Deaths in 2002 - Definition and Overview

See also: Deaths in 2001, other events of 2002, and Deaths in 2003.

December 2002

• 30 Mary Wesley novelist, author of The Camomile Lawn
• 27 George Roy Hill, film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting)
• 26 Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
• 26 Armand Zildjian, cymbals manufacturer
• 25 William T. Orr, television executive (brought Maverick, F-Troop and 77 Sunset Strip to TV)
• 24 Tomas Henriquez, Venezuelan actor
• 23 Joe Strummer, former singer for The Clash.
• 22 Kenneth Tobey, prolific character actor (appeared in about 100 films including: Twelve O'Clock High, Gunfight at OK Corral, The Thing From Another World and Airplane!)
• 22 Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana from 1985 to 1992
• 19 Tony Barr, actor and TV executive
• 19 Asif Ramzi, Pakistani militant wanted for the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl, blew himself up while making explosives.
• 18 Ramon John Hnatyshyn, former Governor-General of Canada
• 17 Hank Luisetti, basketball star and innovator
• 13 Zal Yanofsky member of Lovin' Spoonful music group.
• 12 Dee Brown, author (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee)
• 10 Ian MacNaughton, director of most episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
• 9 Stan Rice, painter, educator, poet, husband of author Anne Rice
• 6 Charles Rosen, Pioneer in artificial intelligence
• 6 Father Philip Berrigan, priest, political activist
• 5 Roone Arledge, creator of Monday Night Football and Nightline dies at age 71
• 5 Ne Win, Burmese dictator
• 3 Glenn Quinn, actor

November 2002

• 29 Florence Stephenson Mahoney (aged 103), health advocate
• 26 Verne Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donuts and nicknamed "The Donut King"
• 25 Rosa Carrillo, Univision news anchor
• 24 John Rawls, political theorist
• 21 Hadda Brooks, U.S. jazz singer, pianist and composer, aged 86
• 19 Prince Alexandre de Merode, International Olympic Committee member
• 18 James Coburn, 74, actor
• 17 Pedro Cabrera, Cuban actor and director who was a star in Puerto Rico's television for many years.
• 17 Abba Eban, 88, Israeli foreign affair minister
• 17 Milivi Adams, young cancer victim who became the symbol of the fight of many Vieques citizens to have the military out of there.
• 15 Myra Hindley, the Moors murderess
• 15 Eddie Bracken, 82, actor
• 7 Rudolf Augstein, founder and chief editorialist of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel
• 6 Sid Sackson, board game designer
• 3 Jonathan Harris, TV's "Dr. Smith" on Lost in Space
• 3 Lonnie Donegan, 71, skiffle musician
• 2 Charles Sheffield, science fiction author and physicist
• 2 Brian Behan, Irish writer, younger brother of Brendan Behan
• 2 Tonio Selwart (aged 106), Bavarian actor and Broadway performer

October 2002

• 30 Jam Master Jay, DJ of Run DMC assassinated
• 29 Chang-Lin Tien, educator, 7th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley
• 28 Margaret Booth, 104, Academy Award-winning film editor
• 25 Richard Harris, 72, (Hodgkin's disease), Actor
• 25 Paul Wellstone, United States Senator
• 24 Winton M. Blount last United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet
• 24 Harry Hay, US gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder
• 24 Adolph Green, 87, American lyricist and playwright
• 22 Richard Helms, former CIA director
• 20 Barbara Berjer, soap opera actress for over thirty years
• 19 Manuel Alvarez Bravo, 100, pre-eminent Mexican photographer
• 18 Roman Tam, canto-pop singer
• 17 Derek Bell, Member of The Chieftans, harpist
• 13 Stephen Ambrose, historian and author of "Band of Brothers"
• 10 Christine Stevens, founder of the Animal Welfare Institute
• 6 Claus von Amsberg, diplomat and husband of the Dutch Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
• 4 Alphonse Chapanis, a founder of ergonomics
• 3 Bruce Paltrow, television and film producer who married the actress Blythe Danner and their daughter is the actress Gwynneth Paltrow.
• 2 Heinz von Foerster, physicist and philosopher, one of the founders of constructivism
• 1 Walter Annenberg, publisher and philanthropist

