Deaths in December 2007

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 2007.

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.

1

 * Rassim al-Jumaili, 69, Iraqi actor and comedian, kidney failure.
 * Jennifer Davidson, 38, American executive, senior vice president of programming and scheduling for Cartoon Network.
 * Elisabeth Eybers, 92, South African-born poet.
 * Tony Fall, 67, British rally driver and Opel Motorsport Team director, heart attack.
 * Ken McGregor, 78, Australian tennis player, stomach cancer.
 * Danny Newman, 88, American publicist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, pulmonary fibrosis.
 * Anton Rodgers, 74, British actor.
 * Ivo Rojnica, 92, Croatian-Argentine war crimes suspect, businessman, diplomat, and intelligence agent

2

 * Jennifer Alexander, 35, Canadian-born American ballet dancer, traffic collision.
 * Robert O. Anderson, 90, American founder and former CEO of ARCO.
 * Nelly Beltrán, 82, Argentine actress.
 * Elizabeth Hardwick, 91, American co-founder of The New York Review of Books.
 * Doreen Kartinyeri, 72, Ngarrindjeri elder and historian.
 * David Maybury-Lewis, 78, British anthropologist.
 * Eleonora Rossi Drago, 82, Italian actress, cerebral haemorrhage.
 * Les Shannon, 81, English football player (Liverpool, Burnley) and manager (Bury, Blackpool).
 * Thomas F. Torrance, 94, Scottish theologian.

3

 * Art Arfons, 81, American jet-car driver and drag racer, three-time world land speed record holder.
 * John Belgrave, 67, New Zealand public servant, Chief Ombudsman (2003–2007), cancer.
 * Jaime Fuster, 66, Puerto Rican politician and jurist, Resident Commissioner (1985–1992), heart attack.
 * Susumu Katsumata, 63, Japanese manga artist and illustrator, melanoma.
 * James Kemsley, 59, Australian cartoonist (Ginger Meggs), motor neurone disease.
 * Keshav Meshram, 70, Indian writer and critic, lung cancer.
 * Lord Bloody Wog Rolo, 62, Australian activist, renal cell carcinoma.
 * Heloneida Studart, 76, Brazilian writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, advocate for women's rights, and political figure.

4

 * Chad "Pimp C" Butler, 33, American rap artist (UGK), sleep apnea and accidental overdose.
 * Jake Gaudaur, 87, Canadian Commissioner of the Canadian Football League (1968–1984), cancer.
 * Jay H. Gordon, 77, American politician, Vermont Auditor of Accounts (1965–1969), smoke inhalation.
 * Stanley McArdle, 85, British admiral.
 * Norval Morrisseau, 75, Canadian Ojibwe artist, founder of the Woodlands Style, Parkinson's disease.
 * Chip Reese, 56, American professional poker player, heart attack.
 * Herman Rose, 98, American cityscape painter, cancer.
 * Carlos Valdes, 81, Cuban conga player, respiratory failure.

5

 * M. V. Dhond, 93, Indian literary and art critic.
 * Christine Finn, 78, English actress.
 * Robin Gloag, 64, British co-founder of Stagecoach Group, traffic collision.
 * Arnold Hardy, 85, American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, complications from hip surgery.
 * Robert A. Hawkins, 19, American mass murderer, suicide by gunshot.
 * Andrew Imbrie, 86, American composer.
 * Dan Iosif, 57, Romanian revolutionary, lung cancer.
 * Jillian Kesner-Graver, 58, American actress (Happy Days), Orson Welles historian, staph infection.
 * Alois Kracher, 48, Austrian winemaker, pancreatic cancer.
 * Peter Orton, 64, English television producer, cancer.
 * George Paraskevaides, 91, Cypriot businessman (Joannou & Paraskevaides) and philanthropist.
 * Karlheinz Stockhausen, 79, German composer.
 * Tony Tenser, 87, British film producer.
 * Harry Thomson Jones, 82, British racehorse trainer.
 * Rene Villanueva, 53, Filipino playwright and author, stroke.
 * John Winter, 83, Australian athlete, 1948 Olympics high jump gold medalist.

