Deaths in February 1989

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The following is a list of notable deaths in February 1989.

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.

February 1989

1

• Blaze Foley, 39, American country music singer-songwriter, poet, and artist, shot.
• Elaine de Kooning, 70, American artist.
• Erik Persson (footballer), 79, Swedish footballer and Olympian.
• Nils Thedin, 77, Swedish businessman and civic leader.

2

• Yuri Bogatyryov, 41, Soviet actor.
• Ondrej Nepela, 38, Czechoslovakian figure skater. ^[1]
• Arnold Nordmeyer, 87, New Zealand politician, Leader of the Opposition.
• Walter M. Scott, 82, American set decorator.

3

• John Cassavetes, 59, Greek-American actor. ^[2]
• Glenna Collett-Vare, 85, American amateur golfer.
• Joan Grant, 81, English writer of historical novels.
• Frank Hursley, 86, half of American husband-and-wife television screenwriting duo Frank and Doris Hursley.
• Conny Jepsen, 68, Danish-Swedish badminton player.
• Ebbe Langberg, 55, Danish actor and film director.
• John McCauley, 89, Australian Air Force senior commander, stroke.
• Lionel Newman, 73, American conductor, pianist, and film and television composer, cardiac arrest. ^[3]

4

• Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns, 68, American mandolinist, half of comedy duo Homer and Jethro, prostate cancer.
• Thorkild Hansen, 62, Danish novelist.
• Trevor Lucas, 45, Australian folk singer.
• Grandizo Munis, 76, Spanish Trotskyist politician.
• Ferris Webster, 76, American film editor.

5

• André Cheuva, 80, French international footballer.
• Emrys James, 60, Welsh Shakespearean actor.
• Joe Morrison, 51, American NFL footballer and coach, congestive heart failure. ^[4]
• Joe Raposo, 51, American composer, singer and pianist.

6

• Joseph L. Carrigg, 87, American politician, member of the US House of Representatives.
• André Cayatte, 80, French filmmaker, writer and lawyer.
• Ron Field, 55, American choreographer, dancer and director, brain lesions. ^[5]
• George F. Habach, 81, American mechanical and consulting engineer, business executive and inventor.
• Undine Smith Moore, 84, American composer and professor of music, stroke.
• King Tubby, 48, Jamaican sound engineer, shot.
• Barbara W. Tuchman, 77, American historian and author. ^[6]

7

• Giuseppe Puca, 33, Italian criminal, murdered after shootout.
• Bill Sewell, 72, American football player and coach.
• William Campbell Steere, 81, American botanist known as an expert on bryophytes. ^[7]
• Gilbert Simondon, 64, French philosopher.
• John M. Wallace, 95, American banker, philanthropist and politician.
• Prince Wilhelm Victor of Prussia, 69, German nobleman, soldier and diplomat.

8

• Cyril Luckham, 81, English film, television and theatre actor.
• Begum Khurshid Mirza, 70, Pakistani television and film actress.
• Webster B. Todd, 89, American Chairman of New Jersey Republican State Committee, heart attack. ^[8]

9

• Hermann Conring, 94, German politician.
• Oliver C. Dawson, 78, American athlete and sports coach.
• Osamu Tezuka, 60, Japanese artist and animator.

10

• Irving Brown, 77, American trade unionist. ^[9]
• Wayne Hays, 77, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, heart attack.
• Grady Higginbotham, 96, American football and baseball player and coach.
• Panini Ilangakoon, 69, Sri Lankan politician.
• Dan Kelly, 52, Canadian-American sportscaster, lung cancer. ^[10]
• Herbert Ryman, 78, American artist and Disney Imagineer, cancer.

11

• Charles L. Bolte, 93, United States Army general, stroke. ^[11]
• T. E. B. Clarke, 81, British screenwriter. ^[12]
• Leon Festinger, 69, American social psychologist. ^[13]
• Roland Gross, 80, American film editor and television editor.
• George O'Hanlon, 76, American actor, comedian and writer, stroke.
• Cecil C. Steiner, 92, American dentist.
• Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 83, ruler of Abu Dhabi.

12

• Thomas Bernhard, 58, Austrian novelist, playwright and poet, heart attack. ^[14]
• Maurice Cann, 77, British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
• Attilio Dottesio, 79, Italian film character actor and singer.
• Pat Finucane, 39, Irish lawyer.
• Bill Speer, 46, Canadian professional ice hockey player, snowmobile accident.

13

• Rosa Castillo, 78, Mexican sculptor, respiratory failure.
• Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark, 79.
• Dud Harris, 85, American footballer.
• Hans Hellmut Kirst, 74, German novelist.
• Dave Tarras, appr. 94, Ukrainian-American clarinetist and bandleader, pneumonia. ^[15]
• Zhou Tongqing, 81, Chinese optical physicist.

14

• James Bond, 89, American ornithologist.
• Vincent Crane, 45, British musician.
• Duncan Gregg, 78, American rower and Olympic gold medalist.
• Hilario, 83, Spanish international footballer.

15

• Hüseyin Akbaş, 56, Turkish wrestler and dual Olympic medalist.
• Sita Devi, Maharani of Baroda, 71, the \"Indian Wallis Simpson\".
• Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, 77, Indonesian statesman and economist, Prime Minister of Indonesia, heart attack.
• Aleksandr Travin, 51, Russian basketballer.
• Sabo Bakin Zuwo, 54, Nigerian politician, Governor of Kano State.

16

• Andy Black, 72, Scottish international footballer.
• Ida Ehre, 88, Austrian-German actor, theatre director and manager, heart attack. ^[16]

17

• Ian Fraser, 78, British judge.
• R. B. Frost, 81, American football, basketball and baseball coach.
• Lefty Gomez, 80, American Major League baseball player. ^[17]
• Guy Laroche, 67, French fashion designer. ^[18]
• Marguerite Roberts, 83, American screenwriter, arteriosclerosis.
• Hanne Sobek, 88, German international footballer.
• Mo Yingfeng, 51, Chinese novelist.

18

• John Bailey, 76, British screen and TV actor.
• Mildred Burke, 73, American professional wrestler, women's world champion, stroke.
• Kathleen Hite, 71, American writer for radio and television.

19

• Jack Bassett, 83, Welsh international rugby union player.
• Eric F. Goldman, 72, American historian. ^[19]
• Dr Rosa Slade Gragg, 84, American activist and politician, U.S. presidential advisor. ^[20]
• Alec Merrison, 64, British physicist.

20

• Stuart Black, 81, New Zealand sprinter and Olympian.
• Zhang Dayu, 83, Chinese chemist.
• Erika Köth, 63, German operatic soprano.
• Betty Mars, 44, French singer and actress, Eurovision song contestant, suicide by jumping.
• Manuel Rosas, 76, Mexican international footballer.

21

• Harry Clarke, 83, Australian Rules footballer.
• Robert Dorning, 75, English musician, vocalist, ballet dancer and actor, diabetes.
• Sándor Márai, 88, Hungarian writer, poet and journalist.
• Otar Taktakishvili, 64, Georgian composer, teacher and conductor.
• Alex Thépot, 82, French international footballer and Olympian.
• Lois Waring, 58, American figure skater.

22

• Raymond Gower, 72, British member of Parliament.
• Nadezhda Kosheverova, 86, Soviet film director and screenwriter.
• Zhu Liangcai, 88, general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
• Abel Wolman, 96, American engineer and educator. ^[21]
• Joan Woodbury, 73, American actress. ^[22]

23

• Aleks Çaçi, 72, Albanian author.
• Fred Grimwade, 55, Australian politician, President of the Victorian Legislative Council.
• Paul Richey, 72, English flying ace during the Second World War.
• Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, 82, Tibetan nobleman and statesman, Finance Minister of Tibet, stomach cancer. ^[23]
• Roy Tyner, 55, American NASCAR Grand National driver, gunshot.

24

• Sparky Adams, 94, American Major League baseballer.
• Norris Cotton, 88, American politician, US senator. ^[24]
• Joe Harvey, 70, English footballer and manager.
• Ben Kish, 71, American NFL footballer.
• Margo Lion, 89, Ottoman-French singer and actress.
• Claude McGrath, 84, American college basketball coach.
• Mallica Reynolds, 78, Jamaican artist and religious leader.

25

• Angna Enters, 91, American dancer, mime, painter, writer, novelist and playwright. ^[25]
• Robert Foulk, 80, American television and film actor.

26

• Roy Eldridge, 78, American jazz trumpeter. ^[26]
• Joseph Fenton, appr. 46, Northern Ireland estate agent, killed by Provisional Irish Republican Army.
• Alexander Golling, 83, German actor, member of the Nazi Party.
• Reunald Jones, 78, American jazz trumpeter.
• Mouloud Mammeri, 71, Algerian writer, anthropologist and linguist, car accident.
• Éloi Meulenberg, 76, Belgian professional road bicycle racer.

27

• Paul Oswald Ahnert, 91, German astronomer.
• Bayani Casimiro, 70, Filipino dancer.
• Shiba P. Chatterjee, 86, Indian Professor of Geography.
• Mauricio Garcés, 62, Mexican actor and comedian.
• Kim Hyun-chul, 87, Korean independence activist and politician, Prime Minister of South Korea.
• Göran Larsson, 56, Swedish swimmer.
• Konrad Lorenz, 85, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. ^[27]
• Bas Paauwe, 77, Dutch international footballer.
• Joe Silver, 66, American stage, television, film and radio actor, heart attack. ^[28]
• Boris Skossyreff, 92, Belarusian adventurer, swindler and pretender, tried to seize the monarchy of Andorra.

