Year (''' MCMLXXXIX ''') was a Common Year Starting On Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian Calendar ).
- February 1 - Joan Kirner becomes Victoria's first female Deputy Premier, after the resignation of Robert Fordham over the VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Co-operation) Crisis.
- armored column leaves Kabul , ending 9 years of military occupation.
- February 2 - Satellite television service Sky Television Plc is launched in Europe.
- February 3 - A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner , dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
- February 3 - After a Stroke , Pieter Willem Botha resigns his party's leadership and the presidency of South Africa .
- February 7 - The Los Angeles, California City Council bans the sale or possession of semiautomatic weapons.
- February 10 - Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee , becoming the first African American to lead a major United States Political Party .
- February 11 - Barbara Clementine Harris is consecrated as the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church In The United States Of America .
- February 14 - Union Carbide agrees to pay USD $470 million to the India n government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster .
- February 14 - Iran ian leader Ruhollah Khomeini encourages Muslim s to kill '' The Satanic Verses '' author Salman Rushdie .
- February 14 - The first of 24 Global Positioning System Satellite s is placed into orbit.
- officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan .
- hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
- February 23 - After protracted testimony, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejects, 11-9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.
- February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US $3-million bounty on the head of '' The Satanic Verses '' author Salman Rushdie .
- February 24 - United Airlines Flight 811 , a Boeing 747 bound to New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii , rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers and crew out of the first class section.
- February 24 - After 44 years, Estonian Flag is raised to the Pikk Hermann castle tower.
- February 27 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo .
- March 1 - The Berne Convention , an international Treaty on Copyright s, is ratified by the United States .
- March 1 - A Curfew is imposed in Kosovo , where protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority.
- March 1 - Louis Wade Sullivan starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary Of Commerce .
- March 1 - James D. Watkins starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary Of Energy .
- March 1 - The Politieke Partij Radicalen , Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij , Communistische Partij Nederland and the Evangelische Volks Partij amalgamate to form Netherlands political party the GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft).
- March 2 - Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all Chlorofluorocarbon s (CFCs) by the end of the century.
- March 3 - Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two 8 year old girls in Myllypuro suburb in Helsinki , Finland
- March 3 - Portugal wins the FIFA U-20 World Cup defeating Nigeria on the final by 2-0 in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia .
- March 4 - Time, Inc . and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner .
- March 4 - The Purley Station Rail Crash in London leaves 5 dead and 94 injured.
- March 4 - The first ACT ( Australian Capital Territory ) elections are held.
- March 7 - Iran breaks off Diplomatic Relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie 's '' The Satanic Verses ''.
- March 9 - A strike forces financially troubled Eastern Air Lines into Bankruptcy .
- March 13 - In Québec, 6 million people were without commercial electric power for 9 hours as a result of a huge geomagnetic storm. Some areas in the northeastern U.S. and in Sweden also lost power.
- bans the importation of certain guns deemed Assault Weapons into the United States .
- March 14 - Christian General Michel Aoun declares a 'War of Liberation' to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.
- March 18 - In Egypt , a 4,400-year-old Mummy is found in the Great Pyramid Of Giza .
- March 20 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
- March 22 - Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers an almost fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat in one of the most grusome sports injuries of all time.
- March 22 - Asteroid 4581 Asclepius approaches the Earth at a distance of 700,000 kilomters.
- March 23 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce that they have achieved Cold Fusion at the University Of Utah .
- March 23 - A 300 m (1,000 ft) diameter Near-Earth Asteroid misses the Earth by 500,000 km (400,000 miles).
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- April 1 - Margaret Thatcher 's new Local Government tax, the Poll Tax , is introduced in Scotland .
- April 2 - In WrestleMania V , Hulk Hogan defeats Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth in the neutral corner) to become the WWF Champion.
- April 4 - Richard M. Daley is elected mayor of Chicago .
- April 4 - In Brussels, Belgium , NATO celebrates its 40th anniversary.
- April 6 - National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235 million.
- April 7 - The Soviet Submarine K-278 Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea , killing 41.
- April 9 - Georgian demonstrators are massacred by Red Army soldiers in Tbilisi 's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed (mostly young women), many injured.
- April 15 - The Hillsborough Disaster , one of the biggest tragedies in Europe an Football , claims the life of 96 Liverpool supporters.
