Deaths in May 2006

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 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

 * Jay Presson Allen, 84, American screenwriter, stroke.
 * Wilfrid Butt, 83, English biochemist and reproductive endocrinologist.
 * Ed Casey, 73, Australian politician, former Queensland Labor Party leader, stroke.
 * George F. Haines, 82, American Olympic swimming coach, complications from a stroke.
 * Betsy Jones-Moreland, 76, American film and television actress, cancer.
 * Rob Lacey, 43, British stage actor and award-winning Christian author, bladder cancer.
 * Rauno Lehtinen, 74, Finnish composer.
 * Johnny Paris, 65, American saxophonist (Johnny & the Hurricanes).
 * Bruce Peterson, 72, American test pilot and engineer, known for surviving the crash of the M2-F2 and inspiring the TV-series The Six Million Dollar Man.
 * Raúl Francisco Primatesta, 87, Argentine retired Cardinal Archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina. Slim Aarons Gets ripped off the paper photo

2

 * Clive Burgess, 55, Welsh rugby union player.
 * Joseph Lewis Clark, 57, American convicted murderer, executed in Ohio.
 * Boyd Coffie, 68, American baseball player and manager, cancer.
 * Luigi Griffanti, 89, Italian footballer, goalkeeper of ACF Fiorentina in the 1940s.
 * Sam Mokuahi, Jr. aka "Sammy Steamboat", 71, American Hawaiian professional wrestler, complications from Alzheimer's disease.
 * Louis Rukeyser, 73, American business and economics expert, multiple myeloma.
 * Juan Ramón Salgado, 45, Honduran congressional deputy, gunshot wounds.

3

 * Karel Appel, 85, Dutch COBRA painter.
 * Rosita Fernandez, 88, American singer.
 * Franco Lavoratori, 65, Italian water polo player, Olympic Champion (1960).
 * Pramod Mahajan, 56, Indian politician, general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, gunshot wounds.
 * Howard Thomas Markey, 85, American federal judge and U.S. Air Force major general, first chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
 * Earl Woods, 74, American US Army infantry officer, father and former coach of U.S. golfer Tiger Woods, prostate cancer.

4

 * Alejandra Boero, 88, Argentine theater actress, director and teacher, pulmonary hypertension.
 * Jim Delsing, 80, American Major League Baseball player, cancer.
 * Arthur B. Metzner, 79, Canadian chemical engineer.
 * Michael Taliferro, 45, American actor and football player, stroke.

5

 * Naushad Ali, 86, Indian musician.
 * Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga, 85, Romanian comparatist and essayist.
 * George Roche III, 70, American former President of Hillsdale College, probable heart attack.
 * Atıf Yılmaz, 80, Turkish film director, screenwriter and producer, cancer.

6

 * Lillian Asplund, 99, last American survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking, died in sleep.
 * Konstantin Beskov, 85, Soviet and Russian footballer and manager.
 * Ruth Bachhuber Doyle, 89, American politician and educator.
 * Shigeru Kayano, 79, Japanese Ainu activist.
 * Grant McLennan, 48, Australian lead singer of The Go-Betweens, suspected heart attack.
 * Sir Anthony Morton, 82, British admiral.
 * Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, 32, first British servicewoman to be killed in action in Iraq.
 * František Peřina, 95, Czechoslovak fighter pilot who served in the British Royal Air Force during World War II.
 * Pattabhi Rama Reddy, 87, Indian moviemaker, complications from a prolonged illness.
 * Lorne Saxberg, 48, Canadian television journalist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcaster.
 * Sister Rose Thering, 85, American Roman Catholic nun and professor at Seton Hall University.

7

 * Steve Bender, 59, German record producer and member of Dschinghis Khan.
 * Duncan Inglis Cameron, 78, Scottish university administrator.
 * Richard Carleton, 62, Australian television journalist (60 Minutes), heart attack.
 * Joan C. Edwards, 87, American philanthropist, liver cancer.
 * Stella Sigcau, 69, South African Public Works Minister, heart-related problems.
 * Jocelyn Simon, Baron Simon of Glaisdale, 95, United Kingdom minister and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
 * Machiko Soga, 68, Japanese voice actress and actress and tokusatsu legend (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, etc.), pancreatic cancer.

