Deaths in May 1985

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1985.

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.

May 1985

1

• Sir Basil Arthur, 56, New Zealand politician, MP (since 1962).
• Joseph H. Barnett, 53, American politician, member of the South Dakota House of Representatives (since 1967).
• Eugenie Briollet, 84, French Olympic diver (1924).
• Archibald Crossley, 88, American statistician and pollster.
• Howard Emslie, 62, South African cricketer.
• Frank Glieber, 51, American sportscaster, heart attack.
• Robert Holt, 71, Australian politician, MP (1955–1958).
• Regis Malady, 68, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1969–1974).
• George Pravda, 68, Czechoslovak actor.
• Albie Reisz, 67, American football player.
• Denise Robins, 88, English novelist.
• Leonard Ross, 39, American writer, legal scholar and game show contestant, suicide by drowning.
• William Jay Schieffelin Jr., 93, American businessman and philanthropist.

2

• Phyllis Bedells, 91, British ballerina and dance teacher.
• Bent Berger, 86, Norwegian judge and politician.
• Attilio Bettega, 32, Italian rally driver, racing collision.
• Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte, 77, British theatre manager and businesswoman, lung cancer.
• Banarsidas Chaturvedi, 92, Indian writer and journalist.
• Larry Clinton, 75, American trumpeter ("Heart and Soul") and bandleader, cancer.
• Alfredo Corrias, 89, Italian politician.
• Milton S. Eisenhower, 85, American academic administrator.
• Leonard Falcone, 86, Italian-born American musician.
• Ernie Hart, 74, American comic book writer and artist.
• Ole Kielberg, 73, Danish painter.
• Hal Le Roy, 71, American actor and tap dancer.
• Harold C. Ostertag, 88, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1951–1965).
• Väinö Suvivuo, 68, Finnish Olympic hurdler (1952).
• Alfred Wilson, 81, Scottish rugby player.

3

• Alexander Aksinin, 35, Soviet Ukrainian painter, plane crash.
• Nathaniel Avery, 46, American golf caddie.
• Wojciech Belon, 33, Polish singer and poet.
• Harry Collins, 65, American magician.
• Jon Gudbjørn Dybendal, 80, Norwegian politician.
• Ruth Forsling, 62, Swedish politician, MP (1964).
• Melvin Fritzel, 78, American college sports coach.
• Werner Jacobi, 81, German physicist.
• Harold Koplar, 70, American hotelier, heart attack.
• Cythna Letty, 90, South African artist.
• Stasys Raštikis, 88, Lithuanian general, heart attack.
• Walter Reside, 79, New Zealand rugby player.
• R. D. Smith, 70, British teacher, radio producer, and possible spy, cirrhosis.
• Sir Percy Spender, 87, Australian politician and diplomat, MP (1937–1951).

4

• Evsei Agron, 53, Soviet-American mobster, shot.
• Jan Appel, 94, German communist activist.
• Ernest Harlington Barnes, 86, Bermudian politician.
• Horatio Fitch, 84, American Olympic runner (1924).
• Emilie Virginia Haynsworth, 68, American mathematician.
• Bill Kunkel, 48, American baseball player and umpire, cancer.
• Alix Mathon, 76, Haitian novelist.
• Clarence Wiseman, 77, Canadian minister, general of The Salvation Army (1974–1977).

5

• Sir Donald Bailey, 83, English civil engineer.
• Carter Brown, 61, English-born Australian novelist, heart attack.
• Gino Buzzanca, 73, Italian actor.
• George Edward Cire, 62, American judge.
• Julián Marchena, 88, Costa Rican poet.
• Daniel R. McLeod, 71, American politician, attorney general of South Carolina (1959–1983).
• Charles Shipman Payson, 86, American baseball executive.
• Helene Rosson, 87, American actress.
• Stefan Szende, 84, Hungarian-Swedish political scientist.
• Piet van Kempen, 86, Dutch track cyclist.
• Angela Vode, 93, Yugoslav Slovenian author and human rights activist.

6

• Nicolai Cikovsky, 90, Russian-American painter.
• Pete Desjardins, 78, American Olympic diver (1924, 1928).
• Henning Elbirk, 76, Danish composer.
• Joe Glenn, 76, American baseball player.
• John C. Heldt, 85, American football player and coach.
• Kirby Higbe, 70, American baseball player.
• Rice Mountjoy, 84, American sports coach.
• William V. Rattan, 94, American football player and coach.
• Johnny Stanley, 79, Australian footballer.
• Francis L. Urry, 77, American actor, heart attack.
• Julie Vega, 16, Filipino actress and singer, cardiac arrest.

