Deaths in February 2006

The following is a list of notable deaths in February 2006.

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

 * Roy Alon, 63, British stuntman (Die Another Day, Willow, 101 Dalmatians), heart attack.
 * Dick Bass, 68, American pro football player and radio analyst.
 * Dick Brooks, 63, American NASCAR race car driver and radio broadcaster, heart attack.
 * Ronald B. Cameron, 78, American politician, U.S. Representative from California (1963–1967).
 * Robin Donkin, 78, British historian and geographer.
 * Ernest Dudley, 97, British novelist, journalist, screenwriter, actor, radio broadcaster.
 * Carlson Gracie, Sr., 72, Brazilian martial artist, complications from kidney stones.
 * Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr., 86, American politician, Governor of Arizona 1965–1967.
 * Bryce Harland, 74, New Zealand diplomat, Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1982–1985), High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1985–1991).
 * Jean-Philippe Maitre, 56, Swiss politician, former President of the Swiss National Council, brain tumor.
 * John Woollam, 78, British politician, former Conservative Member of Parliament.

2

 * Armando Castillo, 73, Guatemalan Olympic cyclist.
 * Jill Chaifetz, 41, American lawyer and executive director of the nonprofit legal group Advocates for Children of New York, ovarian cancer.
 * Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, 77, Bangladeshi politician, former prime minister of Bangladesh.
 * Chris Doty, 39, Canadian documentarian and playwright, suicide.
 * Guglielmo Letteri, 80, Italian comic book artist.
 * Pat Rupp, 63, American ice hockey player, goaltender for the 1964 and 1968 Olympic ice hockey teams, cancer.
 * S. K. Ramachandra Rao, 78, Indian scholar.
 * Athol Shephard, 85, Australian cricketer.
 * Nicholas Swarbrick, 107, English sailor, one of the last two surviving World War I Merchant Navy veterans.
 * Sir Reginald Swartz, 94, Australian politician, Minister for Civil Aviation from 1966 to 1969.
 * Chris Walton, 72, English cricketer.
 * Stephen Worobetz, 91, Canadian politician, former lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan.

3

 * Ustad Qawwal Bahauddin, 72, Indian-Pakistani Qawwali singer.
 * Walerian Borowczyk, 82, Polish-born surrealist filmmaker, heart failure.
 * Jean Byron, 80, American actress (The Patty Duke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Johnny Concho), infection following hip replacement surgery.
 * Ernie Clements, 83, British road racing cyclist.
 * Frank Ellis, 100, British radiologist.
 * Frank Goodman, 89, American Broadway press agent, congestive heart failure.
 * Lou Jones, 74, American Olympic runner.
 * Sonny King, 83, American comedian-singer, Jimmy Durante's sidekick, cancer.
 * Duma Kumalo, 48, South African human rights activist, one of the Sharpeville Six, film-maker and founding member of the Khulumani Support Group for victims of apartheid-related violence.
 * Al Lewis, 82, American actor (The Munsters, Car 54, Where Are You?, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?).
 * Romano Mussolini, 78, Italian jazz musician and painter.
 * Denne Petitclerc, 76, American journalist, screenwriter, and friend of Ernest Hemingway.
 * Johnny Vaught, 96, American college football player, coach, and college athletics administrator, NCAA championship-winning University of Mississippi football coach.

4

 * Jack Taylor (heavyweight man), once heaviest man in UK.
 * Jenő Dalnoki, 73, Hungarian Olympic football player and manager (1952 gold medal, 1960 bronze medal).
 * Friedrich Engel, 97, German Nazi SS officer.
 * Betty Friedan, 85, American feminist and writer, congestive heart failure.
 * William Augustus Jones Jr., 71, American Civil Rights pioneer.
 * Barbara W. Leyden, 56, American palynologist and paleoecologist.
 * Joe McGuff, 79, American sportswriter and newspaper editor, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
 * Elena Carter Richardson, 57, Mexican-born principal dancer and teacher, cancer.
 * Myron Waldman, 97, American animator for Betty Boop and Superman cartoons, congestive heart failure.

5

 * Norma Candal, 75, Puerto Rican comedian, actress and drama teacher, head injury.
 * Franklin Cover, 77, American actor (The Jeffersons, Wall Street, The Stepford Wives), pneumonia.
 * Reuven Frank, 85, American TV journalism pioneer and former NBC News president, complications from pneumonia.
 * Stuart Mason, 57, English footballer.
 * Ray Owen, 65, English rugby league player and administrator.
 * Peter Philp, 85, British dramatist and antiques expert.
 * Sir Alberto Rodrigues, 94, Hong Kong physician and politician.
 * Jack Taylor, 60, one of the heaviest men in Britain, heart attack.

