The following is a list of notable deaths in March 1996.
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.
March 1996
1 Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, 68, French socialite. Vergílio Ferreira, 80, Portuguese writer, essayist, and professor. David Gebhard, 68, American architectural historian. Khan Abdul Ghani Khan, 82, Pakistani poet, artist, writer and politician. Susie Sharp, 88, American jurist and first female chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Don Smith, 75, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers). Thorleif Vangen, 75, Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier (1948). Ng Wui, 82, Hong Kong film director, writer and actor.
2 Jacobo Majluta Azar, 61, Vice President of the Dominican Republic, lung cancer. Célestin Delmer, 89, French football player. Naseem Hijazi, 81, Pakistani writer. José López Rubio, 92, Spanish film director. Lyle Talbot, 94, American actor, heart failure. Notable Brazilians killed in the 1996 Madrid Taxi Aéreo Learjet 25 crash: Dinho, 24, vocalist and songwriter (Mamonas Assassinas). , 25, guitarist (Mamonas Assassinas). , 28, keyboardist (Mamonas Assassinas). , 22, bassist (Mamonas Assassinas). , 26, drummer (Mamonas Assassinas).
3 Marguerite Duras, 81, French writer and film director, esophageal cancer. Randolph Harding, 81, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1968-1974). Walter Kaaden, 76, German engineer. John Krol, 85, American catholic cardinal. Léo Malet, 86, French writer. Meyer Schapiro, 91, American historian of Art. Alfred Wilmore, 71, American baseball player. Milt Woodard, 84, American sports writer and sport executive.
4 Berenger Bradford, 83, British Army officer. Ted Cordner, 77, Australian rules football player. Enrico Cucchi, 30, Italian football player, cancer. Minnie Pearl, 83, American comedian and country singer, stroke. John Sauer, 70, American gridiron football player, coach, and broadcaster.
5 Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, 78, Bangladeshi politician and President of Bangladesh. Whit Bissell, 86, American actor (The Magnificent Seven, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Time Machine), Parkinson's disease. Joshua Compston, 25, British art curator, drugs overdose. Herb Hall, 88, American musician. Galina Kravchenko, 91, Soviet/Russian actress. José Santacruz Londoño, 52, Colombian drug trafficker, homicide. Pithapuram Nageswara Rao, 65, Indian singer. Fritz Huschke von Hanstein, 85, German racecar driver.
6 Jack Abel, 68, American comic book artist (Superman, Hulk, The Tomb of Dracula). Simon Cadell, 45, British actor (Hi-de-Hi!, Life Without George, Watership Down), lung cancer. Stuart Cartwright, 76, Australian rules footballer. Jurandir de Freitas, 55, Brazilian football player. Douglas Jay, Baron Jay, 88, British politician. José de Magalhães Pinto, 86, Brazilian lawyer, economist, banker and politician. Paula Winslowe, 85, American actress (Our Miss Brooks, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Bambi). Zdeněk Škrland, 82, Czechoslovak/Czech canoeist and Olympian (1936).
7 Pinchas Menachem Alter, 69, Polish Hasidic rabbi. Jacques Bobet, 76, French filmmaker. Alf Copsey, 75, Australian rules footballer. Willie Fraser, 67, Scottish football player.
8 John Christensen, 80, Danish Olympic swimmer (1936). "Mad Jack" Churchill, 89, British Army officer and master archer. Bill Graber, 85, American pole vaulter and Olympian (1932, 1936). Bill Nicholson, 81, American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies). Werner Schlichting, 91, German art director. Carlo Vitale, 93, Italian painter.
9 Ronald Ernest Aitchison, 74, Australian physicist and electronics engineer. Akhtar-Ul-Iman, 80, Indian Urdu poet and screenwriter. Mohammed al-Ghazali, 78, Egyptian Islamic cleric and scholar. George Burns, 100, American comedian and actor (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Sunshine Boys, Oh, God!), Oscar winner (1976), heart failure. Merle Eugene Curti, 98, American historian. Imre Kovács, 74, Hungarian football player and Olympian (1952). Alberto Pellegrino, 65, Italian Olympic fencer (1956, 1960, 1964). Richard M. Powers, 75, American science fiction illustrator. Alfredo Scherer, 93, German-Brazilian catholic cardinal. Ollie Walsh, 58, Irish hurler and hurling manager.
