Deaths in March 1987

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The following is a list of notable deaths in March 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.

March 1987

1

• Freddie Green, 75, American swing jazz guitarist, heart attack. ^[1]
• Bertrand de Jouvenel, 83, French philosopher and political economist.
• Don MacBeth, 37, Canadian jockey, cancer.
• Vern Partlow, 76, American newspaper reporter and folk singer, blacklisted during the McCarthy era, cancer.
• Wolfgang Seidel, 60, German Formula 1 racing driver, heart attack.

2

• Randolph Scott, 89, American film actor, heart and lung ailments. ^[2]
• Lolo Soetoro, 52, Indonesian geographer, stepfather of Barack Obama, liver failure.

3

• Danny Kaye, 76, American singer, actor, dancer and comedian, complications from internal bleeding and hepatitis. ^[3]
• Cyril Pearl, 82, Australian journalist, author and television personality.
• Rafael M. Salas, 58, Filipino head of the United Nations Population Fund, heart attack.
• Hana Vítová, 73, Czechoslovakian film actress.

4

• Georges Arnaud, 69, French author, heart attack.
• Maria Jolas, 94, American pacifist, one of the founding members of transition in Paris.
• Seibo Kitamura, 102, Japanese sculptor.
• Eliseo Moreno, 27, American spree killer, executed.

5

• James W. Blanchard, 83, American submarine commander and rear admiral.
• John Brooke, 64, Northern Irish politician, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
• Albert Costain, 76, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Abdulgani Dahiwala, 78, Indian Gujarati poet.
• Harry Dudkin, 78, American politician and judge, Clerk of the New Jersey General Assembly, murdered.
• Andrey A. Fedorov, 78, Soviet biologist, botanist and taxonomist.
• Joe Purcell, 63, American politician, acting Governor of Arkansas.
• Don Yenko, 59, American car dealer and racecar driver, aeroplane crash.

6

• Inder Raj Anand, Indian film dialogue and screenwriter.
• Mel Boozer, 41, American university professor and LGBT activist, AIDS.
• Edward Carson, 67, British politician, Member of Parliament.
• Eddie Durham, 80, American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer and arranger. ^[4]
• J. Spencer Trimingham, 82, English scholar on Islam in Africa.
• Edward Zorinsky, 58, American politician, U.S. Senator, heart attack. ^[5]

7

• Yuri Chulyukin, 57, Soviet film director, screenwriter, actor and songwriter.
• Henri Decaë, 71, French cinematographer.
• Evelyn Dove, 85, British singer and actress, pneumonia.
• Paul R. Evans, 55, American-furniture designer, sculptor and artist, heart attack.
• Waldo Salt, 72, American screenwriter. ^[6]

8

• Erwin Jollasse, 95, German Wehrmacht general, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
• Iwao Yamawaki, 88, Japanese photographer and architect.

9

• Zeke Bonura, 78, American Major League baseballer.
• Ronald W. Clark, 70, British author of biography, fiction and non-fiction, stroke.
• Donald Jay Grout, 84, American musicologist, author of \"A Short History of Opera\".
• Allan Jaffe, 51, American jazz tubist.
• Andrew Kayiira, 42, leader of the Uganda Freedom Movement, shot.
• Yusuf al-Khal, 69, Lebanese-Syrian poet, journalist and publisher.
• Richard F. Kneip, 54, American diplomat and politician, governor of South Dakota, cancer.
• Bobby Locke, 69, South African professional golfer. ^[7]
• Fred W. Thompson, 86, Canadian-American labour organizer and historian.
• Arthur Tolcher, 64, British harmonica player.

10

• Dwight W. Burney, 95, American politician, Governor of Nebraska.
• Robert Colby, 64, American songwriter, music publisher and theatrical producer. ^[8]
• George Glamack, 68, American professional basketballer.
• Jeannette Mirsky, 83, American writer.
• Daniel Morgan, 37, British private investigator, victim of unsolved murder.
• Johannes Quasten, 86, German Roman Catholic theologian.

11

• Joe Gladwin, 81, English actor, bronco-pneumonia complications.

12

• Woody Hayes, 74, American college football coach, heart attack. ^[9]
• Micheline Kahn, 97, French harpist and pianist.
• Richard Levinson, 52, American screenwriter and producer, heart attack. ^[10]
• Jack Marks, 92, English performer and screenwriter, lung cancer.