7

• Dawn Addams, 54, British actress (The Moon Is Blue, A King in New York, The Saint), lung cancer.
• Luis Arenal Bastar, 76, Mexican artist.
• Miles B. Carpenter, 95, American sculptor.
• Louis Malter, 78, American physicist.
• Líctor Hazael Marroquín García, 42, Mexican vehicle thief, cirrhosis.
• Carlos Mota Pinto, 48, Portuguese politician, prime minister (1978–1979), heart attack.
• Donald Smith, 79, Canadian politician, MP (1949–1953).

8

• Frederick Bailey, 65, English cricketer.
• Robert Halperin, 77, American business executive and Olympic yacht racer (1960, cancer.
• Wilma Scott Heide, 64, American feminist activist and author, heart attack.
• John Herbert Hollomon Jr., 66, American academic administrator.
• Tom Hooson, 52, British politician, MP (since 1979),cancer.
• Karl Marx, 87, German composer.
• Susan Morrow, 52, American actress.
• Hugh Shaw, 56, Scottish footballer.
• Harry Snell, 68, Swedish Olympic cyclist (1948).
• Skippy Stivers, 81, American football and baseball player.
• Theodore Sturgeon, 67, American fantasy author, pulmonary fibrosis.
• Dolph Sweet, 64, American actor (Gimme a Break!), stomach cancer.

9

• Aksel Airo, 87, Finnish general.
• Homer Barnett, 78-79, American anthropologist.
• Chateaugay, 25, American Thoroughbred racehorse.
• Reginald Dixon, 80, English organist.
• Charlie Drummond, 64, Scottish rugby player.
• Leslie Hale, Baron Hale, 82, British politician, MP (1945–1968).
• Earl Keeley, 48, Canadian football player.
• Bob Kellogg, 67, American football player.
• Neville Linney, 51, Australian footballer.
• Frances Mossiker, 79, American novelist.
• Edward Nash, 83, English cricketer and footballer.
• Svea Norén, 89, Swedish Olympic figure skater (1920).
• Edmond O'Brien, 69, American actor (The Barefoot Contessa, Seven Days in May, Fantastic Voyage), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
• Adriaan Paulen, 82, Dutch athlete and sporting official.
• Eric Solomon, 77, Australian politician.
• Rupert Trimmingham, 85, Trinidadian-American soldier.

10

• Tahar Ben Ammar, 95, Tunisian politician, prime minister (1954–1956).
• Pramathanath Bishi, 83, Indian writer and politician, MP (1972–1978).
• Toni Branca, 68, Swiss racing driver.
• Arthur Bronwell, 75, American electrical engineer and academic administrator.
• Walter Burch, 77, American baseball player.
• Sisouk na Champassak, 57, Laotian royal.
• Abbie Cox, 82, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Sir Peter Foster, 72, English barrister.
• Tomás Perrín, 71, Mexican actor.
• Florizel von Reuter, 95, American violinist and composer.
• Les Reynolds, 85, Australian footballer.
• Yin Zizhong, 75-76, Chinese musician and composer.

11

• Johnny Bero, 62, American baseball player.
• Ramón Bragaña, 76, Cuban-Mexican baseball player.
• Bud Engdahl, 66, American basketball player.
• Ria Ginster, 87, German singer.
• Chester Gould, 84, American cartoonist (Dick Tracy), heart failure.
• Patricia McGerr, 67, American novelist.
• Jack Staulcup, 77, American bandleader.
• John Stewart of Ardvorlich, 81, Scottish historian.
• Bud Teachout, 81, American baseball player.

12

• Rodolfo Arízaga, 58, Argentine composer.
• Francis Rodwell Banks, 87, British engineer.
• Emil Beier, 91, German politician.
• Jean Dubuffet, 83, French artist, emphysema.
• Cornelius Van Hemert Engert, 97, Austrian-born American diplomat, pneumonia.
• Katie Kibuka, 62-63, Ugandan feminist activist.
• Halo Meadows, 80, American writer and actress.
• Josephine Miles, 73, American poet and literary critic.
• Ewart Morrison, 85, English cricketer.
• Sir Edward Sayers, 82, New Zealand parasitologist.
• Sid Smith, 56, Australian footballer.
• Song Kok Hoo, 78-79, Singaporean police officer.
• B. Vijayalakshmi, 32, Indian physicist, stomach cancer.
• Steve Weston, 44-45, Canadian actor, fall.
• Bohdan Wodiczko, 73, Polish conductor.

