Deaths in December 1987

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21
• 22
• 23
• 24
• 25
• 26
• 27
• 28
• 29
• 30
• 31

← November

December

January →

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 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.

December 1987

1

• James Baldwin, 63, African-American novelist, essayist, playwright and poet, stomach cancer. ^[1]
• Donn F. Eisele, 57, American Air Force officer and NASA astronaut, heart attack. ^[2]
• Buddy Fogelson, 87, American lawyer, Army colonel, businessman, horse and cattle breeder and philanthropist.
• Punch Imlach, 69, Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager, heart attack.

2

• Edward Barnsley, 87, English designer and maker of furniture.
• Juan Alberto Melgar Castro, 57, Honduran military officer, president of Honduras, heart attack. ^[3]
• Robert Filliou, 61, French artist.
• Trygve Henrik Hoff, 49, Norwegian singer, composer, songwriter and writer.
• Luis Federico Leloir, 81, French-Argentine physician and biochemist, Nobel laureate in Chemistry, heart attack. ^[4]
• Hubert Noël, 63, French film actor.
• Myrta Silva, 60, Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and television producer.
• Ernst Steinhoff, 79, Nazi German rocket scientist.
• Princess Red Wing, 91, American tribal elder.
• Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich, 73, Soviet physicist. ^[5]

3

• Andrew Foster, 62, American pioneer of deaf education in African countries, air crash.
• Robert Haskell, 84, American politician, Governor of Maine.
• George Seawright, appr. 36, Scottish-Northern Irish unionist politician, loyalist paramilitary in the Ulster Volunteer Force.
• Yevgeny Tolstikov, 74, Soviet polar explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union. ^[6]
• Dorin Liviu Zaharia, 43, Romanian musician, composer, poet, essayist and philosopher.

4

• Pericle Fazzini, 74, Italian painter and sculptor. ^[7]
• Bryan Fowler, 89, British polo player and Olympian.
• Meinrad von Lauchert, 82, Nazi German Wehrmacht general.
• Arnold Lobel, 54, American author of children's books. ^[8]
• Rouben Mamoulian, 90, Georgian-American film director. ^[9]
• Constantin Noica, 78, Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet.
• Giorgio Prodi, 59, Italian medical scientist and oncologist.

5

• Pappy Daily, 85, American country music record producer, co-founded record label Starday Records.
• Leonid Dimov, 61, Romanian postmodernist poet and translator, heart attack.
• Bobby Garrett, 55, American NFL footballer.
• Daud Kamal, 52, Pakistani poet.
• Rudolf Mentzel, 87, German chemist and Nazi policy-maker.
• Molly O'Day, 64, American country music vocalist, cancer.
• Conny Plank, 47, German record producer and musician, laryngeal cancer.
• Eugene Siler, 87, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

6

• James Dobson, 67, American film and television actor, heart attack.
• Peter Lorenz, 64, German politician. ^[10]
• David J. Schwartz, 60, American motivational writer and coach.
• Izler Solomon, 77, American orchestra conductor. ^[11]
• Ba Swe, 72, Prime Minister of Burma.

7

• Gareth Bennett, 58, British Anglican priest, suicide.
• Michael Crossley, 75, British World War II Royal Air Force flying ace.
• Michael Hornby, 88, British vice chairman of WHSmith.
• Jane Mouton, 57, American management theorist.
• Jaime Ongpin, 49, Filipino businessman, Minister of Finance, suicide.
• Helen Porter, 88, British botanist from Imperial College London.
• Denis Rogers, 70, New Zealand doctor and local politician, heart attack.

8

• Fay Baker, 70, American stage, film and television actress and writer, breast cancer.
• Marcos Calderón, 59, Peruvian football coach and player, air crash.
• Luis Antonio Escobar, 18, Peruvian international footballer, air crash.
• José González Ganoza, 33, Peruvian international footballer, air crash.
• Sigrid Helliesen Lund, 95, Norwegian peace activist, notably in World War II.
• Alfredo Tomassini, 23, Peruvian footballer, air crash.
• Yolanda Vadiz, 28, Puerto Rican soprano, carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Johnny Watson, 24, Peruvian footballer, air crash.
• Ulfert Wilke, 80, German-American painter, museum director and art collector.

9

• Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, 73, German prince, head of the House of Hanover.
• Diana Forbes-Robertson, 72, British writer, stroke.
• François Gall, 75, Hungarian-French modern impressionist painter, heart attack.

