Deaths in June 2003

The following is a list of notable deaths in June 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.

June 2003

1 Peter Crotty, 77, Irish Olympic boxer (1952). Marjorie Finlay, 74, American opera singer and television personality. Siegfried Freytag, 83, German Luftwaffe flying ace during World War II. Johnny Hopp, 86, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates). Jørgen Kiil, 72, Danish actor. Johnny Paul Koroma, 43, Sierra Leonean military officer, Head of state (1997-1998). Yevgeny Matveyev, 81, Russian actor and film director, lung cancer. Johannes Munnikes, 86, Dutch Olympic wrestler (1948). Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, 75, Nigerian politician and activist. Pete Sivess, 89, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies). Jakob Šubelj, 80, Slovenian Olympic gymnast (1948). María Teresa Valdés, 42, Spanish Olympic archer (1988). Eero Virtanen, 87, Finnish Olympic wrestler (1948). Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim-Rechberg, 92, German diplomat and author. František Wirth, 88, Czech Olympic gymnast (1948).

2 Freddie Blassie, 85, American professional wrestler and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, kidney failure. Bojčo Brănzov, 57, Bulgarian Olympic basketball player (1968). Dick Cusack, 77, American actor (The Fugitive, High Fidelity, Chain Reaction), pancreatic cancer. Danka Firfova, 85, Macedonian soprano Herb Foster, 89, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers). Jean Fournier, 89, French Olympic sports shooter (1948). Joel Hitt, 86, American basketball player. Donald Jack, 78, Canadian playwright and novelist. Makoto Kozuru, 80, Japanese baseball player. Burke Marshall, 80, American lawyer and head of the Civil Rights Division. Ray Wehba, 86, American football player (Brooklyn Dodgers, Green Bay Packers).

3 Peter Bromley, 74, British sports broadcaster, BBC Radio's voice of horse racing for 40 years (1961–2001), pancreatic cancer. Felix de Weldon, 96, Austrian-American sculptor (Marine Corps War Memorial). John Jympson, 72, British film editor (A Fish Called Wanda, A Hard Day's Night, Little Shop of Horrors), diabetes. Petre Mshveniyeradze, 74, Soviet and Georgian water polo player and Olympic silver medalist (1952, 1956, 1960). Fabrice Salanson, 23, French road cyclist, heart attack.

4 Muhammad Abdul Bari, 72-73, Bangladeshi academic, linguist and Islamic scholar. Joan Leigh Fermor, 91, English photographer. Serafín Rojo, 77, Spanish cartoonist and painter. Nurul Amin Talukdar, 57, Bangladeshi politician.

5 Thomas Speakman Barnett, 93, Canadian politician (member of Parliament of Canada for Comox—Alberni, British Columbia). John Fairclough, 72, British computer designer, Government Chief Scientific Adviser. Patricia Blomfield Holt, 92, Canadian composer, pianist and music educator. Jürgen Möllemann, 57, German minister, suicide by jumping. Manuel Rosenthal, 98, French composer and conductor. Keijo Vanhala, 62, Finnish Olympic modern pentathlete (1964). Meir Vilner, 84, Israeli politician and chairman of the Communist Party of Israel.

6 Frans Van den Berghen, 83, Belgian Olympic canoeist (1948, 1952). Adalbert Boros, 94, Romanian Roman Catholic prelate. Ken Grimwood, 59, American author, heart attack. Michael John, 60, Australian politician. Ray Medeiros, 77, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds). Georges Pichard, 83, French comics artist. Dave Rowberry, 62, English pianist and organist. Shivnath Singh, 56, Indian long-distance runner and Olympian (1976, 1980). Hilda Sour, 87, Chilean actress and singer.

7 Arne Bonde, 78, Norwegian newspaper editor and radio executive. Belle Chrystall, 93, British actress. R. W. G. Dennis, 92, British botanist. Muhammad Abd El-Ghani El-Gamasy, 81, Egyptian Field Marshal and Commander in Chief of The Armed Forces. Greg Garrett, 56, American baseball player (California Angels, Cincinnati Reds). Trevor Goddard, 40, British actor (JAG, Mortal Kombat, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), accidental drug overdose. Selahattin Ülkümen, 89, Turkish diplomat.