13

• John Africa, 53, American social activist (MOVE), fire.
• Bond Almand, 91, American judge.
• Clotilde Coulombe, 93, Canadian pianist and Roman Catholic nun.
• Rose May Davis, 90, American chemist.
• Selma Diamond, 64, Canadian-born American actress (Night Court) and comedian, lung cancer.
• Leo Disend, 69, American football player.
• Revaz Dogonadze, 53, Soviet Georgian electrochemist and physicist.
• Richard Donovan, 83, American Olympic speed skater (1924).
• Ben Gardner, 65, American basketball player.
• William Harvell, 77, British Olympic cyclist (1932).
• Morley Jennings, 95, American baseball and football player and coach.
• Leatrice Joy, 91, American actress, anemia.
• Sándor Józan, 52, Hungarian diplomat.
• Brian Kelly, 67, Australian footballer.
• Marc Krasner, 72-73, Russian-French mathematician.
• Ti Manno, 31, Haitian singer and musician, AIDS.
• Aleksandr Mikulin, 90, Soviet aircraft engine designer.
• Mildred Scheel, 53, German physician, cancer.
• Leif Sinding, 89, Norwegian journalist and film director.
• Denmei Suzuki, 85, Japanese actor.
• Mary Behrendsen Ward, 91, American poet and author.
• Zhou Enshou, 80-81, Chinese politician.

14

• Elsie Bramell, 75, Australian anthropologist.
• Harry Byrd, 60, American baseball player, lung cancer.
• John T. Clancy, 82, American politician, stroke.
• Alexander Mitchell Donnet, 68, Scottish trade unionist.
• Sammy Downs, 73, American politician, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1944–1948) and state senate (1948–1952, 1960–1964).
• María Luisa Escobar, 81, Venezuelan pianist, composer, and musicologist.
• Don Grosso, 70, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Charles Leonard Hamblin, 62, Australian computer scientist and philosopher.
• Bahram Mansurov, 74, Soviet Azerbaijani tar musician.
• Frederick Matthews, 72, English Anglican prelate.
• C. H. Sibghatullah, 71, Indian politician.
• Frank Westmore, 62, American makeup artist.
• Barbara Yung, 26, Hong Kong actress, suicide by gas inhalation.
• Ladislav Ženíšek, 81, Czechoslovak football player and manager.

15

• Junab Ali, 48, Bangladeshi politician.
• Jackie Curtis, 38, American actor, heroin overdose.
• Arthur Faulkner, 63, New Zealand politician, MP (1957–1981).
• Nigel Henderson, 68, English artist and photographer.
• Osmo Kaipainen, 51, Finnish politician, MP (1970–1975).
• Renato Olmi, 70, Italian footballer.
• Emerson Spencer, 78, American Olympic sprinter (1928).
• Christos Tsoutsouvis, 31-32, Greek far-left militant, shot.
• Heinz Wemper, 81, German actor.

16

• Johnny Broaca, 75, American baseball player.
• Hugh Burden, 72, British actor and playwright.
• Guillaume d'Ornano, 90, French industrialist and racehorse breeder.
• Edgard De Caluwé, 71, Belgian racing cyclist.
• Harry Earnshaw, 69, English racing cyclist.
• Margaret Hamilton, 82, American actress (The Wizard of Oz), heart attack.
• Thomas Lyons, 89, Northern Irish politician.
• Maniram, 74, Indian singer and composer.
• Militsa Nechkina, 86, Soviet historian.
• Henry Strasak, 84, American federal agent and intelligence officer.
• A. R. B. Thomas, 80, English chess player.

17

• Abe Burrows, 74, American composer and librettist, complications from Alzheimer's disease.
• Rowland L. Collins, 49-50, American linguist.
• Eugen Dollmann, 84, German diplomat.
• Duncan Drummond, 62, Scottish cricketer.
• Victor Nunes Leal, 70, Brazilian jurist.
• Hans Plesch, 80, German police officer.
• Arnvid Vasbotten, 81, Norwegian politician.
• James Andrew Walsh, 76, Irish hurler.

18

• Harald Andersson, 78, Swedish discus thrower.
• Lillie Barbour, 100, American suffragist and labor activist, heart attack.
• Hedley Bull, 52, Australian political scientist.
• Heleno Fragoso, 59, Brazilian criminologist.
• Del Hughes, 75, American stage manager.
• Nemours Jean-Baptiste, 67, Haitian saxophonist.
• John B. Johnson, 100, American politician, member of the South Dakota Senate (1923–1926).
• Pat Malley, 54, American football coach, cancer.
• Penn Nouth, 79, Cambodian politician, seven-time prime minister.
• Hilding Rosenberg, 92, Swedish composer.
• Hermann Schridde, 47, German Olympic equestrian (1964, 1968), plane crash.
• Robert Shaw, 76, American blues musician, heart attack.
• Sakari Simelius, 84, Finnish general.
• Franciszek Szymura, 72, Polish boxer.
• Tex Terry, 82, American actor.
• Erich Traub, 78, German virologist.
• Edwin Albrecht Uehling, 84, American theoretical physicist.
• Richard von Kienle, 77, German linguist.
• Win Wilfong, 52, American basketball player.

