Deaths in January 1987

The following is a list of notable deaths in January 1987.

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

 * Velma Abbott, 57, American baseballer in the American Girls Professional Baseball League.
 * Avard Fairbanks, 89, American sculptor, heart attack.
 * Maurice Mandelbaum, 78, American philosopher and phenomenologist.

2

 * Ramón Castroviejo, 82, Spanish and American eye surgeon and corneal transplantation pioneer.
 * Hazel Daly, 91, American film actress.
 * Lovat Dickson, 84, Canadian publisher and writer.
 * Arthur Gould-Porter, 81, English film, television and stage actor.
 * Jean de Gribaldy, 64, French road cyclist and directeur sportif.
 * Harekrushna Mahatab, 87, Indian politician, leader of the Indian National Congress, Chief Minister of Odisha.
 * Alfred Schindler, 92, American industrialist, acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

3

 * Alex "Big Daddy" Campbell, 55, Scottish folk singer, tuberculosis.
 * Arvind Deshpande, 54, Indian film, theatre and television actor and theatre director.
 * Sunder Lal, Indian independence activist and politician, Member of Parliament.
 * John Bartlow Martin, 71, American diplomat, author and ambassador, throat cancer.
 * William R. Poage, 87, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, heart failure.
 * Franck Sylvain, 77, Haitian politician, acting President of Haiti.

4

 * Peggy Bacon, 91, American artist, known for satirical caricatures.
 * Lauretta Bender, 89, American child neuropsychiatrist, developed the Bender-Gestalt Test.
 * Aubert C. Dunn, 90, American attorney and politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
 * John A. Seitz, 78, American general of the U.S. Army.

5

 * Margaret Laurence, 60, Canadian novelist and short story writer, suicide.
 * Dale Mitchell, 65, American Major League baseballer, heart attack.
 * Helenka Pantaleoni, 86, American silent-screen actress.
 * Herman Smith-Johannsen, 111, Norwegian skier and supercentenarian, pneumonia.

6

 * Taddy Aycock, 71, American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana.
 * Daniel Carney, 42, Rhodesian novelist, cancer.
 * Sir Robert Cooke, 56, British politician, Member of Parliament, motor neuron disease.
 * Margaret Danhauser, 65, American baseballer in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
 * Jaidev, 68, Kenyan-Indian music composer.
 * N. N. Kakkad, 59, Indian poet, cancer.
 * Jack Schwarz, 90, American independent producer of low-budget feature films.

7

 * Martha George, 94, native American tribal leader, chairperson of the Suquamish tribe.
 * Lakshmi, 65, Indian writer.
 * Avner Less, 71, German-Israeli police officer, interrogated Adolf Eichmann after he was captured.
 * Jackie Mitchell, 73, American female baseballer, struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.

8

 * Wilfrid Jasper Walter Blunt, 85, English art teacher, writer, artist and curator of Watts Gallery.
 * Leo Callaghan, 62, Welsh football referee in the English Football League.
 * Nana Joshi, 60, Indian Test cricketer, liver cancer.
 * Mary Lindell, 91, English woman, front-line nurse in World War I, member of the French Resistance in World War II.
 * Walter R. Mansfield, 75, American judge, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, stroke.
 * Myron Prinzmetal, 78, American cardiologist.
 * Christian F. Schilt, 91, American general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
 * Phil Seghi, 77, American front-office executive in Major League Baseball, cancer.

9

 * Carl Gunnar Engström, 74, Swedish physician and inventor.
 * Arthur Lake, 81, American actor, heart attack.
 * Jack Lathrop, 73, American vocalist and guitarist.
 * Bill Noël, 72, American oilman, industrialist, banker, philanthropist and civic leader, cancer.
 * Alex B. Novikoff, 73, Russian Empire–born American biologist.

10

 * Steve Casey, 78, Irish sport rower and world champion wrestler.
 * Ian Harvey, 72, British businessman and politician, Member of Parliament.
 * Marion Hutton, 67, American singer and actress, cancer.
 * Dominick Labino, 76, American engineer and master craftsman in glass.
 * Handsome Ned, 29, Canadian country singer and songwriter, overdose.
 * David Robinson, 82, British entrepreneur and philanthropist, funded Robinson College, Cambridge and Rosie Hospital.
 * Ferdinand Maria von Senger und Etterlin, 63, Nazi German soldier, general in the post-war Bundeswehr.

11

 * Albert Ferber, 75, Swiss pianist.
 * Hugo Fregonese, 78, Argentine film director and screenwriter (My Six Convicts), heart attack.
 * Betty von Fürer-Haimendorf, 75–76, British ethnologist in India and Nepal.
 * Jacques Hérold, 76, Romanian surrealist painter.

12

 * Harold Krents, 42, blind American lawyer, author and activist, brain tumour.
 * Ralph Maxwell Lewis, 82, American mystic, Imperator of the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis.
 * Norah Michener, 84–85, Canadian wife of Roland Michener, Governor General of Canada, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Glenn Odekirk, 81, American aerospace engineer, cancer.
 * Herbert Tiede, 71, German actor.