- April 16 - The '' Dilbert '' comic strip is syndicated for the first time.
- April 18 - The Hillsborough disaster claims its 95th victim when 14-year-old Lee Nichol dies in hospital from his injuries.
- April 19 - Trisha Meili is savagely attacked while jogging in New York City 's Central Park ; as her identity remains secret for years, she becomes known as the "Central Park Jogger."
- April 19 - Seven crew members die after a gun turret explodes on the U.S. battleship ''Iowa'' .
- April 20 - NATO debates modernising short range missiles; although the U.S. and UK are in favour, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl obtains a concession deferring a decision.
- April 21 - Students from Beijing , Shanghai , Xian , and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square .
- April 21 - Nintendo begins selling the Game Boy in Japan .
- April 25 - The term of Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail as the 8th Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia ends.
- April 26 - Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu , Sultan of Perak , becomes the 9th Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia .
- June 1 - The SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre ) is opened in Toronto .
- June 3 - The Ayatollah Khomeini dies.
- June 4 - The Tiananmen Square Massacre takes place in Beijing on the army's approach to the square, and the final stand-off in the square is covered live on television.
- explosion near Ufa , Russia kills 645 as 2 trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
- June 4 - Solidarity 's victory in the first partly free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland is the first of many anti- Communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 (almost all of them peaceful).
- June 7 - 176 people are killed in Surinam's Worst Air Disaster .
- June 8 - Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria .
- June 12 - Corcoran Gallery Of Art removes Robert Mapplethorpe's photography exhibiton.
- June 13 - The wreck of the German battleship '' Bismarck '', which was sunk in 1941, is located 600 miles west of Brest, France .
- June 14 - Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested in Beverly Hills, California after slapping a motorcycle Police officer.
- June 16 - A crowd of 250,000 gathers at Heroes Square in Budapest for the historic reburial of Imre Nagy , the former Hungarian prime minister who had been executed in 1958.
- June 21 - British police arrest 250 citizens for celebrating the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge .
- June 22 - Ireland 's first universities established since independence in 1922 , Dublin City University and the University Of Limerick , open.
- August 23 - Two million indigenous people of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , then still occupied by the Soviet Union , join hands to demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way .
- August 23 - Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria .
- August 23 - All of Australia 's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to sack and sue them over a dispute.
- August 23 - Yusef Hawkins is shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn , New York , sparking racial tensions between African American s and Italian American s.
- August 24 - Record-setting Baseball player Pete Rose agrees to a lifetime ban from the sport following allegations of illegal gambling, thereby preventing his induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame .
- August 24 - Indonesia's first privately owned television station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia , ( RCTI ) begins broadcasting.
- August 25 - Voyager II passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton .
- October 5 - U.S. televangelist John Nunes is found guilty of embezzling $158 million.
- October 9 - An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh .
- October 9 - In Leipzig , East Germany , protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
- October 13 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26 most likely after the Junk Bond market collapsed. This mini-crash became known as the Friday The 13th Mini-crash .
- October 17 - The Loma Prieta Earthquake , measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale , strikes the San Francisco - Oakland region of Northern California, killing 63.
- October 18 - The Communist leader of East Germany , Erich Honecker , is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems.
- October 19 - The Guildford Four are freed after 14 years.
- October 19 - The Wonders Of Life pavilion opens at Epcot
- Heads Of Government of the Commonwealth Of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making Environmental Sustainability one of the Commonwealth's main priorities.
- October 23 - The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic).
- October 30 - The Qualification for the 1990 Football World Cup ends.
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- ''("November 1989" – Nov 7 , 9 ; Bulgaria Nov 10 ; Czechoslovakia Nov 17 , 20 , 28 )''
- November 4 - Typhoon Gay devastates the Thai province of Chumphon .
- November 7 - Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia , becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States .
- November 7 - David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City .
- government of East Germany resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains head of state.
- November 7 - In California , convicted murderer Richard Ramirez (the "Night Stalker") is sentenced to death.
- , allowing its citizens to freely travel to West Germany for the first time in decades (the next day celebrating Germans began tearing the wall down).
- November 10 - After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria , Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov , who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party . This is the latest of several events this week which signal the beginning of the end for communism in Eastern Europe .
- November 10 - Gaby Kennard becomes the first Australia n woman to fly non-stop around the world.
