Opel Motorsport Team director, heart attack. [279]
• Ken McGregor, 78, Australian tennis player, stomach cancer. [280]
• Danny Newman, 88, American publicist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, pulmonary fibrosis. [281]
• Anton Rodgers, 74, British actor. [282]

See also

Deaths in 2007 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →

Persondata
Name	Deaths In December 2007
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	2007
Place of death