The following is a list of notable deaths in October 2003.
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.
October 2003
1 John Brim, 81, American Chicago blues musician, heart cancer. Huntington Hardisty, 74, U.S. Navy admiral. Beate Hasenau, 67, German film and television actress. Joy N. Houck, Jr., 61, American actor, screenwriter and film director. Chubby Jackson, 84, American jazz double-bassist and band leader. Zbigniew Lengren, 84, Polish cartoonist, caricaturist, and illustrator. Julie Parrish, 62, American actress, ovarian cancer. Frank Taylor, 95, British politician, MP for Manchester Moss Side.
2 Milan Bjegojević, 75, Serbian basketball player and coach. John Thomas Dunlop, 89, American administrator and Secretary of Labor under Gerald Ford. Ion Ferenz, 71, Romanian Olympic ice hockey player (1964). Otto Günsche, 86, German SS escort of Adolf Hitler, who was tasked to cremate his body on 30 April 1945, heart failure. Ahmed Khadr, 55, Egyptian-Canadian Islamist, shot and killed by Pakistani security forces. Hasan Mahsum, Turkestani Islamic extremist group leader, shot by the Pakistani Army. Denis Moore, 93, English cricketer. Gunther Philipp, 85, Austrian film actor, physician and swimmer.
3 Roxana Cannon Arsht, 88, American judge.In Memoriam Roxana C. Arsht Joop Bakker, 82, Dutch politician and businessman. John Baldock, 87, British politician (MP for Harborough). Greg Biagini, 51, American baseball player and coach (Baltimore Orioles). Tish Daija, 78, Albanian composer. Profira Sadoveanu, 97, Romanian prose writer and poet. Gustav Sjöberg, 90, Swedish football goalkeeper and Olympian (1936). Florence Stanley, 79, American actress (Barney Miller, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Dinosaurs), stroke. William Steig, 95, American cartoonist and children's author; creator of Shrek. Heinz Vroomen, 84, Dutch footballer. Winifred Watkins, 79, British biochemist.
4 Byomkesh Bose, 75-76, Indian footballer and Olympian (1952). Bill Cayton, 85, American boxing manager, former manager of Edwin Rosario and Mike Tyson. John Horace Ragnar Colvin, 81, British intelligence officer. Hanadi Jaradat, 28, Palestinian jihadist, suicide by explosive vest. Sid McMath, 91, American attorney and politician, 34th governor of Arkansas. Freddie Phillips, 84, British musician and composer. Elisabeta Rizea, 91, Romanian anti-communist partisan, viral pneumonia. Fred Tuttle, 84, American farmer, actor and politician, heart attack.
5 Wil van Beveren, 91, Dutch sprinter and Olympian (1936). Wally George, 71, American conservative radio and television commentator, pneumonia. Neil Postman, 72, American media critic, lung cancer. Denis Quilley, 75, British actor, liver cancer. Dan Snyder, 25, Canadian professional ice hockey player (Atlanta Thrashers), traffic collision. Elena Slough, 114, American supercentenarian and oldest recognized person in the United States. Annalena Tonelli, 60, Italian Catholic lay missionary and social activist, homicide. Timothy Treadwell, 46, American environmentalist and documentary filmmaker, bear attack. František Velecký, 69, Slovak actor and artist. Dwain Weston, 30, Australian skydiver and base jumper, accidental death.
6 Joe Baker, 63, English footballer, heart attack. Antony Buck, 74, British politician (Member of Parliament for Colchester, Colchester North). Armando Crispino, 78, Italian film director and screenwriter. William Herrmann, 91, American gymnast and Olympic medalist (1932). Charles Millot, 81, Yugoslav-French actor. Azam Tariq, 35, Pakistani politician, homicide.
7 Izzy Asper, 71, Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate (CanWest Global Communications Corp). Arthur Berger, 91, American composer, music critic, teacher and an academic music writer. Ryan Halligan, 13, American bullying victim, suicide by hanging. John Herring, 68, British athlete and Olympian (1964). Eleanor Lambert, 100, American fashion pioneer. Viktor Leonov, 86, Soviet Navy officer and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Norodom Narindrapong, 49, Cambodian prince, heart attack. Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke, 64, British landowner, politician, film director, and producer.
