The following is a list of notable deaths in August 1989.

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.

August 1989

1

• José Cândido de Carvalho, 74, Brazilian writer.
• Don Heffner, 78, American Major League baseballer.^[1]
• John Hirsch, 59, Hungarian-Canadian theatre director, AIDS-related illness.^[2]
• John Ogdon, 52, English pianist and composer, pneumonia.^[3]

2

• Friedl Behn-Grund, 82, German cinematographer.
• Luiz Gonzaga, 76, Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician and poet.

3

• Dominic Behan, 60, Irish writer, songwriter and singer, complications from pancreatic cancer.
• Antonia Brico, 87, Dutch-born American conductor and pianist.^[4]
• Egon Orowan, 87, Hungarian-British physicist and metallurgist.^[5]

4

• Maurice Colbourne, 49, English stage and television actor, heart attack.
• Wayne LaMaster, 82, American Major League baseballer.
• Paul Murry, 77, American cartoonist and comics artist.
• Larry Parnes, 59, British pop manager, meningitis.
• Taghi Riahi, 78, Iranian officer in Iranian Imperial Army.
• W. Wallace Smith, 88, American grandson of Joseph Smith Jr., president of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.^[6]

5

• John Kinard, 52, American social activist, pastor and museum director, myelofibrosis.^[7]
• Max Macon, 73, American Major League baseballer.
• Charles Richard Mulrooney, 83, American Roman Catholic bishop.
• Stacey Toran, 27, American NFL footballer, car accident.

6

• Beattie Casely-Hayford, 67, Ghanaian engineer, co-founder of Ghana National Dance Ensemble.
• Don Clark, 65, American footballer, heart attack.
• Nat Levine, 90, American film producer.

7

• Mickey Leland, 44, American politician, anti-poverty activist, member of U.S. House of Representatives, plane crash.
• Robert Stevens, 68, American television and movie director and producer, cardiac arrest.
• Mira Trailović, 65, Serbian dramaturg and theatre director.

8

• Irving Cottler, 71, American percussionist, heart attack.
• Robert Kaske, 68, American professor of medieval literature, brain tumour.^[8]
• Enrico Lorenzetti, 78, Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
• Brian Naylor, 66, British racing driver.
• Bobby Oxspring, 70, British Royal Air Force officer and flying ace during World War II.
• George Papp, 73, American comics artist.

9

• Richard Alexander, 86, American film actor.
• Antonino Pietro Gullotti, 67, Italian politician.
• Kathleen Maguire, 63, American actress, cancer of the esophagus.^[9]
• Wayne Sheley, 73, Canadian footballer.

10

• H. Montgomery Hyde, 81, Irish barrister, politician, author and biographer.
• George Ignatieff, 75, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations.
• Pierre Matisse, 89, French-born American art dealer.^[10]
• Alberto Sols, 72, Spanish biochemist.

11

• Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, 69–72, Pakistani politician, Governor of Balochistan.
• Goldup Davies, 75, British swimmer.
• Robert W. Levering, 74, American lawyer and politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• John Meillon, 55, Australian actor, cirrhosis.
• Sonny Thompson, 72, American R&B bandleader and pianist.

12

• Fred Dawes, 78, English footballer.
• Lillebil Ibsen, 90, Norwegian dancer and actress.
• Aimo Koivunen, 71, Finnish soldier.
• Samuel Okwaraji, 25, Nigerian international footballer, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• William Shockley, 79, American physicist, Nobel laureate in Physics, eugenicist, prostate cancer.^[11]
• Olga Villi, 67, Italian model and actress.

13

• Hugo del Carril, 76, Argentine film actor, film director and tango singer.
• Roldano Lupi, 80, Italian film actor.
• Tim Richmond, 34, American race car driver, complications from AIDS.^[12]
• Larkin I. Smith, 45, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, plane crash.
• Carlos Yates, 27, American basketballer, shot.

14

• Robert Bernard Anderson, 79, American politician, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Treasury, throat cancer.^[13]
• Ricky Berry, 24, American NBA basketballer, suicide by shooting.
• Dove-Myer Robinson, 88, New Zealand Mayor of Auckland City.

15

• Wolfram Eberhard, 80, German-born Turkish and American professor of Sociology.
• Minoru Genda, 84, Japanese Navy flight officer, Japanese Air Self Defence Force general, and politician.^[14]
• Elvy Kalep, 90, Estonian aviator, country's first female pilot.
• Heinrich Krone, 93, German politician.
• Dorothea Leighton, 80, American social psychiatrist and a founder of the field of medical anthropology.
• Earl B. Ruth, 73, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, 92, Greek Army Lieutenant General who served in World Wars I and II.

16

• Jean-Hilaire Aubame, 76, Gabonese politician, Foreign Minister of Gabon.
• Amanda Blake, 60, American actress, AIDS-related pneumonia.^[15]
• Donald Friend, 74, Australian artist and diarist.
• Bill Sayer, 55, English international rugby league footballer.
• Erasmo Vera, 66, Chilean footballer.

