The following is a list of notable deaths in April 1979. 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.
April 1979
1 Red Burnett, 68, Canadian sports journalist, heart attack.Burnett dies Bill Cope, 79, English footballer. Bruno Coquatrix, 68, French record producer and politician.Mort de Bruno Coquatrix Abdelhalim Hemche, 71, Algerian painter. Gennady Komnatov, 29, Soviet Olympic racing cyclist (1972), traffic collision. Barbara Luddy, 70, American actress (Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Winnie the Pooh), lung cancer. Rinus Peijnenburg, 51, Dutch politician. Jack Pepper, 76, American actor and vaudeville comedian. Reuben W. Peterson, 79, American politician, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1935–1939).REUBEN W. PETERSON Ragnar Stoud Platou, 81, Norwegian shipbroker.
2 George Andreani, 78, Polish-Argentine composer. Billy Austin, 78, English footballer. Ivan Barrow, 68, Jamaican cricketer. Sir Alfred Broughton, 76, British politician, MP (since 1949).Sir Alfred Broughton Devasahayam David Chelliah, 85, Indian-born Singaporean Anglican prelate.Former school head Chelliah dies Frank H. Davis, 68, American businessman and public official. Richard Ettinghausen, 73, German-American art historian, cancer.Richard Ettinghausen, Islamic Art Authority Erich Rademacher, 77, German Olympic water polo player (1928, 1932). Carroll Rosenbloom, 72, American football executive, drowned.Carroll Rosenbloom, 72, Drowns In Miami;Owner of N.F.L. Rams Józef Sobota, 76, Polish footballer. Ellen Margrethe Stein, 85, Danish actress. Florence Stephens, 97, Swedish socialite.
3 Alexander Andrae, 90, German general and Nazi government official. Juan Cedrés, 51, Spanish footballer. Max Conrad, 76, American aviator.Max Conrad, Pioneer Pilot, at 76 Joe Cooper, 64, Canadian ice hockey player. José Echavarría, 95, Chilean politician. Ernst Glaser, 75, German-Norwegian violinist. Syed Mahbub Murshed, 68, Bangladeshi jurist. Alexandre Orloff, 80, Russian-French painter. Gordon Parks Jr., 44, American film director (Super Fly), plane crash.GORDON PARKS JR., FILM MAKER, DEAD Arthur Phoenix, 77, English footballer. Amelia Piccinini, 62, Italian Olympic shot putter (1948). Jock Shearer, 61, Scottish football player and manager. Harry Simpson, 53, American baseball player, heart attack.Harry Simpson, 53, an Outfielder With Yankees and Other Teams Andy Spiva, 24, American football player, traffic collision.Falcon's Linebacker Dies Dagfinn Zwilgmeyer, 78, Norwegian Lutheran priest and psalmist.
4 Robert Allan, Baron Allan of Kilmahew, 64, British politician, MP (1951–1966).Lord Allan; leading publisher, banker Vicente Asencio, 70, Spanish composer. Carleton Beals, 85, American journalist. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 51, Pakistani politician, president (1971–1973) and prime minister (1973–1977), execution by hanging.Ousted Pakistan leader hanged Edgar Buchanan, 76, American actor (Petticoat Junction), stroke.EDGAR BUCHANAN, ACTOR, 76, IS DEAD Beatriz Escalona, 75, American actress. Jakob Nielsen, 78, Danish actor. Rolf Örn, 86, Swedish Olympic equestrian (1936). Valentina Ramírez Avitia, 86, Mexican revolutionary, house fire. Federico Reparez, 79, Spanish Olympic runner (1920). Inez Robb, 78, American journalist, complications from Parkinson's disease.Inez Robb, an Ex‐Columnist, Dies; Was a World Waa II Correspondent Joseph Irenée Rochefort, 68, Canadian politician, MP (1949–1958).L'HEBDO offre ses plus profondes condoleances... Philippe Stern, 83, French art historian. Hans Stormoen, 72, Norwegian actor. Alex Wood, 70, Scottish-born Canadian-American ice hockey player. Leonora Wray, 92, Australian golfer.WRAY, Leonora, M.B.E.
