2025 Deaths: 1

2025 Deaths

January

1^st: Michael Loewe, 102, British historian, Sinologist and writer.

1^st: Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, 96, British politician, minister of state for consumer affairs (1979–1982), MP (1970–1987), and member of the House of Lords (1989–2019).

1^st: Wayne Osmond, 73, American singer (The Osmonds) and songwriter ("Crazy Horses", "Let Me In"), stroke.

1^st: Viktor Alksnis, 74, Russian politician, mayor of Tuchkovo (2013–2015), MP (2000–2007), and deputy of the Soviet Union (1989–1991).

1^st: Louis Schittly, 86, French physician and humanitarian (Médecins Sans Frontières).

2^nd: Francesc Antich, 66, Venezuelan-born Spanish politician, president of the government of the Balearic Islands (1999–2003, 2007–2011) and senator (2011–2019), cancer.

2^nd: Pedro Luis García Pérez, 86, Spanish mathematician, physicist and academic, president of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (1982–1988).

2^nd: Derek Humphry, 94, British-American assisted suicide activist (Jean's Way, Final Exit), co-founder of Final Exit Network, heart failure.

2^nd: Ágnes Keleti, 103, Hungarian-Israeli Holocaust Survivor, Artistic Gymnast, Olympic champion (1952, 1956), pneumonia.

2^nd: Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, 89, Irish activist and writer.

2^nd: Noreen Riols, 98, British novelist and SOE agent during World War II.

3^rd: Niko Lekishvili, 77, Georgian politician, state minister (1995–1998), mayor of Tbilisi (1993–1995).

3^rd: Majda Ra'ad, 82, Swedish-born Jordanian Hashemite princess.

4^th: Rajagopala Chidambaram, 88, Indian nuclear physicist (Smiling Buddha, Pokhran-II), principal scientific adviser to the government (2002–2018).

5^th: Costas Simitis, 88, Greek politician, prime minister (1996–2004), and MP (1985–2009).

6^th: Sir Thomas Dunne, 91, British military officer, lord lieutenant of Hereford and Worcester (1977–1998), Herefordshire (1998–2008) and Worcestershire (1998–2001).

6^th: Henny Eman, 76, Aruban politician, prime minister (1986–1989, 1994–2001).

6^th: Charles M. Roessel, 63, American Navajo photographer, journalist and academic administrator, president of Diné College (since 2017).

7^th: Barbara Clegg, 98, British actress (Emergency Ward 10) and scriptwriter (Doctor Who, Coronation Street).

7^th: Peter Yarrow, 86, American singer (Peter, Paul and Mary) and songwriter ("Puff, the Magic Dragon"), bladder cancer.

8^th: Gabriel de Broglie, 93, French historian, chancellor of the Institut de France (2006–2017) and member of the Académie Française.

8^th: Charles Person, 82, American civil rights activist (Freedom Rides).

9^th: Bill Byrge, 92, American actor (Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Scared Stupid) and comedian.

9^th: Shulamith Shahar, 96, Latvian-born Israeli historian.

10^th: Yevgenia Dobrovolskaya, 60, Russian actress (Queen Margot, Actress, The Irony of Fate 2), complications from cancer and heart failure.

10^th: Shiu Ka-chun, 55, Hong Kong democracy activist, MLC (2016–2020), stomach cancer.

10^th: Mike Hynson, 82, American surfer (The Endless Summer).

12^th: José María Sanz Pastor, 83, Spanish diplomat and politician, civil governor of province of Seville (1980–1982).

13^th: Niel Barnard, 75, South African intelligence chief, director-general of the National Intelligence Service (1979–1992), cancer.

13^th: John Evans, 74, British disability rights activist, cancer.

13^th: Shamsaddin Khanbabayev, 85, Azerbaijani politician, prime minister of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (1993–2000).

14^th: Hans Reichelt, 99, German politician, member of the Volkskammer (1950–1990).

14^th: Gwen Watkins, 101, British codebreaker and author.

22^nd: Loretta Ford, 104, American nurse, dean of the University of Rochester School of Nursing (1972–1985) and co-founder of the first nurse practitioner graduate program.

