Deaths in June 1998

The following is a list of notable deaths in June 1998.

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 1998

1 Emery Barnes, 68, American-Canadian gridiron football player and politician. Rex Bumgardner, 74, American gridiron football player (Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns). Patrick Eugene Carr, 75, American district judge (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana). Gottfried Dienst, 78, Swiss football referee. Junkyard Dog, 45, American professional wrestler (NWA, WWF), traffic collision. Shigeo Fukushima, 55, Japanese Olympic swimmer (1964). Godfrey Grayson, 84, English film director. Immo Huhtinen, 65, Finnish Olympic sports shooter (1964, 1968, 1972). Darwin Joston, 60, American actor (Assault on Precinct 13, Eraserhead, The Fog), leukemia. Bishambhar Nath Pande, 91, Indian freedom fighter, social worker, and politician. José Pedraza, 60, Mexican race walker and Olympic medalist (1968). Jerzy Łoś, 78, Polish mathematician, economist, and philosopher. Francisco Rodríguez, 82, Mexican Olympic cyclist (1948). Jim Vollenweider, 58, American football player (San Francisco 49ers).

2 Ian Appleyard, 74, British rally driver and Olympic alpine skier (1948). Daniel I. Axelrod, 87, American paleoecologist, heart attack. Helen Carter, 70, American country music singer, heart problems. P. Andrew Cooray, 96, Sri Lankan politician. Oran Henderson, 77, United States Army officer associated with the Mỹ Lai massacre, pancreatic cancer. Ricky Hyslop, 83, Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and arranger. Brian Johnston, 64, New Zealand Olympic field hockey player (1956). Gonzalo Martínez Ortega, 64, Mexican actor, screenwriter and producer, traffic collision. Seija Pöntinen, 64, Finnish Olympic athlete (1952). Dorothy Stickney, 101, American actress.

3 Pat Abbruzzi, 65, American gridiron football player. Poul Bundgaard, 75, Danish actor and singer, kidney failure. Lucien Conein, 78, French-born U.S. Army officer and OSS/CIA operative, heart failure. Jan Erlich, 51, Polish footballer. Douglas Gretzler, 47, American serial killer, execution by lethal injection. Gil Gunthorpe, 87, Australian cricketer. Joseph C. Harsch, 93, American journalist. Ernest Henry, 94, Australian freestyle swimmer and Olympic medalist (1924). William L. Snyder, 80, American film producer, Alzheimer's disease.

4 Aarudhra, 72, Indian author, poet, publisher, and playwright. Otto Bengtsson, 76, Swedish javelin thrower and Olympian (1952). Fred Burchell, 67, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens). Clancy Carlile, 68, American novelist and screenwriter, cancer. Philippe Charbonneaux, 81, French industrial designer. Harry H. Gleaton, 92, American politician. Josephine Hutchinson, 94, American actress. Ray Montgomery, 76, American actor. Miguel Montuori, 65, Italian Argentine football player. Eric Plahn, 78, American basketball player. Shirley Povich, 92, American sports journalist. Sándor Réthy, 74, Hungarian Olympic gymnast (1952). H. Allen Smith, 88, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1957-1973). David Walsh, 52, Canadian businessman, aneurysm.

5 Henri Hébrans, 94, Belgian Olympic boxer (1920). Alfred Kazin, 83, American writer and literary critic. Viola Keats, 87, British actress. Emilio Mori, 89, Italian Olympic hurdler (1936). Jeanette Nolan, 86, American actress, stroke. Raymond Pitman, 65, English cricketer. Dieter Roth, 68, Swiss artist, heart attack. B. M. Shah, Indian theatre director and playwright. Prentiss Walker, 80, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1965-1967). Sam Yorty, 88, American politician, stroke.

6 Georg Bayerer, 83, German football player and coach. Louie Bickerton, 95, Australian tennis player. Marshall Green, 82, American diplomat. Jatoe Kaleo, Ghanaian ruler and politician. Dennis McGuire, 59, Australian Olympic canoeist (1964). Wally Rivers, 76, South African Olympic cyclist (1948). Svend S. Schultz, 84, Danish composer and conductor. Eddie Talboom, 77, American college football player (Wyoming Cowboys). Peter Wong, 66, Canadian politician, heart attack.

