The following is a list of notable deaths in August 1987.
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 1987
1 Amilcare Canevari, 82, Italian Olympic rower (1928). Caroline Russell Compton, 80, American artist. Benson Fong, 70, American actor, stroke. Howdy Forrester, 65, American bluegrass fiddler.Gravestone: Howard 'Howdy' Forrester V 1.8.87. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. S. Marshall Kempner, 88, American investment banker, founder of the French Bank of California, heart failure. Juho Matsalu, 75, Estonian footballer. Harold Morphy, 85, British Olympic rower (1924). Pola Negri, 90, Polish-American actress and singer, pneumonia and brain tumour.
2 Mohammad Choucair, 70, Lebanese politician, assassinated. Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, 66, President of Bangladesh, chairman of U.N. Commission on Human Rights, heart attack. Tom Doerr, 39–40, American gay activist. Jaime Ferrer, 70, Filipino lawyer, guerrilla and politician, Secretary of Local Government, assassinated.Member of Aquino Cabinet Is Assassinated by Gunmen. New York Times. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. Clement Howell, 51, Turks and Caicos politician, presumed airplane crash. David N. Johnson, 65, American organist and composer. David A. Martin, 50, American founding member and bass player for Sam the Sham, heart attack. Mangkunegara VIII, 62, Indonesian politician, last ruler of Mangkunegaran, Java. Aileen Meagher, 76, Canadian Olympic athlete (1936). Adolf Schön, 81, German racing cyclist. Myron Stout, 78–79, American abstract painter, lung cancer. Yves Volel, 52–53, Haitian lawyer, activist and presidential candidate, assassinated.Haitian Candidate Killed by Gunmen. New York Times. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024.
3 Garrick Agnew, 56, Australian swimmer, businessman and dual Olympian (1948, 1952), heart attack.Sir Robert David Garrick Agnew (1930–1987). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. Edward Cowart, 62, American circuit judge, heart attack.Edward D. Cowart, 62, Judge In Florida Trial of Ted Bundy. New York Times. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. Joseph Desch, 80, American electrical engineer and inventor.Joseph Desch. National Security Agency. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. Jean Douvinet, 88, French Olympic wrestler (1920). Dorothy Hammerstein, 88, Australian-born American interior designer and decorator, wife of Oscar Hammerstein II.Dorothy Hammerstein Dies; Designer Was Lyricist's Wife. New York Times. Retrieved 10 Aug 2024. William S. Moorhead, 64, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives (1959–1981), lung cancer. Ivan Mykolaichuk, 46, Ukrainian actor and screenwriter (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors). Ivan Svanidze, 59, German-born Soviet academic specialising in agriculture and African Studies. Jim Veitch, 82, Australian rules footballer.
4 Hans Aderhold, 68, German Olympic diver (1952). Sheikh Ali, 62, Malaysian Olympic field hockey player (1956). Dick Farney, 65, Brazilian jazz pianist, composer and singer. József Fekete, 64, Hungarian Olympic gymnast (1948, 1952). Kenny Price, 56, American country music singer, songwriter and actor, heart attack.Country Singer Kenny Price, 56, Regular on ‘Hee Haw’ Show, Dies. L.A. Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Jesse M. Unruh, 64, American politician, minority leader and speaker of the California State Assembly, prostate cancer.Jesse Unruh, A California Political Power, Dies. New York Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Allan White, 72, Australian rules footballer. John W. Wydler, 63, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives (1963–1981), heart attack.John W. Wydler, 63; Represented Nassau in Congress 17 Years. New York Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024.
5 Jocko Conlon, 89, American MLB player (Boston Braves). Johannes Haasnoot, 90, Dutch Olympic rower (1920). Anatoli Papanov, 64, Soviet actor, heart attack. Norm Raines, 66, Australian rules footballer. Salvador Flores Rivera, 67, Mexican composer and singer. Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, 59, Japanese novelist and translator of French literature, carotid aneurysm.
6 Abbas Babaei, 36, Iranian pilot, brigadier-general in Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, shot down. Sherwood Bailey, 64, American child actor, cancer.Sherwood V. Bailey Jr.; Played Spud in ‘Our Gang’ Comedies. L.A. Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Paula Bauersmith, 78, American actress, cancer. Omer Braeckeveldt, 69, Belgian road cyclist. Ira C. Eaker, 91, U.S. Army Air Forces general during World War II. Georges Krotoff, 81, French Olympic sprinter (1928). Lena Küchler-Silberman, 77, Polish member of the Jewish resistance. Myles Lane, 83, American NHL ice hockey player (New York Rangers) and Supreme Court justice, Alzheimer's disease.Myles J. Lane, Retired Judge and Ex-Prosecutor, is Dead. New York Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Léon Noël, 99, French diplomat and politician, ambassador to Poland.
7 Mihailo Apostolski, 80, Macedonian general and politician. Jeanne Boitel, 83, French film actress, member of French Resistance. Reed Budge, 66, American politician, member of the Idaho Senate (1967–1986). Camille Chamoun, 87, Lebanese politician, President of Lebanon, heart attack.Camille Nimer Chamoun, 87; A Lebanese Leader 43 Years. New York Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Andrew D. Holt, 82, American educator, president of the University of Tennessee.Dr. Andrew Holt, 82, A University President. New York Times. Retrieved 11 Aug 2024. Nobusuke Kishi, 90, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan, heart complications. Vibeke Møller, 82, Danish Olympic swimmer (1924). Jaap van Praag, 77, Dutch football administrator, chairman AFC Ajax, traffic accident.