22^nd: Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira, 85, Portuguese military officer, chief of staff (1976–1978) and governor of Macau (1992–1999).

29^th: Sally J. Novetzke, 93, American political aide and diplomat, ambassador to Malta (1989–1993).

30^th: Andrée Dumon, 102, Belgian Resistance member during World War II.

31^st: Carlos Ferrero, 83, Peruvian politician, prime minister (2003–2005), member (1992–2006) and president (2000–2003) of Congress.

 

February

1^st: Horst Köhler, 81, German economist and politician, president (2004–2010), president of the EBRD (1998–2000) and managing director of the IMF (2000–2004).

2^nd: William J. Cabaniss, 86, American politician and diplomat, ambassador to the Czech Republic (2004–2006), member of the Alabama House of Representatives (1978–1982) and Senate (1982–1990).

2^nd: Harry Stewart Jr., 100, American Air Force pilot (Tuskegee Airmen).

2^nd: Marion Wiesel, 94, Austrian-American translator and Holocaust Survivor, wife of Elie Wiesel.

5^th: Tatiana Bayeva , 77, Russian Dissident (1968 Red Square demonstration).

5^th: Antonín Fajkus, 101, Czechoslovak-born American Fighter Pilot.

8^th: Bob Bingham, 78, American actor (Jesus Christ Superstar).

8^th: Sam Nujoma, 95, Namibian politician, president (1990–2005).

10^th: Jeanette W. Hyde, 86, American diplomat, ambassador to Barbados, Dominica, and Saint Lucia (1994–1998).

13^th: John Lawlor, 83, American actor (Phyllis, The Facts of Life, Wyatt Earp).

13^th: Jacqueline van Maarsen, 96, Dutch author and bookbinder, Holocaust Survivor, Friend of Anne Frank.

16^th: Anne Marie Hochhalter, 43, American school shooting survivor (Columbine High School massacre) and disability rights activist.

18^th: Marian Turski, 98, Polish historian, journalist and Holocaust Survivor (Auschwitz and Buchenwald.)

21^st: Clint Hill, 93, American Secret Service agent (assassination of John F. Kennedy).

22^nd: Francesc Vendrell i Bayona, 75, Spanish politician, member of the Catalan Parliament (1999–2010).

24^th: Rose Girone, 113, American supercentenarian and Holocaust Survivor (Shanghai Ghetto.)

24^th: Frank G. Wisner, 86, American diplomat, acting secretary of state (1993), ambassador to India (1994–1997) and Egypt (1986–1991), lung cancer.

26^th: Gene Hackman, 95, American actor (The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, Unforgiven), Oscar winner (1972, 1993).[15] (body discovered on this date).

26^th: Michelle Trachtenberg, 39, American actress (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harriet the Spy, Gossip Girl).

27^th: Stanisław Gebhardt, 96, Polish resistance fighter and economist.

27^th: Kim Pérez, 83, Spanish LGBT rights activist

27^th: Boris Spassky, 88, Russian chess grandmaster, world champion (1969–1972).

28^th: Mohamed Benaissa, 88, Moroccan politician, minister of foreign affairs (1999–2007).

 

March

1^st: Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky, 74, Georgian prince, throne claimant and theatre director, head of the House of Gruzinsky (since 1984).

1^st: Hazel Nell Dukes, 92, American civil rights activist, president of the NAACP (1990–1992).

1^st: Elvi Hale, 94, British actress (The Six Wives of Henry VIII, True as a Turtle, The Heroes of Telemark).

2^nd: Bernhard Vogel, 92, German politician, minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate (1976–1988) and of Thuringia (1992–2003), twice president of the Bundesrat.

3^rd: Dore Gold, 71, American-Israeli political scientist and diplomat, permanent representative of Israel to the UN (1997–1999).

3^rd: Woo Chia-wei, 87, Hong Kong physicist and academic administrator, president of HKUST (1991–2001) and SFSU (1983–1988).

4^th: Jean-Louis Debré, 80, French judge and politician, president of the Constitutional Council (2007–2016) and of the National Assembly (2002–2007), minister of the interior (1995–1997).

4^th: Oleg Gordievsky, 86, Russian-British double agent.

8^th: Michael Armacost, 87, American diplomat, ambassador to Japan (1989–1993) and the Philippines (1982–1984), acting secretary of state (1989).

8^th: Giles Paxman, 73, British diplomat, ambassador to Mexico (2005–2009) and Spain (2009–2013), lung cancer.

9^th: Larry Buendorf, 87, American security officer (United States Olympic Committee) and Secret Service agent (attempted assassination of Gerald Ford in Sacramento).

11^th: Clive Revill, 94, New Zealand actor (The Empire Strikes Back, Irma La Douce, Oliver!).

12^th: Walter Schwimmer, 82, Austrian politician and diplomat, secretary general of the Council of Europe (1999–2004).

16^th: William Hayes, 94, British physicist and academic administrator, president of St. John's College, Oxford (1987–2001).

16^th: Dik Wolfson, 91, Dutch economist (International Monetary Fund, International Institute of Social Studies), civil servant and politician, senator (1999–2003).

17^th: John "Paddy" Hemingway, 105, Irish RAF pilot (Battle of Britain).

19^th: Costa Gazi, 88, South African anti-apartheid activist.

20^th: Kathaleen Guilana Guyette: 98, American Secretary.

20^th: Vitold Fokin, 92, Ukrainian politician, prime minister (1990–1992).

21^st: Kitty Dukakis, 88, American author and social activist, first lady of Massachusetts (1975–1979, 1983–1991), complications from dementia.

23^rd: Alexandr Rabotnitskii, 31, Russian athlete, Paralympic silver medalist (2020).

24^th: Dick Carlson, 84, American journalist (Voice of America) and diplomat, ambassador to Seychelles (1991–1992).

25^th: Edith Ballantyne, 102, Czechoslovak-born Canadian peace activist, infection.

28^th: Ronald A. Katz, 89, American inventor and humanitarian.

29^th: Richard Chamberlain, 90, American actor (Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds, Shōgun), complications from a stroke.

 

April

1^st: Val Kilmer, 65, American actor (Top Gun, The Doors, Batman Forever), pneumonia.

2^nd: Khamtai Siphandone, 101, Laotian politician, president (1998–2006), prime minister (1991–1998), and chairman of the Revolutionary Party (1992–2006).

3^rd: Andreas Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, 82, German landowner, head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (since 1998).

3^rd: Margarita Xhepa, 93, Albanian actress (People's Artist of Albania).

4^th: Kate Orchard, 102, British World War II veteran (Women's Auxiliary Corps).

6^th: Peter Geiger, 82, Liechtensteiner historian.

6^th: Jay North, 73, American actor (Dennis the Menace, Maya, Arabian Knights), colorectal cancer.

8^th: Nicky Katt, 54, American actor (Dazed and Confused, Boston Public, Boiler Room), suicide by hanging.[488] (body discovered on this date).

9^th: Kim Shin-jo, 82, North Korean soldier (Unit 124), defector and pastor, participant of the 1968 Blue House raid.

13^th: Richard Armitage, 79, American diplomat and government official, deputy secretary of state (2001–2005), pulmonary embolism.

13^th: Dina Popova, 47, Ukrainian finance manager, head of Kyiv History Museum (since 2022), cancer.

15^th: Reuma Weizman, 99, Israeli socialite, first lady (1993–2000).

17^th: Tetiana Barantsova, 51, Ukrainian disability rights activist.

21^st: Pope Francis, 88, Argentine Roman Catholic prelate, pope (since 2013), archbishop of Buenos Aires (1998–2013), stroke and cardiocirculatory collapse.

21^st: Walter Frankenstein, 100, German-born Swedish engineer and Holocaust survivor.

25^th: Virginia Giuffre, 41, American-Australian justice advocate, suicide.

30^th: Thomas M. T. Niles, 85, American diplomat, ambassador to Canada (1985–1989), the European Union (1989–1991), and Greece (1993–1997), cancer.

