List of Famous people who died in 2004

Tsai Wan-lin was a Taiwanese businessman who, at the peak of his wealth in 1996, was considered to be the fifth richest person in the world, with a family net worth of US$12.2 billion. At the time of his death in 2004, he was the richest man in Taiwan with a fortune of US$4.6 billion, ranked 94th worldwide. He founded the Lin Yuan Group, a large banking and insurance group.

Eduard Arkadyevich Asadov was a Russian poet and writer of Armenian origin.

Magomed Khamitovich Khashiev, also known as Sokhib and Khattab, was the Emir of the Sunzhensky District and a militant in the Russian federal subjects of Ingushetia and Chechnya. He was connected with dozens of terrorist acts, including an attempt on the life of the President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov. He was also one of the masterminds behind the Beslan school attack in September 2004.

Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu , born Kikuko Tokugawa , known informally as Princess Kikuko, was a member of the Japanese Imperial Family. The Princess was married to Prince Takamatsu, the third son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. She was, therefore, a sister-in-law of Emperor Shōwa and an aunt of the following emperor, Akihito. She was mainly known for philanthropic activities, particular her patronage of cancer research organizations. At the time of her death, Princess Takamatsu was the oldest member of the Imperial Family.

Manuel González Rivera was a Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador best known under the ring name Dr. Wagner. González made his professional wrestling debut in 1961 and worked the majority of his career for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). As Dr. Wagner, he worked most of his career as an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, losing his mask to El Solitario in 1985. Along with Ángel Blanco, González formed one of the premier tag teams of the 1960s and 1970s called La Ola Blanca. One of his sons works as a professional wrestler under the name Dr. Wagner Jr., and another son wrestled as Silver King until his death in 2019. One of his grandsons made his wrestling debut in 2009 under the name El Hijo de Dr. Wagner, Jr. or Dr. Wagner III.

Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov was an engineer, cosmonaut, and administrator at Russian aerospace firm RSC Energia. He flew into space five times and lived aboard the Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir space stations, spending over 268 days in space. The catastrophic explosion of a Soyuz rocket in 1983 led to him being one of only four people to use a launch escape system. He was decorated twice as Hero of the Soviet Union and received the Ashoka Chakra from India.

Crato, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was head of the German princely house of Hohenlohe-Langenburg from 1960 to his death in 2004.

Judith Deutsch-Haspel was a swimming champion who held every Austrian women's middle and long distance freestyle record in 1935.

Paul Klebnikov was an American journalist and historian of Russia. He worked for Forbes magazine for more than 10 years and at the time of his death was chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes. His murder in Moscow in 2004 was seen as a blow against investigative journalism in Russia. Three Chechens accused of taking part in the murder were acquitted. Though the murder appeared to be the work of assassins for hire, as of 2018, the organizers of the murder had yet to be identified.

Marjorie Eileen Doris Courtenay-Latimer was a South African museum official, who in 1938, brought to the attention of the world the existence of the coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct for sixty-five million years.