Deaths in April 1987

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The following is a list of notable deaths in April 1987.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

April 1987

1

• Henri Cochet, 85, French tennis player, world number one player. ^[1]
• Victor D'Amico, 82, American teaching artist, Director of the Department of Education of the Museum of Modern Art.
• James Edward Doyle, 71, American lawyer, United States district judge.
• Vladimir Popov, 56, Soviet animator and art director.

2

• Tommy Davis, 52, American NFL footballer, lung cancer.
• Trevor Hockey, 43, British footballer and Welsh international.
• Eleanor Leacock, 64, American anthropologist and social theorist, stroke.
• Larry Marley, 41–42, Irish member of the IRA, shot.
• Wang Renmei, 72, Chinese actress and singer, cerebral hemorrhage.
• Buddy Rich, 69, American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor and bandleader, cardiac failure ^[2]
• Harry Watt, 80, Scottish documentary and feature film director.
• Kansuke Yamamoto, 73, Japanese photographer and poet.

3

• Robert Dalban, 83, French actor.
• Anne Grey, 80, English actress.
• Tom Sestak, 51, American AFL footballer, heart attack.

4

• Agyeya, 76, Indian poet, novelist, literary critic, journalist and revolutionary.
• C. L. Moore, 76, American science fiction and fantasy writer.
• Michael Redstone, 84, American entrepreneur, founder of the Northeast Theater Corporation. ^[3]
• Osman Saleh Sabbe, 54–55, Eritrean-writer and political activist.
• Le Tari, 40, American film and television actor, heart attack.
• Chögyam Trungpa, 48, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master.

5

• Jack Howe, 71, English international footballer.
• Leabua Jonathan, 72, Prime Minister of Lesotho, heart attack. ^[4]
• Jan Lindblad, 54, Swedish naturalist, writer, photographer and film maker, kidney failure.
• Tsuneko Nakazato, (Nakazato Tsune), 77, Japanese novelist, colon cancer.
• Jim White, 67, American NFL footballer.

6

• Vicente Cañas, 47, Spanish Christian missionary, assassinated.
• James G. Donovan, 88, American lawyer and politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives. ^[5]
• Jean-Baptiste Doumeng, 67, French businessman and communist politician.
• Henry Lucien de Vries, 77, Surinamese politician and entrepreneur.

7

• Terry Carr, 50, American science fiction fan, author and editor, congestive heart failure.
• Will Hindle, 57, American filmmaker of personal 16mm movies.
• Charles Hope, 75, British peer and businessman.
• John Lehmann, 79, English publisher and poet.
• Nick De Noia, 45, American director, screenwriter and choreographer, murdered.
• Noel F. Parrish, 77, American brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force.
• Paul Peek, 82, American attorney and politician, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court.
• Walter H. Reynolds, 86, American politician, Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.
• Maxine Sullivan, 75, American jazz vocalist, seizure. ^[6]

8

• Tommy Abbott, 52, American actor, dancer and choreographer.
• Terry Allen, 62, English flyweight boxer and World Champion.
• Anni Frind, 87, German lyric soprano. ^[7]
• Andrei Getman, 83, Soviet military commander, general of the Red Army.
• Kevin McNamara, 60, Irish Catholic academic, Archbishop of Dublin, cancer.
• Ervin Nyiregyházi, 84, Hungarian and American pianist and composer.

9

• James Leroy Bondsteel, 39, American soldier of the U.S. Army and Medal of Honor recipient.
• James Bush, 79, American actor.
• Horst Dassler, 51, German businessman, chairman of Adidas, cancer. ^[8]
• Al Dodd, 41, American NFL footballer.
• Emil M. Mrak, 85, American food scientist and microbiologist, chancellor of the University of California.

10

• Birgit Dressel, 26. West German heptathlete and Olympian, multiple organ failure due to long-term steroid abuse.
• Berta Drews, 85, German stage and film actress.

11

• Carleton F. Bryant, 94, American Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Erskine Caldwell, 83, American novelist and short story writer, complications of emphysema and lung cancer. ^[9]
• Netania Davrath, 55, Ukrainian-Israeli soprano opera and concert singer.
• Rudolf Krause, 80, East German racing driver.
• Primo Levi, 67, Italian chemist and writer and Jewish Holocaust survivor, suicide by jumping. ^[10]
• Frederick Joseph Loftus-Tottenham, 88, Irish-Major General in the British Indian Army.
• Kent Taylor, 79, American film and television actor. ^[11]
• Hédi Váradi, 57, Hungarian actress.

12

• Mike Von Erich, (Michael Adkisson), 23, American professional wrestler, suicide by overdose.
• René Hardy, 76, French citizen, member of the French Resistance during World War II.
• Akram Pahalwan, 57, Pakistani wrestler.
• Hertha von Walther, 83, German film actress.

13

• Dennis Allen, 35, Australian drug dealer, reported to have murdered many victims, heart failure.
• Herbert Blumer, 87, American sociologist and NFL footballer.
• Joe Colquhoun, 60, British comics artist, heart attack.
• Simha Flapan, 76, Israeli historian and politician.
• Gerry McAloon, 70, Scottish footballer, hypothermia.
• Guido Sala, 58, Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and world champion kart racer.

