Deaths in May 1986

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1986.

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.

May 1986

1 Hylda Baker, 81, English actress and comedian, pneumonia. John Bartlett, 40, New Zealand botanist. Reg Boyle, 83, Australian rules footballer. Dennis Emery, 52, English footballer. Heinrich Fraenkel, 88, Polish-British screenwriter and biographer. Mirrie Hill, 96, Australian composer. Mirko Javornik, 76, Slovenian writer. Arthur Lipsett, 49, Canadian filmmaker, suicide. Alastair McIntyre, 59, British film editor, complications from a stroke. Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, 87, American children's author. Hugo Peretti, 69, American songwriter. Sir James Ramsay, 69, Australian politician. Millicent Silver, 80, English harpsichordist. Alfredo Varela Jr., 73, Mexican screenwriter. Ed Wells, 85, American Major League baseball player.

2 Sir Marcus Beeck, 62, Australian farmer and business executive. Wallace Bishop, 80, American drummer. W. Sheffield Cowles, 87, American politician, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (1948–1956). Sergio Cresto, 30, American racing driver, car explosion. William Edward Doyle, 75, American jurist. Georgy Gause, 75, Soviet biologist. Edwin Genung, 78, American Olympic middle-distance runner (1932). Edwin Sherbon Hills, 79, Australian geologist. Wilfrid Kidson, 79, South African cricketer. Lotte Brand Philip, 75, German art historian. Edward Righton Jr, 73, English cricketer. Violet Rucroft, 83, New Zealand conservationist. Gertrud Theiler, 88, South African parasitologist. Henri Toivonen, 29, Finnish racing driver, car explosion. Jan Wojciechowski, 81, Polish footballer.

3 Robert Alda, 72, American actor. Carlton W. Barrett, 66, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient. Ed Courtney Jr., 80, Australian rugby league footballer. Clarence Drouillard, 72, Canadian National Hockey League player (Detroit Red Wings). Nicolò Nicolosi, 73, Italian footballer. Royce S. Pitkin, 84, American academic administrator. Wang Li, 85, Chinese linguist.

4 Kotti Chave, 74, Finnish-born Swedish actor. Richard Daniel, 85, German general. Jean Gagé, 83, French historian. Paul Magnus Gross, 90, American chemist. Enzo Liberti, 60, Italian actor, complications from heart surgery. Hugh Luby, 72, American baseball player. Benjamin Muse, 88, American politician and journalist, member of the Virginia Senate (1936). Paul Richards, 77, American Major League baseball player, heart attack. Romeo Rivers, 79, Canadian ice hockey player. Robert Samatan, 77, French rugby league and union footballer. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty, 89, American journalist. James Allen Vann, 46, American historian. Johnny Williams, 68, American baseball player.

5 Louis Betbeder Matibet, 84, French chess master. Joe Childress, 52, American NFL football player, cancer. Bill Cook, 90, Canadian NHL ice hockey player, cancer. Emygdio de Barros, 90–91, Brazilian painter. Käthe Haack, 88, German actress. Knud Hvidberg, 58, Danish artist. René Joffroy, 70, French archaeologist. Sully Kothmann, 53, American Olympic figure skater (1956). Billy Mackel, 73, American guitarist. Louis Betbeder Matibet, 84, French chess player. Satrio, 69, Indonesian military doctor and politician. John Austin Victoreen, 83, American physicist. George White, 81, Australian politician. Julia Wojciechowska, 71, Polish Olympic gymnast (1936).

6 Fred C. Cole, 74, American librarian, heart failure. Albert Ernest Forsythe, 89, American aviator. Giuseppe Giaccone, 85, Italian footballer. Lorenzo Minio-Paluello, 78, Italian linguist and translator. Jack Rickards, 57, Zimbabwean Olympic sports shooter (1964). Héctor Ruiz Martínez, 42, Puerto Rican politician. Sri Sabaratnam, 33, Sri Lankan militant (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization), shot. Len Schulte, 69, American Major League baseball player. Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, 92, Soviet weapon designer (SKS). Stefan Sznuk, 89–90, Polish-Canadian aviator. Toralf Westermoen, 71, Norwegian boat designer.