8 Danilo Blanuša, 83, Yugoslavian mathematician, physicist and engineer.Danilo Blanuša. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Harry Cockerill, 88, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1959–1973). Julián Gorkin, 86, Spanish revolutionary socialist, leader of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification.Julian Gorkin. The Nobel Prize Nomination Archive (year of death only). Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Laurence Hyde, 73, English-born Canadian film maker, painter and graphic artist. Nirmal Mahto, 36, Indian political activist, leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, murdered.Eyewitness relives day of Nirmal murder. Telegraph India. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Trevor O'Keeffe, 18–19, Irish man murdered while hitchhiking in France.Mother is blaming soldier for death. The Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Irwin Schiff, 50, American businessman and mob associate, murdered.The Enigmatic Life and Violent Death of Irwin Schiff. New York Times. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Juan Antonio Yanes, 85, Venezuelan professional baseball pioneerJUAN ANTONIO YANES (YANESITO)
9 Rudolf Broby-Johansen, 86, Danish art historian, communist activist and writer. Col Colborne, 77, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1949–1973). Leon Keyserling, 79, American economist and lawyer, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.Leon Keyserling, Economic Aide to Truman, Dies. New York Times. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. August Miete, 78, Nazi German SS member and mass murderer, sentenced to life imprisonment. Henry Morgan, 80, Irish first-class cricketer.Henry Morgan. Wisden. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024.
10 Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, 94, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece, heart failure.Greek Politician George Athanassiadis-Novas. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Casey Donovan, (John Culver), 43, American pornographic actor, AIDS.Obituary: John Calvin Culver 10.8.87. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Kerstin Gellerman, 61, Swedish politician, member of parliament. Edmund Germer, 85, German inventor, father of the fluorescent lamp.Edmund Germer. National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Uys Krige, 77, South African writer of novels, poems and plays.Uys Krige. Britannica. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Patrick O'Boyle, 91, American Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Washington.Ex-Washington Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle Dies at 91. L.A. Times. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Prince Yamashina Takehiko, 89, Japanese head of the Yamashina-no-miya. Raquel Torres, 78, Mexican-born American film actress, heart attack.
11 Eugene Bordinat, 67, American automobile designer and corporate executive (Ford Motor Company). Živko Čingo, 51, Yugoslavian writer. F. Herrick Herrick, 85, American film director. Walter Herrmann, 76, German nuclear physicist and mechanical engineer. John McGillen, 70, American MLB player (Philadelphia Athletics). Karlo Pavlenč, 61, Yugoslavian Olympic rower (1948, 1952). Clara Peller, 85, Russian-born American manicurist and television personality, heart failure. Alexander Ziegler, 43, Swiss author and actor, suicide.
12 Alison Marjorie Ashby, 86, Australian botanical artist and plant collector. Crystal Bennett, 68, British archaeologist, founded the British Institute in Amman, liver disease.Crystal-M Bennett O.B.E., D.Litt., F.S.A.. Brown University. Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Lester Gaba, 80, American sculptor and writer, colon cancer. Kaj Hansen, 70, Danish footballer and manager. Dmitri Klebanov, 69, Ukrainian composer. Niels Knudsen, 82, Danish architect. Sally Long, 85, American dancer and actress. Max Rowley, 64, Australian racing cyclist. Fatime Sokoli, 39, Albanian folk music singer.
13 Guðmundur Ingólfsson, 58, Icelandic Olympic swimmer (1948). Walter Kondratovich, 63, American football player and coach. Thomas B. Manuel, 88, American community leader and politician, heart attack.Thomas B. Manuel obituary. Newspapers.com (The Palm Beach Post). Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Ethel McMillan, 83, New Zealand politician, member of the New Zealand Parliament (1953–1975).
14 Sydney Bromley, 78, English actor, cancer. Giovanni Delago, 84, Italian Olympic cross-country skier (1932). Bernard Fagg, 71, British archaeologist and museum curator. Mary-Louise Hooper, 80, American heiress and activist in the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements. Narayana Kasturi, 89, Indian writer, professor and journalist. Nora Listach, 77, American baseball player. Brewster Mason, 64, English actor, injuries from a fall. Albert Mayaud, 88, French Olympic water polo player (1920, 1924). Vincent Persichetti, 72, American composer and pianist. Edgar Rosenberg, 61, German-born British film and television producer, suicide. Shigeo Sasaki, 74, Japanese mathematician (Sasakian manifolds).Shigeo Sasaki 1912-1987. Project Euclid (Obituary). Retrieved 12 Aug 2024. Wylie Sypher, 81, American non-fiction writer.Feltus Wylie Sypher Obituary. Newspapers.com (The Boston Globe). Retrieved 16 Aug 2024.
15 Konstantin Aleksandrov, 67, Soviet sailor and Olympian (1952, 1956, 1964, 1968).Konstantin Aleksandrov. Olympedia. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. Hanna Greally, 63, Irish writer, incarcerated against her will in psychiatric hospital for 18 years.Radio programme explores the life and legacy of Hanna Greally. Roscommon people. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. Bernard Michaux, 65, Luxembourgian Olympic footballer (1948). Ubaldo Ragona, 70, Italian film director and screenwriter. Dan Sandifer, 60, American NFL player (Washington Redskins), heart disease.Dan Sandifer. Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. Robert Leonard Ewing Scott, 90, American convicted murderer.‘Body of Crime’ Figure Is a Body Unclaimed as Famed Case Closes. L.A. Times. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. Louis Scutenaire, 82, Belgian French-language poet and anarchist.Louis Scutenaire. Brussels Remembers. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. K. K. Shetty, 86, Indian politician, Member of Parliament.
16 Pepe Cáceres, 52, Colombian bullfighter, complications from a goring.Death of a Hero. Not all the …. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024. Dorothy Hughes, 77, English-born Kenyan architect and politician.