The following is a list of notable deaths in September 1985.
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.
September 1985
1 Robert S. Babcock, 70, American politician, lieutenant governor of Vermont (1959–1961).Robert Babcock Sr. Dead At 70; Lawmaker, Educator Stefan Bellof, 27, German racing driver, racing crash.Driver Is Killed In Race Accident Laxmikant Bhembre, 79, Indian writer and liberation activist. Lloyd Davenport, 73, American baseball player. Eileen de Coppet, Princess of Albania, 62, English-American socialite. Sir David Derham, 65, Australian jurist and academic administrator. Tom Stanley Hepworth, 69, Australian educator. Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, 92, Pakistani diplomat.Sir Muhammad Z. Khan, 92; Pakistan Ex-Foreign Minister Saunders Lewis, 91, Welsh politician and writer. Richie Panch, 30, American racing driver, plane crash.Marcin Richard "Richie" Panch, Marietta, Ga.,... Sir James Pitman, 84, English educationalist and politician, MP (1945–1964). Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp, 82, British civil servant. Dale Singleton, 30, American motorcycle racer, plane crash. Harold H. Velde, 75, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1957).Ex-Rep. Harold H. Velde; Led Anti-Communist Unit
2 Anna Banti, 90, Italian writer. Yvonne Barrett, 39, Australian singer, strangled.Veteran gets life for killing wife Gershon Benjamin, 86, Romanian-born American painter. Eveline M. Burns, 85, American economist.Eveline M. Burns; Helped Shape Social Security Act Donald Craik, 54, Canadian politician. Eleanor Layfield Davis, 73-74, American painter. V. Dharmalingam, 67, Sri Lankan politician, MP (1960–1983), shot.Two TULF Former MPs Killed - Thousands Protest John Oscar Egeland, 94, Norwegian shipping magnate. Gonzalo Güell, 90, Cuban politician, prime minister (1958–1959).Gonzalo Guell, 90, a former Cuban prime... Bob Kinney, 64, American basketball player. Abe Lenstra, 64, Dutch footballer. Nils Sæbø, 88, Norwegian Olympic equestrian (1936). Alex Stevenson, 73, Irish footballer. Sir Hugh Walmsley, 87, British RAF commander. Jay Youngblood, 30, American professional wrestler, complications from a heart attack.
3 Alexis I. du Pont Bayard, 67, American politician, lieutenant governor of Delaware (1949–1953), complications from surgery. Jocelyn Bonham-Carter, 81, English cricketer and civil servant. He Zhuguo, 87-88, Chinese general. Jo Jones, 73, American jazz drummer, pneumonia.JO JONES, 73, A JAZZ DRUMMER INFLUENTIAL IN SWING ERA, DIES Frank Kilby, 79, New Zealand rugby player. Dragan Mance, 22, Yugoslav footballer, traffic collision. Johnny Marks, 75, American songwriter ("Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "A Holly Jolly Christmas"), complications from diabetes.JOHNNY MARKS DIES; COMPOSED HIT SONG, 'RUDOLPH' IN 1949 Bonaro W. Overstreet, 82, American author, stroke.Bonaro W. Overstreet, Author, Is Dead at 82 Gilles Thomas, 55, French author.
4 Larry Beauregard, 28, Canadian flautist, colon cancer. Art Bramhall, 76, American baseball, basketball and football player.Art Bramhall dies at 76 Michel Brunet, 68, Canadian historian. Andrzej Chudziński, 36, Polish Olympic swimmer (1972). Isabel Jeans, 93, English actress (Gigi). Lidija Liepiņa, 94, Soviet Latvian chemist. Mira Mihelič, 73, Yugoslav writer. José Nozari, 71-72, Mexican Olympic sports shooter (1948). George O'Brien, 86, American actor (Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans).George O'Brien, 86, Is Dead; Hollywood Western Film Star Georgeann Robinson, 67, American Osage artist.Deaths: Bartlesville Oldřich Sedlák, 62, Czechoslovak ice hockey player. Vasyl Stus, 47, Soviet Ukrainian dissident, starvation.
5 George Arnott, 84, Australian footballer. Jimmy Cotter, 26, New Zealand rugby player, traffic collision. Tibor Czorba, 78-79, Hungarian artist. Gerald Dreyer, 55, South African boxer. Maud Johnson, 66-67, American journalist and author. Albert Larsen, 84, Danish Olympic runner (1924, 1928). Jim McGlone, 88, Australian footballer. Philip M. Morse, 82, American physicist. Mieczysław Mümler, 85, Polish-English flying ace. Carolynne Snowden, 85, American actress and singer. Jiřina Štěpničková, 73, Czechoslovak actress. Rupert Tang Choon, 71, Trinidadian cricketer. Willem van der Oord, 65, Dutch hydraulic engineer. Blaine Walsh, 60, American sportscaster.