19

• Ivar Campbell, 80, New Zealand-British filmmaker.
• John Martin, 91, American dance critic.
• Primitivo Martínez, 72, Filipino basketball player.
• Alfredo Mayo, 74, Spanish actor.
• Ellen McCullough, 76, English trade unionist.
• Sir Rodney Moore, 79, British general.
• V. Unnikrishnan Nair, 92, Indian writer.
• Johannes Petzold, 72, German hymnwriter.
• Víctor Rodríguez Andrade, 58, Uruguayan footballer.
• Herbert Ruff, 66, German-Canadian pianist.
• Puchalapalli Sundarayya, 72, Indian politician.
• Maqbular Rahman Sarkar, 56-57, Bangladeshi academic administrator.
• Tapio Wirkkala, 69, Finnish sculptor.

20

• Kodzo Ayeke, 61, Ghanaian politician, MP (1954–1960).
• Johnny Fuller, 56. American blues musician.
• Jules Gentil, 87, French pianist.
• Ben Hall, 86, American actor.
• Franz Josef Hirt, 86, Swiss pianist.
• Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, 92, Dutch artist.
• George Memmoli, 46, American actor.
• Hilary Stratton, 78, English sculptor.
• Mary John Thottam, 83, Indian poet and Roman Catholic nun.
• Luis Torralva, 83, Chilean tennis player.
• Kiyohiko Ushihara, 88, Japanese film director.
• Victor Paul Wierwille, 68, American evangelist (The Way International), liver cancer.

21

• Ernie Austen, 93, Australian Olympic racewalker (1924).
• Carl Doehling, 89, American football coach.
• Noel Fisher, 73, Australian footballer.
• Marcel Lanquetuit, 90, French composer.
• Willy Maywald, 77, German photographer.
• Archie McKain, 74, American baseball player.
• Vernon Nkadimeng, 26, South African political activist, car bombing.
• Grover Powell, 44, American baseball player, leukemia.
• Ivan Shchukin, 75, Soviet soldier.
• Hazel Volkart, 78, American composer.
• Kurt Waitzmann, 80, German actor.
• Karl Weber, 87, German politician.

22

• Aleksandr Babaev, 61, Soviet fighter pilot.
• Gerald Case, 80, British actor.
• Henry Raeburn Dobson, 83, Scottish artist.
• Angus Elderkin, 88, Canadian politician, MP (1949–1950).
• Howard Elliott, 80, American politician, member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1937–1953).
• Sir Alister Hardy, 89, British marine biologist.
• Karl-Adolf Hollidt, 94, German army commander and war criminal.
• Charles Murphy, 95, American architect (O'Hare International Airport).
• Rusty Page, 77, New Zealand rugby player and army officer.
• Wolfgang Reitherman, 75, German-born American animator (The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Pinocchio), traffic collision.
• Ion Șiclovan, 64, Romanian footballer.
• Gábor Vaszary, 87, Hungarian novelist and screenwriter.

23

• Pedro Coronel, 63, Mexican artist.
• María Currea Manrique, 94, Colombian feminist activist and politician.
• Lloyd Glenn, 75, American R&B and blues musician, heart attack.
• Harry Houghton, 79, British civil servant and Soviet spy (Portland spy ring).
• Julia de Lacy Mann, 93, English economic historian.
• Whitey Wilshere, 72, American baseball player.

24

• Saeed Ahmad Akbarabadi, 76-77, Indian Islamic scholar and linguist.
• Dave Brown, 87, American baseball player.
• Joe Darensbourg, 78, American jazz musician, complications from a stroke.
• Michel Écochard, 80, French architect and urban planner.
• Geoffrey Gorer, 80, English anthropologist.
• Lucy Jarvis, 88, Canadian artist.
• Howard B. Lee, 105, American politician, attorney general of West Virginia (1925–1933).
• Andy MacDonald, 55, American football player.
• A. R. McCabe, 88, American politician, lieutenant governor of Idaho (1946–1947).
• Dave Miller, 59, American record producer.
• Natalio Perinetti, 84, Argentine footballer.