6

 * John Brightman, Baron Brightman, 94, UK lawyer and former Lord of Appeal.
 * Mario Condello, 53, Australian lawyer and gangland criminal, shot.
 * Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 80, American comedian and actor, cancer.
 * Stella Ross-Craig, 99, English illustrator, one of the most prodigious of flora illustrators.
 * Esther Sandoval, 78, Puerto Rican actress.
 * Karin Struck, 58, German writer, cancer.
 * Kouji Totani, 57, Japanese voice actor (Fist of the North Star, Metal Gear, Dragon Ball Z), heart failure.

7

 * Glenn Lee Benner II, 43, American convicted murderer, executed by lethal injection.
 * Sándor Garay, 86, Hungarian Olympic athlete.
 * George Millay, 76, American businessman and founder of SeaWorld, lung cancer.
 * Max Rosenn, 96, American judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1970–2006).
 * Mitchell Rupe, 51, American convicted murderer ruled too heavy to be hanged, liver disease.
 * Alan Shalleck, 76, American television writer and director (Curious George), murdered.

8

 * Larry Black, 54, American track and field medalist at 1972 Summer Olympics, aneurysm.
 * Elton Dean, 60, English jazz saxophonist, heart and liver related problems.
 * Michael Gilbert, 93, British mystery author and lawyer.
 * Ron Greenwood, 84, British football manager, England national team, West Ham United.
 * Akira Ifukube, 91, Japanese film composer, best known for Godzilla film series.
 * Mart Kenney, 95, Canadian jazz musician and bandleader, "Canada's Big Band King," complications from a fall.
 * Gigi Parrish, 92, American actress, later known as Katherine Weld.
 * Kuljeet Randhawa, 30, Indian television actress, suicide.

9

 * Phil Brown, 89, American actor (Star Wars, Calling Dr. Gillespie, Oppenheimer).
 * Ibolya Csák, 91, Hungarian athlete, 1936 Olympic gold medalist in women's high jump.
 * Gilles Kahn, 59, French computer scientist.
 * Sir Freddie Laker, 83, British entrepreneur, founder of Laker Airways.
 * Nadira, 75, Indian Bollywood actress.
 * Laurie Z, 48, American musician, lung cancer.

10

 * John Belluso, 36, American playwright, Engleman-Camurdrie syndrome.
 * Fernando Pereira de Freitas, 71, Brazilian Olympic basketball player.
 * Jill Fraser, 59, British theatre director, cancer.
 * Dick Harmon, 58, American golfer and golf instructor.
 * Knut-Olaf Haustein, 71, German physician.
 * John Prentice, 79, Scottish football player and manager.
 * Norman Shumway, 83, American surgeon, performed first U.S. heart transplant, lung cancer.
 * Peter Smith, 65, British trade union leader, oesophageal cancer.
 * Juan Soriano, 85, Mexican painter and sculptor.
 * André Strappe, 77, French football player.
 * James Yancey aka J Dilla, 32, American hip hop record producer and MC, lupus nephritis.

11

 * Peter Benchley, 65, American author and screenwriter (Jaws, The Deep), pulmonary fibrosis.
 * Peggy Cripps Appiah, 84, British-Ghanaian children's author.
 * Ken Fletcher, 65, Australian tennis player, cancer.
 * Jackie "Mr. TV" Pallo, 79, British professional wrestler, cancer.
 * Harry Schein, 81, Austrian-born founder of Swedish Film Institute, author and columnist.
 * Jockey Shabalala, 62, South African singer with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
 * Thomas A. Spragens, 88, American administrator, former president of Centre College.
 * Harry Vines, 67, American wheelchair basketball coach.

12

 * Lenny Dee, 83, American virtuoso organist.
 * Henri Guédon, 61, French percussionist.
 * Pamela O'Malley, 76, Irish-Spanish activist and educationalist and radical, stroke.
 * Juan Sánchez-Navarro y Peón, 92, Mexican entrepreneur and co-founder of National Action Party.

13

 * John Brooke-Little, 78, English author and officer of arms.
 * Ilan Halimi, French Jew kidnapped and murdered by a gang from a banlieue. Possibly anti-Semitic murder.
 * Jaakko Honko, 83, Finnish economist.
 * Andreas Katsulas, 59, American actor (Babylon 5, The Fugitive, Star Trek: The Next Generation), lung cancer.
 * Alan M. Levin, 79, American documentary filmmaker.
 * Edna Lewis, 89, American author of cookbooks on Southern U.S. cuisine.
 * Altynbek Sarsenbayev, 43, Kazakh politician, former cabinet minister, assassinated.
 * Sir Peter Strawson, 86, British philosopher.
 * Joseph Ujlaki, 76, Hungarian-born French football player.
 * Wang Xuan, 70, Chinese academic and IT expert.

