Deaths in December 2006
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The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2006.
December 2006
- Marv Breeding, 72, American Major League Baseball player (Orioles, Dodgers). [1]
- Lida Hensley, 81, American president of Universal Life Church. [2]
- Ya'akov Hodorov, 79, Israeli football goalkeeper, stroke. [3]
- Seymour Martin Lipset, 84, American sociologist, stroke. [4]
- Liese Prokop, 65, Austrian athlete and Minister of the Interior (2004–2006), aortic dissection. [5]
- Frank Campanella, 87, American character actor. [6]
- Mitzi Cunliffe, 88, American sculptor. [7]
- Saddam Hussein, 69, Iraqi President (1979–2003), execution by hanging. [8]
- Antony Lambton, 84, British Conservative government minister. [9]
- Michel Plasse, 58, Canadian ice hockey player, cardiac arrest. [10] (French)
- Gerald Washington, 57, American mayor-elect of Westlake, Louisiana, suicide by gunshot. [11]
- Harald Bredesen, 88, American Lutheran pastor and advocate of speaking in tongues, injuries following a fall. [12]
- Bud Delp, 74, American racehorse trainer inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame, cancer. [13]
- Johnny Gibson, 101, American 400 meter hurdles world record holder (1927–1928). [14]
- Charles Addo Odametey, 69, Ghanaian football player. [15]
- Charlie Tyra, 71, American basketball player, heart failure. [16]
- Gracie Cole, 82, British trumpeter and bandleader. [17]
- Nicola Granieri, 64, Italian Olympic fencer. [18]
- Jamal Karimi-Rad, 50, Iranian Minister of Justice, car accident. [19]
- Mandy Mitchell-Innes, 92, British oldest living test cricketer for England, natural causes. [20]
- Jack Myers, 93, American biologist and science contributing editor (Highlights for Children), bladder cancer. [21]
- Jared Nathan, 21, American actor (ZOOM), car accident. [22]
- Gershon Shaked, 77, Israeli author and professor of Hebrew Literature. [23]
- Richard Dean, 50, American model, photographer and television host (Cover Shot), pancreatic cancer. [24]
- Pierre Delanoë, 88, French lyricist, cardiac arrest. [25]
- Scotty Glacken, 62, American Georgetown University football coach (1970–1992). [26]
- Itche Goldberg, 102, Polish-born American writer and Yiddish language preservationist. [27]
- Marmaduke Hussey, Baron Hussey of North Bradley, 83, British media executive, chair of BBC Board of Governors (1986–1996). [28]
- Robert Boehm, 92, American lawyer and chairman of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [29]
- Chris Brown, 45, American baseball player, complications from burns. [30]
- Gerald Ford, 93, American President (1974–1977). [31]
- Ivar Formo, 55, Norwegian cross-country skier and Olympic Games champion, drowning. [32]
- John Heath-Stubbs, 88, British poet and translator, lung cancer. [33]
- Martin David Kruskal, 81, American mathematician (Princeton University), stroke. [34]
- Fernand Nault, 85, Canadian ballet dancer and artistic director, Parkinson's disease. [35]
- James Brown, 73, American soul singer and bandleader, heart failure related to pneumonia. [36]
- John Butcher, 60, British Conservative Member of Parliament (1979–1997), heart attack. [37]
- Sir Bob Cotton, 91, Australian politician and ambassador to the United States (1982–1985, 1991–1994). [38]
- Ingerid Vardund, 79, Norwegian actress. [39] (Norwegian)
- Sol Carter, 98, American baseball player. [43]
- Charlie Drake, 81, British comedian, actor and singer (My Boomerang Won't Come Back), stroke-related illness. [44]
- Wilma Dykeman, 86, American author and journalist, complications after hip fracture. [45]
- Dutch Mason, 68, Canadian blues musician, complications from diabetes. [46]
- Bo Mya, 79, Burmese rebel leader, complications of heart disease and diabetes. [47]
- Rosina Raisbeck, 90, Australian soprano singer. [48]
- Robert Stafford, 93, American politician, governor of Vermont (1959–1961) and senator (1971–1989), natural causes. [49]
- Marilyn Waltz, 75, American actress and Playboy model. [50]
