Deaths in April - 2024

Novelist Sami Michael died April 1 at the age of 97. His books include A Trumpet in the Wadi and Victoria (Macmillan Firsts).

Novelist Maryse Conde died April 2 at the age of 90. Her books include I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem and Segu, and Crossing the Mangrove .

Comic book artist Ed Piskor died April 1 at the age of 41. His work includes Wizzywig, Hip Hop Family Tree Book 1: 1970s-1981, and X-Men: Grand Design.

Novelist John Barth died April 2 at the age of 93. His best known books include The Sot-Weed Factor and Lost in the Funhouse.

Benedictine abbot primate Notker Wolfdied April 3 at the age of 83. His books include The Art of Leadership and Make the Time for Yourself: It's Your Time.

Playwright Christopher Durang died April 2 at the age of 75. His work includes Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Theologian Gerhard Lohfink died April 2 at the age of 89. His books include Jesus and Community and Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was .

Journalist Hella Pick died April 4 at the age of 94. Her books include Simon Wiesenthal: A Life in Search of Justice, Guilty Victim - Austria from the Holocaust to Haider , and Invisible Walls: A Journalist in Search of Her Life .

Lynne Reid Banks, author of books for adults, children and teenagers (fiction and non fiction) has died aged 94. Her many books included The L Shaped Room and two sequels.

I've just discovered that she was actively running a FB page/website and blogging for the last few years of her life, and appears to have published a new children's book last year.

Sociologist Zsuzsa Ferge died April 4 at the age of 92. They wrote A society in the making : Hungarian social and societal policy 1945-75 .

Philosopher and opera critic Michael Tanner died April 3 at the age of 88. His books include Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction and Schopenhauer .

Investigative reporter Kate Coleman died April 2 at the age of 81. She wrote The Secret Wars of Judi Bari: A Car Bomb, the Fight for the Redwoods, and the End of Earth First .

Architect Italo Rota died April 6 at the age of 70. His books include New York: Not Only Buildings (Architecture Tools) and New York, 1850-1950 .

Economist Ilie Serbanescu died April 8 at the age of 81. He wrote Romania under the Tyranny of Small Figures (East European Monograph) .

Jesuit educator William J. Byron died April 9 at the age of 96. His books 📕 include Jesuit Saturdays: Sharing the Ignatian Spirit With Lay Colleagues and Friends and Answers from Within: Spiritual Guidelines for Managing Setbacks in Work and Life .

Nobel winning Physicist Peter Higgs died April 8 at the age of 94. His work includes contributing to The rise of the standard model : particle physics in the 1960s and 1970s and 2001, a spacetime odyssey : proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics .

Comics writer, artist, and historian Trina Robbins died April 10 aged 85. Her works include the Chicagoland Detective Agency series, From Girls to Grrlz : A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines, and The Complete Wimmen's Comix.

HA. O.J. Simpson

Former NFL player, sportscaster, actor, and (ahem) a few other things O. J. Simpson died April 10 at the age of 76. His books include If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer and I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions .

Poet Kim Taplin died April 10. Her books include The English Path and Tongues in Trees: Studies in Literature and Ecology.

Comic book historian Trina Robbins died April 10 at the age of 85. Her books include From Girls to Grrlz : A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines and Eternally Bad: Goddesses With Attitude .

Zoologist Anne Innis Dagg died April 1 at the age of 91. Her books include "Love of Shopping" is Not a Gene: Problems With Darwinian Psychology, The Social Behavior of Older Animals, and Animal Friendships.

Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli died April 12 at the age of 83. He wrote Roberto Cavalli and Roberto Cavalli: il nero non è mai assoluto.

Newscaster Robert MacNeil died April 12 at the age of 93. His books include The Story of English and Wordstruck.

Drag performer Rumi Missabu died April 2 at the age of 76. He wrote Ruminations.

Documentary filmmaker Eleanor Coppola died April 12 at the age of 87. She wrote Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now and Notes on a Life.

Former Yankee’s pitcher Fritz Peterson died April 11 at the age of 82. He wrote Mickey Mantle Is Going To Heaven and When the Yankees Were on the Fritz: Revisiting the Horace Clarke Years.

Artist and children’s author Prof. Faith Ringgold died April 13 at the age of 93. Her books include Tar Beach, Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky, and If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks.

Australian journalist J. J. McRoach died April 9 at the age of 75. He wrote A dozen dopey yarns: Tales from the pot prohibition.

Australian television host and chef Ian Parmenter has died at the age of 79. His books include Consuming Passions, Sheer Bottled Bliss My Margaret River, and Consuming Passions L-plates : Learn to Cook the Food You love to Eat.

Evangelist Beverly LeHaye died April 14 at the age of 94. Her books include The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love, The Spirit-controlled Woman, and Seasons Under Heaven (Seasons Series #1).

Cricket star Derek Underwood has died at the age of 78. His books include Beating the bat: An autobiography, Deadly Down Under, and Uphill into the Breeze.

