Deaths in February 1989

The following is a list of notable deaths in February 1989.

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

 * Lillian Boyer, 88, American wing walker.
 * James Drake, 81, British civil engineer, pioneer of the national motorway network.
 * Blaze Foley, 39, American country music singer-songwriter, poet and artist, shot.
 * Elaine de Kooning, 70, American artist.
 * Grace Hayes, 93, American actress, singer, vaudeville entertainer and nightclub owner.
 * J.C. Hoel, 84, American motorcycle racer, and founder of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
 * Kenneth Morris, 71, American composer of gospel music.
 * Erik Persson (footballer), 79, Swedish international footballer and Olympian.
 * John Tootoosis, 89, Canadian First Nations leader.

2

 * Yuri Bogatyryov, 41, Soviet actor (At Home Among Strangers), medication clash related to heart attack.
 * Marie Poland Fish, 88, American oceanographer and marine biologist.
 * Vladimír Lulek, 35, Czech family murderer, executed.
 * Ondrej Nepela, 38, Czechoslovakian figure skater and Olympic gold medalist, lymph node cancer.
 * Arnold Nordmeyer, 87, New Zealand politician, Leader of the Opposition.
 * Nuno Oliveira, 63, Portuguese equestrian, horse trainer and dressage instructor.
 * Walter M. Scott, 82, American set decorator (The Sound of Music, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
 * Marie Syrkin, 89, American writer and Zionist activist.

3

 * John Cassavetes, 59, Greek-American actor (Johnny Staccato, The Dirty Dozen), cirrhosis of the liver.
 * Glenna Collett-Vare, 85, American amateur golfer, inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame.
 * Betty Farrington, 90, American actress.
 * Joan Grant, 81, English writer of historical novels (Winged Pharaoh).
 * Frank Hursley, 86, half of American husband-and-wife television screenwriting duo Frank and Doris Hursley (General Hospital).
 * Nina Kirsanova, 91, Russian-born Yugoslavian ballet dancer.
 * Ebbe Langberg, 55, Danish actor and film director.
 * John McCauley, 89, Australian Air Force senior commander, Chief of Air Force, stroke.
 * Louis H. Narcisse, 67, American religious leader, founder of Mt. Zion Spiritual Church, heart attack.
 * Lionel Newman, 73, American conductor, pianist and composer (Academy Award for Best Original Score for Hello, Dolly!), cardiac arrest.
 * Kim Sung-jun, 35, South Korean boxer (WBC light flyweight champion), suicide.

4

 * Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns, 68, American mandolinist, half of comedy duo Homer and Jethro, prostate cancer.
 * Medford Bryan Evans, 81, college professor and Conservative political activist.
 * Thorkild Hansen, 62, Danish novelist (Coast of Slaves, Ships of Slaves, Islands of Slaves).
 * Trevor Lucas, 45, Australian folk singer (Fotheringay), heart attack.
 * Grandizo Munis, 76, Spanish Trotskyist politician.
 * Ham Seok-heon, 87, Korean Quaker.
 * Ferris Webster, 76, American film editor (The Manchurian Candidate, The Great Escape).

5

 * André Cheuva, 80, French international footballer and manager (Lille OSC).
 * Roy Chicago, Nigerian musician and band leader.
 * Percy Hoskins, 84, British crime reporter (Daily Express).
 * Emrys James, 60, Welsh Shakespearean actor.
 * Rajinder Kaur, 57, Indian journalist and politician, shot by terrorists.
 * Joe Morrison, 51, American NFL footballer and coach (New York Giants), congestive heart failure.
 * Killer Joe Piro, 67, American dance instructor, kidney disease.
 * Joe Raposo, 51, American composer, singer and pianist (Sesame Street theme, Bein' Green), non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

