The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2015. For notable deaths before the current month, please see "Previous months".

Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, cause of death, reference (must be added) are added.


December 2015

 December 1 - Joseph Engelberger, 90, American engineer and inventor, complications from a stroke.
 December 1 - Robert E. Glennen, 82, American academic, President of Emporia State University (1985–1997).
 December 1 - Jim Loscutoff, 85, American basketball player (Boston Celtics), complications of pneumonia and Parkinson's disease.
 December 2 - Sandy Berger, 70, American political consultant, United States National Security Advisor (1997–2001), cancer of unknown primary origin.
 December 2 - Ferenc Juhász, 87, Hungarian poet, stroke.
 December 2 - Gabriele Ferzetti, 90, Italian actor (L'Avventura, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Once Upon a Time in the West).
 December 2 - George T. Sakato, 94, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.
 December 3 - Scott Weiland, 48, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, The Wondergirls), accidental drug and alcohol overdose.
 December 4 - Bill Bennett, 83, Canadian politician, Premier of British Columbia  (1975–1986), Alzheimer's disease.
 December 4 - Robert Loggia, 85, American actor (Jagged Edge, Scarface, Big), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
 December 4 - Yossi Sarid, 75, Israeli politician, member of Knesset (1974–2006), Minister of Environment (1992–1996) and Education (1999–2000), heart attack.
 December 4 - Dag Skogheim, 87, Norwegian writer, complications from a stroke.
 December 4 - Erik De Vlaeminck, 70, Belgian cyclist, seven-time world-champion cyclo-cross (1966, 1968–1973).
 December 5 - William McIlvanney, 79, Scottish novelist and poet, complications from Alzheimer's disease.
 December 5 - Marília Pêra, 72, Brazilian actress (Pixote, Better Days Ahead), lung cancer.
 December 5 - Siddhi Savetsila, 96, Thai politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1980–1990), Deputy Prime Minister (1986).
 December 5 - Dimitar Iliev Popov, 88, Bulgarian politician, Prime Minister (1990-1991).
 December 6 - Holly Woodlawn, 69, Puerto Rican actress and Warhol superstar, lung and liver cancer.
 December 6 - Nicholas Smith, 81, British actor (Are You Being Served?, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Doctor Who), complications from a fall.
 December 7 - Ko Chun-hsiung, 70, Taiwanese actor and politician, lung cancer.
 December 7 - Martin E. Brooks. 90, American actor (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman).
 December 7 - Shirley Stelfox, 74, English actress (Emmerdale, Keeping Up Appearances, Coronation Street), cancer. 
 December 8 - Alan Hodgkinson, 79, English footballer (Sheffield United).	
 December 8 - Elsie Tu, 102, English-born Hong Kong social activist, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1988–1995).
 December 8 - Mattiwilda Dobbs, 90, American coloratura soprano.
 December 8 - John Trudell, 69, American activist and poet, cancer.
 December 8 - Bonnie Lou, 91, American country singer, complications from dementia.
 December 8 - Douglas Tompkins, 72, American conservationist and businessman, co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, hypothermia following kayak accident.
 December 9 - Rusty Jones, 73, American jazz drummer.
 December 10 - Ron Bouchard, 66, American NASCAR driver, cancer.
 December 10 - Dolph Schayes, 87, American basketball player and coach (Philadelphia 76ers), cancer.
 December 10 - Arnold Peralta, 26, Honduran footballer (national team, Rangers F.C.), shot.
 December 11 - Jiří Paďour, 72, Czech Catholic prelate, Bishop of České Budějovice (2002–2014).
 December 11 - H. Arnold Steinberg, 82, Canadian business and educational administrator, Chancellor of McGill University (2009–2014), heart attack.
 December 12 - Evelyn S. Lieberman, 71, American public affairs professional, White House Deputy Chief of Staff (1996), pancreatic cancer.
 December 12 - Abu Ali al-Anbari, Iraqi general and ISIL-governor, killed in an airstrike.
 December 13 - Benedict Anderson, 79, American academic and writer (Imagined Communities), heart failure.
 December 13 - John Bannon, 72, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (1982–1992), cancer.
 December 14 - Vadym Tyshchenko, 52, Ukrainian football player (Karpaty, Dnipro) and manager (Dnipro), heart attack.
 December 14 - Armando Cossutta, 89, Italian politician, member of the European Parliament (1999-2004), bronchopneumonia.
 December 14 - Lillian Vernon, 88, German-born American businesswoman (Lillian Vernon), congestive heart failure.
 December 15 - Milton Ballantyne, 87, Australian politician, member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (1974–1980).
 December 15 - Licio Gelli, 96, Italian financier, Venerable Master of the Propaganda Due lodge, respiratory failure.
 December 15 - Harry Zvi Tabor, 98, British-born Israeli physicist.
 December 16 - Gabre Gabric, 101, Croatian-born Italian track and field athlete.
 December 16 - Peter Dickinson, 88, British author and poet.
 December 17 - Buckshot Hoffner, 91, American politician, heart failure.
 December 18 - Hal Brown, 91, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Colt .45s).
 December 18 - Helge Solum Larsen, 46, Norwegian politician, deputy leader of Venstre (2010–2012).
 December 19 - Jimmy Hill, 87, English footballer (Fulham), manager, trade union leader (Professional Footballers' Association) and TV presenter (Match of the Day), Alzheimer's disease.
