The following is a list of notable deaths in February 1981.
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.
February 1981
1 Aleksandra Beļcova, 88, Soviet Latvian painter. Joe Carroll, 61, American jazz singer, heart attack.JOE CARROLL, 65, DEAD; HELPED TO POPULARIZE 'BE-BOP SINGING' STYLE Lourdes Casal, 42, Cuban poet and activist, diabetes. Edwin K. Cheadle, 85, American jurist.Former lawmaker dies Gene Comstock, 70, American racing driver. Donald Wills Douglas Sr., 88, American aircraft designer and industrialist (Douglas Aircraft Company).DOUGLAS, WHOSE DC-3 OPENED ERA OF MASS AIRLINE TRAVEL, DIES AT 88 James H. Doyle, 83, American naval admiral.VICE ADM. JAMES DOYLE, LEADER OF AMPHIBIOUS FORCES IN KOREA Wanda Hendrix, 52, American actress (Prince of Foxes, Ride the Pink Horse), pneumonia.Wanda Hendrix, Actress Of 40's and 50's, Dead Roscoe Holcomb, 68, American singer and musician. Eric Hultén, 86, Swedish botanist and explorer. Hans Kalm, 91, Estonian soldier. Charles Luck, 94, British Olympic gymnast (1912). Fred Luehring, 99, American college sports coach.Frederick Luehring, 99, Is Dead; Coached Basketball at Princeton Mischa Mischakoff, 85, Russian-American violinist, heart failure.MISCHA MISCHAKOFF Ernst Pepping, 79, German composer. Steven Hayden Pollock, 33, American mycologist, shot.Slain mushroom doctor left $400,000 estate Roy H. Sengstock, 67, American politician, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1941–1942, 1947–1955). Geirr Tveitt, 72, Norwegian composer and pianist. Morris Weitz, 64, American philosopher.Dr. Morris Weitz, 64, a Professor Who Wrote Books on Philosophy
2 Hugh J. Addonizio, 67, American politician, mayor of Newark (1962–1970) and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1962), cardiac arrest.HUGH J. ADDONIZIO, 67, EX-MAYOR OF NEWARK JAILED 5 YEARS, DEAD Anne X. Alpern, 77, Russian-born American jurist, Pennsylvania attorney general (1959–1961).Anne X. Alpern Is Dead; Ex-Pennsylvania Justice Xenia Belmas, 91, Russian-South African opera singer, cancer. Jan Donner, 89, Dutch jurist and politician. Einar Larsen, 80, Danish footballer. Hans Leyers, 84, German general. Louise Lorraine, 76, American actress (The Adventures of Tarzan, The Radio King, Near the Rainbow's End). Hector B. McKinnon, 90, Canadian civil servant.Former tariff head dies in Ottawa Richard Muckermann, 89, German politician. Jack Parsons, 90, English cricketer and reverend. Al Van Camp, 77, American baseball player.
3 J Harlen Bretz, 98, American geologist.Jerry H. Bretz, Specialist On Effects of Flood, Dies Jerry Corcoran, 87, American football player and executive. Sammy Crooks, 73, English football player and manager.One of The Greatest Charles Ferster, 58, American behavioral psychologist, heart attack.Charles B. Ferster, 58; Psychology Researcher Isabel Garcés, 80, Spanish actress.Fallecio la vieja actriz Isabel Garcés J. W. Jones, 86, American football player and college basketball coach. Margaret McNamara, 65, American literacy advocate (Reading Is Fundamental), cancer.MARGARET MCNAMARA, 65, IS DEAD; BEGAN CHILDREN'S READING PROGRAM Normand Poirier, 53, American journalist.NORMAN POIRIER
4 Percival Beale, 74, English civil servant, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England (1949–1955). Mario Camerini, 85, Italian filmmaker (Ulysses).Exterior Deng Chumin, 91, Chinese social scientist. Grant Gillis, 80, American baseball player, cancer.Death claims Grant Gillis Kathy Godfrey, 66, American talk show host, heart attack.Kathy Godfrey Cyril Goulden, 83, Canadian agriculturalist.Deaths Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi, 84–85, Pakistani politician. Holger Henning, 75, Swedish naval admiral. Joan Ingram, 70, English tennis player. Joe Jacques, 36, English footballer, heart attack. Douglas McAlpine, 90, British neurologist.McALPINE Adhaury Rocha, 60, Brazilian Olympic sports shooter (1956). Robert H. Roche, 89, American politician. Michele Busiri Vici, 86, Italian architect and urban planner. Sir John Whitworth-Jones, 84, British RAF commander.
