The following is a list of notable deaths in March 1985.
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 1985
1 George Banks, 46, American baseball player, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Henry Butters, 86, Scottish civil servant. Charlotte Delbo, 71, French memoirist (Auschwitz and After), lung cancer. Oscar C. Eliason, 83, Swedish-born American evangelist. Han Xianglin, 78-79, Chinese humanitarian. Abdul Kadir, 67-68, Turkish poet. Daniel Richard Lascelles, 76, British barrister. Eugene List, 66, American pianist, fall. Buck MacDonald, 90, American football player. Bob Parsons, 69, American basketball player. Alf Pope, 80, English racewalker. Marcelle Rumeau, 72, French politician. Alfred Martyn Williams, 87, British politician, MP (1924–1929). Ralph Williams, 79, Welsh footballer. Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, 86, Montenegrin-American dancer.OLGIVANNA LLOYD WRIGHT, WIFE OF THE ARCHITECT, IS DEAD AT 85 Alfred Zeisler, 87, American-born German filmmaker.
2 Carl Bacchus, 80, American football player. Edgar Behr, 74, German Olympic sailor (1932). Arthur Champion, Baron Champion, 87, British politician, MP (1945–1959). Mercury Ghilarov, 72, Soviet soil scientist. Jackson Graham, 69, American general. Leslie Green, 71, American baseball player. Lauri Hakulinen, 85, Finnish linguist. Omer Huyse, 86, Belgian racing cyclist. Jack Kelly Jr., 57, American Olympic rower (1956) and politician, heart attack.JOHN B. KELLY JR. DEAD AT 57; OLYMPIC COMMITTEE LEADER Robert Bruce Lindsay, 85, American physicist. Tim Robb, 60, Australian footballer. Wilhelm Rothmayer, 74, Austrian Olympic runner (1936). Runme Shaw, 84, Singaporean businessman (Shaw Organisation). William Stringfellow, 56, American theologian, lawyer, and activist, diabetes.Lawyer and activist, William Stringfellow, dies at age 56 Gyula Szepes, 85, Hungarian Olympic skier (1928). Julie Vlasto, 81, French tennis player. Alexander Watt, 92, Scottish botanist.
3 Alan Beaney, 80, British politician, MP (1959–1974). Sarah Gibson Blanding, 86, American academic administrator.SARAH G. BLANDING, VASSAR'S 6TH CHIEF Kyril Bonfiglioli, 56, British novelist (Mortdecai) and art dealer, cirrhosis. Jack Boyd, 63, Australian politician. Krešimir Friedrich, 86, Yugoslav Croatian tennis player. Thomas F. Gallagher, 87, American judge.Thomas F. Gallagher obituary Connie Gilchrist, 89, American actress. Jean Nickels, 68, Luxembourgish Olympic canoeist (1948). F. S. Northedge, 66, British political scientist. Howard Okey, 79, Australian footballer. Noel Purcell, 84, Irish actor. Hermann Roßmann, 83, German writer. Sándor Scheiber, 71, Hungarian rabbi, cancer.Sandor Scheiber, a Hebraist And Rabbi, Dies in Budapest Iosif Shklovsky, 68, Soviet astrophysicist and astronomer.IOSIF S. SHKLOVOSKY, ASTRONOMER, DIES
4 Pete Karpuk, 58, Canadian football player, heart attack. Julia Southard Lee, 87, American textile chemist. Odd Rasdal, 73, Norwegian Olympic runner (1936). Rod Smylie, 89, Canadian ice hockey player. Vera Brown Starr, 60, American politician. Lukas Strachan, 77, South African rugby player. Sverre Strandli, 59, Norwegian Olympic hammer thrower (1952, 1956, 1960). Wolfgang Weber, 82, German photojournalist and film producer.
5 William Dawnay-Mould, 83, English-born Australian politician. John Finlay, 66, English footballer. Sven-Olov Lawesson, 58, Swedish chemist. Thomas Little, 98, American set decorator. Dave McGrath, 85, Australian footballer. Oskar Ritter, 83, German footballer. Pat Ryan, 34, New Zealand rugby player, cancer. Eric Sloane, 80, American artist, heart attack.ERIC SLOANE, WHO CELEBRATED EARLY AMERICANA IN PAINTINGS Cyril Stiles, 80, New Zealand Olympic rower (1932). Willard Stone, 69, American woodcarver. Ruben Tagalog, 62, Filipino actor and musician. Alter Tsypkin, 94, Soviet lawyer and legal scholar. Brenda Ueland, 93, American journalist and author.