6

 * Wolfgang Assbrock, 55, German politician, member of the CDU and Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.
 * Mike Donkin, 56, British reporter and journalist (BBC News), cancer.
 * Katy French, 24, Irish model, suspected overdose.
 * Jacques Hébert, 84, Canadian politician, Senator (1983–1998).
 * John Hill, 95, British politician, Conservative MP for South Norfolk (1955–1974).
 * John Pilkington Hudson, 97, British horticulturist and bomb disposal expert.
 * Gennadi Kinko, 65, Soviet Estonian rower.
 * Murray Klein, 84, American businessman, co-owner of New York City's Zabar's food emporium, lung cancer.
 * Shelley Rohde, 74, British journalist and author.
 * Ken Southworth, 89, American animator (Scooby-Doo, Q. T. Hush, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), stroke.
 * András Szöllősy, 86, Hungarian composer.

7

 * Noel Forster, 75, British artist.
 * Fuad Hassan, 78, Indonesian Minister of Education (1985–1993), cancer.
 * John Hollowbread, 73, British football goalkeeper (Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton).
 * Sartono Kartodirdjo, 86, Indonesian historian.

8

 * Donald Burton, 73, British actor, husband of actress Carroll Baker, emphysema.
 * Ioan Fiscuteanu, 70, Romanian actor, colon cancer.
 * Dmitry Grigorieff, 89, American Episcopalian prelate, dean emeritus of Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, D.C., cardiac arrest.
 * Roger King, 63, American TV executive (King World, CBS), developed Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and The Oprah Winfrey Show, stroke.
 * Gerardo García Pimentel, 24, Mexican crime reporter, shot.
 * Al Scaduto, 79, American cartoonist (They'll Do It Every Time).

9

 * John Stuart Archer, 64, British chemical engineer and academic administrator.
 * István Borzsák, 92, Hungarian classical scholar.
 * Edward Dutkiewicz, 46, British artist.
 * Wayne Howard, 58, American comic book artist (Charlton Comics), heart attack.
 * Apichet Kittikorncharoen, 25, Thai singer, brain injury.
 * Jim Langley, 78, British footballer for England, Fulham, and QPR, heart attack.
 * Matthew J. Murray, 24, American spree killer, suicide by gunshot.
 * Elspeth Rostow, 90, American academic, University of Texas dean, widow of Walt Whitman Rostow, heart attack.
 * Kurt Schmied, 81, Austrian footballer, former member of the national team.
 * Thore Skogman, 76, Swedish musician, stroke.
 * Rafael Sperafico, 26, Brazilian racing driver, race crash.
 * J. Fife Symington Jr., 97, American diplomat to Trinidad and Tobago, complications of old age.
 * Gordon Zahn, 84, American Catholic peace activist, co-founder of Pax Christi USA, complications of Alzheimer's disease.

10

 * Ashleigh Aston Moore, 26, American-born Canadian actress (Now and Then), accidental heroin overdose.
 * George Morris, 76, American football player (Georgia Tech, San Francisco 49ers), apparent heart attack.
 * Aqsa Parvez, 16, Canadian allegedly killed for refusing to wear hijab, strangled.
 * Jerry Ricks, 67, American blues guitarist.
 * James Roxburgh, 86, British prelate, Bishop of Barking.
 * Gordon Samuels, 84, Australian Governor of New South Wales (1996–2001).
 * Henrietta Yurchenko, 91, American folklorist.

11

 * Allan Berube, 61, American gay historian and writer, complications from stomach ulcers.
 * José Luis Calva, 38, Mexican writer, serial killer and cannibal, apparent suicide.
 * Freddie Fields, 84, American Hollywood agent, producer and studio executive, lung cancer.
 * Pat Hannigan, 71, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers).
 * Christie Hennessy, 62, Irish singer and songwriter, cancer.
 * Nicholas Kao Se Tseien, 110, Chinese supercentenarian, world's oldest Catholic priest.
 * Carl Ludwig, Archduke of Austria, 89, Austrian son of Emperor Charles I of Austria.
 * Ottomar Pinto, 76, Brazilian politician, Governor of Roraima (2004–2007), heart attack.
 * Tatsuzō Shimaoka, 88, Japanese potter, living national treasure, acute liver failure.
 * Terry Yates, 57, American biologist, discovered source of hantavirus, brain cancer.