25

• John Carmody, 46, Australian footballer.
• Renée Cretté-Flavier, 82, French Olympic diver (1928).
• Edwin C. Dutton, 57, Malaysian footballer.
• Josephine D. Edwards, 42, Australian mathematician.
• George Faulkner, 84, Australian footballer.
• Gerry Fiennes, 78, British railway manager.
• Henry Franklin, 83, English cricketer.
• Gordon Glenwright, 67, Australian actor and playwright.
• Robert Bruce Hall, 64, American Episcopalian prelate.
• Herta Hammerbacher, 84, German landscape architect.
• Henry Hunter, 77, American actor.
• Charles McGeoch, 85, American football player and coach.
• Kiyoshi Nakamura, 71, Japanese Olympic runner (1936).
• Robert Nathan, 91, American novelist (Portrait of Jennie) and poet, kidney failure.
• Walter W. Powers, 62, American politician, member of the California State Assembly (1962–1974).
• Nikolai Schei, 84, Norwegian jurist.

26

• Robert D. Coe, 83, American diplomat.
• Harold Hecht, 77, American film producer (Marty), cancer.
• Gordon Hobson, 60, New Zealand wrestler.
• Magne Oftedal, 64, Norwegian linguist.
• Tatsukuma Ushijima, 81, Japanese judoka.
• Hendrika van Rumt, 87, Dutch Olympic gymnast (1928).

27

• Skeeter Best, 70, American jazz guitarist.
• Kay Campbell, 80, American actress, injuries sustained in a traffic collision.
• William C. Christianson, 92, American jurist.
• Dairoku Harada, 68, Japanese archaeologist.
• Henry Hebbe, 69, Norwegian Olympic speed skater (1948).
• Kai Lindberg, 85, Danish politician.
• George Moss, 71, Australian politician.
• Janko Puhar, 65, Yugoslav Olympic swimmer (1948).
• Bob Readick, 59, American actor.
• Solomon David Sassoon, 69, English rabbi and philanthropist.
• Archie Stark, 87, Scottish-born American soccer player.
• Les Willis, 63, Australian footballer.
• Arthur Wright, 65, English footballer.

28

• George Devereux, 76, Hungarian-French ethnologist.
• Juan Estrada, 72, Argentine footballer.
• Haakon Hansen, 78, Norwegian Olympic boxer (1924).
• Mamed Iskenderov, 69, Soviet Azerbaijani politician.
• Kathryn Kelly, 81, American bootlegger and convicted kidnapper.
• Roy Plomley, 71, English radio broadcaster and playwright.
• Olle Rinman, 77, Swedish Olympic sailor (1924).
• Loren L. Ryder, 85, American sound engineer.
• Alfredo Sciarrotta, 78, Italian-American silversmith.
• Șerban Țițeica, 77, Romanian quantum physicist.

29

• Sir Robert William Doughty Fowler, 71, British diplomat.
• Henry Guerlac, 74, American science historian.
• Christian Hartmann, 74, Norwegian composer.
• Armas Leinonen, 84, Finnish politician, MP (1952–1970).
• Max Lemke, 90, German general.
• Ron Mudge, 64, Australian footballer.
• Gunnar Nielsen, 57, Danish middle distance runner.
• Sam Stoller, 69, American Olympic runner (1936).
• Einar Thorsrud, 62, Norwegian psychologist.
• Billy Zitzmann, 89, American baseball player.

30

• George Anderson, 94, Canadian soccer executive.
• Olga Anstei, 73, Russian-American poet.
• George K. Arthur, 86, English actor and film producer.
• Gustav Jaenecke, 77, German tennis and ice hockey player.
• Talbot Jennings, 90, American screenwriter and playwright.
• Ross Jones, 67, New Zealand rugby player.
• Witold Lipski, 35, Polish computer scientist, cancer.

31

• A. A. Adams, 84, American politician, member of the Washington House of Representatives (1969–1981).
• W. A. Boyle, 80, American mining union leader and convicted murder-for-hire conspirator.
• Rein de Waal, 80, Dutch Olympic field hockey player (1928, 1936).
• Jake Early, 70, American baseball player.
• Sokichi Furutani, 71, Japanese convicted serial killer, execution by hanging.
• Pepsi Paloma, 18, Filipino actress, suicide by hanging.
• Gaston Rébuffat, 64, French mountaineer.
• Louis Robert, 81, French epigraphist.
• Samudrala Jr., 61-62, Indian screenwriter and lyricist.
• Arne Sande, 80, Danish Olympic boxer (1928).
• Joan Young, 47, American actress.

External links

• List of May 1985 deaths at IMDb