Deaths in March 2003

The following is a list of notable deaths in March 2003.

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

 * Elaine Barrie, 87, American actress (Midnight), fourth wife of John Barrymore.
 * Nadine Conner, 96, American operatic soprano, radio singer and music teacher.
 * Gauri Deshpande, 61, Indian novelist, short story writer, and poet.
 * Franjo Glaser, 90, Croatian footballer.
 * Roger Michael Needham, 68, British computer scientist, pioneered computer password one-way hash functions, cancer.
 * Adeyinka Oyekan, 91, Oba of Lagos (1965–2003).
 * Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth, 81, German princess.
 * Major Sundarrajan, 68, Indian actor and director.

2

 * Roger Albertsen, 45, Norwegian footballer, cancer.
 * Hank Ballard, 66, American singer (The Midnighters), composer, famous for his hit "The Twist", esophageal cancer.
 * William Blezard, 81, English composer and arranger for Noël Coward, Marlene Dietrich, Joyce Grenfell, Honor Blackman.
 * Bill Carruthers, 72, American television executive, stroke.
 * Joe Decker, 55, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners), fall.
 * George Edwards, 94, British aircraft designer.
 * Fred Freiberger, 88, American film and television writer and television producer.
 * Malcolm Williamson, 71, Australian composer, Master of the Queen's Music.
 * Goffredo Petrassi, 98, Italian composer and conductor of modern classical music.
 * Bill Woggon, 87, American cartoonist who created the comic book Katy Keene.

3

 * Gilbert Wheeler Beebe, 90, American epidemiologist and statistician, pioneered radiation exposure studies.
 * Ann A. Bernatitus, 91, American U.S. Navy nurse, Legion of Merit for heroism during the siege of Bataan and Corregidor.
 * Horst Buchholz, 69, German actor (The Magnificent Seven, One, Two, Three, Life Is Beautiful), pneumonia.
 * Dick Garrard, 92, Australian Olympic wrestler (silver medal in men's freestyle welterweight at the 1948 Summer Olympics).
 * Kenta, 54, Swedish musician, cancer.
 * Malcolm Kilduff, 75, American journalist.
 * Luis Marden, 90, American photographer, explorer, writer, and filmmaker, Parkinson's disease.

4

 * Fedora Barbieri, 82, Italian operatic mezzo-soprano and actress.
 * Michel Block, 65, Belgian-French pianist.
 * Celly Campello, 60, Brazilian rock singer and performer, breast cancer.
 * Jaba Ioseliani, 76, Georgian politician, writer, and 'thief in law', heart attack.
 * Sébastien Japrisot, 71, French author, screenwriter and film director.
 * Oliver Payne Pearson, 87, American zoologist and ecologist.

5

 * Edwin Hardy Amies, 93, English fashion designer, official dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth II.
 * Marianne Baudler, 81, German chemist.
 * George Miller, 61, American stand-up comedian, leukemia.
 * Gerhard Rosenfeld, 72, German composer.
 * Dzhabrail Yamadayev, 32, Chechen rebel field commander, killed by a bomb.

6

 * Linton Garner, 87, American jazz pianist.
 * Ernst B. Haas, 78, German-American political scientist.
 * Claus Helberg, 84, Norwegian and mountain guide and resistance member during World War II.
 * Ramón Mestre, 65, Argentine politician, hepatitis.
 * Luděk Pachman, 78, Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist.
 * Maurice Rheims, 93, French art auctioneer, art historian and novelist.
 * Sam Scorer, 80, English architect.
 * Gábor Mádi Szabó, 80, Hungarian actor.
 * Saba Youakim, 88, Lebanses archbishop.
 * Alice Martineau, 30, English singer.

7

 * Mehmed Alagić, 55, Bosnian Army general.
 * José Márcio Ayres, 49, Brazilian conservationist and zoologist, founded Brazilian rain forest reserves, lung cancer.
 * Manfred Durniok, 68, German film producer, director and screenwriter, heart attack.
 * Monica Hughes, 77, Canadian science fiction author.

8

 * Ibrahim al-Makadmeh, 51, Palestinian and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, targeted killing by Israel.
 * Cho Byung-hwa, 81, South Korean poet.
 * Adam Faith, 62, British singer and actor, heart attack.
 * Wallace M. Greene, 95, United States Marine Corps four-star general.
 * Eduard Izotov, 66, Soviet film actor.
 * Elliott Jaques, 86, Canadian psychoanalyst and social scientist who coined the term "midlife crisis".
 * Karen Morley, 93, American film actress and political activist, pneumonia.
 * José Manuel Blecua Teijeiro, 90, Spanish philologist and academic.

