The following is a list of notable deaths in July 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.
July 2008
1 Abdullahi Afrah, 55, Somalian Islamist, shot. Aleksei Argun, 71, Abkhazian politician. Keith Charles, 74, American actor (As the World Turns, The Royal Tenenbaums, Drop Dead Fred), lung cancer. Clay Felker, 82, American editor and journalist (New York magazine), throat cancer. Mel Galley, 60, British guitarist (Trapeze, Whitesnake, Phenomena), esophageal cancer. Mogens Glistrup, 82, Danish politician, lawyer and founder of the Progress Party. Robert Harling, 98, British typographer. Dejan Medaković, 85, Serbian writer, historian, professor, president of Academy of Sciences and Arts (1999–2003). Sir Richard Morris, 82, British industrialist. Jean-Pierre Muller, 83, French Olympic fencer. John Pont, 80, American college football coach. Mark Dean Schwab, 39, American murderer, execution by lethal injection.
2 Chris Arlman, 64, Dutch politician, heart attack. Glencairn Balfour Paul, 90, British diplomat. Omar Caetano, 69, Uruguayan football player. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri, 70, Egyptian scholar and politician, cancer. Joe Nhlanhla, 71, South African politician, minister of Intelligence Services (1999–2001). Simone Ortega, 89, Spanish culinary author. Natasha Shneider, 52, Russian-born American actress (2010: The Year We Make Contact) and musician (Eleven), cancer. Elizabeth Spriggs, 78, British actress (Sense and Sensibility, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Shine on Harvey Moon).
3 M. C. Ahamed, 77, Sri Lankan politician. Sue Alexander, 74, American writer of children's literature. Dan Cook, 81, American journalist (San Antonio Express-News, KENS-TV). Ernie Cooksey, 28, British footballer (Oldham Athletic, Grays Athletic), melanoma. Larry Harmon, 83, American entertainer (Bozo the Clown), heart failure. Harald Heide-Steen Jr., 68, Norwegian actor and comedian, lung cancer. Clive Hornby, 63, British actor (Emmerdale), cancer. Kat Kinkade, 77, American co-founder of Twin Oaks Community, cancer. Annabelle Lee, 86, American baseball player (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League). Thomas Orley, 74, American Olympic fencer. Dave Powers, 74, American television director (Three's Company, The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family), four-time Emmy winner, skin cancer. Oliver Schroer, 53, Canadian fiddler, leukemia. John Sedwick, 79, American television director.
4 Alfred Arteaga, 58, American Chicano poet, heart attack. Thomas M. Disch, 68, American science fiction author (Camp Concentration, The Brave Little Toaster), suicide by gunshot. Jesse Helms, 86, American politician, senator from North Carolina (1973–2003), natural causes. Evelyn Keyes, 91, American actress (Gone With the Wind), uterine cancer. Terrence Kiel, 27, American football player (San Diego Chargers), car crash. Wayne Pai, 55, Taiwanese businessman, founding chairman of Polaris Group, suicide. Agneta Prytz, 91, Swedish actress, wife of Gösta Folke. Janwillem van de Wetering, 77, Dutch writer. Sir Charles Wheeler, 85, British journalist, longest serving BBC foreign correspondent, lung cancer.
5 Pieter Bogaers, 84, Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party (KVP). Hasan Doğan, 52, Turkish president of the national football federation, cardiac arrest. René Harris, 60, Nauruan president (1999–2000, 2001–2003, 2003, 2003–2004), cardiac arrest. Dagfinn Næss, 74, Norwegian Olympic boxer. Thích Huyền Quang, 88, Vietnamese religious leader, supreme patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
6 Bob Ackles, 69, Canadian executive for the Canadian Football League's BC Lions, heart attack. George Ambo, 85, Papua New Guinean Archbishop. Jack Collins, 78, Australian footballer, premiership winner with Footscray (1954), heart attack. Bobby Durham, 71, American jazz drummer. Ambuya Mlambo, 84, Zimbabwean radio and television presenter, cancer. Nonna Mordyukova, 82, Russian actress, diabetes. Mando Ramos, 59, American former WBC and WBA World lightweight champion boxer. George Tibbits, 74, Australian architect and composer.
