Deaths in April 1989 explained

The following is a list of notable deaths in April 1989.

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.

April 1989

1

• Roy Francis, 70, Welsh rugby league footballer and coach (Hull FC, Barrow, Wales).
• Nedda Harrigan, 89, American actress, cancer.
• Shreedhar Mahadev Joshi, 85, Indian politician and independence activist, Member of Parliament.
• Erich Lüth, 87, German writer and film director.
• Jan A. Rajchman, 77, Polish-American electrical engineer (Magnetic-core memory).
• George Robledo, 62, Chilean international footballer (Newcastle United, Chile), heart attack.

2

• E. Chambré Hardman, 89, Anglo-Irish photographer.
• Daniel Spry, 86, Canadian Army general during World War II.
• Zainon Munshi Sulaiman, 86, Malaysian politician, member of the Malaysian Parliament.
• Norman Zinberg, 76–76, American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who studied addiction.

3

• Mustafa Çağatay, 51, Turkish-Cypriot politician, Prime Minister of Turkish Cyprus, traffic accident.
• Friedrich-Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach, 94, Nazi German army general.
• Edward Martell, 80, British politician, member of the London County Council.
• Pinchas Hacohen Peli, 58, Israeli Orthodox rabbi, poet and scholar of Jewish philosophy.
• Vishnu Sahay, 87, Indian politician, Governor of Assam.
• Norman Wooland, 79, English actor (Hamlet).

4

• Gerard Casey, appr. 29, member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, shot.
• Woody Crumbo, 77, American artist, flute player and dancer.
• John Gretton, 48, English peer, owner of Stapleford Park.
• Madeline Hurlock, 91, American silent-screen actress.
• Harvey Jablonsky, 80, American general in the U.S. Army, vice president of the Northrop Corporation, congestive heart failure.^[1]
• Narayanan Nambudiripad, Indian Sanskrit scholar.
• Roberto Nicolosi, 74, Italian jazz double-bassist.
• Baruch Harold Wood, 79, English chess player, founded the magazine CHESS.

5

• Geoffrey Binnie, 80, British civil engineer and writer (Jubilee Dam, Eye Brook Reservoir).
• Frank Foss, 93, American pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist.
• María Cristina Gómez, 56, El Salvadoran murder victim.
• Bill Gunn, 54, American playwright, actor and director (Ganja and Hess), encephalitis.^[2]
• Harold Hayes, 62, American journalist and writer (Esquire magazine).^[3]
• Marjorie Hoshelle, 71, American actress.
• Kurt Lischka, 79, Nazi German SS official, Gestapo chief and commandant of the Security police.
• Bill Mehlhorn, 90, American professional golfer.
• Karel Zeman, 78, Czech film director and animator (Cesta do pravěku, Na kometě).

6

• Zofia Batycka, 81, Polish model and actress.
• Tufton Beamish, 72, British Army officer and politician, Member of Parliament.
• Torsten Billman, 79, Swedish artist.
• Sylvia Cassedy, 59, American novelist and poet (Behind the Attic Wall).
• Marion Holland, 80, American children's book writer and illustrator, cancer.
• Pannalal Patel, 76, Indian author (Malela Jeev, Manvini Bhavai), brain haemorrhage.
• John Paul Riddle, 87, American pilot, co-founded Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.^[4]

7

• Hassan al-Amri, 68–69, Yemeni lieutenant general and Prime Minister of the Yemen Arab Republic.
• Amena Begum, 63–64, Bangladeshi politician, Member of Parliament.
• Efraín Morote Best, 67, Peruvian lawyer, chief administrator of San Cristóbal of Huamanga University.
• Clyde Moody, 73, American Bluegrass musician.
• Evelyn Finley, 73, American B-movie actress and stuntwoman (Ghost Guns), heart failure.
• Cheng Nan-jung, 41, Taiwanese publisher and pro-democracy activist, suicide by immolation.
• André Reybaz, 59, French actor.
• Jack Ruby, 45–46, Jamaican record producer.
• Basawon Singh, 80, Indian independence activist, co-founder of the Congress Socialist Party.
• Elizabeth Sudmeier, 76, American spy, founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency.