September 2002

• ?? Bison Dele, Basketball star in the NBA.
  • Body not found yet, Tahiti police say it is possibly in the South Pacific. Already declared a murder investigation by the Police and the FBI.
• 22 Joseph Nathan Kane (aged 103), pre-eminent American historical author and factualist
• 22 Jan de Hartog, novelist and playwright
• 21 Angelo Buono, Jr., the "Hillside Strangler"
• 21 Robert L. Forward, physicist and science fiction author
• 19 Sergei Bodrov Jr., Russian movie star
• 18 Bob Hayes, National Football League Dallas Cowboys star, and Olympic games Hall of Fame member.
• 12 Kim Hunter, 79, (heart attack), stage and film actress who appeared as June in "A Matter of Life and Death" and as Stella Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
• 11 Johnny Unitas, National Football League Hall of fame quarterback.
• 8 Alfonso Ramirez Famous Mexican Bullfighter
• 7 John P. Frank Lawyer whose representation of Ernesto Miranda in 1966 helped create the Miranda Rights reading requirement.
• 4 Frankie Albert, National Football League star
• 1 Brandon Hall, American College football University of Minnesota defensive lineman

August 2002

• 31 Lionel Hampton, 94, jazz musician
• 27 Richard Ricci, Utah, Handyman, suspected of the kidnapping of 14 year old Elizabeth Smart
• 25 Dorothy Hewett, Australian poet, playwright and novelist
• 24 Wayne Simmons, American Football Ex Lions NFL player
• 24 Hoyt Wilhelm, Baseball Hall of Fame member
• 19 Abu Nidal, terrorist
• 19 Sunday Silence, thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes
• 15 Jesse Brown, former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• 14 Larry Rivers, American painter
• 14 Dave Williams, singer of Drowning Pool
• 12 Enos Slaughter, baseball Hall of Famer
• 10 Doris Wishman, cult movie director
• 6 Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist
• 5 Josh Ryan Evans, Actor, played Timmy on Passions
• 5 Chick Hearn, television and radio announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team since 1960
• 3 Carmen Silvera, 80, (lung cancer), UK television and theatre actress. Played Fiona Gray in Dad's Army, Captain Manwaring's secret love, and Edith in Allo Allo
• 3 (approx date) Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman child- murder victims

July 2002

• 23 Leo McKern, 82, Australian actor best known for playing Rumpole of the Bailey and one of the Number Twos in The Prisoner
• 23 William Pierce, rocket scientist, neo-Nazi, author of "The Turner Diaries"
• 23 Chaim Potok, author
• 22 Prince Ahmed bin Salman, member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem
• 19 Alexander Ginzburg, leading Soviet dissident (alternatively Aleksandr Ginzburg)
• 19 Alan Lomax, documenter of blues and folk songs
• 16 John Cocke, key figure in the development of RISC architecture
• 16 Jack Olsen, "True crime" writer
• 14 Joaquin Balaguer, former President of the Dominican Republic
• 13 Yousuf Karsh, 93, celebrity portrait photographer as "Karsh of Ottawa"
• 10 John Wallach, journalist
• 9 Rod Steiger, 77, (kidney failure), actor
• 9 Laurence Janifer, Science Fiction writer
• 8 Gethin Rhys Williams, Actor, "Rownd a Rownd"
• 8 Anthony Swithin, fantasy writer, paleontologist
• 8 Ward Kimball, Disney animator
• 6 John Frankenheimer, 74, film director
• 5 Ted Williams, Baseball Hall of Fame member
• 5 Katy Jurado, 68, Mexican actress who was once married to Ernest Borgnine
• 4 Winnifred Van Tongerloo, oldest living survivor of the Titanic
• 4 Benjamin O. Davis Jr., African-American General

June 2002

• 29 Rosemary Clooney, 74, singer
• 28 Arthur "Spud" Melin, responsible for marketing hula-hoop and frisbee.
• 27 John Entwistle, 57, (heart attack), bassist for The Who
• 26 Jay Berwanger, college football player, first winner of the Heisman Trophy
• 24 Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 86, 17th Duke of Norfolk
• 24 Pierre Werner, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, "father of the Euro"
• 23 Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panama boxer died after losing his world Flyweight championship to Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas the night before
• 22 Esther Pauline Friedman, author of the Ann Landers column
• 22 Darryl Kile, Major League Baseball player, age 33
• 18 Jack Buck, Major League Baseball announcer
• 17 Fritz Walter, football player, captain of 1954 World Cup winners.
• 17 Willie Davenport, Olympic Games champion
• 14 Jose Bonilla boxing former world champion, of asthma
• 14 June Jordan, 65, American writer and teacher, of breast cancer
• 12 Bill Blass, fashion designer.
• 10 John Gotti, imprisoned mobster.
• 11 Robbin Crosby, guitarist of rock band Ratt.
• 6 Hans Janmaat, controversial far-right politician in the Netherlands.
• 5 Dee Dee Ramone, founding member of The Ramones
• 4 Fernando Belaúnde Terry, democratic president of Peru, 1963-1968 and 1980-1985.
• 1 Hansie Cronje, 32, (air crash), South African cricketer

