The following is a list of notable deaths in October 1996.

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.

October 1996

1

• James Beal, 67, New Zealand boxer, leukaemia.
• Carl Fredrik Engelstad, 80, Norwegian writer, playwright, journalist, translator and theatre director.
• Patrick Jameson, 83, New Zealand Royal Air Force officer and flying ace during World War II.
• Pat McGeown, 40, Irish Provisional Irish Republican Army member, heart attack.^[1]
• Fred Meyer, 86, American gymnast.^[2]
• Herbert Seifert, 89, German mathematician.^[3]
• Bill Twomey, Jr., 69, Australian rules football player.
• Alfred Vogel, 93, Swiss herbalist, naturopath and writer.^[4]
• Deng Yuzhi, 96, Chinese activist and feminist.^[5]

2

• Helmut Artzinger, 84, German politician.
• Robert Bourassa, 63, Canadian politician from Quebec, melanoma.^[6]
• Peter J. Brennan, 78, American labor activist and politician, lymphatic cancer.^[7]
• Joonas Kokkonen, 74, Finnish composer.
• Emiel van Lennep, 83, Dutch diplomat and politician.^[8]
• Andrey Lukanov, 58, Bulgarian politician, assassinated.
• Banjo Matthews, 64, American NASCAR driver, car owner and builder, heart and respiratory disease.^[9]
• Les Tietje, 86, American Major League Baseball player (Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Browns).^[10]
• Rufus Youngblood, 72, United States Secret Service agent, cancer.^[11]

3

• Ilyas Afandiyev, 82, Soviet/Azerbaijani writer.
• Bertus Enklaar, 52, Dutch chess International Master.
• Vivienne Goonewardene, 80, Sri Lankan politician.^[12]
• George Kubler, 84, American art historian.
• Eustace Roskill, Baron Roskill, 85, British lawyer and public servant.^[13]
• István Serényi, 85, Hungarian handball player.^[14]

4

• Humphrey Atkins, 74, British politician, cancer.^[15]
• Larry Gene Bell, 46, American murderer and convict, execution by electrocution.
• Stephen J. Friedman, 59, American film producer, multiple myeloma.^[16]
• Joe Hoerner, 59, American baseball player, farming accident.^[17]
• Masaki Kobayashi, 80, Japanese film director, heart attack.^[18]
• Silvio Piola, 83, Italian football player.^[19]
• Jerry Rivers, 68, American fiddle player, cancer.
• Alma Routsong, 71, American novelist, ovarian cancer.^[20]
• Randy Schultz, 52, American gridiron football player.^[21]

5

• Judith Allen, 85, American film actress.^[22]
• Elmer Berger, American Jewish rabbi and anti-Zionist.^[23]
• Wymberley D. Coerr, 1995, American politician and diplomat.
• Seymour Cray, 71, American computer scientist, car accident.^[24]
• Duanmu Hongliang, 84, Chinese author.
• Richard Kröll, 28, Austrian alpine skier, traffic collision.
• Akira Noguchi, 79, Japanese baseball player and manager.^[25]
• Arnold van Mill, 75, Dutch opera singer.

6

• Jessie Bernard, 93, American sociologist and feminist, cancer.^[26]
• Ted Bessell, 61, American actor (That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) and television director (The Tracey Ullman Show), aortic aneurysm.^[27]
• Ted Daffan, 84, American country musician.^[28]
• Winifred Drinkwater, 83, Scottish aviator and aeroplane engineer.
• Forrest Pogue, 84, United States Army historian during World War II.^[29]
• Marjorie Shostak, 51, American anthropologist, cancer.^[30]
• Wolfram von Soden, 88, German Assyriologist.^[31]
• Vladimir Yerokhin, 66, Russian football player.

7

• José Antonio Burciaga, 55/56, American Chicano artist, poet, and writer.
• Dame Diana Reader Harris, 83, English head master and public figure.^[32]
• Viktor Reimann, 81, Austrian author, journalist and politician.
• Andrew Salter, 82, American psychologist, cancer.^[33]
• Zeya, 80, Burmese actor and bodybuilder.

