Deaths in 2019

The following is a list of deaths that should be noted in April 2019. For deaths that should be noted before the month that the world is in, please see "Months". Names under each date are noted in the order of the alphabet by last name or pseudonym. Deaths of non-humans are noted here also if it is worth noting.

Each listing of a death must have a source. If no reference is included, the death notice will be removed. The following are the requirements of adding a name to the list in its order: name, age, where they came from, what the person is known for, cause of death (if known) and a source.

April

Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio
1927 – 2019

Jamshid Mashayekhi
1934 – 2019

Georgiy Daneliya
1930 – 2019

Sydney Brenner
1927 – 2019

Lasse Pöysti
1927 – 2019

Fritz Hollings
1922 – 2019

David Thouless
1934 – 2019

Richard E. Cole
1915 – 2019

Marilynn Smith
1929 – 2019

Georgia Engel
1948 – 2019

Tommy Smith
1945 – 2019

Paul Greengard
1925 – 2019

Yvette Williams
1929 – 2019

Bibi Andersson
1935 – 2019

Gene Wolfe
1931 – 2019

Owen Garriott
1930 – 2019

Alan García
1949 – 2019

Lorraine Warren
1927 – 2019

Patrick Sercu
1944 – 2019

Joe Armstrong
1950 – 2019

Amelia Vargas
1928 – 2019

Lê Đức Anh
1920 – 2019

1

• Dimitar Dobrev, 87, Bulgarian wrestler.
• Francisco Massiani, 74, Venezuelan writer and painter.
• Vonda N. McIntyre, 70, American science fiction author (Dreamsnake), pancreatic cancer.
• Ruth-Margret Pütz, 89, German coloratura soprano.
• Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, 91, Spanish writer, Cervantes Prize winner (2004).
• Vodka, 14, Japanese racehorse, laminitis.

2

• Herman Braun-Vega, 85, Peruvian painter.
• J. Mahendran, 79, Indian movie director (Mullum Malarum, Nenjathai Killathe, Kamaraj) and actor.
• Jamshid Mashayekhi, 84, Iranian actor (The Cow, Qeysar, Hezar Dastan), pneumonia caused by laryngeal cancer.
• Sergio Valdés, 85, Chilean footballer (Universidad Católica, national team), leukaemia.
• Franz Weber, 91, Swiss environmentalist and animal welfare activist.
• Don Williamson, 85, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Flint, Michigan (2003–2009), problems from a respiratory illness.

3

• Aleksey Buldakov, 68, Russian actor (The Guard, Peculiarities of the National Hunt, Hitler Goes Kaput!), heart attack.
• Billy Mainwaring, 78, Welsh rugby union player (Aberavon, Bridgend, national team).
• Maurice Pon, 97, French lyricist.
• Gabriel Piroird, 86, French Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Constantine (1983–2008).
• Carmelita Pope, 94, American actress (A Streetcar Named Desire).

4

• Alberto Cortez, 79, Argentine singer and songwriter, gastric haemorrhage.
• Georgiy Daneliya, 88, Russian movie director (Walking the Streets of Moscow, Afonya) and screenwriter (Mimino), People's Artist of the USSR (1989), respiratory and heart failure.
• Đồng Sĩ Nguyên, 96, Vietnamese military officer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister (1982–1991).
• Mike Jakubo, 71, Canadian ice hockey player (Los Angeles Sharks, Fort Wayne Komets, Virginia Wings), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
• Barry Malkin, 80, American movie editor (The Godfather Part II, Big, Rumble Fish).
• Thompson Mann, 76, American swimmer, Olympic champion (1964).
• Marilyn Mason, 93, American concert organist and academic (University of Michigan).
• Ivan Mrázek, 93, Czech basketball player and coach, European champion (1946).
• Arthur Polonsky, 93, American painter.

5

• Sydney Brenner, 92, South African biologist, Nobel Prize winner (2002).
• Nikolay Kovalyov, 69, Russian politician, Director of the Federal Security Service (1996–1998).
• Nina Lagergren, 98, Swedish activist, co-founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Academy.
• Gianfranco Leoncini, 79, Italian footballer (Juventus, Atalanta, national team), leukaemia.
• John Quarmby, 89, English actor (Fawlty Towers, K-9 and Company, A Christmas Carol). (death announced on this date)
• Lasse Pöysti, 92, Finnish actor (Moomins, Vita lögner).
• Shawn Smith, 53, American singer-songwriter and musician (Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed), torn aorta and high blood pressure.
• Davey Williams, 66, American avant-garde music guitarist (Curlew) and music critic (Birmingham News), cancer.

