The following is a list of notable deaths in January 2008.
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.
January 2008 1 Salvatore Bonanno, 75, American mobster, heart attack. Peter Caffrey, 58, Irish actor (Ballykissangel, Coronation Street, Glenroe), complications from stroke. Pratap Chandra Chunder, 89, Indian Cabinet Minister (1977–1980), heart disease. Harold Corsini, 88, American photographer, stroke. Chuck Daniel, 74, American baseball player. Harald Deilmann, 87, German architect and author. Len Dockett, 87, Australian footballer. Irena Górska-Damięcka, 97, Polish actress. John Granville, 33, American diplomat, homicide. Philip Hogarty, 19, Irish Chess Union president, traffic collision. Erich Kästner, 107, German jurist and last known World War I veteran. T. Maheswaran, 41, Sri Lankan politician, Cabinet Minister, assassination by gunshot. Lucas Sang, 46, Kenyan runner and 1988 Olympian, homicide. Wanda Sieradzka de Ruig, 84, Polish author, poet, journalist and translator. Oleg Tolmachev, 88, Russian ice hockey player and coach.
2 Henri Andrieux, 76, French Olympic cyclist. Joyce Carlson, 84, American artist, designer of Disney's It's a Small World rides, cancer. Lee S. Dreyfus, 81, American politician, Governor of Wisconsin (1979–1983). George MacDonald Fraser, 82, British novelist (Harry Paget Flashman) and screenwriter (Octopussy, The Three Musketeers), cancer. Brice Mack, 90, American animator (Cinderella, Peter Pan, Fantasia). Julio Martínez, 84, Chilean sports journalist, cancer. Keith McCance, 78, Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1979–1989). G. G. Njuguna Ngengi, Kenyan politician, homicide. Robert C. Schnitzer, 101, American actor, producer and educator. Günter Schubert, 69, German actor. Gerry Staley, 87, American baseball pitcher (Chicago White Sox), natural causes. Galyani Vadhana, 84, Thai princess, eldest sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, cancer. Edward F. Welch Jr., 83, American admiral, heart failure.
3 Aleksandr Abdulov, 54, Russian actor, lung cancer. Jack Aranson, 83, British actor, pneumonia. Edelmiro Arévalo, 78, Paraguayan football player. Choi Yo-sam, 34, South Korean boxer, WBC Light Flyweight Champion, cerebral hemorrhage. Henri Chopin, 85, French poet and artist. Natasha Collins, 31, British television presenter. Werner Dollinger, 89, German politician. Petru Dugulescu, 62, Romanian Baptist pastor, poet and politician, heart attack. Milt Dunnell, 102, Canadian sportswriter. Butch Felker, 62, American mayor of Topeka, Kansas, cancer. Gilbert A Harrison, 92, American magazine editor. Joseph Lazarow, 84, American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Herman Le Compte, 78, Belgian doctor, the 'Vitamin Doctor', heart attack. António Matias, 44, Portuguese judoka. Andrew J. Olmsted, 37, American army blogger in Iraq, shot. Lisandro Otero, 75, Cuban author. Nikolay Puzanov, 69, Russian Soviet biathlete, 1968 Olympic Gold medalist. Manolo Reyes, 83, American pioneering Spanish-language newscaster, Parkinson's disease. Jimmy Stewart, 76, British racing driver. O.G. Style, 37, American rapper, brain aneurysm.
4 Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan, 67, Russian footballer, hit by car. Bjørn Odmar Andersen, 64, Norwegian footballer. Sir Bernard Audley, 83, British businessman and philanthropist. Keith Baxter, 36, British drummer of rock band 3 Colours Red, liver failure. Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, 75, Nicaraguan editor of El Nuevo Diario, heart failure. Stig Claesson, 79, Swedish writer. Vernon Derrick, 74, American musician. Emilio Benavent Escuín, 93, Spanish Bishop of Granada. Mort Garson, 83, Canadian electronic musician, renal failure. Herbert Keppler, 82, American photojournalist. Marianne Kiefer, 79, German actress. Jimmy Nah, 40, Singaporean actor and comedian. John O'Donohue, 52, Irish poet, philosopher and priest. Graham Percy, 69, British illustrator of children's books. Jens Quistgaard, 88, Danish industrial designer for Dansk International Designs. Bill Ramsey, 87, American baseball player. Henry Savory, 93, British cricketer. Bert Walker, 88, New Zealand politician, Cabinet Minister. Claude Whatham, 80, British film and television director.Claude Whatham (1927–2008)
5 Luis E. Aguilar Leon, 81, Cuban journalist, professor and historian. Tony Ambrose, 74, British rally driver. John Ashley, 77, Canadian referee in the National Hockey League, heart failure. Rowan Ayers, 85, British television producer. Michel Conte, 75, French born, naturalized Canadian choreographer, lyricist and composer of film music and television music. Giovanni Rinaldo Coronas, 89, Italian politician, police chief and Interior Minister. Phillip S. Figa, 56, American federal judge, brain tumor. Raymond Forni, 66, French politician, National Assembly president, leukemia. Thomas Cecil Gray, 94, British pioneer in anaesthetics. Clinton Grybas, 32, Australian sports commentator. Louis Hon, 83, French footballer. Edward Kłosiński, 65, Polish cinematographer. Ronald Lee Moore, 40, American fugitive and suspected serial killer, suicide by hanging. Luiz Pacheco, 82, Portuguese writer. Irene Reid, 77, American jazz singer, cardiac arrest İhsan Saraçlar, 79, Turkish jurist and politician.
6 Shmuel Berenbaum, 87, American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva, stomach cancer. Jack Brod, 98, American last original tenant of the Empire State Building. Arafan Camara, 60, Guinean politician. Bob LeMond, 94, American radio and television announcer (Leave It to Beaver). Cy Leslie, 85, American founder of Pickwick Records and MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group. Alekos Michaelides, 74, Cypriot politician, Foreign Minister. Yunus Mohamed, 57, South African lawyer and anti-Apartheid activist. Ken Nelson, 96, American record producer and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Anders Paulrud, 56, Swedish writer and journalist, lung cancer. Regal Discovery, 15, Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. Pramod Karan Sethi, 80, Indian orthopaedic surgeon, inventor of the Jaipur foot, cardiac arrest. Charlie Steele Jr., 77, New Zealand football player. Vittorio Tomassetti, 77, Italian Bishop of Fano-Fossombrone-Cagli-Pergola.
7 Philip Agee, 72, American CIA agent, complications from perforated ulcer surgery. Raffaello de Banfield, 85, British composer. Robert Chandran, 57, Singaporean CEO of Chemoil, helicopter crash. Rex D. Davis, 83, American law enforcement official, director of the ATF (1970–1978), colon infection.Former director of ATF bureau Maryvonne Dupureur, 70, French runner and 1964 Olympic medalist. Houston Flournoy, 78, American member of California State Assembly (1961–1967), California State Controller (1967–1975). Detlef Kraus, 88, German pianist. Andrey Kurennoy, 35, Russian track and field athlete, national triple jump champion. Buddy LeRoux, 77, American owner of the Boston Red Sox, natural causes. Boris Lurie, 83, American artist and writer. Vincent Meli, 87, American member of the Detroit Partnership, bone cancer. Bozo Miller, 89, American competitive eater, natural causes. Hans Monderman, 62, Dutch traffic engineer, cancer. Marcel Mouly, 88, French painter. *Njoo Kiem Bie, 81, Indonesian badminton player. Palace Music, 26, American Thoroughbred racehorse, euthanized. Alwyn Schlebusch, 90, South African politician, Vice State President (1981–1984). Jean-Claude Vrinat, 71, French owner of Taillevent restaurant, lung cancer. Wei Wenhua, 41, Chinese blogger, beaten.
