The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1989.
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 1989
1 Jim Barclay, 55, New Zealand Olympic field hockey player (1960). Antonio Janigro, 71, Italian cellist and conductor. Sally Kirkland, 76, fashion editor at Vogue and Life, emphysema. Scooter Lowry, 69, American child actor (Our Gang). (body found on this date) Marion Mack, 87, American film actress (The General), heart failure. Edward Ochab, 82, Polish communist politician, Chairman of the Polish Council of State. Binyamin Sasson, 85-86, Israeli politician, member of the Knesset (1951-1955). Muneyoshi Tokugawa, 91, Japanese army officer and politician. Douglass Watson, 68, American actor (Another World), heart attack. David Webster, 44, South African anti-apartheid activist, assassinated.
2 Bennie Benjamin, 81, Virgin Islands–born American songwriter (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Wheel of Fortune)). James Crabe, 57, American cinematographer (Rocky, The China Syndrome, The Karate Kid), complications of AIDS. Veniamin Kaverin, 87, Russian writer and dramatist. Charlie May, 90, Australian rules footballer. Gerald Scarpelli, 60–61, American mobster and hitman (Chicago Outfit), suicide. Giuseppe Siri, 82, Italian cardinal, Archbishop of Genoa. Virgil Stallcup, 67, American MLB player (Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals). Maki Yūkō, 95, Japanese mountain climber.
3 Sheikh Abbas, 76–77, Algerian diplomat and writer, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris. Walter Brödel, 63, German Olympic fencer (1952). Gordon Dailley, 77, Canadian-born British ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist (1936). Christine Jorgensen, 62, American trans-gender woman, actress and singer, bladder and lung cancer. Aaron M. Kohn, 78, crime investigator and FBI agent. Muriel Ostriche, 92, American silent-screen actress. Roland Robinson, 82, British politician (Member of Parliament), and diplomat (Governor of Bermuda). William Squire, 72, Welsh actor (Callan). John Wiethe, 76, American NFL player (Detroit Lions).
4 Adnan Khayr Allah, 49, Iraqi military officer and Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law, Minister of Defence, helicopter crash. Chalam, 59, Indian film actor (Mattilo Manikyam). Morris Copeland, 93, American economist (flow of funds analysis). Larry Fleisher, 58, American attorney and sports agent, founded the National Basketball Players Association, heart attack. John R. Heller Jr., 84, American director of the National Cancer Institute, known for the Tuskegee syphilis study. Herschel C. Loveless, 77, American politician, Governor of Iowa, lung cancer. James McKeown, 88, Irish missionary in the Gold Coast (Ghana), founded the Church of Pentecost. Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay, 68, Indian writer. Jacques Perrier, 60, French Olympic cross-country skier (1952). Lydia Pasternak Slater, 87, Soviet research chemist and poet. Jean-Marie Tjibaou, 53, French New Caledonian politician, leader of Kanak independence movement, assassinated. Evelle J. Younger, 70, American lawyer, Attorney General of California.
5 Joe Batchelder, 90, American MLB player (Boston Braves). Frank Easton, 79, Australian cricketer. Jón Ingi Guðmundsson, 79, Icelandic Olympic water polo player (1936). Hermann Hölter, 89, German Olympic modern pentathlete (1928), Nazi German army general. Sister Mary Leo, 94, New Zealand religious sister, trained some of the world's best sopranos. Wolfgang Neuss, 65, German actor and Kabarett artist, cancer. Jennifer Hodge de Silva, 38, Canadian filmmaker. Eddie Scharer, 87, American NFL player (Detroit Panthers/Wolverines, Pottsville Maroons). Peter P. Stevens, 79, American football player and coach (Philadelphia Eagles, Temple Owls). Naval Tata, 84, Indian industrialist and philanthropist. Stefan E. Warschawski, 85, Russian-born American mathematician (conformal maps, minimal surfaces, harmonic functions). Don Wheeler, 73, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1947-1955).
6 Earl Blaik, 92, American football player and coach (United States Military Academy). Tally Brown, 64, American singer and actress. Adolfo Constanzo, 26, Cuban-American serial killer, drug dealer and cult leader, assisted suicide. Thakin Soe, 82–83, Burmese politician, founding member of the Communist Party of Burma. L. D. Weldon, 80–81, American track and field coach of decathletes. Ron McDonnell, 87, Republican member of the Montana Legislature.
7 Lou Brock, 71, American NFL player (Green Bay Packers). Miranda Campa, 75, Swiss-Italian actress. Frank Cluskey, 59, Irish politician, leader of the Labour Party, cancer. Willie Covan, 91, American tap dancer, actor and vaudeville performer (The Duke Is Tops). Darío Echandía, 91, Colombian politician, acting president of Colombia, Colombian ambassador to the U.K. Earl J. Hamilton, 89–90, American historian. Mills Lane, 77, American banker (Citizens & Southern National Bank). Howie Moss, 69, American MLB player (New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians). John Whittet, 63, American officer in the U.S. Navy, drowned.
8 Anders Andersson, 60, Swedish politician, MP (since 1983), plane crash. Hendrik Allik, 88, Estonian politician (Estonian Communist Party). Felice Mario Boano, 85–86, Italian automobile designer and coachbuilder (Fiat). Mariga Guinness, 56, English-born architectural conservationist, co-founder of the Irish Georgian Society, heart attack. Andreas Hillgruber, 64, German historian, throat cancer. Tony Lucadello, 76, American professional baseball scout, suicide by shooting. John-Olof Persson, 50, Swedish politician, twice mayor of Stockholm, plane crash. Ruggero Maccari, 69, Italian screenwriter (Profumo di donna, La Famiglia). Rudolf Uhlenhaut, 82, British-German engineer (Mercedes-Benz). Bob Webb, 71, New Zealand cricketer.
9 Karl Brunner, 73, Swiss economist. Timothy Farrell, 66, American actor (Jail Bait, The Violent Years, Glen or Glenda) Alex Fraser, 72, Canadian politician, member of the B.C. Legislative Assembly. Fred Halsted, 47, American gay pornographic film director and actor, suicide. Enrique Lucero, 68, Mexican actor (Canoa: A Shameful Memory). Devereaux Mytton, 64, Australian Olympic sailor (1956). Kenneth A. Roberts, 76, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives (1951-1965), heart failure. Keith Whitley, 34, American country music singer and songwriter (When You Say Nothing at All, I'm No Stranger to the Rain), alcohol poisoning.
10 Wilhelm Bleckwenn, 82, Nazi German Wehrmacht general. Joseph Brennan, 88, American ABL basketballer (Brooklyn Visitations). Richard Green, 52, American teacher, New York City Schools Chancellor, cardiac arrest due to asthma. Dimitar Ilievski-Murato, 35, Macedonian mountaineer, first Macedonian to climb Mount Everest. Stewart Perowne, 87, British diplomat and archaeologist of the Middle East. Kalu Rinpoche, 84, Tibetan Buddhist lama and teacher. Woody Shaw, 44, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader, kidney failure. Hassler Whitney, 82, American mathematician (singularity theory), stroke.
11 Vin Brown, 67, Australian rules footballer. Howard Francis Corcoran, 83, American attorney and district judge. Johan Schouten, 78, Dutch Olympic wrestler (1948). Xiao Wangdong, 78, Chinese Communist revolutionary and a lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army.
12 Arthur Hart, 83, Australian rules footballer. Paul Haynes, 79, Canadian NHL player (Montreal Maroons, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens). Nicholas Wilder, 51–52, American art dealer, complications from AIDS.
13 James Buchanan, 81, South African cricketer. Jack Grout, 79, American golfer. Charlie Mutton, 98, Australian politician. Vera Neferović, 82, Croatian Olympic discus thrower (1936). Bjørn Puggaard-Müller, 67, Danish film actor. Al Reiss, 80, American MLB player (Philadelphia Athletics). Tony Ries Sr., 75, South African Olympic wrestler (1948). Joanna Roos, 88, American actress and playwright.
14 Marv Colen, 74, American basketball player. Nikifor Kalchenko, 83, Soviet politician. Joe Primeau, 83, Canadian professional ice hockey player. Hans Stubbe, 87, German agronomist and plant breeder. E. P. Taylor, 88, Canadian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist.
15 Johnny Green, 80, American songwriter, conductor and pianist. Joe Hinson, 69, Australian rules footballer. Noel O'Brien, 56, Australian rules footballer. Kenneth Sellar, 82, English rugby union player and cricketer. Jack Shewchuk, 71, Canadian NHL player (Boston Bruins). Noriko Tsukase, 43, Japanese voice actress and singer, rectal cancer.
16 Lamar Allen, 74, American college football player and coach, and Negro League baseball player. Fred Dean, 80, Australian rules footballer. Aharon Efrat, 78, Israeli politician, member of the Knesset (1974-1977). Ralph Gibson, 83, Australian communist organiser and writer. Josephine R. Hilgard, 83, American developmental psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Théodore Strawinsky, 82, Russian-Swiss painter.
17 Ed Brett, 75, American NFL player (Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates). Good Rockin' Charles, 56, American blues harmonicist, singer and songwriter. Hallvard Eika, 68, Norwegian politician, member of the Norwegian Parliament. Walter Gross, 85, German actor. Ota Hofman, 61, Czech literature and screenwriter. Finn Juhl, 77, Danish architect, interior and industrial designer. Lucia Moholy, 95, Austro-Hungarian–born photographer and publications editor. József Remecz, 82, Hungarian Olympic discus thrower (1932). Specs Toporcer, 90, American Major League baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals), injuries sustained from a fall. Frank Vukosic, 74, American basketball player.
18 Donald Hiss, 82, American legal secretary, younger brother of Alger Hiss. Hermann Höcherl, 77, German politician and lawyer, member of the Nazi Party. Ed McIlvenny, 64, Scottish footballer who represented the United States. Dorothy Ruth, 67, American daughter of US baseball player Babe Ruth and his mistress Juanita Jennings. Józef Szewczyk, 39, Polish footballer. Doris L. Thompson, 83, American politician.
19 Anton Diffring, 72, German actor, cancer. Abel Herzberg, 95, Dutch lawyer and writer. John J. Muccio, 89, Italian-American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, Iceland and South Korea. Gerd Oswald, 79, German director of American film and television, cancer. Yiannis Papaioannou, 79, Greek composer and teacher. Robert Webber, 64, American actor, Lou Gehrig's disease.
20 Peter Evans, 38, American actor. Walter Heap, 67, American football player (Los Angeles Dons). Sir John Hicks, 85, British economist, Nobel Memorial laureate in Economic Sciences. Pavel Juráček, 53, Czech screenwriter and film director. Lyn Murray, 79, English-American composer, conductor and arranger of music, cancer. Warren G. Magnuson, 84, American lawyer and politician, President pro tempore of the United States Senate. Gilda Radner, 42, American actress, comedian, writer and singer, ovarian cancer. Mike Reinbach, 39, American Major League baseball player (Baltimore Orioles), car accident. Gōgen Yamaguchi, 80, Japanese martial artist, subarachnoid hemorrhage.
21 Tito Colliander, 85, Finnish Eastern Orthodox Christian writer. Harry Cozart, 72, American Negro Leagues baseball player. Ena Stockley, 82, New Zealand Olympic swimmer (1928). Gerard Yantz, 71, American Olympic handball player (1936). Margot Zemach, 57, American illustrator of children's books, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
22 Les Jones, 66, Australian rules footballer. Inge Limberg, 65, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier (1956). Carlton Massey, 59, American NFL footballer (Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers). Rush Rhees, 84, American philosopher. Robert Richardson Sears, 80, American psychologist.