The following is a list of notable deaths in May 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.
May 2002
1 Ade Bethune, 88, American Catholic liturgical artist. Aspy Engineer, 89, Indian Air Force officer. John Nathan-Turner, 54, British television producer (Doctor Who), infection. Hal Prescott, 81, American football player (Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions). Tom Sutton, 65, American comic book artist (Vampirella, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider), heart attack. Roger Teillet, 89, Canadian politician. Raymond Thomas, 71, French Olympic shot putter (1956). Charles Tremblay, 71, American Olympic skier (1956).
2 Rosa García Ascot, 100, Spanish composer and pianist. Peter Thomas Bauer, 86, Hungarian-British economist. Lucien Bochard, 76, French Olympic footballer (1952). Olive Cook, 90, British writer and artist, cancer. Constanța Crăciun, 88, Romanian politician and educator. Devika, 59, Indian actress, heart attack. Carl Heger, 92, Danish actor. Sihung Lung, 72, Taiwanese movie and TV actor, liver failure. Viktor Lyoskin, 48, Soviet Russian Olympic speed skater (1980). Izet Sarajlić, 72, Bosnian historian of philosophy, essayist, and poet. Willi Schreyer, 87, Austrian Olympic gymnast (1948). Ron Soble, 70, American actor in films and television. Richard Stücklen, 85, German politician, President of the Bundestag. Judy Toll, 44, American actress, writer and comedian, melanoma. W. T. Tutte, 84, British-Canadian cryptographer during World War II and mathematician.
3 Livingston L. Biddle, Jr., 83, American author and promoter of funding for the arts. Malcolm Bosse, 75, American author, known for his historical novels set in Asia. Barbara Castle, 91, British Labour politician and female life peer. Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, 73, president of Somaliland and former prime minister of the Somali Republic. Mohan Singh Oberoi, 103, Indian hotelier and retailer. Yevgeny Svetlanov, 73, Russian conductor, composer and pianist. Mariana Yampolsky, 76, Mexican photographer.
4 Ishaya Mark Aku, Nigerian politician, Minister of Sports (since 2001), plane crash.Anger At Nigerian Crash Site Don Allard, 66, American football player (New York Titans, Boston Patriots) and coach. Clarence Boston, 85, American college football coach, head coach of New Hampshire Wildcats from 1949 to 1964. Ernesto Díaz, 49, Colombian football player and Olympian (1972). Eugene Andrew Gordon, 84, American district judge (United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina). John Hasted, 81, British physicist and folk musician. John Kohn, 76, American writer and producer, cancer. Rolf Friedemann Pauls, 86, German diplomat. Elizabeth Russell, 85, American actress. Gerónimo Saccardi, 52, Argentine football player and manager, heart attack.Sorpresivo deceso de Saccardi Abu Turab al-Zahiri, 79, Saudi Arabian writer of Arab Indian descent.
5 Randy Anderson, 42, American wrestling referee, testicular cancer. Hugo Banzer, 75, Bolivian politician, Bolivian dictator (1971 to 1978), President of Bolivia (1997 to 2001), lung cancer. Howard C. Bratton, 80, American district judge (United States District Court for the District of New Mexico). Dick Farman, 85, American professional football player (Washington State, Washington Redskins). Andrei Rostotsky, 45, Soviet and Russian actor, film director, screenwriter, and TV host, fall. Hank Rushmere, 89, British rower and Olympian (1948). Clarence Seignoret, 83, president of Dominica (1983–1993). George Sidney, 85, American film director (Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, Anchors Aweigh), lymphoma. Jimmy Smith, 67, American basketball player. Odell Stautzenberger, 77, American football player (Buffalo Bills). Mike Todd, Jr., 72, American film producer, introduced short-lived movie format Smell-O-Vision (Scent of Mystery), lung cancer. Čestmír Vycpálek, 80, Czech football player and manager. Louis C. Wyman, 85, American politician (U.S. Representative for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district), cancer.
