The following is a list of notabledeaths in May 2004.

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.

• Ejler Bille, 94, Danish artist.
• Vladimir Chernyshov, 52, Russian volleyball player and Olympic champion.^[1]
• Shimon Even, 68, Israelicomputer science researcher.
• Ram Prakash Gupta, 80, Indian politician.
• Felix Haug, 52, Swiss pop musician (Double), heart attack.
• Larkin Kerwin, 79, Canadian physicist.
• Lojze Kovačič, 75, Slovene writer.^[2]
• Jean-Jacques Laffont, 57, French economist, cancer.^[3]
• John Howland Rowe, 85, American archaeologist andanthropologist.^[4]

• Moe Burtschy, 82, AmericanMajor League Baseball player, heart attack.^[5]
• Duncan Carse, 91, English explorer and actor.
• Nelson Gidding, 84, American screenwriter, congestive heart failure.^[6]
• Paul Guimard, 83, French writer.^[7]
• John Hammersley, 84, British mathematician.^[8]
• Allan Lindberg, 85, Swedish Olympic pole vaulter.^[9]
• Hyam Maccoby, 80, Jewish-British scholar and dramatist.
• Tony Poeta, 71, Canadian professional ice hockey player (Chicago Black Hawks).^[10]

• Anthony Ainley, 71, British actor (Doctor Who), cancer.
• Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, 84, British aristocrat and politician.^[11]
• Ken Downing, 86, English racing driver.
• Darrell Johnson, 75, American MLB catcher and manager, cancer.^[12]
• Volus Jones, 90, American animator.^[13]
• Gilbert Lani Kauhi, 66, American actor and comedian,diabetes.
• James Mace, 52, American historian, professor, and researcher.^[14]
• Lygia Pape, 77, Brazilianvisual artist, sculptor, and filmmaker.^[15]
• Derrick Robins, 89, English cricket player and sports promoter.^[16]
• Vladimir Terebilov, 88, Soviet judge and politician.

• Coxsone Dodd, 72, Jamaicanreggae pioneer, heart attack.^[17]
• Tage Frid, 88, Danish woodworker, complications ofAlzheimer's disease.^[18]
• Hugh Gillin, 78, American actor (Back to the Future Part III).
• Torsten Hägerstrand, 87, Swedish geographer, inventor of time geography.
• Boris Petrovsky, 95, Soviet and Russian general surgeon.
• David Reimer, 39, Canadian gender-reassignment victim, suicide by gunshot.^[19]
• Erik Smith, 73, German-British music producer.
• Jean-Pierre Vigier, 84, French theoretical physicist.^[20]

• Thea Beckman, 80, Dutch author of children's books (Crusade in Jeans).^[21]
• John Cornforth, 66, English architectural historian.
• José Maceda, 87, Filipino composer andethnomusicologist.^[22]
• Kate Mundt, 74, Danish film actress.^[23]
• Ritsuko Okazaki, 44, Japanese singer-songwriter and author,sepsis.
• František Sláma, 80, Czechchamber music performer.

• Virginia Capers, 78, American actress (Raisin,Lady Sings the Blues,Ferris Bueller's Day Off),Tony winner (1974),pneumonia.^[24]
• Pepper Gomez, 77, American professional wrestler and bodybuilder,gastritis.
• Kjell Hallbing, (aka Louis Masterson), 69, Norwegian author ofwesterns.^[25]
• Philip Kapleau, 91, American teacher ofZen Buddhism.^[26]
• Barney Kessel, 80, Americanjazz guitarist and studio musician, brain cancer.^[27]
• James A. Krumhansl, 84, American physicist.^[28]
• Joe Lafata, 82, American baseball player (New York Giants).^[29]
• Charlotte Thiele, 85, German actress.^[30]
• Daniel Thompson, 69, American poet.^[31]