12

 * Basuki, 51, Indonesian comedian.
 * Ted Corbitt, 88, American ultramarathon runner, respiratory complications.
 * Shawn Eckardt, 40, American bodyguard and businessman, conspired to assault Nancy Kerrigan, natural causes.
 * Josep Guinovart, 80, Spanish artist.
 * François al-Hajj, 54, Lebanese Army general, roadside bomb.
 * Rosemarie Koczy, 72, Holocaust survivor, German artist and teacher known for her many works dealing with the Holocaust.
 * Márcio Montarroyos, 59, Brazilian jazz trumpeter, lung cancer.
 * Jim Nevill, 80, British police officer, former head of Scotland Yard anti-terrorist squad.
 * Alfons Maria Stickler, 97, Austrian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
 * Ike Turner, 76, American R&B musician and record producer, ex-husband of singer Tina Turner, cocaine overdose.
 * Schuster Vance, 47, American actor, cancer.
 * Lee Vincent, 91, American bassist and radio personality (WILK), heart failure.
 * Yuli Vorontsov, 78, Russian diplomat, former ambassador to the United Nations and United States.

13

 * Philippe Clay, 80, French singer and actor.
 * Fuat Deniz, 40, Swedish-Assyrian sociologist, stabbed.
 * Wiggo Hanssen, 84, Norwegian Olympic speed skater.
 * Laura Huxley, 96, American musician and author, widow of Aldous Huxley, cancer.
 * Jan Jakub Kotík, 35, Czech artist and rock drummer, cancer.
 * Alain Payet, 60, French adult film director.
 * Robert Russin, 93, American sculptor.
 * Floyd Westerman, 71, American musician, actor (Dances With Wolves, Walker, Texas Ranger, Hidalgo) and Native American activist, leukemia.

14

 * Issam Al Zaim, 67, Syrian economist, former Minister of Industry, heart attack.
 * Hank Kaplan, 87, American boxing historian, cancer.
 * Maria Lauterbach, 20, American marine and murder victim.
 * Clarence Marshall, 82, American Major League Baseball pitcher (New York Yankees).
 * Frank Morgan, 73, American saxophonist.
 * Johnny Science, 52, American drag king, heart failure.
 * Emory Sekaquaptewa, 78, American indigenous Hopi anthropologist.
 * Krishna Srinivas, 94, Indian poet and writer.
 * Jan Švéda, 76, Czech Olympic rower.

15

 * John Berg, 58, American actor, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
 * Jean Bottéro, 93, French Assyriologist.
 * St. Clair Bourne, 64, American documentary filmmaker (Half Past Autumn), pulmonary embolism.
 * Julia Carson, 69, American member of the House of Representatives from Indiana since 1997, lung cancer.
 * Gerard Fairtlough, 77, British biochemist and entrepreneur.
 * Andrzeja Górska, 91, Polish nun, abbess of the Grey Ursulines.
 * Ryan Gracie, 33, Brazilian martial artist.
 * Clem Jones, 89, Australian Lord Mayor of Brisbane (1961–1975), pneumonia.
 * Matjaž Klopčič, 73, Slovenian film director.
 * Diane Middlebrook, 68, American biographer and poet, cancer.
 * Caetano N'Tchama, 52, Bissau-Guinean politician, Prime Minister (2000-2001).
 * Giuseppe Rinaldi, 88, Italian actor and voice actor.
 * Tejeshwar Singh, 60, Indian publisher, newsreader and theatre activist, cardiac arrest.
 * Ace Vergel, 55, Filipino actor, cardiac arrest.
 * Jonathan Witchell, 33, British BBC reporter for Radio Kent.