6 J. R. Bailey, 48, American singer and songwriter. Johnny Desmond, 65, American singer, cancer.JOHNNY DESMOND DIES AT 65; SINGER ON TV AND BROADWAY Jane Frazee, 70, American actress, pneumonia.Jane Frazee, Movie Actress Appeared in Musicals in 40's Heydar Ghiai, 62, Iranian-French architect. Little Brother Montgomery, 79, American jazz and blues musician. Léon Orthel, 79, Dutch composer. Rodney Porter, 67, British biochemist, Nobel Prize recipient (1972), traffic collision.RODNEY R. PORTER, BIOCHEMIST Richiardi Jr, 61, Peruvian-American magician. Barnet J. Segal, 87, American businessman and investor. Shi Liang, 85, Chinese lawyer and jurist. Tscherim Soobzokov, 61, Russian-born American spy and Nazi collaborator, injuries sustained in an explosion.PIPE-BOMB DEATH PUZZLES AUTHORITIES Joseph Janney Steinmetz, 79, American photographer. Dick Zoll, 71, American football player.Richard A. (Dick) Zoll
7 Ferenc Csanádi, 60, Hungarian football manager. Tom Fena, 75, American football player. Harold Gomberg, 68, American oboist, heart attack.HAROLD GOMBERG, OBOIST, 68 George Heywood, 78, English footballer. Patrick Kelly, 67, South African-born Scottish footballer. Bruiser Kinard, 70, American football player, complications from Alzheimer's disease.Bruiser Kinard Is Dead at 70; Headed Mississippi Sports Nazim Osmanov, 46, Soviet Uzbek politician. Ivy Parker, 77, American chemist. Josef Věromír Pleva, 86, Czechoslovak children's author. George Pólya, 97, Hungarian-American mathematician, complications from a stroke.George Polya of Stanford, 97; Mathematician and Educator Viv Randall, 71, Australian footballer.RANDALL, Herbert Vivian Finn Seemann, 40, Norwegian footballer, traffic collision. Doris Svedlund, 58, Swedish actress. Jacoba van Velde, 82, Dutch novelist. Sir Ellis Waterhouse, 80, English art historian, heart attack.SIR ELLIS WATERHOUSE, AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN OF BRITISH ART José Zabala-Santos, 74, Filipino cartoonist.
8 Harry Bailey, 62, Australian psychiatrist, suicide by drug overdose. John Franklin Enders, 88, American virologist, Nobel Prize recipient (1954).JOHN F. ENDERS, VIROLOGY PIONEER WHO WON NOBEL PRIZE, DIES AT 88 Buck Jones, 96, American football player. Norman Magee, 62, Canadian politician. Frederick May, 74, Irish composer. Ana Mendieta, 36, Cuban-American artist, fall.Overlooked No More: Ana Mendieta, a Cuban Artist Who Pushed Boundaries Emmy Brady Rogers, 87, American pianist. Jim Shanahan, 84, Australian footballer.
9 John Baker, Baron Baker, 84, British structural engineer. Patrick Burke, 81, Irish politician, TD (1944–1973). Neil Davis, 51, Australian photojournalist, tank fire.NEIL DAVIS OF NBC NEWS, 51; KILLED IN THAI COUP ATTEMPT Paul Flory, 75, American chemist, Nobel Prize recipient (1974), heart attack.PAUL J. FLORY, NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY, DIES ON COAST Rod Funseth, 52, American golfer, cancer.Professional Golfer Rod Funseth Dies of Cancer at His Home in Napa at Age 52 Ernesto Ganelli, 84, Italian architect. Robert Henderson, 80, American actor. Yaacob Abdul Latiff, 67, Malaysian politician, mayor of Kuala Lumpur (1972–1980). Luis Padilla Nervo, 91, Mexican diplomat. Sun Zhen, 93, Chinese general. Antonino Votto, 88, Italian opera conductor. Ahmad Zamir, 55, Pakistani naval admiral.
10 Alex Buchanan, 79, MP (1955–1972). Chong Yun Jing, 22, Singaporean administrative officer, medical malpractice. Marianus Czerny, 89, German physicist. M. L. Ahamed Fareeth, 45, Sri Lankan politician, MP (since 1977). Ettore Maria Fizzarotti, 69, Italian filmmaker. John Goleby, 50, Australian politician. Ebbie Goodfellow, 78, Canadian ice hockey player, cancer.Names in the News - Sept. 12, 1985 Guy Thompson Griffith, 77, English historian. Chakali Ilamma, 89, Indian independence activist. Bonifaty Kedrov, 81, Soviet philosopher. Alexa Kenin, 23, American actress.ALEXA KENIN Werner Meyer, 71, Swiss Olympic handball player (1936). Ernst Öpik, 91, Estonian-Northern Irish astrophysicist. Samuel Oshoffa, 75, Nigerian evangelist, traffic collision. Jock Stein, 62, Scottish football player and manager, pulmonary edema.Hero worshipped by his people
11 William Alwyn, 79, English composer.WILLIAM ALWYN Dame Henrietta Barnett, 80, English RAF commander. Eleanor Dark, 84, Australian novelist (The Timeless Land, Prelude to Christopher, Return to Coolami). Emmy Klieneberger-Nobel, 93, German microbiologist.Obituary Notice: Emmy Klieneberger-Nobel Federico Melchor, 70, Spanish politician and journalist. Masako Natsume, 27, Japanese actress, leukemia. David Rioch, 85, American neuroanatomist.Psychiatrist David Rioch Dies at 85 Jean Albert Sulpice, 72, French curler. Andrew C. Thornton II, 40, American drug smuggler and narcotics officer, fall.Drew Thornton's Last Adventure Fred Urmson, 77, English footballer. Luigi Velluti, 76, Italian sculptor.
12 Sylvia Benton, 98, British archaeologist. Maurice Anthony Biot, 80, Belgian-American physicist. Bartolome Cabangbang, 67, Filipino politician, stroke. Frank Carpay, 68, Dutch-New Zealand industrial engineer. Franz Josef Conrad, 41, German politician. Galina Dzhunkovskaya, 62, Soviet navigator. Herb Eisele, 81, American football coach. Raymond Fife, 12, American murder victim. John Kerans, 70, British naval officer and politician, MP (1959–1964).Cmdr. John Kerans, British Naval Hero in China, Dies Tom Knowles, 77, English rugby player. Galo Ocampo, 71, Filipino artist, cardiac arrest.Galo B. Ocampo obituary Sam Reese, 55, American actor, stroke.Sammy Pharr Reese Namik Resuli, 77, Albanian linguist. Steamboat Struss, 76, American baseball player.
13 Allan Bergkvist, 77, Swedish chess player. E. L. M. Burns, 88, Canadian general and diplomat. Winifred Cecil, 78, American opera singer. George Roche Evans, 62, American Roman Catholic prelate. Kim Yong-woo, 73, South Korean scouting leader. J. P. Kuiper, 63, Dutch social medicine professor. Gordon Lawson, 85, New Zealand rugby player. Stan McKenzie, 89, Australian footballer. Art Murakowski, 60, American football player. Odhise Paskali, 71, Albanian sculptor. Charles D. Phelps, 47, American ophthalmologist, cancer. Andy Philipsen, 45-46, Canadian politician, traffic collision. Augusto Rademaker, 80, Brazilian naval admiral and politician, vice president (1969–1974). Sam Reese, 55, American actor.Sammy Pharr Reese (death announced on this date) Dane Rudhyar, 90, American astrologer, writer and composer.DANE RUDHYAR Muriel Smith, 62, American singer, cancer.Muriel Burrell Smith Dies Hugo Spadafora, 45, Panamanian physician, mercenary and dissident, beheaded.Panama Shaken by Killing of Swashbuckling Doctor Hans Raj Vohra, 75-76, Indian journalist and approver. Peter Wright, 77, Australian mining executive.
14 Frank Baker, 76, American football player. Julian Beck, 60, American actor, stomach cancer.JULIAN BECK, 60, IS DEAD; FOUNDED LIVING THEATER Albert Bennett, 75, English cricketer. Kath Bonnin, 74, Australian nurse. Ernie Collihole, 54, Australian footballer. Claire Cribbs, 73, American basketball player. Bob Danskin, 77, English footballer. Bakhshi Galandarli, 82, Soviet Azerbaijani actor and theatre director. Worth Tuttle Hedden, 89, American author.WORTH TUTTLE HEDDEN John Holt, 62, American educator and author (How Children Fail), cancer.JOHN HOLT, AUTHOR AND EDUCATOR, DIES AT 62 Niel Morgan, 81, Welsh cricketer and diplomat.