# Deaths in December 1985
## Contents

* 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 19
* 20
* 21
* 22
* 23
* 24
* 25
* 26
* 27
* 28
* 29
* 30
* 31
The following is a list of notable deaths in December 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.

## December 1985
### 1

* Kenshiro Abbe, 69, Japanese judoka.
* Héctor Cassina, 42, Argentine Olympic cyclist (1968).
* Agustí Centelles, 75–76, Spanish photographer.
* Hector Chotteau, 87, Belgian ice hockey player.
* Dada Dharmadhikari, 86, Indian social activist.
* Tania Fédor, 80, French actress.
* Oliver H. Fritz, 80, American politician.
* Tito Goya, 34, Puerto Rican actor, cirrhosis.
* Surya Bikram Gyawali, 87, Nepali historian.
* M'hamed Issiakhem, 57, Algerian painter.
* Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, 72, Indian dancer and choreographer.
* Barney Lepper, 87, American NFL football player.
* Harry Morris, 88, English footballer.
* Yvonne Rozille, 85, French actress.
* Agnes Sandström, 98, Swedish survivor of the sinking of the Titanic.
* Don Stoker, 62, English footballer.
* L. P. Vidyarthi, 54, Indian anthropologist.
* Christy Walsh, 64–65, Irish basketball player and Olympian.

### 2

* Aniello Dellacroce, 71, American mobster (Gambino crime family), cancer.
* Alexandru Frim, 77, Romanian Olympic bobsledder (1936).
* Heinz Hoffmann, 75, East German politician.
* Philip Larkin, 63, English poet (The Whitsun Weddings, The Less Deceived, High Windows), esophageal cancer.
* Stanley Newnham, 75, English cricketer.
* Calixte Savoie, 90, Canadian politician.
* Curly Thirlwell, 80, American sound engineer.

### 3

* Sir Conolly Abel Smith, 86, British naval admiral.
* Philip Sidney Bernstein, 84, American rabbi and humanitarian, heart failure.
* Satya Bhakta, 88, Indian politician.
* Bill Cox, 75, English golfer.
* Don Crosby, 61, Australian actor, heart attack.
* Russell Elrod, 81, American politician.
* Sam Gilman, 70, American actor.
* Miloslav Kodl, 57, Czechoslovak Olympic basketball player (1952).
* Dock Mathieson, 71, Scottish musician and music director.
* Miki Morita, 89, Japanese actor.

### 4

* Hatsu Ando, 73, Japanese politician.
* Frederick Boland, 81, Irish diplomat.
* J. Gregory Bruce, 88, American judge.
* Pearl Corkhill, 98, Australian nurse.
* Dina De Santis, 53, Italian actress.
* Ben Douglas, 76, American NFL football player.
* Ernest Fooks, 79, Austrian-Australian architect.
* Henry Freulich, 79, American cinematographer.
* Elmer E. Johnston, 87, American politician, member of the Washington House of Representatives (1947–1966).
* Roger Leenhardt, 82, French writer and filmmaker.
* Ethel Robertson, 83, Scottish businesswoman and philanthropist.
* Forest Sale, 74, American basketball player, heart attack.
* Bijoy Sarkar, 82, Indian poet and musician.

### 5

* Holmes Alexander, 79, American historian, journalist and politician, member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1931–1935), heart disease.
* Karl Ammitzböll, 70, Danish Olympic equestrian (1956).
* Mihail Celarianu, 92, Romanian poet.
* Oreste Capuzzo, 76, Italian Olympic gymnast (1932, 1936).
* Miguel Cuéllar, 69, Colombian chess player.
* Loris Fortuna, 61, Italian politician.
* Fernando Gómez Martínez, 88, Colombian politician.
* Alexia González-Barros González, 14, Spanish child and canonization candidate, spinal cancer.
* Jay W. MacKelvie, 95, American general.
* Sir Philip Margetson, 91, British police officer.
* James Auburn Pepper, 70, Canadian politician.
* Alec Roxburgh, 75, English footballer.
* V. Sivasubramaniam, 77, Sri Lankan judge.