6

• Jim Glaser, 82, American country music artist ("You're Gettin' to Me Again"), heart attack.
• Fritz Hollings, 97, American politician, U.S. Senator (1966–2005), Governor of South Carolina (1959–1963), and 1984 presidential candidate.
• Olli Mäki, 82, Finnish boxer, European amateur champion (1959), problems caused by Alzheimer's disease.
• Lloyd McDermott, 79, Australian rugby union player (national team), nation's first indigenous barrister.
• Nadja Regin, 87, Serbian actress (From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Runaway).
• David J. Thouless, 84, British physicist, Nobel Prize winner (2016), problems caused by dementia.

7

• Hugo Ballesteros Reyes, 88, Chilean politician, Deputy (1957–1965), Ambassador to the United Nations (1964) and Senator (1969–1977), brain cancer.
• Michael E. Busch, 72, American politician, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates (since 2003), pneumonia caused by liver surgery.
• Seymour Cassel, 84, American actor (Faces, The Royal Tenenbaums, Dick Tracy), problems caused by Alzheimer's disease.
• Cho Yang-ho, 70, South Korean businessman (Korean Air, Hanjin).
• Arie Irawan, 28, Malaysian golfer.
• Víctor Manzanilla Schaffer, 94, Mexican politician, Governor of Yucatán (1988–1991), Senator (1967) and Deputy (1967–1970, 1976–1979).
• Mya-Lecia Naylor, 16, English actress (Millie Inbetween).
• Sandy Ratcliff, 70, English actress (EastEnders).
• Jan Wraży, 75, Polish footballer (Katowice, Valenciennes, national team).

8

• Leif Haraldseth, 89, Norwegian trade unionist and politician, Minister of Local Government (1986–1987).
• Josine Ianco-Starrels, 92, Romanian-born American art curator.
• Vasily Likhachyov, 67, Russian politician.

9

• Elwyn Berlekamp, 78, American mathematician, inventor of the Berlekamp–Welch algorithm and combinatorial game theory.
• Richard E. Cole, 103, American Air Force officer, last living member of the Doolittle Raid.
• Nikolai Gorbachev, 70, Belarusian sprint canoer, Olympic (1972) and world champion (1974).
• James D. Hudnall, 61, American comic book writer (Espers), problems caused by diabetes.
• K. M. Mani, 86, Indian politician, MLA of the Kerala Legislative Assembly (since 1965), problems caused by COPD.
• Marilynn Smith, 89, American Hall of Fame golfer, Titleholders champion (1963, 1964).
• Al Staley, 90, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers).
• Charles Van Doren, 93, American educator, writer and Quiz Show contestant (Twenty-One), Vice President of Encyclopædia Britannica (1959–1982).

10

• Werner Bardenhewer, 90, German Roman Catholic priest and humanitarian, Dean of Wiesbaden (1974–1996).
• Randall C. Berg Jr., 70, American lawyer, Executive Director of the Florida Justice Institute (1978–2018), ALS.
• Earl Thomas Conley, 77, American country singer-songwriter ("Holding Her and Loving You") and guitarist, problems caused by dementia.
• Irwin L. Jacobs, 77, American investor and businessman (Genmar Holdings), suicide by gunshot.
• Estrella Zeledón Lizano, 89, Costa Rican politician, First Lady (1978–1982).

11

• Alexander V. Acebo, 91, American politician, Vermont State Auditor (1970–1993).
• Can Bartu, 83, Turkish basketball player (Fenerbahçe, national team) and footballer (Fenerbahçe, national team).
• Geoffrey Chew, 94, American theoretical physicist.
• Ian Cognito, 60, British stand-up comedian, heart attack.
• Monkey Punch, 81, Japanese manga artist (Lupin the Third), pneumonia.
• Stanley Plumly, 79, American poet, multiple myeloma.
• Dmitri Savitski, 75, Russian novelist (Waltz for K) and poet.
• Max van Weezel, 67, Dutch journalist and political commentator (Vrij Nederland), pancreatic cancer.

12

• Ivor Broadis, 96, English footballer (Carlisle United, Manchester City, national team).
• Dina, 62, Portuguese pop singer ("Amor d'água fresca"), Eurovision contestant (1992), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
• Georgia Engel, 70, American actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Open Season, Everybody Loves Raymond).
• Forrest Gregg, 85, American Hall of Fame football player (Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys) and coach (Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns), problems caused by Parkinson's disease.
• John McEnery, 76, British actor (Romeo and Juliet, Nicholas and Alexandra, The Land That Time Forgot).
• Tommy Smith, 74, English footballer (Liverpool, national team), dementia.

13

• Francisca Aguirre, 88, Spanish poet, National Prize for Spanish Literature winner (2018).
• D. Babu Paul, 78, Indian civil servant, multiple organ failure.
• Tony Buzan, 76, English author and educational consultant, heart attack.
• Wally Carr, 64, Australian boxer, cancer.
• Neus Català, 103, Spanish Resistance fighter, Holocaust survivor and political activist.
• Mark Connolly, 63, American politician, brain hemorrhage.
• Paul Greengard, 93, American neuroscientist, Nobel Prize winner (2000).
• Norio Kaifu, 75, Japanese astronomer, Director-General of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (2000–2006) and President of the International Astronomical Union (2012–2015), pancreatic cancer.
• Paul Raymond, 73, English keyboardist and guitarist (UFO, Savoy Brown), heart attack.
• S. K. Shivakumar, 66, Indian rocket scientist (Indian Space Research Organisation), Director of ISTRAC (1998–2010) and Padma Shri recipient (2015), problems caused by jaundice.
• Lydia Wideman, 98, Finnish cross-country skier, Olympic champion (1952).
• Yvette Williams, 89, New Zealand Hall of Fame athlete, Olympic (1952) and Commonwealth (1950, 1954) champion.

14

• Bibi Andersson, 83, Swedish actress (Persona, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries), problems caused by a stroke.
• Giuseppe Ciarrapico, 85, Italian politician and football executive, Senator (2008–2013) and President of Roma (1991–1993).
• Colin Collindridge, 98, English footballer (Sheffield United). (death announced on this date)
• David Brion Davis, 92, American historian.
• Abdallah Lamrani, 72–73, Moroccan footballer (FAR Rabat, national team).
• Mirjana Marković, 76, Serbian politician and political criminal, First Lady (1997–2000) and President of the Yugoslav Left (2002–2003), problems caused by surgery.
• Jacek Namieśnik, 69, Polish chemist, Dean of the Gdańsk University College of Chemistry (1996–2002, 2005–2012), possible heart failure.
• Gene Wolfe, 87, American science fiction (The Book of the New Sun) and fantasy writer (Soldier of Sidon), Nebula (1974, 1981) and multi-Locus Award winner, heart disease.

15

• Warren Adler, 91, American author (The War of the Roses, Random Hearts), problems caused by liver cancer.
• Jerry Clack, 92, American classics scholar.
• Owen Garriott, 88, American astronaut (Skylab 3).
• Aleksandar Kostov, 81, Bulgarian footballer.
• Les Reed, 83, English songwriter ("It's Not Unusual", "Delilah", "The Last Waltz").
• José María Rico, 84, Costa Rican lawyer, First Gentleman (2010–2014), problems caused by Alzheimer's disease.
• Winston L. Shelton, 96, American inventor and entrepreneur.
• Joaquim Alberto Silva, 45, Angolan footballer (Porto, national team, Xiamen Lanshi), heart attack.