8

 * Lovana Jones, 68, American Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois House of Representatives, represented the 26th District since 1987, undisclosed causes.
 * John Kimbrough, 87, American football player (College Hall of Fame with Texas A&M) and state legislator, pneumonia.
 * George Lutz, 59, American owner of the Amityville Horror house.
 * Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe, 50, South African soccer player with the Minnesota Kicks and Kaizer Chiefs, unknown causes.
 * Barbara Schwartz, 58, American painter.

9

 * Adrian Bennett, 73, Australian politician, MHR for Division of Swan (1969–1975).
 * Corey Engen, 90, Norwegian-born captain of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 1948 Winter Olympics, complications of pneumonia.
 * Jerzy Ficowski, 81, Polish poet, writer and translator.
 * Pietro Garinei, 87, Italian playwright and lyricist of "Arrivederci Roma" and other songs.
 * Edouard Jaguer, French poet and art critic.
 * Tony Ward, 82, Australian actor and journalist, cancer.

10

 * Val Guest, 94, British film writer and director (The Quatermass Xperiment, Casino Royale).
 * Marie Hartley, 100, British author and illustrator.
 * John Hicks, 64, American jazz pianist/composer.
 * James Keogh, 89, American former executive editor of Time and speechwriter for US President Richard Nixon.
 * Georgy Korniyenko, 81, Russian diplomat and deputy to Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.
 * A.M. Rosenthal, 84, Canadian-born Executive Editor of The New York Times for 17 years, stroke.
 * Soraya, 37, Colombian-American songwriter, guitarist, arranger, record producer, and singer, breast cancer.
 * Aleksandr Zinovyev, 83, Russian logician, sociologist and writer, brain cancer.

11

 * Yossi Banai, 74, Israeli singer and actor, cancer.
 * Sir Frank Mills, 82, British diplomat, High Commissioner to Ghana and Bangladesh.
 * Byron Morrow, 95, American TV and film character actor.
 * Michael O'Leary, 70, Irish politician and barrister, former leader of the Irish Labour Party, drowned in a swimming pool.
 * Floyd Patterson, 71, American former boxing heavyweight champion, Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer.
 * Ferdinando Tacconi, 83, Italian comics artist.
 * Frankie Thomas, 85, American actor (Tom Corbett, Space Cadet), stroke.

12

 * Ted Berkman, 92, American author, scriptwriter (Bedtime for Bonzo).
 * Hussein Maziq, 88, Libyan politician, former prime minister & foreign minister of Libya.
 * Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery, 85, American politician, former U.S. representative from Mississippi.
 * Arthur Porges, 90, American science fiction and fantasy writer.

13

 * Joan Diener, 76, American actress/soprano (Man of La Mancha), complications of cancer.
 * Rick Farley, 53, Australian National Farmers' Federation Chief Executive for eight years.
 * Ryan Francis, 19, American college basketball player, freshman point guard for the University of Southern California basketball team, homicide.
 * Fernando Inchauste, 75, Bolivian Olympian.
 * Jaroslav Pelikan, 82, American historian of Christianity, winner of the Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences, lung cancer.
 * Östen Sjöstrand, 80, Swedish poet, translator and member of the Swedish Academy.
 * Peter Viereck, 89, American historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.
 * Johnnie Wilder, Jr., 56, American musician (Heatwave).

14

 * Lew Anderson, 84, American bandleader, played Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show, prostate cancer.
 * James Botten, 67, South African international test cricketer, complications after colon operations.
 * William Ginsberg, 75, American professor of environmental law at Hofstra University and former New York City commissioner of parks and recreation.
 * Reza Hassanzadeh, 33, Iranian professional soccer player with Teraktor Sazi F.C., injuries from car accident.
 * Stanley Kunitz, 100, American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former US poet laureate.
 * Jim Lemon, 78, American Major League Baseball player, cancer.
 * Paul Marco, 78, American film actor (Plan 9 from Outer Space).
 * Bruce Merrifield, 84, American Nobel Prize-winning chemist.
 * Günther Nenning, 84, Austrian journalist, author and political activist.
 * Eva Norvind, Norwegian-born Mexican writer and actress, drowning accident.