13

 * Vladimir Alatortsev, 77, Soviet chess player, author and administrator.
 * Alfred Young Allee, 81, American Texas ranger, sheriff and game warden, cancer.
 * Anatoly Efros, 61, Soviet theatre and film director, heart attack.
 * Charlotte Friend, 65, American virologist, noted for her discovery of the Friend leukemia virus.
 * Matt Hazeltine, American NFL footballer (San Francisco 49ers), Lou Gehrig's disease.
 * Igor Ilyinsky, 85, Soviet stage and film actor, director and comedian.
 * Elvira Ríos, 73, Mexican singer (Noche de ronda, Perfidia) and actress, kidney failure and bladder cancer.
 * Tony Sansone, 81, Italian-American bodybuilder and model, colon cancer.
 * Geoffrey Tiarks, 77, British Anglican bishop.

14

 * Warwick Oswald Fairfax, 85, Australian businessman and journalist.
 * Desmond FitzGerald, 75, Irish architect, designer of original Dublin Airport terminal building.
 * Park Jong-chul, 21, South Korean democracy movement activist, death by torture.
 * Gerald C. MacCallum Jr., 61, American philosopher, heart attack.
 * Douglas Sirk, 89, German-born film director (A Time to Love and a Time to Die).
 * Rauli Somerjoki, 39, Finnish rock singer, bronchitis.
 * Jai Ram Varma, 82, Indian freedom fighter and politician, Member of Parliament.
 * Sam Wagstaff, 65, American art curator and collector, pneumonia.

15

 * Carl-Fredrik Algernon, 61, Swedish Navy officer, hit by train.
 * Harald Bode, 77, German engineer, pioneer in the development of electronic musical instruments.
 * Ray Bolger, 83, American actor, singer and dancer, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, bladder cancer.
 * Rudolf Carl, 87, Austrian actor.
 * José Antonio Gallardo, 25, Spanish footballer (Málaga), cardiac arrest following injury in game.
 * Dolores Hawkins, 57, American rhythm and blues singer.
 * John Alexander Fraser Roberts, 87, Welsh geneticist and psychiatrist.
 * Heather Thatcher, 90, English actress in theatre and films.
 * Philip Young, 76, American government official and diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, heart attack.

16

 * Achankunju, 56, Indian actor.
 * Arthur Drexler, 61, American museum curator, director of the Museum of Modern Art, pancreatic cancer.
 * Joyce Jameson, 59, American actress (The Andy Griffith Show, The Apartment), suicide.
 * Lita McClinton, 35, American socialite and murder victim.
 * Colin Scrimgeour, 83, New Zealand Methodist Minister and broadcaster.
 * V. Viswanathan, 77, Indian ICS officer, Governor of Kerala, Lieutenant Governor of Himachal Pradesh.
 * Bertram Wainer, 58, Australian doctor, campaigned for legal access to abortion in Victoria, heart attack.
 * Earl Wilson, 79, American journalist and author, stroke.

17

 * Aram Avakian, 60, American film editor and director, heart failure.
 * Harry Darby, 91, American politician, U.S. Senator.
 * Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, 82, Tibetan Buddhist leader.
 * Lawrence Kohlberg, 59, American psychologist, suicide.
 * Jozo Penava, 77, Bosnian-Herzegovinian music producer, composer, arranger, musician and vocalist.
 * Fazil Rahu, 52–53, Pakistani political leader, assassinated.
 * Gu Zhutong, 94, Chinese military general, Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of China Armed Forces.

18

 * Sergio Blažić, 35, Croatian hard rock musician (Atomsko Sklonište), Hodgkin's disease.
 * Esmail Daghayeghi, 32–33, Iranian military commander, hit by missile.
 * Renato Guttuso, 75, Italian painter and politician, member of the Senate, cancer.
 * Helen Block Lewis, 73, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, cancer.
 * Lauro Salas, 58, Mexican lightweight boxer and world champion.
 * George Thalben-Ball, 90, Australian-English organist and composer.

19

 * Gerald Brenan, 92, Maltese-writer of British decent who lived mostly in Spain, heart failure.
 * Harry Keller, 73, American film editor and director.
 * Ira C. Kepford, 67, American pilot with the U.S. Navy, flying ace in World War II.
 * Dick Milford, 91, English clergyman.
 * George Selkirk, 79, Canadian Major League baseballer (New York Yankees).
 * Hermann Voss, 92, German anatomist, unpunished Nazi war criminal.

20

 * Tom Dollery, 72, English Test cricketer.
 * Annie Fox, 93, Canadian-American, first woman to receive the Purple Heart for combat.
 * Hermann Giesler, 88, Nazi German architect.
 * Charles Pasquale Greco, 92, American Roman Catholic Church bishop.
 * Donald W. MacKinnon, 84, American psychologist and University of California professor.
 * Thomas "Ta" Power, 33, Irish politician and paramilitary, shot.
 * James L. Richardson, 77, American lieutenant general in the U.S. Army.
 * Periyasaamy Thooran, 78, Indian Tamil poet, teacher and composer of Carnatic music.