- November 12 - Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960 .
- November 15 - Disney's ''The Little Mermaid'' is released in theaters.
- November 16 - Six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter are shot in San Salvador , El Salvador .
- November 16 - South Africa n President F.W. De Klerk announces the scrapping of the Separate Amenities Act .
- November 16 - UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement On Violence at the twenty-fifth session of its General Conference.
- begins - In Czechoslovakia a peaceful student demonstration in Prague is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeds on December 29 ).
- - The number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague , Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
- November 21 - North Carolina celebrates its Bicentennial statehood.
- November 22 - In West Beirut , a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad and kills him.
- - With other Communist regimes falling all around it and with growing street protests, the Communist Party Of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their Monopoly on political power (elections held in December bring the first non-communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than 40 years).
- November 30 - Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a terrorist bomb (the Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the murder).
- 's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated SED its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz , the Politburo and the Central Committee resign 2 days later.
- , U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end.
- , an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal .
- December 6 - The final episode of the long-running BBC science fiction series '' Doctor Who '' was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom .
- December 10 - Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second oldest communist country into a democratic society.
- December 14 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years.
- December 15 - Drug baron José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed by Colombia n police.
- December 17 - In Timişoara , Romania , an uprising begins against the Communist regime, sparking the Romanian Revolution .
- December 17 - Brazil holds its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor De Mello wins the election.
- December 17 - The first full length episode of '' The Simpsons '', " Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire ", premieres on FOX .
- December 20 - '' Operation Just Cause '' is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panama nian dictator Manuel Noriega .
- December 22 - After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania , ending Nicolae Ceauşescu 's Communist Dictatorship , who flees his palace in a helicopter to escape inevitable execution.
- December 22 - Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey , Australia, killing 35.
- December 25 - Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena are executed after their unsuccessful escape attempt.
- December 25 - Bank Of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the '' Bubble Economy ''.
- December 28 - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales , Australia , killing 13 people.
- December 29 - Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia .
- December 29 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnam ese refugees.
The following are references to year 1989 in fiction: (unknown).
World in Conflict (Game) - Soviet Union invades Europe and United States
- January 2 - Kaitlin Howell , Canadian actress
- January 3 - Alex D. Linz , American actor
- January 11 - Chris Perry-Metcalf , British actor
- January 14 - Frankie Sandford , British singer
- January 20 - Nadia Di Cello , Argentine actress
- January 22 - Jared Smith , American singer
- January 25 - Yasmien Kurdi , Filipino actress and singer
- January 26 - Emily Hughes , American figure skater
- January 30 - Khleo Thomas , American actor and rapper
- February 5 - Jeremy Sumpter , American actor
- February 7 - Louisa Lytton , English actress
- February 8 - Danielle Harmer , English actress
- February 9 - Wu Chia-ching , Taiwanese pool player
- February 13 - Carly McKillip , Canadian actress
- February 17 - Stacey McClean , British singer
- February 21 - Corbin Bleu , American actor and singer
- February 21 - Kristin Herrera , American actress
- February 21 - Scout Taylor-Compton , American actress