7 Sultana bint Abdulaziz Al Saud, 80, Saudi sister of King Abdullah. Larry H. Abraham, 70, American businessman and author. Ralph Ackerman, 67, American photographer, producer, traveler and lecturer. Donald Allen, 81, Australian cricketer. Bruce Conner, 74, American artist, natural causes. Bruce Dalling, 69, South African yachtsman, heart attack. Yitzchok Dovid Groner, 83, Australian Chabad rabbi. Lear Fan, 27, American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, natural causes. Dorian Leigh, 91, American fashion model (Revlon), sister of Suzy Parker, Alzheimer's disease. Clem McSpadden, 82, American politician, congressman from Oklahoma (1973–1975), cancer. Hugh Mendl, 88, British record producer. Giovanni Viola, 82, Italian football goalkeeper, natural causes. Fred Yates, 85, British painter.
8 Alex d'Arbeloff, 80, American entrepreneur. Wieńczysław Gliński, 87, Polish actor. Erling Rønneberg, 84, Norwegian resistance trainer and politician, mayor of Ski (1958–1990). Sir John Templeton, 95, British businessman and philanthropist, pneumonia. Sir Anthony Troup, 86, British vice-admiral.Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Troup
9 Séamus Brennan, 60, Irish politician, prostate cancer. Wim de Beer, 75, Dutch field hockey player. Don Eaddy, 74, American sportsman.Donald J. Eaddy Elizabeth Fabac, 86, American baseball player (AAGPBL) Charles H. Joffe, 78, American film producer (Annie Hall, Match Point, Hannah and Her Sisters), Oscar winner (1978), after long illness. Sherman Lee, 90, American director of the Cleveland Museum of Art (1958–1983). J. Murdoch Ritchie, 83, American biophysicist. John West, 84, Australian broadcaster and theatre historian.
10 Rocky Aoki, 69, Japanese-born American founder of Benihana restaurants, pneumonia. Bernard Cahier, 81, French Formula One photojournalist. Robert M. DeHaven, 86, American flying ace and test pilot. Don Devitt, 86, Australian politician. Archie McCardell, 81, American business executive (Xerox, International Harvester). Steve Mingori, 64, American baseball player (Kansas City Royals), natural causes. Ayub Ommaya, 78, Pakistani neurosurgeon, Alzheimer's disease. William W. Robertson, 66, American lawyer. Mike Souchak, 81, American golfer, complications of heart attack. Ahmad Suradji, 57, Indonesian serial killer, execution by firing squad. Yoji Totsuka, 66, Japanese particle physicist, colorectal cancer. Vindication, 8, American champion racehorse, euthanized.
11 Mahmood Ali, 79–80, Pakistani artist, cardiac arrest. Joe Barr, 63, American editor and writer. Michael DeBakey, 99, American cardiovascular surgeon and medical pioneer, natural causes. Roy M. Huffington, 90, American oilman, diplomat and philanthropist, natural causes. James H. Humphrey, 97, American physical education educator and researcher. Iswadi Idris, 60, Indonesian football player and coach. Mike Kleinhenz, 56, American voice actor, heart attack. Breno Mello, 76, Brazilian actor (Black Orpheus) and footballer. Chuck Stobbs, 79, American baseball pitcher, cancer.
12 Patricia Buckley Bozell, 81, American founder of Catholic journal Triumph, wife of L. Brent Bozell Jr., throat cancer. Reinhard Fabisch, 57, German football manager, cancer. Virginia B. MacDonald, 87, American politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois State Senate.Virginia B. Macdonald Bobby Murcer, 62, American baseball player and sportscaster (New York Yankees), brain cancer. Earl Lee Nelson, 79, American R&B singer (Bob & Earl, The Hollywood Flames, Jackie Lee), Alzheimer's disease. Olive Riley, 108, Australian woman believed to be the world's oldest blogger, natural causes. Tony Snow, 53, American White House press secretary (2006–2007), Fox News presenter, colon cancer. Tsay Jaw-yang, 67, Taiwanese politician, minister of Transportation and Communications, pneumonia.