 December 19 - Kurt Masur, 88, German conductor, Parkinson's disease.
 December 19 - Greville Janner, 87, British politician, Member of Parliament for Leicester West (1970–1997), Alzheimer's disease.
 December 19 - Dickie Moore, 84, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens), prostate cancer.
 December 19 - Selma Reis, 55, Brazilian actress and singer, brain cancer.
 December 19 - Karin Söder, 87, Swedish politician, leader of Center Party (1985–1987), Minister for Health and Social Affairs (1979–1982), Minister for Foreign Affairs (1976–1978).
 December 19 - Fernande Gruget, 92, famous French pimp
 December 20 - Ray Mathews, 86, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
 December 20 - Patricia Elliott, 77, American actress (A Little Night Music, One Life to Live), cancer.
 December 21 - Jan Góra, 67, Polish Roman Catholic Dominican priest, heart attack.
 December 21 - Carol Burns, 68, Australian actress (Prisoner), cancer.
 December 22 - Peter Lundblad, 65, Swedish singer ("Ta mig till havet"), prostate cancer.
 December 22 - Freda Meissner-Blau, 88, Austrian politician, founder of The Greens – The Green Alternative, complications from a stroke.
 December 22 - Rolf Bossi, 92, German lawyer.
 December 23 - Hocine Aït Ahmed, 89, Algerian politician, founder and leader of Socialist Forces Front.
 December 23 - Don Howe, 80, English football player (West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal) and coach (national team).
 December 23 - Bülent Ulusu, 92, Turkish politician, Prime Minister (1980–1983).
 December 23 - Jean-Marie Pelt, 82, French biologist, heart attack.
 December 23 - Alfred G. Gilman, 74, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate, pancreatic cancer.
 December 24 - Adriana Olguín, 104, Chilean lawyer and politician, Minister of Justice (1952).
 December 24 - Ron Jacobs, 72, American basketball coach (Loyola Marymount University, Northern Cement, Philippine national team), complications from a stroke.
 December 25 - Robert Spitzer, 83, American psychiatrist and educator, heart disease.
 December 25 - Sadhana Shivdasani, 74, Indian movie actress (Love in Simla, Woh Kaun Thi, Hum Dono), cancer.
 December 25 - Ali Eid, 75, Lebanese politician, General Secretary of the Arab Democratic Party (since 1972). (death announced on this date)
 December 25 - George Clayton Johnson, 86, American science fiction writer (Logan's Run, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek), prostate and bladder cancer.
 December 26 - Jim O'Toole, 78, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds).
 December 27 - Haskell Wexler, 93, American cinematographer (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Bound for Glory) and movie director (Medium Cool), Academy Award winner (1966, 1976).
 December 27 - Dave Henderson, 57, American baseball player (Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics), heart attack.
 December 27 - Ellsworth Kelly, 92, American artist, respiratory failure.
 December 27 - Alfredo Pacheco, 33, Salvadoran footballer (FAS, New York Red Bulls, national team), shot.
 December 27 - Meadowlark Lemon, 83, American basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters).
 December 27 - Stein Eriksen, 88, Norwegian alpine skier, Olympic champion (1952).
 December 27 - Gabriel Tambon, 85, French politician, Mayor of Le Castellet, Var (since 1965).
 December 28 - Pierre-Marie Rudelle, 83, French painter.
 December 28 - Joe Houston, 89, American jazz and R&B saxophonist, complications from a stroke.
 December 28 - Lemmy, 70, English rock musician (Motörhead, Hawkwind), lung cancer.
 December 28 - Eloy Inos, 66, Northern Mariana Islands politician, Governor (since 2013), complications after heart surgery.
 December 28 - Ian Murdock, 42, American software engineer, founder of the Debian Project.
 December 29 - Pavel Srníček, 47, Czech football goalkeeper (Newcastle United, national team), complications from a heart attack.
 December 29 - Elżbieta Krzesińska, 81, Polish retired track and field athlete.
 December 29 - Frank Malzone, 85, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, California Angels).
 December 29 - Kim Yang-gon, 73, North Korean senior politician, car accident.
 December 30 - Mangesh Padgaonkar, 86, Indian poet.
 December 30 - Doug Atkins, 85, American football player (Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints).
 December 30 - Howard Pawley, 81, Canadian politician, Premier of Manitoba (1981–1988).
 December 30 - Howard Davis, Jr., 59, American boxer, lung cancer.
 December 30 - Åge Nordkild, 63, Norwegian politician, Member of the Sami Parliament (2001–2005, 2009–2013).
 December 31 - Marvin Panch, 89, American racing driver.
 December 31 - Wayne Rogers, 82, American actor (M*A*S*H), complications from pneumonia.
 December 31 - Natalie Cole, 65, American Grammy Award-winning singer ("This Will Be", Unforgettable... with Love) and actress, congestive heart failure.
 December 31 - Dal Richards, 97, Canadian big band leader, prostate cancer.
 December 31 - Steve Gohouri, 34, Ivorian footballer (Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wigan Athletic F.C.). (body discovered on this date)
 December 31 - Beth Howland, 74, American actress (Alice), lung cancer.

Previous months
 January 2015
 February 2015
 March 2015
 April 2015
 May 2015
 June 2015
 July 2015
 August 2015
 September 2015
 October 2015
 November 2015

References

12
December events