Deaths in July 1989

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The following is a list of notable deaths in July 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.

July 1989

1

• William Ching, 75, American actor, congestive heart failure.
• Eric Holland, 68, New Zealand politician, member of the New Zealand Parliament.
• Sumant Moolgaokar, 82, Indian industrialist.
• António Morais, 54, Portuguese footballer and manager, car crash.
• Viktor Nekipelov, 60, Soviet Russian poet and writer.
• Louise Varèse, 98, American writer, editor and translator of French literature.

2

• Brendan Crinion, 65, Irish Fianna Fáil politician.
• Andrei Gromyko, 79, Soviet politician and diplomat, Chairman of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, vascular problem. ^[1]
• Hasan Esat Işık, 72–73, Turkish diplomat and politician.
• Jean Leguay, 79, French Nazi, responsible for rounding up Jews for concentration camps, cancer.
• Jean Painlevé, 86, French photographer and filmmaker.
• Franklin J. Schaffner, 69, Japanese-born American film, television and stage director, lung cancer. ^[2]
• Wilfrid Sellars, 77, American philosopher. ^[3]
• Ben Wright, 74, English radio, film and television actor, complications from heart surgery.

3

• Jim Backus, 76, American actor, best known as Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island, pneumonia. ^[4]
• Peter Fox, 68, Canadian politician, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

4

• Jack Haig, English actor, 76, stomach cancer.
• Win Maung, 73, President of the Union of Burma.
• Leyla Mammadbeyova, 79, Azerbaijani aviator.
• Vic Perrin, 73, American radio, film and television actor, cancer. ^[5]

5

• Bill Daddio, 73, American NFL football player, coach and scout, heart attack.
• Ernesto Halffter, 84, Spanish composer and conductor.
• Sirarpie Der Nersessian, 92, Armenian art historian.
• Berthold Wolpe, 83, German calligrapher, typographer, type designer, book designer and illustrator.

6

• Jean Bouise, 60, French actor.
• C. A. Dharmapala, 81, Sri Lankan politician.
• János Kádár, 77, Hungarian politician, General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, cancer.
• John Maguire, 84, American Roman Catholic clergyman.
• William F. Tompkins, 76, American politician, member of the New Jersey General Assembly, heart attack.

7

• Moshe Kol, 78, Israeli politician.

8

• August Haußleiter, 84, German politician and journalist.

9

• Andrex, 82, French film actor.
• Piet Lieftinck, 86, Dutch politician, member of the House of Representatives and Senate.

10

• Mel Blanc, 81, American voice actor and radio personality, complications of emphysema and obstructive pulmonary disease. ^[6]
• Jean-Michel Charlier, 64, Belgian comics writer.
• Roger Richebé, 91, French film director, screenwriter and producer.
• Tommy Trinder, 80, English stage, screen and radio comedian.

11

• Irv Comp, 70, American NFL footballer.
• Laurence Curtis, 83, American attorney and politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives. ^[7]
• Horia Macellariu, 95, Romanian admiral, Royal Romanian Navy commander in Second World War.
• Vic Maile, 55–56, British record producer, cancer.
• Laurence Olivier, 82, English actor and director, renal failure. ^[8]
• Richard Travis, 76, American actor in films and television.

12

• Sidney Hook, 86, American philosopher. ^[9]
• Carlos Puebla, 71, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer.
• Prince Wolfgang of Hesse, 92, Crown Prince of Finland.

13

• A. Amirthalingam, 61, Sri Lankan politician, Leader of the Opposition, assassinated.
• Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, 58, Iranian Kurdish politician, assassinated.
• Davud Monshizadeh, 74, Iranian supporter of Nazism.
• Arnaldo Ochoa, 58–59, Cuban general, executed.
• Pedro Orata, 90, Filipino educator.
• V. Yogeswaran, 55, Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and member of Parliament, assassinated.

14

• Arnold Poepke, 87, German politician.

15

• Josef Bauer, 74, German politician.
• Will Bradley, 77, American trombonist and bandleader. ^[10]
• Laurie Cunningham, 33, English international footballer, car crash.
• Nesuhi Ertegun, 71, Turkish-born American record producer, complications of cancer surgery. ^[11]
• Artur Sandauer, 75, Polish literary critic, essayist and professor.
• Jack Scholes, 71, Australian-born New Zealand sailor.
• Teiichi Suzuki, 100, Lieutenant General in Imperial Japanese Army, minister of state, heart failure. ^[12]
• William F. Temple, 75, British science fiction writer.

16

• John N. Dempsey, 74, Irish-born American politician, Governor of Connecticut, lung cancer. ^[13]
• Nicolás Guillén, 87, Cuban poet, journalist, political activist and writer, Parkinson's disease.
• Herbert von Karajan, 81, Austrian conductor, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, heart attack.
• Jack Kasley, 73, American swimmer and Olympian.
• George Rich, 84, American football player and coach.
• Shmuel Rodensky, 86, Russian-born Israeli actor of stage, film and television, heart attack.
• Allan Shaw, 62, English Anglican priest.

