The following is a list of notable deaths in January 2002.
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.
January 2002
1 Rolando Del Bello, 76, Italian tennis player. Mohand Arav Bessaoud, 77, Algerian writer and activist. Daulat Bikram Bista, 76, Nepali writer and poet. Bonnie Mealing, 89, Australian swimmer and Olympian (1928, 1932). Eugene Nickerson, 83, American county executive and judge, complications from ulcer surgery. Carol Ohmart, 74, American actress (House on Haunted Hill, The Wild Party, The Scarlet Hour) and model. Julia Phillips, 57, American film producer (The Sting, Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and author, Oscar winner (1974), cancer. Patrick Kwame Kusi Quaidoo, 77, Ghanaian politician and businessman. Nuchhungi Renthlei, 88, Indian poet and singer. Ted Rigg, 88, American basketball player. Arne Røgden, 84, Norwegian Olympic bobsledder (1952, 1956). Astrid Sampe, 92, Swedish textile designer. Catya Sassoon, 33, American actress, singer and model, heart attack after drug overdose. Meg Wyllie, 84, American actress (The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, Star Trek, The Fugitive).
2 Armi Aavikko, 43, Finnish beauty queen and singer, pneumonia. Anil Agarwal, 55, Indian environmentalist and science correspondent. Rui Campos, 79, Brazilian football player. Roberto Camposeco, 60, Guatemalan footballer and Olympian (1968). Pablo Antonio Cuadra, 89, Nicaraguan essayist, playwright, and graphic artist. Ahmed Dawood, 96, Pakistani industrialist and philanthropist. Ian Grist, 63, British Conservative politician, stroke. Heath MacQuarrie, 82, Canadian politician, scholar, and writer. Charlie Mitten, 80, English football player and manager. Chester Nimitz Jr., 86, American submarine commander. Bibi Osterwald, 81, American actress. Bob Stevens, 85, American sportswriter.
3 Donald Martin Carroll, 92, American Roman Catholic priest. Satish Dhawan, 81, Indian aerospace engineer. Miki Dora, 67, American surfer, stunt double and actor (Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini), pancreatic cancer. Juan García Esquivel, 83, Mexican bandleader and composer for film and television. Freddy Heineken, 78, Dutch beer magnate, pneumonia. Martin Ruby, 79, American gridiron football player (Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Yanks). Al Smith, 73, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox). Baldur R. Stefansson, 84, Canadian agricultural scientist.
4 Nathan Chapman, 31, U.S. Army soldier, first American soldier killed in combat in the war in Afghanistan. Georg Ericson, 82, Swedish football (soccer) player and coach. Ada Falcón, 96, Argentine tango dancer, singer and film actress. Michael Howard, 79, English choral conductor, organist and composer. Douglas Jung, 74, Canadian politician and a member of Parliament (House of Commons), heart attack. Mustafa Krantja, 80, Albanian classical music conductor and composer. Grace Mera Molisa, 55, Ni-Vanuatu politician, poet and feminist. Jim Sears, 70, American gridiron football player (Chicago Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos). Adrián Zabala, 85, Cuban-American baseball player (New York Giants).
5 Charles J. Bishop, 15, American high school student, suicide by plane crash. Igor Cassini, 86, American syndicated gossip columnist (Cholly Knickerbocker) for the Hearst newspaper. Valentin Chernikov, 64, Soviet Olympic fencer (1956, 1960). Fielding Dawson, 71, American author, poet and artist. Alan Dick, 71, British sprinter and Olympian (1952). Roger Gyselinck, 81, Belgian racing cyclist. Astrid Henning-Jensen, 87, Danish film director, actress, and screenwriter. Kamel Maghur, 67, Libyan lawyer and diplomat. Federico Mariscal, 91, Mexican Olympic diver (1928, 1932). Graham Ryder, 52, English geologist and lunar scientist, cancer of the esophagus. Vadim Shefner, 86, Soviet and Russian poet and writer. Bryan Thurlow, 65, English football player.
6 Bobby Austin, 68, American country musician ("Apartment No. 9", "For Your Love"). Per-Arne Berglund, 74, Swedish Olympic javelin thrower (1948, 1952). Serge Brignoni, 98, Swiss avant-garde painter and sculptor. Sanya Dharmasakti, 94, Thai jurist, university professor and politician, Prime Minister of Thailand from 1973 to 1975. Henryk Jagodziński, 76, Polish Olympic rower (1952, 1956). Kunjandi, 82, Indian actor. Herbert N. Maletz, 88, American judge. Johnnie Mae Matthews, 79, American blues and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer, cancer. Mario Nascimbene, 88, Italian film soundtrack composer. John W. Reynolds, 80, American politician and jurist, Governor of Wisconsin (1963–1965).Reynolds, John W. Fred Taylor, 77, American basketball coach (Ohio State University) and baseball player (Washington Senators). Marian Wenzel, 69, British artist and art historian, leading authority on the art of medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina, cancer. Christa Worthington, 45, American fashion writer (Women's Wear Daily, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar), homicide.
7 Frank Cave, 59, British trade unionist and political activist (National Union of Mineworkers), brain cancer. Geoff Crompton, 46, American basketball player (Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Milwaukee Bucks, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers), leukemia. Geoffrey Crossley, 80, British Formula One race car driver, stroke. René Etiemble, 92, French essayist, scholar, and novelist. Mighty Igor, 70, American professional wrestler, heart attack. Björn Landström, 84, Finnish-Swedish artist, writer, and illustrator. Jon Lee, 33, British drummer (Feeder), suicide. Bill Lenny, 78, British film editor. Hal Marnie, 83, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies). Raúl Mazorra, 73, Cuban sprinter and Olympian (1948, 1952). Philip Roettinger, 86, American CIA officer and Olympic sports shooter (1948). Avery Schreiber, 66, American comedian and actor, heart attack. Walter Warning, 84, German footballer. Lev Zaykov, 78, Soviet politician and statesman.
8 M. S. Bartlett, 91, English statistician. Romeo Cascarino, 79, American composer of classical music. Stanko Despot, 73, Croatian Olympic rower (1952). David McWilliams, 56, Northern Irish singer-songwriter ("Days of Pearly Spencer"), heart attack. Kitanonada Noboru, 78, Japanese sumo wrestler. Alexander Prokhorov, 85, Soviet physicist, winner of 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dave Thomas, 69, American entrepreneur, founder of Wendy's, liver cancer, liver tumor.Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's, Dies at 69 Glayde Whitney, 62, American behavioral geneticist and psychologist, promoted controversial race based genetics. Viggo Widerøe, 97, Norwegian aviator and entrepreneur.
9 Benjamín Casado, 73, Puerto Rican Olympic high jumper (1948). Esko Kaonpää, 59, Finnish Olympic ice hockey player (1964). Mush March, 93, Canadian ice hockey player (Chicago Black Hawks).Mush March, Sports-Reference / Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-02-23. Bill McCutcheon, 77, American actor (Sesame Street, Anything Goes, Steel Magnolias), Tony winner (1988), Alzheimer's disease.Bill McCutcheon, 77, Actor; Won Tony for 'Anything Goes' Wang Ruoshui, 75, Chinese journalist, political theorists and philosopher, lung cancer. K. William Stinson, 71, U.S. Representative from Washington.STINSON, K. William, (1930 - 2002)
10 Olga Biglieri, 86, Italian futurist painter and aviator. Andrew Boyd, 91, American Olympic fencer (1936, 1948). John Buscema, 74, American comic book artist (Marvel Comics), cancer. Wallie Amos Criswell, 92, American pastor, author and two-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1970. Philip Drazin, 67, British mathematician, university teacher and author, an international expert in fluid dynamics. Andrés Hammersley, 82, Chilean tennis player. Günther Ortmann, 85, German Olympic field handball player (1936). Cedric Smith, 84, British statistician. Ikkō Tanaka, 71, Japanese graphic designer, heart attack. C. R. Vyas, 77, Indian classical singer.
11 Gerrit Brokx, 68, Dutch politician. Gene Dinwiddie, 65, American blues saxophonist. Fred Gantt, 79, American basketball player. Shanti S. Gupta, 76, Indian-American statistician. Walter Heinzel, 94, Czech Olympic bobsledder (1936). Henry Pearcy, 79, American basketball player. Ajay Mitra Shastri, 67, Indian academic, historian and numismatist. Christer Strömholm, 83, Swedish photographer. Henri Verneuil, 81, French filmmaker and playwright.
12 Bernard Bennett, 70, English snooker and billiards player. John Berger, 92, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier (1936). Moss Evans, 76, British union leader, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. Edwin M. Martin, 93, American diplomat and ambassador, pneumonia. Harold B. McSween, 75, American politician (U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 8th congressional district) and businessman. Max Ordman, 75, South African wrestler and Olympian (1960). Ernest Pintoff, 70, American film and television director and animator (Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for The Critic), stroke. Henry S. Reuss, 89, American politician. Neville Sandelson, 78, British politician. Stanley Unwin, 90, South African-born English comedian. Cyrus Vance, 84, United States Secretary of State, international peacemaker, pneumonia.
13 Richard Bolt, 90, American physicist, specializing in acoustics, founded Bolt, Beranek and Newman. Ted Demme, 38, American film and television director (Blow, The Ref, Yo! MTV Raps, Beautiful Girls), heart attack. Samuel Dolin, 84, Canadian composer and music educator. Guadalupe Dueñas, Mexican short story writer and essayist. Charity Adams Earley, 83, United States Army officer. Paul Fannin, 94, American politician and businessman, Governor of Arizona (1959–1965), U.S. Senator from Arizona (1965–1977), cerebrovascular disease. Gregorio Fuentes, 104, Cuban sailor and Ernest Hemingway's first mate, fishing companion and confidant. Georges Glasser, 94, French tennis player and president of the Tennis Club de Paris. Antonije Isaković, 78, Serbian writer. Pierre Joubert, 91, French illustrator and comics artist. Frank Shuster, 85, Canadian comedian. José María Sánchez-Silva, 90, Spanish writer. Christian von Bülow, 84, Danish Olympic sailor (1956, 1964).
14 Edith Bouvier Beale, 84, American socialite, fashion model and cabaret performer, known as "Little Edie", heart attack. Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington, 86, British sociologist, social activist and politician, coined the term "meritocracy". David John Hamer, 78, Australian politician. Rachel Bubar Kelly, 79, American politician for the Prohibition Party. Cele Goldsmith Lalli, 68, American editor, accidental death. Bob Prittie, 82, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1962-1968). Darrell Robison, 70, American Olympic alpine skier (1952). Antonio Sbardella, 76, Italian football player, referee and sports official. Olav Selvaag, 89, Norwegian engineer and residential contractor.
15 Michael Anthony Bilandic, 78, American politician (39th Mayor of Chicago), heart failure. Eugène Brands, 89, Dutch painter, an early member of the COBRA avant-garde art movement. Jean Dockx, 60, Belgian football player and manager. David Epstein, 71, American composer, conductor, and music scientist. Miguel Flores, 81, Chilean football player. John M. Gaver, Jr., 61, American trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. Jeremy Hawk, 83, British actor (Elizabeth). Tomislav Kaloperović, 69, Yugoslav and Serbian football player and coach. Erhard Minder, 76, Swiss handball player and Olympic modern pentathlete (1952, 1956). Vithabai Bhau Mang Narayangaonkar, Indian artist. Sakari Olkkonen, 71, Finnish Olympic gymnast (1960). Michel Poniatowski, 79, French politician.