5 Nadija Bilokin, 86, Soviet Ukrainian painter. Kuda Bux, 75, Indian-American magician and firewalker.Stage & Screen Paul Couderc, 81, French mathematician and astronomer. Hilda Dresen, 84, Estonian translator and telegraphist. Karl Feller, 66, American trade unionist.Feller Ella Grasso, 61, American politician, governor of Connecticut (1975–1980) and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1971–1975), heart attack.EX-GOV. GRASSO OF CONNECTICUT DEAD OF CANCER Benjamin Kaufman, 86, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.BENJAMIN KAUFMAN, 86, IS DEAD; COMMANDED JEWISH WAR VETERANS Sir William Scotter, 58, British general.Sir William Scotter Jake Stephens, 80, American baseball player.
6 Gilbert Ashton, 84, English cricketer. Raymond Bossus, 77, French politician. Roualeyn Cumming, 89, English cricketer. Ludwig Damminger, 67, German footballer. Frederica of Hanover, 63, German-born Greek queen consort (1947–1964), heart failure.FREDERIKA, GREEK QUEEN MOTHER; IN MADRID HOSPITAL AS AN EXILE Suzanne Guité, 54, Canadian artist, murdered.Deaths Bernie Heselton, 78, American football coach. Cactus Keck, 82, American baseball player. Hugo Montenegro, 55, American composer, emphysema.Hugo Montenegro Is Dead at 55; Composed Themes for Westerns Marthe Robin, 78, French mystic and charity worker. Giovanni Stradone, 69, Italian painter. A. H. Vedel, 86, Danish naval admiral.
7 Du Junhui, 76, Chinese feminist activist. Clarence Eldridge, 92, American baseball umpire and advertising executive.Clarence E. Eldridge, 92, General Foods Executive Hermann Esser, 80, German politician, journalist and Nazi government propagandist (Völkischer Beobachter). Connie Kunzmann, 24, American basketball player, bludgeoned.Lady cager slain Paul Mattick, 76, German-American political theorist. Marius Mondelé, 67, Belgian footballer. Joseph Plavcan, 72, American painter. Emil Spiridonov, 55, Soviet naval admiral, plane crash.The commander of the Soviet Pacific fleet was killed...
8 Jakob Bender, 70, German footballer. María Cervantes, 95, Cuban musician and singer. Muhammad Usman Diplai, 72, Pakistani writer and journalist. Joe Dougherty, 79, American Olympic rower (1928, 1936). Hendrik Hagens, 80, Dutch Olympic fencer (1928). Marvin Johnson, 53, American football player. Józef Kiszkurno, 86, Polish Olympic sports shooter (1952). Brendan Nestor, 69, Irish footballer. Spud Owen, 75, American college sports coach. Mary Ryan, 83, Irish politician, TD (1944–1961). Iosif Șilimon, 62, Romanian aircraft designer.
9 Jack Z. Anderson, 76, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1939–1953), suicide by gunshot.JACK Z. ANDERSON, REPRESENTATIVE FOR 7 TERMS AND EISENHOWER AIDE Franz Andrysek, 75, Austrian Olympic weightlifter (1924, 1928). M. C. Chagla, 80, Indian jurist and politician, heart attack.MOHOMED CHAGLA, INDIA OFFICIAL Mercedes Gleitze, 80, British swimmer. Bill Haley, 55, American musician (Bill Haley & His Comets) and singer ("Rock Around the Clock"), heart attack.BILL HALEY, 55, DIES; SINGER-BAND LEADER Aase Hansen, 87, Danish writer. Stephen Hughes, 61, English footballer. John Russell Love, 86, Canadian politician.LOVE, John Russell Helen Schucman, 71, American psychologist, pancreatic cancer. Martha Priscilla Shaw, 76, American politician and educator. Tiny Thompson, 77, Canadian ice hockey player.Ex-NHL star Thompson dies Burr Williams, 72, American ice hockey player. Hisa Yoneyama, 84, Japanese politician and poet.