14

 * Ramon Bagatsing, 89, Filipino politician, Mayor of Manila, cardiac arrest.
 * Yehuda Chitrik, 106, Russian-born rabbi and Lubavitch storyteller.
 * Darry Cowl, 80, French actor and pianist, lung cancer.
 * Shoshana Damari, 83, Yemeni-born Israeli singer, "Queen of Israeli song," pneumonia.
 * Michael G. Fitzgerald, 55, American film historian and author.
 * Lynden David Hall, 31, British soul singer, Hodgkin's lymphoma.
 * Tage Møller, 91, Danish Olympic cyclist.
 * Don Paarlberg, 94, American agricultural economics adviser to three U.S. Presidents.
 * Michael Posner, 74, British economist.
 * Putte Wickman, 81, Swedish jazz orchestra leader and clarinetist, cancer.

15

 * Barbara Guest, 85, American poet of the New York School.
 * Anna Marly, 88, Russian-born songwriter, France's "Troubadour of the Resistance.".
 * Andrei Petrov, 75, Russian composer.
 * Robert E. Rich, Sr., 92, American businessman, creator of first non dairy whipped topping.
 * Sun Yun-suan, 93, Chinese engineer and politician, former Premier of Republic of China, heart attack.
 * Josip Vrhovec, 79, Croatian Yugoslav communist politician, former foreign minister of Yugoslavia.
 * Lim Hock Soon, 41, murder victim who was shot to death in Singapore by former acquaintance and gangster Tan Chor Jin

16

 * Paul Avrich, 74, American professor and historian of anarchism, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Benno Besson, 83, Swiss stage director.
 * Johnny Grunge, 39, American pro wrestler, sleep apnea complications.
 * Sid Feller, 89, American music arranger, conductor and record producer.
 * Dennis Kirkland, 63, British television producer and director, after a short illness.
 * Ernie Stautner, 80, German-born American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers) and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Alzheimer's disease.

17

 * Ray Barretto, 76, American-born Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader, heart failure.
 * Sybille Bedford, 94, German-born British novelist and memoirist.
 * Paul Carr, 72, American actor (Akira, Raise the Titanic, Star Trek), lung cancer.
 * Bill Cowsill, 58, American singer, lead of The Cowsills, emphysema and other ailments.
 * Gertrude Ganote, 86, American baseball player (AAGPBL).
 * Harold Hunter, 31, American pro skateboarder, in movie Kids, suspected drug overdose.
 * Bob Lewis, 81, American race horse owner, congestive heart failure.
 * Jorge Pinto Mendonça, 51, Brazilian football player, heart attack.
 * Yevgeny Samoilov, 94, Russian actor.

18

 * Richard Bright, 68, American actor (The Godfather, Marathon Man, Once Upon a Time in America), traffic collision.
 * Bill Hartley, 75, Australian political activist and trade unionist.
 * Laurel Hester, 49, American gay rights activist, lung cancer.
 * Charles Leonard, 92, American US Army Major General and Olympic sharpshooter.
 * Tom Sellers, 83, American newspaper reporter and 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner, heart attack.
 * Ruth Taylor, 44, Canadian poet, alcohol poisoning.
 * Saulius Mykolaitis, 40, Lithuanian director, actor, and singer-songwriter.

19

 * Angelo Brignole, 81, Italian cyclist.
 * Ken Keuffel, 82, American college football coach, prostate cancer.
 * Erna Lazarus, 102, American screenwriter.
 * Edward H. McNamara, 79, American county official.

20

 * Lou Gish, 35, British stage, film and television actress, cancer.
 * Curt Gowdy, 86, American sports broadcaster, leukemia.
 * Paul Marcinkus, 84, American Catholic archbishop, President of Vatican Bank and Pro-President of Vatican City State.
 * Lucjan Wolanowski, 86, Polish journalist, writer and traveller.

21

 * Gennadiy Aygi, 71, Russian author and poet who wrote in the Chuvash language.
 * Theodore Draper, 93, American historian and political commentator.
 * Mirko Marjanović, 68, Serbian politician, Prime Minister of Serbia (1994–2000).
 * Angelica Rozeanu, 84, Romanian-born table tennis world champion, cirrhosis.
 * Stefan Terlezki, 78, British Conservative Member of Parliament 1983–1987.