16

• Jörg Demus, 90, Austrian pianist.
• Ahmad Eghtedari, 93–94, Iranian teacher, lawyer and writer, lung and kidney disease.
• Guro Fjellanger, 55, Norwegian politician, Minister of the Environment (1997–2000).
• Kent Harris, 88, American songwriter ("Shoppin' for Clothes") and record producer, cancer.
• Fay McKenzie, 101, American actress (Down Mexico Way, Heart of the Rio Grande, Breakfast at Tiffany's).
• Ignace Murwanashyaka, 55, Rwandan rebel, leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
• Bazilije Pandžić, 101, Croatian historian, archivist and orientalist.
• Suzanne Twelftree, 62, Australian Paralympic wheelchair tennis player and powerlifter (1992, 2000).
• Mountaineers killed in the Howse Peak avalanche:

• Hansjörg Auer, 35, Austrian
• David Lama, 28, Austrian
• Jess Roskelley, 36, American

17

• Alan García, 69, Peruvian politician, President (1985–1990, 2006–2011), suicide by gunshot.
• Kazuo Koike, 82, Japanese manga artist (Lone Wolf and Cub, Lady Snowblood), pneumonia.
• Ya'akov Nehoshtan, 93, Israeli politician and diplomat, member of the Knesset (1969–1974) and Ambassador to the Netherlands (1982–1985).
• James V. Schall, 91, American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest, teacher and writer.
• Pieter Verhoeff, 81, Dutch movie director (The Dream, The Sunday Child, The Moving True Story of a Woman Ahead of Her Time).

18

• Con de Lange, 38, South African-born Scottish cricketer (Northamptonshire, national team), brain tumour.
• Jameel Jalibi, 89, Pakistani linguist, writer and educator, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Karachi (1983–1987).
• Lyra McKee, 29, Northern Irish journalist, shot.
• Ira Neimark, 97, American retail executive (Bergdorf Goodman).
• Lorraine Warren, 92, American paranormal investigator, subject of The Conjuring.
• Siegmar Wätzlich, 71, German footballer (Dynamo Dresden, East German national team) and Olympic bronze medalist (1972).

19

• Martin Böttcher, 91, German composer, arranger and conductor.
• William Krehm, 105, Canadian Trotskyist activist and Spanish Civil War veteran.
• Massimo Marino, 59, Italian television presenter and actor.
• Yuriy Pimenov, 61, Russian rower, Olympic silver medalist (1980).
• Patrick Sercu, 74, Belgian cyclist, Olympic champion (1964).
• Rodolfo Severino Jr., 82, Filipino diplomat, Secretary-General of the ASEAN (1998–2002) and Ambassador to Malaysia (1992–1989), problems from Parkinson's disease.
• Xiao Yang, 80, Chinese judge, President of the Supreme People's Court (1998–2008) and Minister of Justice (1993–1998).
• Okiharu Yasuoka, 79, Japanese politician, Minister of Justice (2000, 2008), pancreatic cancer.

20

• Joe Armstrong, 68, British computer scientist, designer of Erlang.
• Reggie Cobb, 50, American football player (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets), heart attack.
• Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, 96, Iranian artist.
• Karl Grob, 72, Swiss footballer (Zürich, national team), heart failure.
• Braulio Lara, 30, Dominican baseball player (SK Wyverns), car accident.
• David V. Picker, 87, American movie executive (United Artists, Paramount Pictures) and producer (The Jerk), problems from colon cancer.

21

• Peter Colotka, 94, Slovak academic, lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Slovak Socialist Republic (1969–1988).
• Steve Golin, 64, American movie producer (Spotlight, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Revenant), founder and CEO of Anonymous Content, Oscar winner (2016), cancer.
• Aminul Haque, 76, Bangladeshi politician, MP (1991–2006) and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (2001–2006), liver cancer.
• Shantha Mayadunne, Sri Lankan chef, bombing.
• Amelia Vargas, 91, Cuban actress (Arroz con Leche, The Phantom of the Operetta, Cleopatra Was Candida) and dancer.

22

• Krasimir Bezinski, 57, Bulgarian footballer (CSKA Sofia, Portimonense, national team), colorectal cancer.
• Lê Đức Anh, 98, Vietnamese military officer and politician, Chief of the General Staff (1986–1987), Minister of Defence (1987–1992) and President (1992–1997), problems from a stroke.
• Julio César Toresani, 51, Argentine football player (River Plate, Boca Juniors) and manager (Colón), suicide.

Months

• January
• February
• March

Related pages

• Deaths in 2014
• Deaths in 2015
• Deaths in 2016
• Deaths in 2017
• Deaths in 2018

Other websites

• The Guardian, UK obituaries
• The Telegraph obituaries
• Obituaries, Chicago Tribune
• Obituaries, Los Angeles Times
• The New York Times, US obituaries
• The Washington Post obituaries
• The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian obituaries