Deaths in December 2006

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The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2006.

December 2006

31

• Marv Breeding, 72, American Major League Baseball player (Orioles, Dodgers). [1]
• Lida Hensley, 81, American president of Universal Life Church. [2]
• Ya'akov Hodorov, 79, Israeli football goalkeeper, stroke. [3]
• Seymour Martin Lipset, 84, American sociologist, stroke. [4]
• Liese Prokop, 65, Austrian athlete and Minister of the Interior (2004–2006), aortic dissection. [5]

30

• Frank Campanella, 87, American character actor. [6]
• Mitzi Cunliffe, 88, American sculptor. [7]
• Saddam Hussein, 69, Iraqi President (1979–2003), execution by hanging. [8]
• Antony Lambton, 84, British Conservative government minister. [9]
• Michel Plasse, 58, Canadian ice hockey player, cardiac arrest. [10] (French)
• Gerald Washington, 57, American mayor-elect of Westlake, Louisiana, suicide by gunshot. [11]

29

• Harald Bredesen, 88, American Lutheran pastor and advocate of speaking in tongues, injuries following a fall. [12]
• Bud Delp, 74, American racehorse trainer inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame, cancer. [13]
• Johnny Gibson, 101, American 400 meter hurdles world record holder (1927–1928). [14]
• Charles Addo Odametey, 69, Ghanaian football player. [15]
• Charlie Tyra, 71, American basketball player, heart failure. [16]

28

• Jamal Karimi-Rad, 50, Iranian Minister of Justice, car accident. [17]
• Mandy Mitchell-Innes, 92, British oldest living test cricketer for England, natural causes. [18]
• Jack Myers, 93, American biologist and science contributing editor (Highlights for Children), bladder cancer. [19]
• Jared Nathan, 21, American actor (ZOOM), car accident. [20]
• Gershon Shaked, 77, Israeli author and professor of Hebrew Literature. [21]

27

• Richard Dean, 50, American model, photographer and television host (Cover Shot), pancreatic cancer. [22]
• Pierre Delanoë, 88, French lyricist, cardiac arrest. [23]
• Scotty Glacken, 62, American Georgetown University football coach (1970–1992). [24]
• Itche Goldberg, 102, Polish-born American writer and Yiddish language preservationist. [25]
• Marmaduke Hussey, Baron Hussey of North Bradley, 83, British media executive, chair of BBC Board of Governors (1986–1996). [26]

26

• Robert Boehm, 92, American lawyer and chairman of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [27]
• Chris Brown, 45, American baseball player, complications from burns. [28]
• Gerald Ford, 93, American President (1974–1977). [29]
• Ivar Formo, 55, Norwegian cross-country skier and Olympic Games champion, drowning. [30]
• John Heath-Stubbs, 88, British poet and translator, lung cancer. [31]
• Martin David Kruskal, 81, American mathematician (Princeton University), stroke. [32]
• Fernand Nault, 85, Canadian ballet dancer and artistic director, Parkinson's disease. [33]

25

• James Brown, 73, American soul singer and bandleader, heart failure related to pneumonia. [34]
• John Butcher, 60, British Conservative Member of Parliament (1979–1997), heart attack. [35]
• Sir Robert Cotton, 91, Australian politician and ambassador to the United States (1982–1985, 1991–1994). [36]
• Ingerid Vardund, 79, Norwegian actress. [37] (Norwegian)

24

• Braguinha, 99, Brazilian composer, multiple organ failure. [38]
• Kenneth Sivertsen, 45, Norwegian folk singer, comedian and poet, brain trauma. [39] (Norwegian)
• Frank Stanton, 98, American president of CBS (1946–1971). [40]

23

• Sol Carter, 98, American baseball player. [41]
• Charlie Drake, 81, British comedian, actor and singer (My Boomerang Won't Come Back), stroke-related illness. [42]
• Wilma Dykeman, 86, American author and journalist, complications after hip fracture. [43]
• Dutch Mason, 68, Canadian blues musician, complications from diabetes. [44]
• Bo Mya, 79, Burmese rebel leader, complications of heart disease and diabetes. [45]
• Rosina Raisbeck, 90, Australian soprano singer. [46]
• Robert Stafford, 93, American politician, governor of Vermont (1959–1961) and senator (1971–1989), natural causes. [47]
• Marilyn Waltz, 75, American actress and Playboy model. [48]

