The following is a list of notable deaths in October 1985.
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.
October 1985
1 William Allen, 66, Canadian politician. J. Grant Anderson, 88, Scottish theatre director and actor. Warren Ashby, 65, American philosopher. Michele Avila, 17, American murder victim, drowned. Barney Brown, 77, American baseball player. Bland Cox Bruns, 84, American politician, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1950–1956).Mrs. Bland Bruns, ex-legislator, dies Terry Duffy, 63, British trade unionist. George Gooma, 67, Australian cricketer. Charlotte Posenenske, 54, German artist. Ninian Sanderson, 60, Scottish racing driver, leukemia.Sanderson remains a battler until the end Bill Springsteen, 85, American football player. Gordon Strutt, 73, English Anglican prelate. Giovanni Tosi, 86, Italian Olympic sprinter (1920). Earl Vann, 71, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1967–1976). Kong Visudharomn, 78, Thai physical educator. Emil Vogel, 91, German general. E. B. White, 86, American author (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan), complications from Alzheimer's disease.E.B. WHITE, ESSAYIST AND STYLIST, DIES
2 Harry Bohrer, 69, Czechoslovak journalist (Der Spiegel), heart failure.Harry Bohrer Rebecca Caudill, 86, American author (Tree of Freedom).Rebecca Caudill Ayers dies at age 86 Sidney Clute, 69, American actor (Cagney & Lacey, McCloud), cancer.SIDNEY CLUTE Noel Cox, 74, American politician. Rock Hudson, 59, American actor (Giant, Pillow Talk, McMillan & Wife), AIDS.Rock Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59 Salomón Ibarra Mayorga, 98, Nicaraguan lyricist ("Salve a ti, Nicaragua"). Eric Jones, 70, English footballer. Alex Möller, 82, German politician. George Savalas, 60, American actor (Kojak), leukemia.George Savalas Dead; A Movie and TV Actor Daramyn Tömör-Ochir, 64, Mongolian politician, murdered.
3 Charles Collingwood, 68, American journalist, cancer.CHARLES COLLINGWOOD IS DEAD; CBS CORRESPONDENT WAS 68 Maurice Copeland, 74, American actor. Harry Cowans, 52, British politician, MP (since 1976). Arthur Froehlich, 76, American architect, cancer.Hollywood Park Architect Arthur Froehlich Is Dead John Pallett, 64, Canadian politician, MP (1954–1962). Yngve Stoor, 73, Swedish singer.
4 Josie Bennett, 82, American rodeo manager. Arthur J. Bidwill, 82, American politician, member of the Illinois Senate (1934–1935, 1938–1972).Arthur J. Bidwill, 82; Served In Illinois Senate For 30 Years Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria, 87, Bulgarian royal. Fred Foster, 39, American basketball player. Enzo Giudici, 65, Italian literary scholar. Norm Harris, 79, Australian footballer. Jozef Herda, 75, Czechoslovak Olympic wrestler (1936). François Hertel, 80, Canadian Olympic writer (1948). Ludvig Lindblom, 75 Swedish Olympic wrestler (1932, 1936). Franklin Merrell-Wolff, 98, American esoteric philosopher. Laurence Reavell-Carter, 71, English Olympic discus thrower (1936, 1948). Jim Robertson, 82, Australian footballer. Geoffrey Sladen, 81, English rugby player and naval officer. Werner Stark, 75, Austrian-English sociologist. Gleb Strizhenov, 60, Soviet actor. Frederic Virtue, 88, British Olympic boxer (1920). Trond Halvorsen Wirstad, 81, Norwegian politician.
5 Caroline Bancroft, 85, American journalist. Harald Cramér, 92, Swedish mathematician. Cyril Edge, 68, English cricketer. Joachim Helbig, 70, German fighter pilot, traffic collision. Glynn Isaac, 47, South African archaeologist.DR. GLYNN ISSAC, ANTHROPOLOGIST Serge Jaroff, 89, Russian-born American choir conductor (Don Cossack Choir).Serge Jaroff, 89, Head Of the Cossack Chorus Ben Jeby, 75, American boxer. Brian Keenan, 42, American drummer (The Chambers Brothers), heart attack.DRUMMER BRIAN KEENAN, 42 Joseph Kushner, 62, Polish-born American real estate developer. Liang Xingchu, 72, Chinese general. Karl Menger, 83, Austrian-American mathematician. Vic Nankervis, 66, Australian footballer. Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim, 85, German-born American theoretical physicist. Sayyid Ahmedullah Qadri, 76, Indian writer. Walter Wallace Sackett Jr., 79, American politician, member of the Florida House of Representatives (1972–1976).Dr. Walter Sackett, former state legislator Abdus Sattar, 79, Bangladeshi politician, president (1981–1982).ABDUS SATTAR, EX-LEADER OF BANGLADESH, DIES Holbrook Working, 90, American economist.
