The following is a list of notable deaths in May 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.
May 2003
1 Haukur Clausen, 74, Icelandic Olympic athlete (1948). István Kelen, 91, Hungarian-Australian sportsman, journalist, author, and playwright. Shlomo Levi, 68, Israeli football player. Miss Elizabeth, 42, American professional wrestler and wrestling manager, drug and alcohol overdose. Paul Moore Jr., 83, American bishop of the Episcopal Church and former US Marine Corps officer. Wim van Est, 80, Dutch racing cyclist.
2 Mohammed Dib, 82, Algerian writer. Blaga Dimitrova, 81, Bulgarian poet and politician, Vice President (1992-1993), cerebrovascular disease. James Miller, 34, Welsh filmmaker and cameraman, killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Henry Wise, Jr., 82, American physician and World War II Tuskegee Airman fighter pilot. George Wyle, 87, American musical director and composer (theme to Gilligan's Island, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year), leukemia.
3 José Alanís, 92, Mexican Olympic sports shooter (1948). Velleda Cesari, 83, Italian fencer and Olympian (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960). Queta Claver, 70, Spanish actress, singer, and dancer, cardiovascular disease. Don Dorrell, 69, American actor.Don Dorrell Glen Culler, 75, American professor of electrical engineering. Don Johnson, 62, American bowler, heart attack. Andy Martin, 75, British Olympic pentathlete (1948). Suzy Parker, 70, American actress and model, wife of Bradford Dillman, arthritis, diabetes. Marcel Roche, 82, French physician and scientist. G. Venkateswaran, 55, Indian film producer.
4 Alexander Boghossian, 65, Ethiopian-American artist and teacher. Sesto Bruscantini, 83, Italian baritone. Toivo Oikarinen, 79, Finnish Olympic cross-country skier (1952). Arthur Oldham, 76, British composer and choirmaster. Jean Tricart, 82, French geomorphologist. Richard Trowbridge, 83, British admiral and Governor of Western Australia (1980–1983). Frank Wismayer, 90, Maltese Olympic water polo player (1936). David Woodley, 44, American gridiron football player (Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers), complications due to kidney and liver failure.
5 Sam Bockarie, 38, Sierra Leonean politician and army commander, shot. David Lewin, 69, American music theorist. Philip Powell, 82, British architect. Sultan Rakhmanov, 52, Soviet Ukrainian weightlifter and Olympic champion (1980), heart attack. Waly Salomão, 59, Brazilian poet. Walter Sisulu, 90, South African anti-apartheid activist and ANC member, Parkinson's disease.
6 Steve Atkinson, 54, Canadian ice hockey player (Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, Toronto Toros), heart attack. Geoffrey Bardon, 63, Australian artist, teacher and aboriginal art advocate. Oleksandr Bilash, 72, Ukrainian composer and author. Tito García, 71, Spanish actor. Colin Gunton, 62, British theologian and academic. Jocelyn Herbert, 86, British stage designer. Art Houtteman, 75, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles), heart attack. Patrick Kiernan, 73, Irish Olympic equestrian (1956). Stanislav Kolář, 91, Czechoslovak and Czech table tennis player. Dean L. May, 65, American academic, author and documentary filmmaker, heart attack.
7 Denise Albe-Fessard, 86, French neuroscientist. Duane Allen, 65, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears). Johan Andersen, 83, Danish sprint canoer and Olympian (1948). Leroy Bass, 85, American baseball player. Sisir Kumar Das, 66, Linguist, poet, playwright, translator, comparatist and a scholar of Indian literature. Quentin Dean, 58, American actress, cancer. Mike Hudock, 68, American gridiron football player (New York Titans/Jets, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs). Joshua Madaki, 55, Nigerian politician, car crash. George Morrow, 69, American computer scientist and pioneer, aplastic anemia.
8 Slick Coffman, 92, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns). Dorothy Ferguson, 80, Canadian-American baseball player, cancer. Sam Lacy, 99, American sportswriter, reporter, and television/radio commentator. Elvira Pagá, 82, Brazilian vedette, actress, singer, writer and painter.