8 D. M. Dassanayake, 54, Sri Lankan Minister of Nation Building, roadside bomb. Jim Dooley, 77, American football player and coach (Chicago Bears), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Guy Hance, 74, Belgian politician. Bjarni Jónsson, 73, Icelandic painter. Moshe Levi, 71, Israeli Chief of Staff of the Defense Forces (1983–1987), stroke. George Moore, 84, Australian jockey and trainer. Clyde Otis, 83, American songwriter and record producer. Irvan Perez, 85, American Isleño décima singer and woodcarver, heart attack. Steve Ridzik, 78, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies), heart disease. Mohammad Sadli, 85, Indonesian politician. Shaadi, 21, American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Cissie Stewart, 96, British Olympic swimmer. Xu Genjun, 72, Chinese biochemist, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
9 Paul Aimson, 64, English footballer (Manchester City, York City), heart attack. Jorge Anaya, 81, Argentinian admiral, heart failure. Bobby Beasley, 72, Irish jockey and racehorse trainer. Sir Adam Butler, 76, British MP (1970–1987) and minister. Václav Čevona, 85, Czech Olympic athlete. Sophie Elliott, 22, New Zealand murder victim. Carmine Furletti, 81, Brazilian industrialist, president of Cruzeiro. Gemina, 21, American-born African Baringo giraffe at the Santa Barbara Zoo with neck deformity, euthanized. Mehran Ghassemi, 30, Iranian journalist, heart failure. Johnny Grant, 84, American entertainer, honorary Mayor of Hollywood. Sir John Harvey-Jones, 83, British businessman and media personality. Walter J. Kavanaugh, 74, American politician, complications from diabetes. Roi Kwabena, 51, Trinidadian cultural anthropologist, lung cancer. Sara Misquez, 62, American president of the Mescalero Apache of New Mexico (1999–2003), traffic collision. Peter O'Donnell, 68, Australian gold medal-winning Olympic sailor (1964), cancer. Erna Sondheim, 103, German fencer. Lew Spence, 87, American songwriter. Sir John Willis, 70, British Air Chief Marshal. Tim Willoughby, 53, Australian 1984 Olympic rowing medallist, heart attack.
10 Pandiyan, 48, Tamil actor and politician, liver failure due to jaundice. Christopher Bowman, 40, American Olympic figure skater, accidental drug overdose. Jack Eagle, 81, American comedian and actor (Stepmom, Isn't She Great). Ray M. Flavin, 95, American politician. Abdelaziz Gorgi, 79, Tunisian painter. Andrés Henestrosa, 101, Mexican writer and politician, proponent of the Zapotec language. George Laking, 95, New Zealand diplomat and public servant. Andrée Marlière, 73, Belgian prima ballerina, choreographer and painter, cancer. Allan McEachern, 81, Canadian jurist, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Mikhail Minin, 85, Russian soldier who raised the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building in 1945. Sir Geoffrey Musson, 97, British army general. Katsutoshi Nagasawa, 84, Japanese composer. Maila Nurmi, 85, Finnish actress (Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Beat Generation). Zhang Lichang, 68, Chinese politician, Politbureau member.
11 Mohammad Alam, 61, Bangladeshi photo journalist. José Bello, 103, Spanish intellectual and writer. Pete Candoli, 84, American big band-era jazz trumpeter, prostate cancer. Murray Cohl, 78, Canadian film producer, co-founder of the Toronto Film Festival and Canada's Walk of Fame, liver cancer. Sir Edmund Hillary, 88, New Zealand mountaineer and the first person (with Tenzing Norgay) to reach summit of Mount Everest, heart failure. Carl Karcher, 90, American founder of Carl's Jr. restaurants, complications from Parkinson's disease. Frank Loughran, 77, Australian international footballer. Nancy Phelan, 94, Australian writer.
12 Charlie Aitken, 75, Scottish footballer. Gennady Bachinsky, 36, Russian television and radio personality, traffic collision. Isobel Bennett, 98, Australian marine scientist. Gwendolyn T. Britt, 66, American Maryland State Senator since 2003. Sir Howard Dalton, 63, British microbiologist, Chief Scientific Adviser at DEFRA. Adriano González León, 76, Venezuelan writer. Ángel González Muñiz, 82, Spanish poet. Marty Hendin, 59, American vice president of community relations for St. Louis Cardinals, cancer. Leszek Jezierski, 79, Polish footballer and trainer. Anatoly Kyarov, 50, Russian head of the Kabardino-Balkaria police, shot.