Deaths in May - 2024

Golfer Peter Oosterhuis died May 2 at the age of 75. He co-wrote Golf in a Week (Teach Yourself).

Philosopher Nalin da Silva died May 2 at the age of 79. He wrote An introduction to Tamil racism in Sri Lanka.

Journalist Bruce Arnold has died at the age of 87. His books include Irish Art and The Scandal of Ulysses: The Sensational Life of a Twentieth-Century Masterpiece .

Aviator Dick Rutan died May 3 from complications of Covid-19 at the age of 85. He co-wrote Voyager and The Next Five Minutes: Embracing the Impossible .

Artist Frank Stella died May 4 at the age of 87. His work can be seen in Working Space and Frank Stella. Illustrations after El Lissitzkys Had Gadya. 1982- 84.

Classicist David Konstan died May 2 at the age of 83. His books include Friendship in the Classical World and Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture).

Former CEO of Boeing Frank Shrontz died May 4 at the age of 92. He wrote The Making of a Jet Airliner.

Rabbi Yechiel Perr died May 4 at the age of 89. He wrote Tzidkus Stands Forever: The Life and Lessons of Rabbi Menachem M. Perr zt"l and Shoshanas Ha'amakim: Parsha Lessons, Life Lessons.

Playwright Juro Kara died May 4 at the age of 84. His work includes Letters from Sagawa and Koshimaki Osen.

Badminton player Judy Devlin died May 6 at the age of 88. She wrote Beginning badminton .

Poet David Shapiro died May 5 at the age of 77. His books include An Anthology of New York Poets, Mondrian: Flowers, and Abstract Expressionism: A Critical Record .

Politician Paul N. McCloskey died May 8 at the age of 96. His books include The taking of Hill 610: And other essays on friendship, Truth and Untruth - Political Deceit in America, and The Navy's Coverup of the 1967 Attack on the USS Liberty.

Landscape architect Barbara Stauffacher Solomon died May 7 at the age of 95. Her books include Green Architecture & The Agrarian Garden, Good Mourning California , and Utopia Myopia.

Journalist Shirley Conran died May 9 at the age of 91. Her books include Lace and Savages.

Biographer Judy Oppenheimer died May 1 at the age of 82. She wrote Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson and Dreams of Glory: A Mother's Season With Her Son's High School Football Team.

Canadian commentator Rex Murphy died May 9 at the age of 77. He wrote Canada and Other Matters of Opinion and Points of View.

Event promoter and front man for the shock rock band Jimmy and the Boys, Ignatius Jones died May 7 at the age of 66. He wrote True hip and The 1992 true hip manual .

Diplomat Moorhead Kennedy was one of the hostages taken in Tehran during the Iran crisis. He died May 3 at the age of 93. He wrote The Ayatollah in the cathedral and The Moral Authority of Government.

Entertainment reporter Sam Rubin died May 10 at the age of 64. He wrote Mia Farrow: Flower Child, Madonna, Muse and co-wrote Jackie: A Lasting Impression.

Journalist Hugh Edwards died May 10 at the age of 90. His books include Islands of Angry Ghosts and Crocodile Attack/Dramatic True Stories of Fatal and Near-Fatal Encounters Between Humans and Crocodiles.

Serbian author Ivan Ivanji died May 9 at the age of 95. His books include Germany and Kaiser Konstantin.

Advertising executive Mary Wells Lawrence died May 11 at the age of 95. She wrote A Big Life in Advertising.

Hockey player Ron Ellis died May 11 at the age of 79. He wrote Over the Boards.

Filmmaker Roger Corman died May 9 at the age of 98. He wrote How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime.

Musician, audio engineer, and record producer Steve Albini died May 7 aged 61. In addition to the zine Forced exposure 15, his writing appeared in Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from the Baffler and 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels: A Decade of Hot Dogs, Large Mammals, and Independent Rock: The Handcrafted Art of Jay Ryan.

Chef Jasper White died May 11 at the age of 69. His books include 50 Chowders: One Pot Meals - Clam, Corn, & Beyond, Jasper White's Cooking from New England: More Than 300 Traditional and Contemporary Recipes, and The Summer Shack Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Shore Food.

Legal scholar Christopher Edley died May 10 at the age of 71. His books include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race, and American Values, Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy , and Changing Places: How Communities Will Improve the Health of Boys of Color .

Actor and producer Mark Damon died May 12 at the age of 91. He wrote From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster: The Neverending Story of Film Pioneer Mark Damon.

Pathologist Cyril Wecht died May 13 at the age of 93. His books include Cause of Death and Crime Scene Investigation.

Playwright Samm-Art Williams died May 13 at the age of 78. His work includes Home. and Orchards.

Great saxaphonist David Sanborn has passed at age 78.

Famed Canadian short story writer Alice Munro at age 92.

Indian novelist Malti Joshi died May 15 at the age of 89. Their work includes Million Dollar Note and Honour killing tatha anya kahaniyan.

Chilean poet Carmen Berenguer died May 16 at the age of 77. Her work includes El Rey Mocho/King Mocho (Coleccion Ponte Poronte) and Mama Marx.

Egyptologist Barry J. Kemp died May 16 at the appx age of 84. His books include Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, Ancient Egypt: A Social History, and Think Like an Egyptian: 100 Hieroglyphs.