7 Laura Alves, 64, Portuguese actress. Ferdinand Bruhin, 77, Swiss footballer. Charlie Colombo, 65, American soccer player. Florence Dagmar, 90, American actress. Gaston Defferre, 75, French politician. Cornelia Johanna de Vogel, 81, Dutch classical scholar and theologian. Jean-Pierre Hagnauer, 73, French Olympic ice hockey player (1936). Peter Haworth, 96–97, British-born Canadian painter. André Jubelin, 79, French naval admiral. Robert A. Lovett, 90, American politician, secretary of defense (1951–1953). Cyril McMahon, 64, Australian rugby league footballer. Al Mooney, 80, American aircraft designer. Jeffrey Mylett, 36, American actor and songwriter, AIDS. Juan Nakpil, 86, Filipino architect. Jonas Persson, 72, Swedish Olympic cyclist (1936). Alfredo Pezzana, 93, Italian Olympic fencer (1936). Edward Root, 83, Australian rugby league player. Selman Selmanagić, 81, Bosnian-German architect. Herma Szabo, 84, Austrian Olympic figure skater (1924). Haldun Taner, 71, Turkish playwright, heart attack. George Weaver, 77, Canadian politician, MP (1949–1957).

8 Ernle Bradford, 64, British historian. Melanija Bugarinović, 80, Yugoslav singer. Erwin Chamberlain, 71, Canadian ice hockey player. Ivan Corry, 78, Australian rules footballer. Eugenie Gershoy, 85, American artist. R. M. Jackson, 82, British jurist. Majid Salek Mahmoudi, 33, Iranian serial killer, suicide by hanging. Raffaele Nasi, 76, Italian Olympic skier (1936). Richard W. Richards, 91, Australian physicist. Manny Shinwell, 101, British politician, MP (1922–1924, 1928–1931, 1935–1970). Leland Stark, 78, American Anglican prelate. Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach, 48, German socialite, oral cancer.

9 Mikhail Alpatov, 83, Soviet historian and art theorist. Nelson Ball, 77, New Zealand rugby player. Herschel Bernardi, 62, American actor (Arnie, Peter Gunn, Fiddler on the Roof), heart attack. Mirosław Bojanowicz, 79–80, Polish-British philatelist. Peter Jackson, 80, English footballer. Eana Jeans, 95, New Zealand painter. Thomas Liao, 76, Taiwanese politician. Colin Lyman, 72, English footballer. Tenzing Norgay, 71, Nepalese-Indian mountaineer (1953 British Mount Everest expedition), cerebral hemorrhage. Alden Pasche, 75, American basketball coach.

10 Aleksandr Akimov, 33, Soviet engineer, acute radiation syndrome. Al Burruss, 58, American politician, member of the Georgia House of Representatives (since 1964), pancreatic cancer. Wilbur Hogg, 69, American Anglican prelate. Anna Kamieńska, 66, Polish writer. Lillian Kasindorf Kavey, 96, American banker and activist. Tagir Kusimov, 77, Soviet general. Leopoldo Ruiz, 59, Argentine golfer. Gregory Ryan, 73, Australian cricketer. Josimo Morais Tavares, 32–33, Brazilian Roman Catholic priest, homicide. John Wheatley, 59, American physicist. Charles "Hungry" Williams, 51, American drummer, Paget's disease of bone.

11 Edoardo Anton, 76, Italian filmmaker. Jimmy Hines, 82, American golfer. Viktor Kibenok, 23, Soviet firefighter, acute radiation syndrome. Gerry H. Kisters, 67, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient. Kilby MacDonald, 72, Canadian NHL ice hockey player. Walter K. Martinez, 55, American politician, member of the New Mexico House of Representatives (1966–1984), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Henry Plumer McIlhenny, 75, American art curator and connoisseur. Fritz Pollard, 92, American NFL football player and coach. Volodymyr Pravyk, 23, Soviet firefighter, acute radiation syndrome.

12 Helge Akre, 83, Norwegian diplomat. Sofía Álvarez Vignoli, 86, Uruguayan jurist, first lady (1976). Elisabeth Bergner, 88, Austrian-British actress, cancer. Mary deGarmo Bryan, 94, American dietician. Harold W. Clark, 94, American creationist. Albert Cooper, 75, British politician, MP (1950–1966, 1970–1974). Joseph Fadahunsi, 84–85, Nigerian politician. Fred Kormis, 91, German sculptor. Eleanor Frances Lattimore, 81, American writer. William Harrington Leahy, 81, American naval admiral. Wanda Jean Mays, 26, American missing persons case, fall. Alicia Moreau de Justo, 100, Argentine social activist and politician. Ramon Muller, 51, Argentine footballer. Bill Nairn, 73, Canadian football player. Reuben Harold Tweten, 87, American politician, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1947–1956).

