The following is a list of notable deaths in June 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.
June 1979
1 Charles Barlow, 74, South African businessman, philanthropist and cricketer. John Barry, 43, English production designer (Star Wars), meningitis.John Barry, Designer, Won Academy Award For 'Star Wars’ Film Bruto Brivonesi, 90, Italian naval admiral. Ernst Brunner, 77, Swiss photographer. Peter Christopher Caldwell, 52, British zoologist. Eric Bertrand Ceadel, 58, English academic administrator. Vico Consorti, 76, Italian sculptor (St. Peter's Basilica Holy Doors) Roy Courlander, 64, British-born New Zealand soldier and Nazi collaborator. Andrés Domingo y Morales del Castillo, 86, Cuban jurist and politician, acting president (1954–1955). Werner Forssmann, 74, German physician, Nobel Prize laureate (1956), heart failure.Dr. Werner Forssmann, '56 Nobel Prize Winner Janice Holt Giles, 74, American writer.Janice Holt Giles, writer of historical novels, dies Ján Kadár, 61, Slovak-American filmmaker (The Shop on Main Street).Jan Kadar, Movie Director, Dies; “Shop on Main Street”. Got Oscar Jose Concepcion Maristela Sr., 63, Filipino general. Jack Mulhall, 91, American actor, heart failure.Jack Mulhall, Actor In Earlier Films Eric Partridge, 85, New Zealand-British lexicographer.Language expert Eric Partridge John Hubert Penson, 86, British civil servant. Renny Pereira, 31, Kenyan Olympic field hockey player (1968, 1972). Maria Petrovykh, 71, Soviet poet. Hernán Vigil, 68, Chilean Olympic equestrian (1952). Hans Wolff, 67, German filmmaker.
2 Camille Becanne, 65, French Olympic rower (1936). Emil Boyson, 81, Norwegian poet. Bob Carson, 69, American actor. William C. Gribble Jr., 62, American general, cancer.Gen. W. C. Gribble Dies, Ex-Chief of Engineers Leonard Hall, 78, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1939–1952), complications from a stroke.Leonard Hall Dies; State and National G.O.P. Leader Jim Hutton, 45, American actor (Ellery Queen), liver cancer.Liver cancer kills Hutton, TV's 'Ellery Queen' Alfred Lanzon, 62, Maltese Olympic water polo player (1936). Bernard Ouchard, 54, French violin bow maker. Joe Ryan, 77, Canadian football manager, cancer.Bomber founder Ryan dead Huseyn Seyidzadeh, 68, Soviet Azerbaijani film director. P. V. H. Weems, 90, American naval officer and maritime navigator.Philip V. H. Weems, 91; Aided Lindbergh, Byrd
3 Joe Brown, 76, American baseball player. Bert Davie, 80, Australian cricketer. František Draškovič, 68, Slovak sculptor. John Ellis Edwards, 57, American Air Force pilot (Tuskegee Airmen) Frederick Mitchell, 77, Irish Anglican prelate. Arno Schmidt, 65, German author and translator, stroke.GERMAN PROVOCATEUR Mario Vitali, 65, Italian Olympic bobsledder (1948).
4 Gilda Abreu, 74, Brazilian actress, singer and film director.GILDA DE ABREU William G. Bray, 75, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1951–1975), stroke.Bray, former congressman, dies of stroke Clarence Copithorne, 58, Canadian politician, cancer.Former highways minister dies at 58 Eddie Dawson, 75, English cricketer.Obituary - E. W. Dawson Sigrid Fick, 92, Finnish-born Swedish Olympic tennis player (1912, 1920, 1924). James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn, 75, British politician and hereditary peer. Gene Leroy Hart, 35, American convicted rapist and acquitted murder suspect, heart attack.Indian acquitted of slayings dies in prison exercise yard Jan Koželuh, 75, Czech tennis player. Torkil Lauritzen, 77, Danish actor. Hans "Frack" Mauch, 60, Swiss ice skater, heart failure.Frick and Frack skater Hans Mauch Seamus O'Donovan, 82, Irish republican militant (Irish Republican Army) and Nazi collaborator. Elena Domenica Rubeo, 82, Italian-born Australian businesswoman and community worker. Herman Shumlin, 80, American theatre director, heart failure.Herman Shumlin, 80, Dies,. Leading Producer‐Director
5 Karina Bell, 80, Danish actress. Heinz Erhardt, 70, German comedian, actor and musician. Antonio Francese, 79, Uruguayan politician and general. Morris Lazaron, 91, American rabbi and writer.Rites planned Sunday for Rabbi Lazaron Francis Peabody Magoun, 84, American literary scholar. Gustavo Re, 71, Spanish television presenter and actor. Vin Schleusner, 71, American football player.Vincent Schleusner Heinrich Schulz, 85, German assassin (Matthias Erzberger). Geoffrey Tristram, 61, British organist and composer, heart attack. Sir Cecil Wakeley, 87, British surgeon. Cedric Whitman, 62, American poet and literary scholar.Eliot Professor Of Greek Lit Dies at 64
6 Jack Haley, 80, American actor (The Wizard of Oz), drummer, and comedian, complications from a heart attack.Jack Haley, Actor, 79, Dead; Was Tin Woodman in ‘Oz’ Ion Idriess, 89, Australian author.Ion Idress: he sold 3m books Janina Kurkowska-Spychajowa, 78, Polish archer. Kay Madsen, 76, Danish footballer. Kazimierz Opaliński, 89, Polish actor.