22

 * Bill Bagnall, 80, American magazine publisher and editor (Motorcyclist).
 * Atwar Bahjat, 30, Iraqi journalist for al-Arabiya, abducted and killed in Iraq.
 * Anthony Burger, 44, American gospel music pianist, collapsed during performance.
 * Hilde Domin, 96, German poet and writer.
 * Donelson Hoopes, 73, American curator.
 * Edward Nalbandian, 78, American businessman, owner of Zachary All Clothing in Los Angeles, Alzheimer's disease.
 * S. Rajaratnam, 90, Singaporean politician, first Senior Minister of Singapore, heart failure.
 * John Sullivan, 61, English cricketer.
 * Bill Tung, 72, Hong Kong actor, horse racing commentator.
 * Richard Wawro, 52, Scottish autistic savant internationally recognized artist, cancer.

23

 * Giuseppe Amici, 67, Sammarinese politician, former Captain Regent of San Marino.
 * Frederick Busch, 64, American author, heart attack.
 * Said Mohamed Djohar, 87, Comorian politician, former President of Comoros.
 * Muhammad Shamsul Huq, 93, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
 * Luna Leopold, 90, American ecologist and author.
 * Machteld Mellink, 88, Netherlands-born American archaeologist of sites in Anatolia.
 * Diane Shalet, 71, American actress and author.
 * Earl Stallings, 89, American Baptist minister and activist, praised by Martin Luther King Jr. in the "Letter from Birmingham Jail".
 * Telmo Zarraonaindía, 85, Spanish football player, heart attack.

24

 * Octavia Butler, 58, American science fiction author and MacArthur Foundation Fellow, head injury.
 * Harold Faragher, 88, English cricketer.
 * Don Knotts, 81, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Three's Company, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken), 5-time Emmy winner, complications from pneumonia and lung cancer.
 * John Martin, 58, Canadian broadcaster, throat cancer.
 * Andrew Sherratt, 59, British archaeologist at the University of Sheffield, heart failure.
 * Denis Twitchett, 80, British Sinologist and scholar, Gordon Wu Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University (1980–1994), creator of the 15 volume The Cambridge History of China.
 * Dennis Weaver, 81, American actor (Gunsmoke, McCloud, Duel), Emmy winner (1959), complications from cancer.

25

 * Kenneth Deane, 45, Canadian police officer convicted in Ipperwash shooting, automobile accident.
 * Thomas Koppel, 61, Danish musician and composer from the band Savage Rose.
 * Liang Lingguang, 89, Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician, Minister of Light Industry (1977–1980), Mayor of Guangzhou (1980–1983), Governor of Guangdong (1983–1985).
 * Darren McGavin, 83, American actor (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, A Christmas Story, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer).
 * Henry M. Morris, 87, American young earth creationist leader, complications of stroke.
 * Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, 69, Ethiopian Poet Laureate, kidney disease.
 * Imette St. Guillen, 24, American Hispanic John Jay College of Criminal Justice student, murdered.

26

 * Georgina Battiscombe, 100, British author & biographer.
 * Bill Cardoso, 68, American writer and editor, coined the term "gonzo", heart failure.
 * Noel Diprose, 83, Australian cricketer.
 * Sir Hans Singer, 95, German-born British economist, helped create the World Food Program and the United Nations Development Program.
 * Charlie Wayman, 84, English footballer (Southampton, Preston North End).

27

 * Alice Baker, 107, British World War I service veteran, last surviving British woman to serve in the First World War, member of the Royal Flying Corps.
 * Ferenc Bene, 61, Hungarian football player, fall.
 * Otis Chandler, 78, American former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Lewy body disease.
 * Fahd Faraj al-Juwair, 36, Saudi Arabian alleged head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, killed in foiled bombing attempt.
 * Milton Katims, 96, American violist and conductor, long-time conductor and leader of the Seattle Symphony.
 * Tsakani Mhinga, 27, South African R&B singer, drug overdose.
 * William Musto, 88, American politician, former mayor of Union City, New Jersey, convicted of racketeering.
 * Robert Lee Scott, Jr., 97, American general officer, retired United States Air Force brigadier general and fighter ace, author (God is My Co-Pilot).
 * Linda Smith, 48, British comedian, ovarian cancer.

28

 * James Ronald "Bunkie" Blackburn, 69, American NASCAR driver.
 * Owen Chamberlain, 85, American particle physicist, co-discoverer of the antiproton, winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics, complications from Parkinson's Disease.
 * Travis Claridge, 27, American football player (Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats), pneumonia.
 * Hugh McCartney, 86, Scottish politician, former Labour Party MP.
 * Ron Cyrus, 70, American politician, lung cancer.
 * Peter Snow, c. 70, New Zealand doctor who discovered "Tapanui flu" (chronic fatigue syndrome).