The following is a list of notable deaths in May 2012.
Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence: Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference (and language of reference, if not English).
May 2012
1 Gonçalo Amorim, 39, Portuguese Olympic cyclist. Gogó Andreu, 92, Argentine comedian and actor. Cali Carranza, 59, American Tejano musician, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Harold L. Colburn Jr., 86, American physician and politician. Gale Dixon, 65–66, American actress and singer, pancreatic cancer. Joseph Erhardy, 83, American sculptor. Gord Fashoway, 85, Canadian ice hockey player. Rufina Gasheva, 90, Soviet Russian flight navigator.Rufina Gasheva#CITEREFCottam1998 John Spencer Hardy, 98, American lieutenant general, NATO commander for Southern Europe. Harold K. Hoskins, 85, American pilot, Tuskegee Airman, Congressional Gold Medal winner, complications from a fall. Greg Jackson, 60, American basketball player (New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns), heart attack. Eric James, 87, British Anglican clergyman and broadcaster. Senteza Kajubi, 86, Ugandan university administrator and academic. James Kinley, 86, Canadian engineer and industrialist, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1994–2000). Daniel Mulumba, 49, Ugandan Olympic swimmer. Viktoras Petkus, 83, Lithuanian political activist and dissident. Charles Pitts, 65, American soul musician, guitarist for Isaac Hayes, lung cancer. Harriet Presser, 76, American sociologist and demographer. Earl Rose, 85, American medical examiner, attempted to autopsy President Kennedy after assassination, Parkinson's disease. Shanmugasundari, 75, Indian film actress, heart attack. Mordechai Virshubski, 82, Israeli politician, MK (1977–1992) and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset (1988–1992). Arnold Manaaki Wilson, 83, New Zealand artist and educator.
2 Bram Bogart, 90, Dutch-born Belgian painter. Michel Boudart, 87, American chemical engineer. William Francis Brace, 85, American geophysicist. Ranjit Cheema, Canadian gangster and drug trader, shot. Razia Matin Chowdhury, 87, Bangladeshi politician, old age complications. Peter Connolly, 77, British historian. Shirin Darasha, 73, Indian theatre director, pulmonary fibrosis. Mark Deutch, 67, Russian journalist, drowned. Andrew Ganigan, 59, American former NABF lightweight champion boxer, cancer. Nélida Gómez de Navajas, 84, Argentine human rights activist (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo). Fernando Lopes, 76, Portuguese film director, throat cancer. Zenaida Manfugás, 80, Cuban-born American pianist. James Marker, 90, American-born Canadian businessman, inventor of Cheezies. Charlotte Mitchell, 85, British actress. Tufan Miñnullin, 76, Russian Tatar writer and playwright, heart attack. Les Mogg, 82, Australian football player. Donald L. Owens, 82, American military officer. Ernst Rau, 85, German Olympic fencer. J. T. Ready, 39, American border militia leader, former neo-Nazi, suicide by gunshot. Tracy Reed, 69, English actress (Dr. Strangelove, Casino Royale), cancer. Junior Seau, 43, American football player (San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots), suicide by gunshot. Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, 57, Indonesian physician, Minister of Health (2009–2012), cancer. Akira Tonomura, 70, Japanese physicist, pancreatic cancer. (Japanese) Lourdes Valera, 58, Venezuelan actress, lung cancer. Digby Wolfe, 82, British actor and screenwriter (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), cancer. Zvi Zeitlin, 90, Belarusian-born American classical violinist, pneumonia.
3 Edith Bliss, 52, Australian pop singer and television presenter, lung cancer. Lloyd Brevett, 80, Jamaican double bassist (The Skatalites), complications from stroke. Elizabeth Busche, 19, American curler, cancer. Peter K. Cullins, 83, American admiral, first commander of the Naval Data Automation Command, complications from hepatitis B. John Miles Foley, 65, American folklorist and literary scholar. Jorge Illueca, 93, Panamanian politician, President (1984), respiratory failure. Andrew Suknaski, 69, Canadian poet and visual artist. Richie Thomson, 71, New Zealand Olympic cyclist. František Tondra, 75, Slovak Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Spiš (1989–2011), heart failure. Tú Duyên, 96, Vietnamese painter. Felix Werder, 90, German-born Australian composer.