10 John Bahadur, 63, Guyanese cricketer. J. D. Batton, 69, American police chief. Hans Helbæk, 73, Danish archaeologist. Paul C. Jones, 79, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1948–1969).Paul C. Jones, former representative, dies Mary McCormic, 91, American opera singer and professor. Nándor von Orbán, 71, Hungarian Olympic pentathlete (1936). Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith, 79, British civil engineer.Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith
11 Chan Choy Siong, 49, Singaporean politician, traffic collision. Sir Charles Daniel, 86, British naval admiral. Nicholas Falcone, 88, Italian-American clarinetist and conductor.Nicholas Falcone Ketti Frings, 71, American playwright (Look Homeward, Angel) and screenwriter, cancer.A funeral was pending for Pulitzer Prize-winning script writer... Ichikawa Fusae, 87, Japanese politician and women's rights activist.Fusae Ichikawa, 87, Led The Japanese Feminists Max Leichter, 60, German Olympic wrestler (1952). Maurice Mandrillon, 78, French Olympic skier (1924, 1928). Kermit Murdock, 72, American actor. Al Sarafiny, 74, American football player and coach. Franz Sondheimer, 54, German-born British chemist, suicide by cyanide poisoning.Prominent Chemist Dies Of Poisoning Haakon Olsen Wika, 81, Norwegian politician.
12 Andreas Alföldi, 85, Hungarian historian and archaeologist. Lev Atamanov, 75, Soviet animator. Trygve de Lange, 62, Norwegian lawyer and businessman. Murray Deloford, 64, British tennis player. Lester A. Dessez, 84, American general, cardiovascular disease.Lester A. Dessez, Retired General In Marine Corps Jean Dixon, 87, American actress.JEAN DIXON, COMEDIAN, 85,DIES; ACTED ON BROADWAY FOR 30 YEARS Art Frahm, 74, American painter. Sir Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, 93, British naval admiral.Scharnhorst victor, Fraser, dies at age 93 Frank Genovese, 66, American baseball player, manager and scout.Willie's mentor dies Marjorie Wong Hee, 75, American painter. Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar, 25–26, Indian career criminal, shot. Leung Sing Poh, 71, Hong Kong actor and singer, intestinal cancer. Gerard J. Muccigrosso, 69, American lawyer and politician, member of the New York State Assembly (1938). Christen Møller, 96, Danish Olympic sports shooter (1920, 1936). Bill Sadler, 84, English cricketer. Vasily Sokolov, 69, Soviet footballer. Oliver Trinder, 73, British Olympic fencer (1936).
13 Bainbridge Bunting, 67, American architectural historian. Jack Crapp, 68, English cricketer. Aniceto Fernández Alonso, 85, Spanish Roman Catholic priest. Wacław Kuchar, 83, Polish athlete, football player and manager.Polish star dies Hanna Mwais, 67–68, Israeli politician, MK (since 1977). Lambertus Nicodemus Palar, 80, Indonesian diplomat.LAMBERTUS N. PALAR DEAD AT 80; BATTLED FOR INDONESIA'S FREEDOM Ella Simon, 78–79, Australian Aboriginal activist. René Taupin, 76, French-American translator and academic.RENE TAUPIN Fred Tomley, 49, English footballer. Evert Verwey, 75, Dutch chemist. Merrik Ward, 72, English cricketer. Eric Whelpton, 86, British writer and traveler.
14 John H. Boylan, 73, American politician, member of the Vermont House of Representatives (1951–1953) and Senate (1955–1965). Esteban Canal, 84, Peruvian-Italian chess player. Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham, 87, British naval admiral.Cunninghame Graham Gerry Hartigan, 76, Australian footballer. Sacha Kolin, 69, French-American painter. Pepe Martínez, 27, Mexican footballer, traffic collision.Perecio Jose Luis Martinez Edward McEntee, 74, American judge.McENTEE, Edward M.
15 Pierre Blanchy, 83, French politician. Mike Bloomfield, 37, American blues musician, drug overdose.Mike Bloomfield dead at 37 Edward T. Dicker, 67, American politician, member of the Texas House of Representatives (1951–1953). Dezső Ernster, 82, Hungarian opera singer, cancer.Deszo Ernster, 82, Bass; Sang With Met 17 Years Mečislovas Gedvilas, 79, Lithuanian politician. Eugen Hasler, 69, Liechtensteiner politician. Joris in 't Veld, 85, Dutch politician. Isaac Don Levine, 89, Russian-born American journalist, heart attack.ISAAC DON LEVINE, 89, FOE OF SOVIET Hubert Pagden, 83, South African cricketer. Cotton Pippen, 69, American baseball player.Ex-Oaks star Pippen dies