17

• Dudley Brooks, 75, American jazz pianist, arranger and composer.
• Paul C, 24, American hip hop pioneer, producer, engineer and mixer, murdered.
• Robert Horton Cameron, 81, American mathematician.
• Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, 89, French wife of Samuel Beckett.
• Paul Lemerle, 86, French founding president of the International Association of Byzantine Studies.
• Jeff Moores, 83, Australian rugby league footballer.
• Mary Parke, 81, British marine botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society.
• Vuppuluri Ganapathi Sastry, 100, Indian sanskrit scholar, writer and spiritual teacher.

18

• Donnie Moore, 35, American Major League baseballer, gun suicide.
• Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, American actress, murdered.

19

• J. M. Cohen, 86, British translator of European literature into English.
• Xaquín Lorenzo Fernández, 82, Spanish educator.
• Jay Ramsdell, 25, American commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association, plane crash.
• Stan Ramsay, 84, English footballer and manager.
• Kazimierz Sabbat, 76, Prime Minister and President of the Polish government in exile.
• Carl-Heinz Schroth, 87, German actor and film director.
• John Wyhonic, 69, American NFL footballer.

20

• Forrest H. Anderson, 76, American politician, Governor and Attorney General of Montana, self-inflicted gunshot wound.
• Valentine Bargmann, 81, German-born American mathematician and theoretical physicist. ^[14]
• Jaime Bartrolí, 71, Spanish tennis player and coach.
• José Augusto Brandão, 78, Brazilian international footballer.
• Juan Carlos Altavista, 60, Argentine actor and comedian, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
• Lauro Corona, 32, Brazilian actor.
• Karen DeWolf, 85, American screenwriter and novelist.
• Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, 79, leader of French Resistance network \"Alliance\", under code name \"Hérisson\".
• Erwin Sietas, 78, German swimmer and Olympic medalist.
• Mary Treen, 82, American film and television actress, cancer. ^[15]
• Yannis Tsarouchis, 79, Greek modernist painter and set designer.
• Harry Worth, 71, English comedy actor, comedian and ventriloquist, spinal cancer. ^[16]

21

• Donald Brittain, 61, Canadian film director and producer.
• James M. Collins, 73, American businessman and politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives. ^[17]
• Danilo Lokar, 97, Slovene physician and expressionist writer.
• William T. Whisner Jr., 65, American pilot in U.S. Air Force, complications from wasp sting. ^[18]

22

• Janet Lee Bouvier, 81, American mother of Jacqueline Kennedy, complications from Alzheimer's disease.
• A. Thomas Doyle, 71, American thoroughbred racehorse trainer, Alzheimer's disease.
• Martti Talvela, 54, Finnish operatic bass, heart attack. ^[19]
• Frank Thompson, 70, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives, esophageal cancer.

23

• Donald Barthelme, 58, American short story writer and novelist, throat cancer. ^[20]
• Archduchess Charlotte of Austria, 68, daughter of Emperor Charles I of Austria.
• Hank Greenspun, 79, American publisher of Las Vegas Sun newspaper. ^[21]
• Thevis Guruge, Sri Lankan broadcaster with Radio Ceylon, murdered.
• Claude Harmon, 73, American professional golfer, heart failure. ^[22]
• Daniel Rhodes, 78, American artist, heart attack ^[23]
• Alexander Weygers, 87, Dutch-American sculptor, painter, mechanical and aerospace engineer, and author.

24

• Marco Acerbi, 40, Italian hurdler and Olympian.
• Walter Dick, 83, American international footballer.
• Charlie Gallagher, 51, Irish Gaelic footballer, drowned.
• Ernie \"Sunshine Sammy\" Morrison, 76, American actor, comedian and dancer, cancer.
• Eleanor Raymond, 102, American architect.

25

• Steve Rubell, 45, American entrepreneur, owner of New York City disco Studio 54, hepatitis complicated by AIDS. ^[24]

26

• Derek Ball, British sound engineer and Academy Award winner.

27

• Eugénie Henderson, 74, British linguist and academic.
• Warren Low, 83, American film editor.
• Walter Scott, 89, Australian rules footballer.
• Dolf Sternberger, 81, German philosopher and political scientist.

28

• B. V. Bowden, 79, English scientist.
• Jeff Richards, 64, American actor, acute respiratory failure.
• Fu Zhong, 89, Chinese general in the People's Liberation Army.

29

• Osvaldo Brandão, 72, Brazilian footballer and coach.
• Joe Littlejohn, 81, American stock car racing driver, heart attack.
• Rudy Zamora, 79, Mexican-American animator.

30

• Lily Broberg, 65, Danish stage and film actress.
• Muhammad Dilawar Khanji, 71, Pakistani politician, Governor of Sindh, lung cancer.
• Lane Frost, 25, American professional rodeo cowboy, killed by bull.
• Amadeo Labarta, 84, Spanish footballer and Olympian.

31

• Premakeerthi de Alwis, 42, Sri Lankan radio and television broadcaster and lyricist, murdered.
• Eddie Gannon, 78, Irish footballer.
• Michael Harrington, 61, American author, political activist and radio commentator, esophageal cancer. ^[25]
• Bull Moose Jackson, 70, American rhythm-and-blues singer and saxophonist, lung cancer.
• Geronima Pecson, 92, Filipina educator and suffragette, first woman senator of the Philippines.
• George Augustus Vaughn Jr., 92, American fighter ace in World War I, brain tumour.
• Zhou Yang, 80, Chinese literary theorist, translator and Marxist.

Unknown date

• Hui Yuyu, 79–80, Chinese politician.

References

1. Bill Keller, Special To the New York Times (July 4, 1989). "Gromyko, 79, Soviet Voice, Dies of Stroke" . The New York Times . p. 1 1. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
2. Thomas Morgan (July 3, 1989). "Franklin J. Schaffner Dies at 69; An Oscar-Winning Film Director" . The New York Times . p. 1 11. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
3. "Wilfrid S. Sellars, Professor, 77" . The New York Times . July 6, 1989. p. D 19. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
4. Glenn Collins (July 4, 1989). "Jim Backus, 76, Character Actor Best Known as Mr. Magoo, Dies" . The New York Times . p. 1 9. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
5. "Vic Perrin, 73, Actor And Announcer, Dies" . The New York Times . July 8, 1989. p. 1 29. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
6. Peter B. Flint (July 11, 1989). "Mel Blanc, Who Provided Voices For 3,000 Cartoons, Is Dead at 81" . The New York Times . p. A 16. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
7. "Laurence Curtis, 95, Former House Member" . The New York Times . July 13, 1989. p. A 21. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
8. Mel Gussow (July 12, 1989). "Olivier Is Dead After 6-Decade Acting Career" . The New York Times . p. A 1. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
9. Richard Bernstein (September 26, 1989). "Friends and Colleagues Remember Sidney Hook" . The New York Times . p. B 20. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
10. "Will Bradley, 78, Dies; Wrote Boogie-Woogie" . The New York Times . July 19, 1989. p. A 17. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
11. Susan Heller Anderson (July 16, 1989). "Nesuhi Ertegun, a Top Record Producer, Dies at 71" . The New York Times . p. 1 26. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
12. "Teiichi Suzuki, 100; A Last War Criminal" . The New York Times . July 16, 1989. p. 1 26. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
13. Kirk Johnson, Special To the New York Times (July 17, 1989). "Former Gov. John Dempsey, 74; Led Connecticut During the 60's" . The New York Times . p. B 6. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
14. "Valentine Bargmann, 81, Einstein Assistant" . The New York Times . July 25, 1989. p. B 5. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
15. "Mary Treen, Actress, 82" . The New York Times . July 22, 1989. p. 1 10. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
16. "Harry Worth, Comedian, 71" . The New York Times . July 22, 1989. p. 1 10. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
17. Alfonso A. Narvaez (July 22, 1989). "James Collins, Conservative, 73; Texan Was in Congress 14 Years" . The New York Times . p. 1 10. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
18. Joseph P. Fried (July 25, 1989). "William T. Whisner Jr., 65, Pilot; Was U.S. Fighter Ace in 2 Wars" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
19. Allan Kozinn (July 24, 1989). "Martti Talvela, 54, Imposing Bass Regarded as Peerless in 'Godunov'" . The New York Times . p. D 11. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
20. Herbert Mitgang (July 24, 1989). "Donald Barthelme Is Dead at 58; A Short-Story Writer and Novelist" . The New York Times . p. D 11. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
21. Ari L. Goldman (July 24, 1989). "Hank Greenspun, 79, Publisher" . The New York Times . p. D 11. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
22. "Claude Harmon Is Dead at 73; Taught Golf to Four Presidents" . The New York Times . July 25, 1989. p. B 5. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
23. "Daniel Rhodes, 78, Ceramic Sculptor, Dies" . The New York Times . July 28, 1989. p. A 10. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
24. Peter B. Flint (July 27, 1989). "Steve Rubell, Studio 54's Creator And a'Pasha of Disco,' Dies at 45" . The New York Times . p. A 19. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
25. Herbert Mitgang (August 2, 1989). "Michael Harrington, Socialist and Author, Is Dead" . The New York Times . p. D 23. Retrieved March 23, 2024.