8

• Albert Bormann, 86, German Nazi Gruppenführer, adjutant to Adolf Hitler, brother of Martin Bormann.
• Lloyd Francis MacMahon, 76, American judge of the U.S. District Court, cerebral hemorrhage.
• A. M. Rajah, 59, Indian playback singer and music director, train accident.
• John Wyer, 79, English car racing engineer and team manager.

9

• Friedrich Ritter, 90, German botanist (cacti).
• Albert Vigoleis Thelen, 85, German author and translator.

10

• Joan Barry, 85, British actress (Rome Express).
• George Genereux, 54, Canadian trap shooter and Olympic gold medalist.
• Bessie Griffin, 66, American gospel singer, breast cancer.^[5]
• Nikolai Grinko, 68, Ukrainian actor (Ivan's Childhood, Stalker).
• Jacob Horton, American vice-president of Southern Company's Gulf Power Unit, allegedly murdered.
• Takehiro Irokawa, 60, Japanese writer, heart attack.
• Sandy Sandberg, 78, American NFL footballer (Pittsburgh Pirates).

11

• Noel Carrington, 93–94, English author and publisher, founder of Puffin Books.
• Emil Grosswald, 76, Romanian-American mathematician (number theory).
• Hiram Sherman, 81, American actor (Two's Company; How Now, Dow Jones), stroke.^[6]
• Sarban, 78, British writer and diplomat, British Ambassador to Paraguay.

12

• Ekkirala Bharadwaja, 50, Indian spiritual advisor.
• Gerald Flood, 61, British actor of stage and television (Crane), heart attack.
• Bill Harper, 92, Scottish footballer (Hibernian, Scotland).
• Abbie Hoffman, 52, American political and social activist, co-founded the Youth International Party, suicide by overdose.^[7]
• Willie McNaught, 66, Scottish international footballer (Raith Rovers, Scotland).
• Antonio Porta, 53, Italian author and poet.
• Sugar Ray Robinson, 67, American professional boxer, welterweight and middleweight world champion, heart disease.^[8]
• Georges Sébastian, 85, Hungarian-born French conductor.
• Tilda Thamar, 67, Argentinian actress, car accident.

13

• Paul II Cheikho, 82, Iraqi patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
• António Ferreira Gomes, 83, Portuguese Roman Catholic bishop.
• Terry Miller, 46, American businessman and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, bone cancer.
• Bill Putnam, 69, American audio engineer, songwriter and producer.

14

• Werner von Clemm, 91, German-born American banker.
• Chiang Hsiao-wen, 53, eldest son of Chiang Ching-kuo, throat cancer.^[9]
• Laurence Meynell, 89, English author.

15

• Ray Agee, 68, American blues and R&B singer and songwriter.
• William Attwood, 69, American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Guinea and Kenya, congestive heart failure.^[10]
• Edward M. Brecher, 77, American science writer and author (Licit and Illicit Drugs).^[11]
• David Cuthbertson, 88, Scottish physician and biochemist, director of the Rowett Research Institute.
• Hu Yaobang, 73, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, heart attack.^[12]
• Bernard-Marie Koltès, 41, French playwright and theatre director, AIDS.
• Freda Lingstrom, 95, British BBC Television producer (Flower Pot Men, Andy Pandy).
• Alita Román, 76, Argentine film actress (Mujeres que trabajan, Concierto de almas).
• Connie Simmons, 64, American NBA basketballer (New York Knicks).
• Frances Steloff, 101, American founder of the Gotham Book Mart.^[13]
• Charles Vanel, 96, French actor and director (The Wages of Fear, The Woman Who Dared).^[14]
• Philip de Zulueta, 64, British diplomat, Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister.

