The following is a list of deaths in March 2009.
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.
March 2009 1 Robert Haggiag, 95, Libyan-born Italian film producer (Candy). Ken Henry, 80, American Olympic gold medal-winning (1952) speed skater. Charles S. Lieber, 78, Belgian-born American nutritionist, stomach cancer. Paolo Maffei, 83, Italian astronomer and science fiction writer.Biografia Paolo Maffei Alf Pike, 91, Canadian ice hockey player and head coach (New York Rangers). Pepe Rubianes, 61, Spanish Catalan actor and theatre director, lung cancer. Eric Simms, 87, British ornithologist, writer and conservationist.Eric Simms: naturalist, ornithologist, author and conservationist Joan Turner, 86, British actress.
2 Ernest Ashworth, 80, American country music singer, member of Grand Ole Opry. Michael Baker, 52, Canadian politician, member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly since 1998, cancer. Halit Balamir, appr. 87, Turkish Olympic silver medal-winning (1948) wrestler, myocardial infarction. Ernst Benda, 84, German politician, Interior Minister (1968–1969) and President, Federal Constitutional Court (1971–1983). Andy Bowman, 74, Scottish footballer (Hearts, Newport County), after long illness. Robert Bruce, 65, British-born New Zealand professional wrestler and talent agent, after short illness. Chris Finnegan, 64, British boxer, Olympic middleweight champion (1968), complications from pneumonia. Joaquín Gutiérrez Cano, 88, Spanish diplomat and politician. Anatoliy Klimanov, 59, Ukrainian boxer. Alexandre Léontieff, 60, French politician, President of French Polynesia (1987–1991), heart attack.Polynésie : décès d'Alexandre Leontieff Ann Marie Rogers, 57, British activist, campaigner for breast cancer drug Herceptin, breast cancer. Jacob T. Schwartz, 79, American mathematician and computer scientist, liver cancer. Urban Sea, 20, French racehorse and broodmare, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner (1993), complications during foaling. João Bernardo Vieira, 69, Guinea-Bissauan politician, Prime Minister (1978–1980) and President (1980–1999, since 2005), shot.
3 Sydney Chaplin, 82, American actor. Frederick Conyngham, 7th Marquess Conyngham, 84, Irish nobleman, cancer. Sebastian Faisst, 20, German handball player, heart failure. Flemming Flindt, 72, Danish choreographer, after short illness. Frank Ford, 92, American radio talk show host, stroke. Åke Lindman, 81, Finnish actor and film director, after long illness. Luis Mena Arroyo, 88, Mexican prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Mexico. Gilbert Parent, 73, Canadian politician, Speaker (1994–2001) and Member of Parliament (1974–1984, 1988–2000), colon cancer. Barbara Wright, 93, British translator.Barbara Wright: translator
4 Joseph Bloch, 91, American pianist and professor, heart attack. John Cephas, 78, American Piedmont blues guitarist, natural causes. Yvon Cormier, 70, Canadian professional wrestler, bone marrow cancer. Horton Foote, 92, American playwright (The Trip to Bountiful) and screenwriter (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies), Oscar winner (1963, 1984). Salwa Al Katrib, 55, Lebanese singer and stage actress. Patricia De Martelaere, 51, Belgian writer and philosopher, complications of brain tumor. George McAfee, 90, American Hall of Fame football player (Chicago Bears) . Harry Parkes, 89, British footballer (Aston Villa). Vasili Postnov, 46, Tajikistani footballer. Salvatore Samperi, 64, Italian film director.Cinema, addio a Salvatore Samperi maestro dell'erotismo all'italiana Triztán Vindtorn, 66, Norwegian poet.Norwegian poet Triztan Vindtorn dies