- February 24 - Calvin Goldspink , British singer
- February 27 - Kelly Breeding , American singer
- March 1 - Daniella Monet , American actress
- March 5 - Jake Lloyd , American actor
- March 15 - Caitlin Wachs , American actress
- March 16 - Peaches Geldof , British performer
- March 16 - Theo Walcott , English footballer
- March 21 - Rochelle Wiseman , British singer/television presenter
- March 25 - Alyson Michalka , American actress/singer
- April 8 - Hitomi Takahashi , Japanese singer
- April 18 - Alia Shawkat , American actress
- April 23 - Anastasia Baranova , Russian-born actress
- April 23 - Nicole Vaidišová , Czech tennis player
- April 25 - Michael Van Gerwen , Dutch darts player
- April 25 - Raquel Donatelli , American reality television star
- May 4 - Dániel Gyurta , Hungarian swimmer
- May 5 - Chris Brown , American singer
- May 10 - Lindsey Shaw , American actress
- May 29 - Riley Keough , American model
- May 30 - Kevin Covais , American Idol Season 5 Contestant
- June 1 - Ariel Sorensen , Beauty Queen
- June 2 - Freddy Adu , Ghanaian-born American soccer player
- June 7 - Shelley Buckner , American actress
- June 8 - Richard Fleeshman , English actor
- June 18 - Renee Olstead , American actress and singer
- June 22 - Jeffrey Earnhardt , American race car driver
- June 27 - Matthew Lewis , British actor
- June 27 - Bruna Tenório , Brazilian supermodel
- July 11 - David Henrie , American actor
- July 13 - Sayumi Michishige , Japanese singer
- July 23 - Daniel Radcliffe , British actor
- July 21 - Jamie Waylett , British actor
- July 25 - Noel Callahan , Canadian actor
- July 27 - Charlotte Arnold , Canadian actress
- August 8 - Sesil Karatantcheva , Bulgarian tennis player
- August 9 - Stefano Okaka Chuka , Italian footballer
- August 15 - Joe Jonas , American singer/songwriter
- August 15 - Belinda , Mexican singer and actress
- August 19 - Lil Romeo , American rapper and actor
- August 21 - Hayden Panettiere , American actress and singer
- August 23 - Breanna Conrad , American reality television star
- December 2 - Cassie Steele , Canadian actress and singer
- December 4 - Garron DuPree , American musician
- December 7 - Nicholas Hoult , British actor
- December 12 - Harry Eden , British actor
- December 12 - Helen Flanagan , English actress
- December 18 - Ashley Benson , American actress
- December 22 - Jordin Sparks , American singer and '' American Idol '' winner
- December 27 - Kateryna Lahno , Ukrainian chess player
- December 28 - Mackenzie Rosman , American actress
- December 30 - Ryan Sheckler , American skateboarder
- Marina Golbahari , Afghani actress
- Haley Bennett , American actress/singer
- Imogen Poots , English actress
- February 1 - Elaine De Kooning , American artist (b. 1919 )
- February 3 - John Cassavetes , American actor and author (b. 1929 )
- February 6 - Barbara Tuchman , American historian (b. 1912 )
- February 9 - Osamu Tezuka , Japanese Manga artist, e.g. Astroboy (b. 1928 )
- February 11 - George O'Hanlon , American actor and director (b. 1912 )
- February 24 - Sparky Adams , American baseball player (b. 1894 )
- February 26 - Roy Eldridge , American musician (b. 1911 )
- February 27 - Paul Oswald Ahnert , German astronomer (b. 1897 )
- February 27 - Konrad Lorenz , Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1903 )
- March 6 - Harry Andrews , British actor (b. 1911 )
- March 8 - Carl Stuart Hamblen , American musician (b. 1908 )
- March 9 - Robert Mapplethorpe , American photographer (b. 1946 )
- March 11 - James Kee , American politician (b. 1917 )
- March 12 - Maurice Evans , English actor (b. 1901 )
- March 14 - Edward Abbey , American author and environmentalist (b. 1927 )
- March 14 - Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr. , American businessman (b. 1900 )
- March 19 - Alan Civil , English French horn player (b. 1929 )
- March 27 - Malcolm Cowley , American author (b. 1898 )
- March 27 - Jack Starrett , American actor and director (b. 1936 )
- May 1 - Sally Kirkland , fashion editor at ''LIFE'' (b. 1912 )
- May 9 - Keith Whitley , American singer (b. 1955 )
- May 14 - E.P. Taylor , Canadian business tycoon (b. 1901 )
- May 19 - C.L.R. James , Trinidadian writer and journalist (b. 1901 )
- May 19 - Robert Webber , American actor (b. 1924 )
- May 20 - John Hicks , English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904 )
- May 20 - Gilda Radner , American comedian and actress (b. 1946 )
- May 29 - John Cipollina , American musician ( Quicksilver Messenger Service ) (b. 1943 )
- May 30 - James Harry Lacey , British World War II RAF Fighter pilot (b. 1917 )