9 Yves Brouzet, 54, French shot putter (four-time French champion), and Olympian (1972, 1976). Hans Engnestangen, 95, Norwegian Olympic speed skater (1932, 1936), and world champion. Carmen Filpi, 80, American actor (Pee-wee's Big Adventure, The Beverly Hillbillies, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers), cancer. Antonio Ibáñez Freire, 89, Spanish politician and army officer. Jack Gelber, 71, American playwright (The Connection), leukemia. Russell B. Long, 84, American politician (U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1948 to 1987), heart attack. Alexey Medvedev, 75, Soviet-Russian heavyweight weightlifter. Elizabeth Neuffer, 46, American journalist, specialized in war crimes and human rights abuses, car accident in Iraq. Bernard Spear, 83, English actor.
10 Ingo Buding, 61, West German tennis player. Oleg Galkin, 38, Ukrainian cyclist and Olympian (1992). Bob Gaudio, 77, American football player (Ohio State Buckeyes, Cleveland Browns). Leonard Michaels, 70, American writer of short stories, novels, and essays. Eleanor C. Pressly, 85, American mathematician and aeronautical engineer at NASA. Ambros Speiser, 80, Swiss engineer and scientist. Milan Vukcevich, 66, Yugoslav-born American chemist and Grandmaster of Chess Composition. Luther Vye, 79, British field hockey player and Olympian (1956). Joseph D. Ward, 89, American politician.
11 Karl Boyes, 67, American politician (Pennsylvania House of Representatives). Bill Kellagher, 82, American football player (Chicago Rockets). Noel Redding, 57, English former bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, liver cirrhosis. John H. Rousselot, 75, American politician (U.S. Representative from California). Ernie Toshack, 88, Australian cricketer.
12 Jim Clunie, 69, Scottish football player and manager. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, 70, French civil servant (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees 1965–1977), cancer. Stan Lay, 96, New Zealand javelin thrower and Olympian (1928). Willie Ludick, 62, South African Olympic boxer (1960). Renate Riemeck, 82, German historian and Christian peace activist. Jeremy Sandford, 72, British screenwriter.
13 Theo Aronson, 73, South African-British royal biographer (Princess Alice, Queen Mother, Princess Margaret), cancer. John Savage, 70, Canadian politician, former Premier of Nova Scotia, cancer. Einar Sundström, 83, Finnish Olympic weightlifter (1948). René Voillaume, 97, French Catholic priest and theologian. Byron Wolford, 72, American rodeo cowboy and professional poker player. Marcos Zucker, 82, Argentine actor and comedian.
14 Tranquilo Cappozzo, 85, Argentine rower and Olympic champion (1948, 1952). Dave DeBusschere, 62, American basketball player (Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks), and coach (Detroit Pistons), heart attack. Otto Edelmann, 86, Austrian operatic bass. Al Fleming, 49, American basketball player (Seattle SuperSonics), cancer. Ebbe Gyllenstierna, 91, Swedish army officer and Olympic modern pentathlete (1936). Ingvar Helle, 70, Norwegian politician. Dame Wendy Hiller, 91, English actress (Separate Tables, Pygmalion, A Man for All Seasons), Oscar winner (1959). Pepper LaBeija, 54, American drag queen and fashion designer, heart attack. Henri Marracq, 65, French rugby player. Minarni, 59, Indonesian badminton player. Gennadiy Nikonov, 52, Russian firearm engineer. Dante Quinterno, 93, Argentine businessman and comics artist. Paul Rothley, 77, French Olympic rower (1948). Gordon Salkilld, 76, English actor. Robert Stack, 84, American actor (The Untouchables, Written on the Wind) and television host (Unsolved Mysteries), Emmy winner (1960), heart attack.