13

• Edward Peck Curtis, 90, American World War I flying ace AND Air Service Major General, pneumonia.
• Hafizur Rahman Wasif Dehlavi, 77, Indian Muslim scholar, jurist, literary critic and poet.
• Bernhard Grzimek, 77, German zoo director, zoologist, author and animal conservationist. ^[11]
• Peter Henrici, 63, Swiss mathematician.
• David Lewis, 83, American Hollywood film producer.
• Gerald Moore, 87, English classical pianist. ^[12]
• Hugh Roberton, 86, Australian politician, Minister for Social Services, Australian Ambassador to Ireland.
• Fela Sowande, 81, Nigerian musician and composer.

14

• Peter Beter, 65, American attorney and financier.
• Tex Fletcher, 77, American singing cowboy, actor, night club performer, and radio and television personality.
• Rushdi al-Kikhya, 87–88, Syrian political leader, Speaker of the Parliament of Syria.
• Ivor Preece, 66, English international rugby union footballer.
• Ali Muhammad Rashidi, 81, Pakistani writer, journalist, politician, and diplomat.
• Gerard Steenson, appr. 29, Irish republican paramilitary commander, ambushed and killed.
• Ian MacAlister Stewart, 91, Scottish military officer, brigadier in the British Army.

15

• Douglas Abbott, 87, Canadian Member of Parliament and justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
• W. Sterling Cole, 82, American politician, lawyer, and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. ^[13]
• Red Dutton, 89, Canadian NHL ice hockey player, coach and executive.
• Léon Fleuriot, 64, French linguist and Celtic scholar.
• Don Gant, 44, American singer, songwriter and record producer, boating accident.

16

• Bob Kline, 77, American Major League baseballer.
• Vivian Martin, 93, American stage and silent-screen actress.
• Scott McKay, 71, American film, television and theatre actor, kidney failure.
• Juan Gómez Millas, 86, Chilean fascist politician and educator.
• Allan Perry-Keene, 88, English officer in the Royal Air Force, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Pakistan Air Force.
• Joseph E. Schaefer, 68, American soldier in the U.S. Army, recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II.
• Samuel H. Shapiro, 79, American politician, Governor of Illinois. ^[14]
• Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, 57, Danish architect, designed the Grande Arche near Paris.

17

• Tom Cothran, 39, American musicologist and composer, AIDS.
• Georg Lammers, 81, German sprinter and Olympic medalist.
• Antonio Lopez, 44, Puerto Rican fashion illustrator, complication of AIDS. ^[15]
• Ron Saggers, 69, Australian Test cricketer.
• Derief Taylor, 76, Jamaican first-class cricketer and coach.
• Salvatore Toma, 35, Italian poet, suicide.
• Santo Trafficante Jr., 72, American Mafia boss, allied with Sam Giancana.

18

• Milorad Arsenijević, 80, Yugoslavian footballer and manager, and Olympian.
• Bil Baird, 82, American puppeteer, pneumonia and cancer. ^[16]
• Claude I. Bakewell, 74, American lawyer, member of U.S. House of Representatives.
• Lewis Bandt, 77, Australian car designer, designed and built the first utes, car accident.
• Elizabeth Poston, 81, English composer, pianist and writer.

19

• Punaloor Balan, 60, Indian writer and a poet.
• Louis de Broglie, 94, French physicist contributing to quantum theory and Nobel laureate in Physics.
• Robert-Jean Longuet, 85, French lawyer, journalist and militant socialist.
• Juan Mascaró, 89, Spanish translator.
• Ruth Meiers, 61, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota. ^[17]
• Emile Meyer, 76, American actor.
• Arch Oboler, 79, American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer and director. ^[18]
• Harold Rosenthal, 69, English music critic, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster about opera. ^[19]
• Tony Stratton Smith, 53, English rock music manager, founded record label Charisma Records, pancreatic cancer.

20

• Warren G. Brown, 66, American rodeo cowboy, prostate cancer.
• Licio Giorgieri, 61, Italian air force general, murdered.
• Norman Harris, 39, American guitarist, producer, music arranger and songwriter, cardiovascular disease.
• Russell Ohl, 89, American scientist, generally recognised for patenting the modern solar cell.
• Rita Streich, 66, German opera singer.
• Kenneth Threadgill, 77, American country singer and tavern owner, pulmonary embolism.
• Harry Windsor, 72, Irish-Australian cardiac surgeon.

21

• Walter L. Gordon, 81, Canadian accountant, businessman, politician and writer. ^[20]
• Dean Paul Martin, 35, American pop singer and film and television actor, air crash.
• Robert Preston, 68, American stage and film actor and singer, lung cancer. ^[21]
• Jacob Taubes, 64, Austrian sociologist of religion, philosopher and scholar of Judaism.

22

• Louis M. Hacker, 88, American economic historian, professor of economics. ^[22]
• Charlie Jarzombek, 44, American race car driver, racing accident..
• Bill McGuffie, 59, British pianist, film composer and conductor, cancer.
• Joan Shawlee, 61, American film and television actress, breast cancer.