• Nick Berg, 26, American businessman and hostage, beheaded byAbu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq.^[32]
• Joseph Crespo, 79, French rugby player.^[33]
• Douglas John Foskett, 85, British librarian.
• Oliver David Jackson, 84, Australian army officer.
• William J. Knight, 74, AmericanVietnam War combat pilot, astronaut and politician,leukemia.
• Waldemar Milewicz, 48, Polishwar journalist, killed in Iraq.^[34]

• Lewis Caine, 39, Australian organised crime figure, murdered during theMelbourne gangland killings.
• António Champalimaud, 86, Portuguese banker and industrialist.
• Valentin Ezhov, 83, Soviet and Russian screenwriter and playwright, stroke.^[35]
• Quentin Hughes, 84, British architect and army officer.^[36]
• Robert P. Multhauf, 84, American science historian, curator, and author.
• John Peel, 91, British politician, MP forLeicester South East (1957–1974).^[37]
• Ronnie Robinson, 53, American basketball player.^[38]

• Laxmi Chhaya, 56, Indian actress, dancer and teacher, cancer.
• Tommy Farrell, 82, American film and television actor.
• Brenda Fassie, 39, South African singer,AIDS-related complications.^[39]
• Alan Gewirth, 91, American philosopher and author, cancer.^[40]
• Akhmad Kadyrov, 52, Chechen politician, President ofChechnya, land mine explosion.^[41]
• Alan King, 76, American comedian and actor,lung cancer.^[42]
• Wayne McLeland, 79, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers).^[43]
• Olive Osmond, 79, American matriarch of theOsmond singing family.
• Sido L. Ridolfi, 90, American politician.
• Walter H. Stockmayer, 90, American chemist and university teacher.^[44]
• Percy M. Young, 91, Britishmusicologist.^[45]

• Orvar Bergmark, 73, Swedish football player and manager.
• Ray Ferritto, 75, American mobster associated with theCleveland andLos Angeles crime families.
• Phil Gersh, 92, American talent and literary agent.^[46]
• Eric Kierans, 90, Canadian economist and politician.
• Portland Mason, 55, British-American child actress and writer.
• Ershad Sikder, 49, Bangladeshi politician, criminal, and serial killer, executed.
• Ibsen Sørensen, 90, Danish Olympic rower (men's coxed four rowing at the1936 Summer Olympics).^[47]
• Dennis Wilshaw, 78, English international footballer, heart attack.^[48]

• Mick Doyle, 63, Irish rugby union player and coach, traffic collision.
• Danny McLennan, 79, Scottish football player and coach.^[49]
• Abdul Reza Pahlavi, 79, Iranian royal and member of thePahlavi dynasty.
• Ku Sang, 84, Korean poet.^[50]
• Alf Valentine, 74, West Indian cricket player.^[51]
• John Whitehead, 55, AmericanR&B artist, shot.^[52]
• Giorgos Zongolopoulos, 101, Greek sculptor, painter and architect.

• Álvaro Cardoso, 90, Portuguese football player.
• Syd Hoff, 91, American children's author andcartoonist.^[53]
• John LaPorta, 84, Americanjazzclarinetist, composer and educator, stroke.^[54]
• Dave Piontek, 69, American professional basketball player (Rochester / Cincinnati Royals,St. Louis Hawks,Chicago Packers).^[55]
• John Robson, 54, English footballer,multiple sclerosis (MS).^[56]
• Alexander Skutch, 99, American naturalist, writer, andornithologist.^[57]

• Kjell Bækkelund, 74, Norwegian classical pianist.^[58]
• Magnar Estenstad, 79, Norwegian cross-country skier and Olympic silver medalist.^[59]
• Bergfrid Fjose, 89, American politician.
• Muhammad Nawaz, 79, Pakistani Olympicjavelin thrower (men's javelin throw at the1956 and1960 Summer Olympics).^[60]
• Carlo Scarascia-Mugnozza, 84, Italian politician.
• Evon Z. Vogt, 86, Americancultural anthropologist.^[61]