Sociologist Jadwiga Staniszkis died April 15 at the age of 81. She wrote The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe: The Polish Experience (Society and Culture in East-Central Europe).

Film critic Adriano Apra died April 15 at the age of 83. His books include Comedy, italian Style, Il cinema di Andy Warhol , and Michelangelo Antonioni: aventura.

Former Dodger Carl Erskine died April 16 at the age of 97. His books include What I Learned From Jackie Robinson and Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout.

Rough week for baseball. 😢⚾️

Former baseball player Whitey Herzog died April 15 at the age of 92. He wrote You're Missin' a Great Game: From Casey to Ozzie, the Magic of Baseball and How to Get It Back and White Rat: A Life in Baseball.

Televangelist Jerry Savelle died April 15 at the age of 77. His books include If Satan Can't Steal Your Joy, He Can't Have Your Goods and In the footsteps of a prophet.

Gallery owner Patti Astor died April 9 at the age of 74. She wrote East Village USA and Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody .

Former US Senator Bob Graham died April 16 at the age of 87. His books include intelligence Matters and Keys to the Kingdom .

Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts, age 80.

Artist Dinh Q. Le died April 6 at the age of 56. His work can be seen in Dinh Q. Le: The Headless Buddha, Dinh Q. Le: Memory for Tomorrow, and Connect: Kunstszene Vietnam.

Grammy winner and American Idol contestant Mandisa Hundley died April 18 at the age of 47. She wrote Idoleyes: My New Perspective on Faith, Fat & Fame.

Conspiracy theorist William F. Pepper died April 6 at the age of 86. His books include An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King and Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King.

Philosopher Daniel C. Dennett died April 19 at the age of 82. His books include Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon .

Former NFL football star Roman Gabriel died April 20 at the age of 84. He wrote Player of the year: Roman Gabriel's football journal.

Pakistani politician Roedad Khan died April 21 at the age of 100. His books include Pakistan - A Dream Gone Sour and The American Papers : Secret and Confidential India-Pakistan-Bangladash Documents, 1965-1973 .

Music producer Michael Cuscuna died April 18 at the age of 75. His books include The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff, The Blue Note Label: A Discography, Revised and Expanded (Discographies), and Mosaic Records. The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio.

Former university president William H. Harris died April 19 at the age of 79. His books include The Harder We Run: Black Workers since the Civil War and Keeping the Faith: A. Philip Randolph, Milton P. Webster, and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1925-37.

Former Associated Press bureau chief held for seven years by Islamic terrorists Terry Anderson died April 21 at the age of 76. He wrote Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years .

Illustrator Etienne Delessert died April 21 at the age of 83. His books include Big and Bad, How the Mouse Was Hit on the Head by a Stone and So Discovered the World, and Humpty Dumpty.

Horror writer Ray Garton died April 21 at the age of 61. His books include Live Girls , Resurrecting Ravana , and The Loveliest Dead.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Joel Breman died April 6 at the age of 87. He wrote The Intolerable Burden of Malaria.

LGBTQ activist Rev. Cecil Williams died April 22 at the age of 94. His books include No Hiding Place: Empowerment and Recovery for Our Troubled Communities and Beyond the Possible: 50 Years of Creating Radical Change in a Community Called Glide .

Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar died April 22 at the age of 85. His books include Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and its Healing Traditions and The Ascetic of Desire .

Futurist Yorick Blumenfeld died April 8 at the age of 91. His books include Jenny, my diary, Scanning the Future, and 2099: A Eutopia.

Accordionist Fergie MacDonald died April 23 at the age of 86. He wrote Fergie: Memoirs of a Musical Legend.

Literary critic Helen Vendler died April 23 at the age of 90. Her books include The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets, Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology and Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries.

British politician and academic David Marquand died April 23 at the age of 89. His books include Britain Since 1918: The Strange Career of British Democracy and The Ideas That Shaped Post-war Britain .

Tennis coach Alan Jones has died at the age of 75. He wrote The Tennis Workshop: A Complete Game Guide.

British politician Lord Frank Field of Birkenhead died April 23 at the age of 81. His books include The Politics of Paradise: A Christian Approach to the Kingdom and Inequality in Britain: Freedom, Welfare and the State.

Art director Ray Chan died April 24. He wrote A Quick Guide on How to Shoot a Travel Video with Your Smartphone .

Hockey announcer Bob Cole died April 24 at the age of 90. He wrote Now I'm Catching On: My Life On and Off the Air.

Childbirth advocate Penny Simkin died April 11 at the age of 85. Her books include The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions and Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide .

Economist Michael C. Jensen died April 2 at the age of 84. His books include A Theory of the Firm: Governance, Residual Claims, and Organizational Forms and Foundations of Organizational Strategy.

Poet Joko Pinurbo died April 27 at the age of 61. His books include Trouser doll : selected poems, 1989-1998 and Celana (Indonesian Edition).