- Richard Boston, 67, British journalist and author, illness. [51]
- Sam Chapman, 90, American athlete, Alzheimer's disease. [52]
- Ervin Lázár, 70, Hungarian writer, Kossuth Prize winner, lung failure. [53] (Hungarian)
- Dennis Linde, 63, American songwriter ("Burning Love", "Goodbye Earl"), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [54]
- Elena Mukhina, 46, Russian gymnast, complications of quadriplegia. [55]
- Phillip Pine, 86, American actor. [56]
- Thomas Shoyama, 90, Canadian politician, heart failure and Parkinson's disease. [57]
- Galina Ustvolskaya, 87, Russian composer, natural causes. [58]
- Scobie Breasley, 92, Australian jockey, stroke. [59]
- Rogério Oliveira da Costa, 30, Brazilian-born Macedonian football player, heart attack. [60]
- Lois Hall, 80, American actress, heart attack and stroke. [61]
- Jerzy Janikowski, 54, Polish Olympic fencer. [62]
- Saparmurat Niyazov, 66, Turkmen Communist party secretary (1985–1991), president (1990–2006), cardiac arrest. [63]
- Philippa Pearce, 86, British children's author, stroke. [64]
- Karl Strauss, 94, German-born brewer for Pabst and Karl Strauss Brewing Company, natural causes. [65]
- Sydney Wooderson, 92, British lawyer and track athlete, world record holder for mile run (1937–1942), kidney failure. [66]
- Yukio Aoshima, 74, Japanese comedian, Governor of Tokyo (1995–99), myelodysplastic syndrome. [67]
- Elkan Blout, 87, American biochemist (Harvard University and the Polaroid Corporation), pneumonia. [68]
- Anne Rogers Clark, 77, American dog show judge (Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show), kidney failure associated with colon cancer. [69]
- Ma Ji, 72, Chinese xiangsheng actor, heart attack. [70]
- Tadayuki Nakashima, 35, Japanese comedian, member of duo Cunning, pneumonia and complications from leukemia. [71]
- Piergiorgio Welby, 60, Italian poet and euthanasia advocate, removal of life support. [72]
- Jack Burnley, 95, American cartoonist and illustrator, natural causes. [73]
- Maj-Britt Nilsson, 82, Swedish actress (Summer Interlude, Secrets of Women). [74]
- Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, Afghan Taliban commander, airstrike. [75]
- Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, 82, Austrian-born British first female member of the London Stock Exchange. [76]
- Abdul Amir al-Jamri, 67, Bahraini Shiite Muslim cleric, heart failure and kidney failure. [77]
- Joseph Barbera, 95, American cartoonist, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions, natural causes. [78]
- Ruth Bernhard, 101, American photographer, natural causes. [79]
- Denis Carter, Baron Carter, 74, British politician, Chief Whip in the House of Lords (1997–2002), cancer. [80]
- Mike Dickin, 63, British talkSPORT radio presenter, car accident. [81]
- Scott Mateer, 46, American songwriter and disc jockey, complications of diabetes and high blood pressure. [82]
- Mavor Moore, 87, Canadian writer, actor, radio and television producer, illness. [83]
- Mollie Orshansky, 91, American statistician and economist, cardiac arrest. [84]
- Daniel Pinkham, 83, American composer, natural causes. [85]
- Joe Gill, 87, American comic book writer. [86]
- Kyōko Kishida, 76, Japanese actress, respiratory failure caused by brain tumor. [87]
- Esko Nikkari, 68, Finnish actor, pneumonia. [88] (Finnish)
- Larry Sherry, 71, American baseball player (Los Angeles Dodgers), MVP of the 1959 World Series, cancer. [89]
- Don Jardine, 66, Canadian professional wrestler, heart attack and leukemia. [90]
- Chicho Jesurun, 59, Dutch baseball player and coach from the Netherlands Antilles, heart attack. [91] (Dutch)
- Goce Nikolovski, 59, Macedonian singer, suicide. [92]
- Taliep Petersen, South African theatre impresario, shot. [93]
- John Rae, 75, British educator and writer, Headmaster of Westminster School (1970–1986). [94]
- Pnina Salzman, 84, Israeli pianist, natural causes. [95]
- Cecil Travis, 93, American baseball player, natural causes. [96]