• Rudi Arndt, 77, American politician.
• Charlotte Benkner, 114, American supercentenarian, oldest recognized person in United States.
• Rip Coleman, 72, American baseball player (New York Yankees,Kansas City Athletics,Baltimore Orioles).^[62]
• Günter Gaus, 74, German journalist and commentator.
• Jesús Gil, 71, Spanish businessman and politician, controversial owner ofAtlético Madrid football club, stroke.^[63]
• Bill Hoffman, 86, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies).^[64]
• Jack Holland, 56, Irish journalist, novelist, and poet, cancer.^[65]
• Torsten Johansson, 84, Swedish tennis player.
• Anna Lee, 91, British-American actress,pneumonia.^[66]
• Lu Leonard, 77, American actress.^[67]
• Shaun Sutton, 84, British television executive.

• Gloria E. Anzaldúa, 61, American writer, academic andfeminist,diabetes.^[68]
• Jack Bradbury, 89, American animator (Pinocchio,Bambi,Fantasia) and comic book artist,kidney failure.^[69]
• Marius Constant, 79, Romanian-French composer and conductor.^[70]
• Gill Fox, 88, American political cartoonist, comic book artist, and animator.^[71]
• Henrique Frade, 69, Brazilianfootball player.
• William H. Hinton, 85, American writer, andmarxist, author ofFanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village.^[72]
• Narciso Ibáñez Menta, 91, Spanish actor, cardiovascular disease.^[73]
• Tatsuya Mihashi, 80, Japanese actor.^[74]
• Robert K. Morgan, 85, AmericanUS Air Force pilot, former pilot of theMemphis Belle, injuries from a fall.^[75]
• Clint Warwick, 63, British bass guitarist (The Moody Blues),hepatitis.

• Riccardo Brengola, 87, Italian violinist and professor.^[76]
• June Carroll, 87, American lyricist, singer and actress.^[77]
• Jim Colclough, 68, American gridiron football player.^[78]
• Simone Del Duca, 91, French businesswoman andphilanthropist.
• Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton, 89, British Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet.^[79]
• Kamala Markandaya, 80, Indian novelist and journalist.^[80]
• Marika Rökk, 90, Egyptian-German actress, heart attack.^[81]
• Billy Stone, 78, American professional football player (Bradley University,Baltimore Colts,Chicago Bears).^[82]
• June Taylor, 86, American television dancer and choreographer.^[83]

• Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, 97, South Africannaturalist and museum official.
• Gunnar Graps, 57, Estonian rock singer and percussionist, heart attack.
• Ken Mudford, 81, New ZealandGrand Prix motorcycle road racer.
• Buster Narum, 63, American baseballMajor League Baseball pitcher (Orioles,Senators).^[84]
• Jørgen Nash, 84, Danish poet and performance artist.^[85]
• Tony Randall, 84, American actor (Pillow Talk,The Odd Couple,Inherit the Wind),Emmy winner (1975),pneumonia.^[86]
• James Armstrong Richardson, 82, Canadian member ofHouse of Commons,Minister of Supply and Services,Minister of National Defence.^[87]
• Cathy Rosier, 59, French model and actress,aneurysm.^[88]
• Ezzedine Salim, 60–61, Iraqi politician, president of theIraqi Governing Council.
• Enrique Zobel, 77, Filipino businessman, pilot, andpolo player.

• Çetin Alp, 56, Turkish singer, heart attack.
• Arnold Orville Beckman, 104, American inventor, industrialist andphilanthropist.^[89]
• John Maxwell Cowley, 81, Australian-American physicist and academic.^[90]
• Heinrich Isser, 76, Austrian Olympic bobsledder.^[91]
• Elvin Jones, 76, Americanjazz drummer,John Coltrane Quartet of the 1960s, heart attack.^[92]
• Lincoln Kilpatrick, 72, American actor,lung cancer.^[93]
• Hyacinthe Thiandoum, 83, SenegaleseRoman Catholic Cardinal,Archbishop of Dakar.^[94]

