The following is a list ofnotable deaths in October 2003.

Entries for each day are listedalphabetically 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.

• John Brim, 81, AmericanChicago blues musician,heart cancer.^[1]
• Huntington Hardisty, 74,U.S. Navy admiral.
• Beate Hasenau, 67, German film and television actress.^[2]
• Joy N. Houck, Jr., 61, American actor, screenwriter and film director.^[3]
• Chubby Jackson, 84, Americanjazzdouble-bassist and band leader.^[4]
• Zbigniew Lengren, 84, Polish cartoonist, caricaturist, and illustrator.
• Julie Parrish, 62, American actress,ovarian cancer.
• Frank Taylor, 95, British politician, MP forManchester Moss Side.

• Milan Bjegojević, 75, Serbian basketball player and coach.
• John Thomas Dunlop, 89, American administrator and Secretary of Labor underGerald Ford.^[5]
• Otto Günsche, 86, GermanSS escort ofAdolf Hitler, who was tasked to cremate his body on 30 April 1945, heart failure.^[6]
• Ahmed Khadr, 55, Egyptian-Canadian Islamist, shot and killed by Pakistani security forces.
• Hasan Mahsum, TurkestaniIslamic extremist group leader, shot by thePakistani Army.
• Denis Moore, 93, English cricketer.^[7]
• Gunther Philipp, 85, Austrian film actor, physician and swimmer.

• Joop Bakker, 82, Dutch politician and businessman.^[8]
• John Baldock, 87, British politician (Member of Parliament forHarborough).^[9]
• Tish Daija, 78,Albanian composer.^[10]
• Profira Sadoveanu, 97, Romanian prose writer and poet.^[11]
• Gustav Sjöberg, 90, Swedish football goalkeeper.
• Florence Stanley, 79, American actress (Barney Miller,Atlantis: The Lost Empire,Dinosaurs), stroke.^[12]
• William Steig, 95, American cartoonist and children's author; creator ofShrek.^[13]
• Winifred Watkins, 79, British biochemist.^[14]

• Bill Cayton, 85, American boxing manager, former manager ofEdwin Rosario andMike Tyson.
• John Horace Ragnar Colvin, 81, British intelligence officer.^[15]
• Hanadi Jaradat, 28, Palestinian jihadist, suicide by explosive vest.^[16]
• Sid McMath, 91, American attorney and politician,34th governor of Arkansas.^[17]
• Freddie Phillips, 84, British musician and composer.
• Elisabeta Rizea, 91, Romaniananti-communist partisan,viral pneumonia.^[18]
• Fred Tuttle, 84, American farmer, actor and politician, heart attack.^[19]

• Wil van Beveren, 91, Dutchsprinter (1936 Summer Olympics:men's 100m,men's 200m,men's 4x100m relay).^[20]
• Wally George, 71, American conservative radio and television commentator,pneumonia.^[21]
• Neil Postman, 72, American media critic, lung cancer.^[22]
• Denis Quilley, 75, British actor,liver cancer.^[23]
• Dan Snyder, 25, Canadian professional ice hockey player (Atlanta Thrashers), traffic collision.^[24]
• Elena Slough, 114, Americansupercentenarian and oldest recognized person in the United States.
• Annalena Tonelli, 60, Italian Catholic lay missionary and social activist, homicide.
• Timothy Treadwell, 46, American environmentalist and documentary filmmaker,bear attack.
• František Velecký, 69, Slovak actor and artist.
• Dwain Weston, 30, Australianskydiver andbase jumper, accidental death.^[25]

• Joe Baker, 63, English footballer, heart attack.^[26]
• Antony Buck, 74, British politician (Member of Parliament forColchester,Colchester North).^[27]
• Armando Crispino, 78, Italian film director and screenwriter.^[28]
• William Herrmann, 91, American gymnast and Olympic medalist.^[29]
• Charles Millot, 81, Yugoslav-French actor.^[30]
• Azam Tariq, 35, Pakistani politician, homicide.

• Izzy Asper, 71, Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate (CanWest Global Communications Corp).^[31]
• Arthur Berger, 91, American composer, music critic, teacher and an academic music writer.^[32]
• Ryan Halligan, 13, American bullying victim, suicide by hanging.
• Eleanor Lambert, 100, Americanfashion pioneer.^[33]
• Viktor Leonov, 86, Soviet Navy officer and twiceHero of the Soviet Union.
• Norodom Narindrapong, 49, Cambodian prince, heart attack.
• Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke, 64, British landowner, politician, film director, and producer.^[34]

• Thalia Mara, 92, American ballet dancer and educator.^[35]
• Cyril May, 82, Britishsocialist politician.^[36]
• Petter Thomassen, 62, Norwegian politician.
• Junior Wren, 73, American professional football player (Missouri,Cleveland Browns,Pittsburgh Steelers).^[37]

• Carl Fontana, 75, Americanjazz trombonist,Alzheimer's disease.^[38]
• Ruth Hall, 92, American film actress.^[39]
• Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, 77, American academic, suicide by drug overdose.^[40]
• Don Lanphere, 75, Americanjazz tenor and soprano saxophonist.

• Igor Borisov, 79, Russian rower and Olympic silver medalist.^[41]
• Viola Burnham, 72,Guyanese politician, First Lady toForbes Burnham andVice President, cancer.^[42]
• Eila Hiltunen, 80, Finnish sculptor.
• Victoria Horne, 91, American actress, appearing in 49 films.^[43]
• Eugene Istomin, 77, American pianist,liver cancer.^[44]
• Johnny Klippstein, 75, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs,Cincinnati Redlegs,Minnesota Twins).^[45]
• Eve Newman, 88, American music and film editor (Academy Award nominations:Wild in the Streets,Two-Minute Warning).^[46]
• Julia Trevelyan Oman, 73, British set designer.^[47]
• Pastora Peña, 83, Spanish film actress.
• Frank Alois Pitelka, 87, Americanornithologist.^[48]
• Max Rayne, 85, British property developer andphilanthropist.

• Vivien Alcock, 79, English children's book writer.^[49]
• Sadateru Arikawa, 73, Japaneseaikido teacher andshihan.^[50]
• Ivan Getting, 91, American physicist and electrical engineer.^[51]
• Tommy Hanlon Jr., 80, American-Australian actor, comedian, television host and circus ringmaster, cancer.^[52]
• John K. Mahon, 91, American historian.^[53]
• Lila Ram, 72, Indian wrestler.^[54]

• Jim Cairns, 89, Australian politician (Deputy Prime Minister,Treasurer of Australia).^[55]
• Ram Gopal, 90, Indian dancer and choreographer.^[56]
• Ruth Halbsguth, 86, German swimmer and Olympic silver medalist.^[57]
• Ion Ioanid, 77, Romanian dissident and writer.
• Arthur Kaye, 70, English football player.^[58]
• Joan Kroc, 75, American philanthropist, widow ofMcDonald's founderRay Kroc, brain cancer.^[59]
• Pete Morisi, 75, American comic book writer and artist.
• Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi, 32, Indonesian Islamic terrorist and bomb-maker, shot by police.
• Bill Shoemaker, 72, AmericanHall of Fame jockey, rode the winners in elevenTriple Crown races.^[60]

• Butch Brickell, 46, American race car driver (24 Hours of Daytona) and stuntman (The Specialist,2 Fast 2 Furious).^[61]
• Bertram Brockhouse, 85, Canadian physicist, 1994Nobel Prize winner in physics for the development ofneutron spectroscopy.^[62]
• Eduard Prugovečki, 66, Romanian-Canadian physicist and mathematician.
• Anne Ziegler, 93, English singer, known for her duets with her husbandWebster Booth.^[63]

• Mohamed Basri, 75-76, Moroccan activist and opposition leader, heart attack.^[64]
• Edward T. Breathitt, 78, American politician,51st governor of Kentucky,ventricular fibrillation.^[65]
• Zoltan Crișan, 48, Romanian football player,tuberculosis.
• Wil Culmer, 45, Bahamian baseball player (Cleveland Indians).^[66]
• Moktar Ould Daddah, 78,President of Mauritania.^[67]
• Patrick Dalzel-Job, 90, British naval intelligence officer and commando.^[68]
• Ben Metcalfe, 83, Greenpeace activist and co-founder, heart attack.^[69]
• Javier Portales, 66, Argentine actor, heart attack.
• Miloš Sádlo, 91, Czechcellist and music teacher.^[70]
• Knud Leif Thomsen, 79, Danish film director and screenwriter.^[71]

• Pierre Chanal, 56, Egyptian-French soldier and suspected serial killer, suicide byexsanguination.
• Norman Elder, 64, Canadian writer, artist, and Olympic equestrian, suicide by hanging.^[72]
• Antonín Liška, 79, CzechCatholic theologist.
• Benny Lévy, 58, Egyptian-French philosopher, political activist and author.^[73]

• Avni Arbaş, Turkish artist, cancer.
• Lorraine Dunn, 61, Panamanian Olympic sprinter and hurdler.^[74]
• Don Evans, 65, American playwright, theater director, and actor, heart attack.^[75]
• James M. Hanley, 83, American businessman and politician.^[76]
• Mark Hanna, 86, American screenwriter and actor.^[77]
• Stu Hart, 88, Canadian professional wrestler, stroke.
• László Papp, 77, Hungarian boxer.^[78]
• Ignatius Jerome Strecker, 85, American prelate of theRoman Catholic Church.
• Carl Urbano, 93, American animator and director.