15

 * Joyce Ballantyne, 88, American artist best known for creating the "Coppertone Girl" ad, heart attack.
 * George Blackburn, 93, American football player, head football coach at University of Virginia (1965–1970).
 * George Crile III, 61, American journalist, CBS News producer, pancreatic cancer.
 * Eberhard Esche, 73, German actor.
 * Chic Hecht, 77, American politician, former Republican Senator for Nevada, prostate cancer.
 * Judith Moore, 66, American author.
 * Cheikha Rimitti, 83, Algerian singer, heart attack.
 * David Sharp, 34, British mountaineer.
 * Bill Strode, 69, American Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer, cancer.

16

 * Clare Boylan, 58, Irish author of 12 books including 7 novels, ovarian cancer.
 * Beryl Evans, 84, Australian politician, NSW MLC (1984–1995).
 * Anthony Murray, 47, New Zealand rugby league player.
 * Jorge Porcel, 69, Argentine actor and comedian, following gall bladder surgery.
 * Dan Ross, 49, American former NFL football player (Cincinnati Bengals), suspected heart attack.
 * Takahiro Tamura, 77, Japanese movie and television actor, cerebral infarction.

17

 * Cy Feuer, 95, American Broadway producer and writer (Guys and Dolls).
 * Eric Forth, 61, British Conservative Member of Parliament and former government minister, bone cancer.
 * Nichola Goddard, 26, Canadian soldier, Canadian Forces, first female since WWII to be killed in combat.
 * Dan Q. Kennis, 86, American B movie producer.
 * John Marsden, 64, Australian lawyer and civil liberties activist, cancer.
 * Sir John Miller, 87, British equestrian and courtier, Crown Equerry to the Queen (1961–1987).
 * Daniel Owino Misiani, 66, Tanzanian Benga musician, car accident.
 * Mieczysław Nowak, 69, Polish weightlifter, 1964 Olympic medalist.
 * Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin, 63, Turkish prominent judge sitting in Turkey's highest court, shot dead.
 * Ramesh Parekh, 65, Indian poet.
 * Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff, 61, American music executive, longtime crew member of the Grateful Dead, lung cancer.

18

 * Jaan Eilart, 73, Estonian biogeographer.
 * Stephen Fleet, 69, British researcher in mineral sciences and Former Registrary, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Master of Downing College, Cambridge.
 * George M. Foster, 92, American anthropologist.
 * Morris Glushien, 96, American lawyer, general counsel for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
 * Hans Horrevoets, 32, Dutch sailor, swept overboard while competing in Volvo Ocean Race.
 * Stan Jones, 91, British Olympic runner.
 * Maksim Kahan, 88, Israeli Olympic shooter.
 * Andrew Martinez, 33, American activist, the "Naked Guy" at the University of California, Berkeley, apparent suicide.
 * Vitor Negrete, 38, Brazilian mountaineer, died after reaching the peak of Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen.
 * Michael O'Riordan, 88, Irish chairman of the Communist Party of Ireland and International Brigades veteran.
 * Kiyan Prince, 15, British youth team player with English football team Queens Park Rangers, stabbed to death.
 * Robert Reid, 81, American chemical engineer.
 * Gilbert Sorrentino, 77, American novelist.

19

 * Yitzhak Ben Aharon, 99, Israeli left-wing politician, founder of the Israeli Labor Party.
 * Edward R. Becker, 73, American former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
 * Peter Bryant, 82, British television producer.
 * Freddie Garrity, 69, English lead singer of Freddie and the Dreamers, 1960s pop band, heart disease.
 * Alan Sapper, 75, British trade unionist.

20

 * JoAnna Lund, 61, American cookbook author, cancer.
 * Bobby Jack Fowler, 66, American rapist and suspected murderer.
 * Les Olive, 78, English Assistant Secretary of Manchester United at time of Munich air disaster, prostate cancer.
 * Andy Radford, 62, British Anglican bishop, Bishop of Taunton, brain tumour.
 * Cherd Songsri, 75, Thai film director, cancer.
 * Annis Stukus, 91, Canadian football player and ice hockey general manager, member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Canadian Football League and ice hockey.
 * Tommy Watt, 80, British jazz bandleader.