14

• Brian Carlson, 54, Australian international rugby league footballer.
• Karl Höller, 79, German composer.
• Julius Sumner Miller, 77, American physicist and television personality, leukemia.

15

• Orland K. Armstrong, 93, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, journalist and social activist.
• Hans-Joachim Born, 77, German radiochemist.
• Rachel Burrows, 74, Irish actress, broadcaster, and teacher.
• Mickey Finn, 35, Irish fiddler.
• Peter Benjamin Graham, 61, Australian visual artist, printer and art theorist.
• Louis R. Lowery, 70, American Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. ^[12]
• Press Maravich, 71, American college and professional basketball coach, prostate cancer.
• Masatoshi Nakayama, 74, Japanese karate master.
• Samuel Rothschild, 87, Canadian NHL ice hockey player.

16

• Charlotte Curtis, 58, American journalist, columnist and editor at The New York Times, cancer. ^[13]
• Fateh Muhammad Panipati, 82, Pakistani Islamic scholar.
• Bikash Roy, 70, Indian actor and filmmaker.
• Juan Evangelista Venegas, 58, Puerto Rican boxer and Olympic medalist, skull fracture from fall.

17

• Carlton Barrett, 36, Jamaican reggae drummer, murdered in conspiracy initiated by his wife.
• Arthur Delaney, 59, English painter.
• Cecil Harmsworth King, 86, English chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, director of the Bank of England. ^[14]
• Dick Shawn, 63, American actor and comedian, heart attack. ^[15]
• Willi Smith, 39, American fashion designer, pneumonia. ^[16]
• Cornelius Van Til, 91, Dutch-American Christian philosopher, reformed theologian and presuppositional apologist.

18

• Eduardo Alcaraz, 72, Chilean-Mexican actor.
• Carlos Baker, 77, American writer, biographer and former Professor of Literature. ^[17]
• Heinie Beau, 76, American jazz composer, arranger, saxophonist and clarinetist.
• Kenneth Cook, 57, Australian journalist, television documentary maker and novelist, heart attack.
• Hugh B. Cott, 86, British zoologist.
• Vincent Hanley, 33, Irish radio DJ and television presenter, AIDS.
• Jim Langton, 69, Irish hurler.
• Joe Robb, 50, American NFL footballer.

19

• Hugh Brannum, 77, American vocalist, arranger, composer and actor, cancer. ^[18]
• Milt Kahl, 78, American animator for the Disney Studio, pneumonia.
• David G. Mandelbaum, 75, American anthropologist, cancer. ^[19]
• Maxwell D. Taylor, 85, American Army general and diplomat, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. ^[20]
• Antony Tudor, 79, English dancer and choreographer.

20

• Nicholas Acquavella, 88, American art dealer and gallerist, founder of Acquavella Galleries. ^[21]
• Con Cremin, 78, Irish diplomat, Irish U.N. representative.

21

• Joseph Alcazar, 77, French international footballer.
• Gustav Bergmann, 80, Austrian-American philosopher.
• Wenike Opurum Briggs, 69, Nigerian lawyer, journalist and politician.
• Edith Green, 77, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives. ^[22]
• Moosa AbdulRahman Hassan, Omani businessman, tribal leader and landlord.
• Haruyasu Nakajima, 77, Japanese baseballer.
• Hildrus Poindexter, 85, American bacteriologist who studied the epidemiology of tropical diseases.

22

• Irving Ashby, 66, American jazz guitarist.
• Margaret Ponce Israel, 57, American painter and ceramicist, traffic accident.
• Masumi Mitsui, 99, Japanese-Canadian veteran of World War I.
• J. Edwin Orr, 75, Irish-American Baptist Christian minister, hymn writer, professor and author.

24

• Josephine Bell, 89, English physician and writer.
• Larry Bethea, 30, American NFL footballer, suicide.
• Henry Murdoch, 66, Aboriginal Australian actor and stockman.
• Pablo Acosta Villarreal, 50, Mexican narcotics smuggler and crime boss, gunned down by Mexican Federal Police.
• Berhanu Zerihun, 53–54, Ethiopian writer and journalist.

25

• Blas Roca Calderio, 78, Cuban politician and Marxist theorist, President of the National Assembly of People's Power.
• Pētõr Damberg, 78, Latvian Livonian linguist and poet.
• Maurice Gibson, 73, Northern Irish Judge of the High Court, car bomb.
• Charlotte May Pierstorff, 78, American girl who was shipped alive through the U.S. postal system by parcel post.

26

• Oliver J. Flanagan, 66, Irish Fine Gael politician, Minister for Defence.
• Archie M. Gubbrud, 76, American politician, Governor of South Dakota, lung cancer. ^[23]
• Frederick N. Howser, 82, American politician, Attorney General of California.
• Dudley Mason, 85, British master of the tanker SS Ohio during World War II, recipient of the George Cross.
• John Silkin, 64, British politician and solicitor, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. ^[24]
• Frank Szymanski, 63, American NFL footballer.
• Amelita Ward, 63, American film actress.