16

• T. Coleman Andrews Jr., 64, American politician, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, heart attack.^[15]
• Tawfiq Yusuf 'Awwad, 77, Lebanese writer (Tawahin Beirut) and diplomat, Lebanese ambassador to five countries, rocket attack.
• Hugh Barton, 78, British Hong Kong businessman, chairman and managing director of Jardine Matheson.
• Brynjólfur Bjarnason, 90, Icelandic politician, chairman of the Communist Party of Iceland.
• Jocko Conlan, 89, American baseball umpire (National League).
• John Dighton, 79, British playwright and screenwriter (The Happiest Days of Your Life, The Man in the White Suit, Roman Holiday).
• Harald Edelstam, 76, Swedish diplomat, Ambassador to Algeria, cancer.
• Kaoru Ishikawa, 73, Japanese engineer and professor (Ishikawa diagram).
• John Holmes Jenkins, 48–49, American historian and champion poker player, shot.
• Bob Jones, 59, American white supremacist political activist (Ku Klux Klan).
• Dominic Olejniczak, 80, American politician (mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin) and football executive (Green Bay Packers), stroke.^[16]
• Saroj Pathak, 59, Indian novelist.
• Thierry Paulin, 25, French serial killer, AIDS.
• Hakkı Yeten, 78, Turkish footballer and club president (Beşiktaş, Turkey).

17

• Inji Aflatoun, 65, Egyptian painter and women's activist.
• Psyche Cattell, 95, American psychologist.
• Ken Gee, 72, English international rugby league footballer (Wigan, England).
• Charles Lampkin, 76, American actor () and musician.
• Cecil Leeson, 86, American saxophonist.^[17]
• Villano II, 39, Mexican Luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler), suicide.

18

• Hilde Benjamin, 87, East German judge and Minister of Justice.
• Ruth VanSickle Ford, 91, American painter, owner of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.
• Julia Smith, 84, American composer and pianist.

19

• Ferdinand aus der Fünten, 79, Nazi German SS-Hauptsturmführer, head of the Amsterdam Central Office for Jewish Emigration.
• Dame Daphne du Maurier, 81, English novelist and playwright (Rebecca, The Birds, My Cousin Rachel), heart failure.^[18]
• George Paxton, 75, American saxophonist and big band leader (Coed Records), apparent suicide.
• George Whitmore, 43, American playwright, novelist and poet, AIDS.^[19]

20

• Harold Barlow, 89, British engineer (Royal Medal).
• Doru Davidovici, 43, Romanian aviator and writer, training crash.
• Edward DeSaulnier, 68, American politician and judge, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, suicide.
• Kenneth Harrison, 50, American serial killer, suicide.
• Maurice Nyagumbo, 64, Zimbabwean politician, suicide.
• Martin Ragaway, 66, American comedy writer.
• Lydia Sherwood, 82, British film and stage actress.

21

• Princess Deokhye of Korea, 76, last princess of the Korean royal family.
• James Kirkwood Jr., 64, American playwright, author and actor (A Chorus Line, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead), AIDS.^[20]
• Paul Mitchell, 53, Scottish-American co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems, pancreatic cancer.
• James N. Rowe, 51, American officer in the U.S. Army, assassinated.

22

• Jan Baars, 85, Dutch fascist.
• Paul Beard, 87, English violinist (London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra).
• Kenny McBain, 42, Scottish TV director and producer (Inspector Morse, Grange Hill).
• Siegfried Ruff, 82, Nazi German physician, acquitted of war crimes.
• Emilio Segrè, 84, Italian-American physicist, discovered technetium and astatine, Nobel laureate in Physics, heart attack.
• Dmitry Selivanov, 25, Soviet rock singer (Grazhdanskaya Oborona), suicide.
• Tommy Thompson, 70, American NFL and CFL footballer (Philadelphia Eagles), brain cancer.
• Tony Tursi, 88, Italian-American mobster in Puerto Rico.

23

• K. Suryanarayana Adiga, 74, Indian lawyer and politician, member of Mysore Legislative Council, chairman of Karnataka Bank.
• Norm Baker, 66, Canadian professional basketball and lacrosse player.
• Marc Daniels, 77, American television director (I Love Lucy, Star Trek), congestive heart failure.^[21]
• Hamani Diori, 72, Nigerien politician, president of Republic of Niger.^[22]
• Hu Die, 81, Chinese actress (The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple), stroke.
• Stefan Korboński, 88, Polish-American politician, lawyer and journalist, aneurysm.
• Harry Bolton Seed, 66, British-American geotechnical earthquake engineer, cancer.^[23]

24

• Franz Binder, 77, Austrian international footballer and coach (Rapid Wien, Austria).
• Clyde Geronimi, 87, American animation director (Walt Disney Productions).^[24]
• Li Jingquan, 79, Chinese politician and governor of Sichuan.
• Henry G. Parks Jr., 72, American businessman, complications from Parkinson's disease.
• Lee Roberts, 75, American actor.
• Edgar Sanabria, 77, Venezuelan diplomat and politician, interim President of Venezuela, stroke.
• Santana, 53, Portuguese international footballer (Benfica, Portugal)).
• Johnny Stark, 66, French impresario, heart attack.