5 Louis Bottino, 71, American politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1957–1961).Lou Bottino dies Eugène Gabritschevsky, 85, Russian-French artist and biologist. John A. Hartle, 87, American politician, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1935–1969).Ex-Rep. John Hartle, Owatonna, dies at 87 Lee In, 82, South Korean politician. John Petty, 60, American football player.Former Bear Petty dead at age 60 Whitney Straight, 66, British racing driver, aviator and businessman.Whitney Straight Arthur Willis, 85, English Olympic high jumper (1924).
6 David Armitage Bannerman, 92, British ornithologist and museum curator. Frank Coughlan, 74, Australian jazz musician and bandleader.COUGHLAN Jean Degouve, 89, French footballer. Al Evans, 62, American baseball player and manager. Janey Ironside, 59–60, British fashion designer and academic. Rudy Kallio, 86, American baseball player. Solomon Mahlangu, 22, South African revolutionary, execution by hanging.Songs of revenge as guerrilla is hanged Louis Marcien Marion, 72, Canadian politician. Finn Øen, 76, Norwegian politician and businessman. Peter Penny, 2nd Viscount Marchwood, 66, British hereditary peer. Jean Perera Sinnappa, 31, Malaysian beauty queen and educator, stabbed. Thorleif Tharaldsen, 85, Norwegian footballer. Norman Tokar, 59, American film director, complications from a heart attack.Norman Tokar, 59, Film, TV Producer
7 Bruno Apitz, 78, German novelist.Novelist dies, 78 A. V. P. Asaithambi, 54, Indian politician. Jerry Butler, 50, American politician, member of the Texas House of Representatives (1959–1965). Carl Owen Dunbar, 88, American paleontologist.Memorial to Carl Owen Dunbar 1891-1979 Svend Frømming, 60, Danish Olympic canoer (1956). Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, 60, Iranian politician, prime minister (1965–1977), execution by firing squad.Iranian official executed Marcel Jouhandeau, 90, French writer. Justin Popović, 85, Serbian theologian and Serbian Orthodox saint. Charles W. Sawyer, 92, American diplomat and politician, secretary of commerce (1948–1953), lieutenant governor of Ohio (1933–1935), stroke.CHARLES SAWYER, 92, A TRUMAN AIDE, DIES Friedrich Schlotterbeck, 70, German playwright and novelist.
8 Joe Burman, 80, British-born American boxer, liver cancer.People in Sports Joseph Callens, 75, Belgian Olympic swimmer and diver (1920, 1924). E. R. Dodds, 85, Irish classical scholar. Herbert Ganado, 73, Maltese writer and politician. Breece D'J Pancake, 26, American author, suicide by gunshot.Breece Pancake Faculty 1976 (1952 - 1979) Garrett Price, 82, American cartoonist and illustrator.Garrett Price, Noted Artist Josef Stangl, 71, German Roman Catholic prelate.
9 Manouchehr Azmoun, 48, Iranian politician, execution by firing squad.Recent executions raise toll to 84 Artūrs Cavara, 77, Latvian-American singer.Artur Cavara Staats Cotsworth, 71, American actor (Casey, Crime Photographer).Staats Cotsworth, 71, Is Dead; Acted on Stage, Radio and TV Vladimir Fédorov, 77, Russian-French musicologist and composer. Margit Filó, 64, Hungarian serial killer Mary Gertrude Haseman, 90, American mathematician. Young Peter Jackson, 66, American boxer. Amy Kane, 99, New Zealand journalist and community leader. Amir Hossein Rabii, 48, Iranian politician and general, execution by firing squad.Iranian Regime Executed Doug Smith, 58, Canadian sportscaster.Radioman Doug Smith dies at 58
10 Alfred Bellerby, 91, British Olympic jumper (1908). Paul Benoit, 85, French organist and composer. James Clement Dunn, 88, American diplomat, heart attack.James Clement Dunn, U.S. Diplomat in Europe Frans Kaisiepo, 67, Indonesian politician. Sidney Kemble, 65, British Olympic weightlifter (1948). James A. Langille, 70, Canadian politician.James Langille James L. Malone, 71, American football and basketball coach. Nino Rota, 67, Italian composer (The Godfather), coronary thrombosis.Nino Rota, 68, Writer Of ‘Godfather’ Music Emil Rupp, 80, German physicist. Guglielmo Tagliacarne, 85, Italian statistician. Zoltán Várkonyi, 66, Hungarian actor and film director.