- Larry Zox, 69, American artist, cancer. [97]
- Federico Crescentini, 24, San Marino footballer, drowned. [98]
- Frank Johnson, 63, British journalist, editor of The Spectator (1995–1999), cancer. [99]
- Clay Regazzoni, 67, Swiss Formula One racing driver (1970–1980), car accident. [100]
- Mary Stolz, 86, American young adult novelist (Belling the Tiger, The Noonday Friends), natural causes. [101]
- Matt Zunic, 87, American basketball player and coach. [102]
- Anton Balasingham, 69, Sri Lankan LTTE senior negotiator, cholangiocarcinoma. [103]
- John Bridge, 91, British recipient of the George Cross and George Medal, natural causes. [104]
- Ahmet Ertegün, 83, American businessman, co-founder of Atlantic Records, head injury from a fall at a Rolling Stones concert. [105]
- Michael Jonas Evans, 57, American actor (The Jeffersons), throat cancer. [106]
- Kate Fleming, 41, American actress, audio book producer and narrator, drowned. [107]
- John Hamilton, 84, British politician, leader of Liverpool City Council (1983–1986), lung disease. [108]
- Robert Long, 63, Dutch singer, cancer. [109] (Dutch)
- Sivuca, 76, Brazilian accordionist and composer, cancer. [110]
- Henry Beachell, 100, American agriculturalist and recipient of the 1996 World Food Prize. [111]
- Eileen Caddy, 89, British co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, natural causes. [112]
- Richard Carlson, 45, American author (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff), heart attack. [113]
- Loyola de Palacio, 56, Spanish Vice-President of the European Commission, cancer. [114]
- Ángel Nieves Díaz, 55, Puerto Rican murderer, lethal injection. [115]
- Homesick James, 96, American blues musician, natural causes. [116]
- Lamar Hunt, 74, American owner of Kansas City Chiefs, coiner of term "Super Bowl", complications of prostate cancer. [117]
- Bernard Kleiman, 78, American general counsel to the United Steelworkers of America, heart attack. [118]
- Charles Peter McColough, 84, Canadian CEO of Xerox Corporation, cardiac arrest. [119]
- Mario Ravagnan, 75, Italian Olympic fencer. [120]
- Paul Arizin, 78, American basketball player (Philadelphia Warriors). [121]
- Peter Boyle, 71, American actor (Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond), multiple myeloma. [122]
- Kenny Davern, 71, American jazz clarinetist, heart attack. [123]
- Cor van der Hart, 78, Dutch footballer, natural causes. [124]
- Oscar Klein, 76, Austrian-born jazz trumpeter, heart attack. [125]
- Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy, 68, Sri Lankan Tamil militant civil war leader, illness. [126]
- Ellis Rubin, 81, American attorney and author, cancer. [127]
- Raymond P. Shafer, 89, American Governor of Pennsylvania (1967–1971), complications from heart failure. [128]
- Alan Shugart, 76, American disk drive pioneer, co-founder of Seagate Technology, complications from heart surgery. [129]
- Charles Stourton, 26th Baron Mowbray, 83, British Conservative whip in the House of Lords, pneumonia. [130]
- Elizabeth Bolden, 116, American oldest verified person in the world (2006), natural causes. [131]
- Kenneth Cummins, 106, British veteran of the First World War, natural causes. [132]
- Tom Gregory, 79, American television news anchor and announcer, heart disease. [133]
- Homer Ledford, 79, American bluegrass musician, guitar and dulcimer luthier, stroke. [134]
- Colin Mair, 86, British rector of Kelvinside Academy. [135]
- Walter Ward, 66, American lead singer of The Olympics, unspecified illness. [136]
- Mario Llerena, 93, Cuban intellectual, author and former Castro supporter turned critic, natural causes. [137]
- Salvatore Pappalardo, 88, Italian Archbishop of Palermo (1970–1996), natural causes. [138]
- Augusto Pinochet, 91, Chilean president (1973–1990), complications from heart attack. [139]
- Koula Agagiotou, 91, Greek actress (To Retire), natural causes. [140]
- Peter Derow, 62, American classical scholar, heart attack. [141]