25

• Kenneth Cockrel Sr., 50, American politician, member of the Detroit Common Council, heart attack.
• George Coulouris, 85, English film and stage actor (Citizen Kane).^[25]
• Sam Fletcher, 55, American singer (I Believe in You).
• Yap Thiam Hien, 75, Indonesian human rights lawyer, internal bleeding.
• Norma Klein, 50, American young adults' book author.^[26]
• Alan Robertson, 69, English population geneticist.
• John Barton Wolgamot, 86, American poet.

26

• Lucille Ball, 77, American actress and comedienne (I Love Lucy), ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.^[27]
• Robert Gysae, 78, Nazi German U-boat commander.
• Robert S. Kennemore, 68, American officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
• Carl Monroe, 29, American NFL footballer (San Francisco 49ers), accidental overdose.

27

• Howard Brookner, 34, American film director (Burroughs, Bloodhounds of Broadway), AIDS.^[28]
• Leopold Buczkowski, 83, Polish writer.
• Marcel J. E. Golay, 86, Swiss-born American mathematician and physicist (Golay Detector, Golay cell).^[29]
• Harold Gurden, 85, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Konosuke Matsushita, 94, Japanese founder of Panasonic, pneumonia.^[30]
• Frank O'Rourke, 72, American writer (A Mule for the Marquesa), suicide.
• T. Amrutha Rao, 68, Indian politician, member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
• William Arthur Smith, 71, American artist.

28

• Stanley Roy Badmin, 83, English painter and etcher.
• Jack Cummings, 84, American film producer and director.^[31]
• Géza von Cziffra, 88, Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter (Kiss Me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).
• Pinchoo Kapoor, 61–62, Indian actor (Don, Roti, Avtaar).
• Esa Pakarinen, 78, Finnish actor, singer and comedian (Pekka and Pätkä), cancer.
• Raúl Sendic, 63, Uruguayan lawyer and trade unionist, founder of the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• Roy Lee Williams, 74, American labor leader, president of the Teamsters, cardiac disease and emphysema.

29

• Donald Deskey, 94, American industrial designer.^[32]
• Ehsan Tabari, 72, Iranian philosopher and poet, kidney and heart failure.
• Vic Wilcox, 76, New Zealand farmer and trade unionist, secretary-general of the Communist Party of New Zealand, cancer.

30

• Yi Bangja, 87, wife of Crown Prince Euimin, last Crown Prince of the Korean Empire, cancer.
• Birge Clark, 96, American architect (Lou Henry Hoover House, Norris House).
• Nelson Dalzell, 68, New Zealand rugby union player (Canterbury, All Blacks).
• Edwin F. Kalmus, 95, Austrian-American music publisher.
• Gottfried Köthe, 83, Austrian mathematician (Köthe conjecture, topological vector spaces).
• Sergio Leone, 60, Italian film director and producer (Dollars Trilogy), heart attack.^[33]
• Stumpy Thomason, 83, American NFL footballer (Brooklyn Dodgers).
• Taiji Tonoyama, 73, Japanese actor.
• Guy Williams, 65, American actor (Zorro, Lost in Space), brain aneurysm.

Unknown date

• Hassan Djamous, Chadian military commander, Commander-in-Chief of the Chadian National Army.
• Josef Papp, appr. 55, American engineer, likely hoaxer.
• Doug Smith, 71, English jockey and trainer, suicide.
• Harry White, 72–73, Irish republican paramilitary.