6 Murray Adaskin, 96, Canadian violinist, composer, conductor and teacher. Heinz Arndt, 87, German-Australian economist, traffic collision. Otis Blackwell, 71, American songwriter, singer and pianist ("Great Balls of Fire", "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up", "Return to Sender"). James Lawton Collins Jr., 84, U.S. Army brigadier general and military historian. Harry George Drickamer, 83, American chemical engineer, a pioneer in high-pressure studies of condensed matter. Pim Fortuyn, 54, Dutch politician, assassinated. Shanta Gandhi, 84, Indian theatre director, dancer and playwright. Bjørn Johansen, 61, Norwegian jazz musician. Bronisław Pawlik, 76, Polish actor, stomach cancer. Saleh Selim, 71, Egyptian football player, actor, and Olympian (1960), liver cancer.
7 Kevyn Aucoin, 40, American make-up artist and author (The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, Face Forward), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Durga Bhagwat, 92, Indian scholar, socialist and writer. Bernard Burrows, 91, British diplomat. Ewart Jones, 91, Welsh chemist. Robert Kanigher, 86, American comic book writer and editor (Wonder Woman, The Flash, Sgt. Rock). Dick Meissner, 62, Canadian ice hockey player (Boston Bruins, New York Rangers). Masakatsu Miyamoto, 63, Japanese football player, manager, and Olympian (1964, 1968), pneumonia. Xavier Montsalvatge, 90, Spanish composer and music critic. Seattle Slew, 28, American thoroughbred racehorse champion. Monica Sinclair, 77, British operatic contralto.
8 Sylvester Barrett, 75, Irish politician (Minister for the Environment, Minister for Defence, Member of the European Parliament). Alexander Bottini, 33, Venezuelan footballer. Basil Chubb, 80, English-Irish political scientist and author (The Government and Politics of Ireland). Edward Jackson, 76, English diplomat (Ambassador to Cuba, Ambassador to Belgium). Tilly Lauenstein, 85, German film and television actress. Lou Lombardo, 70, American film editor (The Wild Bunch, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Moonstruck), stroke. Ahmad Mazhar, 84, Egyptian actor, pneumonia. Boyce McDaniel, 84, American nuclear physicist, worked on the Manhattan Project, heart attack. Thore Skredegaard, 92, Norwegian Olympic sports shooter (1948).
9 Dan Devine, 77, American football player and coach (Arizona State, Missouri, Green Bay Packers, Notre Dame). Bill Garnaas, 80, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers). Robert Layton, 76, Canadian politician and a member of Parliament (House of Commons representing Lachine and Lachine—Lac-Saint-Louis, Quebec). Leon Stein, 91, American composer and music analyst. Sam Walton, 59, American gridiron football player (East Texas State, New York Jets, Houston Oilers), heart attack.
10 Philip Edward Archer, 77, Ghanaian lawyer and Chief Justice (1991-1995). Kaifi Azmi, 83, Indian Urdu poet. Lynda Lyon Block, 54, American convicted murderer, executed by electric chair. George Cates, 90, American music arranger, conductor, songwriter and record producer. John Cunniff, 57, American hockey player and coach (Hartford Whalers, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils), esophageal cancer.John Cunniff, Sports-Reference / Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-28. Austen Kark, 75, British television executive, managing director of the BBC World Service. Larry Napoleon, 79, American baseball player. David Riesman, 92, American sociologist, educator, and commentator on American society. Yves Robert, 81, French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer, cerebral hemorrhage. Bill Simms, 93, American baseball player.
11 Joseph Bonanno, 97, Italian-American mafia boss, heart attack. Renaude Lapointe, 90, Canadian journalist and a politician. Bill Peet, 87, American animator and screenwriter (Cinderella, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland). Steve Rachunok, 85, American baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers). Abida Sultan, 88, Pakistani princess and daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan. Jerzy Tabeau, 83, Polish Holocaust survivor. Nika Turbina, 27, Soviet and Russian poet, suicide by jumping.
