The following is a list of notable deaths in May 2000.
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.
May 2000
1 Marvin W. Bursch, 87, American businessman and politician, complications of Parkinson's disease. Cláudio Christovam de Pinho, 77, Brazilian footballer. John Emery, 84, British paediatric pathologist. Gil Fates, 85, American television producer. Chen Kingkwan, 87, Chinese Olympic sprinter (1936). David J. Mahoney, 76, American businessman and philanthropist, heart disease. Gibby Mbasela, 37, Zambian footballer. Steve Reeves, 74, American actor, lymphoma. Nora Swinburne, 97, British actress. Jukka Tapanimäki, 38, Finnish game programmer, heart failure. Gérard Théberge, 69, Canadian Olympic ice hockey player, bronze medalist (1956)
2 Gretel Ammann, 53, Spanish philosopher. Tom Baldwin, 38, American football player (New York Jets). Laurie Calvin Battle, 87, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1947-1955). Jerome L. Blaska, 80, American politician. Len Clark, 86, English cricketer. Belva Cottier, 79, American Sioux activist and social worker. Gervase Cowell, 73, British spy. Bob Homme, 81, American-Canadian television actor, known for his role as The Friendly Giant, prostate cancer. Bobbi Martin, 60, American country and pop music singer, songwriter, and guitarist, cancer. Billy Munn, 88, British jazz pianist. Harry Newman, 90, American football player (New York Giants). Sundar Popo, 56, Trinidadian and Tobagonian musician. Christina Marie Riggs, 28, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. Teri Thornton, 65, American jazz singer, bladder cancer. Norman Wainwright, 85, English competition swimmer and Olympian (1932, 1936, 1948).
3 Ibrahim Akasha, Kenyan drug lord, shot. Lewis Allen, 94, British film and television director. Richard Friederich Arens, 81, American mathematician. Obie Baizley, 82, Canadian politician (Manitoba). Júlia Báthory, 98, Hungarian glass designer.Báthory.com/Júlia-Báthory Júlia Báthory Ed Chapman, 94, American baseball player (Washington Senators). William Keys, 77, Australian Army officer. Mamuka Kikaleishvili, 39, Georgian actor and film director. Bryan Lobb, 69, English cricket player. Yoshinao Nakada, 76, Japanese composer, colorectal cancer. John Joseph O'Connor, 80, American Roman Catholic prelate, brain cancer. Shakuntala Paranjpye, 94, Indian writer, actress, and social worker. Jon Vincent, 38, American pornographic actor, heroin overdose. Edward J. Sponga, 82, American Jesuit priest in the Society of Jesus.
4 Aleksandr Akhiezer, 88, Soviet Ukrainian physicist. Sir Derick Ashe, 81, British diplomat. J. T. "Blondy" Black, 79, American football player (Buffalo Bisons, Baltimore Colts). Sandra Bréa, 47, Brazilian actress and model, respiratory arrest. Hendrik Casimir, 90, Dutch physicist known for the Casimir effect. Humberto Donoso, 61, Chilean football player. Jacques Gerschwiler, 101, Swiss figure skater and coach. Leslie Jeffers, 90, British wrestler and Olympian (1936). Alwyn Kurts, 84, Australian drama and comedy actor, liver failure. Kieran Nugent, Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer, cardiovascular disease. Diana Ross, 89, English children's author. Sugi Sito, 73, Mexican wrestler known as El Orgullo de Oriente.
5 Edward Ashley-Cooper, 93, Australian actor, congestive heart failure. Gino Bartali, 85, Italian racing cyclist. Robert C. Bassett, 89, American newspaper publisher, lawyer, and political advisor, Alzheimer's disease.Burial Detail: Bassett, Robert C – ANC Explorer Patrick Castagne, 83, Guyanese-born Trinidadian composer, heart failure. Jan Firbas, 79, Czech linguist. Don Kindt, 74, American football player (Chicago Bears). Rolf Magener, 89, German escapee from India during World War II. Bill Musselman, 59, American basketball coach, stroke.
6 Benoy Choudhury, Indian freedom fighter and politician. Eleazar Jiménez, 71, Cuban chess master. Gordon McClymont, 79, Australian agricultural scientist and ecologist. Lee Moore, 61, Saint Kitts and Nevis politician. Roger von Norman, 91, Hungarian-born German film editor and director. John Clive Ward, 75, British-Australian physicist, respiratory illness. David W. Williams, 90, American district judge (United States District Court for the Central District of California). Sir Peter William Youens, 84, British diplomat and colonial administrator, pneumonia.
7 Dov Bar-Nir, 88, Belgium-Israeli politician. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., 90, American actor and the son of Douglas Fairbanks, heart attack. Hideo Hamamura, 71, Japanese marathon runner and Olympian (1956). Ferrel Harris, 59, American NASCAR racecar driver. Henry Laskau, 83, American Olympic racewalker (1948, 1952, 1956). José Luis López de Lacalle, Spanish journalist and trade unionist, killed by the ETA. Homer Thompson, 93, Canadian classical archaeologist. Timmy Payungka Tjapangati, 58, Aboriginal Australian artist. Masaru Shintani, 72, Japanese-Canadian master of karate, heart attack.
8 Pita Amor, 81, Mexican poet. Stanley Boxer, 73, American abstract artist. X Brands, 72, German-American actor. Glen Bredon, 67, American mathematician. William C. Brennan, 81, American lawyer and politician. Dédé Fortin, 37, Canadian musician, suicide. Hubert Maga, 83, Dahomey politician. Henry Nicols, 26, American HIV/AIDS activist, car accident.
9 György Csordás, 71, Hungarian swimmer and Olympian (1948, 1952, 1956). Arthur Davis, 94, American animator (Looney Tunes, The Jetsons, Challenge of the GoBots). Chris Evans, 53, Canadian ice hockey player. William Fairchild, 82, English author, playwright, director and screenwriter. Todor Nikolov, 54, Bulgarian football player and Olympian (1968). John Nucatola, 92, American basketball player, coach and referee. Exequiel Ramírez, 75, Chilean Olympic cyclist (1948). Carmen Romano, 74, First Lady of Mexico (1976-1982). Zheng Weishan, 84, Chinese general and politician.
10 Bart the Bear, 23, Kodiak bear, cancer. Raymond Eddé, 87, Lebanese statesman. Jarl Emcken, 79, Danish Olympic rower (1948). Martin Farndale, 71, British army general. Carden Gillenwater, 82, American baseball player. Margaret Harris, 95, British costume designer. Kiyoshi Kuromiya, 57, Japanese-American author and civil rights activist, cancer. Virgil W. Raines, 89, American thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Kaneto Shiozawa, 46, Japanese voice actor, cerebral contusion. Dick Sprang, 84, American comic book artist (Batman). Craig Stevens, 81, American actor, cancer.
11 Verna Aardema, 88, American writer. David Bretherton, 76, American film editor (Cabaret, The Diary of Anne Frank, Clue), Oscar winner (1973), pneumonia. Dale Jennings, 82, American LGBT rights activist, playwright and author. René Muñoz, 62, Cuban actor and screenwriter, cancer. Albert Roberts, 91, British politician. Hanny Thalmann, 83, Swiss women's rights activist and politician. Paula Wessely, 93, Austrian actress, bronchitis.
12 Pete Abele, 83, American politician (U.S. Representative for Ohio's 10th congressional district), Alzheimer's disease. Bob Challis, 68, English rugby player. Dymphna Clark, 83, Australian linguist and educator.Jones, Philip (May 2000) Dymphna Clark obituary, theguardian.com; accessed 6 June 2015. Dave Crowe, 66, New Zealand cricket player. Dong Kingman, 89, Chinese American artist and watercolor master. Adam Petty, 19, American race car driver, car crash. Herbert Schröder, 54, German footballer.
13 Paul Bartel, 61, American actor, writer and director, liver cancer, heart attack. Ernst Endl, 70, Austrian Olympic water polo player (1952). Olivier Greif, 50, French composer. Stanley Korchinski, 71, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1958-1984). Akira Nozawa, 85, Japanese footballer. Boško Perošević, 43, Serbian politician. Fred Schwab, 82, American cartoonist. Jumbo Tsuruta, 49, Japanese professional wrestler known as Jumbo Tsuruta, complications from liver transplant. Cesare Valletti, 77, Italian operatic tenor. Melzar Williams, 86, American baseball player.
14 Urda Arneberg, 71, Norwegian actress. Carlos Aitor Castillo, 86, Peruvian painter. George Carpozi Jr., 79, American journalist, biographer and non-fiction author, emphysema and heart failure. Johnny Cook, 51, American gospel singer formerly of the Happy Goodman Family. Sarah Mavis Dabbs, 78, American baseball player. Garrett Eckbo, 89, American landscape architect. C. Eric Lincoln, 75, American scholar, diabetes. Bob Maza, 60, Australian actor and playwright. Keizō Obuchi, 62, Japanese politician and Prime Minister, stroke. Rodman Rockefeller, 68, American businessman and philanthropist. Karl Shapiro, 86, American poet.
15 Roberto Benedicto, 83, Filipino lawyer, diplomat and banker. Edwin Charles Boulton, 72, American bishop, auto-immune disorder. David Glyn Bowen, 66, Welsh Congregationalist minister, educator, and missionary, cancer. Geoff Goddard, 62, English songwriter, singer and instrumentalist, heart attack. Robert Lee Knous, 82, American politician. Alfred Kuchevsky, 68, Soviet ice hockey defenceman and Olympian (1956, 1960). George Marshall, 96, American conservationist and political activist. Gösta Prüzelius, 77, Swedish actor, leukemia. Théo-Léo De Smet, 82, Belgian Olympic water polo player (1948, 1952). Anthony Squire, 86, British screenwriter and director.
16 Bodacious, 11–12, American bucking bull and ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee. Frido Frey, 78, German basketball player (New York Knicks). Evald Hermaküla, 58, Estonian actor and director, suicide by hanging. Petter Hugsted, 78, Norwegian ski jumper and Olympian (1948). Ghulam Ali Okarvi, 80, Pakistani Islamic scholar and jurist. Andrzej Szczypiorski, 72, Polish novelist and politician. Ronald Jay Williams, 72, Trinidadian businessman and politician.
17 Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev, 38-39, Chechen brigadier general and politician, presumably murdered.Chechen Politician Disappears , The St. Petersburg Times, 8 September 2000 Yola Cain, 45-46, Jamaican aviator, breast cancer. Kanwar Durga Chand, 77-78, Indian politician. Donald Coggan, 90, English Anglican and 101st Archbishop of Canterbury. Pierre Van Der Haeghen, 78, Belgian Olympic sailor (1948). Hümeyra Hanımsultan, 82, Ottoman princess. Salih Koç, 82, Turkish Olympic equestrian (1948, 1956, 1960). Elsie Lessa, 86, Brazilian journalist and writer of American descent. William H. Poteat, 81, American philosopher, scholar and professor. Sajjan, 79, Indian actor. Angelina Stepanova, 94, Soviet and Russian stage and film actress, teacher.
18 Domingos da Guia, 87, Brazilian football player and manager, stroke. Bruno Fait, 75, Italian Olympic racewalker (1952). Denis Gifford, 72, British writer, broadcaster and journalist. Doyle Lade, 79, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs). Yusuf Ludhianvi, 67/68, Pakistani Muslim scholar, author and muhaddith, murdered.
19 James Verne Adams, 86, American politician. Tony Arefin, 38, Bangladeshi art director, heart attack.Steven Heller, New York Times ). Retrieved 05 March, 2010. Lee Brewster, 57, American drag queen and transvestite activist, cancer. Irene Calvert, 91, Northern Irish politician and economist. John Grigas, 79, American gridiron football player (Chicago Cardinals, Card-Pitt, Boston Yanks). Willie Hubert, 87, American baseball player. Evgeniy Vasilievich Khrunov, 66, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4), heart attack. Larry Lamb, 70, British newspaper editor.
20 Adelaide Aglietta, 59, Italian politician. Charles Antenen, 70, Swiss football player. Edward Bernds, 94, American director. Freddy Bloom, 86, British journalist. Dick Brown, 74, Canadian football player. Dag Coward, 90, Norwegian economist. Loyd Jowers, 73, American restaurateur, heart attack.