5 Mario Acuña, 68, Argentinian-born American astrophysicist, multiple myeloma. Valeri Broshin, 46, Russian footballer, cancer. Francis Essex, 79, British television producer. Temima Gezari, 103, American artist, natural causes. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr., 99, American engineer, pioneer of television technology, complications of hip fracture. Janez Gradišnik, 91, Slovenian author and translator. Mac Henderson, 101, British rugby union player (Scotland) and businessman. Jitsuo Inagaki, 80, Japanese politician, illness. Oscar Kamau Kingara, 38, Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist, shot.Rights activist Oscar Kamau Kingara shot dead in central Nairobi Hung-Chang Lin, 89, Chinese-born American inventor, lung cancer. John Paul Oulu, Kenyan human rights activist, shot. Dave Pureifory, 59, American football player (Detroit Lions), prostate cancer.Former Lions, EMU star Dave Pureifory dies
6 Jim Bellows, 86, American newspaper editor, Alzheimer's disease. Silvio Cesare Bonicelli, 76, Italian Bishop of Parma. James Clyde, Baron Clyde, 77, British judge, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1996–2001), cancer. Colleen Howe, 76, American sports agent, wife of Gordie Howe, Pick's disease. George Keverian, 77, American politician, member (1967–1991) and Speaker (1985–1991) of the Massachusetts House.Former House Speaker George Keverian dead Francis Magalona, 44, Filipino actor and rapper, leukemia. Kennedy McIntosh, 60, American basketball player, stroke.Former NBA player Kennedy McIntosh dies at 60 Vivian Murray, 76, Irish businessman, chairman of An Post and Bord Iascaigh Mhara, after long illness. Henri Pousseur, 79, Belgian composer. Eduardo Rodríguez, 57, Puerto Rican baseball player, septic shock. Christon Tembo, 64, Zambian politician, Vice President (1997–2001). Susan Tsvangirai, 50, Zimbabwean wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, car collision.
7 Steve Bernard, 61, American businessman, founder of Cape Cod Potato Chips, pancreatic cancer.Obituary: Steve Bernard Michael Bowen, 71, American artist, complications of poliomyelitis. Jimmy Boyd, 70, American actor and singer ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"), cancer. Daniel E. Button, 91, American politician, member of the House of Representatives for New York (1967–1971), after long illness. Chan Yun, 93, Taiwanese Buddhist monk and teacher of meditation. Schuyler Chapin, 86, American general manager of the Metropolitan Opera (1972–1975). David Gaiman, 75, British businessman, public relations director for the Church of Scientology, heart attack. Jang Ja-yeon, 29, South Korean actress (Boys Over Flowers), suicide by hanging. Dmitri Kozlov, 89, Russian aerospace engineer, founder of Progress State Research and Production Space Center. Barbara Parker, 62, American novelist, after long illness. Tullio Pinelli, 100, Italian screenwriter (La strada). Anton Shokh, 49, Ukrainian football player and coach.
8 Girdhari Lal Bhargava, 73, Indian politician, heart attack. Ali Bongo, 79, Indian-born British magician, pneumonia. James Allen Keast, 86, Australian ornithologist. Willie King, 65, American blues musician, heart attack. Hank Locklin, 91, American country music singer, member of Grand Ole Opry.Hank Locklin, 91, dies; country singer helped usher in 'the Nashville Sound' Anna Manahan, 84, Irish actress, multiple organ failure. Zbigniew Religa, 70, Polish cardiac surgeon and politician, Minister of Health (2005–2007), cancer. Robert Soost, 88, American botanist, heart attack. Ernest Trova, 82, American artist, heart failure.Obituary of Sculptor Ernest Trova who created Falling Man' Mary Warburg, 100, American philanthropist.
9 Timothy Abell, 78, English cricketer and field hockey player. Adiele Afigbo, 71, Nigerian historian. Hanne Darboven, 68, German artist, lymphoma. Rafiqul Islam, 53, Bangladeshi army major general, helicopter crash.An army general with philanthropic mind Eddie Lowe, 83, British footballer and manager. Joseph Martin, 84, American Roman Catholic priest, addiction counselor and author, heart disease. Larry Regan, 78, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager (Los Angeles Kings), Parkinson's disease. Russell Spears, 92, American stonemason, elder of the Narragansett tribe. Frank Stockwell, 80, Irish footballer. Guillermo Thorndike, 69, Peruvian journalist, writer and editor, co-founder of La República, heart attack.