### 6

* Slobodan Anđelković, 72, Yugoslav footballer.
* Carroll Cole, 47, American convicted serial killer, execution by lethal injection.
* Denis de Rougemont, 79, Swiss cultural theorist.
* Walter B. Gibson, 88, American writer and magician.
* Burleigh Grimes, 92, American Major League baseball player, cancer.
* Burr Tillstrom, 68, American puppeteer (Kukla, Fran and Ollie).
* John Vassos, 87, Romanian-born American industrial designer.
* Walter K. Wilson Jr., 79, American general.
* Bud Winter, 76, American track and field coach, heart attack.

### 7

* Dmitri Borgmann, 58, German-American linguist.
* Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia, 104, French art critic.
* Wilder W. Crane Jr., 57, American politician.
* Malcolm Dixon, 86, British biochemist.
* Carroll Thomas Dozier, 74, American prelate, stroke.
* J. R. Eyerman, 79, American photojournalist.
* John Fallon, 72, Scottish golfer.
* Robert Graves, 90, English poet and novelist (I, Claudius), heart failure.
* Des Martin, 72, Australian rules footballer.
* John C. McQueen, 86, American general.
* Tom Mercer, 75, Australian rules footballer.
* Melvyn Millington, 74, English footballer.
* Shlomo Rosen, 80, Austrian-born Israeli politician.
* Aron Steuer, 87, American judge.
* Potter Stewart, 70, American judge, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1958–1981), stroke.

### 8

* Andrey Aldan-Semenov, 77, Soviet writer.
* Lewis H.M. Ayre, 71, Canadian businessman.
* Clifford W. Beck, 77–78, American politician, member of the Washington House of Representatives (1961–1979).
* Rex Boggan, 55, American NFL football player, heart attack.
* Ermenegildo Florit, 84, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.
* Paul Kelpe, 83, German-born American painter.
* Clara Lynch, 103, American biologist.
* Ma Jir Bo, 58, Chinese painter.
* Dave Madison, 64, American Major League baseball player.
* Bradley Page, 84, American actor.
* Jack Pye, 82, English professional wrestler.
* Jimmy Rudd, 66, Irish footballer.
* Jack H. Skirball, 89, American film producer.
* Ray Thomas, 67, Canadian politician.
* Sir Harry Trusted, 97, British judge.
* Bill Wambsganss, 91, American Major League baseball player, heart failure.
* Chester A. Weidenburner, 72, American judge.

### 9

* Reginald Bedford, 75, Canadian pianist.
* Chang Yun-pil, 69, North Korean politician.
* Chandler C. Cohagen, 96, American architect.
* Micheál de Búrca, 72, Irish artist.
* Donald John Dean, 88, English soldier.
* Anton Dunckern, 80, German Nazi militant.
* Hugo Gellert, 93, Hungarian-born American artist.
* Tirso Hernández, 93, Mexican Olympic sports shooter (1924).
* Calvin Jackson, 66, American jazz musician.
* Ernest Johnson, 64, American football coach.
* Kolle Lejserowitz, 62, Danish Olympic wrestler (1948).
* Jean-Claude Meunier, 35, French Olympic cyclist (1972).
* François Morren, 86, Belgian Olympic sprinter (1920).
* Charlie Munro, 68, New Zealand-born Australian jazz musician.
* Haruyoshi Ōkawa, 75–76, Japanese bear hunter.
* Federico Riu, 60, Spanish-born Venezuelan philosopher.
* Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling, 81, German composer.
* Wilhelm Unger, 81, German writer and journalist.
* Victor Vicas, 67, French filmmaker.
* Bror With, 85, Norwegian mechanical engineer.

