The following is a list of notable deaths in April 2001.
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.
April 2001
1 Jean Anderson, 93, English actress (The Brothers, Tenko). Eugênio German, 70, Brazilian chess master and Brazilian chess champion (1951, 1972). Jayant Kothari, 71, Indian literary critic. Ted McCarty, 91, American businessman. Jo-Jo Moore, 92, American baseball player (New York Giants). Brendan O'Reilly, 71, Irish broadcaster. Aleksandar Obradović, 73, Serbian composer and academic. Jim Proudfoot, 67, Canadian sports journalist. Valerie Scott, 83, English tennis player. Russ Smith, 56, American gridiron football player (San Diego Chargers). Trinh Cong Son, 62, Vietnamese musician and composer. Erik Styf, 68, Swedish ski jumper and Olympian (1956). Zellio Toppazzini, 71, Canadian ice hockey player (Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks). Larry Tucker, 66, American screenwriter (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice), multiple sclerosis. Jalil Zandi, 49, Iranian flying ace, car accident.
2 Charles Daudelin, 80, French-Canadian sculptor and painter. Gary Gearhart, 77, American baseball player (New York Giants). François Gelhausen, 70, Luxembourgish racing cyclist. Andy Guest, 61, American politician. Pedro Mercado, 77, Argentine Olympic equestrian (1952). Carlos Carnes Ogden, Sr., 83, US Army officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor. Jennifer Syme, 28, American actress and record executive, traffic collision.
3 Michael Berry, Baron Hartwell, 89, British newspaper proprietor. Louis Courtois, 63, French Olympic bobsledder (1968). Moïse Gorendiawé, 62, New Caledonian footballer. Dempster Jackson, 70, American Olympic rower (1952). Big Daddy Kinsey, 74, American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, prostate cancer. Jason Massey, 28, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. Kersten Meier, 47, German swimmer and Olympian (1972), suicide by jumping. Butch Moore, 63, Irish singer and a showband icon, heart attack. Ray Osrin, 72, American comic book artist. Paul Peek, 63, American rockabilly pioneer. L. Richardson Preyer, 82, American judge and politician. Adela Reta, 79, Uruguayan lawyer and politician.A los 79 años, murió el martes Adela Reta
4 Beryl Gilroy, 76, British pioneering teacher and novelist, heart attack. Wim van der Linden, 60, Dutch photographer and film and television director. Ramón Mendoza, 73, Spanish lawyer and businessman. Mitra Mitrović, 88, Serbian politician, feminist and writer. José M. Dávila Monsanto, 95, Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. Liisi Oterma, 86, Finnish astronomer. Ed Roth, 69, American artist, cartoonist, and custom car designer and builder.
5 Benjy Dial, 57, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles). Kingsley Charles Dunham, 91, British geologist. Sonya Hedenbratt, 70, Swedish singer and actress. Jay Miller, 57, American basketball player, heart attack. John Bertram Oakes, 87, American journalist. Aldo Olivieri, 90, Italian football goalkeeper and manager. David Lloyd Owen, 83, British army general and writer. Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd, 82, British politician who served as Leader of the House of Lords. Brother Theodore, 94, German-American actor and comedian.
6 Ingvar Bengtsson, 78, Swedish middle-distance runner and Olympian (1948). George Bull, 71, British journalist and writer. Heinz Eichholz, 74, German Olympic rower (1952). Danny Gaither, 62, American gospel singer (Bill Gaither Trio). Chaudhary Devi Lal, 85, Indian politician and Deputy Prime Minister of India. Yevgeny Malinin, 70, Soviet and Russian pianist. Eddie Melo, 40, Portuguese-born Canadian boxer and gangster, shot.Melo family members arrested after melee with police Charles Pettigrew, 37, American singer, half of R&B duo Charles & Eddie, cancer.
7 Francisco Furtado, 84, Brazilian Olympic rower (1952). David Graf, 50, American actor (Police Academy, The West Wing, Rules of Engagement), heart attack. Kurt Hohenemser, 95, German-born American aerospace engineer and a pioneer in helicopter design. Derek Lang, 87, British Army general.Obituary: Lieutenant General Sir Derek Lang The Independent, 13 April 2001, Retrieved 5 July 2023 G. N. Ramachandran, 78, Indian physicist. Herbert Scholl, 75, German Olympic sailor (1960). Beatrice Straight, 86, American actress (Network, The Crucible, The Nun's Story), Oscar winner (1980), pneumonia.
8 Kurt Almqvist, 89, Swedish poet, intellectual and spiritual figure. Frank Annunzio, 86, American politician, Parkinson's disease. Arthur Cantor, 81, American theatrical producer. Vladislav Krishchishin, 54, Ukrainian flyweight weightlifter. Nello Lauredi, 76, French road bicycle racer. Elsie Locke, 88, New Zealand writer, historian, and feminist. Victor Pace, 93, Maltese Olympic water polo player (1928). Bob Sohl, 73, American competition swimmer and Olympic medalist (1948). Van Stephenson, 47, American singer-songwriter, melanoma. Marguerite Viby, 91, Danish actress.
9 Behram Contractor, 71, Indian journalist and humourist. Roque Ditro, 64, Argentine football player. Shakoor Rana, 65, Pakistani cricket umpire. Graziella Sciutti, 73, Italian soprano opera singer and producer. Willie Stargell, 61, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates), member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, stroke. Hsieh Tung-min, 93, Taiwanese politician and Vice President of the Republic of China. Lloyd Wickett, 81, American football player (Detroit Lions).
10 Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, 65, French film director. Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt, 84, Polish special forces operative during World War II, journalist and author. Nora Eddington, 77, American actress and socialite, kidney failure. John Marmion Edmond, 57, Scottish-American MIT professor of marine geochemistry and oceanography. Andy Farkas, 84, American football player (Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions). Charles L. Freeman, 92, American sound editor and film editor. Michel Fribourg, 87, Belgian-American billionaire businessman. Pekka Lairola, 73, Finnish Olympic swimmer (1960). Derek Lambert, 71, English author. Nyree Dawn Porter, 65, New Zealand actress, leukemia. Richard Evans Schultes, 86, American ethnobotanist. Roger Vale, 58, Australian politician.
11 Sandy Bull, 60, American folk musician and composer, lung cancer. John Harris, Baron Harris of Greenwich, 71, British political aide and politician (Chief Whip in the House of Lords from 1994 to 2001). Jerzy Krasówka, 76, Polish football player and Olympian (1952). Thaddeus McCarthy, 93, New Zealand jurist. Graciela Naranjo, 84, Venezuelan singer and actress. Carolyn R. Payton, 75, American director of the Peace Corps (1977-1978). J. T. Putney, 72, American racing driver. Harry Secombe, 79, Welsh actor (The Goon Show, Oliver!, The Bed Sitting Room), prostate cancer. Jack Wilson, 83, American football player (Los Angeles Rams).
12 Harvey Ball, 79, American inventor of the smiley. E. W. Barker, 80, Singaporean politician and lawyer, colon surgery. Nelson Burbrink, 79, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals), cancer. Adolfo Clouthier, 92, Mexican Olympic javelin thrower (1932). Wang Enmao, 88, Chinese lieutenant general and politician. Harry Hinkel, 97, American racewalker and Olympian (1924, 1932). Reidar Hirsti, 76, Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party. Ljiljana Krstić, 81, Serbian actress. Shimshon Dovid Pincus, 57, American-Israeli orthodox rabbi, traffic collision.
13 Mario David, 70, Argentine film director and screenwriter. Jimmy Logan, 73, Scottish comedian, actor, producer and director, cancer. Stephen C. O'Connell, 85, American jurist. Josephine Premice, 74, Haitian-American actress and singer. Ken Weston, 53, English sound engineer (Gladiator, Evita, Flash Gordon), Oscar winner (2001), kidney cancer.
14 Jim Baxter, 61, Scottish football player, pancreatic cancer. Dorothee Metlitzki, 86, German-American author, professor of English and zionist. Haruo Minami, 77, Japanese enka singer and rōkyoku performer, prostate cancer. Bryan Ranft, 83, British historian. Ngan Shing-kwan, 98, Hong Kong transport and property tycoon. Hiroshi Teshigahara, 74, Japanese avant-garde filmmaker (Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another), leukemia.
15 Donald Dorfman, 67, American mathematical psychologist and radiologist. Jack Elway, 69, American college football player and coach (Washington State, San Jose State, Stanford), heart attack. Joey Ramone, 49, American musician, lead singer for The Ramones, lymphoma. Bo Roberson, 65, American track and field athlete, football player and Olympian (1960). John Verrall, 92, American composer of contemporary classical music.
16 Bob Brown, 80, American basketball player. Emanuele Clarizio, 89, Italian prelate and diplomat of the Catholic Church. Giacomo Gentilomo, 92, Italian film director and painter. Horace Gwynne, 88, Canadian boxer and Olympic champion (1932). Alfred Horn, 83, American mathematician. Paul Kuroda, 84, Japanese-American chemist and nuclear scientist. Peter Maag, 81, Swiss conductor. John R. McNamara, 73, American naval officer and bishop.In Memoriam: Bishop John R. McNamara Robert Osterloh, 82, American actor. Mohammad Rabbani, Afghani politician and one of the founders of the Taliban, liver cancer. Hank Riebe, 79, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers). Michael Ritchie, 62, American film director (The Bad News Bears, Fletch, Downhill Racer), prostate cancer. Thomas H. Stix, 76, American physicist. Alec Stock, 84, English footballer and football manager.
17 Merton Davies, 83, American astronomer and space exploration pioneer. John Ferraro, 76, American politician (Los Angeles City Council) and college football player (USC). Alfred M. Moen, 84, American inventor and founder of Moen Incorporated. Richard McGee Morse, 78, American Latin Americanist scholar and academic, Alzheimer's disease. Leonid Alfonsovich Ostrovski, 65, Soviet football player and manager. Terry Scully, 68, British theatre and television actor. Danica Seleskovitch, 79, French interpreter and academic writer.
18 Khursheed Bano, 87, Indian singer and actress. Tony Bartley, 82, British film and television executive, and fighter pilot during World War II. Billy Mitchell, 74, American jazz tenor saxophonist. Robert Paparemborde, 52, French rugby player, pancreatic cancer. John Yonakor, 79, American football player (Cleveland Browns, New York Yanks, Washington Redskins).
19 Lionel Abel, 90, American playwright ("Absalom"), essayist and theater critic. Walter Bowden, 90, American Olympic handball player (1936). André du Bouchet, 77, French poet. Jim Hayes, 60, American football player (Houston Oilers). Kurt Ott, 88, Swiss Olympic cyclist (1936). Edith Picht-Axenfeld, 87, German pianist and harpsichordist. Egor Popov, 88, Russian-American civil engineer. Hal Haig Prieste, 104, Armenian-American Olympic diver (1920). Meldrim Thomson, Jr., 89, American politician, Governor of New Hampshire (1973–1979), Parkinson's disease. Pierre Versins, 78, French science fiction collector and scholar.
20 Antonio Asensio, 53, Spanish mass media entrepreneur, founder of Grupo Zeta, brain tumor.La intuición de Antonio «Azencio» Richard H. Austin, 87, American politician, Michigan Secretary of State (1971–1994), Alzheimer's disease. Steven Blaisse, 60, Dutch rower and Olympic silver medalist (1960, 1964). Cino Cinelli, 85, Italian racing cyclist. Kenneth Colby, American psychiatrist and computer technology pioneer. David Gilbarg, 82, American professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University. Herbert Hamel, 96, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs). Irène Joachim, 88, French soprano, and vocal teacher.