9

 * Stan Brakhage, 70, American filmmaker, bladder cancer.
 * Žarko Dolinar, 82, Croatian biologist and table tennis player.
 * Bernard Dowiyogo, 57, President of Nauru, cardiac complications from diabetes.
 * Rolf Hagedorn, 83, German theoretical physicist.
 * Dzidra Ritenberga, 74, Latvian actress and film director.

10

 * Víctor Alba, 86, Spanish communist politician, journalist, writer and academic.
 * Tom Boardman, Baron Boardman, 84, British businessman and politician (MP for Leicester South West, Leicester South).
 * Geoffrey Kirk, 81, British classical scholar.
 * Marina Ladynina, 94, Soviet stage and film actress.
 * Barry Sheene, 52, British motorcycle racer and television sports presenter, esophageal cancer.
 * Fritz Spengler, 94, German field handball player and Olympic champion.
 * Naftali Temu, 57, Kenyan long-distance runner and Olympic champion, prostate cancer.
 * Ottorino Volonterio, 85, Swiss Formula One race car driver.

11

 * Brian Cleeve, 81, Anglo-Irish writer, heart attack.
 * Alta Cohen, 94, American baseball player (Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies).
 * John G. Dow, 97, American politician (U.S. Representative for New York's 27th congressional district).
 * Ivar Hansen, 64, Danish politician and speaker of the Folketing.
 * Kevin Laffan, 80, British playwright and screenwriter (Emmerdale), pneumonia.
 * Sidney Lippman, 89, American composer and songwriter.
 * Edson Raff, 95, American Army officer and writer.
 * Ludwig Streicher, 82, Austrian contrabassist.
 * Wayne D. Wright, 86, American horse racing jockey, winner of all three Triple Crown races.

12

 * Alys Faiz, 87, Pakistani writer and human rights activist.
 * Howard Fast, 88, American novelist.
 * Andrey Kivilev, 29, Kazakhstani road bicycle racer (2001 Route du Sud, 2000 Olympics, 1996 Olympics), fall during Paris–Nice race.
 * Slava Stetsko, 82, Ukrainian politician.
 * Lynne Thigpen, 54, American actress (The District, The Paper, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?), Tony winner (1997), cerebral hemorrhage.
 * Zoran Đinđić, 50, Serbian politician, Prime Minister (2001–2003), shot.

13

 * Abas Ermenji, 89, Albanian politician, historian and nationalist.
 * Enriko Josif, 78, Serbian composer, pedagogue and musical writer.
 * Roberto Murolo, 91, Italian musician.
 * Barry Patten, 75, Australian Olympic alpine skier and architect.
 * Ian Samwell, 66, English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer.
 * Christiane Schmidtmer, 63, German actress, fashion model and nude model.
 * Gus Yatron, 75, American politician (U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district).

14

 * Suresh Bhat, 70, India marathi poet.
 * Eugene Boyko, 80, Canadian filmmaker.
 * Harmon Craig, 76, American geochemist.
 * Amanda Davis, 32, American writer and teacher, plane crash.
 * Al Gionfriddo, 81, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers).
 * Jack Goldstein, 57, American artist, suicide.
 * Jean-Luc Lagardère, 75, French businessman, CEO of the Lagardère Group, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.
 * Ivan Rassimov, 64, Serbian-Italian film actor.

15

 * John Andru, 70, Canadian Olympic fencer.
 * Yevgeny Belyayev, 48, Soviet cross-country skier (Olympic medals: 1976 silver, 1976 bronze, 1980 gold).
 * Joseph Coors, 85, American businessman, president of Coors Brewing Company, lymphoma.
 * Thora Hird, 91, British actress, comedian, presenter and writer, stroke.
 * Bill Robertson, 79, British footballer.
 * Li Xuefeng, 96, Chinese politician.