16

 * Joe Ethridge, 79, American football player in the National Football League (NFL).
 * Dan Fogelberg, 56, American singer-songwriter ("Same Old Lang Syne"), prostate cancer.
 * Harald Genzmer, 98, German composer of classical music.
 * Ismail Gulgee, 81, Pakistani painter, strangled.
 * Serge Vinçon, 58, French politician.

17

 * Don Chevrier, 69, Canadian sportscaster.
 * Joel Dorn, 65, American jazz, pop and R&B record producer, heart attack.
 * Jim Holstein, 77, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers).
 * Tom Murphy, 83, American politician, speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives (1973–2002), complications of a stroke.
 * Celestino Piatti, 85, Swiss graphic artist, painter and book designer.
 * Marnesba Tackett, 99, American civil rights activist.
 * Jack Zander, 99, American animator (Tom and Jerry).

18

 * Walter Bowart, 68, American co-founder of East Village Other, colon cancer.
 * Gerald Le Dain, 83, Canadian jurist, Justice of the Supreme Court.
 * Carl Graff-Wang, 64, Norwegian Olympic handball player.
 * Samuel Karlin, 83, American mathematician, heart attack.
 * Jack Linkletter, 70, American television host, son of Art Linkletter, lymphoma.
 * Motiur Rahman, 58, Indian politician, Rashtriya Janata Dal member of the Rajya Sabha since 2005, heart attack.
 * Bill Strauss, 60, American writer and satirist, founder of political comedy group Capitol Steps, pancreatic cancer.

19

 * Frank Capra, Jr., 73, American movie studio executive, son of director Frank Capra, prostate cancer.
 * James Costigan, 81, American actor and television writer (Eleanor and Franklin), heart failure.
 * Desmond C. Derbyshire, 83, British linguist.
 * John A. Garraty, 87, American historian, heart failure.
 * Albert L. O'Neil, 87, American politician, Boston City Council (1971–1999).

20

 * Tommy Byrne, 87, American baseball player.
 * Jeanne Carmen, 77, American actress and pin-up girl, lymphoma.
 * Arabella Churchill, 58, British founder of Children's World charity, granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill, pancreatic cancer.
 * Russell Coffey, 109, American serviceman, one of three known remaining American veterans of World War I.
 * Lorne Davis, 77, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens) and scout (Edmonton Oilers).
 * Ted Finn, 68, Canadian intelligence official, director of CSIS (1984–1987).
 * John Gibbs, 90, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Coventry (1976–1985).
 * Peer Hultberg, 72, Danish author and psychoanalyst.
 * Geoffrey Martin, 79, British historian and Keeper of the Public Records (1982–1988).
 * Lydia Mendoza, 91, American Tejano music singer and guitarist.
 * Raphaël Nguyễn Văn Diệp, 81, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, coadjutor bishop of Vĩnh Long (1975–2007).
 * Robbie Williams, 45, Australian politician, first Indigenous Australian Brisbane City councillor, former ATSIC commissioner, heart attack.

21

 * Adolfas Akelaitis, 97, Lithuanian Olympic athlete.
 * Carol Bly, 77, American author and poet, ovarian cancer.
 * Kex Gorin, 56, British drummer (Magnum), kidney cancer.
 * Ken Hendricks, 66, American contractor and billionaire, fall from roof.
 * Hans Imhoff, 85, German businessman, founder of Imhoff Chocolate Museum in Cologne.
 * Jack Lamabe, 71, American Major League Baseball pitcher.
 * Ken Lee, 75, Chinese-born Australian businessman, owner and co-founder of Bing Lee superstores, cancer.
 * Saadia Marciano, 57, Israeli Black Panthers leader, member of the Knesset.
 * Norton Nascimento, 45, Brazilian actor, heart failure.
 * Jeani Read, 60, Canadian journalist, cancer.
 * Battista Serioli, 107, Italian World War I veteran.