13 Alexander Archdale, 80, British-Australian actor. Maria Bellonci, 83, Italian writer. George Gaines, 52, American set decorator. Vasily Ignatenko, 25, Soviet firefighter, acute radiation syndrome. Robert LeFevre, 74, American libertarian autarchist activist. Peadar O'Donnell, 93, Irish politician, TD (1923–1927).

14 Janne Aikala, 10, Finnish murder victim. Solomon Blatt Sr., 91, American politician, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (since 1932). Henry E. Eccles, 87, American naval admiral. Pierino Favalli, 72, Italian racing cyclist. Fuang Jotiko, 70–71, Thai Buddhist monk. William Lindsay, 40, British actor. Norma Millay, 91–92, American singer and actress. Frank O'Rourke, 92, Canadian-American Major League baseball player. Mose Rager, 75, American guitarist. Gianni Ravera, 66, Italian singer, impresario, and record producer. Joe Sparma, 44, American Major League baseball player, complications from heart surgery. Nelson Stacy, 64, American racing driver. C. H. V. Sutherland, 78, English numismatist. Leonid Toptunov, 25, Soviet electrical engineer, acute radiation syndrome. Tom Turner, 69, American Major League baseball player. Steef van Musscher, 84, Dutch Olympic jumper (1928). Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis, 84, Dutch botanist. Robert Zielinski, 84, American football player.

15 Constantine John Alexopoulos, 79, American mycologist. John F. Bassett, 47, Canadian tennis player and businessman, brain cancer. Hel Braun, 71, German mathematician. Elio de Angelis, 28, Italian racing driver, smoke inhalation. Johnny Gottselig, 80, Russian-born NHL American ice hockey player. Rose Lokissim, 30–31, Chadian soldier, shot. Mieczysław Palus, 64, Polish ice hockey player. Shirley Leon Quimby, 92, American physicist. Sir Maxwell Richmond, 85, New Zealand naval admiral. Willie Telfer, 77, Scottish footballer. Luis Torres Nadal, 42, Puerto Rican playwright and theatre director, homicide. Bill Tricklebank, 70, New Zealand cricketer. Theodore H. White, 71, American political journalist, stroke.

16 Anton Banko, 58, Slovenian inventor and engineer. Lothar Beutel, 84, German soldier. Joe Bootham, 74, New Zealand painter. Ralph Eaton, 87, American soldier, United States Army officer. Ronald Robson, 73, South African cricketer. Mykola Tytenok, 23, Soviet firefighter, acute radiation syndrome. John H. Yancey, 68, American soldier.

17 John Gibson, 37, American actor, plane crash. Freddie Jakeman, 66, English cricketer. Masaji Kitano, 91, Japanese general, physician, and war criminal (Unit 731). Preben Lundgren Kristensen, 62, Danish Olympic cyclist (1952). Roberts Pakalns, 74, Soviet Latvian footballer. Lyudmila Pakhomova, 39, Soviet Olympic ice dancer (1976), leukemia. Jack Waldman, 33, American musician, lymphoma.

18 Charles Albertine, 57, American composer. Robert Page Arnot, 95, British journalist. Gustl Berauer, 73, Czechoslovak skier. John W. Bubbles, 84, American tap dancer and actor. Yaşar Erkan, 75, Turkish Olympic wrestler (1936). Gianni Gambi, 78, Italian Olympic swimmer (1928). František Krajčír, 72 Czechoslovak politician and diplomat. Giuseppe Lazzati, 76, Italian Roman Catholic priest and politician. Louis L. Madsen, 78, American academic administrator. John Guthrie Paterson, 84, Australian politician. James Phemister, 93, Scottish geologist. Kanuri Lakshmana Rao, 83, Indian politician, MP (1962–1977). Peter Wehle, 72, Austrian actor. Spades Wood, 77, American Major League baseball player.