15 June Carter Cash, 73, American musician and wife of Johnny Cash, complications following surgery. Pedro Chappé, 57, Cuban basketball player and Olympian (1972). Desmond Dreyer, 93, British Royal Navy admiral. Constantin Dăscălescu, 79, Romanian communist politician. Stanley B. Kimball, 76, American historian, cancer. Gaby Robert, 83, French footballer, coach, and Olympian (1948). Hayseed Stephens, 64, American football player (New York Titans). Rik Van Steenbergen, 78, Belgian cyclist. Rune Waldekranz, 91, Swedish film producer.
16 William Charles Anderson, 83, American writer and screen writer (Bat*21). Mark McCormack, 72, American lawyer, sports agent and writer. Stan Rofe, 69, Australian disc jockey and music news reporter, cancer. Boris Stavrev, 68, Bulgarian Olympic fencer (1960, 1972). Lazar Tasić, 72, Serbian football player. Bogdan Śliwa, 81, Polish chess master.
17 Edith Carlmar, 91, Norwegian actress and Norway's first female film director. Pop Ivy, 87, American football player and coach. Lilli Lentz, 78, Danish Olympic archer (1972). Edwin L. Nelson, 63, American district judge (United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama). Irene Gut Opdyke, 81, Polish nurse, kidney failure, liver failure. Luigi Pintor, 77, Italian politician and journalist. Gerhard Schöpfel, 90, German Luftwaffe flying ace during World War II. Joe Spencer, 83, American baseball player.
18 Marilyn Bendell, 81, American impressionist painter. Peter Lasko, 79, German-British art historian. Nick Roman, 55, American gridiron football player (Ohio State Buckeyes, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns), heart attack. Mentz Schulerud, 87, Norwegian author, radio personality and theatre director. Waldemar Woźniak, 48, Polish Olympic gymnast (1980).
19 Camoflauge, 21, American rapper. Johanna Budwig, 94, German biochemist, alternative cancer treatment advocate and author. Kunhiraman Palat Candeth, 86, Indian Army general. Paul Hagen, 83, Danish film and television actor. Ludwig Lachner, German footballer and manager. Aleksandr Miroshnichenko, 39, Kazakhstani boxer and Olympic medalist (1988), fall. Helio Vieira, 88, Brazilian Olympic fencer (1952). Ivo Žídek, 76, Czech operatic tenor, known for his roles in the operas of Smetana, Dvořák and Janáček.
20 Jim Clough, 86, Australian politician. Zbigniew Gawior, 56, Polish luger and Olympian (1968). Walter Höllerer, 80, German writer, literary critic, and literature academic. Eddie Little, 48, American author and journalist, heart attack. Howard Sims, 86, African-American vaudeville tap dancer, Alzheimer's disease.
21 Alejandro de Tomaso, 74, Argentinian racing driver and industrialist. Yaroslav Golovanov, 70, Russian journalist, writer and science communicator, cerebrovascular disease. Hermann A. Haus, 77, Slovene-American scientist. Roy Keenan, 72, Canadian Olympic boxer (1952). Sumitra Mukherjee, 54, Indian Bengali actress. Felice Orlandi, 77, Italian-American actor. Alexander Slatnow, 52, German canoeist and Olympian (1972). Frank D. White, 69, American politician (41st governor of Arkansas), banker and banking regulator, heart attack.
22 Packiam Arokiaswamy, 82, Indian Roman Catholic prelate. Alec Burns, 95, British track and field athlete and Olympian (1932, 1936). Big DS, 31, American hardcore rapper and record producer, lymphatic cancer. Grover E. Murray, 86, American geologist and educator. Noel Robins, 67, Australian partially quadriplegic sailor, traffic accident.
23 Aleksandr Asanov, 49, Kazakhstani Olympic sports shooter (1980, 1992). Fred W. Berger, 94, American film editor. Jorge Cruz, 76, Brazilian Olympic water polo player (1960). Erwin Huber, 96, German Olympic decathlete (1928, 1936). Allan McMahon, 48, Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Ray Parry, 67, English football player. Michael Pössinger, 84, German bobsledder and Olympian (1956). Peter Prahm, 94, Danish Olympic field hockey player (1928).