Famous birthdays, deaths and events of 2009
Birthdays Deaths January 1 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (b. 1924) January 1 - Edmund Purdom, British actor. January 1 - Walter Haynes, American steel guitarist. January 2 - Nick Scandone, American yachtsman, paralympian gold medallist (2008), Lou Gehrig's disease. January 2 - Don Sanderson, Canadian ice hockey player (Whitby Dunlops), head injury. January 2 - John Olav Larssen, Norwegian evangelical preacher. January 2 - Ryuzo Hiraki, Japanese footballer, pneumonia. January 2 - Joe Henry, American baseball player (Memphis Red Sox, Negro Leagues). January 2 - Steven Gilborn, American actor (Ellen), cancer. January 2 - Inger Christensen, Danish poet, novelist and essayist. January 3 - Olga San Juan, American actress, kidney failure. January 3 - Sam McQuagg, American race car driver, NASCAR Rookie of the Year (1965), cancer. January 3 - Pat Hingle, American actor (Splendor in the Grass, Hang 'Em High, Batman), blood cancer. January 3 - Alvin Ganzer, American film and television director (The Twilight Zone, Route 66, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), cancer. January 3 - Charles Camilleri, Maltese composer. January 4 - Billy Thompson, British boxer, British lightweight champion (1947–1951), European lightweight champion (1948–1949). January 4 - Giselle Salandy, Trinidadian boxer, car accident. January 4 - Andris Makovskis, Latvian actor. January 4 - Bob Lazarus, American comedian, leukemia. January 4 - Arvid Knutsen, Norwegian footballer (Viking FK), brain tumor. January 4 - Gert Jonke, Austrian writer and poet, cancer. January 4 - Ivan Gubijan, Croatian hammer thrower, Olympic medalist (1948), after long illness. January 4 - Sonny Fai, New Zealand rugby league player, swept out to sea (presumed drowned). January 5 - Pascal Terry, French motorcycle racer, pulmonary edema. January 5 - Sam Taylor, American blues musician, complications from heart disease. January 5 - Verna Mae Slone, American author and quilter, complications from a fall. January 5 - Carl Pohlad, American billionaire banker, owner of the Minnesota Twins. January 5 - Stanton Parris, Barbadian cricket umpire, after short illness. January 5 - Mario Magnotta, Italian internet celebrity, pulmonary embolism. January 5 - Dale Livingston, American football player (Green Bay Packers), complications from heart surgery. January 5 - Gautam Goswami, Indian civil servant accused of corruption, pancreatic cancer. January 6 - Charlie Thomson, British footballer. January 6 - John Street, British snooker referee, pulmonary disease. January 6 - Richard Seaver, American owner of Arcade Publishing, heart attack. January 6 - John Scott Martin, British actor (Doctor Who, I, Claudius, Z-Cars), Parkinson's disease. January 6 - Claude Jeter, American gospel music singer. January 6 - Robert Ilosfalvy, Hungarian opera singer. January 6 - Cheryl Holdridge, American actress, lung cancer. January 6 - Harold Ellis, American real estate magnate, cancer. January 6 - Maria Dimitriadi, Greek singer, lung disease. January 7 - Bob Wilkins, American television personality, horror film host, complications from Alzheimer's disease. January 7 - Ray Dennis Steckler, American film director. January 7 - Gürkan Oker, Turkish jockey, race fall. January 7 - Jacques Littlefield, American owner of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, colon cancer. January 7 - Alfie Conn, Sr., British footballer. January 7 - Clyde Charles, American inmate exonerated by DNA testing, natural causes. January 8 - Leonidas Vargas, Colombian drug trafficker, shot. January 8 - Zbigniew Podlecki, Polish motorcycle speedway rider. January 8 - Irene Melikoff, Russian-born French Turkologist. January 8 - Stephen Lucinski, American television personality (Pittsburgh ChillerTheatre). January 8 - Gaston Lenôtre, French pastry chef and caterer, after long illness. January 8 - Don Galloway, American actor (Ironside), stroke. January 9 - Frank Williams, American baseball player, heart attack. January 9 - Eric Scoggins, American football player (San Francisco 49ers, USC), Lou Gehrig's disease. January 9 - Dave Roberts, American baseball pitcher, lung cancer. January 9 - Kaarle Ojanen, Finnish chess player. January 9 - T. Llew Jones, British Welsh language writer. January 9 - Jon Hager, American country musician and comedian (Hee Haw). January 9 - Harry Endo, American actor (Hawaii Five-O), stroke. January 9 - Dave Dee, British singer (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), prostate cancer. January 10 - Sidney Wood, American tennis player, Hall of Fame (1964), third-youngest winner of Wimbledon (1931). January 10 - Jack Wheeler, British footballer. January 10 - Bill Stone, British World War I veteran. January 10 - Ivor Spencer, British toastmaster. January 10 - Eluned Phillips, British writer, crowned bard at the National Eisteddfod of Wales (1967, 1983), pneumonia. January 10 - Giorgio Mondadori, Italian publisher. January 10 - Amir Mansi, Palestinian Hamas missile specialist, airstrike. January 10 - Gil Mains, American football player. January 10 - René Herms, German middle distance runner. January 10 - Rob Gauntlett, British mountaineer, youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, climbing accident. January 10 - Archie Casbarian, American restaurateur (Arnaud's). January 10 - Annabel Bosch, Filipino singer, cerebral aneurysm. January 11 - David Vine, British sports presenter, heart attack. January 11 - Jon Tvedt, Norwegian orienteer and mountain runner. January 11 - Milan Rúfus, Slovak poet and academic. January 11 - Tom O'Horgan, American theater director (Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar), natural causes. January 11 - Freddie Mack, British boxer and musician. January 11 - Bob Kilby, British motorcycle speedway rider, cancer. January 11 - Andy DeMize, American drummer (Nekromantix), car accident. January 12 - Kick Stokhuyzen, Dutch quizmaster and television host. January 12 - Alejandro Sokol, Argentine rock and roll musician, cardio-respiratory failure. January 12 - K?rlis Sebris, Latvian actor, natural causes. January 12 - Mick Imlah, British poet, motor neurone disease. January 12 - Friaça, Brazilian footballer, multiple organ failure. January 12 - Russ Craft, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers). January 12 - Claude Berri, French Academy Award-winning film director (Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources), stroke. January 13 - Folke Sundquist, Swedish actor. January 13 - W.D. Snodgrass, American poet, lung cancer. January 13 - Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese composer and musician, pneumonia. January 13 - Patrick McGoohan, American-born Irish actor (The Prisoner, Braveheart), after short illness. January 13 - Sir Dai Llewellyn, British socialite, bone cancer. January 13 - Lanny Kean, American professional wrestler, heart attack. January 13 - Mary Ejercito, Filipino mother of Joseph Estrada, heart seizure and stomach aneurysm. January 13 - Tommy Casey, British footballer. January 13 - Pedro Aguilar, American dancer, heart failure. January 14 - Gennadiy Shatkov, Russian Soviet-era boxer, Olympic gold medalist (1956). January 14 - Shadi Sbakhe, Palestinian footballer, airstrike. January 14 - Wajeh Moshtahe, Palestinian footballer, airstrike. January 14 - Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (Fantasy Island, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). January 14 - Ayman Alkurd, Palestinian footballer, airstrike. January 15 - Tapan Sinha, Indian film director, bronchopneumonia. January 15 - Tommy Muñiz, Puerto Rican television producer and comedian, after long illness. January 15 - Maurice Chappaz, Swiss author and poet. January 16 - Robert Palmer , 74, American vintner, blood infection. January 16 - Whitey Mitchell, 76, American jazz musician and comedy writer (Get Smart, All in the Family, The Jeffersons), cancer. January 16 - Claudio Milar, 34, Uruguayan footballer, bus crash. January 16 - Paul Fuchs, 33, American professional wrestler. January 16 - Joe Erskine, 78, American boxer and ultramarathon runner. January 16 - Jim Carvin, 79, American political strategist, heart failure. January 16 - Sidney Brichto, 72, American-born British Liberal Jewish rabbi. January 17 - Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, 93, British financier and horticulturist. January 17 - Mike Parkinson, 60, New Zealand rugby union player. January 17 - Marjorie Parker Smith, 92, American figure skater. January 17 - Susanna Foster, 84, American actress and singer (Phantom of the Opera). January 17 - Tomislav Crnković, 79, Croatian footballer. January 17 - Raju Ananthaswamy, 40, Indian actor, music director and singer, kidney failure. January 18 - Grigore Vieru, 73, Moldovan poet, car accident. January 18 - Bal Samant, 85, Indian writer, after long illness. January 18 - Bob May, 69, American actor (Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel), heart failure. January 18 - Nora Kovach, 77, Hungarian-born American ballerina, after short illness. January 18 - Kathleen Byron, 88, British actress (Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, The House in the Square). January 18 - João Aguardela, 39, Portuguese musician, cancer. January 19 - Joop Wille, 88, Dutch footballer for EDO and The Netherlands. January 19 - José Torres, 72, Puerto Rican boxer, Olympic silver medallist (1956), heart attack. January 20 - Dina Vierny, 89, Russian-born French model. January 20 - David Newman, 75, American jazz saxophonist, pancreatic cancer. January 20 - Dante Lavelli, 85, American football player (Cleveland Browns), Hall of Famer (1975), heart failure. January 20 - Stéphanos II Ghattas, 89, Egyptian Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria (1986–2006). January 20 - Mickey Gee, 64, British rock and roll guitarist, emphysema. January 20 - Joe Domnanovich, 89, American football player. January 20 - Johnny Dixon, 85, British footballer (Aston Villa), complications from Alzheimer's disease. January 20 - Austin Denney, 65, American football player, after brief illness. January 21 - Charles H. Schneer, 88, American film producer (Jason and the Argonauts). January 21 - Veatrice Rice, 59, American television personality (Jimmy Kimmel Live), cancer. January 21 - Peter Persidis, 61, Austrian footballer, after long illness. January 21 - Finn Kobberø, 73, Danish badminton player. January 21 - Shane Dronett, 38, American football player (Atlanta Falcons), suicide. January 21 - Pat Crawford, 75, Australian Test cricketer, after long illness. January 21 - Ernie Bourne, 82, Australian actor. January 22 - Mbongeleni Zondi, 39, South African Zulu chief, shot. January 22 - Billy Werber, 100, American baseball player, last living teammate of Babe Ruth, oldest living MLB player, natural causes. January 22 - Mickell Seltzer, 91, American writer. January 22 - Darrell Sandeen, 73, American actor (L.A. Confidential). January 22 - Clément Pinault, 23, French footballer, heart attack. January 22 - Liang Yusheng, 85, Chinese novelist, natural causes. January 22 - Bill Herchman, 75, American football player. January 23 - George Perle, 93, American composer, after long illness. January 23 - Bonnie Clark Halderman, 64, American author, mother of David Koresh, stabbed. January 24 - Karl Koller, 79, Austrian footballer, Alzheimer's disease. January 24 - Mariana Bridi da Costa, 20, Brazilian model, complications from necrotic septicemia. January 24 - Fernando Cornejo, 39, Chilean footballer, stomach cancer. January 24 - Gérard Blanc, 61, French singer and guitarist. January 24 - Bharat Bhagavathar, 51, Indian actor, cerebral hemorrhage. January 25 - Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter, 96, French aristocrat, last heir of the Reuters family, granddaughter-in-law of Paul Reuter. January 25 - Kim Manners, 59, American television producer and director, cancer. January 27 - Billy Wilson, 81, American football player (San Francisco 49ers), cancer. January 27 - John Updike, 76, American author (Rabbit Is Rich, The Witches of Eastwick), lung cancer. January 27 - Mino Reitano, 64, Italian singer, after long illness. January 28 - Billy Powell, 56, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), heart attack. January 29 - Roy Somlyo, 83, American theatre producer, cancer. January 29 - Roy Saunders, 78, British footballer (Liverpool, Swansea City). January 29 - Gyula Pálóczi, 46, Hungarian athlete, heart disease. January 29 - John Martyn, 60, British singer and songwriter, pneumonia. January 29 - Karl Gass, 91, German documentary filmmaker, natural causes. January 29 - Hank Crawford, 74, American jazz, rhythm and blues saxophonist, complications from a stroke. January 29 - Charles Clews, 89, Maltese comedian. January 29 - Pawlu Aquilina, 79, Maltese poet and writer. January 30 - Ingemar Johansson, 76, Swedish world heavyweight boxing champion (1959–1960), complications from pneumonia. January 30 - Safar Iranpak, 61, Iranian footballer, lung cancer. January 30 - John Gordy, 73, American football player (Detroit Lions), cancer. January 30 - Bill Frindall, 69, British cricket statistician, Legionnaire's disease. January 30 - Mike Francis, 47, Italian pop musician, lung cancer. January 30 - Connie Buckley, 93, Irish hurler (death announced on this date). January 31 - Clint Ritchie, 70, American actor (One Life to Live), blood clot after heart surgery. January 31 - Nagesh, 75, Indian film comedian, after brief illness. January 31 - Eddie Logan, 98, American Negro league baseball player, stroke. January 31 - Lino Aldani, 82, Italian science fiction writer, lung disease. February 1 - Jim McWithey, 81, American race car driver. February 1 - Yoya Martínez, 96, Chilean actress, natural causes. February 1 - Tim Grundy, 50, British radio and television presenter, heart attack. February 1 - Joe Ades, 74, American pitchman for carrot peelers. February 1 - Nancy Adams, 84, American co-owner of the Tennessee Titans, after brief illness. February 2 - Russ Germain, 62, Canadian broadcaster, lung cancer. February 2 - Phil Easton, 59, British radio presenter, brain haemorrhage. February 2 - Alan Davies, 75, British rugby league footballer, emphysema. February 2 - Paul Birch, 46, British footballer, bone cancer. February 3 - Michelle Splitter, 19, Brazilian international basketball player, leukemia. February 3 - Sheng-yen, 79, Chinese-born Taiwanese Buddhist Zen master, kidney disease. February 3 - Kurt Demmler, 65, German songwriter, suicide. February 4 - Mark Shepherd, 86, American chairman of Texas Instruments (1976–1988), complications from pulmonary fibrosis. February 4 - Ed Schwartz, 62, American radio personality, kidney and heart disease. February 4 - Lux Interior, 62, American singer/songwriter (The Cramps), heart condition. February 4 - Ramón Hernández, 68, Puerto Rican baseball player. February 4 - Christophe Dupouey, 40, French cyclist, World Cross Country Champion (1996), suicide. February 4 - Tom Brumley, 73, American steel guitarist (The Buckaroos), after short illness. February 5 - Dana Vávrová, 41, Czech-born German actress and film director, cancer. February 5 - Frederiek Nolf, 21, Belgian cyclist, heart attack. February 5 - George Hughes, 83, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers). February 5 - John W. Grace, 82, Canadian Privacy Commissioner (1983–1990), heart attack. February 5 - Andrés Bermúdez, 58, Mexican tomato-farming magnate and federal deputy since 2006, stomach cancer. February 6 - James Whitmore, 87, American Academy Award–nominated actor, lung cancer. February 6 - Philip Carey, 83, American actor, lung cancer. February 7 - Jorge Reyes, 56, Mexican musician (Chac Mool), heart attack. February 7 - Brian Naylor, 78, Australian news presenter, bushfire. February 7 - Brian Naylor, 78, Australian news presenter, bushfire. February 7 - Betty Jameson, 89, American golfer, three-time major championship winner. February 7 - Joe Haverty, 72, Irish football player. February 7 - Richard Gordon, 61, British author, heart attack. February 7 - Reg Evans, 80, Australian actor, bushfire. February 7 - Blossom Dearie, 82, American jazz singer and pianist (Schoolhouse Rock!), after long illness. February 7 - Molly Bee, 69, American country singer, complications from a stroke. February 8 - Marian Cozma, 26, Romanian handball player, stabbed. February 8 - Abdul-Khaliq al-Mukhtar, 49, Iraqi actor, kidney failure. February 9 - Jeremy Lusk, 24, American motocross racer, brain injury during event. February 9 - Orlando "Cachaito" López, 76, Cuban bassist (Buena Vista Social Club), complications from prostate surgery. February 9 - Mel Kaufman, 50, American football player (Washington Redskins). February 9 - Neville Hamilton, 48, British footballer. February 9 - Eluana Englaro, 38, Italian patient in right to die case, withdrawal of nutrition. February 9 - Reg Davies, 79, British footballer. February 10 - Berting Labra, 75, Filipino character actor, emphysema. February 10 - Leila Hadley, 83, American travel writer. February 11 - Penny Ramsey, Australian actress, cancer. February 11 - Estelle Bennett, 67, American singer (The Ronettes). February 11 - Albert Barillé, 88, French television screenwriter and producer. February 12 - Ted Uhlaender, 68, American baseball player, heart attack. February 12 - Gerry Niewood, 65, American jazz saxophonist (Chuck Mangione's band), plane crash. February 12 - Coleman Mellett, 34, American jazz guitarist (Chuck Mangione's band), plane crash. February 12 - Hugh Leonard, 82, Irish playwright. February 12 - Lis Hartel, 87, Danish equestrian. February 12 - Willy Haugli, 81, Norwegian Chief Constable of Oslo. February 12 - Cris Daluz, 74, Filipino actor. February 12 - Giacomo Bulgarelli, 68, Italian footballer. February 13 - Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh, 83, Azerbaijani poet. February 13 - Edward Upward, 105, British writer. February 13 - Julius Patching, 92, Australian Olympic official. February 13 - Joe Goldstein, 81, American sports promoter, heart attack and stroke. February 14 - Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., 90, American book publisher, complications from a fall. February 14 - Matt Hawkins, 21, American racing car driver (ARCA), shot. February 15 - Carl Venne, 62, American Chairman of the Crow Nation since 2002, natural causes. February 15 - Noble Doss, 88, American football player. February 15 - Joe Cuba, 78, American musician, complications of a bacterial infection. February 16 - Dorothy Bridges, 93, American actress and poet, wife of Lloyd Bridges, mother of Beau and Jeff Bridges. February 17 - Mike Whitmarsh, 46, American beach volleyball and basketball player, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. February 17 - Brad Van Pelt, 57, American football player (New York Giants), heart attack. February 17 - Shabnam Romani, 80, Pakistani poet and writer, after long illness. February 17 - Gazanfer Özcan, 78, Turkish actor, respiratory disease. February 17 - Edhi Handoko, 48, Indonesian chess grandmaster, heart attack. February 18 - Kamila Skolimowska, 26, Polish hammer thrower, 2000 Olympics gold medalist, pulmonary embolism. February 18 - Al-Tayyib Salih, 80, Sudanese writer (Season of Migration to the North). February 18 - Snooks Eaglin, 73, American guitarist, heart attack. February 18 - Viking Björk, 90, Swedish surgeon. February 18 - Jacques Bino, 50, French Guadeloupean trade union official, shot. February 19 - Miika Tenkula, 34, Finnish guitarist and songwriter (Sentenced). February 19 - Harrison Ridley Jr., 70, American jazz presenter, after short illness. February 19 - Kelly Groucutt, 63, British bass guitar player (Electric Light Orchestra), heart attack. February 19 - Ronald Dearing, Baron Dearing, 78, British peer and civil servant, cancer. February 19 - Chet Bulger, 91, American football player (Chicago Cardinals), natural causes. February 20 - Robert Quarry, 83, American film and television actor. February 20 - Christopher Nolan , 43, Irish author, winner of the Whitbread Prize (1988), pulmonary aspiration. February 21 - Mary Printz, 82, American switchboard operator, inspiration for Bells Are Ringing. February 21 - Luca Francesco Miorin, 38, Italian mountaineer, fall. February 21 - Fannie Kauffman, 84, Canadian-born Mexican actress and comedian, natural causes. February 21 - Sebastian Hackert, 32, German musician and record producer (Deichkind), heart attack. February 22 - Howard Zieff, 81, American film director (Private Benjamin), complications from Parkinson's disease. February 22 - Derrell Palmer, 86, American football player (Cleveland Browns), natural causes. February 22 - Ida Gomes, 85, Polish-born Brazilian actress, dubber of Bette Davis, pneumonia. February 22 - Rafael dos Anjos Duarte, 25, Brazilian race walker, drowned. February 23 - Scott Symons, 75, Canadian writer. February 23 - Seppo Kolehmainen, 76, Finnish actor, after long illness. February 24 - Pearl Lang, 87, American dancer and choreographer, heart attack. February 24 - Svatopluk Havelka, 83, Czech composer. February 24 - Roberto Posada Garcia-Peña, 54, Colombian columnist. February 25 - Clarence Swensen, 91, American actor (The Wizard of Oz Munchkin). February 25 - Atieno Odhiambo, 63, Kenyan academic, dementia. February 25 - Bill Holm, 65, American author and poet. February 25 - Philip José Farmer, 91, American writer (Riverworld). February 25 - Ian Carr, 75, British writer and musician (Nucleus), after long illness. February 25 - Randall Bewley, 53, American guitarist (Pylon), heart attack. February 25 - Ruth Dunlap Bartlett, 87, American-born British actress. February 26 - Norm Van Lier, 61, American basketball player (Chicago Bulls). February 26 - Wilbert Tatum, 76, American publisher (New York Amsterdam News), multiple organ failure. February 26 - Wendy Richard , 65, British actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders), cancer. February 26 - Rick Beckett, 54, American radio broadcaster (WOOD (AM)), heart attack. February 28 - Tom Sturdivant, 78, American baseball player (New York Yankees). February 28 - Geoffrey Smith, 80, British gardening expert and presenter. February 28 - Al Lewis, 84, American television host. February 28 - Paul Harvey, 90, American radio broadcaster. March 1 - Joan Turner, 86, British actress. March 1 - Robert Haggiag, 95, Libyan film producer (Candy). March 1 - Robert Bruce, 65, British-born New Zealand professional wrestler and talent agent, after short illness. March 2 - Urban Sea, 20, French racehorse and broodmare, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner (1993), complications during foaling. March 2 - Chris Finnegan, 64, British boxer, Olympic middleweight champion (1968), complications from pneumonia. March 3 - Åke Lindman, 81, Finnish actor and film director. March 3 - Frank Ford, 92, American radio talk show host, stroke. March 3 - Flemming Flindt, 72, Danish choreographer, worked with Rudolf Nureyev. March 3 - Sebastian Faißt, 20, German handball player, stroke. March 3 - Sydney Earle Chaplin, 82, American actor, son of Charlie Chaplin. March 4 - Salvatore Samperi, 64, Italian film director. March 4 - George McAfee, 90, American football player (Chicago Bears). March 4 - Horton Foote, 92, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. March 4 - Yvon Cormier, 70, Canadian professional wrestler, bone marrow cancer. March 4 - John Cephas, 78, American Piedmont blues guitarist, natural causes. March 4 - Andy Bowman, 74, British footballer. March 5 - Dave Pureifory, 59, American football player (Detroit Lions), prostate cancer. March 5 - Valeri Broshin, 46, Russian footballer, cancer. March 6 - Eduardo Rodríguez, 57, Puerto Rican baseball player, septic shock. March 6 - Francis Magalona, 44, Filipino actor and rapper, leukemia. March 6 - Colleen Howe, 76, American sports agent, wife of Gordie Howe, Pick's disease. March 6 - Anthony Finigan, 83, British actor. March 7 - Tullio Pinelli, 100, Italian Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (La strada). March 7 - Barbara Parker, 62, American novelist, after long illness. March 7 - Jang Ja-yeon, 26, South Korean actress (Boys Over Flowers), suicide by hanging. March 7 - Jimmy Boyd, 70, American actor and singer ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"), cancer. March 7 - Václav Bedrich, 90, Czech animation director. March 7 - Yan Arlazorov, 62, Russian actor and radio host, stomach cancer. March 8 - Ken Snellgrove, 67, British cricketer. March 8 - Anna Manahan, 84, Irish actress, multiple organ failure. March 8 - Willie King, 65, American blues musician, heart attack. March 8 - Ali Bongo, 79, Indian-born British