22

 * Joe Ames, 86, American singer (Ames Brothers), heart attack.
 * Philip Bednall, 76, Australian cricketer.
 * Chrysostomos I, 80, Cypriot prelate, Archbishop of Cyprus (1977–2006).
 * Sir Charles Court, 96, Australian politician, Premier of Western Australia (1974–1982).
 * Andy Davis, 80, American football player (Washington Redskins).
 * Sylvan Fox, 79, American journalist, complications from pneumonia.
 * Andrew Glyn, 64, British economist.
 * Julien Gracq, 97, French writer.
 * Lucien Teisseire, 88, French road bicycle racer.
 * Marvin Wachman, 90, American historian, President of Lincoln University and Temple University, heart failure.
 * Ruth Wallis, 87, American singer-songwriter, complications of Alzheimer's disease.
 * Takashi Yamamoto, 58, Japanese politician.

23

 * Dale Baird, 71, American thoroughbred horse trainer, traffic collision.
 * Donald Chant, 79, Canadian biologist and environmental advocate.
 * Evelyn Gandy, 87, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi (1976–1980).
 * W.F. Ganong, 83, American neuroendocrinologist, prostate cancer.
 * Michael Kidd, 92, American film and stage choreographer, cancer.
 * Aloísio Lorscheider, 83, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal, heart failure.
 * Tyler MacDuff, 82, American actor.
 * Hans Mild, 73, Swedish footballer and ice hockey player.
 * Oscar Peterson, 82, Canadian jazz pianist, kidney failure and complications from a stroke.
 * Rhoda Pritzker, 93, American philanthropist, member of the Pritzker family.
 * Ferreira Queimado, 94, Portuguese former chairman of S.L. Benfica, after long illness.
 * Kevin Sinclair, 65, New Zealand-born Hong Kong reporter, editor and columnist for the South China Morning Post, cancer.
 * Osvaldo Reyes, 88, Chilean painter, stroke.
 * Frank Swaelen, 77, Belgian politician, former President of the Senate and Minister of State.

24

 * Jim Angel, 67, Australian radio newsreader, stroke.
 * Cláudio Camunguelo, 60, Brazilian composer and singer, diabetes.
 * Reinhard Heß, 62, German ski jumping coach, pancreatic cancer.
 * Wilhelmina Jashemski, 97, American archaeologist, renal failure.
 * Andreas Matzbacher, 25, Austrian cyclist, traffic collision.
 * Sir Nicholas Pumfrey, 56, British judge, stroke.
 * George Warrington, 55, American transportation official, President of Amtrak (1998–2002), pancreatic cancer.

25

 * Jim Beauchamp, 68, American Major League Baseball player and coach, leukemia.
 * Tommy Harmer, 79, British footballer (Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and Chelsea).
 * John Hayes, 80, New Zealand test cricketer.
 * Patricia Kirkwood, 86, British actress, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Hugh Massingberd, 60, British genealogist and journalist, former Daily Telegraph obituary editor.
 * Mighty King Kong, 34, Kenyan reggae musician.
 * William MacDonald, 90, American Christian author.
 * Hans Otte, 81, German avant-garde composer and pianist.
 * G. P. Sippy, 93, Indian film producer and director.
 * Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr., 17, American student, tiger attack.
 * Tatiana, 4, American-born Siberian tiger at San Francisco Zoo, mauled a visitor to death, shot.
 * Sir George Vallings, 75, British vice admiral, throat cancer.

26

 * Raúl Bernao, 66, Argentine footballer, hepatitis.
 * Sir Phillip Bridges, 85, British barrister and judge, Chief Justice of the Gambia.
 * Jim Castiglia, 89, American football and baseball player, natural causes.
 * Joe Dolan, 68, Irish singer and entertainer, brain haemorrhage.
 * Andrew Grima, 86, British jeweller.
 * Voitto Liukkonen, 67, Finnish sports commentator.
 * Paul D. MacLean, 94, American physician, developed triune brain concept, heart attack.
 * Nina Menshikova, 79, Russian actress.
 * Stu Nahan, 81, American sportscaster, lymphoma.
 * John Pappenheimer, 92, American physiologist, respiratory failure.