• Charlie Justice, 79, American gridiron football player (Washington Redskins).^[79]
• Frank O'Flynn, 84, New Zealand politician.
• Janice Rule, 72, American actress, cerebral hemorrhage.^[80]
• António Dias Teixeira, 73, Portuguese football player and manager.

• William C. Cramer, 81, American attorney and politician, heart attack.^[81]
• Rodolfo Freude, 83, Argentine politician and close advisor of presidentJuan Perón.
• David Lodge, 82, English actor, cancer.^[82]
• Ralph Moffitt, 71, English golfer.
• Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, 64, Spanish novelist (Detective Carvalho saga), journalist and poet.^[83]
• Preston Smith, 91, American politician (40th Governor of Texas from 1969 to 1973).^[84]

• Jaime Allende, 79, Spanish field hockey player (field hockey at the1948 Summer Olympics).^[85]
• Sir Peter Berger, 78, British admiral (Amethyst Incident).^[86]
• Road Warrior Hawk, 46, American professional wrestler (WWF), heart attack.
• Harun bin Idris, 77, Malaysian politician and 8thMenteri Besar of Selangor.
• Alija Izetbegović, 78, Chairman of the Presidency ofBosnia and Herzegovina, cardiovascular disease.
• Margaret Elizabeth Murie, 101, American naturalist, writer, adventurer, and conservationist.^[87]
• Nello Pagani, 92, ItalianGrand Prix motorcycle road racer andFormula One driver.
• Guy Rolfe, 91, British actor.
• Georgi Vladimov, 72, Soviet and Ukrainian dissident writer.^[88]

• František Balvín, 88, Czechoslovakcross-country skier (Olympic skiing:1948 50km,1948 relay,1952 50km).^[89]
• Ernie Calverley, 79, American basketball player (Rhode Island,Providence Steamrollers) and coach.^[90]
• Jack Elam, 82, American actor (Once Upon a Time in the West,The Cannonball Run,Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), heart attack.^[91]
• Donald G. Jackson, 60, American filmmaker,leukemia.
• Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, 79, Serbian actor.

• Fred Berry, 52, American actor, stroke.^[92]
• Luis A. Ferré, 99, Puerto Rican industrialist and politician, respiratory failure.^[93]
• Louise Day Hicks, 87, American politician (Boston City Council,U.S. Representative forMassachusetts's 9th congress. dist.).^[94]
• Tomáš Pospíchal, 67, Czech football player.
• Alfred Rose, 71, IndianKonkani singer, composer, and actor.
• Elliott Smith, 34, American musician, suicide by stabbing.^[95]
• Arturo Warman, 66, Mexican anthropologist, author, and politician.

• Dee Andros, 79, American football player, coach (University of Idaho,Oregon State University) andathletic director.^[96]
• Ron Collier, 73, Canadianjazztrombonist, composer, and arranger.^[97]
• Willem Meijer, 80, Dutch botanist and plant collector.^[98]
• Philippe Ragueneau, 85, French journalist and writer.^[99]
• Hans Ras, 77, Dutch linguist and professor ofJavanese language and literature.
• Tony Renna, 26, American motor racer andIndyCar driver, racing accident.
• Miguel Ángel Burelli Rivas, 81, Venezuelan diplomat (Ambassador to the U.S.,Foreign Minister of Venezuela),lung cancer.^[100]

• Tony Capstick, 59, British actor, comedian, musician and broadcaster,aneurysm.
• Al Corwin, 76, American baseball player (New York Giants).^[101]
• Vlasta Depetrisová, 82, Czech table tennis player.
• Kevin Magee, 44, American basketball player, traffic collision.^[102]
• Soong Mei-ling, 105, Chinese political figure and wife ofpresidentChiang Kai-shek.^[103]
• Judah Segal, 91, British linguist.^[104]
• Hiroshi Yoshimura, 63, Japanese musician and composer,skin cancer.