May 2002

• 26 Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian marathon runner
• 23 Sam Snead, golfer
• 22 (remains discovered; actual death probably took place sometime in 2001), Chandra Levy, U.S. Congressional intern
• 21 Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist
• 20 Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and popular science author
• 19 John Gorton, 19th Prime Minister of Australia
• 17 Joe Black, Baseball first Black pitcher to win a World Series game.
• 16 Edwin Alonzo Boyd, noted Canadian bank-robber and prison escaper of the 1950s.
• 16 Alec Campbell, Australia's last surviving ANZAC died in a nursing home, aged 103.
• 13 Ruth Cracknell, redoubtable Australian actress most famous for the long-running role of Maggie Beare in the series "Mother and Son", aged 76.
• 11 Joseph Bonanno, Sicilian, former boss of a Mafia crime family.
• 7 Seattle Slew, last triple crown winner on 25th anniversary of winning Kentucky Derby
• 6 Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician, intellectual and sociologist murdered by Volkert van der Graaf with political motives, was likely to become new Dutch Prime Minister.
• 5 Hugo Banzer Suárez, president of Bolivia, as dictator 1971-1978 and democratic president 1997-2001.
• 3 Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, current president of Somaliland and former prime minister of Somalia and British Somaliland.
• 3 Mohan Singh Oberoi (aged 103), Indian hotelier and retailer

April 2002

• 28 Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician
• Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie doll
• 27 Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Industrialist and art collector
• 25 Lisa Lopes, Singer with band TLC
• 25 Indra Devi (aged 102), "Yoga teacher to the stars"
• 23 Linda Boreman better known as Linda Lovelace, 53, porn star turned political activist who was killed in a car crash
• 19 (Body discovered), Layne Staley, Singer with band Alice In Chains
• 18 Thor Heyerdahl, 87, Norwegian anthropologist
• 16 Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater
• 16 Robert Urich, 55, Actor cancer
• 15 Byron White, US athlete and Supreme Court justice
• 8 Maria Felix, superstar Mexican actress
• 9 Leopold Vietoris (aged 110), Austrian mathematician
• 7 John Agar, 82, actor in monster movies who was once married to Shirley Temple
• 5 Layne Staley, Singer with band Alice In Chains

March 2002

• 31 Barry Took, 73, UK comedian and writer, also wrote in the US
• 30 Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon ,101, the Queen Mother, member of the British Royal Family.
• 27 Milton Berle, 93, Mr. Television, US comedian
• 27 Dudley Moore, 66, (brain disease), UK actor and writer
• 25 Kenneth Wolstenholme, 81, British football commentator
• 20 Ivan Novikoff ,102, Russian premier ballet master
• 18 Maude Farris-Luse ,115, Oldest Recognized Person in the World
• 11 Rudolf Hell ,100, German inventor and manufacturer

February 2002

• 28 Mary Stuart, soap opera actress best known for her 35-year starring role on Search for Tomorrow
• 27 Spike Milligan, 83, UK comedian, writer and actor
• 24 Leo Ornstein ,109, radical composer/pianist
• 22 Sir Raymond Firth ,100, British anthropologist
• 22 Chuck Jones, US animator
• 21 John Thaw, 60, (cancer), British actor, most famous for the detective series,Morse and The Sweeney.
• 15 Mike Daar Baseball San Diego Padres prospect
• 15 Howard K. Smith, TV journalist
• 15 Kevin Smith (actor), played Ares on Xena series
• 12 Theresa Ferber Bernstein ,111, artist
• 11 Barry Foster, 62, (heart attack), British actor.
• 9 Princess Margaret, 71, British royal family (sister of Queen Elizabeth II)
• 6 Max Perutz, founder of molecular biology

January 2002

• 28 Dick 'Night Train' Lane American Football, NFL Hall of Famer
• 28 Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author
• 23 Robert Nozick, philosopher
• 22 Peggy Lee, 81, US Singer, Actress
• 16 Bobo Olson, American boxer
• 16 Ron Taylor, American actor
• 14 Ted Demme, film and television director
• 12 Stanley Unwin, comedian
• 11 Cyrus Vance, 87, former United States Secretary of State, international peacemaker.
• 8 Dave Thomas, US entrepreneur, founder of Wendy's hamburger restaurants.
• 7 Jon Lee, British drummer.
• 3 Freddy Heineken, beer magnate.