The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2006.
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.
December 2006
1 Claude Jade, 58, French actress (Baisers Volés, L'Amour en Fuite, Topaz), metastatic eye cancer. Herbert Gursky, 76, American astrophysicist for the Naval Research Laboratory, stomach cancer. Geoffrey Colin Guy, 86, British airman and colonial governor. Sid Raymond, 97, American voice actor (Baby Huey), complications of a stroke. Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, Malaysian "snake king", venomous snakebite.
2 Bob Berry, 80, British test cricket player, natural causes. Corinne Clark, 83, American baseball player (Peoria Redwings).All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Corinne Clark kari edwards, 52, American poet, artist and gender activist, heart failure. Kurt Lipstein, 97, German-born legal scholar. Mariska Veres, 59, Dutch singer for Shocking Blue (Venus), cancer.
3 Raili Halttu, 97, Finnish Olympic sprinter.Raili Halttu Craig Hinton, 42, British science fiction author, heart attack. Billy Klaus, 77, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies). Ferenc Machos, 74, Hungarian soccer player. Logan Whitehurst, 29, American singer and songwriter (The Velvet Teen), brain cancer.
4 Sir Peter Gadsden, 77, British Lord Mayor of London (1979–1980). Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 84, Burkinabé politician, natural causes. (French) James Kim, 35, American CNET editor, exposure and hypothermia. Ross A. McGinnis, 19, United States Army soldier, killed in action. Rodney Needham, 83, British social anthropologist. Len Sutton, 81, American Indianapolis 500 racing driver, cancer. Adam Williams, 82, American actor (North by Northwest, The Big Heat, Fear Strikes Out), lymphoma.
5 David Bronstein, 82, Ukrainian chess grandmaster and writer, champion of USSR, natural causes. Eric Cox, 83, Australian rugby league player, referee and administrator, pneumonia and stroke. Maria da Conceição Gayer, 57, Brazilian lawyer and politician, heart attack. Michael Gilden, 44, American actor (NCIS, Return of the Jedi, Pulp Fiction), suicide by hanging. Gerry Humphreys, 75, Welsh sound engineer (Gandhi, A Chorus Line, Blade Runner). Gernot Jurtin, 51, Austrian football player, cancer. Timothy Moxon, 82, British actor and entrepreneur. Van Smith, 61, American costume and makeup designer (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Cry-Baby), heart attack.
6 Han Ahmedow, 70, Turkmen Prime Minister (1989–1992), heart attack. Darren Brown, 44, British musician and lead singer (Mega City Four), stroke. Russell Buchanan, 106, American World War I veteran, stroke. Hugo Cores, 69, Uruguayan historian, labor leader and politician, Deputy (1990–1994), stroke. Samuel Devons, 92, British physicist and science historian at Columbia University, heart failure. Andra Franklin, 47, American football player (Miami Dolphins), heart failure. Mavis Pugh, 92, British actress (You Rang, M'Lord?), natural causes. Tone Razinger, 85, Slovenian cross-country skier.Tone Razinger Robert Rosenblum, 79, American art historian, curator, and author, colon cancer. William Salcer, 82, Czechoslovak-born American inventor and Holocaust survivor, leukemia.
7 Lyuben Berov, 81, Bulgarian prime minister (1992–1994), cancer. Kevin Berry, 61, Australian gold medal winner in the 200m butterfly at the 1964 Summer Olympics, brain tumour. Desmond Briscoe, 81, British sound engineer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, natural causes. Moses Hardy, 112, American supercentenarian, oldest known American man, last African American World War I veteran, natural causes. Johnnie Bryan Hunt, 79, American trucking executive, founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, head injuries from a fall. Kim Hyung-chil, 47, South Korean equestrian at the 2006 Asian Games, crushed by falling horse. Jeane Kirkpatrick, 80, American United Nations ambassador (1981–1985), heart failure. Chris Nelson, 46, American photographer, heart attack. Jay McShann, 90, American blues and swing pianist, bandleader and singer, natural causes.