27

 * Kit Ahern, 92, Irish politician.
 * Ben D. Altamirano, 77, American politician, member of the New Mexico Senate since 1971, heart attack.
 * Ben Bamfuchile, 47, Zambian coach of the Namibia national football team, after short illness.
 * Benazir Bhutto, 54, Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister (1988–1990, 1993–1996), assassinated.
 * Edward A. Brennan, 73, American businessman, former Chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company.
 * Sir Howard Colvin, 88, British architectural historian.
 * Steven Florio, 58, American businessman, former CEO of Condé Nast, heart attack.
 * Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 85, Polish film director.
 * Jaan Kross, 87, Estonian writer.
 * Ed LaDou, 52, American pizza chef, popularized gourmet California-style pizzas, cancer.
 * Marie-Jeanne, 87, American ballet dancer, congestive heart failure
 * Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, 94, Brazilian pretender to the title Emperor of Brazil.
 * Peter Wing, 93, Canadian politician, mayor of Kamloops, North America's first mayor of Chinese descent, stroke.

28

 * Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami, 25, Iranian basketball player, traffic collision.
 * Jiří Pauer, 88, Czech composer, theatre director and academic.
 * Serigne Saliou Mbacké, 92, Senegalese religious leader, fifth caliph of the Mouride Islamic movement.
 * Amarnath Sehgal, 85, Indian sculptor.
 * Sun Daolin, 86, Chinese actor.
 * Tab Thacker, 45, American wrestler and actor (Police Academy, City Heat, Wildcats), complications from diabetes.

29

 * Olayr Coan, 48, Brazilian actor and theater director, traffic collision.
 * Phil Dusenberry, 71, American advertising executive, lung cancer.
 * Kevin Greening, 44, British former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey.
 * Vincent Gruppuso, 67, American businessman, founder of Kozy Shack puddings, complications from diabetes.
 * Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, 74, Yemeni politician, Parliamentary speaker since 1993, cancer.
 * Joan Ingpen, 91, British classical music manager (Ingpen & Williams), launched the career of Luciano Pavarotti.
 * Rex King-Clark, 94, British soldier and racing driver.
 * Robert Morris, 81, English cricketer.
 * Nonja, 55, Indonesian Sumatran orangutan thought to be world's oldest.
 * Phil O'Donnell, 35, Scottish footballer (Motherwell) with one Scotland cap, heart failure.
 * Scott M. Robinson, 54, American key grip.
 * H. D. Thoreau, Jr., 84, American track-and-field authority and Olympics official, complications from Alzheimer's and stroke.
 * Shu Uemura, 79, Japanese makeup artist, pneumonia.

30

 * Bert Bolin, 82, Swedish meteorologist, stomach cancer.
 * Kinkri Devi, 82, Indian environmentalist.
 * Laila Kaland, 68, Norwegian politician, MP (1985–2001), after long illness.
 * Jorge Machiñena, 71, Uruguayan deputy (1985–2000), President of the Chamber (1996–1997), heart attack.
 * Leonard B. Meyer, 89, American musicologist.
 * Victor Navarra, 55, American coordinator for New York Marathon, cancer.
 * Doreen Norton, 85, British nursing pioneer.
 * Willie Robinson, 81, American blues singer, injuries from a fire.
 * Louis Wolfson, 95, American businessman, bred and raced 1978 U.S. Triple Crown champion Affirmed, colon cancer.

31

 * Alberto Alonso, 90, Cuban dancer and choreographer, heart attack.
 * Tommy Dickson, 78, British footballer (Linfield, Northern Ireland), after long illness.
 * Tony Elliott, 48, American football player (New Orleans Saints), natural causes.
 * Ralph Emmerson, 94, British Anglican prelate, Bishop of Knaresborough (1972–1979).
 * Michael Goldberg, 83, American abstract expressionist painter, heart attack.
 * Bill Idelson, 88, American actor and script writer, complications from a broken hip.
 * Kathryn Ish, 71, American television, voiceover and theater actress (Laverne & Shirley), cancer.
 * Milton L. Klein, 97, Canadian politician, MP for Cartier (1963–1968).
 * Markku Peltola, 51, Finnish actor and musician.
 * Muhammad Osman Said, 85, Libyan Prime Minister (1960–1963).
 * Ettore Sottsass, 90, Italian designer, heart failure.