6

 * Suri Bhagavantam, 79, Indian scientist, vice chancellor of Osmania University, director of Indian Institute of Science.
 * André Cayatte, 80, French filmmaker (Il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu).
 * Ron Field, 55, American choreographer and dancer (Cabaret), brain lesions.
 * Chris Gueffroy, 20, East German, last to be killed by use of firearms at the Berlin Wall.
 * Netty Herawaty, 59, Indonesian actress (Rodrigo de Villa).
 * Undine Smith Moore, 84, American composer and professor of music (Scenes from the Life of a Martyr), stroke.
 * Otto Schulmann, 86, German-born conductor and vocal teacher.
 * King Tubby, 48, Jamaican sound engineer, shot.
 * Barbara W. Tuchman, 77, American historian and author (The Guns of August, Stilwell and the American Experience in China), stroke.

7

 * Eric Jay, 81, British Anglican priest.
 * Giuseppe Puca, 33, Italian criminal, boss of Nuova Camorra Organizzata, murdered after shootout.
 * Sixto Rovina, 28, Netherlands Antilles international footballer, heart attack during game.
 * Gilbert Simondon, 64, French philosopher.
 * William Campbell Steere, 81, American botanist, expert on bryophytes, director of New York Botanical Garden.
 * Simon Virsaladze, 80, Georgian ballet, film and opera designer.
 * Prince Wilhelm Victor of Prussia, 69, German nobleman and diplomat.

8

 * Cyril Luckham, 81, English film, television and theatre actor (Doctor Who, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em).
 * Begum Khurshid Mirza, 70, Pakistani television and film actress.
 * Webster B. Todd, 89, American Chairman of New Jersey Republican State Committee, heart attack.

9

 * Ken Adachi, 59–60, Canadian writer and literary critic (Toronto Star).
 * Bill Dalley, 87, New Zealand rugby union player (Canterbury, All Blacks).
 * Osamu Tezuka, 60, Japanese artist and animator (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion), stomach cancer.

10

 * Darnley Alexander, 69, Nigerian jurist, Chief Justice of Nigeria.
 * Irving Brown, 77, American trade unionist (Presidential Medal of Freedom).
 * Agustín Ramos Calero, 69, decorated Puerto Rican soldier in the U.S. Army.
 * Wayne Hays, 77, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, heart attack.
 * Panini Ilangakoon, 69, Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament.
 * Dan Kelly, 52, Canadian-American sportscaster, lung cancer.
 * Emily Kimbrough, 89, American author and journalist (Our Hearts Were Young and Gay).
 * Herbert Ryman, 78, American artist and Disney Imagineer (Sleeping Beauty Castle), cancer.

11

 * Charles L. Bolte, 93, United States Army general, vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, stroke.
 * T. E. B. Clarke, 81, British screenwriter (The Lavender Hill Mob).
 * Leon Festinger, 69, American social psychologist (cognitive dissonance, social comparison theory), cancer.
 * Roland Gross, 80, American film editor and television editor (None but the Lonely Heart).
 * George O'Hanlon, 76, American actor, comedian and writer (The Jetsons), stroke.
 * Cecil C. Steiner, 92, American dentist (Steiner method of analysis).
 * Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 83, ruler of Abu Dhabi.
 * Katharine Lane Weems, 89, American sculptor (Dolphins of the Sea, Lotta Fountain).

12

 * Thomas Bernhard, 58, Austrian novelist and playwright (Correction, Extinction), heart attack.
 * Jorge Romero Brest, 83, Argentinian art critic.
 * Attilio Dottesio, 79, Italian film actor and singer.
 * Pat Finucane, 39, Irish lawyer, murdered.
 * Pandit Narendra Sharma, 75, Indian writer and poet (Satyam Shivam Sundaram theme).
 * Bill Speer, 46, Canadian NHL ice hockey player (Boston Bruins), snowmobile accident.

