The following is a list of notable deaths in August 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.
August 1979
1 Szymon Biliński, 80, Polish Protestant activist. Wayne Brenkert, 81, American football player and coach. Philip Mallory Conley, 91, American historian. Edward Fitzherbert, 93, British general and cricketer. Vlasta Javořická, 89, Czech novelist. Camillo Jerusalem, 65, Austrian footballer. Li Ji, 83, Chinese-Taiwanese archaeologist. Mary Cordell Nesbitt, 67, American politician, member of the North Carolina House of Representatives (since 1975).Services For Rep. Nesbitt To Be Held Tomorrow Gaspare Pasta, 85, Italian Olympic athlete (1924). Sarmento Rodrigues, 80, Portuguese colonial administrator.Deaths Ethelbert Stauffer, 77, German theologian. Eugene E. Stokowski, 58, American politician, member of the Minnesota House of RepresentativesMinnesota Legislators: Past & Present: Eugene E. Stokowski, leg.state.mn.us. Frans van Buchem, 81, Dutch physician.
2 Princess Adelaide of Savoy-Genoa, 75, Italian royal. Ray Allen, 70, New Zealand cricketer. Gérard de Piolenc, 70, French Olympic sailor (1936). Karan Dewan, 61, Indian actor. Willie Goggin, 73, American golfer. Bob Griffin, 84, American racing executive. Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, 84, Peruvian politician, lung cancer.Victor Haya de la Torre Is Dead; Elder Statesman of Peru Was 84 John Leydon, 84, Irish civil servant and transportation official. Thurman Munson, 32, American baseball player, plane crash.Munson Dies In Crash Stan Risdon, 65, English cricketer. Robert Schaffner, 74, Luxembourgish politician. Jack Tizard, 60, New Zealand psychologist.
3 Edward Craig, 82, American politician, member of the California State Assembly (1929–1937). Juan Ibacache, 76, Chilean footballer. A. Quincy Jones, 66, American architect, heart attack.From the Archives: A. Quincy Jones, Architect, Dies Bertil Ohlin, 80, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (1977).Berta Ohlin Is Dead; Won the Nobel Prize In Economics in 1977 Alfredo Ottaviani, 88, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.Alfredo Ottaviani, 88; Cardinal Who Headed Vatican's Holy Office Walter Porter, 75, British Olympic runner (1924). Enrico Sala, 88, Italian racing cyclist. Angelos Terzakis, 72, Greek writer.
4 Camberley Kate, 84, English prolific dog owner.Camberley Kate and her stray dogs Reynold C. Fuson, 84, American chemist. Allison Greenlees, 82, Scottish scouting leader.Greenlees Lew Hook, 74, New Zealand rugby player. J. Warren Hutchens, 69, American Episcopalian prelate.Memorial Service Set Thursday for Rt. Rev. Hutchins Matt Jenkinson, 72, English footballer. Ivar Johansson, 76, Swedish Olympic wrestler (1928, 1932, 1936). Roger Lambrecht, 63, Belgian racing cyclist. Albert Schreiner, 86, German politician and historian. Frank Vacca, 64, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1973–1974). Hal Wagner, 64, American baseball player. Cy White, 63–64, Canadian curler.
5 Christine Böhm, 25, Austrian actress, hiking accident. Väinö Nieminen, 81, Finnish politician. Jacob Potofsky, 84, Russian-born American trade unionist, cancer.Jacob Potofsky, Longtime Head Of Clothing Workers, Dies at 84 Mikhail Rudakov, 73, Soviet general. Charles Simons, 72, Belgian footballer.
6 Olav Hordvik, 77, Norwegian politician. Tommy Jenkins, 77, Australian footballer. Kurt Kasznar, 65, Austrian-American actor (Land of the Giants), cancer.KURT KASZNAR DIES; BROADWAY ACTOR Émile Kleber, 80, French Olympic bobsledder (1936). Arthur Lacey, 75, English golfer.GOLF Feodor Lynen, 68, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (1964), complications from surgery.FEODOR LYNEN James Ward Rector, 76, American jurist.Justice James Ward Rector Keith Storey, 74, Australian footballer.