10 Brian Barry, 73, British philosopher.Brian Barry: philosopher and political scientist Denis Begbie, 94, South African cricketer. Derek Benfield, 82, British actor. Jack Capper, 77, British footballer.Jack Capper: 1931-2009 Dick Daugherty, 79, American football player (Los Angeles Rams). Nancy Eiesland, 44, American theologian and author, lung cancer. Jack Grimes, 82, American actor and voice actor (Speed Racer). Aaron Gural, 91, American real estate executive, pneumonia. Tom Hanson, 41, Canadian photojournalist, heart attack. George Hedges, 57, American lawyer and archaeologist, melanoma. Ralph Mercado, 67, American music promoter (RMM Records & Video), cancer. Anel Omar Rodríguez, 47, Panamanian politician, Minister of Culture, shot. Michael Shannon, 55, American pediatrician.
11 Paul W. Airey, 85, American Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (1967–1969), complications from heart failure. Péter Bacsó, 81, Hungarian film director, after long illness. Frances Blaisdell, 97, American flautist. Arthur Code, 85, American astronomer, complications of lung condition. María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías, 96, Mexican architect.María Luisa Dehesa: la primera arquitecta de México y Latinoamérica Izaac Hindom, 74, Indonesian bureaucrat and politician, pulmonary embolism. Charles Lewis Jr., 45, American businessman, co-founder of mixed martial arts apparel company Tapout, car accident. Grady Lewis, 91, American basketball player, executive with Converse. Liang Baozhu, 77, Singaporean actor, pneumonia. Harvey Lowe, 90, Canadian broadcaster and yo-yo world champion, after long illness.
12 Leonore Annenberg, 91, American philanthropist, Chief of Protocol of the United States (1981–1982), natural causes. Kalman Bloch, 95, American clarinetist. Yann Brekilien, 88, French author, Breton language advocate. Jesús Elizondo, 78, Mexican Olympic shooter. Martin Knowlton, 88, American adult education innovator, founder of Elderhostel. Reginald C. Lindsay, 63, American jurist, member of the District Court for Massachusetts since 1993, after long illness.US Judge Lindsay dies at 63 Milan Stitt, 68, American playwright. Ferenc Szabó, 88, Hungarian footballer (Ferencvárosi TC). Huw Thomas, 81, Welsh broadcaster. Blanca Varela, 82, Peruvian poet. David Wood, 86, British Army officer, last surviving platoon commander of the Pegasus Bridge operation during World War II.
13 Medferiashwork Abebe, 84, Ethiopian royal. Claude Black, 92, American civil rights advocate, after long illness. Betsy Blair, 85, American actress (Marty), cancer. Claude Brinegar, 82, American politician, United States Secretary of Transportation (1973–1975), natural causes. Anne Brown, 96, American-born Norwegian opera singer. William Davidson, 86, American businessman, owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tampa Bay Lightning. Milou Ebb, 74, French Polynesian politician. Endal, 13, British service dog, stroke. Keith Herber, 60, American role-playing game designer. Alan W. Livingston, 91, American music executive, President of Capitol Records, creator of Bozo the clown. James Purdy, 94, American novelist, poet and playwright. Medet Sadyrkulov, 55, Kyrgyz politician, car crash. Andrew Saunders, 77, British civil servant. Test, 33, Canadian professional wrestler (WWE), accidental overdose.Ex-Wrestler Found Dead
14 Alain Bashung, 61, French singer, composer and actor, lung cancer. Edith Lucie Bongo, 45, Congolese wife of Gabon President Omar Bongo, after long illness.Wife of Gabon's President Bongo dies Altovise Davis, 65, American actress and dancer, widow of Sammy Davis Jr., stroke. Terence Edmond, 69, British actor (Z-Cars), bronchiectasis. Ronald Max Hartwell, 88, Australian economic historian. Citizen Kafka, 61, American broadcaster and musician.