• Rosie Nix Adams, 45, American singer and songwriter, daughter ofJune Carter Cash, carbon monoxide poisoning.^[105]
• Bob Bailey, 72, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs,Detroit Red Wings,Chicago Blackhawks).^[106]
• Veikko Hakulinen, 78, Finnishcross-country skier, triple Olympic- and world champion, traffic collision.^[107]
• Joanna Lee, 72, American writer, producer, director and actress,bone cancer.^[108]
• Half a Mill, 30, American rapper, suicide by gunshot.
• Carmen Pujals, 87, Argentine botanist.
• Richard H. Wasai, 70, American politician.^[109]

• Hemu Adhikari, 84, Indian cricketer.^[110]
• Pandurang Shastri Athavale, 83, Indian philosopher and social activist.
• Noreen Branson, 93, British political activist and historian of theCommunist Party of Great Britain.^[111]
• John Hart Ely, 64, American legal scholar, cancer.^[112]
• Behram Kurşunoğlu, 81, Turkish physicist, heart attack.^[113]
• Richard Leibler, 89, American mathematician andcryptanalyst.
• Robert Strassburg, 88, American conductor, composer, andmusicologist.^[114]
• Mario Vitale, 75, Italian film actor.

• Johnny Boyd, 77, American racecar driver, twelveIndianapolis 500-mile races from 1955 to 1966.^[115]
• Steve Death, 54, English football goalkeeper, cancer.
• Leonid Filatov, 56, Soviet and Russian actor, director and poet,pneumonia.^[116]
• François Guérin, 75, French film and television actor.^[117]
• Roy Harte, 79, Americanjazz drummer and record producer.
• Hans-Joachim Jabs, 85, German Luftwaffe officer during World War II.
• Elem Klimov, 70, Soviet and Russian film director, brainhypoxia.^[118]
• Roberto García Morillo, 92, Argentine composer,musicologist, music professor and music critic.^[119]
• Heinz Piontek, 77, German writer.^[120]
• Jürgen Simon, 65, German cyclist.^[121]
• Viguen, 73, Iranianpop music singer ("Sultan of pop") and actor, cancer.^[122]

• John William Atkinson, 79, American psychologist.
• Hank Beenders, 87, Dutch-American basketball player (Providence Steamrollers,Philadelphia Warriors,Boston Celtics).^[123]
• Manoj Khanderia, 60, Indian poet and writer.
• Tarun Kumar, 72, Indian actor.
• K. R. Malkani, 81, Indian journalist, historian and politician.
• Rod Roddy, 66, American radio and television announcer, cancer.
• Walter Washington, 88, American civil servant and politician, firstMayor of the District of Columbia,kidney failure.^[124]
• Fred Whittingham, 64, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles,New Orleans Saints), complications from back surgery.^[125]

• Jean Carbonnier, 95, French jurist.^[126]
• Marie Maynard Daly, 82, American biochemist.
• Edward Hartwig, 94, Polish photographer.^[127]
• Nora Ney, 81, Brazilian singer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• Joan Perucho, 82, Spanish novelist, poet, art critic, and judge.^[128]
• Alexander Raichev, 81, Bulgarian composer.
• Oliver Sain, 71, American musician and record producer, cancer.

• Gino Armano, 76, Italian football player.^[129]
• Hal Clement, 81, American author,diabetes.^[130]
• Franco Corelli, 82, Italian tenor, heart attack.^[131]
• Gerrie Deijkers, 56, Dutch football player, heart attack.^[132]
• Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, 93, Americanscience fiction fan, publisher, writer, and minister.^[133]
• A. Carl Helmholz, 88, American nuclear physicist.^[134]
• Jaime Castillo Velasco, 89, Chilean politician,pneumonia.

• Lynn S. Beedle, 85, Americanstructural engineer.^[135]
• Carl Berner, 90, Danishrower (men's coxed pairs,men's eights at the1936 Summer Olympics).^[136]
• Franco Bonisolli, 65, Italian operatictenor.^[137]
• Ron Davies, 57, American songwriter and musician, heart attack.^[138]
• Abel Ehrlich, 88, Israeli composer.^[139]
• Aidyn Guseinov, 46, Azerbaijanichess player.
• Subhadra Joshi, 84, Indian freedom activist and politician.
• Börje Leander, 85, Swedish football player.^[140]
• Steve O'Rourke, 63, English music manager and racing driver, stroke.
• Richard Clyde Taylor, 83, American philosopher.^[141]

• Robert Guenette, 68, American screenwriter and film/television producer and director,brain tumor.^[142]
• Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, 95, Indiancarnatic musician.^[143]
• José Juncosa, 81, Spanish football player and manager.
• Antonio Medina, 84, Spanishchess master.^[144]
• Richard Neustadt, 84, American academic and advisor to several presidents.^[145]
• Karel Paulus, 70, Czech volleyball player.^[146]
• Yechiel Shemi, Israeli sculptor.^[147]
• Lindsay Weir, 95, New Zealand cricketer.^[148]

• Liebman, Roy (2000).The Wampas Baby Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1922–1934. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.ISBN 0-7864-0756-5.

• List of October 2003 deaths atIMDb

• October 2003
• 2003 deaths
• Lists of deaths in 2003

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• Use mdy dates from April 2021