### 10

* Wallace "Mad Bear" Anderson, 58, American Tuscarora activist.
* Leslie Bonnet, 83, British duck breeder and writer.
* Albert Bruckner, 81, Swiss historian.
* Jadwiga Dzido, 67, Polish resistance worker.
* Floyd C. Miller, 83, American politician.
* Pierre Nord, 85, French writer.

### 11

* Charles Armstrong, 88, British soldier.
* Rupert Kettle, 70, English cricketer.
* Jean Martineau, 90, Canadian judge.
* Francis H. McAdams, 69, American transportation official.
* Bill McConnell, 58, Canadian Olympic rower (1948).
* Kathleen Ryan, 63, Irish actress, lung disease.
* Henry C. Schadeberg, 72, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1961–1965, 1967–1971).
* Maksym Skorupsky, 73, Ukrainian soldier.

### 12

* Anne Baxter, 62, American actress (All About Eve, The Razor's Edge, The Ten Commandments), stroke.
* Priscilla Capps Hill, 85, American philanthropist.
* Josef Hornauer, 77, German footballer.
* Barry MacKay, 79, English actor.
* Margaret Pitt Morison, 85, Australian architect.
* Charles Singleton, 72, American songwriter.
* Ian Stewart, 47, British keyboardist (The Rolling Stones), heart attack.

### 13

* Eduard Burdzhalov, 78–79, Soviet historian.
* Paul Caraway, 79, American general.
* Hugh Forbes, 68, British judge.
* Oscar Krokstedt, 77, Swedish naval admiral.
* Donald J. Russell, 85, American railroad executive.
* William Swinnerton, 86, New Zealand Olympic sailor (1956).
* Valerian Tevzadze, 91, Georgian-Polish resistance fighter.
* Ahrne Thorne, 80, Polish-born American newspaper editor.
* Antonio Tovar, 74, Spanish linguist.
* Ann Williams, 50, American actress, cancer.

### 14

* Charlie Bachman, 93, American football player and coach, heart attack.
* Catherine Doherty, 89, Russian-born Canadian social activist and spiritual writer.
* Sardon Jubir, 68, Malaysian politician.
* Robin Lovejoy, 60, Australian theatre director, liver cancer.
* Roger Maris, 51, American Major League baseball player, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
* Curley Moore, 41–42, American singer, homicide.
* Isobel Scaife, 74, British actor.
* Thomas Urwin, 73, British politician, MP (1964–1983).
* Bruce Weintraub, 33, American set decorator, AIDS.
* Ruth Wilkinson, 84, New Zealand community leader and historian.

### 15

* Drew Bowers, 99, American politician.
* Chew Swee Kee, 67, Singaporean politician, heart attack
* Alessandro Passerin d'Entrèves, 83, Italian historian and philosopher.
* Austin Edwin Dewar, 73, Canadian politician.
* István Oláh, 58, Hungarian politician.
* Francesco Pernigo, 67, Italian footballer.
* Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 85, Mauritian politician, prime minister (1968–1982).
* Carlos P. Romulo, 86, Filipino politician, heart failure.
* Forrest C. Shaklee, 91, American businessman, heart attack.
* Frank H. Sobey, 83, Canadian businessman.
* Jim Stuart, 66, American NFL football player.
* John Thompson, 82, Australian rules footballer.
* Jean van den Bosch, 75, Belgian diplomat.

### 16

* Bhima Bhattar, 81, Indian businessman.
* Thomas Bilotti, 45, American mobster (Gambino crime family), shot.
* Jan Bull, 58, Norwegian author and theatre director.
* Paul Castellano, 70, American crime boss, leader of the Gambino crime family (since 1976), shot.
* Philip Clark, 87, American rugby union player.
* Don Coleman, 93, American actor.
* Red Hamill, 68, Canadian NHL ice hockey player.
* Tadashi Negishi, 73, Japanese Olympic rower (1936).
* William H. Pettit, 100, New Zealand evangelist and missionary.
* Jack Plunkett, 74, Australian rules footballer.
* Dick Pollard, 73, English cricketer.
* Dolores Rousse, 84, American actress.
* Walter Siepmann, 83, German industrialist.
* Mervyn Waite, 74, Australian cricketer.
* Claude Wardlaw, 84, British botanist.