21

 * Katherine Dunham, 96, American dancer and choreographer.
 * Sherman Skolnick, 75, American Illinois anti-corruption activist, heart attack.
 * Inger Louise Valle, 84, Norwegian politician, Minister of Justice (1973–1979).
 * Billy Walker, 77, American country music performer and member of the Grand Ole Opry, traffic accident.

22

 * Spencer Clark, 19, American NASCAR Busch Series driver, road accident.
 * Heather Crowe, 61, Canadian anti-smoking activist, lung cancer.
 * Hamza El Din, 76, Nubian Egyptian oud player.
 * Jack Fallon, 90, Canadian-born British jazz double bassist.
 * Lee Jong-wook, 61, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization, brain thrombus.
 * Lilia Prado, 78, Mexican actress, multiple organ failure.

23

 * Philippe Amaury, 66, French media owner, cancer.
 * Clifford Antone, 56, American Austin blues club owner, heart attack.
 * Lloyd Bentsen, 85, American vice-presidential candidate, Senator, and Treasury Secretary under Clinton.
 * James W. Carey, 71, American professor of journalism at Columbia University, author.
 * Ray Cale, 83, Welsh rugby player, dual international for Wales in rugby union and rugby league.
 * Ian Copeland, 57, American music promoter and agent, older brother of Stewart Copeland of The Police, melanoma.
 * Bracha Eden, 78, Israeli pianist, brain hemorrhage.
 * Kazimierz Górski, 85, Polish former coach of Poland national football team, cancer.
 * Jim Trimble, 87, American Philadelphia Eagles coach 1952–55, emphysema.

24

 * Eric Bedser, 87, English cricketer for Surrey, and elder twin brother of Sir Alec Bedser.
 * Henry Bumstead, 91, American art director (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sting, Vertigo), Oscar winner (1963, 1974), prostate cancer.
 * Robert Giaimo, 86, American Congressman for Connecticut 3rd District (1959−1981), lung ailments.
 * Fritz Klein, 73, Austrian-born psychiatrist and researcher.
 * Anderson Mazoka, 63, Zambian politician, chief opposition leader in Zambia.
 * Bernard Ostry, 78, Canadian chair and CEO of TVOntario, civil servant and philanthropist, cancer.
 * Claude Piéplu, 83, French actor, cancer.
 * John Wheeldon, 76, Australian federal politician, former Australian Labor Party Senator and minister in the Whitlam government.

25

 * Sir Julian Bullard, 78, British diplomat.
 * Elizabeth Connelly, 77, American politician, former member of the New York State Assembly representing Staten Island, cancer.
 * Desmond Dekker, 64, Jamaican ska musician, heart attack.
 * Lars Gyllensten, 84, Swedish author, physician, and member of the Swedish Academy.
 * Wilber Huston, 93, American scientist and retired NASA mission director.
 * Donald Rudolph, 85, US Army soldier awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Mari Yonehara, 56, Japanese essayist, ovarian cancer.
 * Tobías Lasser, 95, Venezuelan botanist, founder of the Botanic Garden of Caracas, natural causes.

26

 * Milicent Bagot, 99, British intelligence officer.
 * Horondino José da Silva aka "Dino Sete Cordas", 88, Brazilian virtuouso of the seven-string guitar.
 * Selvin González, 24, Salvadoran footballer.
 * Tuomo Kerola, 48, Finnish Olympic swimmer.
 * Alan Kotok, 64, American early video game designer (Spacewar!), engineer for Digital Equipment.
 * Carl Kuntze, 83, Dutch Olympic rower
 * Mahmoud al-Majzoub aka Abu Hamza, 41, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, assassination by bombing.
 * Édouard Michelin, 42, French CEO of Michelin, boating accident off the Île de Sein.
 * Kevin O'Flanagan, 86, Irish former association football and rugby union international, and IOC member, heart problems.
 * Anita Roberts, 64, American molecular biologist at the National Cancer Institute, stomach cancer.
 * Ted Schroeder, 84, American tennis player, winner at Wimbledon (1949) and the U.S. Open (1942), cancer.
 * Raymond Triboulet, 99, French member of the French Resistance during World War II, member of the French Parliament and government minister.