10

• Giovanni Arpino, 60, Italian writer and journalist.
• Jascha Heifetz, 86, Lithuanian-American violinist, complications from a fall. ^[12]
• Carlota Jaramillo, 83, Ecuadorian pasillo singer, complications from a fall.
• Stylianos Kyriakides, 77, Greek Cypriot marathon runner.
• Denis Sanders, 58, American film director, screenwriter and producer, heart attack. ^[13]
• Slam Stewart, 73, American jazz double bass player, congestive heart failure. ^[14]

11

• G. A. Kulkarni, 64, Indian writer of short stories.
• Emil Mazuw, 87, German governor of the Province of Pomerania.
• William Thornton Mustard, 73, Canadian physician and cardiac surgeon, heart attack.
• Rosi Wolfstein, 99, German socialist politician.

12

• Bodil Begtrup, 84, Danish women's rights activist and diplomat, chairman of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
• Clifton Chenier, 62, American musician, kidney disease. ^[15]
• Enrique Jorrín, 60, Cuban charanga violinist, composer and music director.
• Nolan Leary, 98, American actor and playwright.
• Pinky Tomlin, 80, American singer, songwriter, bandleader and actor.

13

• Julien Darui, 71, French international footballer.
• Bil Dwyer, 80, American cartoonist and humourist.
• Bernard Epton, 66, American politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives, coronary.
• Na. Parthasarathy, 54, Indian writer.
• Elias Porter, 73, American psychologist.
• Stanisław Radkiewicz, 84, Polish communist activist, minister of Public Security.
• Claude T. Smith, 55, American band conductor, composer and music educator.
• George Wunder, 75, American cartoonist and comic illustrator (Terry and the Pirates), heart attack. ^[16]

14

• Copi, 48, Argentine writer, cartoonist and playwright, AIDS-related illness.
• Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen, 53, American officer of the U.S. Air Force.
• Tim Dinsdale, 63, British cryptozoologist, attempted to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, heart attack.
• Siegfried Haß, 89, Nazi German Wehrmacht general, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
• Milt Josefsberg, 76, American screenwriter.
• Georg Knöpfle, 83, German international footballer and coach.
• Valentina Kulagina, 85, Russian painter and designer of books, posters and exhibitions.
• Mogens Lassen, 86, Danish architect and designer.
• Nikos Stavridis, 77, Greek film and theatre actor.
• J. P. Strom, 69, American law enforcement officer, Chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. ^[17]
• John Winterton, 89, British Army officer, Military Governor and Commander of the Free Territory of Trieste.

15

• Seitnebi Abduramanov, 73, Soviet junior platoon commander in the Red Army, recipient of the Order of Glory.
• Septima Poinsette Clark, 89, African American educator and civil rights activist.
• George Fulford, 85, Canadian businessman and politician, member of the Canadian House of Commons.
• Ángel Infante, 73, Mexican actor and singer.
• Ivo Lapenna, 78, Italian law professor.
• Ray Malavasi, 57, American NFL football coach, heart attack. ^[18]
• Pierre Massé, 89, French economist, engineer, applied mathematician and high official in the French government.
• Tiny Moore, 67, American Western swing musician.
• P. Ramamurthi, 79, Indian politician, member of the Communist Party of India.
• Elisabeth Zaisser, 89, German politician and teacher, East German Secretary of State.
• Alfred Zerbel, 83, Nazi German Wehrmacht general.

16

• Leonard Beecher, 81, English-Anglican Archbishop of East Africa.
• Hob Broun, 37, American author, asphyxiation. ^[19]
• Minnie Evans, 95, American artist. ^[20]
• Albert P. Morano, 79, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives. ^[21]
• John Russell, 66, British politician, member of the House of Lords.

17

• Bernardus Johannes Alfrink, 87, Dutch cardinal, Archbishop of Utrecht.
• Irving Allen, 82, Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director.
• Georges Burou, 77, French gynecologist, drowned
• Arkady Raikin, 76, Soviet stand-up comedian, stage and film actor, theatre director, screenwriter and satirist. ^[22]
• Lucy Walker, 80, Australian romance novelist.
• Linda Wong, 36, American pornographic actress, drug overdose.
• Marguerite Yourcenar, 84, Belgian-French-American novelist and essayist. ^[23]

18

• Dimitrije Bašičević, 66, Yugoslavian artist, curator and art critic.
• Chaudhary Rahim Khan, 64, Indian politician, Member of Parliament.
• Warne Marsh, 60, American tenor saxophonist, heart attack. ^[24]

19

• Murat Aitkhozhin, 48, Soviet molecular biologist.
• Ralph Waldo Christie, 94, American admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Hermann Claasen, 87, German photographer.
• Leo Jung, 95, American architect of Orthodox Judaism. ^[25]
• John F. O'Leary, 61, American government official and business executive, cancer.
• C. Donald Peterson, 69, American jurist and politician, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, cancer.
• Esther Shiner, 63, Canadian municipal politician.
• André de la Varre, 83, American filmmaker of travel documentaries.