27

• John Burrows, 73, American Major League baseballer.
• Attila Hörbiger, 91, Austrian stage and movie actor, stroke.
• Alice Nāmakelua, 94, Hawaiian composer and performer.

28

• Hannelore Baron, 60, German-American artist. ^[25]
• Xavier Fourcade, 60, French American contemporary art dealer. ^[26]
• Paidi Lakshmayya, 83, Indian parliamentarian, actor, writer and administrator, member of Parliament.
• William Marchant, appr. 38, Northern Irish loyalist, shot by IRA gunmen.
• Emil Staiger, 79, Swiss historian, writer, Germanist and Professor of German Studies.

29

• Héctor Carmona, 61, Chilean modern pentathlete and Olympian.
• Gus Johnson, 48, American NBA basketballer, brain cancer. ^[27]
• Helmut Laux, 70, German Nazi photographer.
• Philip Lombardo, 78, American crime boss of the Genovese family.
• Russ Saunders, 81, American NFL footballer.
• Thomas Trenchard, 63, British hereditary peer, Minister of State for Defence Procurement.
• Zachari Zachariev, 83, Bulgarian military pilot and commander.

30

• Marc Aaronson, 36, American astronomer, observatory accident.
• Hugh Dempster, 86, British theatre and film actor.

Unknown date

• Arthur Lane, 76, British actor.

References

1. "Henri Cochet Is Dead; French Tennis Leader" . The New York Times . April 3, 1987. p. B 5. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
2. James Barron (April 3, 1987). "BUDDY RICH, JAZZ DRUMMER WITH DISTINCTIVE SOUND, DIES" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
3. "MICHAEL REDSTONE" . The New York Times . April 9, 1987. p. D 27. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
4. "OUSTED AS LESOTHO HEADIN A COUP" . The New York Times . April 6, 1987. p. B 14. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
5. "JAMES G. DONOVAN, AN EX-CONGRESSMAN AND ATTORNEY, DIES" . The New York Times . April 7, 1987. p. D 30. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
6. John S. Wilson (April 9, 1987). "JAZZ SINGER WON TONY IN '79" . The New York Times . p. D 27. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
7. "Anni Frind, Soprano, Is Dead; Performed in 20's and 30's" . The New York Times . April 11, 1987. p. 1 32. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
8. "Horst Dassler dies at 51". The Washington Post . April 11, 1987.
9. Edwin McDowell (April 13, 1987). "WROTE STARK NOVELS OF SOUTH" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
10. Intern (July 9, 2012). "Primo Levi's Last Moments". Boston Review. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
11. "Kent Taylor, 80, Dies; TV's 'Boston Blackie'" . The New York Times . April 14, 1987. p. A 22. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
12. "Louis R. Lowery Dies; Took Iwo Jima Picture" . The New York Times . April 21, 1987. p. A 29. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
13. Robert D. McFadden (April 17, 1987). "CHARLOTTE CURTIS, A COLUMNIST FOR THE TIMES, IS DEAD AT 58" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
14. "Cecil King, 86, Dies in Dublin; A British Newspaper Leader" . The New York Times . April 19, 1987. p. 1 34. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
15. "No Headline" . The New York Times . April 19, 1987. p. 1 34. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
16. George James (April 19, 1987). "Willi Smith, Clothes Designer; Creator of Vivid Sportswear" . The New York Times . p. 1 34. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
17. Eric Pace (April 21, 1987). "CARLOS BAKER, 77, A PROFESSOR AND HEMINGWAY BIOGRAPHER" . The New York Times . p. A 29. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
18. James Barron (April 22, 1987). "PLAYED MR. GREEN JEANS ON TV" . The New York Times . p. D 27. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
19. "DAVID G. MANDELBAUM" . The New York Times . April 23, 1987. p. D 31. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
20. Albin Krebs (April 21, 1987). "MAXWELL D. TAYLOR, SOLDIER AND ENVOY, DIES" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
21. "Nicholas M. Acquavella, 88, An Art Dealer in Manhattan" . The New York Times . April 23, 1987. p. D 31. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
22. Dennis Hevesi (April 23, 1987). "EARLY OPPONENT OF VIETNAM WAR" . The New York Times . p. D 31. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
23. "Ex-Governor Gubbrud Of South Dakota Dies" . The New York Times . April 28, 1987. p. A 28. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
24. "John Silkin Dies in London; Was Labor Cabinet Minister" . The New York Times . April 28, 1987. p. A 28. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
25. "Hannelore Baron, Artist, 61; Known for Symbolic Collages" . The New York Times . May 1, 1987. p. A 22. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
26. John Russell (April 29, 1987). "DEALER IN CONTEMPORARY ART" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
27. Sam Goldaper (April 30, 1987). "GUS JOHNSON, EX-N.B.A. STAR WITH BALTIMORE, IS DEAD AT 48" . The New York Times . p. B 7. Retrieved May 3, 2024.