22

• Richard Boston, 67, British journalist and author, illness. [49]
• Sam Chapman, 90, American athlete, Alzheimer's disease. [50]
• Ervin Lázár, 70, Hungarian writer, Kossuth Prize winner, lung failure. [51] (Hungarian)
• Dennis Linde, 63, American songwriter ("Burning Love", "Goodbye Earl"), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [52]
• Elena Mukhina, 46, Russian gymnast, complications of quadriplegia. [53]
• Phillip Pine, 86, American actor. [54]
• Thomas Shoyama, 90, Canadian politician, heart failure and Parkinson's disease. [55]
• Galina Ustvolskaya, 87, Russian composer, natural causes. [56]

21

• Scobie Breasley, 92, Australian jockey, stroke. [57]
• Rogério Oliveira da Costa, 30, Brazilian-born Macedonian football player, heart attack. [58]
• Lois Hall, 80, American actress, heart attack and stroke. [59]
• Colin Mair, 86, British rector of Kelvinside Academy. [60]
• Saparmurat Niyazov, 66, Turkmen Communist party secretary (1985–1991), president (1990–2006), cardiac arrest. [61]
• Philippa Pearce, 86, British children's author, stroke. [62]
• Karl Strauss, 94, German-born brewmaster for Pabst and Karl Strauss Brewing Company, natural causes. [63]
• Sydney Wooderson, 92, British lawyer and track athlete, world record holder for mile run (1937–1942), kidney failure. [64]

20

• Yukio Aoshima, 74, Japanese comedian, Governor of Tokyo (1995–99), myelodysplastic syndrome. [65]
• Elkan Blout, 87, American biochemist (Harvard University and the Polaroid Corporation), pneumonia. [66]
• Anne Rogers Clark, 77, American dog show judge (Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show), kidney failure associated with colon cancer. [67]
• Ma Ji, 72, Chinese xiangsheng actor, heart attack. [68]
• Tadayuki Nakashima, 35, Japanese comedian, member of duo Cunning, pneumonia and complications from leukemia. [69]
• Piergiorgio Welby, 60, Italian poet and euthanasia advocate, removal of life support. [70]

19

• Jack Burnley, 95, American cartoonist and illustrator, natural causes. [71]
• Maj-Britt Nilsson, 82, Swedish actress (Summer Interlude, Secrets of Women). [72]
• Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, Afghan Taliban commander, airstrike. [73]
• Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, 82, Austrian-born British first female member of the London Stock Exchange. [74]

18

• Abdul Amir al-Jamri, 67, Bahraini Shiite Muslim cleric, heart failure and kidney failure. [75]
• Joseph Barbera, 95, American cartoonist, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions, natural causes. [76]
• Ruth Bernhard, 101, American photographer, natural causes. [77]
• Denis Carter, Baron Carter, 74, British politician, Chief Whip in the House of Lords (1997–2002), cancer. [78]
• Mike Dickin, 63, British talkSPORT radio presenter, car accident. [79]
• Scott Mateer, 46, American songwriter and disc jockey, complications of diabetes and high blood pressure. [80]
• Mavor Moore, 87, Canadian writer, actor, radio and television producer, illness. [81]
• Mollie Orshansky, 91, American statistician and economist, cardiac arrest. [82]
• Daniel Pinkham, 83, American composer, natural causes. [83]

17

• Joe Gill, 87, American comic book writer. [84]
• Kyōko Kishida, 76, Japanese actress, respiratory failure caused by brain tumor. [85]
• Esko Nikkari, 68, Finnish actor, pneumonia. [86] (Finnish)
• Larry Sherry, 71, American baseball player (Los Angeles Dodgers), MVP of the 1959 World Series, cancer. [87]

16

• Don Jardine, 66, Canadian professional wrestler, heart attack and leukemia. [88]
• Chicho Jesurun, 59, Dutch baseball player and coach from the Netherlands Antilles, heart attack. [89] (Dutch)
• Goce Nikolovski, 59, Macedonian singer, suicide. [90]
• Taliep Petersen, South African theatre impresario, shot. [91]
• John Rae, 75, British educator and writer, Headmaster of Westminster School (1970-1986). [92]
• Pnina Salzman, 84, Israeli pianist, natural causes. [93]
• Cecil Travis, 93, American baseball player, natural causes. [94]
• Larry Zox, 69, American artist, cancer. [95]