13

 * Ernestine Barrier, 80, American stage, film and television actress (Project Moonbase).
 * Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark, 79, member of the Greek Royal family.
 * Hans Hellmut Kirst, 74, German novelist (Die Nacht der Generale).
 * Hip Linkchain, 52, American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (Change My Blues, That Will Never Do), mesothelioma cancer.
 * Richard Roud, 59, American writer on film, co-founder of the New York Film Festival.
 * Geoff Selby, 23, Australian rugby league footballer (Illawarra Steelers, St. George Dragons), car accident.
 * Dave Tarras, appr. 94, Ukrainian-American clarinetist and bandleader, pneumonia.

14

 * James Bond, 89, American ornithologist, curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (Birds of the West Indies).
 * Vincent Crane, 45, English keyboardist (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster), suicide.
 * Krishnarao Dhulap, 68, leader of Peasants and Workers Party of India.
 * Vincent Žuk-Hryškievič, 86, Belarusian politician, president of the government-in-exile of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.

15

 * Hüseyin Akbaş, 56, Turkish wrestler and dual Olympic medalist.
 * Sita Devi, 71, Indian Princess Consort of Vuyyur, the "Indian Wallis Simpson".
 * Daniel Fox, 61, American polymer chemist (LEXAN).
 * Robert Kerns, 55, American baritone (Vienna State Opera).
 * Lee E. McMahon, 57, American computer scientist (sed stream editor).
 * Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, 77, Indonesian statesman and economist, Prime Minister of Indonesia, heart attack.
 * Sabo Bakin Zuwo, 54, Nigerian politician, Governor of Kano State.

16

 * Andy Black, 72, Scottish international footballer (Manchester City, Scotland).
 * Ida Ehre, 88, Austrian-German actor, theatre director and manager, heart attack.
 * Mirza Abdul Halim, 23, Singaporean police constable, murdered.
 * Paco Lagerstrom, 74, Swedish-American applied mathematician and aeronautical engineer (Caltech).

17

 * Rudolf Brill, 89, German chemist.
 * Francesco Buccitelli, 66, Italian artist, mayor of Pacentro.
 * Ian Fraser, 78, British judge, member of the House of Lords, car accident.
 * Lefty Gomez, 80, American Major League baseball player (New York Yankees), congestive heart failure.
 * Guy Laroche, 67, French fashion designer.
 * Marguerite Roberts, 83, American screenwriter, blacklisted for not cooperating with House Un-American Activities Committee, arteriosclerosis.
 * Hanne Sobek, 88, German international footballer (Hertha BSC, Germany).

18

 * John Bailey, 76, British screen and TV actor (The Forsyte Saga).
 * Mildred Burke, 73, American professional wrestler, women's world champion, stroke.
 * Dixie Deans, 75, Royal Air Force sergeant, Second World War bomber pilot.
 * Dina Halpern, 79, Polish-born American actress.
 * Kathleen Hite, 71, American writer for radio and television (Gunsmoke, The Waltons).

19

 * Edward Beetham, 74, British colonial official, Resident Commissioner in Swaziland, Governor of Trinidad and Tobago.
 * Rick Burks, 28, American musician and actor (Blood Diner), car accident.
 * Eric F. Goldman, 72, American historian, presidential advisor (The Open Mind).
 * Alec Merrison, 64, British physicist, vice-chancellor of University of Bristol, director of Lloyds Bank.
 * Jack de Sequeira, 73, Indian politician, Leader of the Opposition of the Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly.
 * Rosa Slade Gragg, 84, American activist and politician.

20

 * Julio César Chaves, 81, Paraguayan historian.
 * Percy Chen, 88, Trinidad-born Chinese lawyer, founding member of Hong Kong Bar Association.
 * Erika Köth, 63, German operatic soprano.
 * Anthony Leeds, 64, American anthropologist, heart attack.
 * Betty Mars, 44, French singer and actress, Eurovision song contestant, suicide.
 * Aleksandr Medvedkin, 88, Soviet film director (Happiness).
 * Manuel Rosas, 76, Mexican international footballer (Atlante F.C., Mexico).