23

• Emilio Giuseppe Dossena, 83, Italian painter.
• Maurice Dunand, 89, French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East.
• Walter Walford Johnson, 82, American businessman and politician, governor of Colorado.
• Edward Lamb, 85, American businessman, broadcasting executive and labour lawyer. ^[23]
• Reg Lye, 74, Australian actor.
• John Mariucci, 70, American ice hockey player, administrator and coach.
• Morton Minsky, 85, American burlesque owner, co-owner of Minsky's Burlesque, cancer. ^[24]
• Tony Pacheco, 59, Cuban-baseballer and Major League coach.
• Herald F. Stout, 83, American admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Ilse Totzke, 73, German musician, survivor of the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

24

• Vicente Calderón, 73, Spanish businessman, president of Atlético Madrid.
• Alan Gale, 56, Australian rules footballer and commentator, heart attack.
• Takeru Higuchi, 69, American chemist, "the father of physical pharmacy". ^[25]
• Sarah Goddard Power, 51, American political activist, suicide.

25

• Carolin Babcock, 74, American tennis player, U.S. Open doubles champion, stroke.
• Gusta Fučíková, 83, Czechoslovakian publicist, editor and politician.
• Ivan Ivanov-Vano, 87, Soviet animator and screenwriter.
• John Kloss, 49, American fashion designer, known for lingerie and sleepwear, suicide. ^[26]
• Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr., 83, American diplomat and statesman, and Executive Director of UNICEF.
• Moustache, 58, French actor and jazz drummer, car accident.

26

• Walter Abel, 88, American stage, film and radio actor, myocardial infarction. ^[27]
• Henrieta Delavrancea, 89, Romanian architect.
• Ohene Djan, 63, Ghanaian sports administrator and politician, member of the Legislative Assembly.
• Robert Gwyn Macfarlane, 79, English hematologist.
• Georg Muche, 91, German painter, printmaker, architect, author and teacher.
• Eugen Jochum, 84, German conductor. ^[28]
• Mary Odette, 85, French-silent-screen actress.
• Michael Stancliffe, 70, English Anglican priest, Dean of Winchester.

27

• Giuseppe Ambrosoli, 63, Italian Catholic priest, renal failure.
• Rudolph Anders, 91, German-American actor.
• William Bowers, 71, American reporter, playwright and screenwriter.
• Tim Lee Carter, 76, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives. ^[29]
• Erich Clar, 84, Austrian organic chemist.
• Olha Franko, 90, Ukrainian writer, creator of the first Ukrainian cookbook.
• Luis Chávez y González, 85, El Salvadoran Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of San Salvador.
• Lloyd Goodrich, 89, American art historian, cancer. ^[30]
• Stane Kavčič, 67, Prime Minister of Slovenia.
• Tonny Koeswoyo, 51, Indonesian rock musician and leader of the group Koes Plus.
• Peter Mason, 65, English-Australian physicist, educator and science communicator.
• Hans-Georg von der Osten, 91, German World War I flying ace and Luftwaffe commander during World War II.
• Martin Provensen, 70, American illustrator, heart attack.

28

• Horace M. Albright, 97, American conservationist, director of the National Park Service. ^[31]
• Alphonse Alley, 56, Beninese military officer, President of Dahomey (Benin).
• Oliver K. Kelley, 82, Finnish-American engineer involved in developing the automatic transmission.
• Lê Văn Kim, 68–69, South Vietnamese army general.
• Maria von Trapp, 82, Austrian matriarch of the Trapp family, heart failure.
• Patrick Troughton, 67, English actor, known for playing Doctor Who, heart attack.

29

• Richard Aaron, 85, Welsh philosopher.
• Lawrence Anini, appr. 26, Nigerian bandit, executed.
• Jakob Nacken, 81, German-American circus performer.
• Akaki Shanidze, 100, Georgian linguist and philologist.
• John Wiley, 60, South African cricketer and politician, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, suicide.
• Richard Wilson, 66, American science fiction writer.

30

• Pyotr Gusev, 82, Russian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer.
• Veniamin Levich, 69, Soviet dissident, physical chemist and electro-chemist.
• Clint Murchison Jr., 63, American businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team, pneumonia. ^[32]
• Giorgio Pini, 88, Italian politician and journalist.
• Dorothy Ward, 96, English actress.
• Lynn Townsend White Jr., 79, American historian.

31

• David Adler, 51, American physicist and MIT professor. ^[33]
• Unicorn Chan, 46–47, Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman, car crash.
• Ram Panjwani, 75, Indian writer and folk singer.