15

• Federico Crescentini, 24, San Marino footballer, drowned. [96]
• Frank Johnson, 63, British journalist, editor of The Spectator (1995–1999), cancer. [97]
• Clay Regazzoni, 67, Swiss Formula One racing driver (1970–1980), car accident. [98]
• Mary Stolz, 86, American young adult novelist (Belling the Tiger, The Noonday Friends), natural causes. [99]
• Matt Zunic, 87, American basketball player and coach. [100]

14

• Anton Balasingham, 69, Sri Lankan LTTE senior negotiator, cholangiocarcinoma. [101] [102]
• John Bridge, 91, British recipient of the George Cross and George Medal, natural causes. [103]
• Ahmet Ertegün, 83, American businessman, co-founder of Atlantic Records, head injury from a fall at a Rolling Stones concert. [104]
• Michael Jonas Evans, 57, American actor (The Jeffersons), throat cancer. [105]
• Kate Fleming, 41, American actress, audio book producer and narrator, drowned. [106]
• John Hamilton, 84, British politician, leader of Liverpool City Council (1983–1986), lung disease. [107]
• Robert Long, 63, Dutch singer, cancer. [108] (Dutch)
• Sivuca, 76, Brazilian accordionist and composer, cancer. [109]

13

• Henry Beachell, 100, American agriculturalist and recipient of the 1996 World Food Prize. [110]
• Eileen Caddy, 89, British co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, natural causes. [111]
• Richard Carlson, 45, American author (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff), heart attack. [112]
• Loyola de Palacio, 56, Spanish Vice-President of the European Commission, cancer. [113]
• Ángel Nieves Díaz, 55, Puerto Rican murderer, lethal injection. [114]
• Homesick James, 96, American blues musician, natural causes. [115]
• Lamar Hunt, 74, American owner of Kansas City Chiefs, coiner of term "Super Bowl", complications of prostate cancer. [116]
• Bernard Kleiman, 78, American general counsel to the United Steelworkers of America, heart attack. [117]
• Charles Peter McColough, 84, Canadian CEO of Xerox Corporation, cardiac arrest. [118]

12

• Paul Arizin, 78, American basketball player (Philadelphia Warriors). [119]
• Peter Boyle, 71, American actor (Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond), multiple myeloma. [120]
• Kenny Davern, 71, American jazz clarinetist, heart attack. [121]
• Cor van der Hart, 78, Dutch footballer, natural causes. [122]
• Oscar Klein, 76, Austrian-born jazz trumpeter, heart attack. [123]
• Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy, 68, Sri Lankan Tamil militant civil war leader, illness. [124]
• Ellis Rubin, 81, American attorney and author, cancer. [125]
• Raymond P. Shafer, 89, American Governor of Pennsylvania (1967–1971), complications from heart failure. [126]
• Alan Shugart, 76, American disk drive pioneer, co-founder of Seagate Technology, complications from heart surgery. [127]
• Charles Stourton, 26th Baron Mowbray, 83, British Conservative whip in the House of Lords, pneumonia. [128]

11

• Elizabeth Bolden, 116, American oldest verified person in the world (2006), natural causes. [129]
• Kenneth Cummins, 106, British veteran of the First World War, natural causes. [130]
• Tom Gregory, 79, American television news anchor and announcer, heart disease. [131]
• Homer Ledford, 79, American bluegrass musician, guitar and dulcimer luthier, stroke. [132]
• Walter Ward, 66, American lead singer of The Olympics, unspecified illness. [133]

10

• Samuel Goldberg, 106, American last World War I veteran in Rhode Island, natural causes. [134]
• Mario Llerena, 93, Cuban intellectual, author and former Castro supporter turned critic, natural causes. [135]
• Salvatore Pappalardo, 88, Italian Archbishop of Palermo (1970–1996), natural causes. [136]
• Augusto Pinochet, 91, Chilean president (1973–1990), complications from heart attack. [137]

