List of Famous people who died in 2003

David Newman was an American screenwriter. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s he frequently collaborated with Robert Benton. He was married to fellow writer Leslie Newman, with whom he had two children, until the time of his death. He died in 2003 of conditions from a stroke.

John Sanford or John B. Sanford, born Julian Lawrence Shapiro, was an American screenwriter and prose writer who wrote 24 books. The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature describes him as, "Perhaps the most outstanding neglected novelist." A one-time member of the Communist Party, after he and his wife Marguerite Roberts refused to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee, they were blacklisted and unable to work in Hollywood for nearly a decade.

Bhisham Sahni was an Indian writer, playwright in Hindi and an actor, most famous for his novel and television screenplay Tamas, a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan for literature in 1998, and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002. He was the younger brother of the noted Hindi film actor, Balraj Sahni.

Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career in the 1920s he was a popular arranger, having written charts for Fletcher Henderson's big band that shaped the swing style. He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s. During the 1980s and '90s, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, which included receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the Governor of Puerto Rico, serving from 1969 to 1973. He was the founder of the New Progressive Party, which advocates for Puerto Rico to become a state of the United States of America. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Lewis Maitland Allen was an American film producer and Tony Award winning Broadway producer. He was married to screenwriter Jay Presson Allen. Allen was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won three, for Annie (1977), I'm Not Rappaport (1986) and Master Class (1996).

Maria Wine was a Swedish-Danish poet and writer.

Dorothy Fay was an American actress mainly known for her appearances in Western movies, including several with her husband-to-be Tex Ritter. She was the mother of John Ritter and paternal grandmother of Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter.