The following is a list of notable deaths in 2003. Names are listed by date of death, not the date it was announced. Names under each date are listed in alphabetical order by family name.
A typical entry appears in the following sequence:
- Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.
December 2003
- 31 Sophie Daumier, 69, French actor and comedian
- 31 Arthur R. von Hippel, 105, German-born scientist and MIT professor who made critical contributions to the development of radar
- 31 Bríd Dirrane, 109, the oldest person to receive a university degree and write an autobiography (both at 103), last surviving person who knew the leaders of Ireland's 1916 Uprising personally [1]
- 31 Rein Helme, 49, Estonian war historian
- 31 Terje Soots, 38, Estonian radio host
- 30 David Bale, 62, South African activist, brain lymphoma [2]
- 30 John Gregory Dunne, 71, American novelist and screenwriter, myocardial infarction
- 30 Anita Mui, 40, Hong Kong pop queen, cervical cancer
- 29 Archbishop Michael Courtney, 58, Irish-born Papal Nuncio to Burundi who was central to peace negotiations, homicide
- 29 Earl Hindman, 61, American actor, lung cancer
- 29 Bob Monkhouse, 75, British comedian and game show host, prostate cancer
- 28 Benjamin Thurman Hacker, 68, first American Naval Flight Officer to achieve the "Flag" rank, complications from leukemia
- 28 Isabelle Stevenson, chairman of the board of the American Theatre Wing, presenter of the Tony Awards [3]
- 28 Dinsdale Landen, 71, British actor, pneumonia
- 27 Vestal Goodman, 74, American Southern Gospel singer, complications from influenza
- 27 Iván Calderón, 41, Puerto Rican former major league baseball star, homicide by gunshot
- 27 Sir Alan Bates, 69, British actor, pancreatic cancer
- 26 Phil Goldman, 39, American engineer and entrepreneur, heart failure
- 26 Yoshio Shirai, 80, first Japanese world boxing champion, pneumonia
- 24 Linda Viiding, 97, Estonian translator
- 22 Dave Dudley, 75, American country music singer, myocardial infarction
- 20 John Halfpenny, 68, Australian unionist
- 19 Ricardo Alfonso Cerna, 47, Guatemalan suicide victim
- 19 Hope Lange, 70, American actress, ischemic colitis
- 19 Peter Carter-Ruck, 89, British libel lawyer
- 17 Ed Devereaux, 78, Australian actor
- 17 Otto Graham, 82, American professional football and basketball player, heart aneurysm
- 16 Gary Stewart, 58, American country music singer, suicide
- 16 Robert Stanfield, 89, Canadian politician
- 15 Keith Magnuson, 56, Canadian National Hockey League player, road accident
- 15 George Fisher, 80, American political cartoonist
- 14 Jeanne Crain, 78, American actress, myocardial infarction
- 14 Blas Ople, 75, Filipino journalist and politician
- 13 Elizabeth Bates, 56, Professor of Psychology at University of California, San Diego, pancreatic cancer
- 13 William V. Roth, Jr., 82, American lawyer and politician
- 12 Keiko, 27, orca of Reino Aventura and Free Willy fame, pneumonia
- 12 Heydar Aliyev, 80, former President of Azerbaijan
- 12 Fadwa Toukan, 86, Palestinian poet
- 12 Earl Gillespie, 81, sportscaster, voice of the Milwaukee Braves
- 11 Ahmadou Kourouma, 76, Ivorian novelist
- 11 John W. Sidgmore, former head of Worldcom and UUNet, acute pancreatitis
- 11 Paulos Tzadua, Roman Catholic cardinal from Ethiopia
- 10 Ettore Perazzoli, 29, Italian free software developer
- 9 Paul Simon, 75, American politician, complications following heart surgery
- 8 Rubén González, 84, Cuban pianist
- 8 Johnny Bulla, 89, American golfer
- 7 Raúl Vale, 59, Venezuelan-Mexican entertainer
- 7 Carl F. H. Henry, 90, American Evangelical theologian and founder of Christianity Today magazine
- 7 Azie Taylor Morton, 67, former Treasurer of the United States, complications from a stroke
- 6 Haddis Alemayehu, 93, Ethiopian Foreign Minister and novelist
- 6 Jose-Maria Jimenez, 32, professional cyclist
- 6 Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, 85, President of Guatemala 1970-74
- 6 Jerry Tuite, 36, American wrestler, myocardial infarction
- 5 Bert Templeton, 63, Scottish ice hockey coach, kidney cancer
4 Jonathan Luna, 38, United States Assistant Attorney, murdered
November 2003
October 2003
- 2
- 3 William Steig, American cartoonist and children's author; creator of Shrek
- 4
- 5
- 6 Mildred O'Neill, widow of former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill
- 7
- 9 Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, American academic and author
- 10 Eugene Istomin, American pianist
- 11 Fredy Knie, Sr., director of Swiss circus Circus Knie
- 12
- 13
- 14 Ben Metcalfe, Greenpeace activist and co-founder
- 16
- 18
- 19
- 20 Jack Elam, American actor, 84 years
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24 Rosie Nix Adams, daughter of June Carter Cash
- 25
- 26 Elem Klimov, Russian director
- 27 Rod Roddy, announcer on The Price is Right
- 28 Behram Kursunoglu, Turkish physicist, 81 years old
- 29 Hal Clement, author, 81 years
- 30
- 31
September 2003
- 1 Sir Terry Frost, British artist
- 3 Paul Hill, executed for two anti-abortion murders
- 4 Tibor Varga, violinist, conductor and pedagogue
- 5 Gisele MacKenzie, singer
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10 Harry Goz, 71, American musical theater actor and voice actor, multiple myeloma
- 11
- 12
- 13 Frank O'Bannon, Governor of Indiana
- 15
- 16
- 18 Valve Janov, Estonian painter
- 19 Slim Dusty, Australian country music singer
- 20
- 21 Robert H. Lochner, John F. Kennedy's interpreter
- 22
- 24
- 25
- 26 Robert Palmer, 54, singer
