The following is a list of notable deaths in January 1999.
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.
January 1999
1 Myslym Alla, 79, Albanian football player and manager. Vítor Baptista, 50, Portuguese footballer. Len Dondero, 95, American baseball player (St. Louis Browns). Besim Fagu, 73, Albanian football player. Helena Fliśnik, 46, Polish Olympic sprinter (1972). Rafael Iglesias, 74, Argentine heavyweight boxer and Olympian (1948). Les Yewdale, 70, Australian politician.
2 Amin al-Majaj, 77, Palestinian politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (1994–1998). Stanley Bissell, 92, English wrestler and Olympian (1948). Margot Cottens, 76, Uruguayan actress. Jean Galbraith, 92, Australian botanist, children's writer, and poet. Sebastian Haffner, 91, German journalist and author. Niels Kristensen, 78, Danish rower and Olympian (1952). Rolf Liebermann, 88, Swiss composer and music administrator. Aase Lionæs, 91, Norwegian politician and feminist. Joan Long, 73, Australian producer and writer. Rags Matthews, 93, American college football player (TCU Horned Frogs). Shepard Menken, 77, American voice actor. Trevor J. Rees, 85, American football player and coach. Horst Seeger, 72, German musicologist, librettist and opera director. George Tobin, 77, American football player (New York Giants). Louis Jolyon West, 74, American psychiatrist, cancer.
3 Elsa Burnett, 96, Swedish actress. Diana Dei, 84, Italian film actress. Neil Gibson, 36, New Zealand rower and Olympian (1988), cancer. Otto Königsberger, 90, German architect. Violet Rose Olney, 87, English athlete and Olympic medalist (1936). Chuck Parsons, 74, American sports car racing driver. Stanley Proffitt, 88, English cricketer. Jerry Quarry, 53, American heavyweight boxer, pneumonia. Jim Still, 74, American football player (Buffalo Bills). Jack C. K. Teng, 86, Chinese educator, writer and politician. Gorō Yamaguchi, 65, Japanese shakuhachi player.
4 Maqsood Ahmed, 73, Pakistani cricketer. Iron Eyes Cody, 94, American actor. Diane Foster, 70, Canadian track and field athlete and Olympian (1948). Jean Krombach, 88, Luxembourgian Olympic sprinter (1936). Fredrik Mellbye, 81, Norwegian physician. Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland, 79, British peer and landowner. Kisshomaru Ueshiba, 77, Japanese master of aikido, respiratory failure. José Vela Zanetti, 85, Spanish painter and muralist.
5 Charles Francis Adams IV, 88, American electronics industrialist. Buck Batterman, 80, American basketball player. Paul Wallace Gates, 97, American historian and academic. Michael Hirschfeld, 54, New Zealand businessman and politician, diabetes complications. Jarmila Nygrýnová, 45, Czech long jumper and Olympian (1972, 1976, 1980), cancer. Ralph Pasquariello, 72, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals). Clare Potter, 95, American fashion designer. Basuki Resobowo, 82–83, Indonesian painter. Paul Zoll, 87, American cardiologist.
6 David W. Dennis, 86, American politician, Representative from Indiana (1969–1975). Jim Dunn, 67, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates). Joseph Malta, 80, American executioner during the Nuremberg executions. Ntsu Mokhehle, 80, Lesotho politician, Prime Minister (1993–1994, 1994–1998). Henrietta Moraes, 67, British artists' model and memoirist. Hélène Ouvrard, 60, Canadian French writer. Michel Petrucciani, 36, French jazz pianist, pulmonary infection. Antonio Pierfederici, 79, Italian actor. Lajos Tichy, 63, Hungarian footballer. Leo Weilenmann, 76, Swiss racing cyclist.
7 Phil Cutchin, 78, American football player and coach. Hernán Fuentes, 80, Chilean Olympic pentathlete (1948, 1952). James Hammerstein, 67, American theatre director and producer, heart failure. Fred Hopkins, 51, American jazz double bassist. Aulis Manninen, 81, American Olympic long-distance runner (1948). Fritz Ruland, 84, German Olympic cyclist (1936). Viktor Sobolev, 83, Soviet/Russian scientist.