7 Bill Brennan, 57, American politician, member of the Nebraska Legislature (since 1977), complications from surgery.Sen. Brennan loses battle for life Valentin Filatov, 58, Soviet animal trainer and circus performer.Valentin Filatov Gordon T. Gould, 63, American general, heart attack.Gen. Gordon Gould, Ex-Head Of Defense Communications Hazel Keener, 74, American actress. Adolph Kummernuss, 84, German trade unionist. Margery Maude, 90, English actress.Actress Margery Maude Burden S. A. Natarajan, 61, Indian actor. Eamon Ryan, 32, Irish civil servant, shot. Frederick Seabrook, 80, English cricketer.
8 Ghanim Abdul-Jalil, 41, Iraqi politician, execution by firing squad.21 prominent Iraqis go before firing squad George B. Barnes, 74, American politician, member of the Maine House of Representatives (1943–1947).GEORGE B. BARNES Lionel Cooper, 63, South African mathematician. Charles Faithfull, 76, English rugby player. Liu Heng-ching, 79, Taiwanese politician. Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi, 44, Iraqi politician, execution by firing squad. David J. McDonald, 76, American trade unionist.David J. McDonald, Retired Head Of Steelworkers Union, Dies at 76 Robert Moline, 89, British Anglican prelate.R. H. Moline: ex-Archbishop of Perth Nicholas Monsarrat, 69, British novelist (The Cruel Sea), cancer.Nicholas Monsarrat, Novelist, Dies; Wrote War Epic ‘The Cruel Sea’ Fahir Özgüden, 45–46, Turkish Olympic hurdler (1960). George Rider, 88, American football and track and field coach.George Rider Thomas G. Rose, 78, English cricketer.
9 Chus Alonso, 62, Spanish footballer Muhammad Amin, 47–48, Pakistani footballer. Alan Arthur, 73, Australian footballer. Marta Damkowski, 68, German politician and World War II resistance member. Jose Fornier, 65, Filipino politician. Walter O'Malley, 75, American baseball executive, heart failure.Walter F. O'Malley, Leacler of Dodgers’ Move to Los Angeles, Dies at 75 Charles Spinasse, 85, French politician. Witold Taszycki, 81, Polish linguist. Raymond Washington, 25, American gang leader, founder of the Crips, shot. Ben Zuckerman, 89, Romanian-born American fashion designer.Ben Zuckerman, Clothier, Is Dead; Leader in Ready-to-Wear Industry
10 Brenda Bell, 87, New Zealand radio broadcaster and politician. James B. Carey, 74, American jurist. Dick Foran, 69, American actor, pneumonia.Dick Foran, Singing Actor, Dies; Was Veteran of Western Movies Walther Gerlach, 90, German physicist. David Horowitz, 80, Austrian-born Israeli economist.David Horowitz Ángel León Gozalo, 71, Spanish Olympic sport shooter (1948, 1952, 1960). Régis Lepreux, 66, French Olympic weightlifter (1936). Joseph O'Doherty, 87, Irish politician, TD (1918–1927, 1933–1937). Fred Paxford, 81, British gardener. José María Pinilla Fábrega, 59, Panamanian politician, president (1968–1969), heart attack.Col. Jose M. Pinilla Is Dead at 60, Panamanian President in ‘68‐’69 Arthur F. Raper, 79, American sociologist, heart attack.Arthur Raper, Retired Rural Economics Expert Géza Wertheim, 69, Luxembourgish tennis player and Olympic bobsledder (1936). Curtis Williams, 44, American singer (The Penguins) and songwriter ("Earth Angel"). John Wright, 70, American Roman Catholic cardinal, polymyositis.John Cardinal Wright Dies at 70; Top‐Ranking American in Vatican
11 J. G. Farrell, 44, British novelist (Troubles), drowned.Novelist Presumed Dead Georges Florovsky, 85, Russian-American theologian and priest.Rev. G. V. Florovsky, Theologian Reino Hallamaa, 79, Finnish soldier and radio operator. Don Harris, 74, Australian footballer. Douglas Haskell, 80, American writer and architecture critic. Carl Georg Heise, 89, German art historian. Antonina Makarova, 59, Soviet war criminal, mass murderer and Nazi collaborator, execution by firing squad.Nazi executioner denied clemency by Russian court Robert Martinson, 52, American sociologist, suicide by jumping. Giacinto Mondaini, 76, Italian artist and screenwriter, cardiac arrest. Harry Wilson, 83, New Zealand Olympic hurdler (1920). Notable victims of the 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision:Russian football team wiped out in mid-air collision Mikhail An, 27, Soviet footballer Olimjon Ashirov, 24, Soviet footballer Vladimir Fyodorov, 23, Soviet footballer Nikolai Borisovich Kulikov, 26, Soviet footballer Vladimir Makarov, 32, Soviet footballer
12 Gilbert Cesbron, 66, French novelist.Deces de Gilbert Cesbron Sir Ernst Chain, 73, German-born British biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (1945).Ernst Chain, Shared Nobel Prize For Role in Developing Penicillin Angelo De Martini, 82, Italian Olympic racing cyclist (1924). Galinka Ehrenfest, 69, Russian-born Dutch writer and illustrator. Wallace J. S. Johnson, 66, American politician, stroke.WALLACE JOHNSON, ER-MAYOR ON COAST Inger Juel, 52, Swedish actress. A. V. Meiyappan, 72, Indian filmmaker. Joseph Serebriany, 72, Soviet painter. Ted Tomkins, 58, Australian footballer.