20

• Ruben Ecleo Sr., 53, Filipino cult leader, founded the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association.
• Jake Eisenhart, 65, American Major League baseballer.
• Dan Sikes, 58, American professional golfer.

21

• Fred R. Feitshans Jr., 78, American film editor.
• Carl E. McGowan, 76, American lawyer and U.S. circuit judge.
• Ralph Nelson, 71, American film and television director, producer, writer and actor. ^[26]
• Robert Paige, 76, American actor and TV newscaster and political correspondent, Universal Pictures leading man, aortic aneurysm. ^[27]
• Henry Strater, 91, American painter and illustrator.

22

• A. N. Alcaff, 62, Indonesian actor and film director.
• Henry Cotton, 80, English professional golfer. ^[28]
• Roderick Firth, 70, American philosopher. ^[29]
• Gustav Fröhlich, 85, German actor and film director, complications after surgery.
• Mimí Langer, 77, Austrian-Latin American psychoanalyst and human rights activist, cancer.
• Paule Marrot, 85, French textile designer.
• John McMichael, 39, Northern Irish loyalist, car bomb.
• Dudley Meredith, 52, American AFL footballer.
• Dorothy M. Needham, 91, English biochemist.
• Geoffrey Parsons, 77, English lyricist.
• José do Patrocínio Oliveira, 83, Brazilian musician and voice actor.
• Luca Prodan, 34, Italian-Scottish musician based in Argentina.
• T. Ranganathan, 62, Indian American Carnatic musician.
• Alice Terry, 88, American screen actress and director, Alzheimer's disease.

23

• Paschoal Silva, 87, Brazilian football player.

24

• Roy M. Davenport, 78, American rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Nino Espinosa, 34, Dominican Major League baseballer, heart attack.
• Eugen Kogon, 84, German historian and Nazi concentration camp survivor.
• John Wesley Hanes II, 95, American investment banker, Under Secretary of the Treasury. ^[30]
• Betty Noyes, 75, American singer and actress.
• Josef Myrow, 77, Russian Empire-composer.
• M. G. Ramachandran, 70, Indian actor and politician, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, heart attack and strokee.
• Manoug Parikian, 67, British concert violinist.
• Sara Scuderi, 81, Italian opera singer.
• Joop den Uyl, 68, Dutch politician and journalist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, brain tumor. ^[31]
• Kulwant Singh Virk, 66, Indian-author, stroke.

25

• Alexander Gregory Barmine, 88, Soviet Army defector to the U.S.A.
• Ruth Bonner, 87, Soviet Communist activist.
• John H. Humphrey, 72, British bacteriologist and immunologist.
• Vadim Knizhnik, 25, Soviet physicist, heart attack.
• Gene "Bowlegs" Miller, 54, American trumpeter and band leader.
• Zita Moulton, 104, American model and actress of theatre and film.
• Nat Tarnopol, 56, American record producer, congestive heart failure.
• Victor Whitsey, 71, British Church of England Bishop of Hertford and Chester.

26

• J. A. Baker, 61, English author, cancer.
• S. M. Banerjee, 68, Indian politician, trade unionist and communist sympathiser.
• Dorothy Bliss, 71, American carcinologist, cancer.
• Neil Colville, 73, Canadian NHL ice hockey player.
• Melford Stevenson, 85, English barrister and High Court judge. ^[32]
• Leslie Thompson, 86, Jamaican-English jazz trumpeter and trombonist.
• Luis E. Valcárcel, 96, Peruvian historian, anthropologist, writer and activist, Peruvian Minister of Education.

27

• Rewi Alley, 90, New Zealand-writer and political activist, member of the Chinese Communist Party. ^[33]
• John Astor, 64, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Manoj Basu, 86, Indian writer of Bengali novels and short stories.
• Shanti Devi, 61, Indian woman who claimed to remember her previous life.
• Priscilla Dean, 91, American theatre and silent-screen actress, complications from a fall.
• Josef Grohé, 85, German Nazi Party official, Gauleiter of Gau Cologne-Aachen.
• Bernard Hailstone, 77, English painter.
• Theodore Pike, 83, Irish colonial administrator and rugby union international.
• Stepan Popel, 78, Ukrainian chess champion.
• Wilbur Schramm, 80, American scholar and authority on \"mass communications\". ^[34]
• Anthony West, 73, English author and literary critic, stroke. ^[35]

28

• Happy Akhand, 27, Bangladeshi rock singer and songwriter.
• George I. Forsythe, 69, American general of the U.S. Army.
• John Hunt, 82, British general practitioner, co-founded the Royal College of General Practitioners.
• Edward Kleban, 48, American musical theatre composer and lyricist, complications from throat cancer. ^[36]
• Charles Malik, 81, Lebanese academic, diplomat, philosopher and politician, Lebanese representative to the U.N., kidney failure. ^[37]
• Joseph Sittler, 83, American Lutheran minister and theologian. ^[38]

29

• John F. Aiso, 78, American nisei military leader, lawyer and judge, head injury sustained in a mugging.
• Sheldon Andelson, 56, American higher education administrator and a political fund-raiser, complications of AIDS. ^[39]
• Patrick Bissell, 30, American ballet dancer, overdose. ^[40]
• Brigitte Heinrich, 46, German journalist and politician, heart attack.
• Jun Ishikawa, 88, Japanese author, translator and literary critic, lung cancer.
• Wilbert E. Moore, 73, American sociologist.
• Ulysses Kae Williams, 73, American DJ, record label owner and producer.
• Yanina Zhejmo, 78, Soviet actress.

30

• Leslie Arliss, 86, English screenwriter and director.
• Datta Naik, 60, Indian film music director.
• Manolo Urquiza, 67, Cuban-media personality.
• Theodore Zichy, 79, British actor, photographer, film director and producer, suicide.

31

• George Doherty, 67, American NFL footballer, college coach and athletics administrator, heart attack.
• Merle Evans, 96, American cornet player and circus band conductor. ^[41]
• Randall Garrett, 60, American science fiction and fantasy author.
• Gene Leggett, 52, American Methodist minister, defrocked for being homosexual, hepatitis.
• Leo Steiner, 47–48, American restaurateur, co-owner of Carnegie Deli, brain tumour. ^[42]
• Jerry Turner, 58, American television news anchorman, esophageal cancer.

Unknown date

• Malcolm Butler, 75, Northern Irish international footballer.
• Manbir Singh Chaheru, 27–28, Indian founder and first leader of the militant Khalistan Commando Force.
• Michael Clemente, 79, New York mobster in the Genovese crime family.
• Dorothy K. Haynes, 68–69, Scottish horror and supernatural writer, breast cancer.
• Kurt Frederick Ludwig, 83–84, Nazi German spy.
• Birendra Nath Mazumdar, 82, Indian medical officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
• Marcus Owen, 52, Welsh professional snooker player.
• Ian Wilson, 86, English actor.