8 Thomas S. Gettys, 90, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1964-1974). Herschel Burke Gilbert, 85, American orchestrator and composer of film and television scores, complications of a stroke. Colin Legum, 84, South African journalist and writer. Leighton Rees, 63, Welsh darts player, heart attack.

9 Geoffrey Ferguson, 65, American lawyer and district judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Kató Lomb, 94, Hungarian translator and simultaneous interpreter. Angelo Palmas, 88, Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. Indradeep Sinha, 88, Indian freedom fighter and communist leader. German Sveshnikov, 66, Soviet fencer and Olympian (1960, 1964, 1968).

10 Charles Harrison Brown, 82, American politician (U.S. Representative for Missouri's 7th congressional district). John Semple Galbraith, 86, British historian. Juan José Gallo, 78, Chilean Olympic basketball player (1948, 1952). Hal Gausman, 85, American set decorator. Palle Kähler, 63, Danish footballer. Zygmunt Ochmański, 80, Polish footballer. Silvio Pedroni, 85, Italian racing cyclist and Olympian (1948). Livio Dante Porta, 81, Argentine steam locomotive engineer. Donald Regan, 84, American politician, Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary, cancer. Carlos Roca, 45, Spanish field hockey player and Olympic medalist (1980, 1984). Boy Rozendal, 74, Curaçao politician and journalist. David Towell, 66, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1973-1975), cancer. Bernard Williams, 73, British moral philosopher, multiple myeloma. Phil Williams, 64, Welsh politician, member of the National Assembly for Wales for South Wales East, heart attack.

11 Cordell Barrow, 63, Trinidadian Olympic sailor (1964). David Brinkley, 82, American broadcast journalist (The Huntley–Brinkley Report, NBC Nightly News, This Week with David Brinkley). Pankaj Charan Das, 78, Indian classical dancer. Ilona Madary, 86, Hungarian gymnast and Olympic medalist (1936). William Marshall, 78, American actor, director and opera singer, complications from Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. Virgil Mărdărescu, 81, Romanian football manager. Matt Mazza, 79, American basketball player (Sheboygan Red Skins). Rudolf Tomsits, 57, Hungarian jazz musician. Hanna Veres, 74, Ukrainian folk artist, embroiderer and weaver. Guy Willatt, 85, English cricketer.

12 Itamar Assumpção, 53, Brazilian songwriter and composer, colorectal cancer. Joseph L. Fleiss, 65, American epidemiologist and professor of biostatistics. Marcel Otto-Bruc, 80, French Olympic sports shooter (1960). Gregory Peck, 87, American actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, Roman Holiday, The Boys from Brazil), bronchopneumonia. Sam Schulman, 93, American sports businessman (Seattle SuperSonics, San Diego Chargers), blood disease.

13 Harold Ashby, 78, American jazz tenor saxophonist (Duke Ellington Orchestra). Robert A. Good, 81, American physician regarded as a founder of modern immunology, esophageal cancer. Gene Hayden, 68, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds). Malik Meraj Khalid, 86, Pakistani advocate, left wing politician and Marxist philosopher. Guy Lux, 83, French TV host and producer, heart attack. Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford, 63, British peer, stroke. Tor Stokke, 74, Norwegian film actor, cancer. Hassan ibn Yahya, 95, Yemeni royal and statesman.

14 Valborg Christensen, 86, Danish Olympic swimmer (1936). Nikolai Figurovsky, 79, Soviet film director, screenwriter, writer and professor at VGIK. Marvin Hammond, 76, Canadian Olympic rower (1948). Jimmy Knepper, 75, American jazz trombonist, complications of Parkinson's disease. Volker Kriegel, 59, German jazz guitarist and composer. Edward F. Moore, 77, American professor of mathematics and computer science, artificial life pioneer. Joyce Powell, 81, New Zealand cricketer. Günther Schack, 85, German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II. John Weld, 98, American newspaper reporter and writer (Don't You Cry for Me, Young Man in Paris, September Song). Dale Whittington, 43, American race car driver. Pete Wysocki, 54, American football player (Washington Redskins).