12 Edward M. Carey, 85, American oil industry executive. Richard Chorley, 74, English geographer, heart attack. Luciano Galesi, 75, Italian Olympic sports shooter (1952). Bruce Hansen, 74, New Zealand Olympic equestrian (1964).
13 Clinton Adams, 83, American artist, art historian and head of the Tamarind Institute, liver cancer. Alan P. Bell, 70, American psychologist (Kinsey Institute). Ruth Cracknell, 76, Australian actress (Mother and Son), pneumonia. George Gordienko, 74, Canadian professional wrestler and artist, melanoma. Valeriy Lobanovskyi, 63, Ukrainian football coach, stroke. Douglas Pike, 77, American historian and scholar on the Vietnam War. Bill Rodgers, 79, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates). Morihiro Saito, 74, Japanese aikido teacher, cancer. Pyotr Tolstikhin, 75, Soviet Russian Olympic sailor (1956).
14 Derek Birley, 75, British educationist, writer and sports historian. Rawshan Jamil, 71, Bangladeshi actress and dancer. José Lutzenberger, 75, Brazilian agronomist and environmentalist, heart attack. Gordon J. F. MacDonald, 72, American geophysicist. Dale Morey, 83, American basketball player. Ray Stricklyn, 73, American actor and publicist, emphysema.
15 Kofoworola Ademola, 88, Nigerian educationist. Bernard Benjamin, 92, British statistician, a leading figure in the field of demography. Darwood Kaye, 72, American child actor (Our Gang), hit and run accident. Tatiana Okunevskaya, 88, Soviet and Russian actress. Arthur Peddy, 85, American comic book artist. Bryan Pringle, 67, British actor.
16 José Aceituno, 65, Chilean long distance runner and Olympian (1960). Shoichi Arai, 36, Japanese professional wrestling promoter, suicide by hanging. Eduard de Atzel, 85, Peruvian Olympic sports shooter (1960, 1964). Alec Campbell, 103, Australian World War I veteran, nation's last surviving ANZAC at the Gallipoli campaign. Jim Dewar, 59, Scottish musician, stroke. Big Dick Dudley, 34, American professional wrestler (ECW), kidney failure. Kenneth Fung, 90, Hong Kong politician and businessman. Ferenc Kemény, 79, Hungarian Olympic gymnast (1952). Salcia Landmann, 90, Jewish Ukrainian writer. José Reis, 94, Brazilian scientist, journalist, and science writer. José Riesgo, 82, Spanish actor. Gavril Serfőző, 75, Romanian football player and Olympian (1952).
17 Dave Berg, 81, American cartoonist (Mad, The Lighter Side of...), cancer. Joe Black, 78, American first Black baseball pitcher to win a World Series game (Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, Washington Senators), prostate cancer. Edwin Alonzo Boyd, 88, Canadian bank robber and prison escapee of the 1950s (Citizen Gangster). James Chichester-Clark, 79, Northern Ireland politician, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1971. John de Lancie, 80, American oboist, principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. László Kubala, 74, Hungarian and Slovak football player. Bobby Robinson, 98, American baseball player. Sharon Sheeley, 62, American songwriter. Little Johnny Taylor, 59, American singer. Aşık Mahzuni Şerif, 61, Turkish folk musician, composer, poet, and author, heart failure. Norman Vaughan, 79, English comedian.
18 Sergio Andreoli, 80, Italian football player. Song Hye-rim, 65, North Korean actress, best, breast cancer. Egidio Premiani, 93, Italian Olympic basketball player (1936). Wolfgang Schneiderhan, 86, Austrian classical violinist. Davey Boy Smith, 39, British professional wrestler, myocardial infarction, heart attack. Zypora Spaisman, 86, Polish-American actress and Yiddish theatre empresaria. Gordon Wharmby, 68, British actor (Last of the Summer Wine), cancer.
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