The following is a list of notable deaths in August 2002.
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.
August 2002
1 Francisco Arcellana, 85, Filipino writer, poet and journalist. Theo Bruce, 79, Australian Olympic athlete (1948). Peter Carter, 37, Australian tennis player and coach, traffic collision. Adolf Glunz, 86, German Luftwaffe flying ace during World War II. Bjørn Gundersen, 78, Norwegian Olympic high jumper (1948, 1952). Sumiko Hidaka, 79, Japanese actress, liver failure. Yuri Korshunov, 68, Russian lepidopterologist. A. P. Lutali, 82, Governor of American Samoa (1985–1989, 1993–1997), stroke. Henry Mazer, 84, American-Taiwanese conductor and recording artist. Don Owen, 90, American professional wrestling promoter. Jack Tighe, 88, American baseball coach.
2 Joe Allison, 77, American songwriter, radio and television personality and record producer, lung disease. Roberto Cobo, 72, Mexican actor (Los Olvidados, The Place Without Limits). May Hardcastle, 89, Australian tennis player. Ilona Kolonits, 80, Hungarian documentary film director and news correspondent. Roy Kral, 80, American jazz pianist and vocalist, congestive heart failure. Magda László, 90, Hungarian operatic soprano. Richard Schreder, 86, American naval aviator and sailplane developer. Jean-Pierre Yvaral, 68, French op art and kinetic art artist.
3 Edward Brodney, 92, American artist, known for his drawings and paintings of World War II. Kathleen Hughes-Hallett, 84, Canadian Olympic fencer (1936). Peter Miles, 64, American actor, cancer. Danny Sue Nolan, 79, American film actress, stroke. Carmen Silvera, 80, British television and theatre actress (Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!), lung cancer. Ruudi Toomsalu, 89, Estonian Olympic athlete (1936). John G. Zimmerman, 74, American photographer, an innovator in sports photojournalism.
4 William R. Crawford Jr., 74, American diplomat and ambassador (Yemen, Cyprus). Basil Henricus, 79, Sri Lankan Olympic boxer (1952). Millard Lang, 89, American soccer and lacrosse player. Mike Payne, 40, American Major League Baseball player (Atlanta Braves), EEE. Salvatore Scianamea, 83, Brazilian Olympic fencer (1948).
5 Jes Peter Asmussen, 73, Danish iranologist. Francisco Coloane, 92, Chilean novelist and short fiction writer. Josh Ryan Evans, 20, American actor (Passions, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and stunt performer (Baby Geniuses), complications from a heart condition. Chick Hearn, 85, television and radio announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team since 1960, fall. Willis Hudlin, 96, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, New York Giants). Franco Lucentini, 82, Italian writer (The Sunday Woman), suicide. Shinsuke Mikimoto, 71, Japanese actor, lung cancer. Darrell Porter, 50, American baseball player (Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers), drug overdose. Matt Robinson, 65, American actor, writer and television producer, Parkinson's disease. Winifred Watson, 95, English writer (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day).
6 Jim Crawford, 54, Scottish motor racing driver, liver failure. Edsger W. Dijkstra, 72, Dutch computer scientist, colorectal cancer. John Donnelly Fage, 81, British historian. Splinter Johnson, 82, American basketball player. Justin Meyer, 63, American vintner and enologist, heart attack. Jean Sauvagnargues, 87, French politician.
7 Eric Bongers, 78, South African Olympic sailor (1956). Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, 100, British aristocrat. Ookie Miller, 92, American gridiron football player (Chicago Bears, Cleveland Rams, Green Bay Packers). Egon Schidan, 71, German Olympic boxer (1952). Al Smith, 56, Canadian ice hockey player, pancreatic cancer. Wan Da, 83, Chinese politician.
8 Bernard Chidzero, 75, Zimbabwean politician, Finance Minister (1983–1995). Al Donelli, 84, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles). Reiner Geye, 52, German football player, liver disease. Wilber Morris, 64, American jazz double bass player and bandleader. Mikhail Perlman, 79, Soviet gymnast and Olympic champion (1952). Charles Poletti, 99, American lawyer and politician. Kapitolina Rumiantseva, 76, Russian Soviet realist painter and graphic artist. Doris Buchanan Smith, 68, American author children's books, ALS. Ronnie Stephenson, 65, English jazz drummer. Frans Tebak, 74, Dutch footballer. Willie Young, 90, American baseball player. Willi Ziegler, 73, German paleontologist.
9 Don Chastain, 66, American actor and singer (Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Colt .45, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O), colorectal cancer. Pascale de Boysson, 80, French actress. Jake Fendley, 73, American professional basketball player (Northwestern University, Fort Wayne Pistons). Meredith Gardner, 89, American linguist and codebreaker. Al Grenert, 83, American basketball player. Bill Heusner, 75, American swimmer and Olympian (1948). Bertold Hummel, 76, German composer of modern classical music. Peter Matz, 73, American musician, composer, arranger and conductor, lung cancer. Paul Samson, 49, English guitarist, cancer. Gennady Slepnyov, 81, Soviet Russian Olympic sprinter (1952). Ruud van Feggelen, 78, Dutch water polo player, coach, and Olympian (1948, 1952). Trần Độ, 78, Vietnamese politician and Lieutenant General of the People's Army.
10 Colin Eggleston, 60, Australian film and television director and writer (Long Weekend, Homicide). Michael Houser, 40, American guitarist, pancreatic cancer. Kristen Nygaard, 75, Norwegian computer scientist and politician, heart attack. Eugene Odum, 88, American biologist. René Queyroux, 74, French fencer and Olympic medalist (1956). Nils Rikberg, 74, Finnish footballer and Olympian (1952). Mordecai Waxman, 85, American rabbi, prominent conservative, known for confronting Pope John Paul II. Doris Wishman, 90, American B movie film director, screenwriter and producer, lymphoma. Czesław Łuczak, 80, Polish historian focusing on World War II.
11 Nancy Chaffee, 73, American tennis player (1950, 1951, 1952 singles and doubles U.S. Indoor Champion), cancer. Per Cock-Clausen, 89, Danish figure skater (13-time Danish National Champion), and Olympian (1948, 1952). Mick Dunne, 73, Irish sports journalist. Jiří Kolář, 87, Czech poet and writer. Franjo Kukuljević, 92, Croatian tennis player. Hermann Pálsson, 81, Icelandic language scholar and translator. Galen Rowell, 61, American wilderness photographer, photojournalist and climber, plane crash. Viktor Vlasov, 76, Soviet Russian basketball player and Olympian (1952). Richard Wood, Baron Holderness, 81, British politician (Member of Parliament for Bridlington).
12 John H. Leith, 82, American presbyterian theologian and minister. Michael De-la-Noy, 68, British journalist and author (The Queen Behind the Throne). Knud Lundberg, 82, Danish sportsperson, journalist, writer, and Olympian (1948, 1952). John Shaw Rennie, 85, British diplomat. Enos Slaughter, 86, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame, lymphoma. Marjorie Williamson, 89, British educator, physicist and university administrator.
13 Jack Creel, 86, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals). Hermann Haller, 88, Swiss composer. Dieter Koslar, 62, German Olympic cyclist (1968). Józef Daniel Krzeptowski, 81, Polish Olympic skier (1948, 1956). Ulises Ramos, 82, Chilean footballer and manager. Willy Saeren, 78, Belgian footballer. Al Vande Weghe, 86, American competition swimmer and Olympic silver medalist (1936).
14 Elisabeth Grasser, 98, Austrian Olympic fencer (1936). Ricardo Héber, 74, Argentine javelin thrower and Olympian (1948, 1952). Mary Heeley, 91, British tennis player. Peter R. Hunt, 77, British film editor (Dr. No, Goldfinger) and director (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), heart failure. Raoul Mollet, 89, Belgian Olympic modern pentathlete (1936, 1948). Larry Rivers, 78, American painter. Dave Williams, 30, American singer of Drowning Pool, heart failure.
15 János Balogh, 89, Hungarian zoologist, ecologist, and academic. Henry Batista, 88, American film and television editor. Heinz Bauer, 74, German mathematician. Alberto Bertuccelli, 78, Italian football player. Jesse Brown, 58, American United States Marine and United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, ALS. Philippe Chancerel, 77, French Olympic sailor (1948, 1956). George Agbazika Innih, 63, Nigerian army general and politician. Edgardo Madinabeytia, 69, Argentine football goalkeeper. Arnie Moser, 87, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds). Kyle Rote, 73, American gridiron football player (New York Giants), heart attack. Jean Stengers, 80, Belgian historian. Haim Yosef Zadok, 88, Israeli jurist and politician, heart attack.
16 Edith Addams, 95, Belgian Olympic fencer (1928). Janusz Bardach, 83, Polish-American Siberian gulag survivor and renowned plastic surgeon. Allan Bromley, 55, American computer scientist, historian of computing, cancer. Jeff Corey, 88, American actor (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, In Cold Blood, Little Big Man), fall. Martin Deutsch, 85, Austrian-American physicist and professor of physics at MIT, known as the discoverer of positronium. Morgan "Bill" Evans, 92, American horticulturalist and Disney landscape designer. Anton Guadagno, 77, Italian operatic conductor. Frans Laporta, 95, Belgian architect. Paul Michel Gabriel Lévy, 91, Belgian journalist and professor. Abu Nidal, 65, Palestinian terrorist, ballistic trauma.Arraf, Jane (21 August 2002). "Iraq details terror leader's death", CNN. Jean Peytel, 93, French Olympic sailor (1932, 1936, 1948, 1960). Ola Belle Reed, 85, American singer. John Roseboro, 69, American baseball player (Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Washington Senators).
17 Jimmy Bloodworth, 85, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies), heart attack. Edward Dziewoński, 85, Polish stage and film actor, and theatre director. Alicia Montoya, 82, Mexican actress, the daughter of the stage actress, kidney failure. Valentin Pluchek, 92, Russian theatre director. Rushyendramani, 85, Indian singer, dancer, and actress. Benjamin Thompson, 84, American architect.
18 Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, 33, Chechen rebel leader and top official in the rebel government, leukemia. Carter L. Burgess, 85, American public servant, business executive and diplomat (Assistant Secretary of Defense, Ambassador to Argentina). Bertil Ericsson, 93, Swedish football player and Olympian (1936). Ričardas Gavelis, 51, Lithuanian writer, playwright, journalist, and theoretical physicist. Davison Lishebo, 47, Zambian Olympic athlete (1980, 1984). Dick O'Connell, 87, American front office executive in Major League Baseball. Dean Riesner, 83, American screenwriter (Dirty Harry, Play Misty for Me, The Enforcer).
19 Antonio Barrios, 92, Spanish football player and coach. Eduardo Chillida, 78, Spanish Basque sculptor, Alzheimer's disease. Irving Copi, 85, American philosopher, logician and textbook author (Introduction to Logic). Satchidananda Saraswati, 87, Indian yoga guru and religious teacher. Harry Sharratt, 72, English footballer and Olympian (1956). Jan Stenbeck, 59, Swedish business leader, media pioneer, sailor and financier. Alastair Gordon, 6th Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, 82, British botanical artist and art critic. Sunday Silence, 16, American-bred thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
20 Wesley Bennett, 89, American basketball player. Chris Columbus, 100, American jazz drummer. Augustine Geve, Solomon Islands Cabinet Minister, assassinated.