 

May

1^st: Ruth Buzzi, 88, American comedian (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and actress (Sesame Street, That Girl), complications from a stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

1^st: Antoni Garrallà, 81, Andorran politician and hotelier, mayor of La Massana (1995–2003) and deputy general syndic of the General Council (1985–1989),

1^st: Irina Kostrova, 102, Russian actress.

1^st: Marie Vaislic, 94, French Holocaust Survivor (Ravensbrück) and writer.

1^st: Tashi Wangdi, 78, Tibetan diplomat and politician.

2^nd: George Ryan, 91, American politician, governor (1999–2003), secretary of state (1991–1999) and lieutenant governor of Illinois (1983–1991).

3rd: Ruth A. Davis, 81, American diplomat (U.S. Ambassador to Benin 1992-1995), director general of the Foreign Service (2001–2003), pneumonia.

3^rd: Lino Gutierrez, 74, American diplomat, ambassador to Nicaragua (1996–1999), ambassador to Argentina (2003–2006).

3^rd: Elsbeth Hamilton, 104, Czechoslovak-born British radio operator and Women's Auxiliary Air Force veteran and Holocaust Survivor.

3^rd: Shōzō Satō, 91, Japanese-born American artist and theatre director, founder and director of Japan House.

4^th: Hsu Li-nung, 106, Taiwanese military officer, minister of the Veterans Affairs Council (1987–1993).

4^th: Marianne, Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, 105, German aristocrat and photographer.

7^th: Joe Don Baker, 89, American actor (GoldenEye, Walking Tall, Cape Fear), lung cancer.

7^th: Mykola Fedoruk, 71, Ukrainian politician, mayor of Chernivtsi (1994–2011), deputy (2012–2019).

7^th: Cleopa Msuya, 94, Tanzanian politician, prime minister (1980–1983, 1994–1995) and first vice president (1990–1995), heart failure.

7^th: Jim Spenst, 99, Canadian World War II veteran.

9^th: Margot Friedländer, 103, German Holocaust Survivor and public speaker.

9^th: Douglas Gibson, 82, South African diplomat and politician, MNA (1994–2008).

9^th: John H. Thompson, 73, American statistician, director of the U.S. Census Bureau (2013–2017).

10^th: William Luers, 95, American diplomat (Ambassador to Venezuela 1978-1982 and Ambassador to Czechoslovakia 1983-1986), president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986–1999).

11^th: Anne Dunham, 76, British equestrian, six-time Paralympic champion.

11^th: Viktor Gerashchenko, 87, Russian economist and politician, chairman of the Gosbank (1989–1991), twice governor of the CBR, and MP (2003–2007).

13^th: Kit Bond, 86, American politician, governor of Missouri (1973–1977, 1981–1985) and member of the U.S. Senate (1987–2011).

14^th: Đoàn Viết Hoạt, 82, Vietnamese journalist and political dissident (held in a Vietnamese Reeducation Camp for 12 years.)

15^th: Wilhelm Höynck, 91, German diplomat, secretary-general of the OSCE (1993–1996).

16^th: Marianne Bernadotte, 100, Swedish actress, philanthropist and royal family member.

16^th: Peter Lax, 99, Hungarian-born American Holocaust Survivor, mathematician (Lax equivalence theorem, Lax–Friedrichs method), Abel Prize laureate (2005), cardiac amyloidosis.

16^th: Jan Terlouw, 93, Dutch novelist (Winter in Wartime) and politician, minister of economic affairs and deputy prime minister (1981–1982), Queen's commissioner of Gelderland (1991–1996).

17^th: Melvyn Levitsky, 87, American diplomat, ambassador to Bulgaria (1984–1987) and Brazil (1994–1998).

19^th: Kathleen Hughes, 96, American actress (It Came from Outer Space, The Glass Web, The Golden Blade).

20^th: Marthe Cohn, 105, French spy, Holocaust Survivor and author (Behind Enemy Lines).

20^th: George Wendt, 76, American actor (Cheers, Forever Young, Elf), cardiac arrest.