21

 * Robert Dorning, 75, English musician, ballet dancer and actor, diabetes.
 * Sándor Márai, 88, Hungarian writer, poet and journalist (Embers).
 * Otar Taktakishvili, 64, Georgian composer and conductor (Sonata for Flute and Piano, Mindia).
 * Alex Thépot, 82, French international footballer and Olympian (Red Star FC, France).

22

 * Roxanne Arlen, 58, American film and stage actress.
 * Harry Brand, 93, American press agent, credited with the fame of Shirley Temple, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe, heart attack.
 * Raymond Gower, 72, British politician, member of the House of Commons, heart attack.
 * Abel Wolman, 96, American engineer, pioneer in sanitary engineering.
 * Joan Woodbury, 73, American actress (The Eagle's Brood, Brenda Starr, Reporter).

23

 * David Mowbray Balme, 76, British professor, Principal of the University College of the Gold Coast.
 * Ramito, 73, Puerto Rican composer (Qué Bonita Bandera), suicide.
 * Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, 82, Tibetan nobleman and statesman, Finance Minister of Tibet, stomach cancer.
 * Roy Tyner, 55, American NASCAR Grand National driver, gunshot.

24

 * Sparky Adams, 94, American Major League baseballer (Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals).
 * Paul M. Bator, 59, Hungarian-born American legal scholar and Supreme Court advocate, Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.
 * Norris Cotton, 88, American politician, US senator.
 * Joe Harvey, 70, English footballer and manager (Newcastle United, Bradford City).
 * Margo Lion, 89, Ottoman-French singer and actress (Threepenny Opera).
 * Paulaseer, 68, Indian preacher, 'faith healer'.
 * Mallica Reynolds, 78, Jamaican artist and religious leader (Shining the Spring).
 * William Thayer Tutt, 76, American ice hockey and figure skating executive.

25

 * Paula Banholzer, 87, German love interest of Bertolt Brecht.
 * Angna Enters, 91, American dancer, mime, painter and writer (Lost Angel, Tenth Avenue Angel).
 * Robert Foulk, 80, American television and film actor (Lassie).

26

 * Roy Eldridge, 78, American jazz trumpeter.
 * Joseph Fenton, appr. 46, Northern Ireland estate agent, killed by Provisional Irish Republican Army (body found on this date).
 * Reunald Jones, 78, American jazz trumpeter.
 * Mouloud Mammeri, 71, Algerian writer, anthropologist and linguist, car accident.
 * Clayton Robson, 87, Indian-born English first-class cricketer.

27

 * Paul Oswald Ahnert, 91, German astronomer (Kalender für Sternfreunde).
 * Shiba P. Chatterjee, 86, Indian Professor of Geography.
 * Mauricio Garcés, 62, Mexican actor and comedian (Fray Don Juan, Modisto de señoras).
 * Kim Hyun-chul, 87, Korean independence activist and politician, Prime Minister of South Korea.
 * Konrad Lorenz, 85, Austrian zoologist and author (Man Meets Dog), Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Nazi supporter.
 * Sayuti Melik, 80, Indonesian political agitant (Proclamation of Indonesian Independence).
 * Gilberto Molina, 52, Colombian emerald magnate and drug trafficker (Medellín cartel), murdered.
 * Joe Silver, 66, American stage, television, film and radio actor, heart attack.

28

 * Richard Armour, 82, American poet and author.
 * Bernard Beryl Brodie, 81, English-born American biochemical and neurochemical pharmacology scientist.
 * Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira, 78, Brazilian lexicographer, translator and writer (Aurélio Dictionary).
 * Hermann Burger, 46, Swiss poet and novelist (Die Wasserfallfinsternis von Badgastein), suicide.
 * Everett E. Hatcher, 46, American Special Agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, shot during undercover operation.
 * Douglas Kendrew, 79, British army general and rugby union player (Leicester, England), Governor of Western Australia.
 * Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, 100, Indian yoga teacher.
 * Alton C. Parker, 81, Canadian police officer, first black Canadian detective.
 * Pak Se-yong, 86, North Korean poet and politician (Aegukka – North Korean national anthem).