8

• Mignon G. Eberhart, 97, American author of mystery novels.^[34]
• Geoffrey Finsberg, 70, British politician.
• Francis D. Lyon, 91, American film and television director.^[35]
• David Miller, 70, Canadian ice hockey player and Olympian.^[36]
• Ferdinand Montier, 87, French racing driver.
• William Prince, 83, American actor.^[37]

9

• Per Asplin, 68, Norwegian actor and musician.
• Marland P. Billings, 94, American structural geologist.^[38]
• William L. DeAndrea, 44, American writer.^[39]
• Nigel Fisher, 83, British politician.^[40]
• George F. Kerr, 78, English writer.
• Walter Kerr, 83, American writer and theatre critic, congestive heart failure.^[41]
• John W. King, 79, American politician.
• Roy Lewis, 82, English writer and small press printer.^[42]
• Colleen Peterson, 45, Canadian country and folk singer, cancer.
• Aleksandar Popović, 66, Serbian writer.^[43]
• Harvey Vernon, 69, American actor.
• Harry D. Yates, 93, American banker and politician.

10

• Harold Cleghorn, 83, New Zealand weightlifter.^[44]
• Coya Knutson, 84, American politician.^[45]
• Bob Reynolds, 57, American gridiron football player.^[46]
• Toshio Sugie, 83, Japanese film director.
• David Viscott, 58, American psychiatrist, author, and media personality, heart failure complicated by diabetes.^[47]

11

• Lars Ahlfors, 89, Finnish mathematician, pneumonia.^[48]
• Keith Boyce, 53, Barbadian cricketer.
• Carlos Mancheno Cajas, 94, President of Ecuador.
• Eleanor Cameron, 84, Canadian-American children's author and critic.^[49]
• Johnny Costa, 74, American jazz pianist, aplastic anemia, anemia.^[50]
• Bernardo Grinspun, 70, Argentinian politician.
• Roger Lapébie, 85, French racing cyclist.
• Joe Morris, 83, Canadian trade unionist.
• Terry Patchett, 56, British politician, cancer.
• Edith Penrose, 81, American-British economist.^[51]
• Renato Russo, 36, Brazilian singer and songwriter, complications caused by AIDS.^[52]
• Edwin Spanier, 75, American mathematician at the University of California at Berkeley, working in algebraic topology.^[53]
• William Vickrey, 82, Canadian economist, Nobel prize winner, heart failure.^[54]
• Rolf Widerøe, 94, Norwegian accelerator physicist.^[55]
• Gerald Wild, 89, Australian politician.

12

• Nina Alisova, 80, Soviet/Russian actress.
• Erik Blomberg, 83, Finnish cinematographer, screenwriter, film director and producer.^[56]
• Mac Holten, 74, Australian politician and sportsman.
• Helmut Hölzer, 84, German rocket engineer.
• Stefan Knapp, 75, Polish painter and sculptor.^[57]
• Eddie Kuzma, 85, American auto racing builder.
• René Lacoste, 92, French tennis champion and businessman, cancer.^[58]
• Jack Robertson, 79, English cricket player.
• Gerard Thoolen, 53, Dutch actor, AIDS.^[59]

13

• Carl H. Dodd, 71, United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
• Horst Kopkow, 85, German Nazi politician and SS officer, pneumonia.
• Henri Nannen, 82, German journalist.^[60]
• Beryl Reid, 77, English actress, kidney failure.^[61]
• Brad Robinson, 37-38, Australian rock musician, lymphoma.

14

• Rex Darling, 82, American football, basketball, and tennis coach.
• William John Hooper, 80, British cartoonist.^[62]
• Václav Hovorka, 65, Czech football player.
• Ferd Johnson, 90, American comic strip cartoonist.^[63]
• Tan Chee Khoon, 77, Malaysian politician.
• Laura La Plante, 91, American film actress, Alzheimer's disease.^[64]
• Izidor Papo, 82, Yugoslav general.