Unknown date

• Arthur Holland, 70, English football referee.
• Lesley Osmond, 65, British actress.

References

1. Tim Page (March 2, 1987). "GUITARIST IN COUNT BASIE BAND" . The New York Times . p. D 11. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
2. "LACONIC COWBOY-FILM ACTOR" . The New York Times . March 3, 1987. p. D 27. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
3. Eric Pace (March 4, 1987). "DANNY KAYE, LIMBER-LIMBED COMEDIAN, DIES" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
4. John S. Wilson (March 7, 1987). "EDDIE DURHAM, TROMBONIST" . The New York Times . p. 1 33. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
5. Philip M. Boffey, Special To the New York Times (March 8, 1987). "U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA" . The New York Times . p. 1 40. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
6. "Waldo Salt, 72, Dies; Oscar-Winning Writer" . The New York Times . March 8, 1987. p. 1 40. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
7. "BOBBY LOCKE" . The New York Times . March 11, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
8. "ROBERT COLBY, POP COMPOSER AND THEATER PRODUCER, DIES" . The New York Times . March 17, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
9. Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr. (March 13, 1987). "WOODY HAYES, FIERY COACH, IS DEAD" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
10. Lisa Belkin (March 13, 1987). "RICHARD LEVINSON, 52, WRITER OF TEVELSION MYSTERY SERIES" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
11. John Tagliabue, Special To the New York Times (March 15, 1987). "BERNHARD GRZIMEK, ZOOLOGIST AND WILDLIFE CHAMPION, DIES" . The New York Times . p. 1 36. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
12. Tim Page (March 17, 1987). "TOP ACCOMPANIST FOR SINGERS" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
13. Thomas W. Ennis (March 17, 1987). "W. STERLING COLE, 82, DIES OF CANCER" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
14. "SAMUEL H. SHAPIRO, 79, EX-GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS" . The New York Times . March 17, 1987. p. B 8. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
15. Anne-Marie Schiro (March 18, 1987). "WAS MAJOR FASHION ILLUSTRATOR" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
16. Nan Robertson (March 20, 1987). "BIL BAIRD, CREATOR OF PUPPETS, IS DEAD" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
17. "Lieut. Gov. Ruth Meiers Of North Dakota Dies" . The New York Times . March 21, 1987. p. 1 34. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
18. William G. Blair (March 22, 1987). "ARCH OBOLER, WROTE THRILLERS FOR RADIO IN 1930'S AND 40'S" . The New York Times . p. 1 36. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
19. "Harold Rosenthal, Lecturer And Opera Critic in Britain" . The New York Times . March 22, 1987. p. 1 36. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
20. John F. Burns, Special To the New York Times (March 25, 1987). "WALTER L. GORDON, EX-CANADIAN AIDE" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
21. Tim Page (March 23, 1987). "ROBERT PRESTON, ACTOR, IS DEAD AT 68" . The New York Times . p. B 7. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
22. "LOUIS M. HACKER, 88, EDUCATOR" . The New York Times . March 23, 1987. p. B 7. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
23. "MILLIONAIRE AND LABOR LAWYER" . The New York Times . March 25, 1987. p. B 5. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
24. "LAST OF A BURLESQUE DYNASTY" . The New York Times . March 24, 1987. p. B 6. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
25. "TAKERU HIGUCHI" . The New York Times . March 27, 1987. p. D 18. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
26. "John Kloss Dies at Age 49; Designed Women's Fashions" . The New York Times . March 31, 1987. p. D 35. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
27. Jeremy Gerard (March 28, 1987). "WALTER ABEL, 88, ACTOR IN THEATER AND FILMS" . The New York Times . p. 1 32. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
28. John Rockwell (March 28, 1987). "EUGEN JOCHUM, CONDUCTOR OF GERMAN CLASSICS" . The New York Times . p. 1 32. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
29. "Ex-Rep. Tim L. Carter, Kentucky Republican" . The New York Times . March 29, 1987. p. 1 30. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
30. Douglas C. McGill (March 28, 1987). "LLOYD GOODRICH, ART EXPERT, DIES: EX-DIRECTOR OF WHITNEY MUSEUM" . The New York Times . p. 1 32. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
31. "Horace Albright Dies; Founded Park Service" . The New York Times . March 29, 1987. p. 1 30. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
32. Peter H. Frank, Special To the New York Times (April 1, 1987). "C.W. MURCHISON JR. DIES IN TEXAS AT 63" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
33. "David Adler, 51, Physicist; Expert on Semiconductors" . The New York Times . April 3, 1987. p. B 5. Retrieved May 4, 2024.