References

1. Lee A. Daniels (December 2, 1987). "James Baldwin, Eloquent Writer In Behalf of Civil Rights, Is Dead" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
2. John T. McQuiston (December 3, 1987). "Donn F. Eisele, 57; One of 3 Crewmen On Apollo 7 Mission" . The New York Times . p. B 22. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
3. "Juan Alberto Melgar Castro, General, 52" . The New York Times . December 4, 1987. p. B 24. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
4. "Luis Federico Leloir, Chemist, 81" . The New York Times . December 4, 1987. p. B 24. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
5. "Yakov Zeldovich Dies; A Top Soviet Physicist" . The New York Times . December 5, 1987. p. 1 33. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
6. "Soviet Explorer Yevgeny Tolstikov, 74, Dies" . The New York Times . December 7, 1987. p. D 11. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
7. "Pericle Fazzini, 74, a Sculptor for Vatican" . The New York Times . December 5, 1987. p. 1 33. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
8. Hilary Stout (December 6, 1987). "Arnold Lobel, Author-Illustrator" . The New York Times . p. 1 61. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
9. Peter B. Flint (December 6, 1987). "Rouben Mamoulian, Broadway Director, Is Dead" . The New York Times . p. 1 60. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
10. "Peter Lorenz, Politician, 64" . The New York Times . December 7, 1987. p. D 11. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
11. Will Crutchfield (December 22, 1987). "Izler Solomon, 77, an Orchestra Conductor" . The New York Times . p. D 22. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
12. Harold Schonberg (December 12, 1987). "Jascha Heifetz Is Dead at 86; A Virtuoso Since Childhood" . The New York Times . p. 1 1. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
13. C. Gerald Fraser (December 15, 1987). "Denis Sanders Dies; Film Director Won 2 Academy Awards" . The New York Times . p. D 31. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
14. Robert Palmer (December 11, 1987). "Slam Stewart, 73, a Jazz Bassist Known for Singing With His Solos" . The New York Times . p. D 18. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
15. Robert Palmer (December 14, 1987). "Clifton Chenier, 'King of Zydeco,' Popularized Spirited Cajun Sound" . The New York Times . p. D 13. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
16. "George S. Wunder, 75; Drew 'Terry' Comics" . The New York Times . December 15, 1987. p. D 31. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
17. "J. P. Strom, Law-Enforcement Chief, 69" . The New York Times . December 17, 1987. p. B 26. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
18. "Ray Malavasi Is Dead; Former Coach of Rams" . The New York Times . December 16, 1987. p. B 28. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
19. "Hob Broun, a Novelist, Dies as Respirator Fails" . The New York Times . December 24, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
20. Douglas C. McGill (December 19, 1987). "Minnie Evans, 95, Folk Painter Noted For Visionary Work" . The New York Times . p. 1 34. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
21. "Ex-Rep. Albert Morano, 79, Dies" . The New York Times . December 18, 1987. p. D 18. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
22. Bill Keller, Special To the New York Times (December 22, 1987). "Arkady I. Raikin, 76, a Comedian Who Lampooned Soviet Life, Dies" . The New York Times . p. D 22. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
23. Eric Pace (December 19, 1987). "MARGUERITE YOURCENAR, WRITER AND SCHOLAR, DIES" . The New York Times . p. 1 34. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
24. "Warne Marsh, Jazz Saxophonist" . The New York Times . December 20, 1987. p. 1 46. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
25. Wolfgang Saxon (December 21, 1987). "Rabbi Leo Jung, Spiritual Leader Of New York Jewish Center, Dies" . The New York Times . p. D 14. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
26. Ronald Sullivan (December 25, 1987). "Ralph Nelson, Early TV Director; Made 'Requiem for Heavyweight'" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
27. "Robert Paige Is Dead; Appeared in 65 Films" . The New York Times . December 24, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
28. "Henry Cotton, Former Golfer, 80" . The New York Times . December 25, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
29. "Roderick Firth, Philosophy Professor, 70" . The New York Times . December 27, 1987. p. 1 36. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
30. George James (December 31, 1987). "John Wesley Hanes Sr., 95, Aide To Roosevelt and Corporate Chief" . The New York Times . p. A 24. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
31. Uhlig, Mark A. (December 25, 1987). "Joop den Uyl of Netherlands Dies; Was Labor Prime Minister in 70's". The New York Times . p. B8. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
32. "Sir Melford Stevenson, A Judge and Barrister" . The New York Times . December 30, 1987. p. B 10. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
33. "Rewi Alley, Expatriate in China" . The New York Times . December 28, 1987. p. D 13. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
34. "Wilbur Schramm; Wrote Many Works On Communications" . The New York Times . January 1, 1988. p. 1 64. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
35. Wolfgang Saxon (December 28, 1987). "Anthony West, Critic and Author; Wrote Essays for The New Yorker" . The New York Times . p. D 13. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
36. "Edward Kleban, 48, 'Chorus Line' Lyricist" . The New York Times . December 30, 1987. p. B 10. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
37. Ihsan A. Hijazi, Special To the New York Times (December 29, 1987). "Charles H. Malik of Lebanon, 81; Was President of U.N. Assembly" . The New York Times . p. D 19. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
38. "Joseph Sittler, 83, Dies; Was Lutheran Scholar" . The New York Times . January 4, 1988. p. A 16. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
39. "Sheldon Andelson, Political Fund-Raiser, 56" . The New York Times . January 1, 1988. p. 1 64. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
40. Jennifer Dunning (December 30, 1987). "Patrick Bissell, Dancer, Is Dead; A Principal With Ballet Theater" . The New York Times . p. B 10. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
41. Wolfgang Saxon (January 3, 1988). "Merle Evans Is Dead; Former Band Leader At Ringling Brothers" . The New York Times . p. 1 26. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
42. Bryan Miller (January 1, 1988). "Leo Steiner, 48, Owner of a Deli; Known for Wit" . The New York Times . p. 1 64. Retrieved April 26, 2024.