16

 * Lawrence H. Aller, 89, American astronomer.
 * George Bayer, 77, American golfer, won three PGA Tour events, heart attack.
 * Rachel Corrie, 23, American International Solidarity Movement activist, crushed by Israeli Defense Forces bulldozer.
 * Ronald Ferguson, 71, father of UK royal divorcée Sarah, Duchess of York, heart attack.
 * Davis Hughes, 92, Australian politician.
 * Lars Passgård, 62, Swedish actor and theatre director.
 * Teemu Raimoranta, 25, Finnish metal musician, fall.

17

 * Herbert Aptheker, 87, American historian and political activist.
 * Thomas N. Barnes, 72, American Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, cancer.
 * Su Buqing, 100, Chinese mathematician.
 * Bill Carlisle, 94, American country music singer, songwriter and comedian.
 * Henryk de Kwiatkowski, 79, Polish-Canadian businessman and thoroughbred horse owner and breeder, pneumonia.
 * Yvette Etiévant, 80, French actress.
 * Alan Keith, 94, British broadcaster.
 * Charles Salatka, 85, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
 * Robert Shelton, 73, American clansman, heart attack.

18

 * József Balla, 47, Hungarian wrestler (men's Olympic freestyle super-heavyweight wrestling: 1976 silver medal, 1980 silver medal), heart failure.
 * Oles Berdnyk, 76, Ukrainian science fiction writer, philosopher and theologian.
 * Naomi Chance, 75, English film and television actress.
 * Bruno Heim, 92, Swiss ecclesiastical diplomat, Apostolic Nuncio to Britain.
 * Karl Kling, 92, German racing driver.
 * Viktor Kratasyuk, 54, Soviet and Georgian sprint canoer and Olympic champion.
 * Adam Osborne, 64, British-American computer pioneer (Osborne 1).

19

 * Joe Buzas, 83, American baseball player (New York Yankees) and minor league baseball team owner.
 * Micheline Coulibaly, 53, Ivorian short story writer.
 * Hiromichi Fuyuki, 42, Japanese professional wrestler and promoter, cancer.
 * Émile Genest, 81, Canadian actor, heart attack.
 * Olivier Long, 87, Swiss diplomat and director-general of the GATT.
 * Michael Mathias Prechtl, 76, German illustrator.
 * Rick Zumwalt, 51, American arm-wrestler and actor, heart attack.

20

 * Al Blades, 26, American professional football player (University of Miami, San Francisco 49ers), car accident.
 * Krishanu Dey, 41, Indian football player, pulmonary disorder.
 * Alberto López, 76, Argentine basketball player.
 * Sailor Art Thomas, 79, American professional wrestler, cancer.

21

 * Harry Eisenstat, 87, American baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians).
 * Leonard Hokanson, 71, American pianist, pancreatic cancer.
 * Shivani, 79, Indian writer.
 * Umar Wirahadikusumah, 78, Indonesian fourth Vice President (1983–1988).

22

 * Jim Anderson, 59, Australian politician.
 * Fernando Carcupino, 80, Italian painter, illustrator and comics artist.
 * Amado Cortez, 75, Filipino actor and diplomat.
 * Milton George Henschel, 82, American Jehovah's Witnesses executive and president of the Watch Tower Society.
 * Tadashi Kitta, 68, Japanese golfer.
 * Terry Lloyd, 50, British ITN reporter, shot by US forces in crossfire near Basra, Iraq.
 * Paul Moran, 39, Australian photojournalist, killed by suicide bomber.
 * Ali Akbar Navis, 78, Indonesian author, poet, and humorist.

23

 * Hideyo Amamoto, 77, Japanese actor, complications from pneumonia.
 * Violet Cliff, 86, British Olympic pair skater.
 * Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak, 73, Polish track and field athlete, winner of the 3000 metre steeplechase at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
 * Tage Nielsen, 74, Danish composer, teacher and music administrator.
 * Mohsen Nourbakhsh, 54, Iranian economist, heart attack.
 * Lori Piestewa, 23, United States Army soldier, killed in action.
 * Pier Luigi Romita, 78, Italian politician.
 * Fritz Spiegl, 77, Austrian-English musician, journalist, and broadcaster.

24

 * Jan Just Bos, 63, Dutch rower (bronze medal in men's coxed pair rowing at the 1964 Summer Olympics).
 * Hans Hermann Groër, 83, Austrian Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (1986–1995), pneumonia.
 * Murray Hill, 79, Australian realtor and politician.
 * Hussein Kamal, 70, Egyptian television, film and theatre director.
 * Yevgeny Klevtsov, 74, Russian cyclist and Olympic medalist.
 * Don Raffell, 83, American musician and educator.
 * Artie Shapiro, 87, American jazz bassist.
 * Philip Yordan, 88, American screenwriter, Academy Award for Best Story for Broken Lance, pancreatic cancer.