13 Nicolas Arroyo, 90, Cuban architect, diplomat and minister.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 539. Les Crane, 74, American talk show host, Grammy Award winner ("Desiderata"). Peter Durack, 81, Australian senator and attorney-general (1977–1983). Red Foley, 79, American sportswriter and baseball official scorer. Bronisław Geremek, 76, Polish social historian and politician, minister of Foreign Affairs (1997–2000), car accident. John Raymond Hobbs, 79, British physician, lung cancer. John Mabuku, Namibian politician, governor of Caprivi Region, supporter of Caprivi Strip secessionist movement. Dave Ricketts, 73, American baseball player and coach (St. Louis Cardinals), renal cancer. Dona Spring, 55, American disability rights activist and Green politician, Berkeley city councilor since 1992, rheumatoid arthritis. Gerald Wiggins, 86, American jazz pianist.
14 Miguel Benavides, 68, Cuban actor. Y. V. Chandrachud, 88, Indian jurist, Chief Justice (1978–1985). Bryan Cowgill, 81, British television executive. Henki Kolstad, 93, Norwegian actor. Luke Kruytbosch, 47, American race caller, natural causes. Teta Lando, 60, Angolan musician, cancer. Hugh Lloyd, 85, British actor (Hancock's Half Hour). George Noakes, 83, Welsh Anglican prelate, Archbishop of Wales (1987–1991). *Ong Chit Chung, 59, Singaporean politician. Katie Reider, 30, American singer and songwriter, cerebral hemorrhage and cancer. Riek Schagen, 94, Dutch actress and artist. Mike Schutte, 57, South African boxer, cancer. Steven Thomas, 36, American entrepreneur missing since 30 June, fall from Pali Lookout. (body discovered on this date)
15 Peter Ala Adjetey, 76, Ghanaian lawyer and politician. Ahmad Basri Akil, 69, Malaysian football manager. György Kolonics, 36, Hungarian Olympic canoeing gold medallist (1996, 2000), heart failure. Yuri Mikhaylov, 77, Russian speed skater. Gionata Mingozzi, 23, Italian footballer (Treviso F.B.C. 1993), car accident. Derek W. Moore, 77, British mathematician. Steve Peterson, 58, American NASCAR technical director, natural causes. Tang Aoqing, 92, Chinese chemist, President of Jilin University (1978–1986). Karl Unterkircher, 37, Italian mountaineer and explorer, fall on Nanga Parbat. Gennadi Volnov, 68, Russian basketball player for Soviet Union, 1972 Olympic gold medallist.
16 Sir Eric Dunn, 80, British air marshal. Roger Landes, 91, British Special Operations Executive agent. Sherman Maxwell, 100, American Negro league baseball sportscaster. Peanuts O'Flaherty, 90, Canadian ice hockey player. Jo Stafford, 90, American traditional pop singer ("You Belong to Me"), heart failure. Lindsay Thompson, 84, Australian politician, premier of Victoria (1981–1982), pneumonia.
17 Lila T. Abaunza, 79, Nicaraguan first lady (2002–2007), wife of President Enrique Bolaños. Giorgio Ceragioli, 78, Italian engineer, professor and a leader in the pro-Third World movement, Parkinson's disease. Creig Flessel, 96, American comic book artist. Johny Fonck, 87, Luxembourgish Olympic athlete. Larry Haines, 89, American actor (Search for Tomorrow, The Odd Couple). John Hunt, Baron Hunt of Tanworth, 88, British civil servant and politician, cabinet secretary (1973–1979). Mick Ibbett, 80, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1984–1991). George Niven, 79, Scottish football goalkeeper (Rangers, Partick Thistle). M. P. Shankar, 72, Indian actor.Kannada film actor M P Shankar dead Paul Sorensen, 82, American actor (Dallas, Hang 'Em High, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock). Sir Graham Speight, 86, New Zealand High Court judge, chief justice of the Cook Islands. Ma Prem Usha, 70, Indian tarot card reader and columnist, natural causes.