List of Famous people who died at 89

Lodewijk Woltjer was an astronomer, and the son of astronomer Jan Woltjer. He studied at the University of Leiden under Jan Oort earning a PhD in astronomy in 1957 with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. This was followed by post-doctoral research appointments to various American universities and the subsequent appointment of professor of theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics in the University of Leiden. From 1964 to 1974 he was Rutherford Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University in New York. From 1975 to 1987 he was Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where he initiated the construction of the Very Large Telescope. In 1994–1997 he was President of the International Astronomical Union. Woltjer was honored in 1987 with the Karl Schwarzschild Medal.

Egon Gindorf was a German-born French entrepreneur. He notably served as President of RC Strasbourg Alsace from 2003 to 2005.

Severino José Cavalcanti Ferreira was a Brazilian politician, born in João Alfredo, Pernambuco. He was a member of the Progressive Party, despite having changed parties eight times in his career. He was the mayor of João Alfredo, a member of the Pernambuco State Assembly and a federal congressman.

Otto Ludwig Lange was a German botanist and lichenologist. The focus of his scientific work was on the ecophysiology of wild and cultivated plants as well as lichens. He investigated heat, frost and drought resistance of lichens, bryophytes and vascular plants growing under extreme environmental conditions.

George Stephen Morrison was a United States Navy rear admiral and naval aviator. Morrison was commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 1964, which sparked an escalation of American involvement in the Vietnam War. He was the father of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the rock band The Doors, who died in July 1971.

Mo Yun-tuan, known by the pen name Luo Fu, was a Taiwanese writer and poet.

Donald Kagan was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. He formerly taught in the Department of History at Cornell University. Kagan was considered among the foremost American scholars of Greek history.

Ewald Wenck was a German actor. He appeared in more than 230 films and television shows between 1919 and 1978.

Douglas Sirk was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left for Hollywood in 1937 because his Jewish wife was persecuted by the Nazis.

Kiyoshi Kawakubo was a Japanese voice actor. He was from Yokohama, Japan.