6 Martin Begley, 81, American actor and talent scout. Klemens Biniakowski, 82, Polish Olympic sprinter (1928). Hans Brunke, 80, German footballer. Russell Cunningham, 79, Canadian politician. Martha Dix, 89, German goldsmith and silversmith. Elise Harmon, 75, American chemist, biologist and inventor. Sebastian Huber, 83, German Olympic bobsledder (1928, 1932). Kenneth McFarland, 78, American educator and political commentator. Marisa Mori, 84, Italian painter. Marion Nicoll, 75, Canadian painter. Denzil Peiris, 67, Sri Lankan journalist. Anthony Russo, 65, American politician, member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1967–1972).
7 Danny Blair, 80, Scottish footballer. Wilfred Brown, Baron Brown, 76, British businessman and politician. Frank Catrone, 78, American horse racing jockey. Max Cross, 50, Australian footballer. Victorio Edades, 89, Filipino painter. Victor Farris, 75, American businessman and inventor.Victor W. Farris, 75; Industrialist-Inventor Arkady Fiedler, 90, Polish journalist and traveler. Raúl Lacabanne, 70, Argentine politician. Sir Ralph Morton, 88, Zimbabwean judge. Clara Winsome Muirhead, 69, Scottish botanist. Alan Muntz, 85, British aeronautical engineer. Jessie Oonark, 79, Canadian artist. George Schick, 76, Czech-American conductor and music educator.George Schick, 76, Is Dead; President of Music School Robert W. Woodruff, 95, American businessman (The Coca-Cola Company) and philanthropist.ROBERT WOODRUFF DIES; BUILT COCA-COLA EMPIRE
8 G. Allana, 78, Pakistani author and poet. Edward Andrews, 70, American actor, heart attack.Edward Andrews, 70, Actor In Broadway Plays and Films Bertram L. Baker, 87, American politician, member of the New York State Assembly (1949–1970).BERTRAM BAKER, 87, IS DEAD; EX-BROOKLYN ASSEMBLYMAN Bull Curry, 71, American professional wrestler, liver disease. Edgar Dale, 84, American educator. George A. Doole Jr., 75, American Air Force pilot. Gladys Egan, 84, American actress. Lorenzo Elizaga, 81, Mexican Olympic bobsledder (1928). Reuben Goodstein, 72, English mathematician. Laura Guggenbühl, 83, American mathematician. LeRoy R. Hafen, 91, American historian. Ralph Ingersoll, 84, American publisher.RALPH INGERSOLL, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Kim Yong-sik, 74, South Korean footballer. Charles Guy Parsloe, 84, British historian and politician. Paul Ramdohr, 95, German mineralogist. Margaretta Salinger, 77, American art historian.MARGARETTA SALINGER, A CURATOR EMERITUS AT THE MET MUSEUM Runor Sandström, 75, Swedish Olympic water polo player (1936). Lon Stiner, 81, American football player and coach.Services set for NU grad Stiner Al Todd, 83, American baseball player, manager and scout. Donald M. Weller, 76, American general.Donald McPherrin Weller, 76, a retired Marine ... James Roger Whelan, 70, Canadian RAF pilot.
9 Robert Blackwell, 66, American record producer and bandleader, pneumonia.Rock Music’s Robert Blackwell, 66, Dies Harry Catterick, 65, English footballer. William Fisher, 94, American painter. Chan Gurney, 88, American politician, member of the U.S. Senate (1939–1951).Former Sen. Chan Gurney dies in Yankton at age 88 Edmund Henry Hambly, 80, British politician, linguist and surgeon. Campbell Hoy, 92, British flying ace. Percy Hunt, 62, Australian footballer. William E. Jenner, 76, American politician, member of the U.S. Senate (1944–1945, 1947–1959), respiratory disease.WILLIAM E. JENNER, EX-SENATOR, DEAD John Tudor Jones, 81, Welsh journalist, poet and translator. Richard Oetzel, 83, German politician. Isaac Phills, 89, Canadian steelworker. K. Rajalingam, 75, Sri Lankan politician. Annar Ryen, 75, Norwegian skier. Göran Widenfelt, 56, Swedish Olympic athlete (1948, 1952).
10 Alan Barber, 79, English cricketer. Gustavo Capanema, 84, Brazilian politician. Konstantin Chernenko, 73, Soviet politician, general secretary (since 1984), emphysema.President Konstantin Chernenko, who took power 13 months ago,... Bill Cooper, 70, American baseball player. Salawati Daud, 75, Indonesian politician. James Frazier, 44, American conductor. Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, 69, British businessman and hereditary peer. Wally Hull, 78, English speedway racer. Angelo Raffaele Jervolino, 94, Italian politician. Eddie Lang, 49, American R&B singer. Bob Nieman, 58, American baseball player, heart attack.Former Major Leaguer Bob Nieman, 58, Dies Israel Regardie, 77, English-American magician and occultist, heart attack. Leslie Nelson Shaw, 62, American postmaster. Joan Shorenstein, 38, American journalist, breast cancer. C. B. van Niel, 87, Dutch-American microbiologist.Cornelius van Niel, Pioneer In Microbiology, Dies at 87
11 Tom Adams, 53, Barbadian politician, prime minister (since 1976), heart attack.TOM ADAMS, PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS, DIES AT AGE 53 Nazem Akkari, 82-83, Lebanese politician, prime minister (1952). William Bailey, 66, British-Portuguese naval commander. Ernest W. Barrett, 62, American politician. Mitter Bedi, 59, Indian photographer, heart failure. Laurent Boillat, 73, Swiss sculptor. Constant Bucher, 85, Swiss Olympic athlete (1920, 1924). Brigitte Gros, 59, French politician and journalist. Lee Shepherd, 40, American racing driver, racing crash.Drag Racer Shepherd Dies in Crash Indumati Chimanlal Sheth, 78, Indian politician and independence activist.
12 Earle Clements, 88, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1945–1948) and Senate (1950–1957), governor of Kentucky (1947–1950).Earle Clements, Ex-Ky. Senator, Governor, Dies José de Rivera, 80, American sculptor, complications from a stroke.JOSE DE RIVERA IS DEAD AT 80; KNOWN FOR METAL SCULPTURES Alfred Eluère, 91, French rugby player. Ronald Gibbs, 84, American football player and coach. Harry Gideonse, 83, Dutch-born American economist.DR. HARRY D. GIDEONSE DEAD; EX-HEAD OF BROOKLYN COLLEGE Ragnvald Marensius Gundersen, 77, Norwegian politician. Sig Herzig, 87, American screenwriter and playwright. Hugh Hibbert, 73, English cricketer. Stjepan Horvat, 89, Yugoslav Croatian geodesist and academic administrator. Harras Kyttä, 72, Finnish politician, MP (1951–1964). George L. Leech, 94, American Roman Catholic prelate. Alastair Mars, 70, English submarine commander and author. Eugene Ormandy, 85, Hungarian-born American violinist and conductor, pneumonia.EUGENE ORMANDY IS DEAD AT 85 IN PHILADELPHIA Juan Sordo Madaleno, 68, Mexican architect. Yang Kui, 78, Taiwanese writer and activist.
13 Mabel Alvarez, 93, American painter. Elmer A. Benson, 89, American politician, governor of Minnesota (1937–1939), member of the U.S. Senate (1935–1936).Elmer A. Benson, former governor and anti-capitalist, dies Louise Holland Coe, 90, American politician, member of the New Mexico Senate (1925–1941). Dinesh Das, 71, Indian poet and political activist. Hans Eckstein, 76, German Olympic water polo player (1932). Hossein Gol-e-Golab, 89-90, Iranian scholar and lyricist ("Ey Iran"). Jules Gregory, 64, American architect.Jules Gregory of Lambertville; renowned architect, planner Annette Hanshaw, 83, American singer, cancer.Annette Hanshaw Dies at 74; Singer in 1920's and 1930's Henry Hunt, 61, Canadian woodcarver. Stephen Morin, 34, American convicted serial killer, execution by lethal injection.MURDERER OF THREE WOMEN IS EXECUTED IN TEXAS Bernard Nanga, 50, Cameroonian philosopher and sociologist. Narla Venkateswara Rao, 76, Indian journalist and politician. Janet Auchincloss Rutherfurd, 39, American socialite, lung cancer.Janet Rutherfurd Dies at 39; Half-Sister of Mrs. Onassis Evald Segerström, 82, Swedish Olympic racewalker (1936). Bob Shad, 65, American record producer, heart attack.Robert Shad Dies at 65; Veteran Record Producer Jesús Silva Herzog, 92, Mexican economist and historian. James D. Williams, 42, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (since 1981).