15 Ralph Kilner Brown, 93, British jurist and athlete. Ed Champagne, 80, American football player (LSU Tigers, Los Angeles Rams). Hume Cronyn, 91, Canadian-American actor (The Seventh Cross, Cocoon, The Pelican Brief), Emmy winner (1990, 1992, 1994), prostate cancer. Federico Deflorian, 82, Italian cross-country skier and Olympian (1952, 1956, 1960). Albert Demuyser, 82, Belgian artist and racehorse owner, cancer. Guðmundur Hermannsson, 77, Icelandic Olympic shot putter (1968). Kaiser Matanzima, 88, Transkei politician, President (1979-1986). Johnny Miles, 97, Canadian marathon runner and Olympian (1928, 1932). Alberto Pigaiani, 74, Italian heavyweight weightlifter and Olympic medalist (1956, 1960). Philip Stone, 79, British actor (The Shining, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, A Clockwork Orange). René Touzet, 86, Cuban composer, pianist and bandleader. Bill Wentworth, 95, Australian politician (member of Australian Parliament for Mackellar). James Willis, 79, Australian admiral and Chief of Naval Staff.

16 Asa Baber, 66, American writer and magazine columnist for Playboy, ALS. Enrico Baj, 78, Italian artist and writer on art. Les Benjamin, 78, Canadian politician (MP for Regina—Lake Centre, Regina West, Regina—Lumsden, Saskatchewan). Miguel Bordón, 50, Argentine footballer. Pierre Bourgault, 69, Canadian politician, essayist, actor and journalist, lung cancer. George Maughan, 93, Canadian Olympic boxer (1932). Peter Redgrove, 71, British poet. Carlos Rivas, 78, American actor, prostate cancer. Georg Henrik von Wright, 87, Finnish philosopher, professor and writer. René Walschot, 87, Belgian racing cyclist. Josef Zeman, 77, Czech Olympic wrestler (1952).

17 Gaston Audier, 90, French cyclist. Frank M. Clark, 87, American politician (U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 25th congressional district). Wilhelm Deist, 71, German historian and author. Kuda Ditta, 66, Malaysian athlete and Olympian (1964). Elsa Grave, 85, Swedish novelist, poet and artist. Paul Hirst, 57, British sociologist and political theorist. Frank Mulville, 87, Australian rugby league footballer. Marcella Pobbe, 81, Italian operatic soprano. Jean-Jacques Vierne, 82, French film director.

18 Guy Bara, 79, Belgian comic strip writer and artist (Max l'explorateur). Kenneth Cross, 91, British Royal Air Force commander. Paul Daisley, 45, British politician, colorectal cancer. Larry Doby, 79, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers), and member of the MLB Hall of Fame, bone cancer. Jankidas, 93, Indian actor of Hindi cinema, cyclist, production designer, and writer. Ernest Martin, 42, American murderer, execution by lethal injection.

19 Jack Butterworth, Baron Butterworth, 85, British lawyer, academic and life peer (House of Lords 1985–2003). Mel Ferber, 80, American television director and producer, heart attack. Peanuts Hucko, 85, American big band musician. Rafael Ileto, 82, Filipino army general and politician, heart attack. Ethan James, 57, American musician, record producer, and recording engineer, liver cancer. Vladimír Karas, 76, Czech Olympic gymnast (1948). Mahfoud Nahnah, 61, Algerian politician, leukemia. Lev Rvalov, 62, Soviet Russian Olympic sailor (1968). Laura Sadler, 22, British television actress, accidental fall. Belding Hibbard Scribner, 82, American physician and pioneering kidney dialysis researcher.

20 LaMar Baker, 87, American politician (U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district).