8 Bob Alwin, 83, American basketball player. Juan Armenteros, 75, Cuban baseball player. Thalia Mara, 92, American ballet dancer and educator. Cyril May, 82, British socialist politician. Petter Thomassen, 62, Norwegian politician. Junior Wren, 73, American professional football player (Missouri, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers).
9 Carl Fontana, 75, American jazz trombonist, Alzheimer's disease. Ruth Hall, 92, American film actress. Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, 77, American academic, suicide by drug overdose. Don Lanphere, 75, American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Judith Pierce, 72, English operatic soprano.
10 Igor Borisov, 79, Russian rower and Olympic silver medalist (1952). Viola Burnham, 72, Guyanese politician, First Lady to Forbes Burnham and Vice President, cancer. Lillian DeCambra, 77, American baseball player. Eila Hiltunen, 80, Finnish sculptor. Victoria Horne, 91, American actress, appearing in 49 films. Eugene Istomin, 77, American pianist, liver cancer. Johnny Klippstein, 75, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Redlegs, Minnesota Twins). Eve Newman, 88, American music and film editor (Academy Award nominations: Wild in the Streets, Two-Minute Warning). Julia Trevelyan Oman, 73, British set designer. Pastora Peña, 83, Spanish film actress. Frank Alois Pitelka, 87, American ornithologist. Max Rayne, 85, British property developer and philanthropist. Jorge Schneider, 69, Argentine Olympic rower (1952). Charles Simms, 75, American Olympic gymnast (1952, 1956).
11 Vivien Alcock, 79, English children's book writer. Sadateru Arikawa, 73, Japanese aikido teacher and shihan. Ivan Getting, 91, American physicist and electrical engineer. Tommy Hanlon Jr., 80, American-Australian actor, comedian, television host and circus ringmaster, cancer. John K. Mahon, 91, American historian. Jacques Mazoyer, 93, French Olympic sports shooter (1936, 1948, 1952, 1956). Lila Ram, 72, Indian wrestler and Olympian (1956). Peter Salmon, 74, Canadian swimmer and Olympian (1948, 1952).
12 Jim Cairns, 89, Australian politician (Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer of Australia). Ram Gopal, 90, Indian dancer and choreographer. Ruth Halbsguth, 86, German swimmer and Olympic silver medalist (1936). Elbert Bertram Haltom Jr., 80, American district judge (United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama). Ion Ioanid, 77, Romanian dissident and writer. Arthur Kaye, 70, English football player. Joan Kroc, 75, American philanthropist, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, brain cancer. Pete Morisi, 75, American comic book writer and artist. Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi, 32, Indonesian Islamic terrorist and bomb-maker, shot by police. Bill Shoemaker, 72, American Hall of Fame jockey, rode the winners in eleven Triple Crown races.
13 Butch Brickell, 46, American race car driver (24 Hours of Daytona) and stuntman (The Specialist, 2 Fast 2 Furious). Bertram Brockhouse, 85, Canadian physicist, 1994 Nobel Prize winner in physics for the development of neutron spectroscopy. Gheorghe Constantinide, 74, Romanian Olympic basketball player (1952). Clarita Heath, 87, American Olympic alpine skier (1936). Eino Lahti, 88, Finnish footballer and Olympian (1936). Eduard Prugovečki, 66, Romanian-Canadian physicist and mathematician. Anne Ziegler, 93, English singer, known for her duets with her husband Webster Booth.
14 Mohamed Basri, 75-76, Moroccan activist and opposition leader, heart attack. Edward T. Breathitt, 78, American politician, 51st governor of Kentucky, ventricular fibrillation. Zoltan Crișan, 48, Romanian football player, tuberculosis. Wil Culmer, 45, Bahamian baseball player (Cleveland Indians). Moktar Ould Daddah, 78, President of Mauritania. Patrick Dalzel-Job, 90, British naval intelligence officer and commando. Jack McLean, 80, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs). Ben Metcalfe, 83, Greenpeace activist and co-founder, heart attack. Ramón Porcel, 81, Argentine Olympic rower (1948). Javier Portales, 66, Argentine actor, heart attack. Miloš Sádlo, 91, Czech cellist and music teacher. Knud Leif Thomsen, 79, Danish film director and screenwriter.
15 Pierre Chanal, 56, Egyptian-French soldier and suspected serial killer, suicide by exsanguination. Norman Elder, 64, Canadian writer, artist, and Olympic equestrian (1960, 1968), suicide by hanging. Antonín Liška, 79, Czech Catholic theologist. Benny Lévy, 58, Egyptian-French philosopher, political activist and author.
16 Avni Arbaş, Turkish artist, cancer. Lorraine Dunn, 61, Panamanian sprinter, hurdler, and Olympian (1960, 1964). Don Evans, 65, American playwright, theater director, and actor, heart attack. James M. Hanley, 83, American businessman and politician. Mark Hanna, 86, American screenwriter and actor. Stu Hart, 88, Canadian professional wrestler, stroke. László Papp, 77, Hungarian boxer and Olympian (1948, 1952, 1956). Ignatius Jerome Strecker, 85, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Carl Urbano, 93, American animator and director.
17 Bob Chow, 95, American Olympic sports shooter (1948). Rene Fortaleza, 48, Filipino boxer, executive and Olympian (1972). Nils Hjelmström, 88, Swedish Olympic ski jumper (1936). Charlie Justice, 79, American gridiron football player (Washington Redskins). Frank O'Flynn, 84, New Zealand politician. Janice Rule, 72, American actress, cerebral hemorrhage. António Dias Teixeira, 73, Portuguese football player and manager.
18 William C. Cramer, 81, American attorney and politician, heart attack. Rodolfo Freude, 83, Argentine politician and close advisor of president Juan Perón. David Lodge, 82, English actor, cancer. Ralph Moffitt, 71, English golfer. Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, 64, Spanish novelist (Detective Carvalho saga), journalist and poet. Preston Smith, 91, American politician (40th governor of Texas from 1969 to 1973).
19 Jaime Allende, 79, Spanish Olympic field hockey player (1948). Misha Asherov, 79, Israeli actor (The Hour of Truth) and theatre director.השחקן מישה אשרוב הלך לעולמו (in Hebrew) Sir Peter Berger, 78, British admiral (Amethyst Incident). Road Warrior Hawk, 46, American professional wrestler (WWF), heart attack. Harun bin Idris, 77, Malaysian politician and 8th Menteri Besar of Selangor. Alija Izetbegović, 78, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, cardiovascular disease. Margaret Elizabeth Murie, 101, American naturalist, writer, adventurer, and conservationist. Nello Pagani, 92, Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. Guy Rolfe, 91, British actor. Georgi Vladimov, 72, Soviet and Ukrainian dissident writer.
20 František Balvín, 88, Czechoslovak Olympic cross-country skier (1948, 1952). Ernie Calverley, 79, American basketball player (Rhode Island, Providence Steamrollers) and coach. Jack Elam, 82, American actor (Once Upon a Time in the West, The Cannonball Run, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), heart attack. Donald G. Jackson, 60, American filmmaker, leukemia. Hal Lahar, 84, American football player (Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bisons/Bills) and coach. Ferry Mesman, 78, Dutch footballer. Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, 79, Serbian actor.
21 Bob Beckus, 83, American Olympic triple jumper (1948). Fred Berry, 52, American actor, stroke. Ron Crews, 47, American football player (Cleveland Browns). Luis A. Ferré, 99, Puerto Rican industrialist and politician, respiratory failure. Louise Day Hicks, 87, American politician (Boston City Council, U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 9th congress. dist.). André Lonlas, 93, French Olympic long-distance runner (1936).