### 17

* Elmer Bowman, 88, American Major League baseball player.
* Albert Cavens, 79, Belgian-born American actor.
* Victor Cornelins, 87, Danish musician.
* Otto Gotsche, 81, German political activist.
* Svend Iversen, 72, Danish Olympic sailor (1948).
* Alan H. Kempner, 88, American publishing executive and philanthropist.
* Harry M. Leonard, 85, American sound mixer.
* Leo Maguire, 81–82, Irish singer.
* Dorothy McKibbin, 88, American security guard (Los Alamos Laboratory).
* Ken O'Dea, 72, American Major League baseball player, lung cancer.
* Simone Paris, 76, French actor.
* Gwyn Richards, 79, Welsh rugby union and rugby league player.
* Stephan Riess, 86, German-American mineralologist.
* Hans Weiss, 75, German racing cyclist.

### 18

* Michael Ani, 68, Nigerian civil servant.
* Paul Baender, 79, German-Bolivian chess player.
* Kashyap Bandhu, 86, Indian politician.
* Miroslav Bartůšek, 64, Czechoslovak Olympic swimmer (1948).
* Wilf Cooke, 70, English footballer.
* Theresa Goell, 84, American archaeologist.
* Helen Goodwin, 58, English-born Canadian choreographer, drowned.
* Herbert Hyman, 67, American sociologist, heart attack.
* Jolyon Jackson, 37, Irish musician, Hodgkin's lymphoma.
* Joseph Janse, 76, Dutch-born American academics administrator.
* Josef Klapuch, 79, Czechoslovak Olympic wrestler (1936).
* Jef Lowagie, 82, Belgian Olympic cyclist (1928, 1936).
* Leonhard Mahlein, 64, German trade unionist.
* Pavel Mahrer, 85, Czechoslovak footballer.
* Jim McVicker, 89, Irish rugby union player.
* Xuân Diệu, 69, Vietnamese poet.

### 19

* Rik Clerckx, 49, Belgian Olympic runner (1964).
* Jan Dam, 80, Dutch Olympic boxer (1924).
* Wiktor Grotowicz, 66, Polish actor.
* Luis Korda, 73, Cuban photographer.
* Timo Mäki, 71, Finnish politician.
* Homer P. Rainey, 89, American academics administrator.
* Roger Robb, 78, American judge.
* Ivan Brude Stone, 78, American politician.

### 20

* Coral Buttsworth, 85, Australian tennis player.
* Ishaya Shamasha Dawid Bet-Zia, 78–79, Iranian writer.
* Richard R. Larson, 78, American politician.
* Emil Wecksten, 90, Finnish Olympic wrestler (1924).

### 21

* Merrill P. Barber, 75, American politician, member of the Florida Senate (1954–1958, 1963–1968).
* Kamatari Fujiwara, 80, Japanese actor (Seven Samurai).
* Joe Genewich, 88, American Major League baseball player.
* Américo Ghioldi, 86, Argentine politician.
* Frances E. Henne, 79, American librarian.
* Carlos Mérida, 94, Guatemalan artist.
* Gordon Allen Newkirk Jr., 57, American astrophysicist.
* Elliott Organick, 60, American computer scientist, leukemia.
* Georg Trump, 89, German typographer.
* Francis John Turner, 81, New Zealand geologist.