21

 * Jenny Aubry, 83, French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
 * Nina Byron, 86, New Zealand-American silent-screen actress and showgirl.
 * Victor Goddard, 89, British senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
 * Charles Goodell, 60, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, heart attack.
 * Ikki Kajiwara, 50, Japanese author, manga writer and film producer.

22

 * Barbro Alving, 78, Swedish journalist, writer, pacifist and feminist.
 * Ann Parker Bowles, 68, British aristocrat and Girl Guides leader, mother-in-law of Queen Camilla.
 * R. Budd Dwyer, 47, American politician, suicide.
 * Stan Keon, 71, Australian politician, member of the Federal House of Representatives.
 * Patrick du Val, 83, British mathematician (du Val singularity).

23

 * Ben-Zion, 89, Russian-American painter, sculptor and poet, heart attack.
 * E. Nelson Bridwell, 55, American writer for Mad magazine, lung cancer.
 * Sergei Chernikov, 74, Russian mathematician.
 * Asim Ferhatović, 53, Yugoslavian international footballer (Sarajevo, Yugoslavia), heart attack.
 * Gregor Strniša, 56, Slovenian poet, playwright and songwriter.

24

 * Norman Dodd, 87, American banker and bank manager.
 * Tetsuji Murakami, 59, Japanese karate representative to Europe.
 * Clara Thalmann, 78, Swiss journalist, athlete and militia woman who fought during the Spanish Civil War.

25

 * William Devlin, 75, Scottish film and television actor.
 * Julian Hoke Harris, 80, American sculptor.
 * Emil Hlobil, 85, Czech composer and music professor.
 * Henry Krips, 74, Austrian-Australian conductor and composer (South Australian Symphony Orchestra).
 * Nahuel Moreno, 62, Argentinian Trotskyist leader.
 * Mihrişah Sultan, 70, Ottoman princess, daughter of heir to the throne Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin.
 * Piero Vida, 48, Italian film actor.

26

 * Adolf Ciborowski, 67, Polish architect, urban planner and politician.
 * Mollie Maureen, 82, Irish actress.
 * Charles Wolcott, 80, American music composer.

27

 * Allan V. Cox, 60, American geophysicist (geomagnetic reversal), suicide.
 * Allison Danzig, 88, American sportswriter, heart attack.
 * Geoffrey Charles Evans, 86, English lieutenant general in the British Army.
 * Samuel G. Fuqua, 87, American rear admiral of the U.S. Navy.
 * Antanas Maceina, 79, Lithuanian philosopher and poet.
 * Norman McLaren, 72, Scottish Canadian animator and director, heart attack.
 * Ralph G. Neppel, 63, American soldier in the U.S. Army.
 * Richard Sapir, 50, American author, (The Destroyer), heart attack.

28

 * Gangadhar V. Chittal, 63, Indian Kannada poet, Parkinson's disease.
 * George Dow, 79, British railway employee and author.
 * Ralph Faulkner, 95, American fencer, film actor and Olympian.
 * Galo Plaza, 80, Ecuadorian statesman, President of Ecuador, heart attack.
 * Valerian Trifa, 72, Romanian Orthodox cleric and fascist political activist, heart attack.

29

 * Carlo Cassola, 69, Italian novelist and essayist (La Ragazza di Bube), heart attack.
 * Emvin Cremona, 67, Maltese artist and stamp designer.
 * Mounir Abou Fadel, 74, Lebanese politician, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon.
 * Josep Vicenç Foix, 94, Spanish Catalan poet, writer and essayist.
 * Vincent R. Impellitteri, 86, Italian-American politician and judge, Mayor of New York City, heart failure.
 * Gerhard Klopfer, 81, German Nazi Party official and chief deputy of Martin Bormann.
 * Princess Pilar of Bavaria, 95, German Royal, only daughter of Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria.
 * Eva Primrose, 94, English daughter of Henry Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare.

30

 * Dionysios Arbouzis, appr. 74, Greek Hellenic Army general.
 * Johnnie Cradock, 82, English cook, writer and broadcaster.
 * Ken Drake, 65, American film and television actor.
 * Ante Topić Mimara, 88, Croatian art collector.
 * Héctor Varela, 73, Argentinian tango bandoneónist, bandleader and composer.

31

 * Yves Allégret, 81, French film director.
 * Julian Antonisz, 55, Polish filmmaker, artist and composer.
 * Idris Barzani, 42–43, Kurdish politician, heart attack.
 * Edmund J. Pendleton, 87, American composer and musician.

Unknown date

 * Delano Ames, 80–81, American writer of detective stories.
 * Pierre Chapo, 59, French furniture designer and craftsman, Lou Gehrig's disease.
 * Don Levy, 54–55, Australian-born artist and filmmaker, suicide.
 * Atholl Oakeley, 86, British wrestler and wrestling promoter.
 * Saul Tepper, 87, American illustrator and songwriter.