8 James William Baskin, 79, Canadian politician and businessman. Punch Coomaraswamy, 74, Malaysian–Singaporean judge, diplomat and politician, pulmonary disease. Harvey Miller, 63, American actor, director, and screenwriter. Vahid Musayev, 51, Azerbaijani politician, Deputy Minister, killed. Lyusyena Ovchinnikova, 67, Soviet-born Russian film actress. John W. Roberts, 78, American General in the United States Air Force. Rövşən Rzayev, 29, Azerbaijani officer and war hero, murdered. Peter Seeberg, 73, Danish modernist novelist and playwright. Dobie Gillis Williams, 38, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
9 Rick Bennewitz, 62, American television director, heart failure. Hans Candrian, 60, Swiss bobsledder and Olympic medalist (1968, 1972). Joyce Chiang, 28, American attorney. Cleveland Cram, 81, American historian and intelligence official in the Central Intelligence Agency. Carl Elliott, 85, American politician, Representative from Alabama (1949–1963, 1963–1965). Buck Felder, 83, American baseball player. Mel Pearson, 60, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins). Jim Peters, 80, English long-distance runner and Olympian (1948, 1952). Mien Ruys, 94, Dutch landscape and garden architect.
10 Shinsuke Ashida, 84, Japanese actor, liver cancer. Herta Frey-Dexler, 81, Swiss Olympic figure skater (1936). John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol, 44, British peer, aristocrat and businessman, multiple organ failure. Walter Edward Harris, 94, Canadian politician and lawyer. Esteban Marino, 84, Uruguayan football referee. Frank Parker, 95, American singer and actor. Bert Piggott, 78, American football player (Los Angeles Dons), and coach. Primož Ramovš, 77, Slovenian composer and librarian. Gavin Relly, 72, South African businessman, Chairman of Anglo American. Edward Williams, 77, Australian judge on the Supreme Court of Queensland. Juliusz Żuławski, 88, Polish poet, literary critic and translator.
11 Teuvo Aura, 86, Finnish politician. Fabrizio De André, 58, Italian singer-songwriter, lung cancer. Robert Douglas, 89, American film actor, television director and producer. Ján Ducký, 54, Slovak politician, shot. Jim Dyck, 76, American baseball player. Nathalie Lind, 80, Danish jurist and politician. Naomi Mitchison, 101, Scottish novelist and poet. Brian Moore, 77, Northern Irish-born Canadian screenwriter and novelist, pulmonary fibrosis. Josefina Plá, 95, Spanish poet, playwright and art critic. K. A. Rahman, 59, Indian political activist. Öztürk Serengil, 68, Turkish actor and comedian. Bobby Specht, 77, American figure skater. François Spoerry, 86, French architect and urban planner. Mark Warren, 60, American television director (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, What's Happening!!, Sanford and Son), cancer.
12 Allen Adkins, 69, American racing driver. Roland L. Bragg, 75, American Army paratrooper and namesake of Fort Bragg from 2025 onward, cancer. Leo Cherne, 86, American economist and public servant. Betty Lou Gerson, 84, American actress (One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Fly, Cats Don't Dance), stroke. David Logan, 42, American gridiron football player (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers), respiratory failure. Gerda Ring, 107, Norwegian stage actress and producer. Maria Sander, 74, German sprinter and Olympian (1952, 1956). Charlie Skeen, 49, American actor and stuntman. William H. Whyte, 81, American urbanist, organizational analyst and journalist. Doug Wickenheiser, 37, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals), cancer.
13 Maurice A. Donahue, 80, American politician. Colin Hickey, 67, Australian Olympic speed skater (1952, 1956, 1960). Buzz Kulik, 76, American film director and producer. Karl Lieffen, 72, German film actor, brain cancer. Kelvin Malone, 38, American spree killer, execution by lethal injection. John Frederick Nims, 85, American poet and academic. Lawrence Harold Welsh, 63, American bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.