6 Torsten Aminoff, 75, Finnish politician. Roy Atkins, 77, Australian footballer. Fred Colledge, 70, Scottish cricketer. Enrique Fernández, 73, Uruguayan footballer. Lola Gjoka, 75, Albanian pianist. Walter Gordy, 76, American physicist.Walter Gordy, Former Duke Physicist And Microwave Pioneer, Dies At 76 Jack Harkness, 78, Scottish footballer. Vilém Klíma, 79, Czechoslovak electrical engineer. Lauri Kokkonen, 67, Finnish playwright. James Chalmers McRuer, 95, Canadian judge. Nelson Riddle, 64, American songwriter and composer, heart and kidney failure.NELSON RIDDLE IS DEAD AT 64; ORCHESTRATED SINATRA SONGS Martha Schlamme, 62, Austrian-born American actress and singer, complications from a stroke.MARTHA SCHLAMME, SINGER, 60 Karl Zischek, 75, Austrian footballer.
7 Leopold Bode, 91, Austrian footballer. Frank Curran, 75, Australian rugby player. Lucile Czarnowski, 90, American dance educator. Albert Downs, 80, Australian footballer. Joe Flanagan, 87, Australian footballer. Leroy Holmes, 72, American baseball player. John A. Kent, 71, Canadian-English flying ace. Wolfgang Kieling, 61, German actor. Kaare Langlo, 72, Norwegian meteorologist. Dmitry Lukyanov, 85, Soviet general. Noah Mozes, 73, Israeli newspaper publisher. Cemal Reşit Rey, 80, Turkish pianist and composer. Gordon Arthur Riley, 74, American marine biologist. Silvestre Vargas, 83, Mexican mariachi musician. Len Webster, 78, Australian footballer.
8 Riccardo Bacchelli, 94, Italian writer.R. Bacchelli, 94; Prominent Italian Playwright, Novelist Kenneth Bagshaw, 64, Australian cricketer. Roger Blough, 81, American steel executive.ROGER M. BLOUGH, 81, DIES; LED U.S. STEEL FOR 13 YEARS William L. Borden, 65, American congressional staffer (United States Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy), heart attack.William Liscum Borden Obituary Subby Byas, 75, American baseball player. Diatome, 23, British Thoroughbred racehorse. Amalia Celia Figueredo, 90, Argentine aviator. Theresa Harris, 78, American actress. Marcelino Huerta, 60, American football player and coach, heart attack.Former college football coach Marcelino 'Chelo' Huerta Jr. died... Leon Klinghoffer, 69, American businessman, shot.Terrorism: The Voyage of The Achille Lauro Marta Lynch, 60, Argentine writer, suicide. Pedro Mathey, 57, Peruvian Olympic cyclist (1948). August Mortelmans, 84, Belgian racing cyclist. Malcolm Ross, 68, American balloonist. Giorgio Santelli, 87, Italian-American Olympic fencer (1920).GIORGIO SANTELLI, 87, EX-FENCING COACH OF U.S. OLYMPIANS Francesco Saverio Starrabba Barbera, 84, Italian lawyer and politician. John Wesley Snyder, 90, American businessman and politician, secretary of the treasury (1946–1953).John Snyder; Ex-Secretary of Treasury Clive Sullivan, 42, Welsh rugby player, cancer. Gordon Welchman, 79, English-American mathematician.
9 John Kameaaloha Almeida, 87, American musician.John Almeida, Hawaiian Music Composer, Dies Cecil Closenberg, 78, South African cricketer. Ludo Coeck, 30, Belgian footballer, complications from a traffic collision. Karel De Baere, 60, Belgian racing cyclist. Lionel George Higgins, 94, British lepidopterist. Edward Highton, 61, English cricketer. Dar Hutchins, 69, American basketball player. Manuel Flores Leon Guerrero, 70, Guamanian politician, governor (1963–1969). Emílio Garrastazu Médici, 79, Brazilian politician, president (1969–1974), kidney failure.Emilio Medici, a Brazil Leader Rusty Yarnall, 82, American baseball player.