• Mary Dresselhuys, 97, Dutch actress and comedian.^[95]
• Jack Eckerd, 91, American businessman.^[96]
• Haruhiko Kindaichi, 91, Japanese linguist and a scholar ofkokugogaku.
• Melvin J. Lasky, 84, American journalist, intellectual andanti-communist.^[97]
• Robert David MacDonald, 74, Scottish playwright, translator and theatre director.^[98]
• Arnold Moore, 90, Americanblues artist.^[99]
• John Naka, 89, Americanhorticulturist, teacher, author, and masterbonsai cultivator.^[100]
• E. K. Nayanar, 87, Indian politician, three-time Chief Minister ofKerala, India, heart attack.^[101]
• Carl Raddatz, 92, German stage and film actor.^[102]
• Elvio Romero, 77, Paraguayan poet.^[103]
• Leonid Shcherbakov, 77, Russian triple jumper and Olympic silver medalist.^[104]

• Gary Ballman, 63, American gridiron football player.^[105]
• Lúcio de Castro, 93, Brazilian Olympicpole vaulter.^[106]
• Sophie Charlotte Ducker, 95, German-Australianbotanist.
• Stanisław Gronkowski, 82, Polish actor.^[107]
• Len Murray, 81, British trade union leader,pneumonia.
• Claire Wilbur, 70, American actress andAcademy Award-winning producer of short films,lung cancer.

• Jean-Pierre Blanc, 62, French film director and screenwriter, cancer.^[108]
• Proinsias Mac Cana, 77, Academic andCeltic scholar.
• June Cochran, 62, American model andbeauty queen.^[109]
• Gunnar Dahlen, 86, Norwegian football player.^[110]
• Rick Henderson, 76, Americanjazzalto saxophonist and arranger.^[111]
• Toshikazu Kase, 101, Japanese civil servant and diplomat, heart attack.^[112]
• Gene Wood, 78, American television personality and announcer ofgame shows,lung cancer.^[113]

• Richard Biggs, 44, American actor (Babylon 5,Days of Our Lives,Strong Medicine), aortic dissection.^[114]
• Samuel Curtis Johnson, Jr., 76, American businessman, fourth generation president ofSC Johnson company.
• Zinovy Korogodsky, 77, Russian theater director and academic.
• Peter Masak, 46, Canadian-American engineer and glider pilot, creator of theMasak Scimitar, aviation accident.^[115]
• Alexandr Savko, 37, Belarusian wrestler, heart attack.
• Mikhail Voronin, 59, Russian gymnast, double Olympic champion, cancer.^[116]

• Adele Leigh, 75, Englishoperatic soprano, heart attack.^[117]
• Ramon Margalef, 85, Spanish biologist andecologist.^[118]
• Trudy Marshall, 84, American actress,lung cancer.^[119]
• Harry Preston, 72, Canadian Olympic field hockey player (Field hockey at the 1964 Summer Olympics).^[120]
• Maxime Rodinson, 89, French historian, sociologist andorientalist.^[121]

• Ya'akov Grundman, 64, Polish-Israeli football player and manager, cancer.
• Prentice Marshall, 77, American district judge,bladder cancer.^[122]
• Henry Ries, 86, American photographer, known for his photos of the 1948Berlin Air Lift.^[123]
• Milton Shulman, 90, Canadian author, film and theatre critic.
• Edward Wagenknecht, 104, American literary critic and teacher.^[124]

• Nikolai Chernykh, 72, Soviet and Russian astronomer.
• David Dellinger, 88, Americanantiwar activist, member ofChicago Eight.^[125]
• Antonia Ivanova, 74, Bulgarian grandmasterchess player.
• Nicholas Luard, 66, British writer and politician.
• Robert P. Sharp, 92, Americangeomorphologist and expert on the geology of Earth andMars.^[126]
• Roger Williams Straus, Jr., 87, American publisher (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).^[127]
• Brooke Wilberger, 19, American student.