### 22

* Benjamin Bellamy, 94, English cricketer.
* D. Boon, 27, American musician (Minutemen), traffic collision.
* Richard P. Condie, 87, American conductor (Tabernacle Choir).
* Osvaldo Farrés, 82, Cuban musician.
* Ignace Gelb, 78, Polish-American grammatologist, leukemia.
* Lawrence Hauben, 54, American screenwriter (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), cancer.
* Gus Jenkins, 54, American musician.
* Narcyz Maciaszczyk, 56, Polish Olympic field hockey player (1952, 1960).
* Neil Marten, 69, British politician, MP (1959–1983).
* Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, 74, Indian poet.
* Eleoncio Mercedes, 28, Dominican Olympic boxer (1976), shot.
* James Stamp, 81, American musician.
* Clarence Underwood, 73, American football coach.
* Michael Henry Wilson, 84, British scientist and writer.

### 23

* Martin Beale, 57, British mathematician.
* Birabongse Bhanudej, 71, Thai royal and racing driver, heart attack.
* Alfred Brauer, 91, German-American mathematician.
* Charles Courtin, 83, French Olympic long jumper (1920).
* Margie Hines, 76, American voice actress (Popeye the Sailor, Dizzy Dishes).
* Imants Lešinskis, 54, Soviet Latvian double agent.
* Gina Kaus, 93, Austrian-American novelist and screenwriter.
* James Mackay, 80, New Zealand rugby player.
* Philip Mackie, 67, British screenwriter.
* Dante Magnani, 68, American NFL football player.
* Giovanna Scotto, 90, Italian actress.

### 24

* Ferhat Abbas, 86, Algerian politician, prime minister (1958–1961).
* Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 81, American farmer, great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln.
* Tommy Blake, 54, American singer and songwriter, homicide.
* William B. Brown, 73, American judge.
* John F. Carrington, 71, English missionary and translator.
* Giulio Lamberti, 90, Italian Olympic rower (1928).
* Pierre Lefebvre, 30, Canadian professional wrestler, traffic collision.
* Biagio Marin, 94, Italian poet.
* Frank Purdue, 86, Australian politician.
* Habibur Rahman, 69–70, Bangladeshi politician.
* Kōzō Sasaki, 85, Japanese politician, heart failure.
* Erich Schaedler, 36, Scottish footballer, suicide.
* Tarzan Tyler, 58, Canadian professional wrestler and wrestling manager, traffic collision.
* Demetrio Vallejo, 75, Mexican union activist.
* Douglas Watt, 71, Canadian politician.

### 25

* Willard Ray Custer, 86, American aircraft engineer.
* Daniel Daney, 80, French Olympic boxer (1924).
* Madge Elder, 92, Scottish gardener and historian.
* Mick Howell, 39, Australian rules footballer.
* Rattan Jaidka, 85, Indian cricketer.
* George H. Kondolf, 85, American theatre producer, stroke.
* Samuel Mbappé Léppé, 49, Cameroonian footballer.
* Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, 98, British general.
* Raymond Clyne McNichols, 71, American judge, heart attack.
* Jacques Monod, 67, French actor.
* Joe Oriolo, 72, American animator and cartoonist (Felix the Cat), co-creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
* George Paterson, 71, Scottish footballer.
* George Rhodes, 67, American music director, heart attack.
* Eddie Taylor, 62, American blues musician.
* Patrick Teehan, 81, Irish politician, TD (1960–1961).
* Dave Zinkoff, 75, American sports announcer.

### 26

* J. Paul Austin, 70, American business executive (The Coca-Cola Company).
* Les Bell, 84, American Major League baseball player.
* Jim Bilbrey, 61, American Major League baseball player.
* François Châtelet, 60, French political philosopher.
* James Corry, 85–86, Canadian academics administrator and political scientist.
* Raif Denktaş, 34, North Cypriot musician and politician, traffic collision.
* Dinkar Desai, 69, Indian cricket umpire.
* Dian Fossey, 53, American primatologist, bludgeoned.
* Santosh Ganguli, 74, Indian cricket umpire.
* Špiro Grubišić, 81, Yugoslav Olympic rower (1936).
* James Jamieson, 64, Canadian NHL ice hockey player.
* Charles Ogle, 44, American racing driver, complications from a racing collision.
* Jackie Ormes, 74, American cartoonist, stroke.
* Luka Palamarchuk, 79, Soviet politician.
* Antoine Rivard, 87, Canadian politician.
* Margarete Schön, 90, German actress.
* Maxwell Staniforth, 92, British scholar and radio presenter.
* Udaykumar, 52, Indian actor and filmmaker.
* Lionel White, 80, American novelist.
* Cornelia Wood, 93, Canadian politician.