10 Jean Desgranges, 66, French footballer. Hoàng Xuân Hãn, 88, Vietnamese professor of mathematics, linguist, and historian. Ross Hunter, 75, American film and television producer, and actor, cancer. Marc de Jonge, 47, French actor, traffic collision. Butch Laswell, 37, American motorcycle stunt rider, motorcycle accident. Gyula Nagy, 71, Hungarian football player and manager.
11 Elio Filippo Accrocca, 72, Italian poet, author, and translator. Granville Beynon, 81, Welsh physicist. Paul Crossley, 47, English football player, heart attack. Vince Edwards, 67, American actor (Ben Casey, The Devil's Brigade, The Killing), pancreatic cancer. Ludwig Fellermaier, 65, German politician. Richard G. Folsom, 89, American mechanical engineer. Biljana Jovanović, 43, Serbian author, peace activist and feminist. Rex E. Lee, 61, American lawyer, academic and Solicitor General of the United States, pancreatic cancer. Charles Oatley, 92, British physicist and electrical engineer. Thorleif Olsen, 74, Norwegian football player and Olympian (1952). Evangeline Walton, 88, American writer.
12 Bob Forte, 73, American gridiron football player (Green Bay Packers). Marte Harell, 89, Austrian actress. Otto Møller Jensen, 55, Danish actor. Eigil Knuth, 92, Danish explorer, archaeologist, sculptor and writer. Gyula Kállai, 85, Hungarian politician. Joe Sankey, 82, Australian cricketer.
13 Henriette Alimen, 95, French paleontologist and geologist.Henriette Alimen (1900-1996) Hsu Ching-chung, 88, Taiwanese politician. Ted Fetter, 89, American lyricist. Lucio Fulci, 68, Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor, diabetes. Sándor Gellér, 70, Hungarian football player. Peer Guldbrandsen, 83, Danish film director. Shafi Inamdar, 50, Indian actor. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 54, Polish film director and screenwriter (Three Colours trilogy, The Double Life of Veronique, Dekalog), heart attack. Weston La Barre, 84, American anthropologist. Marcelle Mercenier, 75, Belgian piano player. Max Messner, 57, American football player (Detroit Lions, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers). Rudolf Rieger, 80, Austrian Olympic ski jumper (1936). Emilie Schenkl, 85, Austrian Hindu convert and partner of Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose. Robert Tetrick, 69, American actor. Dick West, 80, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds).
14 Dewi Bebb, 57, Welsh rugby player, broadcaster and journalist. Wang Luobin, 82, Chinese musician, cancer. Lucille H. McCollough, 90, American politician, complications from a stroke. Andreas Münzer, 31, Austrian bodybuilder, organ failure. Dean Prater, 37, American gridiron football player (Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills), drowned. Maj Sønstevold, 78, Swedish composer.
15 Gad al-Haq, 78, Egyptian Grand Imam of al-Azhar, heart attack. Ed Beach, 67, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers, Tri-Cities Blackhawks) . Lucien Boekmans, 73, Belgian Olympic field hockey player (1948). Helen Chadwick, 42, British sculptor, photographer and installation artist, heart attack. Harold Courlander, 87, American anthropologist. Roswell Gilpatric, 89, American lawyer and Deputy Secretary of Defense. Homer Groening, 76, Canadian-American filmmaker, father of the Simpsons creator Matt Groening, cancer. Cheng Heng, 80, Cambodian politician. Dennis Johnson, 44, American football player (Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills). Wolfgang Koeppen, 89, German writer. Rita de Luna, 66, Guatemalan Olympic equestrian (1976). Francis Joseph Murray, 85, American mathematician. Robert Pearce, 88, American wrestler and Olympic champion (1932). Olga Rudge, 100, American musician.
16 Charlie Barnett, 41, American actor (Miami Vice) and comedian, AIDS-related complications. Ray S. Cline, 77, American government official, Alzheimer's disease. Des Fothergill, 75, Australian rules football player and cricket player. David Gordon, 51, American economist. Evan Green, 65, Australian journalist. Dennis Jennings, 85, English football player. Edmond Weiskopf, 84, Hungarian-born French footballer.
17 Anil Chatterjee, 66, Indian actor. René Clément, 82, French film director and screenwriter. Thomas O. Enders, 64, American diplomat. Elsa Respighi, 101, Italian composer. Nils Sköld, 74, Swedish Army lieutenant-general. Terry Stafford, 54, American singer and songwriter, organ dysfunction. Susan Wrigglesworth, 41, British Olympic fencer (1972, 1976, 1980).
18 Angelico Chavez, 85, American Friar Minor, priest, historian, author, poet and painter. Odysseas Elytis, 84, Greek poet and art critic, heart attack. Jacquetta Hawkes, 85, British archaeologist. Enrique Jordá, 84, Spanish-American conductor. Jaroslav Knotek, 83, Czech Olympic hammer thrower (1936, 1948). Maria Teresa Pelegrí i Marimón, 88, Spanish composer. Niní Marshall, 92, Argentine comedian. Robert van der Veen, 89, Dutch Olympic field hockey player (1928). Shin Yung-kyoo, 53, North Korean football player.
19 Virginia Henderson, 98, American nurse, researcher, and author. Steinþór Jakobsson, 64, Icelandic Olympic alpine skier (1956). Chen Jingrun, 62, Chinese mathematician, pneumonia. W. H. Murray, 83, Scottish mountaineer and writer. Colin Pittendrigh, 77, British-American chronobiologist. Alan Ridout, 61, British composer and teacher. Walter Schönrock, 83, German Olympic long-distance runner (1936). Günther Schütt, 77, German Olympic rower (1952). Walter S. Sullivan, 78, American science reporter and author. Lise Østergaard, 71, Danish psychologist and minister.
20 Claude Bourdet, 86, French politician and writer. Hans Conzett, 80, Swiss publisher and politician. Albert Ganzenmüller, 91, German politician. Werner Loeckle, 79, German Olympic rower (1936). Jim Pendleton, 72, American baseball player. John Vesser, 95, American football player (Chicago Cardinals), and coach.
21 Walter Bietila, 80, American Olympic ski jumper (1936, 1948). Richard Leslie Hill, 95, English civil servant and historian. Robert B. Mautz, 81, American lawyer, law professor, and university administrator. Sverre Sørsdal, 95, Norwegian Olympic boxer (1920, 1924, 1928). Nikolai Usenko, 71, Russian Ryadovoy and Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions during WWII.
22 Marcel Gleyre, 85, American Olympic gymnast (1932). Ron Hayward, 78, British politician. Claude Mauriac, 81, French writer. Don Murray, 50, American drummer, complications following ulcer surgery. Václav Nelhýbel, 76, Czech composer. Robert F. Overmyer, 59, American test pilot and astronaut (STS-5, STS-51-B), aviation accident. Pete Whisenant, 66, American baseball player. Billy Williamson, 71, American Rock and roll musician.
23 Roderic H. Davison, 78, American historian of the Middle East. François Fontaine, 78, French civil servant and writer. Margit Manstad, 93, Swedish actress. Pete Martin, 76, Canadian football player. J. D. "Jay" Miller, 73, American musician. Leo Monaghan, 79, Australian rules footballer. Jacques Toja, 66, French actor, cancer.
24 Aldon J. Anderson, 79, American district judge (United States District Court for the District of Utah). Lola Beltrán, 64, Mexican singer, actress, and television presenter, pulmonary embolism. Idilio Cei, 58, Italian football player. John Gerstner, 81, American theologian. Étienne Hajdú, 88, French and Hungarian sculptor. Joseph Jessop, 97, American Olympic sailor (1932). Liam O'Brien, 83, American screenwriter and television producer, heart attack. Ray Pepper, 90, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns).