The following is a list of notable deaths in June 1989.
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 1989
1 Dharmasena Attygalle, 64, Sri Lankan politician. Niels Bertelsen, 63, Danish Olympic boxer (1952). Robert L. Chidlaw-Roberts, 93, Welsh WWI flying ace. Bernard Fauqueux, 50, French Olympic gymnast (1960, 1964). Emery Hawkins, 77, American animator. Aurelio Lampredi, 71, Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer. Alexis Lichine, 75, Russian wine writer and entrepreneur. Edward J. McShane, 85, American mathematician, congestive heart failure. Mark Petteway, 27, American basketball player. Charles Vanden Wouwer, 72, English-Belgian international footballer. Martin Zoborosky, 72, Canadian NHL player (Chicago Black Hawks).
2 Guido Agosti, 87, Italian pianist and piano teacher. Smith Barrier, 72, American sports journalist. Ted à Beckett, 81, Australian test cricketer. Juan Inostroza, 46, Chilean Olympic fencer (1976). Dick Mayer, 64, American professional golfer. Frederic Prokosch, 83, American writer. Takeo Watanabe, 56, Japanese musician and composer.
3 Shirley Burden, 80, American writer and photographer. Omer De Bruycker, 83, Belgian racing cyclist. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 86 or 89, Iranian religious leader, Supreme Leader of Iran, heart attack. Frank Laming, 80, Scottish Anglican priest. Wynne Samuel, 77, Welsh politician.
4 Dik Browne, 71, American cartoonist, cancer. Cecil Collins, 81, English painter and printmaker. Bernard Considine, 64, Australian rules footballer and cricketer. Vernon Cracknell, 77, New Zealand politician. Franca Helg, 69, Italian designer and architect. Charles Henry, 77, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1949-1957). Thio Ging Hwie, 65, Indonesian Olympic weightlifter (1952).
5 Ernie Barber, 75, American NFL player (Washington Redskins). Baby Huwae, 49, Dutch-Indonesian actress, model and singer. André Michel, 81, French film director and screenwriter. Fritz Nagy, 65, American basketball player. Maurice Philippe, 57, British aircraft and Formula One car designer. Barry Sullivan, 61, Canadian NHL player (Detroit Red Wings).
6 Whitey Glazner, 95, American MLB player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies). Richard P. Graves, 82, American director of the League of California Cities. Richard Kahn, Baron Kahn, 83, British economist. Michael O'Farrell, 40, American vice-president of Oakland Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, murdered. Ernest John Primeau, 79, American Roman Catholic bishop. Laxman Singh, 81, Indian last ruling Maharawal (Maharaja) of the state of Dungarpur. Bohumil Steigenhöfer, 84, Czech Olympic ice hockey player (1928).
7 Evan Peter Aurand, 71, American naval officer. Donn Beach, 82, American adventurer, businessman and World War II veteran, liver cancer. Jorge Córdova, 76, Chilean international footballer. Jim Cristy, 76, American swimmer and Olympic medalist (1932, 1936), financial manager for the Updike Company. William McLean Hamilton, 70, Canadian politician. Chico Landi, 81, Brazilian Formula One racing driver. Nara Leão, 47, Brazilian singer, brain tumour. Paulo Leminski, 74, Brazilian writer, poet and journalist, liver cirrhosis. David Peregrine, 34, Canadian dancer and actor, plane crash. George Roughton, 79, English footballer. Jane Weiller, 77, American golfer. Notable Dutch-Surinamese football players killed in Surinam Airways Flight 764: Ruud Degenaar, 25, Heracles Almelo Lloyd Doesburg, 29, AFC Ajax Steve van Dorpel, 23, FC Volendam Wendel Fräser, 22, RBC Roosendaal Frits Goodings, 25, FC Wageningen Jerry Haatrecht, 28, Neerlandia Virgall Joemankhan, 20, Cercle Brugge Andro Knel, 21, NAC Breda Ruben Kogeldans, 22, Willem II Tilburg Fred Patrick, 23, PEC Zwolle Andy Scharmin, 21, FC Twente Nick Stienstra, 34, RC Heemstede Elfried Veldman, 23, De Graafschap Florian Vijent, 27, Telstar
8 Bibb Falk, 90, American Major League baseball player. Glenn McQuillen, 74, American MLB player (St. Louis Browns). Erik Østrand, 71, Danish Olympic wrestler (1952). Albert Spaggiari, 56, French criminal. Emil Verban, 73, American Major League baseball player. Paul Zanolini, 90, American Olympic wrestler (1920).
9 George Beadle, 85, American geneticist, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Rashid Behbudov, 73, Azerbaijani singer and actor. Norman Brearley, 98, Australian commercial and military pilot, pioneer of Australian airline industry. James Horstead, 91, Anglican bishop of Sierra Leone and Archbishop of West Africa. Vladimir Kasatonov, 78, Soviet military leader and fleet admiral. Huang Yan, 76, Chinese politician. José López Rega, 72, Argentine politician, Minister of Social Welfare, diabetes. Wolfdietrich Schnurre, 68, German writer, heart failure. Bill Tymms, 85, Australian rules footballer. Piotr Vasiliev, 80, Soviet realist painter.
10 Basil Gray, 84–85, English art historian, Islamicist and author, head of the British Museum's Oriental department.Basil Gray (1904–1989). Proceedings of the British Academy. Retrieved 14 Oct 2024. James Greenway, 86, American ornithologist. Martin Kottler, 79, American NFL footballer (Pittsburgh Pirates). Ortwin Linger, 21, Dutch-Surinamese football player (HFC Haarlem), injuries from plane crash. Juan Bustillo Oro, 85, Mexican film director, screenwriter and producer. Richard Quine, 68, American actor, director and singer, suicide by shooting. Suleyman Rustam, 83, Soviet poet, playwright and translator. John Ryan, 79, Australian rules footballer. Joe Stripp, 86, American Major League baseball player.
11 Ronald Eric Bishop, 86, British engineer, chief designer of the de Havilland Mosquito. Arnulfo Briceño, 50, Colombian musician, songwriter and lawyer, plane crash.Murió Arnulfo Briceño. Año 1989 Lloyd Cheatham, 70, American football player (Chicago Cardinals, New York Yankees). Jan Lapidoth, 73, Swedish Olympic bobsledder (1952, 1956). Jack McMahon, 60, American NBA basketballer and coach. Charles Smith Rutherford, 97, Canadian soldier, last surviving WW1 VC recipient. Jim Williams, 60, American college football coach.
12 Guy Crossman, 73, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1962-1972). Eduardo Dualde, 55, Spanish hockey player and Olympic medalist (1960, 1964). Nilufer Hanımsultan, 73, Ottoman princess. Joe Knott, 82, Australian rules footballer. Lou Monte, 72, Italian-American singer.
13 Fran Allison, 81, American television and radio personality, myelodysplasia. William Grasso, Italian-American mobster, murdered. Ray Sherry, 64, Australian politician, member of the Australian Parliament. Howard Simons, 60, American editor of Washington Post at time of the Watergate scandal, pancreatic cancer.
14 Dame Zara Bate, 80, Australian fashion entrepreneur, wife of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt. Louis-Philippe-Antoine Bélanger, 82, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1962-1965). Pat Capri, 70, American MLB player (Boston Braves). Pete de Freitas, 27, English musician and producer, motorcycle accident. Wei Guoqing, 75, Chinese government official, military officer and political commissar. Heber Austin Ladner, 86, American politician, Secretary of State of Mississippi, heart disease. Joseph Malula, 71, Congolese archbishop and cardinal. Richard Moran, 56, American Olympic sprint canoeist (1956, 1960). Thomas A. Pope, 94, American soldier, WW1 Medal of Honor recipient. Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, 87, Israeli rabbi, heart attack. Albert Wolff, 82, French-born American Olympic fencer (1948, 1952).
15 Maurice Bellemare, 77, Canadian politician, diabetes. Roberto Camardiel, 71, Spanish theatre director and actor, bone disease. Victor French, 54, American actor and director, lung cancer. Judy Johnson, 89, American Negro League baseball player. Ray McAnally, 63, Irish actor, heart attack. Edmund Louis Palmieri, 82, American district judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York). Luis Ricceri, 88, Italian Roman Catholic priest.
16 Miloslav Bednařík, 24, Czech Olympic sport shooter (1988). Helga Haase, 55, East German speed skater and Olympic gold medalist (1960, 1964). Arthur Häggblad, 80, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier (1936). William Colbert Keady, 76, American district judge (United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi). Celia Lynch, 81, Irish politician. Mino Maccari, 90, Italian painter. Jock McKenzie, 77, Australian rules footballer. Antonio Román, 77, Spanish film director, screenwriter and film producer. John Westbrook, 66, English actor.
17 S. David Griggs, 49, United States Navy officer and NASA astronaut. John Matuszak, 38, American football player and actor, accidental overdose. Pat Parker, 45, American poet and activist, breast cancer.
18 Ennio Balbo, 67, Italian film, television and voice actor. Paulo Cavalheiro, 55, Brazilian Olympic boxer (1952). Bobby Cross, 57, American NFL footballer. George C. Pimentel, 67, American chemist and researcher, intestinal cancer. Celestino Pinto, 57, Brazilian Olympic boxer (1952, 1956). Walter Ryan, 85, Canadian Olympic cross-country skier (1932). Steve Senteney, 33, American MLB player (Toronto Blue Jays). I. F. Stone, 81, American investigative journalist, writer and author, heart attack.
19 Betti Alver, 82, Estonian poet. Yevgeny Kabanov, 70, Soviet Naval Aviation major general. Andrey Prokofyev, 30, Soviet sprinter and Olympic gold medalist (1980), suicide.
20 Dona Drake, 74, American singer, dancer and film actress, pneumonia. Veikko Lommi, 71, Finnish Olympic rower (1948, 1952). Conway Olmstead, 81, American Olympic sailor (1928). José María Querejeta, 70, Spanish footballer Henri Rivière, 67, French Olympic bobsledder (1952).
21 Ron Bailey, 75, Australian international rugby league footballer. Lee Calhoun, 56, American hurdler, dual Olympic gold medalist (1956, 1960). Vernon Grimshaw, 73, English cricketer. Aleksandr Safronov, 36, Soviet speed skater and Olympian (1976). Bjørn Skaare, 30, Norwegian NHL player (Detroit Red Wings). Edmond Sollberger, 68, Turkish-Swiss–British museum curator, scholar of the Sumerian language.
22 Anton Dermota, 79, Slovene lyric tenor. William Fletcher-Vane, 80, British politician, member of the House of Lords. Robert Körner, 64, Austrian international footballer. Dick Moje, 62, American NFL player (Green Bay Packers). Henri Sauguet, 88, French composer. Isaac Starr, 94, American physician, heart disease specialist and clinical epidemiologist. Reynolds Webb, 89, Australian rules footballer.
23 Michel Aflaq, 79, Syrian philosopher and Arab nationalist, complications from heart surgery. Rick Anderson, 35, American MLB player (New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners). Werner Best, 85, German Nazi Party leader, organiser of the SS-Einsatzgruppen paramilitary death squads. Timothy Manning, 79, Irish-American Roman Catholic archbishop. Arne Tuft, 78, Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier (1936).
24 Geoffrey Cradock-Watson, 80, English cricketer and aviator. Svend Aage Eriksen, 80, Danish footballer. Russell Meiggs, 86, British ancient historian. Hibari Misora, 52, Japanese singer and actress. Ghulam Raziq, 56, Pakistani hurdler and Olympian (1956, 1960, 1964). Clarrie Tolson, 77, Australian rules footballer. Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia, 81, Russian-American nephew of Tsar Nicholas II.
25 Idris Cox, 89, Welsh communist activist and newspaper editor. M. A. Daniel, 35, Sri Lankan politician, murdered. Graham Hamilton, 49, Australian Olympic swimmer (1956). Hiram Meikle, 91, Jamaican cricketer.
26 Howard Charles Green, 93, Canadian federal politician. Jack Kenny, 74, Australian rules footballer. Walter Ralston Martin, 60, American Baptist Christian minister and author.