9

• Koula Agagiotou, 91, Greek actress (To Retire), natural causes. [138]
• Peter Derow, 62, American classical scholar, heart attack. [139]
• Georgia Gibbs, 87, American singer ("Kiss of Fire") known for her work on Your Hit Parade, leukemia. [140]
• Ralph Gomberg, 85, American principal oboist at the Boston Symphony, primary lateral sclerosis. [141]
• Johnny Hutch, 93, British acrobat and comedian (The Benny Hill Show), natural causes. [142]
• Andrei Lomakin, 42, Russian ice hockey player, gold medallist at 1988 Winter Olympics, long illness. [143]
• Martin Nodell, 91, American comic book and advertising artist, creator of the Golden Age Green Lantern, natural causes. [144]
• Tremayne Rodd, 3rd Baron Rennell, 71, British rugby union player for Scotland. [145]

8

• Sir Colin Figures, 81, British head of the Secret Intelligence Service (1982–1985), natural causes. [146]
• Martha Tilton, 91, American jazz and swing singer with Benny Goodman, natural causes. [147]
• José Uribe, 47, Dominican baseball shortstop (1984–1993), car accident. [148]

7

• Lyuben Berov, 81, Bulgarian prime minister (1992–1994), cancer. [149]
• Kevin Berry, 61, Australian gold medal winner in the 200m butterfly at the 1964 Summer Olympics, brain tumour. [150]
• Desmond Briscoe, 81, British sound engineer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, natural causes. [151]
• Moses Hardy, 113, American supercentenarian, oldest known American man, last African American WWI veteran, natural causes. [152]
• J. B. Hunt, 79, American trucking executive, founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, head injuries from a fall. [153]
• Kim Hyung-chil, 47, South Korean equestrian at the 2006 Asian Games, crushed by falling horse. [154]
• Jeane Kirkpatrick, 80, American United Nations ambassador (1981–1985), heart failure. [155]
• Jay McShann, 90, American blues and swing pianist, bandleader and singer, natural causes. [156]

6

• Han Ahmedow, 70, Turkmen Prime Minister (1989–1992), heart attack. [157]
• Darren Brown, 44, British musician and lead singer (Mega City Four), stroke. [158]
• Russell Buchanan, 106, American World War I veteran, stroke. [159]
• Hugo Cores, 69, Uruguayan historian, labor leader and politician, Deputy (1990–1994), stroke. [160]
• Samuel Devons, 92, British physicist and science historian at Columbia University, heart failure. [161]
• Andra Franklin, 47, American football player (Miami Dolphins), heart failure. [162]
• Mavis Pugh, 92, British actress (You Rang, M'Lord?), natural causes. [163]
• Robert Rosenblum, 79, American art historian, curator, and author, colon cancer. [164]
• William Salcer, 82, Czechoslovakian-born American inventor and Holocaust survivor, leukemia. [165]

5

• David Bronstein, 82, Ukrainian chess grandmaster and writer, champion of USSR, natural causes. [166]
• Eric Cox, 83, Australian rugby league player, referee and administrator, pneumonia and stroke. [167]
• Michael Gilden, 44, American actor (NCIS, Return of the Jedi), apparent suicide. [168]
• Gernot Jurtin, 51, Austrian football player, cancer. [169]
• Van Smith, 61, American costume and makeup designer, heart attack. [170]

4

• Sir Peter Gadsden, 77, British Lord Mayor of London (1979–1980). [171]
• Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 84, Burkinabé politician, natural causes. [172]
• James Kim, 35, American CNET editor, exposure and hypothermia. [173]
• Len Sutton, 81, American Indianapolis 500 racing driver, cancer. [174]
• Adam Williams, 82, American actor, lymphoma. [175]

3

• Craig Hinton, 42, British science fiction author, heart attack. [176]
• Logan Whitehurst, 29, American singer and songwriter (The Velvet Teen), brain cancer. [177]

2

• Bob Berry, 80, British test cricket player, natural causes. [178]
• Kari Edwards, 52, American poet, artist and gender activist, heart failure. [179]
• Dave Mount, 59, British drummer for glam rock band Mud, heart attack. [180]
• Mariska Veres, 59, Dutch singer for Shocking Blue (Venus), cancer. [181]

1

• Claude Jade, 58, French actress (Baisers Volés, L'Amour en Fuite, Topaz), metastatic eye cancer. [182]
• Herbert Gursky, 76, American astrophysicist for the Naval Research Laboratory, stomach cancer. [183]
• Geoffrey Colin Guy, 86, British airman and colonial governor. [184]
• Sid Raymond, 97, American character actor and voice of Baby Huey, complications of a stroke. [185]
• Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, Malaysian "snake king", venomous snakebite. [186]