21^st: Albrecht Schöne, 99, German Germanist.

22^nd: James Lloydovich Patterson, 91, Russian-born American child actor (Circus) and naval officer.

23^rd: Jean-Robert Estimé, 83, Haitian politician, minister of foreign affairs (1982–1985).

23^rd: Sir Derek Reffell, 96, British naval officer, governor of Gibraltar (1989–1993).

23^rd: Rüşdü Saracoğlu, 77, Turkish economist and politician, governor of the central bank (1987–1993), MP (1996–1999).

27^th: Ed Gale, 61, American stuntman (Child's Play) and actor (Howard the Duck, Spaceballs).

27^th: Jean Tiberi, 90, French politician, mayor of Paris (1995–2001) and MP (1968–1976, 1976–2012).

28^th: George E. Smith, 95, American physicist, co-inventor of the charge-coupled device, Nobel Prize laureate (2009).

30^th: Valerie Mahaffey, 71, American actress (The Doctors, French Exit, Young Sheldon), Emmy winner (1992), cancer.

30^th: Loretta Swit, 87, American actress (M*A*S*H, Freebie and the Bean, Race with the Devil), Emmy winner (1980, 1982).

31^st: Betsy Jochum, 104, American baseball player (South Bend Blue Sox) for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

June

1^st: Edward Anders, 98, Latvian-born American chemist.

1^st: Ayşe Seitmuratova, 88, Uzbek Crimean Tatar civil rights activist.

2^nd: Abdelhak Mrini, 91, Moroccan historian, civil servant and royal advisor.

2^nd: Pierre Nora, 93, French historian, member of the Académie Française.

4^th: Marc Garneau, 76, Canadian politician and astronaut, MP (2008–2023), minister of transport (2015–2021) and foreign affairs (2021), lymphoma and leukemia.

5^th: Edgar Lungu, 68, Zambian politician, president (2015–2021), minister of defence (2013–2015) and MLA (2011–2015), complications from surgery.

6^th: William C. Harrop, 96, American diplomat, inspector general of the Department of State (1983–1986), ambassador to Israel (1992–1993) and Zaire (1988–1991).

8^th: Gilbert Ramano, 85, South African military officer, chief of the Army (1998–2004).

8^th: Sir John Sainty, 90, British parliamentary official, clerk of the Parliaments (1983–1990).

9^th: Frederick Forsyth, 86, English novelist (The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol).

10^th: Gary England, 85, American meteorologist (KWTV), creator of the First Warning system.

11^th: Ananda Lewis, 52, American television personality (MTV, While You Were Out), breast cancer.

11^th: Brian Wilson, 82, American Hall of Fame musician (The Beach Boys), songwriter ("Good Vibrations"), and record producer (Pet Sounds), respiratory arrest.

15^th: Nina Kuscsik, 86, American long-distance runner, Boston Marathon winner (1972), complications from Alzheimer's disease.

15^th: Yurii Felipenko, 32, Ukrainian actor, killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

17^th: Anne Burrell, 55, American chef and television personality (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Worst Cooks in America, Iron Chef America).

19^th: Lynn Hamilton, 95, American actress (Sanford and Son, Generations, Dangerous Women).

20^th: Ivar Giaever, 96, Norwegian-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (1973).

21^st: John McCallum, 75, Canadian politician, ambassador to China (2017–2019), minister of national revenue (2004–2006) and MP (2000–2017).

21^st: Frederick W. Smith, 80, American transportation industry executive, founder of FedEx.

21^st: Valentina Talyzina, 90, Russian actress (The Irony of Fate, Zigzag of Success, Afonya), People's Artist of the RSFSR (1985).

24^th: Bobby Sherman, 81, American singer ("Little Woman", "Julie, Do Ya Love Me") and actor (Here Come the Brides), kidney cancer.

28^th: Ihor Kalynets, 85, Ukrainian poet and Soviet dissident.

29^th: Mabandla Dlamini, 94, Swazi politician, prime minister (1979–1983).

29^th: Maksym Ustymenko, 31, Ukrainian fighter pilot, plane crash.