14 Robin Bailey, 79, English actor, respiratory failure. Tom Binford, 74, American entrepreneur and philanthropist. Henry Carroll, 93, American soccer player and Olympian (1928). Roger Gill, 58, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles). Jerzy Grotowski, 65, Polish theatre director and theorist, leukaemia. Janus Hellemons, 86, Dutch racing cyclist. Brett King, 78, American actor, leukaemia, leukemia. Muslimgauze, 37, British electronic musician, fungal infection. Fred Myrow, 59, American composer, heart failure. Sabina Olmos, 85, Argentine film actress. Raymond Peynet, 90, French cartoonist. Granville Rodrigo, 41, Sri Lankan actor, singer, and art director. Barat Shakinskaya, 84, Soviet-Azerbaijani actress. Lincoln Thompson, 49, Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, cancer. Aldo van Eyck, 80, Dutch architect.
15 John Bloom, 54, American actor, heart failure. Betty Box, 83, British film producer, cancer. Doyle Cofer, 75, American basketball player. Oscar Georgy, 82, American baseball player (New York Giants). Lars Glassér, 73, Swedish sprint canoeist and Olympian (1952). Bob Gonya, 88, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles). Monroe Karmin, 69, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner. Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry, 79, Irish judge and life peer, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland (1971–1988). Marion Ryan, 67, English pop singer. John Baker Saunders, 44, American musician (Mad Season), heroin overdose. Mi. Pa. Somasundaram, 77, Indian Tamil journalist, poet and writer.
16 Jesse Baker, 41, American football player (Houston Oilers, Dallas Cowboys). Oscar Cullmann, 96, French Lutheran theologian. Đoàn Khuê, 75, Vietnamese army general and Minister of Defence (1992-1997). Jim McClelland, 83, Australian jurist and politician, Senator for New South Wales (1971–1978). Dadie Rylands, 96, British literary scholar and theatre director.
17 Cay von Brockdorff, 83, German sculptor and art historian. Maurice Byers, 81, Australian jurist and constitutional expert. Nicholas J. Corea, 55, American television writer (Walker, Texas Ranger, The Incredible Hulk, Outlaws), cancer. Theodore Major, 90, English artist. Claire Schillace, 77, American baseball player.
18 Horace Cumner, 80, Welsh footballer. Ciril Cvetko, 79, Slovene composer and conductor. Frances Gershwin, 92, American singer and violinist. Lucille Kallen, 76, American screenwriter and playwright, cancer. Pat Morton, 88, Australian businessman and politician, Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales (1955–1959). Henri Romagnesi, 86, French mycologist. Harrie Schoenmakers, 83, Dutch racing cyclist. Günter Strack, 69, German television actor, heart failure. Virginia Verrill, 82, American big band singer.
19 Robert Eugene Brashers, 40, American serial killer, suicide by gunshot. Tom Chantiles, 82, American football player (Detroit Lions). Roderick Chisholm, 82, American philosopher. Ivan Francescato, 31, Italian rugby player, heart failure. Mario Gentili, 85, Italian cyclist and Olympic medalist. Jacques Lecoq, 77, French actor and mime, cerebral haemorrhage. Warren Schrage, 78, American basketball player.
20 Stella Bloch, 101, American artist, dancer and journalist. Cleaver Bunton, 96, Australian politician, mayor of Albury (NSW). Martyn Finlay, 87, New Zealand lawyer and politician. John Golding, 67, British trade unionist and politician, Member of Parliament (1969–1986), complications following surgery. Frances Lander Spain, 95, American children's librarian.
21 Alfonso Corona Blake, 80, Mexican film director and screenwriter. Charles Brown, 76, American blues singer and pianist, heart failure. Berkeley L. Bunker, 92, American politician, Senator (1940–1942) from Nevada and Representative (1945–1947). Jacques Chailley, 88, French musicologist and composer. Iwashita Eiichi, 43, Japanese sumo wrestler.