magician, pneumonia. March 9 - Frank Stockwell, 80, Irish footballer. March 9 - Joseph Martin, 84, American addiction counselor and author, heart disease. March 9 - Vince Cervi, 45, Australian boxer, heavyweight champion of Australia (1993–1995), shot. March 10 - Michael Shannon, 55, American pediatrician. March 10 - Anatoly Seglin, 86, Russian ice hockey player, USSR championship medalist. March 10 - Ralph Mercado, 67, American music promoter (RMM Records & Video), cancer. March 10 - Denis Begbie, 94, South African cricketer. March 11 - Omakuchi Narasimhan, 73, Indian actor, heart failure. March 11 - Péter Bacsó, 81, Hungarian film director. March 11 - Paul W. Airey, 85, American Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (1967–1969), complications from heart failure. March 12 - Blanca Varela, 82, Peruvian poet. March 12 - Milan Stitt, 68, American playwright. March 12 - Yann Brekilien, 88, French author, Breton language advocate. March 13 - James Purdy, 94, American novelist, poet and playwright. March 13 - Andrew Martin, 33, Canadian professional wrestler. March 13 - Anne Brown, 96, American-born Norwegian opera singer. March 13 - Betsy Blair, 85, American actress (Marty), cancer. March 13 - Claude Black, 92, American civil rights advocate, after long illness. March 14 - Coy Watson, Jr., 96, American silent film child actor, stomach cancer. March 14 - Dick Ross, 90, American television and film producer. March 14 - Robin Mukherjee, 65, Indian cricketer, heart attack. March 14 - Jeff Komlo, 52, American football player, fugitive, car crash. March 14 - Millard Kaufman, 92, American screenwriter (Bad Day at Black Rock), co-creator of Mr. Magoo. March 14 - Citizen Kafka, 61, American broadcaster and musician. March 14 - Terence Edmond, 69, British actor (Z-Cars), bronchiectasis. March 14 - Altovise Davis, 65, American actress and dancer, widow of Sammy Davis, Jr., stroke. March 14 - Alain Bashung, 61, French singer, composer and actor, lung cancer. March 15 - Lionel Ziprin, 84, American poet, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. March 15 - Jack Lawrence, 96, American songwriter, complications from a fall. March 15 - Edmund Hockridge, 89, Canadian singer and actor. March 15 - Billy C. Clark, 80, American writer. March 15 - Miguel Bernad, 91, Filipino Jesuit priest, academician and writer. March 16 - Marvin Sutton, 62, American moonshiner, suspected suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. March 16 - Alan Suddick, 64, British footballer, cancer. March 16 - Nicholas Hughes, 47, American marine biologist, son of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, suicide by hanging. March 17 - Dale Memmelaar, 72, American football player. March 17 - Jane Mayhall, 90, American poet. March 17 - Whitey Lockman, 82, American baseball player, pulmonary complications. March 17 - Tom Haley, 88, American television host (WKYC-TV), after short illness. March 18 - Natasha Richardson , 45, British actress, epidural hematoma. March 18 - Pocholo Ramirez, 76, Filipino race car driver and television host, cancer. March 18 - Moultrie Patten, 89, American actor (Northern Exposure) and jazz musician, pneumonia. March 18 - Yeremey Parnov, 73, Russian writer. March 18 - Lil E. Tee, 20, American racehorse, Kentucky Derby winner (1992), euthanized. March 18 - Eddie Bo, 79, American singer and pianist, heart attack. March 19 - Harry Harris, 86, American television director (Fame), myelodysplasia. March 19 - Gertrud Fussenegger, 96, Austrian writer. March 19 - Zoltán Breyer, 45, Hungarian actor, after long illness. March 20 - George Weber, 47, American radio broadcaster, stabbed. March 20 - Vladimir Savčić, 60, Serbian singer, cancer. March 20 - Mel Brown, 69, American blues guitarist, emphysema. March 20 - Roberta Alison, 65, American tennis player. March 21 - Walt Poddubny, 49, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers). March 22 - Leon Walker, 21, British rugby league player (Wakefield Wildcats). March 22 - Kanta Rao, 85, Indian actor, liver cancer. March 22 - Abismo Negro, 37, Mexican lucha libre professional wrestler. March 22 - Howie Komives, 67, American basketball player (Detroit Pistons), after long illness. March 22 - Jade Goody, 27, British reality television personality, cervical cancer. March 22 - Steve Doll, 48, American professional wrestler, blood clot. March 22 - Awilda Carbia, 71, Puerto Rican actress, comedian, impersonator and television personality. March 23 - Ronald Tavel, 72, American playwright, heart attack. March 23 - Lloyd Ruby, 81, American auto racing driver. March 23 - Xavier Maniguet, 66, French intelligence agent involved in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, plane crash. March 23 - Raúl Macías, 74, Mexican boxer, cancer. March 23 - Geoff Holmes, 50, British cricketer. March 24 - Uriel Jones, 74, American drummer (The Funk Brothers), complications from a heart attack. March 24 - Irina Gabashvili, 48, Georgian-born American gymnast, cancer. March 25 - Dan Seals , 61, American country music singer-songwriter (England Dan & John Ford Coley), mantle cell lymphoma. March 25 - Giovanni Parisi, 41, Italian boxer, car accident. March 25 - Manny Oquendo, 78, American percussionist (Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez orchestras). March 25 - Gábor Ocskay, 33, Hungarian ice hockey player, heart attack. March 25 - Gordon Margulis, 77, British-born American bodyguard, confidant to Howard Hughes, esophageal cancer. March 25 - Yukio Endo, 72, Japanese gymnast, esophageal cancer. March 25 - David Cooley, 49, American test pilot (Lockheed Martin), plane crash. March 25 - Bob Boucher, 68, British academic. March 25 - Marilyn Borden, 76, American actress (I Love Lucy), heart failure. March 25 - Johnny Blanchard, 76, American baseball player (New York Yankees), heart attack. March 25 - Steven Bach, 70, American film producer and author, cancer. March 26 - Shane McConkey, 39, Canadian extreme skier, base jumping accident. March 26 - Larry Glick, 87, American talk radio host (WBZ), complications from cardiac surgery. March 26 - Gus Cifelli, 84, American football player (Detroit Lions), natural causes. March 26 - Arne Bendiksen, 82, Norwegian singer, composer and record producer, heart failure. March 27 - Alysheba, 25, American racehorse, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner (1987), euthanized. March 28 - Earl Paulk, 81, American pastor implicated in several sex scandals, cancer. March 28 - Arnold Meri, 89, Estonian World War II veteran charged with crimes against humanity. March 28 - Hugh Kelly, 85, British footballer (Blackpool), pneumonia. March 28 - Peter F. Donnelly, 70, American arts patron, vice-chairman of Americans for the Arts, complications of pancreatic cancer. March 28 - Travis Criscola, 24, American guitarist (The Cute Lepers), drug overdose. March 29 - Miroslav Moravec, 69, Czech actor, cancer. March 29 - Maurice Jarre, 84, French Academy Award-winning film composer (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago), cancer. March 29 - Andy Hallett, 33, American actor (Angel), heart disease. March 29 - Monte Hale, 89, American country musician and actor, after long illness. March 30 - Jackie Pretorius, 74, South African racing driver, assault during home invasion. March 30 - Naji Jaber, 64, Syrian actor. March 31 - Sir Reresby Sitwell, 7th Baronet, 81, British aristocrat and writer. March 31 - Janak Raj Chhabra, 90, Indian field hockey player, captain of the national team. April 1 - Natalia Trauberg, 80, Russian translator. April 1 - Miguel Ángel Suárez, 69, Puerto Rican actor, esophageal cancer. April 1 - Elaine Cancilla Orbach, 69, American actress, pneumonia. April 1 - Duane Jarvis, 51, American singer-songwriter, colon cancer. April 1 - Pedro Infante, Jr., 59, Mexican actor and singer, son of Pedro Infante, pneumonia. April 1 - Margreta Elkins, 78, Australian mezzo-soprano, cancer. April 1 - Umberto Betti, 87, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. April 1 - Marga Barbu, 80, Romanian actress, heart failure. April 1 - Arne Andersson, 91, Swedish middle distance runner. April 2 - Sally Swift, 95, American equestrian, creator of centered riding. April 2 - Bud Shank, 82, American alto saxophonist, pulmonary