Notes and References

1. News: Harvey Jablonsky, 80, A Northrop Executive . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 8 April 1989 . 1 10.
2. News: C. Gerald Fraser . Bill Gunn, Playwright and Actor, Dies at 54 on Eve of Play Premiere . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 7 April 1989 . D 20.
3. News: Service for Harold Hayes . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 2 May 1989 . B 6.
4. News: Joan Cook . John Paul Riddle, 87, Aviation Education Leader . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 11 April 1989 . B 12.
5. News: Bessie Griffin Is Dead; Gospel Singer Was 67 . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 11 April 1989 . B 12.
6. News: C. Gerald Fraser . Hiram Sherman, Actor, Was 81 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 13 April 1989 . B 13.
7. News: John T. McQuiston . Abbie Hoffman, 60's Icon, Dies; Yippie Movement Founder Was 52 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 14 April 1989 . D 17.
8. News: Dave Anderson . Sugar Ray Robinson, Boxing's 'Best,' Is Dead . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 13 April 1989 . A 1.
9. News: Chiang Hsiao-wen, Ex-Business Executive, 54 . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 15 April 1989 . 1 10.
10. News: Susan Heller Anderson . W. Attwood, Ex-Publisher, Is Dead at 69 . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 16 April 1989 . 1 36.
11. News: Glenn Fowler . Edward M. Brecher, 77, Is Dead; A Writer on Scientific Subjects . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 18 April 1989 . B 7.
12. News: Nicholas D. Kristof, Special To the New York Times . Hu Yaobang, 73, Dies in China; Led Communist Party in 1980's . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 15 April 1989 . 1 10.
13. News: Herbert Mitgang . Herbert Mitgang . Frances Steloff Is Fondly Recalled By Patrons of Gotham Book Mart . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 23 May 1989 . A 27.
14. News: Charles Vanel, Stage And Screen Actor, 96 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 16 April 1989 . 1 36.
15. News: T. C. Andrews Jr., 64, Political Organizer . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 20 April 1989 . B 13.
16. News: Dominic Olejniczak, Sports Executive, 80 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 17 April 1989 . D 15.
17. News: Cecil Leeson, Musician, 86 . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 20 April 1989 . B 13.
18. News: Herbert Mitgang . Herbert Mitgang . Daphne du Maurier, 81, Author Of Many Gothic Romances, Dies . subscription . 4 July 2023 . . 20 April 1989 . B 13.
19. News: Susan Heller Anderson . George Whitmore, 43, an Author Who Wrote on the Impact of AIDS . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 20 April 1989 . B 13.
20. News: Constance L. Hays . James Kirkwood, Author of Book For Musical 'Chorus Line,' Dies . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 22 April 1989 . 1 33.
21. News: Marc Daniels, 77, Dies; Directed 'I Love Lucy' . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 29 April 1989 . 1 10.
22. News: Hamani Diori, 72, the Founder Of an Independent Niger, Is Dead . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 25 April 1989 . B 10.
23. News: H. Bolton Seed, 66, Expert on Earthquakes . subscription . 4 July 2023 . . 26 April 1989 . B 5.
24. News: Clyde Geronimi, 87, An Animator at Disney . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 30 April 1989 . 1 40.
25. News: Glenn Collins . George Coulouris, 85, Is Dead; Actor Relished Villainous Roles . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 27 April 1989 . B 16.
26. News: Norma Klein, 50, a Young-Adult Novelist . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 27 April 1989 . B 16.
27. News: Peter B. Flint . Lucille Ball, Spirited Doyenne Of TV Comedies, Dies at 77 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 27 April 1989 . A 1.
28. News: Stephen Holden . Stephen Holden . Howard Brookner, 34, Director . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 29 April 1989 . 1 10.
29. News: Dr. Marcel Golay, 86; Invented Science Tools . subscription . 26 May 2024 . . 30 April 1989 . 1 40.
30. News: Steve Lohr . Konosuke Matsushita, Industrialist, Is Dead at 94 . subscription . 4 July 2023 . . 27 April 1989 . B 16.
31. News: Jack Cummings, 84, a Producer at M-G-M . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 30 April 1989 . 1 40.
32. News: Suzanne Slesin . DONALD DESKEY, INNOVATIVE DESIGNER, DIES A 94 . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 30 April 1989 . 1 40.
33. News: Peter B. Flint . Sergio Leone, 67, Italian Director Who Revitalized Westerns, Dies . subscription . 24 March 2024 . . 1 May 1989 . B 8.