17

• Harry Corbett, 71, English magician, puppeteer and television presenter.
• Fred Frankhouse, 85, American Major League baseballer.
• Lawrence Stevens, 76, South African boxer and Olympic gold medalist.
• Lin Tie, 84, Communist revolutionary leader and politician of the People's Republic of China.

18

• Robert Buckner, 83, American film screenwriter, producer and short story writer.
• Luis Carlos Galan, 45, Colombian politician, assassinated.
• Matt Gordy, 79, American pole vaulter.
• Yūji Koseki, 80, Japanese song and film score composer.
• Imre Németh, 71, Hungarian hammer thrower and Olympic gold medalist.
• Bert Oosterbosch, 32, Dutch racing cyclist, cardiac arrest.
• Chrissie White, 94, British silent-screen actress.

19

• Géza Képes, 80, Hungarian poet, translator and polyglot.
• Alfredo Montelibano Sr., 83, Filipino politician, Secretary of National Defense and the Interior.
• Wayne Moore, 44, American NFL footballer, heart attack.
• Joseph A. Pechman, 71, American economist and taxation scholar.^[16]

20

• George Adamson, 83, British wildlife conservationist in Kenya, murdered.
• H. B. Halicki, 48, American director, writer, stunt driver, actor and filmmaker, accident while filming.
• Joseph LaShelle, 89, American cinematographer.
• Chuck Tollefson, 72, American NFL footballer.

21

• William F. Bolger, 66, U.S. Postmaster General.^[17]
• William Danielsen, 73, Norwegian footballer.
• Raul Seixas, 44, Brazilian rock singer, songwriter and producer, cardiac arrest.
• Phyllis Terrell, 91, American suffragist and civil rights activist.
• Ted Wilks, 73, American Major League baseballer.

22

• George Flahiff, 83, Canadian Roman Catholic Archbishop.
• Robert Grondelaers, 56, Belgian road cyclist and Olympic medalist.
• Charles Hill, 85, British physician and medical spokesman, radio speaker and member of Parliament.
• Huey P. Newton, 47, African-American political activist, founder of Black Panther party, probable murderer, shot.
• Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, 96, Indian musician.
• Diana Vreeland, 85, American fashion columnist and editor, heart attack.^[18]

23

• Erik Almgren, 81, Swedish footballer and manager.
• R. D. Laing, 61, Scottish psychiatrist, heart attack.^[19]

24

• Jacques Godechot, 82, French historian of the French Revolution.
• Fermín Lecea, 83, Spanish-Argentine footballer.
• Jimmy Littlejohn, 79, Scottish footballer and manager.
• Feliks Topolski, 82, Polish expressionist painter and draughtsman.^[20]

25

• Jim Brideweser, 62, American Major League baseballer.
• Jacques Castelot, 75, French film actor.
• Yan Frenkel, 68, Soviet Ukrainian composer and performer.
• Frank Henry, 79, American equestrian and Olympic gold medalist.
• Herbert Loper, 92, United States Army Major General in World War II, cardiac arrest.
• Roman Palester, 81, Polish composer of classical music.
• Jean-Louis Verdier, 54, French mathematician.
• Bronwen Wallace, 44, Canadian poet and short story writer, cancer.

26

• Hans Børli, 70, Norwegian poet and writer.
• Juanita Brooks, 91, American historian and author, Alzheimer's disease.
• Patrick Connor, 83, Irish politician.
• Irving Stone, 86, American writer.^[21]

27

• Elmer Ellis, 88, American educator and president of the University of Missouri.
• Luiz Luz, 79, Brazilian international footballer.
• Gloria Milland, 48, Italian actress.
• Burhan Shahidi, 94, Chinese politician.
• Bill Shirley, 68, American actor and tenor baritone, lung cancer.

28

• Joseph Alsop, 78, American journalist and newspaper columnist.^[22]
• Ondine, 52, American actor, AIDS-related liver disease.
• John Steptoe, 38, American author and illustrator for children’s books, AIDS.^[23]
• Fred Waters, 62, American Major League baseballer.

29

• Pua Kealoha, 86, Hawaiian swimmer, Olympic gold medalist for the U.S.A.
• Lorenzo Natali, 66, Italian politician.^[24]
• Giorgio di Sant' Angelo, 66, Italian-Argentinian fashion designer based in the U.S.A., lung cancer.
• Sir Peter Scott, 79, British ornithologist, conservationist, Olympic medalist in sailing, heart attack.^[25]

30

• Buddy Burbage, 82, American Negro League baseballer.
• Joe Collins, 66, American Major League baseballer.^[26]
• Joe de Santis, 80, American radio, television, movie and theatrical actor and sculptor, pulmonary disease.
• Geneviève Morel, 73, French stage and film actress.
• Roland Renne, 83, American agricultural economics professor, president of Montana State College.
• Dorothy Schiff, 86, American businesswoman, owner and publisher of the New York Post.^[27]

31

• Michele Cascella, 96, Italian artist.
• Moe Dalitz, 89, American gangster, businessman, casino owner and philanthropist, congestive heart failure.
• Mary Gunn, 90, South African librarian and biographer.
• Claire Luce, 85, American stage and screen actress, dancer and singer.^[28]
• Skeeter Newsome, 78, American Major League baseballer.