27

 * Adeeb, 72, Pakistani actor.
 * Harold Falls, 96, American ophthalmologist.
 * Paul Gleason, 67, American actor (The Breakfast Club, Die Hard, Trading Places), mesothelioma.
 * Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, 39, American NFL fullback, complications from a brain tumor.
 * Romeo Lucas García, 81, Guatemalan politician, former President of Guatemala, complications of Alzheimer's disease.
 * Thelma Leeds, 95, American actress, widow of Parkyakarkus.
 * Jim Mello, 85, American football player.
 * Michael Riffaterre, 81, French-born professor at Columbia University and scholar of French literature.
 * Alex Toth, 77, American comic book artist and cartoonist (Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio).
 * Apache Bull Ramos, 71, American professional wrestler, shoulder infection.

28

 * Edward Aldwell, 68, American music theorist and pianist specializing in Bach, automotive accident.
 * James Archibald, 94, American judge.
 * Rupert Blöch, 76, Austrian Olympic sprinter.
 * Lewis Carter, 81, Australian cricketer.
 * Fermín Chávez, 82, Argentine historian, complications from renal failure.
 * Sue Fear, 43, Australian mountaineer, climbing accident.
 * Umberto Masetti, 80, Italian motorcycle racer, the first Italian World Champion class 500cc in 1950 and 1952, pulmonary strokes.
 * Masumi Okada, 70, Japanese actor, played Brother Michael in Shogun, throat cancer.
 * Tony Sardisco, 73, American footballer, former captain of the Boston Patriots, heart attack.
 * Doris Saunders, 64, Canadian magazine editor, Order of Canada inductee, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Arthur Widmer, 91, American motion picture special effects pioneer, winner of an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, cancer.

29

 * Neville Amadio, 93, Australian flautist and soloist for Sydney Symphony for 50 years, series of small heart attacks.
 * Poul Andersen, 84, Danish-born publisher of Bien, the only weekly Danish newspaper in the US, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Clarence Bailey, 43, American football player.
 * Peter Borsari, 67, American-Swiss celebrity photographer, complications from elective knee surgery.
 * James Brolan, 42, British CBS News sound technician, injuries sustained in car bombing in Iraq.
 * Paul Douglas, 48, British veteran CBS News cameraman, injuries sustained in car bombing in Iraq.
 * Wyn Griffiths, 86, Welsh professional football player (Cardiff City F.C., Newport County A.F.C.), complications from a fall.
 * Steve Mizerak, 61, American champion billiards player.
 * Omeljan Pritsak, 87, Austrian-born American Harvard professor, scholar and authority on Ukraine.
 * Johnny Servoz-Gavin, 64, French racing driver.

30

 * Slim Aarons, 89, American photographer, stroke.
 * Marius van Amelsvoort, 75, Dutch politician, State Secretary for Finance.
 * Hladnik Boštjan, 77, Slovenian film director.
 * Ann Harnett, 85, American baseball player (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League).
 * Shohei Imamura, 79, Japanese film director (Black Rain), two-time winner of the Palme d'Or, liver cancer.
 * Bill Kovacs, 56, American computer animation pioneer and Academy Award winner, complications of a stroke.
 * David Lloyd, 68, New Zealand botanist, complications from mystery illness, possibly poison.
 * Robert Sterling, 88, American film and television actor, star of 1950s television show Topper, natural causes.

31

 * Miguel Berrocal, 73, Spanish sculptor and puzzle creator, prostate cancer.
 * Ronald Cranford, 65, American neurologist and bioethicist who developed coma standards, complications of kidney cancer.
 * Raymond Davis Jr., 91, American chemist and a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Lula Mae Hardaway, 76, American songwriter, mother of singer Stevie Wonder, natural causes.