7 Tom Buskey, 51, American baseball player (New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays), complications from heart attack. James Byrd Jr., 49, African American lynching victim, dragged. Jerry Capehart, 69, American songwriter and music manager.Jerry Capehart obituary, The Independent (London), 18 June 1998, Retrieved 29 September 2019 David W. Dyer, 87, American circuit judge. Wally Gold, 70, American musician and music business executive, colitis. Hans Ramberg, 81, Norwegian-Swedish geologist. Ralph Vaughn, 80, American basketball player.

8 Sani Abacha, 54, Nigerian Army officer and dictator, poisoned. Dick Furey, 73, American basketball player. McCoy Ingram, 67, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers). Harry Lookofsky, 84, American jazz violinist. Jackie McGlew, 69, South African cricket player. Michael John O'Brian, 70, Pakistan Air Force officer. Maria Reich, 95, German-Peruvian mathematician and archaeologist, ovarian cancer. Larisa Yudina, 52, Soviet and Russian journalist and newspaper editor, homicide.

9 Agostino Casaroli, 83, Italian Catholic priest and diplomat for the Holy See. Bob Cooper, 62, American racing driver. Loïs Mailou Jones, 92, American artist and teacher. Edmund Koller, 67, West German bobsledder and Olympian (1956). Barton Holland Warnock, 86, American botanist, heart attack.

10 Paudge Brennan, 76, Irish politician. Bobby Bryant, 64, American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist, heart attack. Leroy Chollet, 74, American basketball player (Syracuse Nationals). David English, 67, British journalist and newspaper editor. Fernando Germani, 92, Italian organist of the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Steve Griffiths, 84, English footballer. Jim Hearn, 77, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies). Hammond Innes, 84, English author. Nivedita Jain, 19, Indian beauty contestant and actress, complications after fall. Raul Klein, 65, Brazilian footballer. Steve Sanders, 45, American musician, singer and songwriter, suicide by gunshot. John G. Smith, 73, American baseball coach, pneumonia.

11 Thomas Abernethy, 95, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1943-1973). Harry Anderson, 66, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds). Cléo, 60, Brazilian footballer. Dame Catherine Cookson, 91, British author. Gevorg Emin, 78, Armenian poet, essayist, and translator. Jacques Emmanuel, 78, French actor, screenwriter and librettist. Alexei Eriomin, 79, Soviet and Russian realist painter. Alfons Jēgers, 78, Latvian sportsman. Don Menasco, 68, American football player (New York Giants, Washington Redskins). Jože Privšek, 61, Slovene jazz and pop musician. Leopoldo Salcedo, 86, Filipino film actor. Lucia Valentini Terrani, 51, Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano, leukemia.

12 Leo Buscaglia, 74, American author and motivational speaker, heart attack. Walter De Giusti, 35–36, Argentine spree killer, HIV/AIDS complications. John Gutmann, 93, German-American photographer and painter. Charles "Teenie" Harris, 90, American photographer. Jon Leirfall, 98, Norwegian politician. Theresa Merritt, 75, American actress (That's My Mama, The Wiz, Billy Madison) and singer, skin cancer. Paul Michael Stephani, 53, American serial killer, skin cancer. Richard Thompson, 83, American animator. Lucienne Velu, 96, French athlete, basketball player and Olympian (1928, 1936).

13 Nisim Aloni, 71, Israeli playwright and translator. Lucio Costa, 96, Brazilian architect and urban planner. Gil Duthie, 86, Australian politician. Buddy Elrod, 79, American football player. Alfred Horace Gerrard, 99, English modernist sculptor. Birger Ruud, 86, Norwegian ski jumper and Olympian (1932, 1936, 1948). Fernand Sastre, 74, French football official, cancer. Kadamba Simmons, 24, British actress and model, strangled. Henryka Słomczewska-Nowak, 83, Polish Olympic long jumper (1948). Reg Smythe, 80, British cartoonist (Andy Capp), lung cancer. Yoshio Sugino, 93, Japanese martial artist and film choreographer. Éric Tabarly, 86, French naval officer and yachtsman, drowned. Henry Tatana, 53, New Zealand rugby player.