- Georgia Gibbs, 87, American singer ("Kiss of Fire") known for her work on Your Hit Parade, leukemia. [142]
- Ralph Gomberg, 85, American principal oboist at the Boston Symphony, primary lateral sclerosis. [143]
- Johnny Hutch, 93, British acrobat and comedian (The Benny Hill Show), natural causes. [144]
- Andrei Lomakin, 42, Russian ice hockey player, gold medallist at 1988 Winter Olympics, long illness. [145]
- Martin Nodell, 91, American comic book and advertising artist, creator of the Golden Age Green Lantern, natural causes. [146]
- Tremayne Rodd, 3rd Baron Rennell, 71, British rugby union player for Scotland, cancer. [147]
- Lyuben Berov, 81, Bulgarian prime minister (1992–1994), cancer. [151]
- Kevin Berry, 61, Australian gold medal winner in the 200m butterfly at the 1964 Summer Olympics, brain tumour. [152]
- Desmond Briscoe, 81, British sound engineer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, natural causes. [153]
- Moses Hardy, 113, American supercentenarian, oldest known American man, last African American WWI veteran, natural causes. [154]
- J. B. Hunt, 79, American trucking executive, founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, head injuries from a fall. [155]
- Kim Hyung-chil, 47, South Korean equestrian at the 2006 Asian Games, crushed by falling horse. [156]
- Jeane Kirkpatrick, 80, American United Nations ambassador (1981–1985), heart failure. [157]
- Jay McShann, 90, American blues and swing pianist, bandleader and singer, natural causes. [158]
- Han Ahmedow, 70, Turkmen Prime Minister (1989–1992), heart attack. [159]
- Darren Brown, 44, British musician and lead singer (Mega City Four), stroke. [160]
- Russell Buchanan, 106, American World War I veteran, stroke. [161]
- Hugo Cores, 69, Uruguayan historian, labor leader and politician, Deputy (1990–1994), stroke. [162]
- Samuel Devons, 92, British physicist and science historian at Columbia University, heart failure. [163]
- Andra Franklin, 47, American football player (Miami Dolphins), heart failure. [164]
- Mavis Pugh, 92, British actress (You Rang, M'Lord?), natural causes. [165]
- Robert Rosenblum, 79, American art historian, curator, and author, colon cancer. [166]
- William Salcer, 82, Czechoslovakian-born American inventor and Holocaust survivor, leukemia. [167]
- David Bronstein, 82, Ukrainian chess grandmaster and writer, champion of USSR, natural causes. [168]
- Eric Cox, 83, Australian rugby league player, referee and administrator, pneumonia and stroke. [169]
- Michael Gilden, 44, American actor (NCIS, Return of the Jedi), apparent suicide. [170]
- Gerry Humphreys, 75, Welsh [[sound engineer]. [171]
- Gernot Jurtin, 51, Austrian football player, cancer. [172]
- Van Smith, 61, American costume and makeup designer, heart attack. [173]
- Sir Peter Gadsden, 77, British Lord Mayor of London (1979–1980). [174]
- Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 84, Burkinabé politician, natural causes. [175]
- James Kim, 35, American CNET editor, exposure and hypothermia. [176]
- Len Sutton, 81, American Indianapolis 500 racing driver, cancer. [177]
- Adam Williams, 82, American actor, lymphoma. [178]
- Bob Berry, 80, British test cricket player, natural causes. [181]
- kari Edwards, 52, American poet, artist and gender activist, heart failure. [182]
- Kurt Lipstein, 97, German-born legal scholar. [183]
- Dave Mount, 59, British drummer for glam rock band Mud, heart attack. [184]
- Mariska Veres, 59, Dutch singer for Shocking Blue (Venus), cancer. [185]
- Claude Jade, 58, French actress (Baisers Volés, L'Amour en Fuite, Topaz), metastatic eye cancer. [186]
- Herbert Gursky, 76, American astrophysicist for the Naval Research Laboratory, stomach cancer. [187]
- Geoffrey Colin Guy, 86, British airman and colonial governor. [188]
- Sid Raymond, 97, American character actor and voice of Baby Huey, complications of a stroke. [189]
- Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, Malaysian "snake king", venomous snakebite. [190]