15

• Mike Balas, 86, American Major League Baseball player.^[65]
• Leo Eitinger, 83, Czech psychiatrist.
• Tom Ferrick, 81, American Major League Baseball player, pitching coach and scout, heart failure.^[66]
• Pierre Franey, 75, French chef, stroke.^[67]
• Toma Tomas, 72, Iraqi guerilla and politician.
• Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, 85, Native American and women's rights activist.
• Robert F. Williams, 71, American civil rights leader and author, Hodgkin's lymphoma.^[68]

16

• Peter Brodie, 79, Scottish minister.
• Guy Crescent, 76, French businessman and founder of Paris Saint-Germain F.C.
• Gertrude Flynn, 87, American actress.^[69]
• Anthony Griffin, 75, British admiral.
• Eric Malpass, 85, English novelist.^[70]
• Harold J. Powers, 96, American politician.
• Hunter Rouse, 90, American physicist.^[71]
• Huang Shao-ku, 95, Chinese politician, Vice Premier.

17

• Chris Acland, 30, English drummer and songwriter, suicide by hanging.^[72]
• Bob Adams, 95, American baseball player and coach.^[73]
• Jaroslav Balík, 72, Czechoslovak film director and screenwriter.^[74]
• Berthold Goldschmidt, 93, German-British Jewish composer.^[75]
• Bert Hopwood, 87-88, British motorcycle designer.
• Laura Sabia, 80, Canadian social activist and feminist, Parkinson's disease.^[76]

18

• Jason Bernard, 58, American actor (Herman's Head, WarGames, Bird), heart attack.^[77]
• Louise Bertram, 88, Canadian figure skater.^[78]
• Luciano Durán Böger, 91, Bolivian poet, writer and politician.
• Hans Drachsler, 80, German politician.
• Elmer Klumpp, 90, American Major League Baseball player.^[79]
• Alex Motter, 83, Canadian ice hockey player.
• Simon Soloveychik, 66, Soviet/Russian writer and philosopher.
• Sheldon Vanauken, 82, American journalist, lung cancer.

19

• Josef Becker, 91, German politician.
• Maurice Elliott, 53, Scottish footballer, brain haemorrhage.^[80]
• Ralston Hill, 69, American actor and singer.^[81]
• John Hillaby, 79, British travel writer and explorer.^[82]
• Bobby Rackard, 69, Irish hurler.
• Shamsuddin Qasemi, 61, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and politician.^[83]

20

• Robert Benayoun, 75, French film critic and author.^[84]
• J. Bracken Lee, 97, American politician.^[85]
• Sebastian Santa Maria, 37, Chilean composer.^[86]
• Yuri Neprintsev, 87, Soviet/Russian, painter, graphic artist and art teacher.
• Richard M. Powell, 79, American screenwriter, prostate cancer.^[87]
• Luigi Rovere, 88, Italian film producer.

21

• Léon Ashkenazi, 74, Jewish spiritual leader, philosopher and educator.^[88]
• Eric Halsall, 76, English author and television presenter.^[89]
• Albert G. Hill, 86, American physcisist and pioneer in the development of radar.^[90]
• Wang Li, 74, Chinese politician, pancreatic cancer.
• Les Mead, 87, Australian rugby player and coach.
• Allie White, 81, American gridiron football player.^[91]
• Georgios Zoitakis, 86, Greek Army general and regent of Greece.
• Giovanni Zuddas, 68, Italian boxer.

22

• John Bauldie, 47, British journalist, helicopter crash.^[92]
• Edmund Black, 91, American Olympic athlete.^[93]
• Kathy Change, 46, Chinese-American political activist, writer, and performance artist, self-immolation.
• Shmarya Guttman, 87, Israeli archaeologist.
• Matthew Harding, 42, British businessman, helicopter crash.^[94]
• Dianne Heatherington, 48, Canadian rock singer and businesswoman, ovarian cancer.
• Noel Hilliard, 67, New Zealand novelist.
• Hermann Höfer, 62, German football player.^[95]
• Sten Rudberg, 79, Swedish geologist and geomorphologist.^[96]

