List of Famous people who died in 2004

The Benveniste affair was a major international controversy in 1988, when Jacques Benveniste published a paper in the prestigious scientific journal Nature describing the action of very high dilutions of anti-IgE antibody on the degranulation of human basophils, findings which seemed to support the concept of homeopathy. As a condition for publication, Nature asked for the results to be replicated by independent laboratories. The controversial paper published in Nature was eventually co-authored by four laboratories worldwide, in Canada, Italy, Israel, and France. After the article was published, a follow-up investigation was set up by a team including physicist and Nature editor John Maddox, illusionist and well-known skeptic James Randi, as well as fraud expert Walter Stewart who had recently raised suspicion of the work of Nobel Laureate David Baltimore. With the cooperation of Benveniste's own team, the group failed to replicate the original results, and subsequent investigations did not support Benveniste's findings either. Benveniste refused to retract his controversial article, and he explained that the protocol used in these investigations was not identical to his own. However, his reputation was damaged, so he began to fund his research himself as his external sources of funding were withdrawn. In 1997, he founded the company DigiBio to "develop and commercialise applications of Digital Biology."

Ma Wenrui was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician. He served successively as China's Minister of Labour, First Party Secretary of his native Shaanxi Province, and a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He was implicated in the Liu Zhidan incident in the 1960s, and was persecuted and imprisoned for five years during the Cultural Revolution.

Ma'mun al-Hudaybi was the sixth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. He briefly succeeded Mustafa Mashhur as General Guide in 2002, and headed the Islamist group until his death on January 8, 2004. His successor was Mohammed Mahdi Akef. Ma'mun al-Hudaybi was the son of the second General Guide, Hassan al-Hudaybi.

Wong Ker-lee, was a Fujianese Hong Kong businessman and politician. He was first Mayor of Taichung after the Chinese resumption of Taiwan from 1946 to 1947 when he resigned for the February 28 Incident. After he moved to Hong Kong, he founded several banks including the Overseas Trust Bank and the Hong Kong Industrial and Commercial Bank. From the 1980s, he was the member of the National Committee of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and member of its standing committee from 1988 to 2003.

Tevfik Gelenbe was a well-known and prolific Turkish actor and comedian.

Ershad Sikder was a Bangladeshi criminal and serial killer, known for committing various crimes such as murder, torture, theft, robbery and others. He was sentenced to death for murder, and subsequently executed on May 10, 2004.

Tom Capone, born Luiz Antonio Ferreira Gonçalves, was a Brazilian music producer and guitar player. Born in Rio Negro/PR, Brazil, he died in Los Angeles hours after leaving the 2004 Latin Grammy Awards show when his motorcycle collided with a car. He had been nominated for five Latin Grammy awards. His production for Maria Rita's eponymous debut won Latin Grammys for "New Star", MBP song: "A Festa" and "MPB Record of the Year".

Irving Gould (1919–2004) was a Canadian businessman credited with both saving and sinking Commodore.

Olivia Goldsmith was an American author, known for her first novel The First Wives Club (1992), which was adapted into the 1996 film of the same name.