11 Mohamed Akid, 29, Tunisian footballer, lightning strike.Mort de Mohamed Ali Akid George O. Bierkoe, 83, American academic administrator.Dr. George O. Bierkoe Leonid Bykov, 50, Soviet Ukrainian filmmaker, traffic collision. Arthur S. Champeny, 85, American general. Jimmy Clark, 70, Australian rugby player. Dame Isobel Cripps, 88, British aid organizer.Lady Cripps dies at 88 Howard Cruse, 71, British Anglican prelate. Thomas Dachser, 73, German businessman. Thomas A. Duffy, 73, American politician, member of the New York State Assembly (1949–1956) and State Senate (1957–1965).Thomas A. Duffy, Retired in 1976 As Judge of Civil Court in Queens Siegfried Knemeyer, 70, German-American aeronautical engineer.Siegfried Knemeyer Gottfried Lessing, 64, Russian-born German diplomat, grenade explosion. Eddie Wilson, 69, American baseball player. Iranian government officials executed by firing squad on this date:Shah 'personally killed': Iran court testimony Hossein-Ali Bayat, 57, general Ali Hojjat Kashani, 60, general and politician Abbas Ali Khalatbari, 67, diplomat Mohammad Taghi Majidi, 67, general Nasser Moghaddam, 57, intelligence officer and general Ali Neshat, 55–56, general Gholamreza Nikpey, 51–52, politician, mayor of Tehran (1969–1977) Hassan Pakravan, 67, diplomat Abdollah Riazi, 73–74, politician Mansour Rouhani, 56–57, politician
12 Edward W. Anderson, 75, American general. Karl Anton, 80, German filmmaker. Thomas Bird, 74, Australian cricketer and footballer. Georges Bouligand, 89, French mathematician. Wilmot Hyde Bradley, 80, American geologist, stroke.Wilmot Bradley, 80, Dies Jean-Albert Brasu, 80, French Olympic equestrian (1956). John Dunnington-Jefferson, 95, English politician and soldier. Sam Edmonston, 95, American baseball player, arteriosclerosis.S. S. Edmonston, 95, Insurance Agent, Ex-Athlete Hans von Kantzow, 91, Swedish engineer. Leo Ognall, 70, British novelist.Top thriller writer dies Sigurd Overby, 79, American Olympic skier (1924). Đuro Pucar, 79, Yugoslav Bosnian politician.Djuro Pucar-Stari Corinne Boyd Riley, 85, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1962–1963).Corinne B. Riley, Former U.S. Representative Dies Reginald Booth Stockdale, 71, British general.
13 Edward Catich, 73, American calligrapher. Thomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere, 78, British hereditary peer. Roy Daniells, 77, English-born Canadian poet.Poet, writer Roy Daniells dies at 77 Olavi Elo, 66, Finnish Olympic sports shooter (1936, 1948). Bill Heindl Sr., 56, Canadian ice hockey player.Heindl dies Günter Henle, 80, German politician and music publisher. Konstantin Kabanov, 57, Soviet fighter pilot. Frankie Kelleher, 62, American baseball player, heart attack.People in Sports Karl Persson, 89, Swedish footballer. Erik Qvam, 81, Norwegian writer. James Torello, 48, American mobster, cancer.Jimmy Torello, mob enforcer Fred Worrall, 68, English footballer. Charlie Wrack, 79, English footballer.
14 René Bouët-Willaumez, 78, French fashion illustrator. Buster Brannon, 70, American football and basketball player and coach, heart attack.Buster Brannon Grover C. Dillman, 89, American engineer and politician.Noted Bangor Native Dies Clarence Dillon, 96, American financier and investment banker.CLARENCE DILLON, FINANCIER, IS DEAD Veliša Mugoša, 47, Yugoslav Olympic runner (1956). Billy James Pettis, 65–66, American mathematician.
15 John Biggs Jr., 83, American jurist, heart attack.JOHN BIGGS JR. DIES; ON 3D CIRCUIT COURT Sir David Brand, 66, Australian politician.Sir David, a man of 'foresight and drive' Patricia Harper, 71, American screenwriter and actress. Friedrich-Wilhelm Hauck, 82, German general. Maria Irausquin-Wajcberg, 81, Aruban politician. Hanoch Kalai, 69, Russian-born Israeli Zionist militant (Lehi) Eiluned Lewis, 78, Welsh novelist and journalist. Harry Meyen, 54, German actor, suicide by hanging.Se mato el ex-marido de la Schneider Leonard Mociulschi, 90, Romanian general.