13 John Bunn, 80, American basketball coach.John Bunn Andrew Dasburg, 92, American painter.ANDREW DASBURG, CUBIST PAINTER, DIES Stan Dixon, 85, English footballer. Dorothy Edwards, 62, Welsh actress. Frank Glick, 85, American football player and coach. Benjaminas Jakševičius, 84, Lithuanian sculptor. Louis Macloon, 86, American theatre producer. Johanna Martzy, 54, Romanian-born Hungarian violinist. Rina Natan, 55, German-born Israeli transgender woman, country's first known transgender woman. Wilhelm Oxenius, 66, German soldier and translator. Tom Pollitt, 79, English cricketer. Reginald Somerville, 60, English cricketer. F. J. Thwaites, 71, Australian novelist, cancer.F. J. Thwaites, author of 32 novels
14 Georges Berthet, 75, French Olympic skier (1924). Paul Blenck, 83, French racing cyclist. Babe Frump, 78, American football player. Édouard Goubert, 85, Indian politician. Fred Jent, 84–85, Swiss writer. George Malley, 76, American football coach.Ex-USF coach Malley dead Mikhail Ogonkov, 47, Soviet footballer. N. M. Perera, 75, Sri Lankan politician. Yehoshua Rabinovitz, 67, Russian-Israeli politician, MK (since 1977), heart attack.Yehoshua Rabinowitz Is Dead in Jerusalem, Ex‐Finance Minister Gwenn Story, 19, American unsolved murder victim, stabbed. George Townsend Turner, 73, American philatelist. Wang Yun-wu, 91, Chinese-Taiwanese politician and scholar, vice premier (1947–1948, 1958–1963).Chinese Scholar Wang Yun-Wu Mack Wheat, 86, American baseball player.
15 Claude Achurch, 82, Australian cricketer. Walter Berndt, 79, American cartoonist (Smitty). Zygmunt Witymir Bieńkowski, 66, Polish writer and pilot. Paul Bouque, 83, Cameroonian Roman Catholic prelate. Bill Grieve, 79, American baseball umpire, cancer.Dies of cancer Jeanette Hackett, 81, American dancer and choreographer. Asa Martin, 79, American musician, heart attack.Asa Martin dead at 79 Derek Twist, 74, English filmmaker.
16 Wally Annables, 67, English footballer. Georg Dahl, 73, Swedish ichthyologist. John Diefenbaker, 83, Canadian politician, prime minister (1957–1963), heart attack.John Diefenbaker Is Dead at 83; Was Canadian Premier for 6 Years Forrest Douds, 74, American football player and coach.First Steeler Coach Douds Dies At 75 F. Ryan Duffy, 91, American jurist and politician, member of the U.S. Senate (1933–1939).F.R. Duffy, Ex‐Senator and Judge Jerzy Jurandot, 68, Polish poet and playwright. Sir Otto Kahn-Freund, 78, German-British legal scholar. Pedro Ludovico, 87, Brazilian politician.Pedro Ludovico Teixeira Lina Merlin, 91, Italian politician. Walter Schultze, 85, German politician, physician and Nazi official. Roy Williams, 71, Australian footballer. Larry Wilson, 48, Canadian ice hockey player and coach, heart attack.
17 John C. Allen, 72, American roller coaster designer. Percy Wragg Brian, 68, British botanist.Percy Brian Gordon Fallows, 66, British Anglican prelate.THE BISHOP of Sheffield... Domingo Massagué, 78, Spanish footballer. Don Louis Perceval, 71, British artist and illustrator.