Educator Donald R. Raycraft died April 12. His books include Wallace-Homestead Price Guide to American Country Antiques, Collector's Guide to Country Stoneware & Pottery, and Collector's Guide to Country Baskets.

Scholar of Spanish 15th century history Roger Boase died April 15 at the age of 77. His books include Islam and global dialogue : religious pluralism and the pursuit of peace and The Troubadour Revival: a Study of Social Change and Traditionalism in Late Medieval Spain .

Advocate for the liberalization of drug policy Russell Newcombe has died at the age of 66. He wrote Tripology.

Former New Zealand poet laureate Sir Vincent O’Sullivan died April 28 at the age of 86. His books include An Anthology of Twentieth Century New Zealand Poetry , The Oxford Book of New Zealand Short Stories , Let the River Stand, and All This By Chance .

Christopher John Sansom, who published 9 novels as C J Sansom, died on 27 April aged 71. His books include the 7 book Shardlake series set in Tudor England, starting with Dissolution, Winter in Madrid set during the Spanish Civil War, and an alternate history novel Dominion, set in Britain after a German/Nazi victory in the Second World War.

Military historian Christopher Joll died April 18 at the age of 75. His books include The Speedicut Papers: Book 1 (1821-1848): Flashman's Secret, The Drum Horse in the Fountain: & Other Tales of Heroes and Rogues in the Guards, and Spoils of War.

German language professor Peter Demetz died April 30 at the age of 101. His books include Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City and Brecht: A Collection of Critical Essays.

Forensic pathologist Werner Spitz died April 14 at the age of 97. He wrote Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death: Guidelines for the Application of Pathology to Crime.

Novelist Paul Auster, whose works include The New York Trilogy and 4 3 2 1, has died aged 77 on 30 April.

Historian Lyndall Ryan died April 30 at the age of 81. Her books include The Aboriginal Tasmanians and Tasmanian Aborigines: A History Since 1803 .

Botanist Pieter Baas died April 29 at the age of 80. His books include Pierre-Joseph Redouté : Botanical Artist to the Court of France and New perspectives in wood anatomy.

China scholar Robert B. Oxnam died April 18 at the age of 81. His books include A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder and Ming: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century China.

Cruciverbalist Nancy Schuster died April 26 at the age of 90. She edited Random House Crossword Puzzle Dictionary .

Crime writer Jay Robert Nash died April 22 at the age of 86. His books include Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present, Darkest Hours: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present, and Hustlers and Con Men: An Anecdotal History of the Confidence Man and His Games.

Photojournalist Daniel Kramer died April 29 at the age of 91. His books include Bob Dylan and Daniel Kramer. Bob Dylan: A Year and a Day .

Entrepreneur and Holocaust survivor Avraham Harshalom died May 3 at the age of 99. He wrote Alive from the ashes .

Nature columnist Ethna Viney died April 26 at the age of 95. Her books include Ireland's Ocean: A Natural History and Dancing to different tunes : sexuality and its misconceptions.

Aviation and marine artist Roy Cross died April 24, one day after his 100th birthday. His work can be seen in Clipper Packets & Men O' War and Messerschmitt Bf 109, Versions B-E .

Poet Jerome Rothenberg died April 21 at the age of 92. His works include Poems for the Millennium, Volume One: From Fin-de-Siecle to Negritude, Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania, and Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of the Indian North Americas.

Leadership consultant Rodney W. Napier died April 6 at the age of 87. He wrote Groups: Theory and Experience, Groups, and Making Groups Work: A Guide for Group Leaders.

Wide-ranging author Lesley Hazelton died April 29 at the age of 78. Her books include After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam, The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad, and Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen .

History lecturer Peter Searby died at the age of 93. His books include The Chartists (Then & There) and Weavers and Outworkers in Victorian Times.

Hospital administrator Herbert Pardes died April 30 at the age of 89. He edited Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide .

Bioethicist Nancy Dubler died April 14 at the age of 82. Her books include Ethics On Call: A Medical Ethicist Shows How to Take Charge of Life-and-Death Choices, Bioethics Mediation: A Guide to Shaping Shared Solutions, Revised and Expanded Edition, and Illusions Of Immortality: The Confrontation Of Adolescence And AIDS .

Welsh historian Chris Williams died April 12 at the age of 61. He wrote A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Britain (Blackwell Companions to British History) and Democratic Rhondda and translated The Richard Burton Diaries.

Medieval manuscript expert William Noel died April 29 at the age of 58. His books include The Archimedes codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest and The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible .

Anthropologist Wendy James died April 27 at the age of 84. Her books include editing Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa 1880-1883 and The Ceremonial Animal: A New Portrait of Anthropology .

Advocate for the poor A.T. Ariyaratne died April 16 at the age of 92. He wrote Buddhist economics in practice in the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement of Sri Lanka and Collected Works of A.T. Ariyaratne, vol I.