failure. April 2 - Lou Perryman, 67, American actor, stabbed. April 2 - Niki List, 52, Austrian film director, screenwriter and producer. April 3 - Alexei Parshchikov, 54, Russian poet. April 3 - Victor Millan, 89, American actor. April 3 - Eva Evdokimova, 60, Swiss-born American ballerina, complications of cancer. April 3 - Ken Anderson, 33, American football player (Chicago Bears), heart attack. April 4 - Marvin Webster, 56, American basketball player (Seattle SuperSonics), natural causes. April 4 - Armand Tanny, 90, American bodybuilder, natural causes. April 4 - Herbert Scheinberg, 89, American doctor, pneumonia. April 4 - Eduardo Parra, 90, Chilean folk singer, septic shock. April 4 - Gonzalo Olave, 25, Chilean actor, motorcycle accident. April 4 - Jody McCrea, 74, American actor, eldest son of Joel McCrea and Frances Dee. April 4 - Alfredo Marcano, 62, Venezuelan boxer, WBA super featherweight champion (1971–1972), cancer. April 4 - Netherwood Hughes, 108, British veteran of World War I. April 5 - George Tribe, 88, Australian cricketer. April 5 - Nancy Overton, 83, American pop singer (The Chordettes), esophageal cancer. April 5 - Judd Greedy, 28, Australian motorcycle racer, race crash. April 5 - I. J. Good, 92, British cryptographer at Bletchley Park, natural causes. April 5 - Tony D, 42, American hip hop DJ and musician, car accident. April 5 - Wouter Barendrecht, 43, Dutch film producer, heart failure. April 6 - Damouré Zika, 85, Nigerien film actor and traditional healer, after long illness. April 6 - Shawn Mackay, 26, Australian rugby union player (Brumbies), cardiac arrest following car accident. April 6 - Wally Holmes, 83, British rugby union player (Nuneaton, England). April 6 - Jan Tollarparn Eriksson, 69, Swedish jazz pianist. April 6 - Dwight Crandell, 86, American vulcanologist, heart attack. April 6 - Steve Cannon, 81, American radio personality (WCCO), cancer. April 7 - Jack Wrangler, 62, American porn actor, emphysema. April 7 - Mari Trini, 61, Spanish pop singer and film actress. April 7 - Jobie Dajka, 27, Australian track cyclist, 2002 Keirin world champion. April 8 - David Winans, 74, American gospel singer, heart attack. April 8 - Piotr Morawski, 32, Polish mountain climber, fall. April 8 - Jane Bryan, 90, American actress, after long illness. April 8 - Lennie Bennett, 70, British comedian and game show host (Lucky Ladders), after short illness. April 9 - Shakti Samanta, 83, Indian film director and producer, cardiac arrest. April 9 - Elfriede Gerstl, 76, Austrian author, after long illness. April 9 - Mike Casey, 60, American college basketball player (Kentucky Wildcats) (1967–1971), heart disease. April 9 - Randy Cain, 63, American singer (The Delfonics). April 9 - Nick Adenhart, 22, American baseball pitcher (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), car accident. April 10 - Yevgeny Vesnik, 86, Russian actor, stroke. April 10 - Naum Olev, 70, Russian lyricist. April 11 - Corín Tellado, 81, Spanish novelist. April 11 - Vishnu Prabhakar, 97, Indian writer. April 11 - Jimmy Neighbour, 58, British footballer (Norwich City, Tottenham Hotspur), heart attack. April 12 - Mike Keen, 69, British footballer, after short illness. April 13 - Kevin Walton, 90, British winner of the Albert Medal. April 13 - Harry Kalas, 73, American sportscaster, heart attack. April 13 - Jack D. Hunter, 87, American author, cancer. April 13 - Mark Fidrych, 54, American baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers), suffocation. April 13 - Stefan Brecht, 84, German poet, son of Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel, after long illness. April 13 - Björn Borg, 89, Swedish swimmer. April 14 - Royce Ryton, 84, British playwright. April 14 - Peter Rogers, 95, British film producer (Carry On series). April 14 - Max Lake, 84, Australian winemaker, fall. April 14 - Les Keiter, 89, American sportscaster, natural causes. April 14 - Gerda Gilboe, 94, Danish actor. April 14 - Wendy Blair, 70, American television producer (Three's Company), cancer. April 15 - Wisdom Siziba, 28, Zimbabwean cricketer, heart failure. April 15 - William Kozlov, 79, Russian science fiction writer. April 15 - Merle Harmon, 82, American sportscaster, pneumonia. April 15 - Ed Blake, 83, American baseball pitcher, after long illness. April 16 - Saensak Muangsurin, 58, Thai professional boxer, intestinal complications. April 16 - Viktor Paskov, 59, Bulgarian writer, lung cancer. April 16 - Jim Hutchison, 75, American actor and director, bladder cancer. April 16 - James D. Houston, 75, American author, cancer. April 16 - Timothy Holst, 61, American ringmaster, after short illness. April 16 - Patty Costello, 61, American ten-pin bowler, pancreatic cancer. April 18 - Stephanie Parker, 22, British actress (Belonging), apparent suicide by hanging. April 18 - Babis Kotridis, 81, Greek footballer, after long illness. April 18 - Peter Dennis, 75, British actor. April 18 - Bruno Adams, 45, Australian singer-songwriter, cancer. April 19 - Dicky Robinson, 82, British footballer (Middlesbrough), after long illness. April 19 - Anatoly Kuleshov, 49, Russian musician (Lubeh), car accident. April 19 - Tilahun Gessesse, 68, Ethiopian singer. April 19 - Doc Blanchard, 84, American college football player (Army), Heisman Trophy winner (1945), pneumonia. April 19 - J. G. Ballard, 78, British novelist, prostate cancer. April 20 - Franco Rotella, 42, Italian footballer, melanoma. April 20 - Spiros Papavasileiou, 69, Greek composer, pancreatic cancer. April 20 - Beata Asimakopoulou, 77, Greek actress, after short illness. April 21 - Santha Rama Rau, 86, Indian-born American writer, cardiac arrest. April 21 - Iqbal Bano, 74, Indian-born Pakistani singer, after short illness. April 22 - Kim Weiskopf, 62, American television writer, pancreatic cancer. April 22 - David Kellermann, 41, American CFO of Freddie Mac since 2008, suicide by hanging. April 22 - Supriti Ghosh, 87, Indian singer, natural causes. April 22 - Marilyn Cooper, 74, American actress, after long illness. April 22 - Jack Cardiff, 94, British cinematographer (A Matter Of Life And Death, Black Narcissus, The African Queen), natural causes. April 22 - Ken Annakin, 94, British film director (The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge), complications from heart attack and stroke. April 23 - Timothy Wright, 61, American gospel singer, car accident. April 23 - Felipe Solís, 64, Mexican archaeologist, curator of the National Anthropology Museum. April 23 - Ivan Madray, 74, Guyanese cricketer, hypertension. April 24 - Michael Parsons, 48, Australian footballer, brain tumour. April 24 - Margaret Gelling, 84, British toponymist. April 24 - Pringle Fisher, 70, British rugby and basketball player, complications from rheumatoid arthritis. April 24 - Tim Curry , 70, American attorney, District Attorney for Tarrant County, Texas, (1972–2009), lung cancer. April 25 - Beatrice Arthur, 86, American actress (Maude, The Golden Girls, Mame), cancer. April 26 - Geir Hovig, 64, Norwegian radio host, after short illness. April 27 - Paraluman, 85, Filipino actress. April 27 - Greg Page, 50, American boxer, complications from brain injury. April 27 - Karl Mullen, 82, Irish rugby player. April 27 - Frankie Manning, 94, American dancer and choreographer, pneumonia. April 27 - Feroz Khan , 69, Indian actor, cancer. April 27 - Tom Deitz, 57, American science fiction author. April 28 - Buddy Rose, 56, American professional wrestler. April 28 - Ted Reynolds, 84, Canadian sportscaster (CBC Television). April 28 - Valeria Peter Predescu, 62, Romanian singer, heart attack. April 28 - Ekaterina Maximova, 70, Russian ballet dancer. April 28 - Vern Gosdin, 74, American country music singer, complications from a stroke. April 28 - U. A. Fanthorpe, 79, British poet. April 28 - Lota Delgado, 88, Filipina actress. April 29 - Tom McGrath, 68, British poet and playwright, liver cancer. April 29 - Jack Lohrke, 85, American baseball player, stroke. April 29 - Alex Lees, 97, British planner of the Great Escape during World War II. April 29 - Theodore Heck, 108, American Roman Catholic priest, world's oldest Benedictine monk. April 30 - Məcnun Vahidov, 62, Azerbaijani chess composer. April 30 - Venetia