8 William H. Briare, 76, American politician, Mayor of Las Vegas (1975–1987). Sir Colin Figures, 81, British head of the Secret Intelligence Service (1982–1985), natural causes. Martha Tilton, 91, American jazz and swing singer. Philip Tower, 89, British army general. José Uribe, 47, Dominican baseball player (San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros), traffic collision.
9 Koula Agagiotou, 91, Greek actress (To Retire), natural causes. Peter Derow, 62, American classical scholar, heart attack. Georgia Gibbs, 87, American singer ("Kiss of Fire") known for her work on Your Hit Parade, leukemia. Ralph Gomberg, 85, American principal oboist at the Boston Symphony, primary lateral sclerosis. Andrei Lomakin, 42, Russian ice hockey player, gold medallist at 1988 Winter Olympics, long illness (cancer). Martin Nodell, 91, American comic book and advertising artist, creator of the Golden Age Green Lantern, natural causes. Tremayne Rodd, 3rd Baron Rennell, 71, British rugby union player for Scotland, cancer.
10 Mario Llerena, 93, Cuban intellectual, author and former Castro supporter turned critic, natural causes. Salvatore Pappalardo, 88, Italian Archbishop of Palermo (1970–1996), natural causes. Kenneth Cummins, 106, British veteran of the First World War, natural causes. Augusto Pinochet, 91, Chilean president (1973–1990), complications from heart attack. David Wood, 43, American environmental campaigner. Luigi Ornaghi, 75, Italian actor and farmer
11 Elizabeth Bolden, 116, American oldest verified person in the world (2006), natural causes. Tom Gregory, 79, American television news anchor and announcer, heart disease. Homer Ledford, 79, American bluegrass musician, guitar, complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a stroke. Lo Tak-shing, 71, Hong Kong politician, heart attack. Colin Mair, 86, British rector of Kelvinside Academy. Walter Ward, 66, American lead singer of The Olympics, unspecified illness.
12 Paul Arizin, 78, American basketball player (Philadelphia Warriors). Peter Boyle, 71, American actor (Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond, Taxi Driver), Emmy winner (1996), multiple myeloma. Kenny Davern, 71, American jazz clarinetist, heart attack. Cor van der Hart, 78, Dutch footballer. Oscar Klein, 76, Austrian-born American jazz trumpeter, heart attack. Antoine Raab, 93, German association footballer and anti-fascist. (French) Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy, 68, Sri Lankan Tamil militant civil war leader, long illness. Alda Risma, 24, Indonesian vocalist and actress, overdose. Ellis Rubin, 81, American attorney and author, cancer. Raymond P. Shafer, 89, American Governor of Pennsylvania (1967–1971), complications from heart failure. Alan Shugart, 76, American disk drive pioneer, co-founder of Seagate Technology, complications from heart surgery. Charles Stourton, 26th Baron Mowbray, 83, British Conservative whip in the House of Lords, pneumonia.
13 Henry Beachell, 100, American agriculturalist and recipient of the 1996 World Food Prize. Eileen Caddy, 89, British businessman, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation. Richard Carlson, 45, American author, heart attack. Loyola de Palacio, 56, Spanish Vice-President of the European Commission, cancer. Alf Delany, 95, Irish Olympic sailor.Alf Delany Ángel Nieves Díaz, 55, Puerto Rican murderer, lethal injection. Homesick James, 96, American blues musician. Lamar Hunt, 74, American owner of Kansas City Chiefs, coiner of term "Super Bowl", complications of prostate cancer. Bernard Kleiman, 78, American general counsel to the United Steelworkers of America, heart attack. Charles Peter McColough, 84, Canadian businessman, CEO of Xerox Corporation, cardiac arrest. Mario Ravagnan, 75, Italian Olympic fencer.