- June 3 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , Supreme Leader Of Iran (b. 1900 )
- June 3 - John McCauley , NHL official
- June 4 - Dik Browne , American cartoonist (b. 1917 )
- June 7 - Don The Beachcomber , American restaurateur (b. 1907 )
- June 9 - George Wells Beadle , American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1903 )
- June 15 - Victor French , American actor and director (b. 1934 )
- June 20 - Hilmar Baunsgaard , Danish politician (b. 1920 )
- June 24 - Hibari Misora , Japanese singer (b. 1937 )
- June 27 - Alfred Ayer , British philosopher (b. 1910 )
- June 28 - Joris Ivens , Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898 )
- July 3 - Jim Backus , American actor (b. 1913 )
- July 10 - Mel Blanc , American voice actor (b. 1908 )
- July 11 - Laurence Olivier , prolific English stage and screen actor and director (b. 1907 )
- July 15 - Laurie Cunningham , English footballer (b. 1956 )
- July 16 - Herbert Von Karajan , Austrian conductor (b. 1908 )
- July 18 - Donnie Moore , baseball player (suicide) (b. 1954 )
- July 19 - Kazimierz Sabbat , Polish president (b. 1913 )
- July 20 - Forrest H. Anderson , American politician (b. 1913 )
- July 22 - Martti Talvela , Finnish bass (b. 1935 )
- July 23 - Donald Barthelme , American writer (b. 1931 )
- July 30 - Lane Frost , American bull rider (b. 1963 )
- August 1 - John Ogdon , English pianist (b. 1937 )
- August 4 - Maurice Colbourne , British actor (b. 1939 )
- August 7 - Mickey Leland , American congressman (b. 1944 )
- August 12 - William Shockley , American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910 )
- August 13 - Tim Richmond , American race car driver (b. 1955 )
- August 14 - Robert Bernard Anderson , American political figure (b. 1910 )
- August 16 - Jean-Hilaire Aubame , French-Gabonese politician (b. 1912 )
- August 16 - Amanda Blake , American actress (b. 1929 )
- August 20 - George Adamson , Indian-born conservationist (assassinated) (b. 1906 )
- August 21 - Raul Seixas , Brazilian singer (b. 1945 )
- August 22 - John Clyne , Canadian jurist (b. 1902 )
- August 22 - Diana Vreeland , American fashion editor (b. 1929 )
- August 22 - Huey P. Newton , co-founder of the Black Panther Party (murdered) (b. 1942 )
- August 29 - Peter Scott , English naturalist, artist, and explorer (b. 1909 )
- August 30 - Joe Collins , baseball player (b. 1922 )
- September 1 - A. Bartlett Giamatti , American President of Yale University and MLB Commissioner (b. 1938 )
- September 4 - Ronald Syme , New Zealand-born classicist and historian (b. 1903 )
- September 8 - Barry Sadler , American author and musician (b. 1940 )
- September 14 - Dámaso Pérez Prado , Cuban musician (b. 1916 )
- September 17 - Hugh Quincy Alexander , American politician (b. 1911 )
- September 22 - Irving Berlin , American composer (b. 1888 )
- September 28 - Ferdinand Marcos , President Of The Philippines (b. 1917 )
- September 30 - Horace Alexander , English writer, pacifist, and ornithologist (b. 1889 )
- November 1 - Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander , American civil rights activist (b. 1898 )
- November 3 - Timoci Bavadra , Fiji physician and politician (b. 1934 )
- November 5 - Vladimir Horowitz , Russian pianist (b. 1903 )
- November 11 - Kenneth MacLean Glazier, Sr. , Canadian minister and librarian (b. 1912 )
- November 12 - Sourou Migan Apithy , Beninese political figure (b. 1913 )
- November 22 - C. C. Beck , American cartoonist (b. 1910 )
- November 25 - George Cakobau , Fiji Governor General (b. 1912 )
- November 26 - Ahmed Abdallah , Comorian politician (b. 1919 )
- November 29 - Gubby Allen , English cricketer (b. 1902 )
- November 30 - Ahmadou Ahidjo , Cameroonian politician (b. 1924 )
- December 1 - Alvin Ailey , American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931 )
- December 5 - John Pritchard , English conductor (b. 1921 )
- December 6 - Frances Bavier , American actress (b. 1902 )
- December 6 - Marc Lépine , Canadian mass murderer (b. 1964 )
- December 8 - Mikhail Katukov , Russian war hero (b. 1900 )
- December 14 - Andrei Sakharov , Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (b. 1921 )
- December 15 - Edward Underdown , stage and film veteran (b. 1908 )
- December 16 - Silvana Mangano , Italian actress (b. 1930 )
- December 20 - Kurt Böhme , German bass (b. 1908 )
- December 22 - Samuel Beckett , Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906 )
- December 25 - Nicolae Ceauşescu , Romanian dictator (executed) (b. 1918 )
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