- 27 Donald O'Connor, entertainer, actor
- 28
- 30
August 2003
July 2003
- 1
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6 Buddy Ebsen, American actor
- 7 Izhak Graziani, conductor
- 8
- 9 Winston Graham, 95, author of Poldark and Marnie
- 10 Hartley Shawcross (Lord Shawcross), Britain's chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
- 11
- 12 Benny Carter, American jazz pioneer
- 13 Compay Segundo, Cuban musician and star of the Buena Vista Social Club
- 14
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24 Colin R. McMillan, nominee for United States Secretary of the Navy
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29 Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean rebel leader
- 30 Sam Phillips, 80, record producer
- 31
June 2003
- 2
- 3 Fabrice Salanson, a French pro-cyclist
- 5
- 7
- 10
- 11 David Brinkley, broadcast journalist
- 12 Gregory Peck, 87, actor
- 15
- 18 Larry Doby, baseball Hall of Famer, second Black man to play in the MLB
- 19
- Glen Grant, Hawaiian historian, folklorist and author
- Laura Sadler, 22, British television actress, after falling 40 feet from a building
- 20 Bob Stump, Arizona Congressman
- 21 Roger Neilson, legendary Canadian hockey coach
- 22 Alexander Vetoux, Ukrainian boxing prospect. Was 22-1 with 18 knockouts as a professional; body found in river on June 27
- 23 Vasil Bykau, Belarusian writer
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28 Wim Slijkhuis, Dutch athlete
- 29 Katharine Hepburn, actress
- 30
May 2003
- 1 Miss Elizabeth, 42, WWE wrestling figure
- 3 Suzy Parker, actress; top model of the 1950s
- 5 Walter Sisulu, ANC activist
- 6
- 9 Russell B. Long, former U.S. Senator
- 10 Milan Vukcevich, chemist and chess problem composer
- 11 Noel Redding, former bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- 12
- 13 John Savage, former Premier of Nova Scotia, Canada
- 14
- 15
- Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist
- George Francis, British suspected mobster
- June Carter Cash, musician, singer, wife of Johnny Cash
- David O. Ives, public broadcasting pioneer, longtime executive at WGBH, Boston, which introduced such television programs as "Nova," "Frontline," "Masterpiece Theatre," and "This Old House"
- 16
- 18
- 21
- 26 Kathleen Winsor, author of Forever Amber
- 27 Luciano Berio, composer
- 28
- 29 Basil Langton, theatre/screen actor from the 30s to the 90s
- 30 Mickie Most, 64, music producer, produced acts such as Lulu, Donovan, The Animals, Hot Chocolate, Suzi Quatro and Kim Wilde
April 2003
- 1 Leslie Cheung, actor and singer, one of the superstars in Hong Kong during late 1980s, committed suicide
- 2
- 4 Resortes, legendary Mexican comedian, real name Adalberto Martinez Chavez
- 5 Seymour Lubetzky (aged 104), cataloging theorist and librarian
- 6
- 7 Cecile de Brunhoff (aged 99), who inspired the Babar the Elephant children's books when she told it to her children as a bedtime story in 1931 (it was then illustrated by her husband)
- 8 Anita Borg, computer scientist
- 9 James Earl Salisbury educator
- 10
- 12
- 14 Kent Pullen, US politician
- 16 Graham Stuart Thomas, horticultural artist, author and garden designer
- 17
- 18 Edgar F. Codd, computer pioneer
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22 Martha Griffiths, Congresswoman, women's rights proponent
- 23
- 25 Hidefumi Minorikawa, a Diet of Japan member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party
- 26
- The Honourable Rosemary Brown, Canadian politician (NDP), first black woman elected to a provincial legislature and first black woman to run for the leadership of a major federal political party
- Caroline Newhouse, arts patron; widow of Theodore Newhouse
- Max Nicholson, environmentalist
- Peter Stone, Oscar-and-(3-time)Tony-winning writer
- 27 Elaine Steinbeck, former actress; widow of author John Steinbeck
- 29 Etti Plesch, who married three counts, an American heir, and a Hungarian Lawyer
- 30
March 2003
- 2
- 3 Horst Buchholz, German actor
- 6 John Sanford, author
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 14 Jack Goldstein, artist
- 15 Dame Thora Hird, 91, veteran British actress
- 16
- 18 Adam Osborne, computer pioneer
- 19 Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator
- 20 Sailor Art Thomas, professional wrestler
- 21
- 22 Terry Lloyd, 50, ITN reporter killed in southern Iraq
- 24
- 26 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former Senator from New York
- 27
- 29 Dr. Carlo Urbani, WHO doctor, discoverer of SARS, of which he died
- 30 Valentin Pavlov, former prime minister of the Soviet Union
- 30 Gaby Rado, UK journalist
- 31
February 2003
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 9
- 10
- 13
- 14
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 22
- Jesica Santillan, heart and lung patient whose wrong transplant made headlines
- Daniel Taradash, former president of AMPAS; Oscar-winning screenwriter of "From Here to Eternity"
- 23
- Howie Epstein, former Bass player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- 25
- 27
- 28
January 2003
- 1 Joe Foss, politician, fighter pilot, recipient of the Medal of Honor
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 8
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 15
- 16
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 29
External links and references
For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 2002, Deaths in 2001, Deaths in 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995 ...
