List of Famous people who died in 2004

Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely considered one of the best climbers of all time in professional road bicycle racing. He won both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998, being the sixth Italian after Ottavio Bottecchia, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi and Gastone Nencini to win the Tour de France. He is the last cyclist, and one of only seven, to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year.

Françoise Sagan was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse (1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.

Ray Washington Traylor Jr. was an American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Big Boss Man, as well as for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as The Boss, The Man, The Guardian Angel, and Big Bubba Rogers. During his appearances with the WWF, Big Boss Man held the WWF World Tag Team Championship once and the WWF Hardcore Championship four times.

Hoegeng was Chief of the Indonesian National Police. Hoegeng was famously known as the bravest and most honest police officer in Indonesia by the media and the people. Hoegeng lived in an era when many government officials were corrupt. Abdurrahman Wahid, former president of Indonesia once praised Hoegeng's honesty, saying that "there are only 3 honest police in the country: speed bumps, police statues, and Hoegeng". Hoegeng is one of the briefest people to head the Indonesian national police agency from 1968-1971.

Humayun Saqib Muazzam Khan was a United States Army officer who was killed by a suicide attack near Baqubah, Iraq during the Iraq War. He came to national attention in the United States during the 2016 presidential campaign as an example of a Muslim American soldier who sacrificed his life for his country.

The Ishrat Jahan case is an ongoing case where officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch and members of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Ahmedabad are accused of shooting dead four people on 15 June 2004 in a staged encounter killing.

Soundarya Sathyanarayana was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Telugu Cinema along with several Kannada and Tamil films in lead roles. She also starred in a few Malayalam and Hindi films. In 2002, she received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film as producer for the Kannada film Dweepa. She has also received three Nandi Awards,two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Actress and several Filmfare Awards South for her performances in films such as Ammoru (1994), Pavitra Bandham(1996), Anthapuram (1998), Raja (1999), Doni Saagali(1998), Dweepa(2002) and Apthamitra (2004). Soundarya acted in more than 100 films in a span of 12 years. She was regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Telugu Cinema.

Paul Edward Winfield was an American television, film and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder (1972), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1978 television miniseries King, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. Winfield was also known for his roles in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator, L.A. Law, and 24 episodes of the sitcom 227. He received four Emmy nominations overall, winning in 1995 for his 1994 guest role in Picket Fences.

Muhtar Cem Karaca was a prominent Turkish rock musician and one of the most important figures in the Anatolian rock movement. He was a graduate of Robert College. He worked with various Turkish rock bands such as Apaşlar, Kardaşlar, Moğollar and Dervişan. With these bands, he brought a new understanding and interpretation to Turkish rock.

Werner Goldberg was a German who was of half Jewish ancestry, or Mischling in Nazi terminology, who served briefly as a soldier during World War II. His image appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt as "The Ideal German Soldier", and was later used in recruitment posters for the Wehrmacht.