28

• Halil Bıçakçı, 62, Turkish football manager.
• Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira, 78, Brazilian lexicographer, philologist, translator and writer.
• Hermann Burger, 46, Swiss poet, novelist and essayist, suicide.
• Douglas Kendrew, 79, British Army general, international rugby union player, Governor of Western Australia.
• Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, 100, Indian yoga teacher.
• Karl Anderson, 88, American track and field athlete and Olympian.

Unknown date

• John J. Nash, Irish member of Seanad Éireann.
• Dudley Wilkins, 74, American triple jumper and Olympian.

References

1. "Ondrej Nepela, Figure Skater, 38" . The New York Times . February 7, 1989. p. B 8. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
2. Albin Krebs (February 4, 1989). "John Cassavetes, Major Director In U.S. Cinema Verite, Dies at 59" . The New York Times . p. 1 32. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
3. "Lionel Newman, 73, Winner of an Oscar As a Film Composer" . The New York Times . February 8, 1989. p. B 8. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
4. "Joe Morrison, 51, Former Giant" . The New York Times . February 6, 1989. p. D 12. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
5. Jennifer Dunning (February 7, 1989). "Ron Field, a Tony Award Winner For His Choreography, Dies at 55" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
6. Eric Pace (February 7, 1989). "Barbara Tuchman Dead at 77; A Pulitzer-Winning Historian" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
7. "William C. Steere, 81, Botanist and Teacher" . The New York Times . February 8, 1989. p. B 8. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
8. Susan Heller Anderson (February 10, 1989). "Webster B. Todd Is Dead at 89; Ex-Leader of Jersey Republicans" . The New York Times . p. D 19. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
9. Glenn Fowler (February 11, 1989). "Irving Brown, 77, U.S. Specialist On International Labor Movement" . The New York Times . p. 1 33. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
10. "Dan Kelly, Hockey Announcer, 52" . The New York Times . February 11, 1989. p. 1 33. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
11. Peter B. Flint (February 13, 1989). "Gen. Charles Bolte, Ex-Army Vice Chief Of Staff, Dies at 93" . The New York Times . p. D 13. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
12. "T.E.B. Clarke, Writer, Dies at 81" . The New York Times . February 15, 1989. p. A 24. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
13. "Leon Festinger, 69, New School Professor" . The New York Times . February 12, 1989. p. 1 44. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
14. Herbert Mitgang (February 17, 1989). "Thomas Bernhard Is Dead at 58; His Last Play Enraged Austrians" . The New York Times . p. D 19. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
15. Jon Pareles (February 14, 1989). "Dave Tarras, 95, Clarinetist, Dies; Purveyor of Klezmer Dance" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
16. "Ida Ehre, 88, Is Dead; West German Actress" . The New York Times . February 18, 1989. p. 1 10. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
17. Joseph Durso (February 18, 1989). "Vernon (Lefty) Gomez, 80, Dies; Starred as a Pitcher for Yankees" . The New York Times . p. 1 10. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
18. Bernadine Morris (February 18, 1989). "Guy Laroche, 67, French Designer And Founder of a Fashion House" . The New York Times . p. 1 10. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
19. Wolfgang Saxon (February 20, 1989). "Eric F. Goldman, 73, a Historian And Presidential Consultant, Dies" . The New York Times . p. A 16. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
20. "Rosa Slade Gragg, 86, Civil Rights Advocate" . The New York Times . February 24, 1989. p. B 4. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
21. Walter Sullivan (February 24, 1989). "Prof. Abel Wolman, 96, Is Dead; Led Efforts to Chlorinate Water" . The New York Times . p. B 4. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
22. "Joan Woodbury, Actress, 73" . The New York Times . February 24, 1989. p. B 4. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
23. "Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, Tibetan Scholar, 82" . The New York Times . February 25, 1989. p. 1 12. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
24. Wolfgang Saxon (February 25, 1989). "Norris Cotton, 88, Former New Hampshire Senator" . The New York Times . p. 1 12. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
25. Jennifer Dunning (March 1, 1989). "Angna Enters, 82, Dancer, Mime And Artist Known for Characters" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
26. John S. Wilson (February 28, 1989). "Roy Eldridge, 78, Jazz Trumpeter Known for Intense Style, Is Dead" . The New York Times . p. B 7. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
27. Walter Sullivan (March 1, 1989). "Konrad Lorenz, Pioneer in Study Of Animals' Behavior, Dies at 85" . The New York Times . p. B 8. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
28. Mervyn Rothstein (February 28, 1989). "Joe Silver, 66, a Broadway Star And Actor in Film and Television" . The New York Times . p. B 7. Retrieved March 28, 2024.