List of Famous people who died at 52

Daniel Harold Rolling, also known as The Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer and singer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in late August 1990. Rolling later confessed to raping several of his victims, committing a triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder his father in May 1990. In total, Rolling confessed to killing eight people. Rolling was sentenced to death for the five Gainesville murders in 1994. He was executed by lethal injection in 2006.

Ayako Shirasaki was a Japanese-American jazz pianist, composer and teacher living in Brooklyn, New York.

John Townes Van Zandt, better known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American singer-songwriter. He wrote numerous songs, such as "Pancho and Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Rex's Blues", and "To Live Is to Fly", that are widely considered masterpieces of American songwriting. His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability.

Malcolm Hooper Kerr was a university professor specializing in the Middle East and the Arab world. An American citizen, he was born, raised, and died in Beirut, Lebanon. He served as president of the American University of Beirut until he was killed by gunmen in 1984.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett was a pregnant 23-year-old American woman found murdered in her home in Skidmore, Missouri. The perpetrator, Lisa Marie Montgomery, then aged 36, strangled Stinnett and cut Stinnett's unborn child, eight months into gestation, from her womb. The baby was safely recovered by authorities and returned to the father.

Trevor Berbick was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mike Tyson. Berbick was also the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali, defeating him in 1981.

Sunanda Pushkar Nath Dass was an Indian businesswoman and the wife of Indian former diplomat and politician Shashi Tharoor. She was a sales director in the Dubai-based TECOM Investments, and a co-owner of the India-based Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), a cricket franchise in the Indian Premier League.

Lisa Lynn Masters was an American actress, writer and model.

Lari Michele White Cannon was an American country music singer-songwriter and actress. She first gained national attention in 1988 as a winner on You Can Be a Star, a talent competition which aired on The Nashville Network. A recording contract with RCA Records Nashville followed a year later, producing three studio albums, a greatest hits package, and several chart singles, with three of her singles having reached Top Ten: "That's My Baby" and "That's How You Know " at No. 10, and "Now I Know" at No. 5. A fourth studio album was released in 1998 on Lyric Street Records, followed by two more releases on her own label, Skinny White Girl. Overall, White charted twelve times on the Billboard country music charts. White was also married to Nashville-based songwriter Chuck Cannon.

Suzanne J. Crough was an American child actress best known for her role as Tracy Partridge on The Partridge Family.