25

 * Masato Furuoya, 45, Japanese actor, suicide by hanging.
 * Vernon Hughes, 81, American physicist specializing in subatomic particles.
 * Michael Kidron, 72, British cartographer and Marxist theorist.
 * Mikhail Ryzhak, 76, Ukrainian water polo player and Olympic medalist.

26

 * Chuck Hansen, 55, American historian and U.S. nuclear program documents collector, cancer.
 * Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 76, American politician, sociologist, and diplomat, complications following appendectomy.
 * Babatunji Olowofoyeku, 85, Nigerian politician, educationist and lawyer.
 * Tauese Sunia, 61, Governor of American Samoa, heart attack.
 * José Tamayo, 82, Spanish theatre director and producer.
 * Rolf Thomsen, 87, German U-boat commander during World War II.
 * Nino Vingelli, 90, Italian film actor.
 * Dorothy Clarke Wilson, 98, American writer (Prince of Egypt).
 * Herbert Zangs, 78, German artist.

27

 * Edwin Carr, 76, New Zealand composer of classical music.
 * Daniel Ceccaldi, 75, French actor, liver cancer.
 * Jeremiah Duggan, 22, British student, traffic accident.
 * Fiorenzo Fiorentini, 82, Italian actor, author, screenwriter and radio personality, cerebral hemorrhage.
 * Frederic Lawrence Holmes, 71, American historian of science.
 * Dušan Spasojević, 34, Serbian criminal, killed by police.
 * Paul Zindel, 66, American playwright (The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), lung cancer.

28

 * Kadri Aytaç, 71, Turkish football player and manager, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Sam Bowens, 65, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators).
 * Robert Craddock, 79, American soccer player.
 * Rusty Draper, 80, American country and pop singer, pneumonia.
 * Ludwig Elsbett, 89, German mechanical engineer.
 * Aleksey Kuznetsov, 73, Soviet cross-country skier and Olympic medalist.
 * Bob Matz, 90, American animator.

29

 * Placide Adams, 73, American string bass player, drummer and vocalist.
 * Keinosuke Enoeda, 67, Japanese master of Shotokan karate.
 * Kurt Gimmi, 67, Swiss road bicycle racer.
 * Tadao Horie, 89, Japanese football player, pneumonia.
 * Kerim Kerimov, 85, Soviet and Russian astrophysicist and aerospace engineer.
 * Vladimir Pikalov, 78, Soviet general.
 * Carl Ridd, 73, Canadian scholar of religion, basketball player, and activist.
 * Matthew J. Ryan, 70, American politician.
 * Herbjørn Sørebø, 69, Norwegian journalist and broadcasting personality.
 * Carlo Urbani, 46, Italian WHO physician and microbiologist who discovered SARS, SARS.

30

 * Bruno Boni, 87, Italian rower (bronze medal in men's coxless pair at the 1948 Summer Olympics).
 * Vincent DePaul Breen, 66, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
 * Nick Enright, 52, Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director, melanoma.
 * Michael Jeter, 50, American actor (Evening Shade, Waterworld, Jurassic Park III), epilepsy.
 * Valentin Pavlov, 65, Soviet official, Prime Minister (1991), stroke.
 * Teno Roncalio, 87, American politician and writer, heart attack.
 * Patricia Vinnicombe, 71, South African-Australian archaeologist and art preservationist.

31

 * Lucian Adams, 80, American U.S. Army World War II soldier and Medal of Honor recipient.
 * Charly Bouvy, 60, Belgian bobsledder and field hockey player (1964 bobsleigh, 1968 field hockey, 1972 field hockey).
 * George Connor, 78, American football player (Notre Dame, Chicago Bears), member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 * Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, 96, British-Canadian geometer, academic and author.
 * Anne Gwynne, 84, American actress, stroke.
 * Semyon Lipkin, 91, Russian writer, poet, and literary translator.
 * Tommy Seebach, 53, Danish singer, composer, pianist and producer, heart attack.
 * Fermín Vélez, 43, Spanish sports car racing driver, cancer.