7 Asa Earl Carter, 53, American novelist (The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales) and segregationist activist, choked.Novelist dies after fistfight Sir William Coles, 65, British air marshal. James F. Donovan, 76, American businessman. Harold Feehan, 84, Australian footballer. Yehudit Harari, 93, Israeli educator and writer. Hans Kadelbach, 78, German Olympic sailor (1952). Aleksei Markushevich, 71, Soviet mathematician. Modesto Valle, 86, Italian footballer.
8 Clarence Sinclair Bull, 83, American photographer. Muriel Coben, 58, Canadian baseball player.Softball great Coben dies Sir Colin Coote, 85, British politician and journalist, MP (1917–1922).Sir Colin Coote dies at 85 Reinhard Gehlen, 77, German general and intelligence officer, prostate cancer.Reinhard Gehlen Dies, Spy for Hitler, U.S., Bonn Vic Harding, 26, English racing cyclist, racing crash. Sir Norman Hartnell, 77, English fashion designer, heart attack.Sir Norman Hartnell Dead at 78; Dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth Magnar Isaksen, 68, Norwegian footballer. James Nusser, 74, American actor (Gunsmoke). D. P. O'Connell, 54, New Zealand barrister and legal scholar.
9 Georgiana Bonser, 81, British physician. Leif Borthen, 68, Norwegian journalist and author. Maria Chmurkowska, 78, Polish actress. Rudy Fernandez, 51, Filipino trade unionist, stroke. Scott Garland, 27, Canadian ice hockey player, traffic collision.Former Junior Garland dies John Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest, 82, British jurist. Philip Muldoon, 82, Australian police officer and prison warden. Ben Navaratne, 62–63, Sri Lankan cricketer. Cyclone Taylor, 94, Canadian ice hockey player and civil servant.Hockey great 'Cyclone' Taylor dead
10 Aurel Baranga, 65, Romanian playwright and poet. Rupert Croft-Cooke, 75, English novelist. Henry Ginsberg, 82, American film producer (Giant), heart attack.HENRY GINSBERG Lloyd Grow, 75, American football and basketball coach. Frances Beatrice Taylor, 88, Canadian journalist, poet and playwright.
11 Stu Aberdeen, 43, American basketball coach, heart attack.Stu Aberdeen, Coached Basketball at Marshall Jesse Abramson, 75, American sports journalist, cancer.Jesse P. Abramson, Sportswriter For Herald Tribune, Dead at 75 Edward Almond, 86, American general.Lieut. Gen. Edward M. Almond; Led 1950 Inchon Landing Force Jean-Louis Bory, 59, French writer, journalist and film critic, suicide.J.-L. Bory s'est suicide Nora Collyer, 81, Canadian painter.COLLYER, Nora Frances Elizabeth Alice Dalgliesh, 85, British-American author.ALICE DALGLIESH, 85; CHILDREN'S AUTHOR Cecil J. Edmonds, 89, British colonial administrator and diplomat. George Eyston, 81, British engineer and racing driver.Captain Eyston dies John Grover, 82, British general. Elisabeth Kadow, 73, German artist. Oscar Kjällander, 77, Swedish Olympic boxer (1928). Alfred von Martin, 96, German historian and sociologist. Fred Martin, 63, American baseball player, manager and scout, cancer.Fred Martin, Pitching Coach of Chisox, Dies Jerry Miley, 79, American actor. Loren Murchison, 80, American Olympic track and field athlete (1920, 1924).Loren Murchison, 80, Track Star Charles Riddy, 94, Canadian Olympic rower (1908, 1912). John Wayne, 72, American actor (True Grit, The Searchers) and film producer (The Alamo, Bullfighter and the Lady), stomach cancer.John Wayne Dead of Cancer on Coast at 72
12 Henry Berman, 65, American film editor, cancer. Bill Brenzel, 69, American baseball player. Constant Joacim, 71, Belgian footballer. Ernesto Lomasti, 19, Italian mountaineer and skier, struck by lightning. Ferenc Nagy, 75, Hungarian politician, prime minister (1946–1947), heart attack.FERENC NACY DEAD; LED HUNGARY IN ‘47 Perry L. Owsley, 64, American jurist, heart attack.Former Justice Owsley Dies of Heart Attack Paek Nam-un, 85, North Korean politician. Mary Partington, 90, American educator and urban legend subject.PARTINGTON David Sibeko, 40, South African political activist, shot.David M. Sibeko, 40, South African Exile, Murdered in Tanzania Sidney Smith, 89, English Assyriologist. Jessie Stephen, 86, British journalist, suffragist and trade unionist, pneumonia.
13 Norm Chisholm, 64, Australian footballer. George Cisar, 66, American actor. Darla Hood, 47, American actress (Our Gang) and singer, heart failure.Darla Hood of ‘Our Gang’ Anatoly Kuznetsov, 49, Soviet-British writer, heart attack.Defector's death ruled natural Jim McEwin, 80, New Zealand cricketer. Billy Nelson, 75, American actor and comedian. Barry Shear, 56, American film and television director, cancer.BARRY SHEAR Demetrio Stratos, 34, Egyptian-born Greek-Italian singer and musician, heart attack. Sunshine Sue, 66, American country musician, complications from a stroke.Country singer 'Sunshine Sue' Sir John Weston, 70, British air marshal. Arthur McCandless Wilson, 76, American historian.Arthur McC. Wilson; Dartmouth Professor Wrote Life of Diderot
14 Igor Bondarevsky, 66, Soviet chess player. David Butler, 84, American actor, filmmaker and television director.David Butler, Actor On Stage and Screen And a Movie Director Osman Hajibeyov, 72, Soviet Azerbaijani actor. Les Johnson, 75, Australian footballer. Aleksandr Morozov, 74, Soviet general. Toivo Pawlo, 61, Swedish actor. Ahmad Zahir, 33, Afghan singer and songwriter, shot.
15 Alex Archer, 71, English ice hockey player. Juan Arremón, 80, Uruguayan footballer. Laurie Bird, 25, American actress and photographer, suicide by drug overdose. Sir Cecil Bouchier, 83, British air marshal. Giovanni De Prà, 78, Italian footballer.El guardameta legendario de Italia fallecio Leon Green, 91, American legal scholar.IN MEMORIAM: A. LEON GREEN Werner Kaegi, 78, Swiss historian. Charlie Lee, 82, Australian footballer. Ernst Meister, 67, German poet and writer. Teruo Nakamura, 59, Taiwanese soldier, final Japanese holdout of World War II, lung cancer. John Porter, 57, Canadian sociologist, heart attack. Mel Taube, 74, American football coach.Obituaries: Melvin Taube
16 Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, 47, Ghanaian general and politician, head of state (1972–1978), execution by firing squad.Execution in Ghana Ayhan Işık, 50, Turkish actor, stroke. Roy C. Knapp, 87, American drummer and music educator. Lazar Lagin, 75, Soviet children's author. John Joseph Mathews, 84, American historian.Death Takes Noted State Indian Writer Nicholas Ray, 67, American film director (Rebel Without a Cause, Johnny Guitar, King of Kings), heart failure.NICHOLAS RAY, 67; DIRECTOR OF FILMS Telma Reca, 75, Argentine psychologist. Selma Steinmetz, 71, Austrian-French author and eductator, complications from surgery. Edward Kwaku Utuka, 42, Ghanaian general, execution by firing squad.Gana fuzila ex-Chefe de Estado Ben Weber, 62, American composer, heart attack.Ben Weber, 62, Tonal Composer