• Robert Chapman, 81, New Zealand political scientist and historian.
• Gino de Pellegrín, 77, Argentine Olympic alpine skier.^[128]
• Rewata Dhamma, 74, BurmeseTheravada Buddhist monk and scholar.
• Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, 93, Scottish landowner and a financier.^[129]

• Umberto Agnelli, 69, Italian industrialist, head ofFiat,lymphoma.^[130]
• Denis ApIvor, 88, British composer.^[131]
• Patience Cleveland, 73, American actress (Donnie Darko,Psycho III,General Hospital), cancer.^[132]
• Ladislav Hecht, 94,Czechoslovak tennis player.^[133]
• Jim Marshall, 63, British Labour MP, heart attack.^[134]
• Mikhail Postnikov, 76, Soviet mathematician, known for his work inalgebraic anddifferential topology.^[135]
• Sigrid Lorenzen Rupp, 61, German-American architect,stomach cancer.
• Ronald Smith, 82, British classical pianist and teacher.
• Werner Tübke, 74, German painter.^[136]

• Michael Alison, 77, BritishPrivy Council member, minister and MP.
• Gerald Anthony, 52, American actor, best known for playing Marco Dane on the TV showOne Life to Live, suicide.
• Vittore Branca, 90, Italianphilologist,literary critic, and academic.
• Harvey Brooks, 88, American physicist.^[137]
• Francis Brunn, 81, Germanjuggler.^[138]
• Josie Carey, 73, American lyricist, host of children's show "Children's Corner".^[139]
• Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, 82, French photographer.^[140]
• Jerzy Klempel, 51, Polish Olympic handball player and coach.^[141]
• Irene Manning, 91, American actress and singer (Yankee Doodle Dandy), heart failure.^[142]
• Catherine Dean May, 90, American politician.^[143]

• Lawrence Rosario Abavana, 84, Ghanaian politician and teacher.
• Anjuman Ara Begum, 62, Bangladeshi vocalist,pneumonia.
• Barry Brown, 42, Jamaicanreggae singer, head trauma following fall.^[144]
• Zebedy Colt, 74, American actor, musician, andadult film director.^[145]
• Archibald Cox, 92, American lawyer,Watergate special prosecutor.^[146]
• Samuel Dash, 79, American lawyer, chief counsel to theHouse Judiciary Committee during theWatergate scandal, heart failure.^[147]
• Magne Havnå, 40, Norwegian professional boxer, boating accident.^[148]
• Jack Rosenthal, 72, British television dramatist,multiple myeloma.^[149]
• Forrest Tucker, 83, American career criminal.
• Ivica Šerfezi, 68, Croatian pop singer,stomach cancer.

• Fenner Albert Chace, 95, Americancarcinologist.^[150]
• Raymond M. Clausen, Jr., 56, American marine,Medal of Honour recipient,liver failure.^[151]
• Alfred Coppel, 82, American author.
• Gérard de Sède, 82, French author.^[152]
• Rafał Kurmański, 21, Polishspeedway rider, suicide by hanging.
• Nizamuddin Shamzai, 51, PakistaniSunni Islamic scholar, assassinated.
• Ed Stanczak, 82, American basketball player (Anderson Packers,Boston Celtics).^[153]
• Klavdiya Tochonova, 82, Soviet Olympicshot putter.^[154]

• Lionel Abrahams, 76, South African novelist, poet, critic, and publisher.
• Pierre Duval, 71, French-Canadianoperatic tenor.
• Artimus Parker, 52, American professional football player (Philadelphia Eagles,New York Jets).^[155]
• Robert Quine, 61, Americanpunk rock guitarist, suicide by heroin overdose.
• Étienne Roda-Gil, 62, French songwriter, screenwriter andanarchist, stroke.^[156]

• List of May 2004 deaths atIMDb

• May 2004
• 2004 deaths
• Lists of deaths in 2004

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• CS1 Polish-language sources (pl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2019