Comic book artist Don Perlin died May 14 at the age of 94. His series include Bloodshot V1 and Robotix.

WWII ace Bud Anderson died May 17 at the age of 102. He wrote To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace.

Israeli author and politician Yael Dayan died May 18 at the age of 85. Her books include A Soldier's Diary: Sinai 1967 and My Father, His Daughter.

Bishop Pat Buckley died May 17 at the age of 72. He wrote A Sexual Life, A Spiritual Life: A Painful Journey to Inner Peace.

Retail executive Bruce Nordstrom died May 18 at the age of 90. He wrote Leave It Better Than You Found It.

Diplomat Francisco Villagran de Leon died May 18 at the age of 70. He wrote The OAS and democratic development and The OAS and regional security.

Philanthropist and Holocaust survivor Sigmund Rolat died May 19 at the age of 93. He wrote Generations of the Shoah - The Sigmund A. Rolat Story.

British Harrier Commander Sharkey Ward died May 17 at the age of 80. He wrote Sea Harrier Over The Falklands and Her Majesty's Top Gun: and the Decline of the Royal Navy.

Infamous stock trader Ivan Boesky died May 20 at the age of 87. He wrote Merger Mania: Arbitrage : Wall Street's Best Kept Money-Making Secret.

Raiders football player Jim Otto died May 19 at the age of 86. He wrote Jim Otto: The PAIN OF GLORY.

Illustrator Samuel J. Butcher died May 20 at the age of 85. His work can be seen in Precious Moments Bible: New King James Version, Precious Moments: Stories from the Bible, and Precious Moments Bedtime Stories.

Writer and sociologist Caroline Dawson died May 19 at the age of 45. Her work includes Là où je me terre and As the Andes Disappeared (Literature in Translation Series).

Electrical engineer and computer pioneer C. Gordon Bell died May 17 at the age of 89. His books include High-tech Ventures: The Guide For Entrepreneurial Success, Computer Structures: Readings and Examples, and Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design.

Historian Jacques Monet died May 14 at the age of 94. He wrote Last Cannon Shot: A Study of French-Canadian Nationalism, 1837-50 and Union of the Canadas 1837-1867 and "Maintaining a Constitution worthy of such a country" : reflections on values in Canadian society. Fr. Jacques Monet, S.J., was also an authority on the Canadian constitutional monarchy and on Canadian Jesuit history.

Olympic swimmer David Wilkie died May 22 at the age of 70. His books include The Handbook of Swimming (Pelham practical sports) and Winning with Wilkie : a guide to better swimming.

Biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore died May 18 at the age of 89. His books include Confederate Commissary General: Lucius Bellinger Northrop and the Subsistence Bureau of the Southern Army, Edward Elgar: A Creative Life (Clarendon Paperbacks), and Elgar: Child of Dreams.

A documentary film editor who managed the business side of her husband's art studio and eventually wrote children's picture books, Florence Minor died May 21 aged 74. Her works include If You Were a Penguin, Christmas Tree!, and Wendell Minor: Art for the Written Word: Twenty-Five Years of Book Cover Art.

Installation artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz's death was announced May 23, aged 77. His works include The world of interiors, Marc Camille Chaimowicz: An Autumn Lexicon, and Cafe du Reve.

Aboriginal photographer Destiny Deacon died May 24 at the age of 67. Her books include Destiny Deacon : walk & don't look blak and No fixed dress.

The man behind Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock died May 23 at the age of 53. His books include Don't Eat This Book : Fast Food and the Supersizing of America and Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

Novelist Caleb Carr died May 23 at the age of 68. His books include The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness , and The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes.

Writer Walter Kappacher died May 24 at the age of 85. His books include Palace of Flies and Morgen: Roman.

Former child actor and acting coach Darryl Hickman died May 22 at the age of 92. He wrote The Unconscious Actor: Out of Control, In Full Command.

Composer and songwriter known for his work with Disney Richard M. Sherman died May 25 at the age of 95. Some of his work was included in children’s picture books such as Walt Disney's It's A Small World, Walt Disney Presents Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Disneyland Record and Book #327).

Cultural historian H Bruce Franklin died May 19 aged 90. His works include The Wake of Gods: Melville's Mythology (continuously in print since it was first published), Prison Writings in 20th-Century America, and Future perfect; American science fiction of the nineteenth century.

Architect Bertus Mulder died May 25 at the age of 95. His books include The Rietveld Schroder House and Gerrit Thomas Rietveld : an outline of his life, thought and work.

Archaeologist Schuyler Jones died May 17 at the age of 94. His books include Tibetan Nomads (Carlsberg Foundation Nomad Research Project) and Pygmies of Central Africa (Original Peoples).

Archaeologist Sir John Boardman died May 23 at the age of 96. His books include The Oxford History of the Classical World and The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World.

Basketball Hall of Fame star Bill Walton died May 27 at the age of 71. His books include Back from the Dead, Nothing but Net: Just Give Me the Ball and Get Out of the Way, and Bill Walton.

Photographer Bertien van Manen died May 26 at the age of 89. Her books include Moonshine, A hundred summers, a hundred winters / Bertien van Manen, and Easter and Oak Trees.