4 Haukur Angantýsson, 63, Icelandic chess player. Harriet Berger, 94, American political scientist. T. P. Chandrasekharan, 51, Indian politician, assassinated (hacked). Aleksandre Chikvaidze, 74, Georgian diplomat. Neville Coleman, 74, Australian underwater nature photographer. Gert Frischmuth, 79, German choral conductor and music educator. Angelica Garnett, 93, British writer and painter. Crawford Hallock Greenewalt Jr., 74, American archaeologist. Mort Lindsey, 89, American orchestra leader and composer. Anthony O'Connell, 73, Irish-born American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Knoxville (1988–1998) and Palm Beach (1998–2002). Edward Short, Baron Glenamara, 99, British politician, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1972–1976), MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (1951–1976). Jimmy Smet, 34, Belgian football player (KSK Beveren, Lierse SK, Iraklis Thessaloniki), suicide. Bob Stewart, 91, American television game show producer (Password, To Tell the Truth, The Price Is Right), natural causes. Adam Yauch, 47, American musician (Beastie Boys) and film director (Gunnin' for That No. 1 Spot), salivary gland cancer. Rashidi Yekini, 48, Nigerian footballer.
5 Ramón Arano, 72, Mexican baseball player. Frederick J. Brown, 67, American artist. Carl Johan Bernadotte, 95, Swedish royal, youngest son of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. James R. Browning, 93, American senior (former chief) judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Marguerite S. Chang, 88, Chinese-born American research chemist and inventor. Reg Cutler, 77, English footballer. Aatos Erkko, 79, Finnish journalist and publisher, after long illness. Florida Pearl, 20, Irish racehorse, winner of the Champion Bumper (1997), euthanized. George Knobel, 89, Dutch football manager, complications of Alzheimer's disease. Don Leshnock, 65, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers). Michail Markov, 73, Russian cyclist and coach. Meow, app. 2, American cat, heaviest cat at his time of death, lung failure.Fat cat: Meow, the 39-pound feline, dies of lung failure - Los Angeles Times Miguel Mora Gornals, 75, Spanish Olympic cyclist. Roy Padayachie, 62, South African politician. Mendel Sachs, 85, American theoretical physicist.Mendel Sachs , Physics Today Ivica Šangulin, 75, Croatian football player and manager. Surendranath, 75, Indian cricketer.Surendranath, Indian cricketer, dead at 75 , Onlinenews.com.pk. 23 June 2012. Ali Uras, 88, Turkish Olympic basketball player and president of Galatasaray S.K. (1979–1986).
6 Lubna Agha, 63, Pakistani-American artist, cancer. Fahd al-Quso, 37, Yemeni militant, al-Qaeda member, airstrike. Vagn Andersen, 74, Danish sports shooter. Stevan Bena, 76, Serbian footballer. Tyrone Breuninger, 73, American trombonist. Michael Burks, 54, American blues musician, heart attack. François Chevalier, 98, French historian. Ekalavyan, 77, Indian writer. Pat Frink, 67, American basketball player (Cincinnati Royals), automobile accident. Jerry H. Geisler, 77, American lawyer and politician. Iraj Ghaderi, 77, Iranian film director and actor. Kåre Øistein Hansen, 84, Norwegian politician. James Isaac, 51, American film director, producer (Jason X, Skinwalkers) and special effects supervisor, multiple myeloma and blood cancer. Kostas Karras, 76, Greek actor, MP (2000–2007), prostate cancer. Félix Kouadjo, 73, Ivorian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bondoukou (since 1996). Jean Laplanche, 87, French psychoanalyst, pulmonary fibrosis, George Lindsey, 83, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D., Hee Haw), after brief illness.TV actor George Lindsey dead at 83 Georgi Lozanov, 85, Bulgarian educator, developed Suggestopedia. Marika Mitsotakis, 82, Greek politician, wife of the Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1990–1993), complications of poliomyelitis. John Slack, 81, English cricketer and judge. Yale Summers, 78, American actor (Daktari). Tran Dinh Truong, 80, Vietnamese businessman. (Vietnamese) Jan Trøjborg, 56, Danish politician, member of the Folketing (1987–2005), and Defence Minister (2000–2001), heart failure. John Worrall, 84, New Zealand cricketer.
7 Ivan Allen, 81, American ballet dancer (Metropolitan Opera). Ferenc Bartha, 68, Hungarian economist, Governor of the National Bank of Hungary (1988–1990), suicide. Sammy Barr, 80, Scottish trade union leader. Norbert Becker, 74, German agricultural scientist. Jules Bocandé, 53, Senegalese footballer, complications of surgery and stroke. Rich Buhler, 65, American radio personality, pancreatic cancer. R. Michael Canjar, 58, American mathematician. Robert Everett Coyle, 82, American senior (former chief) judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of California. Andrea Crisanti, 75, Italian production designer and art director. Virgil Frye, 81, American actor and boxer, Pick's Disease. Kimitada Hayase, 71, Japanese track and field athlete (1960 Summer Olympics, 1964 Summer Olympics), blood poisoning. Alexander Keynan, 90, Israeli microbiologist, co-founder and the first director of Israel Institute for Biological Research. Sergio Mihanovich, 74, Argentine jazz pianist, singer and composer, cancer.Murió el músico Sergio Mihanovich, tío de Sandra Eva Rausing, 48, American philanthropist. Gene Visich, 85, American AAGPBL baseball player.
8 Ampon Tangnoppakul, 64, Thai detainee, cancer. Bobby Bulch, 79, English footballer. William Aquin Carew, 89, Canadian Roman Catholic prelate, Apostolic Nuncio to Japan (1983–1997). Oscar M. Corbin Jr., 94, American politician. Yves Courrière, 76, French writer, biographer and journalist. Aimée Danis, 82, Canadian film director and producer. Isabel Gago, 98, Portuguese engineer. Nan Giese, 90, Australian educator and artist. Nicholas Katzenbach, 90, American lawyer, United States Attorney General (1965–1966). Lau Teng Chuan, 83, Singaporean sports administrator, stomach cancer. Everett Lilly, 87, American bluegrass musician (The Lilly Brothers). Carlos Loiseau, 63, Argentine cartoonist, colorectal cancer. Sergio Marqués Fernández, 65, Spanish politician, President of the Principality of Asturias (1995–1999). Bob Marshall, 77, American politician. Mayor of San Bruno, California (1980–1991). Jerry McMorris, 71, American baseball executive (Colorado Rockies), pancreatic cancer. Frank Parr, 83, English cricketer and jazz musician. Louis H. Pollak, 89, American senior judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ingvill Raaum, 76, Norwegian politician. George Stephen Ritchie, 97, British war hero and hydrographer. Stacy Robinson, 50, American football player (New York Giants), cancer. Robert de La Rochefoucauld, 88, French Resistance member. Maurice Sendak, 83, American author and illustrator (Where the Wild Things Are, Little Bear), complications of a stroke. Roman Totenberg, 101, Polish-born American violinist, renal failure. Vo Rogue, 28, Australian Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the Australian Cup (1989, 1990). Garth Webb, 93, Canadian soldier and museum founder (Juno Beach Centre).
9 Carl Beane, 59, American sports broadcaster and public address announcer (Fenway Park), heart attack. Christoph Bulwin, 40, German man, complications related to mercury poisoning. James Carter, 100, American basketball coach (University of Dayton). Chinghla Mong Chowdhury Mari, 73, Bangladeshi footballer, Alzheimer's disease. Bertram Cohler, 73, American psychologist. Danilo De Girolamo, 56, Italian voice actor, heart attack. Alfred Doll-Steinberg, 78, Austrian-born British chemical engineer. Gunnar Dybwad, 83, Norwegian footballer.