10 S. S. Apte, 78, Indian journalist. Vera Bogetti, 83, British actress. Yul Brynner, 65, Russian-born American actor (The Ten Commandments, The King and I, The Magnificent Seven), lung cancer.YUL BRYNNER, THEATER'S 'KING,' DIES Bettina Ehrlich, 82, Austrian-English painter and illustrator. Hedley Powell Jacobs, 81, English-Jamaican journalist and writer. Alice Melin, 85, Belgian politician. Doris Reynolds, 86, British geologist. Don Schlundt, 52, American basketball player. Suvadhana, 80, Thai royal, princess consort (1925). David Van Alstyne, 88, American politician, member of the New Jersey Senate (1943–1953), heart attack.DAVIED VAN ALSTYNE, REPUBLICAN LEADER IN JERSEY IN THE 40'S Hans Vatne, 62, Norwegian newspaper editor. Orson Welles, 70, American actor, director (Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil), and broadcaster ("The War of the Worlds"), heart attack.Orson Welles, Theatrical Genius, Found Dead at 70
11 Frank G. Anderson, 93, American football player and coach. Todd Andrews, 84, Irish public servant. Blanche Charlet, 87, French Allied spy. Viktor Gurjev, 71, Estonian opera singer. Jussi Jalas, 77, Finnish composer. Alex La Guma, 61, South African novelist, heart attack.Alex La Guma Sew Leeka, 78, American basketball player. Edward Lowinsky, 77, American musicologist.EDWARD ELIAS LOWINSKY, U. OF C. MUSIC HISTORIAN Ted Mitchell, 80, American football player. Ingvard Nørregaard, 71, Danish Olympic canoeist (1952). Alex Odeh, 41, Palestinian peace activist, assassination by bombing. Dorothy O'Grady, 87, English saboteur. Bernard Privat, 70, French writer. Elwood Ullman, 82, American writer. Tex Williams, 68, American singer ("Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)"), pancreatic cancer.Tex Williams dies of cancer
12 Blind John Davis, 71, American musician.`BLIND JOHN` DAVIS, 71, MASTER OF BLUES PIANO Duke Dinsmore, 72, American racing driver. Paul DuCharme, 68, American basketball player. Grant Heckenlively, 69, American football player and coach. Norman James, 77, English footballer. Judy Lee Klemesrud, 46, American journalist, breast cancer.JUDY KLEMESRUD, N.Y. TIMES WRITER Numa F. Montet, 93, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1929–1937).Ex-Congressman Numa Montet, 93, Dies in La. Johnny Olson, 75, American radio and television announcer (The Price Is Right, What's My Line?, Match Game), stroke.TV Announce Johnny Olson Dead at 75 Sergei Osipov, 70, Soviet artist. Victor Salazar, 74, American politician. Ricky Wilson, 32, American guitarist (The B-52s), AIDS.
13 Herb Aach, 62, German-born American painter. Maurice Austin, 68, Australian soldier and military historian. Francesca Bertini, 93, Italian actress. Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz, 91, Polish general. Tage Danielsson, 57, Swedish actor and comedian, skin cancer. Paolo De Stefano, unknown, Italian mobster, murdered. Theodore Epp, 78, American radio evangelist. Sir Neville Faulks, 77, English barrister Richard E. Ferrario, 54, American politician, member of the Minnesota Senate (1959–1964). Pierre-Étienne Guyot, 80, French sports executive. Calvin D. Johnson, 86, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1943–1945). Eiji Kanie, 43, Japanese actor and voice actor, stroke. Florence Luscomb, 98, American architect and suffragist.FLORENCE LUSCOMB Saul Mielziner, 80, American football player. Herbert Nebe, 86, German racing cyclist. Tassos, 71, Greek engraver. Jack Wilson, 64, Australian cricketer.
14 Ossie Bluege, 84, American baseball player and manager, stroke.Senators' Bluege Dead at 84 Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, 77, British barrister. Artur Dyson, 73, Portuguese footballer. Harry Friedauer, 58, German singer and actor. Parimal Ghosh, 68, Indian politician and diplomat, MP (1967–1971). Emil Gilels, 68, Soviet pianist.EMIL GILELS, SOVIET PIANIST, DIES AT 68