Phair, 90, British teacher who named the planet Pluto. April 30 - Henk Nijdam, 73, Dutch road bicycle racer, track pursuit world champion (1962). April 30 - McCoy McLemore, 67, American basketball player and television color analyst, cancer. April 30 - Ben Enoch, 19, British golfer, car accident. April 30 - Amparo Arozamena, 92, Mexican actress, heart attack. May 1 - John Wilke, 54, American investigative reporter, pancreatic cancer. May 1 - Erika Roman, 31, American radio personality (Power95.3), drowned following automobile accident. May 1 - Jokke Kangaskorpi, 37, Finnish footballer. May 1 - Fred Delmare, 87, German actor, complications from pneumonia. May 2 - Fyodor Shmakov, 92, Russian actor. May 2 - Vernon King, 48, American pastor, civil rights proponent, nephew of Martin Luther King. May 2 - Kiyoshiro Imawano, 58, Japanese rock musician. May 2 - Marilyn French, 79, American writer, heart failure. May 3 - Ram Shewalkar, 78, Indian Marathi writer, cardiac arrest. May 3 - John Elsworthy, 77, Welsh footballer. May 4 - Fritz Muliar, 89, Austrian actor. May 4 - Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor (The Cannonball Run, The Secret of NIMH), writer, chef and cookbook author, kidney failure. May 5 - Elsie B. Washington, 66, American author, wrote first African American romance novel, multiple sclerosis and cancer. May 5 - María Ibarra Martín, 76, Cuban biologist. May 5 - Benjamin Flores, 24, Mexican boxer, brain injury during a match. May 5 - Manuel Capetillo Villaseñor, 83, Mexican torero and actor, respiratory arrest. May 6 - Viola Wills, 69, American pop singer, cancer. May 6 - Bob Meyer, 76, Australian logician, lung cancer. May 6 - Carlo Marcelletti, 64, Italian cardiac surgeon, heart attack. May 6 - Lev Losev, 71, Russian poet and literary critic. May 6 - Sid Laverents, 100, American amateur filmmaker, pneumonia. May 6 - Kevin Grubb, 31, American NASCAR driver, suicide by gunshot. May 6 - Ean Evans, 48, American bassist (Lynyrd Skynyrd), cancer. May 6 - Sam Cohn, 79, American talent agent, after short illness. May 7 - Andras Nagy, 23, Hungarian boxer, brain haemorrhage. May 7 - Tony Marsh, 77, British racing driver. May 7 - Linda Dangcil, 66, American actress (The Flying Nun), throat cancer. May 7 - Mickey Carroll, 89, American actor (The Wizard of Oz). May 7 - Robin Blaser, 83, American-born Canadian poet, Griffin Poetry Prize winner. May 8 - Eunice Taylor, 75, American baseball player (Kenosha Comets). May 8 - Ninel Kurgapkina, 80, Russian prima ballerina, road accident. May 8 - Cynthia Johnson, 60, American professional wrestler, cancer. May 8 - Hideyuki Fujisawa, 83, Japanese Go player, aspiration pneumonia. May 8 - Dom DiMaggio, 92, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox), brother of Joe DiMaggio, pneumonia. May 8 - Fons Brijdenbach, 54, Belgian athlete, cancer. May 9 - Jean-Claude Van Geenberghe, 46, Belgian-born Ukrainian equestrian. May 9 - Eugene Smith, 88, American gospel singer. May 9 - Henry T. King, 89, American attorney, Nuremberg trials prosecutor, cancer. May 9 - Thodoros Exarhos, 79, Greek actor, after long illness. May 9 - Travis Edmonson, 76, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bud & Travis), heart failure. May 9 - Sahan Dosova, 130?, Kazakhstani longevity claimant. May 9 - Stephen Bruton, 60, American songwriter and guitarist (Kris Kristofferson band), throat cancer. May 9 - Ruby Billings, 109, New Zealand's oldest living woman. May 10 - Brian Simnjanovski, 27, American football player (Berlin Thunder), car accident. May 10 - Clive Scott, 64, British keyboardist and songwriter (Jigsaw), stroke. May 10 - Warwick Lyn, 64, Jamaican record producer, prostate cancer. May 10 - James Kirkup, 91, British poet, translator and travel writer, stroke. May 11 - Leonard Shlain, 71, American surgeon and writer, brain cancer. May 11 - Shanthi Lekha, 79, Sri Lankan actress. May 11 - Mark Landon, 60, American actor, adopted son of Michael Landon. May 11 - Bill Kelso, 69, American baseball player. May 11 - Dudley L. Healy, 95, American Masters track and field champion. May 11 - Lude Check, 91, Canadian ice hockey player. May 11 - Pat Booth, 66, British model and writer, cancer. May 12 - Heini Walter, 81, Swiss racing driver. May 12 - Antonio Vega, 51, Spanish pop singer-songwriter (Nacha Pop), pneumonia. May 12 - Roger Planchon, 77, French theatre director, heart attack. May 12 - Thomas Nordseth-Tiller, 28, Norwegian screenwriter (Max Manus), cancer. May 12 - Irvine Butterfield, 72, British writer, hill walker and conservationist, after long illness. May 12 - Dame Heather Begg, 76, New Zealand operatic soprano, leukemia. May 13 - Joe Tandy, 26, British auto racing team owner, car crash. May 13 - L. William Seidman, 88, American public official, Chairman of the FDIC (1985–1991), after short illness. May 13 - Norbert Eschmann, 75, Swiss footballer. May 13 - Rafael Escalona, 81, Colombian Vallenato composer and troubador. May 13 - Don Cordner, 87, Australian rules footballer. May 13 - Achille Compagnoni, 94, Italian mountaineer, first person to ascend K2. May 13 - Frank Aletter, 83, American character actor, cancer. May 14 - Bob Rosburg, 82, American golfer and television color analyst, fall. May 14 - William J. Passmore, 77, American jockey, complications from emphysema. May 14 - Monica Bleibtreu, 65, Austrian actress, screenwriter and drama teacher, cancer. May 15 - Wayman Tisdale, 44, American basketball player and jazz bassist, cancer. May 15 - Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor, prostate cancer. May 15 - Edwin S. Shneidman, 91, American suicidologist. May 15 - Alan Hackney, 84, British screenwriter. May 15 - Paul Flora, 86, Austrian caricaturist and illustrator. May 17 - Mark Young, 23, British motorcycle racer, race crash. May 17 - Ron Snidow, 67, American football player (Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns), complications from Lou Gehrig's disease. May 17 - Peter Slabakov, 86, Bulgarian actor. May 17 - Prakash Mehra, 69, Indian film producer and director, pneumonia and multiple organ failure. May 17 - Mario Benedetti, 88, Uruguayan author and poet. May 18 - Jerzy Zubrzycki, 89, Polish-born Australian sociologist. May 18 - Türkan Saylan, 74, Turkish doctor, cancer. May 18 - Balasingham Nadesan, Sri Lankan rebel, political chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, missile attack. May 18 - Eva Mae LeFevre, 91, American Southern Gospel singer, after short illness. May 18 - K. Pattabhi Jois, 93, Indian yoga teacher, after short illness. May 19 - Nicholas Maw, 73, British composer, heart failure. May 19 - Andrei Ivanov, 42, Russian footballer. May 20 - Oleg Yankovsky, 65, Russian actor, pancreatic cancer. May 20 - Paul Vinar, 69, Australian football player. May 20 - Alan Kelly, Sr., 72, Irish football player, cancer. May 20 - Lucy Gordon , 28, British actress. (Spider-Man 3, The Four Feathers), suicide. May 31 - Millvina Dean, 97, British woman, last living passenger aboard the Titanic, pneumonia. June 2 - David Eddings, 77, American fantasy author. June 3 - David Carradine , 72, American actor (Kung Fu, Kill Bill), hanging. June 3 - Koko Taylor, 80, American blues musician, complications from gastrointestinal surgery. June 6 - Jean Dausset, 92, French immunologist, Nobel Prize in Medicine (1980). June 12 - Peter Arundell, 75, British racing driver, pulmonary fibrosis. June 20 - Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, Iranian student, shot. June 25 - Farrah Fawcett , 62, American actress (Charlie's Angels), anal cancer. June 25 - Michael Jackson , 50, American pop singer–songwriter, cardiac arrest. June 30 - Pina Bausch, 68, German modern dance choreographer, cancer. July 1 - Karl Malden, 97, American Academy Award winning actor (A Streetcar Named Desire), natural causes. July 6 - Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (born 1932) July 11 - Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (born 1972) July 17 - Walter Cronkite, American newscaster (born 1916) July 19 - Frank McCourt, Irish-American author (born 1930) July 26 - Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (born 1919) August 6 - John Hughes, American film director and writer (born 1950) August 6 - Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter (born 1950) August 24 - Toni Sailer, Austrian alpine ski racer (born 1935) August 27 - Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author (born 1913) September 8 - Mike Bongiorno, American-Italian television presenter (born 1924) September 12 - Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and humanitarian (born 1914) September 12 - Jack Kramer, American tennis player (born 1921) September 14 - Patrick Swayze , American actor and dancer (born 1952) September 16 - Mary Travers, American singer-songwriter (born 1936) September 17 - Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist militant (born 1968) September 23 - Ertuğrul Osman, 43rd Head of the Ottoman Dynasty (born 1912) September 25 - Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (born 1923) October 4 - Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (born 1935) October 13 - Al Martino , American singer and actor (born 1927) October 19 - Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (born 1918) November 3 - Francisco Ayala, Spanish novelist (born 1906) November 10 - Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977) November 16 - Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (born 1978) November 20 - Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer (born 1925) November 30 - Milorad Pavić, Serbian writer (born 1929) December 3 - Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (born 1919) December 4 - Eddie Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (born 1973) December 4 - Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Soviet-Russian actor (born 1928) December 9 - Gene Barry , American actor (born 1919) December 17 - Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919) December 19 - Kim Peek, American savant (born 1951) December 20 - Brittany Murphy , American actress (born 1977) December 21 - Edwin G. Krebs, American biologist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
Events January 1 - Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council. January 1 - The Czech Republic takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from France. January 1 - The European small claims procedure comes into force throughout the European Union, other than Denmark. January 1 - At least 61 people are killed in a fire in Bangkok during New Year celebrations. January 1 - Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture. January 1 - Slovakia adopts the euro and becomes the 16th member of the Eurozone. January 3 - Israel–Gaza conflict. January 7 - Russia shuts off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorses the move and urges that international observers be brought into the energy dispute. January 11 - The Israeli Defense Force begins battling Hamas militants in heavy urban warfare near and around the main city of the Gaza Strip. January 12 - The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) becomes mandatory for participating travelers from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries in advance of travel to the United States January 13 - Ethiopian military forces begin pulling out of Somalia, where they have tried to maintain order for nearly two years January 15 - US Airways Flight 1549, en route to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport from New York's LaGuardia Airport, ditches in the Hudson River off Manhattan. All 155 passengers and crew are evacuated and taken to safety. The plane is apparently brought down by a flock of Canada Geese. January 17 - Israel declares a unilateral cease-fire against Hamas militants and puts an end to attacks after 22 days of violence in Gaza. January 20 - Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. An estimated 1.8 million people attend the ceremony, surpassing the record of the 1965 inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson. January 21 - Icelandic Police use tear gas for the first time since 1949 and a number of officers are injured as protests in the capital Reykjavík amid 2008–2009 Icelandic financial crisis. January 22 - U.S. President Barack Obama signs an order to close Guantanamo Bay detention camp within one year. January 23 - Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is captured by Rwandan forces after crossing over the border into Rwanda. January 26 - The first-ever trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape. January 26 - The Icelandic government and banking system collapse; Prime Minister of Iceland Geir Haarde immediately resigns. January 28 - The World Economic Forum begins its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. January 28 - The IMF issues its worst outlook for the world economy in 60 years. January 29 - An Israeli Defense Forces air raid injures nine people in the Gaza Strip in response to continued militant rocket fire. January 29 - French workers strike to force a better response from President Nicolas Sarkozy to the global financial crisis. January 30 - The North Korean government declares all its political and military agreements with South Korea "dead". February 1 - Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland. She becomes the world's first openly lesbian head of government. February 2 - The Zimbabwean government announces that one trillion Zimbabwean dollars are revalued as one new Zimbabwean dollar. February 2 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has launched its own satellite, "Omid", into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket. February 3 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticizes Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has said no Nazi gas chambers existed. February 7 - The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill at least 181 people, destroy nearly a thousand homes, and come after Melbourne records the highest-ever temperature (46.4° C, 115° F) of any capital city in Australia. Both arson and global warming are suspected causes. February 8 - The Taliban releases a video which shows Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak, who was abducted by the Taliban on September 28, 2008, being beheaded. It is the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since an American journalist was beheaded in 2002. February 9 - The 14th Dalai Lama is made an honorary citizen of Rome by Roman Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who pledges his support for the Dalai Lama's campaign for greater Tibetan autonomy. The Chinese government expresses "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" on the following day. February 10 - A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris. February 11 - Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe following the power-sharing deal between him and President Robert Mugabe signed in September, 2008. February 12 - Darwin Day, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, is commemorated at the London Natural History Museum and elsewhere. February 12 - Continental Airlines Flight 3407, a Colgan Air aircraft, crashes into a home in Clarence Center, a surburb of Buffalo, New York, killing 49 on the plane and one on the ground. February 15 - Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, signs a referendum, allowing him to remain in office as long as he keeps winning Presidential elections. February 16 - The trial of former Khmer Rouge leader Kang Kek Iew begins in Phnom Penh, 30 years after Cambodian leader Pol Pot was overthrown. February 17 - The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a deal with the Sudanese government, allowing a ceasefire in the war-torn region. February 20 - Two Tamil Tiger rebel aircraft attack Sri Lanka's largest city, Colombo, killing 2 and injuring 45. February 25 - Turkish Airlines Flight 1951, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 135 passengers on board, crashes into a field outside Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, killing nine and injuring 84. February 25 - Members of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary force begin mutinying. Over 65 are killed. March 2 - President of Guinea-Bissau João Bernardo Vieira is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau. March 3 - Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing six policemen and two civilians, injuring six team members, and critically injuring reserve umpire Ahsan Raza. March 4 - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002. March 7 - NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. March 11 - A 17 year old former student goes on a rampage at his former school in Winnenden, Germany, killing at least fifteen, before turning the gun on himself. March 17 - The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'etat, following a month of rallies in Antananarivo. The military appoints opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the new President. March 19 - Josef Fritzl is sentenced to life imprisonment by an Austrian court for enslaving and raping his daughter for 24 years, and for murdering their infant child. March 27 - Flash flooding and the Situ Gintung dam's failure kill at least 99 people in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia. March 30 - Gunman storm a Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, killing 19 people and injuring up to 130. April 1 - Albania and Croatia join NATO. April 2 - The second G-20 summit (involving state leaders rather than the usual finance ministers) meets in London. Its main focus is the global financial crisis. April 5 - North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passes over mainland Japan, prompting an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks. April 6 - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing at least 293 and injuring more than 1,500. April 7 - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces. April 10 - A political crisis occurs in Fiji as President Josefa Iloilo suspends the government after a suspected coup d'etat led by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. April 11 - The ASEAN summit meeting in Thailand is cancelled when a state of emergency is declared in response to anti-government protests. April 17 - Thirty-four heads of state and government meet in Port of Spain, Trinidad for the 5th Summit of the Americas. April 18 - Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, is sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage by an Iranian court. April 21 - UNESCO launches The World Digital Library. April 24 - Ongoing – 2009 swine flu outbreak: The World Health Organization expresses concern at the spread of influenza from Mexico and United States to other countries. By April 27 confirmed cases are also reported in Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain and unconfirmed cases in 15 other countries. Of the 149 deaths (all in Mexico) 20 are confirmed as being from a new strain of H1Ni influenza. May 4 - The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, holds peace talks with the Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger. May 5 - A military revolt occurs in Georgia, near the capital, Tbilisi. May 9 - Chadian forces defeat a large column of advancing rebels. May 11 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-125, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. May 16 - Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa declares victory over the LTTE. May 18 - The third C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul. May 18 - The Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE. May 19 - The Speaker of the British House of Commons Michael Martin announces his resignation in a scandal over expenses of Members of Parliament, becoming the first Commons Speaker since 1695 to be forced from office. May 23 - Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun, under investigation for alleged bribery during his presidential term, commits suicide. May 25 - North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test. June 1 - Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board. June 11 - The H1N1 virus strain outbreak is deemed a global pandemic, becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation. June 12 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran. Over the following weeks, thousands of the opposition's supporters protest the results. June 18 - NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998. June 21 - As a step toward total independence from The Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland assumes control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources. Greenlandic becomes the official language. June 25 - The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief and cripples several major websites or online services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes Internet traffic to potentially "unprecedented" and "historic" levels. June 28 - The Honduran military arrests and exiles President Manuel Zelaya. The United Nations and the General Assembly of the Organization of American States strongly condemn the coup d'état. June 30 - Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew. July 4 - North Korea launches seven missiles. July 4 - The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya. July 5 - Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang. July 7 - A public memorial service is held for musician Michael Jackson. It is regarded as one of the most prominent funerals of all time. July 15 - Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board. July 16 - Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU. July 22 - The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history. August 3 - Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. August 4 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry earlier in the year, after former U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea. August 7 - Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and making more than a thousand isolated without food, causing the worst flooding in the island in half a century. August 20 - Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya. September 25 - At the G-20 Pittsburgh summit, world leaders announce that the G-20 will assume greater leverage over the global economy, replacing the role of the G-8, in an effort to prevent another financial crisis like that in 2008. September 26 - Typhoon Ketsana begins to cause record amounts of rainfall in Manila, Philippines, leading to the declaration of a "state of calamity" in 25 provinces. September 27 - Polish-French film director Roman Polanski is arrested in Switzerland on a United States arrest warrant. September 28 - At least 157 demonstrators are killed in a clash with the Guinean military. September 29 - An 8.3-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami near the Samoan Islands. Many communities and harbors in Samoa and American Samoa are destroyed, and at least 189 are killed. September 30 - A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes just off the coast of Sumatra, killing around 1,000 in Indonesia. October 2 - The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro. October 2 - The Republic of Ireland has a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty; 67% of votes are in favour. October 20 - European astronomers discover 32 new exoplanets. October 3 - The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, officially declaring that document's initiation into European law. November 3 - The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law. November 3 - The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council, a position he takes up on 1 December 2009. November 13 - Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater. November 20 - CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland; they had shut it down on September 19, 2008. November 23 - In the Philippines, at least 57 are abducted and killed in an election-related massacre in the province of Maguindanao. This appears to be the deadliest attack on journalists in recent history. November 27 - Dubai requests a debt deferment following its massive renovation and development projects, as well as the late 2000s economic crisis. The announcement causes global stock markets to drop. December 1 - The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force. December 16 - Astronomers discover GJ1214b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.