14 Camillo Achilli, 76, Italian footballer. Hans W. Brimi, 80, Norwegian farmer and traditional folk musician. Ginette Mathiot, 91, French food writer. Oliver Treyz, 80, American network television executive.

15 Humphrey Boardman, 93, English rower and Olympian (1928). Hartmut Boockmann, 63, German historian. Suzanne Eisendieck, 91, German painter. Jason Holliday, 74, American hustler and nightclub performer. Morris Kestelman, 92, British artist. Thierry Salmon, 41, Belgian actor and theatre director, traffic collision. Casey Walker, 85, American baseball player. Anton van Wilderode, 79, Belgian priest, writer and poet.

16 Roberto Cañedo, 80, Mexican actor. Lewis Leonard Forman, 68, British botanist. Jorge Toriello Garrido, 90, Guatemalan politician and President of Guatemala. Frank Kristufek, 82, American football player (Brooklyn Dodgers). Keith Newton, 56, English footballer, laryngeal cancer. Ricardo Núñez, 93, Spanish actor, screenwriter, producer and film director. Jafar Sharif-Emami, 85, Iranian politician. Stylianos Stratakos, 83, Greek Olympic sprinter (1948). Robert Van Grootenbruele, 91, Belgian cyclist. Fred Wacker, 79, American businessman and racecar driver.

17 John Carberry, 93, American Roman Catholic prelate. Dina de Marco, 60, Mexican actress and television director, cancer. Aage Eriksen, 81, Norwegian Greco-Roman wrestler and Olympic medalist (1948, 1952). Leif Freij, 55, Swedish wrestler and Olympian (1960). Joe Kelly, 91, Australian rules football player and coach. Carlos Loredo, 46, Cuban football player and Olympian (1976, 1980). Gianni Lunadei, 60, Italian-Argentine actor, suicide by gunshot. Gyula László, 88, Hungarian historian, archaeologist and artist. Mohammad Sabir, 54, Pakistani cricketer. Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi, 87, Egyptian Muslim jurist.

18 Otto Baum, 86, German commander of the Waffen-SS during World War II. André Chorda, 60, French football player. Henry C. Cooper, 84, Australian Olympic boxer (1936). Archie Edwards, 79, American blues guitarist. Edward Eliscu, 96, American lyricist, playwright, producer and actor. Hugh Gibson, 79, American district judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas). Ernesto Grillo, 68, Argentine footballer, pancreatic cancer. Kim Jin-kyu, 76, South Korean actor, film director and producer, cancer. Felix Knight, 89, American tenor, actor, and vocal teacher. Charles Korvin, 90, Hungarian-born American actor, photographer and master chef. Adel Osseiran, 93, Lebanese statesman and founding father of the Lebanese Republic. Nazim Panipati, Pakistani film song lyricist and film script writer. Karl-Heinz Spikofski, 71, German football player and coach. Herbert J. Sweet, 78, United States Marine Sergeant Major, respiratory failure. Paul van Buren, 74, American theologian and author, cancer.

19 John Camkin, 75, English journalist and sports commentator, cancer. Novice Gail Fawcett, 89, American academic administrator. Anatoly Kasheida, 69, Soviet and Ukrainian writer, poet, and journalist. Howard J. Whitmore, Jr., 93, American politician.Howard Whitmore Jr., 93; legislator, Newton mayor, '64 Senate candidate, The Boston Globe, June 21, 1998

20 Bruno Barnabe, 93, English film and stage actor. Ernst Brugger, 84, Swiss politician . Robert James Clayton, 82, English electronics engineer. Heinz Ditgens, 83, German football player, manager and Olympian (1936). Per Anders Fogelström, 80, Swedish writer.