The following is a list of notable deaths in April 1978. 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 1978
1 İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu, 92, Turkish journalist and academic administrator. Laurence Bradshaw, 79, English sculptor and political activist. Lionel Fox, 65, New Zealand runner. Linda Goldstone, 29, American childbirth instructor, shot.Terror, Trunk Ordeal Preceded Her Slaying Emmett Grogan, 35, American activist and writer, heart attack.EMMETT GROGAN Olaf Nygaard, 83, Norwegian Olympic cyclist (1920). Lynne Roberts, 55, American actress, fall. Agide Simonazzi, 82, Italian Olympic sprinter (1920). Adderley Wilkinson, 90, Irish cricketer.
2 Aurelio Baldor, 71, Cuban mathematician, emphysema. Bill Brubaker, 67, American baseball player. Gloria Dawn, 49, Australian actress, cancer.Gloria Dawn, 49, dies of cancer Amy Goldin, 52, American art critic, cancer.AMY GOLDIN, 52, ART CRITIC KNOWN FOR INDIVIDUALISM Jack Hubbard, 92, American football player and coach.John H. Hubbard, 92; All-America at Amherst Willi Kaidel, 65, German Olympic rower (1936). Wilmore B. Leonard, 61, American educator, member of the Tuskegee Airmen, cancer.LEONARD, WILMORE B. (DR.) Thomas Trembath, 66, Australian cricketer.
3 Karl Asplund, 87, Swedish writer. Gustavo Cuervo Rubio, 87, Cuban politician, vice president (1940–1944), pneumonia.Former Cuban vice president Ray French, 83, American baseball player.People in Sports Nina S. Gore, 74, American socialite and actress, cancer.Nina Gore Olds, 74, Socialite, Kin to U.S. Senator, Novelist Franz Heep, 75, German-Brazilian architect. George Edwin Hills, 72, English-Canadian politician. Ken Hirano, 67, Japanese literary critic, stroke. H. N. Kunzru, 90, Indian politician, MP (1952–1964). Ernst Leche, 80, Swedish judge. Kevin McAlinden, 64, Northern Irish footballer. Mary McCarthy, 75, Australian police officer. Tom McKay, 77, Canadian Olympic runner (1924). René Morel, 66, French Olympic runner (1932). Ray Noble, 74, English bandleader and composer ("The Very Thought of You"), cancer.RAY NOBLE, 71, DIES; POPULAR COMPOSER Winston Sharples, 69, American film composer.SHARPLES, Sr. Winston John H. Sides, 73, American naval admiral, cardiac arrest.ADR JOHN SIDES DIES; LED FLEET IN PACIFIC
4 F. Joseph Donohue, 78, American politician, heart attack.F. Joseph Donohue, 78, Dies Semyon Kirlian, 80, Soviet photographer, inventor of Kirlian photography. Tony Leighton, 38, English footballer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Elias MacDonald, 79, English footballer. Sir Morien Morgan, 65, Welsh aeronautical engineer. Stanley C. Norton, 83, American naval admiral.Rear Admiral Stanley C. Norton Esperanza Osmeña, 83, Filipino socialite, first lady (1944–1946), heart failure.
5 Harry Douglass, 76, British trade unionist. Walter Dudley, 60, Australian cricketer and footballer.DUDLEY Irene Dillard Elliott, 85, American academic administrator. Douglas Henderson, 59, American actor, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Walter Huppenkothen, 70, German lawyer. Albert Lewis, 94, Polish-born American stage and film producer.ALBERT LEWIS AT 93; BROADWAY PRODUCER Joseph McGoldrick, 76, American politician, cancer.Joseph McGoldrick, La Guardia Aide Edna Rankin McKinnon, 84, American social activist. Harry Rockafeller, 83, American football player and coach.List of Deaths of Outstanding Figures in Sports During 1978 Carlo Tagliabue, 80, Italian singer.Carlo Tagliabue
6 Zsolt Baranyai, 29, Hungarian mathematician, traffic collision. Lin Bend, 55, Canadian ice hockey player. Bobbie Bruce, 72, Scottish footballer. Nicolas Nabokov, 74, Russian-American composer, heart attack.Nicolas Nabokov, 75, a Composer Martin Secker, 96, British publisher. Ernest L. Wilkinson, 78, American academic administrator and lawyer, heart attack.E. L. Wilkinson, of D.C. Law Firm, Dies
7 Malcolm Ashworth, 52, English intelligence officer and marketing executive, stroke. Enos Bromage, 79, English footballer. Bill Coontz, 60, American actor and stuntman, cancer. Richard Dandridge, 86, American baseball player. Sir Maurice Dean, 71, English civil servant. Robert Aaron Gordon, 69, American economist, heart attack.Robert Aaron Gordon, Economist And Expert on Manpower, Dies Donald Gray, 64, South African actor (The Vise, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons), coronary artery disease. Alexander G. B. Grosvenor, 50, American naval officer and yachtsman, brain cancer.Navy Capt. Alexander Grosvenor, 50 Ernest Kanitz, 83, Austrian-American composer. Kojin Kozu, 88, Japanese painter. Harry Purdy, 80, Australian footballer. Albert Tangora, 74, American competitive typist, heart attack.Albert Tangora, 73, Ex-Typing Champ
8 Preston M. Burch, 93, American racehorse trainer and breeder.PRESTON M. BURCH, TRAINER, DIES AT 93 Ford Frick, 83, American baseball executive and sportswriter, MLB commissioner (1951–1965).Ford Frick, Former Head of Baseball, Is Dead at 83 Lon L. Fuller, 75, American legal philosopher.LON L. FULLER, 75, LAWYER AND HARVARD PROFESSOR Johan Holberg, 85, Estonian politician. Peter Igelhoff, 73, Austrian pianist and composer. Gaston Leval, 82, French historian and trade unionist. Clemente Marroquín, 80, Guatemalan politician, vice president (1966–1970).Clemente Marroquin Rojas, was Guatemala's vice president Dick Risenhoover, 51, American sportscaster, liver cancer.Dick Risenhoover, Texas announcer, is claimed Saturday Kurt Voß, 77, German footballer.
9 Edythe Elliott, 91, American actress. Christopher Hollis Johnson, 74, British chemist and physicist. Reinhold Mannkopff, 83, German physicist. Vivian McGrath, 62, Australian tennis player, heart disease.Double-handed backhand his tennis legacy Orville Pottenger, 56, American football player and coach, cancer.Ozarks sports figure dies of cancer at 56 Bruce V. Reagan, 75, American politician, member of the California State Assembly (1949–1951, 1959–1963). Allan Sproul, 82, American banker, heart attack.PEOPLE Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, 94, Welsh architect and urban planner.Sir Clough Williams-Ellis Michael Wilson, 63, American screenwriter (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Planet of the Apes), heart attack.Michael Wilson, Screenwriter, 63
10 Anthony Jochim, 86, American actor.Anthony Jochim Irma Lindheim, 91, American educator and Zionist activist.Irma Lindheim, Head of Hadassah Hjalmar Mäe, 76, Estonian politician and Nazi collaborator. Leo Michelson, 90, Latvian-American artist.LEO MICHELSON, PAINTER WITH A 'LYRICAL' STYLE Long John Nebel, 66, American radio broadcaster, prostate cancer.Long John Nebel, 66 Amanda E. Peele, 75, American biologist. William Pritchard, 76, American football player and coach. Sydney Robinson, 72, British trade unionist. John David Rogers, 82, Australian soldier and oil executive, stroke.Leading businessman dies Eyvin Schiøttz, 67, Danish sailor. Endre Sík, 87, Hungarian politician and historian.Endre Sik Robert Vas, 47, Hungarian-English film director.Robert Vas-Film Maker Albert Vollrat, 74, Estonian wrestler and football manager.
11 Jimmy Argue, 66, Scottish footballer. George C. Cory Jr., 57, American pianist and composer ("I Left My Heart in San Francisco"), drug overdose.Writer of "I Left My Heart. . Found Dead at 55 Rollo Graham Campbell, 75, British Anglican prelate. Antonia Herrero, 80, Spanish-born Argentine actress. Yeffe Kimball, 72, American painter, cancer.Yeffe Kimball Slatin, Artist, 64, Dies Ian MacDonald, 63, American actor (High Noon), cardiac arrest.Ulva Pippy dies in Bozeman Fred McCollum, 66, American football player and coach. Chris Mensalvas, 68, Filipino-American trade unionist, house fire. Claire Raphael Reis, 89, American musical promoter.Claire Raphael Reis Dies at 89; Leader in New York Cultural Life Jock Thompson, 73, South African cricketer.
12 Sir Alan Carmody, 57, Australian public servant, coronary artery disease.Sir Alan Carmody: at the top of the bureaucracy Sir Samuel Cooke, 66, British barrister and judge. Carole Garnett-Wheeler, 79, American Olympic swimmer (1924). Tiberiu Iliescu, 71, Romanian writer and poet. Tobias Jehle, 92, Liechtensteiner politician. Luther Johnson, 74, American racing driver. Pavel Terentyevich Korobkov, 68, Soviet general and flying ace. Leon Johnson Ladner, 93, Canadian politician, MP (1921–1930).LADNER, Leon Johnson Walter Langston, 93, American football player and coach.Early SMS football coach Langston dies at 93 Charles Maclay, 64, Scottish anatomist. Hermann Rentzsch, 64, German general. Don Webster, 53, Canadian ice hockey player. Wee Kheng Chiang, 87, Malaysian banking executive.
13 Kalikananda Abadhut, 67, Indian novelist. Louella Ballerino, 77, American fashion designer. Ernst Bantle, 77, German footballer. Jack Chambers, 47, Canadian artist and filmmaker (The Hart of London), leukemia.Jack Chambers dies Suresh Goel, 34, Indian badminton player, heart failure.Badminton star Goel dead Georges Guillon, 78, French Olympic runner (1920). Bill Hazlett, 72, New Zealand rugby player and racehorse trainer. Wojciech Łukaszewski, 42, Polish composer. Owen Finlay Maclaren, 71, English businessman. Paul McGrath, 74, American actor, heart attack. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, 77, Nigerian educator and feminist activist, complications from blunt force trauma. William Rees-Thomas, 90, Welsh psychiatrist. Hedwig Rieder, 58, Swiss Olympic fencer (1948, 1952). Violetta Thurstan, 99, English nurse and author. Rosemary Woolf, 52, English literary scholar.
14 Asadollah Alam, 58, Iranian politician, prime minister (1962–1964), cancer. Olive Beamish, 87, Irish-born English suffragist and trade unionist.Equal rights doyen dies, 87 André Cramois, 77, French banker and engineer. David Davis IV, 71, American lawyer and politician, member of the Illinois Senate (1953–1967).David Davis IV, 71, civic leader, dies Sophia Lyon Fahs, 101, American writer and religious activist.SOPHIA L, FAHS, 101; RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR Bill Glynn, 77, Australian footballer. Joe Gordon, 63, American baseball player, coach and manager, cardiac arrest.JOE GORDON IS DEAD Thomas Hollingdale, 77, Welsh rugby player. F. R. Leavis, 82, English literary critic.F.R. Leavis, British Literary Critic, Editor and Author, Dies Bill Leinhauser, 84, American baseball player.William C. Leinhauser, 84 Dante Panzeri, 56, Argentine sports journalist.Murio a los 55 anos el cronista Dante Panzeri Ernest Parkinson, 83, English cricketer. Arline Pretty, 92, American actress.Services for Arline Pretty, 92, Star of Silent Movies, Slated Jonas Puzinas, 72, Lithuanian archaeologist. Lewis Teague, 60, American painter.
15 Đorđe Detlinger, 65, Yugoslav football player and manager. Marion Moncure Duncan, 64, American civic leader and businesswoman, cancer.Marion Duncan, Ex-President of DAR, Active in Patriotic, Civic Groups, Dies McKinley Kirk, 81, American harness racing driver.McKinley Kirkpatrick Olan Mills Sr., 73, American photographer and businessman, fall.Olan Mills, Photography Chain Founder, Dies Anthony John King Mussio, 75, American Roman Catholic prelate, heart attack.Bishop Mussio Dead After Heart Attack Marcel-Edmond Naegelen, 86, French politician.Marcel-Edmond Naegelen Ravindra Rupasena, 49, Sri Lankan actor, heart attack. Joseph Sunlight, 89, Russian-born English architect. Frank Tallman, 58, American stunt pilot, plane crash.Precision Flier Frank Tallman Killed In California Air Crash
16 Eddie Brown, 66, English cricketer. Francis X. Bushman Jr., 74, American actor. Thomas Cahill, 65, Australian Roman Catholic prelate, heart attack.Archbishop Cahill dies after heart attack Lucius D. Clay, 79, American general, emphysema.Gen. Lucius D. Clay Dies Paul Cootner, 47, American economist, heart attack.Economist Paul H. Cootner