14 Anton Balasingham, 69, Sri Lankan LTTE senior negotiator, cholangiocarcinoma. John Bridge, 91, British recipient of the George Cross and George Medal, natural causes. Camille Darsières, 74, French politician deputy for Martinique's 3rd constituency (1993–2002).Camille Darsières Ahmet Ertegun, 83, American businessman, co-founder of Atlantic Records, head injury from a fall at a Rolling Stones concert. Mike Evans, 57, American actor (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) and television writer (Good Times), throat cancer. Kate Fleming, 41, American actress, audio book producer and narrator, drowned. John Hamilton, 84, British politician, leader of Liverpool City Council (1983–1986), lung disease. Robert Long, 63, Dutch singer, cancer. Sivuca, 76, Brazilian accordionist and composer, cancer.
15 Federico Crescentini, 24, San Marino footballer, drowned. Mimi Jennewein, 85-86, American painter. Frank Johnson, 63, British journalist, editor of The Spectator (1995–1999), cancer. Clay Regazzoni, 67, Swiss Formula One racing driver (1970–1980), car accident. Mary Stolz, 86, American young adult novelist. Matt Zunic, 87, American basketball player and coach.
16 Chicho Jesurun, 59, Dutch baseball player and coach from the Netherlands Antilles, heart attack. Oginohana Masaaki, 71, Japanese sumo wrestler.Oginohana Masaaki Goce Nikolovski, 59, Macedonian singer, suicide by gunshot. Taliep Petersen, South African theatre impresario, shot. John Rae, 75, British educator and writer, headmaster of Westminster School (1970–1986). Pnina Salzman, 84, Israeli pianist, natural causes. The Spoiler, 66, Canadian professional wrestler, heart attack. Cecil Travis, 93, American baseball player (Washington Senators). Larry Zox, 69, American artist, cancer.
17 Joe Gill, 87, American comic book writer (Captain Atom, Peacemaker). Kyōko Kishida, 76, Japanese actress, respiratory failure caused by brain tumor. Esko Nikkari, 68, Finnish actor, pneumonia. Timmie Rogers, 91, American comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader and actor. Larry Sherry, 71, American baseball player (Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros), cancer.
18 Abdul Amir al-Jamri, 67, Bahraini Shiite Muslim cleric, heart failure and kidney failure. Joseph Barbera, 95, American cartoonist, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions, natural causes. Ruth Bernhard, 101, American photographer, natural causes. W. Craig Broadwater, 56, American judge, cancer. Denis Carter, Baron Carter, 74, British politician, Chief Whip in the House of Lords (1997–2002), cancer. Mike Dickin, 63, British Talksport radio presenter, car accident. Mavor Moore, 87, Canadian writer, actor, radio and television producer, illness. Mollie Orshansky, 91, American statistician and economist, cardiac arrest. Daniel Pinkham, 83, American composer, natural causes.
19 Len Ablett, 90, Australian rules football player.Town’s footy, civic leader laid to rest Jack Burnley, 95, American comic book artist (Superman, Batman, Starman). Oonah McFee, 90, Canadian writer. Maj-Britt Nilsson, 82, Swedish actress (Summer Interlude, Secrets of Women). Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, Afghan Taliban commander, airstrike. Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, 82, Austrian-born British first female member of the London Stock Exchange. Roy Ward, 83, Australian politician.
20 Yukio Aoshima, 74, Japanese comedian, Governor of Tokyo (1995–1999), myelodysplastic syndrome. John Bishop, 77, American screenwriter and playwright. Elkan Blout, 87, American biochemist (Harvard University and the Polaroid Corporation), pneumonia. Anne Rogers Clark, 77, American dog show judge (Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show), kidney failure associated with colon cancer. Ma Ji, 72, Chinese xiangsheng actor, heart attack. Mick Mulligan, 78, British jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Piergiorgio Welby, 60, Italian poet and euthanasia advocate, removal of life support.
21 Scobie Breasley, 92, Australian jockey, stroke.