### 27

* Karl Beurlen, 84, German paleontologist.
* William B. Goggins, 87, American naval admiral.
* Harry Hopman, 79, Australian tennis player and coach, heart attack.
* Bill Isaacs, 71, Canadian lacrosse player.
* Anatoly Nikolayevich Levchenko, 38, Soviet fighter pilot, shootdown.
* Daniel Mangrané, 75, Spanish filmmaker.
* Len Richards, 74, Welsh footballer.
* Jean Rondeau, 39, French racing driver, traffic collision.
* Herb Steinohrt, 88, Australian rugby league player.
* Ole Wanscher, 82, Danish furniture designer.
* Harold Whitlock, 82, British Olympic long-distance walker (1936).
* Audrey Wood, 80, American literary and theatrical agent.

### 28

* E. W. Adikaram, 80, Sri Lankan educationalist.
* Molly Blackburn, 55, South African civil rights activist, traffic collision.
* Renato Castellani, 72, Italian filmmaker.
* Gordon S. Haight, 84, American writer.
* Josef Lense, 95, Austrian physicist.
* Benny Morton, 78, American jazz musician.
* Bob Peden, 79, Scottish footballer.
* Eric Peters, 82, British tennis player.
* Ernie Thompson, 76, English footballer.
* Henry Winneke, 77, Australian politician.

### 29

* Nola Barber, 84, Australian politician and community worker.
* Ruggero Berti, 76, American Olympic cyclist (1932).
* José Armando Caro, 75, Argentine politician.
* Chu Song-woong, 44, South Korean actor.
* Harold S. Osborne, 98, American electrical engineer.
* Douglas Ryley, 80, British RAF officer.
* Léon Schumacher, 67, Luxembourgish footballer.

### 30

* Ansco Dokkum, 81, Dutch Olympic sailor (1936).
* Jake Forbes, 88, Canadian ice hockey player.
* Georges Haddad, 61, Lebanese Greek Catholic prelate.
* Alfred Heurtaux, 92, French flying ace.
* László Márkus, 58, Hungarian actor.
* Norm Matthews, 70, Australian rules footballer.
* Elsie McWilliams, 89, American songwriter.
* Bob Pearson, 78, English singer.
* Alexander J. Rohan, 74, American trade unionist.
* Alfred Rushforth, 87, Australian cricketer.
* Howard Taylor, 77, English cricketer.

### 31

* Lucia Catullo, 58, Italian actress.
* Andy Chapin, 33, American keyboardist, plane crash.
* István Csák, 70, Hungarian Olympic field hockey and ice hockey player (1936 Summer/Winter Olympics).
* Harold Horn, 61, American politician, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1971–1972).
* Mihalj Kečkeš, 72, Yugoslav footballer.
* Ruth Kemper, 83, American violinist and music teacher.
* Nicolae Kirculescu, 82, Romanian composer.
* Sllave Llambi, 66, Albanian footballer.
* Léon Lortie, 83, Canadian chemist.
* Mal Matheson, 79, New Zealand cricketer.
* Gabit Musirepov, 83, Soviet Kazakh playwright.
* Ricky Nelson, 45, American singer ("Poor Little Fool") and actor (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Rio Bravo), plane crash.
* Sam Spiegel, 84, Polish-born American film producer.
* Tachikawa Sumito, 56, Japanese singer.
* Jocelyn Toynbee, 88, British art historian.