Deaths in October 1996

The following is a list of notable deaths in October 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.

October 1996

1 James Beal, 67, New Zealand boxer, leukaemia. Carl Fredrik Engelstad, 80, Norwegian writer, playwright, journalist, translator and theatre director. Noel Hickey, 71, Australian rules footballer. Patrick Jameson, 83, New Zealand Royal Air Force officer and flying ace during World War II. Pat McGeown, 40, Irish Provisional Irish Republican Army member, heart attack. Fred Meyer, 86, American Olympic gymnast (1932, 1936). Herbert Seifert, 89, German mathematician. Bill Twomey, Jr., 69, Australian rules football player. Alfred Vogel, 93, Swiss herbalist, naturopath and writer. Deng Yuzhi, 96, Chinese activist and feminist.

2 Helmut Artzinger, 84, German politician. Robert Bourassa, 63, Canadian politician from Quebec, melanoma. Peter J. Brennan, 78, American labor activist and politician, lymphatic cancer. Jean-Louis Dauris, 76, French Olympic sailor (1952). Richard Arthur Gadbois Jr., 64, American district judge (United States District Court for the Central District of California). Tom Hafey, 83, American baseball player (New York Giants, St. Louis Browns). Joonas Kokkonen, 74, Finnish composer. Emiel van Lennep, 81, Dutch diplomat and politician. Andrey Lukanov, 58, Bulgarian politician, assassinated. Banjo Matthews, 64, American NASCAR driver, car owner and builder, heart and respiratory disease. Les Tietje, 86, American Major League Baseball player (Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Browns). Rufus Youngblood, 72, United States Secret Service agent, cancer.

3 Ilyas Afandiyev, 82, Soviet/Azerbaijani writer. Tom Callahan, 75, American basketball player (Providence Steamrollers). Bertus Enklaar, 52, Dutch chess International Master. Vivienne Goonewardene, 80, Sri Lankan politician. George Kubler, 84, American art historian. Eustace Roskill, Baron Roskill, 85, British lawyer and public servant. István Serényi, 85, Hungarian handball player.

4 Humphrey Atkins, 74, British politician, cancer. Larry Gene Bell, 46, American murderer and convict, execution by electrocution. Stephen J. Friedman, 59, American film producer, multiple myeloma. Joe Hoerner, 59, American baseball player, farming accident. Masaki Kobayashi, 80, Japanese film director, heart attack. Silvio Piola, 83, Italian football player. Jerry Rivers, 68, American fiddle player, cancer. Alma Routsong, 71, American novelist, ovarian cancer."Alma L. Routsong" in the Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current (Poughkeepsie Journal; Publication Date: 5/ Oct/ 1996; Publication Place: Poughkeepsie, NY). Randy Schultz, 52, American gridiron football player (Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints). Jack Thornton, 91, Australian rugby league footballer.

5 Judith Allen, 85, American film actress. Julius Edgar Arp, 77, Brazilian Olympic swimmer (1936). Elmer Berger, 88, American Jewish rabbi and anti-Zionist. Wymberley D. Coerr, 83, American politician and diplomat. Seymour Cray, 71, American computer scientist, car accident. Duanmu Hongliang, 84, Chinese author. Richard Kröll, 28, Austrian alpine skier, traffic collision. Akira Noguchi, 79, Japanese baseball player and manager. Arnold van Mill, 75, Dutch opera singer. Joe Walsh, 79, American baseball player (Boston Bees).

6 Jessie Bernard, 93, American sociologist and feminist, cancer. Ted Bessell, 61, American actor (That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) and television director (The Tracey Ullman Show), aortic aneurysm. Ted Daffan, 84, American country musician. Winifred Drinkwater, 83, Scottish aviator and aeroplane engineer. Jacques Kielbaey, 76, Belgian Olympic field hockey player (1948). Guido Mazzinghi, 64, Italian boxer and Olympian (1952). Forrest Pogue, 84, United States Army historian during World War II. Trevor Ranson, 84, Australian rules footballer. Marjorie Shostak, 51, American anthropologist, cancer. Wolfram von Soden, 88, German Assyriologist. Vladimir Yerokhin, 66, Russian football player.

7 José Antonio Burciaga, 56, American Chicano artist, poet, and writer. Richard Clarkson, 92, British aeronautical engineer. Dame Diana Reader Harris, 83, English head master and public figure. Viktor Reimann, 81, Austrian author, journalist and politician. Andrew Salter, 82, American psychologist, cancer. Zeya, 80, Burmese actor and bodybuilder.

8 Mignon G. Eberhart, 97, American author of mystery novels. Geoffrey Finsberg, 70, British politician. Francis D. Lyon, 91, American film and television director. David Miller, 71, Canadian ice hockey player and Olympian (1952). Ferdinand Montier, 87, French racing driver. William Prince, 83, American actor.

9 Per Asplin, 68, Norwegian actor and musician. Marland P. Billings, 94, American structural geologist. William L. DeAndrea, 44, American writer. Nigel Fisher, 83, British politician. George F. Kerr, 78, English writer. Walter Kerr, 83, American writer and theatre critic, congestive heart failure. John W. King, 79, American politician. Roy Lewis, 82, English writer and small press printer. Josiah Majekodunmi, 69, Nigerian high jumper and Olympian (1952). Colleen Peterson, 45, Canadian country and folk singer, cancer. Aleksandar Popović, 66, Serbian writer. Harvey Vernon, 69, American actor. Harry D. Yates, 93, American banker and politician.

10 Ted Bryce, 83, Australian rules footballer. Harold Cleghorn, 83, New Zealand weightlifter and Olympian (1952). Coya Knutson, 84, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1955-1959). Bob Reynolds, 57, American gridiron football player (St. Louis Cardinals, New England Patriots). Toshio Sugie, 83, Japanese film director. David Viscott, 58, American psychiatrist, author, and media personality, heart failure complicated by diabetes.

11 Lars Ahlfors, 89, Finnish mathematician, pneumonia. Keith Boyce, 53, Barbadian cricketer. Carlos Mancheno Cajas, 94, President of Ecuador. Eleanor Cameron, 84, Canadian-American children's author and critic. Johnny Costa, 74, American jazz pianist, aplastic anemia. Roberto Ferrari, 73, Italian fencer and Olympian (1952, 1956, 1960). Bernardo Grinspun, 70, Argentinian politician. Roger Lapébie, 85, French racing cyclist. Joe Morris, 83, Canadian trade unionist. Terry Patchett, 56, British politician, cancer. Edith Penrose, 81, American-British economist. Renato Russo, 36, Brazilian singer and songwriter, complications caused by AIDS. Edwin Spanier, 75, American mathematician at the University of California at Berkeley. William Vickrey, 82, Canadian economist, Nobel prize winner, heart failure. Rolf Widerøe, 94, Norwegian accelerator physicist. Gerald Wild, 89, Australian politician.

12 Nina Alisova, 80, Soviet/Russian actress. Erik Blomberg, 83, Finnish cinematographer, screenwriter, film director and producer. Mac Holten, 74, Australian politician and sportsman. Helmut Hölzer, 84, German rocket engineer. Stefan Knapp, 75, Polish painter and sculptor. Eddie Kuzma, 85, American auto racing builder. René Lacoste, 92, French tennis champion, businessman, and Olympian (1924), cancer. Vangelis Moiropoulos, 91, Greek Olympic sprinter (1928, 1932). Jack Robertson, 79, English cricket player. Gerard Thoolen, 53, Dutch actor, AIDS.

13 Carl H. Dodd, 71, United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. Horst Kopkow, 85, German Nazi politician and SS officer, pneumonia. Henri Nannen, 82, German journalist. Beryl Reid, 77, English actress, kidney failure. Brad Robinson, 37-38, Australian rock musician, lymphoma. Jopie Roosenburg-Goudriaan, 83, Dutch painter.

14 Marcel Bourbonnais, 78, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1958-1963). Rex Darling, 82, American football, basketball, and tennis coach. Tadeusz Grzelak, 66, Polish Olympic boxer (1952). William John Hooper, 80, British cartoonist. Václav Hovorka, 65, Czech football player. Ferd Johnson, 90, American comic strip cartoonist. Tan Chee Khoon, 77, Malaysian politician. Laura La Plante, 91, American film actress, Alzheimer's disease. Jim Mitchell, 75, Australian rules footballer. Izidor Papo, 82, Yugoslav general.

15 Mike Balas, 86, American Major League Baseball player (Boston Bees). Leo Eitinger, 83, Czech psychiatrist. Tom Ferrick, 81, American Major League Baseball player, pitching coach and scout, heart failure. Pierre Franey, 75, French chef, stroke. Rolando Rubalcava, 73, Mexican Olympic basketball player (1952). Toma Tomas, 72, Iraqi guerilla and politician. Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, 85, Native American and women's rights activist. Robert F. Williams, 71, American civil rights leader and author, Hodgkin's lymphoma.

16 Peter Brodie, 79, Scottish minister. Guy Crescent, 76, French businessman and founder of Paris Saint-Germain F.C.. Graham Drane, 80, Australian Olympic sailor (1956, 1964). Gertrude Flynn, 87, American actress. Anthony Griffin, 75, British admiral. Eric Malpass, 85, English novelist. Harold J. Powers, 96, American politician. Hunter Rouse, 90, American physicist. Huang Shao-ku, 95, Chinese politician, Vice Premier.

17 Chris Acland, 30, English drummer and songwriter, suicide by hanging.Perrone, Pierre "Obituary: Chris Acland. The Independent, 23 October 1996, Retrieved 2 October 2021 Bob Adams, 95, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox), and coach. Jaroslav Balík, 72, Czechoslovak film director and screenwriter. Guillermo Garibay, 75, Mexican baseball player. Berthold Goldschmidt, 93, German-British Jewish composer. Bert Hopwood, 87-88, British motorcycle designer. Laura Sabia, 80, Canadian social activist and feminist, Parkinson's disease. Hans Wikne, 82, Swedish Olympic equestrian (1964).

18 Jason Bernard, 58, American actor (Herman's Head, WarGames, Bird), heart attack. Louise Bertram, 88, Canadian figure skater. Luciano Durán Böger, 91, Bolivian poet, writer and politician. Hans Drachsler, 80, German politician. Elmer Klumpp, 90, American Major League Baseball player (Washington Senators, Brooklyn Dodgers). Alex Motter, 83, Canadian ice hockey player (Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings). Simon Soloveychik, 66, Soviet/Russian writer and philosopher. Giovanni Testa, 93, Italian Olympic cross-country skier (1928). Sheldon Vanauken, 82, American journalist, lung cancer.

19 Josef Becker, 91, German politician. Maurice Elliott, 53, Scottish footballer, brain haemorrhage. Ralston Hill, 69, American actor and singer."Richard Ralston Hill" , Oberlin News-Tribune, October 29, 1996, p. 3 John Hillaby, 79, British travel writer and explorer. Bobby Rackard, 69, Irish hurler. Shamsuddin Qasemi, 61, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and politician.

20 Robert Benayoun, 75, French film critic and author. J. Bracken Lee, 97, American politician. Sebastian Santa Maria, 37, Chilean composer. Yuri Neprintsev, 87, Soviet/Russian painter, graphic artist and art teacher. Richard M. Powell, 79, American screenwriter, prostate cancer. Luigi Rovere, 88, Italian film producer. Werner Spycher, 79, Swiss Olympic wrestler (1936).

21 Léon Ashkenazi, 74, Jewish spiritual leader, philosopher and educator. Eric Halsall, 76, English author and television presenter.Joy Corbett, "Obituaries: Eric Halsall", The Independent, 25 October 1996. Retrieved 2 October 2021. Albert G. Hill, 86, American physcisist and pioneer in the development of radar. Wang Li, 74, Chinese politician, pancreatic cancer. Les Mead, 87, Australian rugby player and coach. Ibrahim Sory Touré, 26, Malian footballer. Allie White, 81, American gridiron football player (Philadelphia Eagles). Georgios Zoitakis, 86, Greek Army general and regent of Greece. Giovanni Zuddas, 68, Italian Olympic boxer (1948).

22 John Bauldie, 47, British journalist, helicopter crash. Edmund Black, 91, American Olympic hammer thrower (1928).