23

• Henry Allard, 84, Swedish politician.
• Chet Blaylock, 71, American politician, heart attack.^[97]
• Kurt Freund, 82, Czech-Canadian physician and sexologist, suicide.^[98]
• Bob Grim, 66, American Major League Baseball player, heart attack.^[99]
• Harold Hughes, 74, American politician.^[100]
• Michel Kelber, 87–88, French cinematographer.^[101]
• Lin Onus, 47, Australian artist of Scottish-Aboriginal origins.^[102]
• Diana Trilling, 91, American literary critic and author.^[103]

24

• Robert Anderson, 60, New Zealand politician, cancer.
• Artur Axmann, 83, Nazi German Hitler Youth leader.^[104]
• Roderick Barclay, 87, British diplomat and ambassador.
• Gladwyn Jebb, 96, British civil servant, diplomat and politician.^[105]
• Hyman Minsky, 77, American economist.^[106]
• Romica Puceanu, 69, Romanian singer.
• Joe Spencer, 73, American gridiron football player and coach, cancer.^[107]

25

• Ennio De Giorgi, 68, Italian mathematician.^[108]
• Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen, 83, First person born on South Georgia.
• Maria Litto, 77, German ballet dancer, choreographer and film actress.^[109]
• Robert Racic, 32, Australian DJ and record producer, brain virus.
• Harry Shuman, 81, American Major League Baseball player.^[110]
• Brian Stacey, 49, Australian conductor.
• Roland Wilson, 92, Australian public servant and economist.

26

• Miquel Asins Arbó, 80, Spanish composer.^[111]
• Aurelio Chessa, 82, Italian anarchist, journalist and historian.
• Abdelhamid ben Hadouga, 71, Algerian writer.
• Hans W. Kosterlitz, 93, German-British biochemist.^[112]
• Henri Lepage, 88, French fencer.^[113]
• Derek Tangye, 84, British writer.
• Sofia Tuibayeva, 83, Soviet/Tajikistani actress.
• Wendy Wild, 40, American singer, musician, and artist, breast cancer.

27

• Henry Piet Drury van Asch, 85, New Zealand aviator and surveyor.^[114]
• Rewat Buddhinan, 48, Thai singer and music producer, brain cancer.
• Charlotte Jay, 76, Australian mystery writer and novelist.^[115]
• Marcello Mihalich, 89, Italian football player and manager.
• Arthur Tremblay, 79, Canadian politician.

28

• Morey Amsterdam, 87, American actor and comedian, heart attack.^[116]
• Reuben Baetz, 73, Canadian politician.
• Irene Cortes, 75, Filipino lawyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Jimmy Haig, 71, Scottish-New Zealand rugby player.
• Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, 91, British diplomat and public servant.
• Karol Jokl, 51, Slovak football player and manager.
• Joe Samuels, 91, American baseball player.^[117]

29

• Ewell Blackwell, 74, American Major League Baseball player.^[118]
• J. Edward Day, 82, American lawyer and United States Postmaster General, heart attack.^[119]
• Richard Duffin, 87, American physicist.^[120]
• Eugen Kapp, 88, Estonian composer and music educator.^[121]
• Robert Levin, 84, Norwegian classical pianist and composer.^[122]
• Christophe Munzihirwa, 70, Congo catholic prelate and Archbishop of Bukavu, murdered.
• Ralph Vince, 96, American gridiron football player (Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Bulldogs, Cleveland Panthers).^[123]

30

• John Barnum, 85, American golfer.
• Roberto Belangero, 68, Brazilian football player.^[124]
• John Matthew Cannella, 88, American federal judge.^[125]
• Eleanor Lansing Dulles, 101, American author, professor, and state official.^[126]
• George R. E. Shell, 88, United States Marine Corps brigadier general.
• John Young, 80, Scottish actor.

31

• Louise Bates Ames, 92, American psychologist.^[127]
• Marcel Carné, 90, French film director.^[128]
• Peter Doig, 85, British politician.
• Frank Kurtz, 85, American Olympic diver and aviator, complications following a fall.^[129]
• Arthur Peterson, Jr., 83, American actor, Alzheimer's disease.
• William Rosenwald, 93, American businessman and philanthropist.^[130]