Deaths in October 2012

1st
Sahara Davenport, 27, American drag queen and reality show contestant (RuPaul's Drag Race), heart failure.

2nd
David N. Martin, 82, American advertising executive, founder of The Martin Agency, creator of the Virginia is for Lovers slogan, cancer.

3rd
Bob Brooks, 84, American film director and advertising creative.
Robert F. Christy, 96, American theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, member of the Manhattan Project.

7th
Larry Block, 69, American actor (Slap Shot, Cocktail, Don't Say a Word).
Andrew Brimmer, 86, American economist, Federal Reserve Board of Governors (1966–1974).
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, 37, Mexican drug lord (Los Zetas), shooting.
Hank Moonjean, 82, American film producer (Dangerous Liaisons, Child's Play, The Great Gatsby), pancreatic cancer.

8th
Ken Sansom, 85, American voice actor (Winnie the Pooh), complications following a stroke.

9th
Harris Savides, 55, American cinematographer (Zodiac, Milk, American Gangster), brain cancer.

10th
Alex Karras, 77, American football player (Detroit Lions) and actor (Blazing Saddles, Webster), kidney failure.
Leo O'Brien, 41, American actor (The Last Dragon).

13th
Paul Brown, 43, American race car driver (Pirelli World Challenge), melanoma.
Gary Collins, 74, American actor (The Sixth Sense, The Wackiest Ship in the Army) and television host (Miss America), natural causes.

14th
Kyle Bennett, 33, American BMX cyclist, traffic collision.
S. Ward Casscells, 60, American cardiologist; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (2007–2009), prostate cancer.
John Clive, 79, English actor (A Clockwork Orange, The Italian Job, Yellow Submarine).
Buster Pearson, 71, Jamaican musician, father and manager of Five Star.
Joseph Rosenmiller, 87, American businessman and philanthropist.[174]
Eddie Russo, 86, American race car driver.
Larry Sloan, 89, American publisher (Mad Libs), co-founder of Price Stern Sloan, after brief illness.
Arlen Specter, 82, American politician, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1981–2011), complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Marc Swayze, 99, American comic book artist (Captain Marvel).

20th
Paul Kurtz, 86, American skeptic and secular humanist.
Dave May, 68, American baseball player (Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles), complications from cancer and diabetes.
John McConnell, 97, American peace activist, designed the Earth Day flag.
E. Donnall Thomas, 92, American physician, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1990), heart disease.

21st
Antoni Dobrowolski, 108, Polish Holocaust survivor, oldest known Auschwitz survivor.
Ted Kazanoff, 90, American actor (Law & Order).
George McGovern, 90, American politician and USAAF pilot, U.S. Representative (1957–1961) and Senator (1963–1981), 1972 Democratic Party presidential nominee.
Steve Paul, 71, American nightclub owner (The Scene) and artist manager (Johnny Winter).

22nd
Russell Means, 72, American Native rights activist and actor (Pocahontas, The Last of the Mohicans), esophageal cancer.
Salvatore Merlino, 73, American mobster (Philadelphia crime family).

24th
Peggy Ahern, 95, American child actress (Our Gang).
Jeff Blatnick, 55, American Olympic gold medal-winning (1984) wrestler and sports commentator, complications following heart surgery.
Bill Dees, 73, American musician and songwriter ("Oh, Pretty Woman", "It's Over"), brain tumor.
Margaret Osborne duPont, 94, American tennis player, winner of 37 Grand Slam titles.

25th
Emanuel Steward, 68, American Hall of Fame boxing trainer and HBO boxing commentator, complications of diverticulitis.

26th
Mac Ahlberg, 81, Swedish cinematographer (Beverly Hills Cop III, The Brady Bunch Movie, Oscar), heart failure.
Arnold Greenberg, 80, American businessman, co-founder of Snapple, cancer.
Alan Kirschenbaum, 51, American television writer/producer (Yes, Dear; My Name Is Earl; Raising Hope), suicide.
Natina Reed, 32, American singer/rapper (Blaque) and actress (Bring It On), traffic collision.

28th
Bob Brunner, 78, American television writer and producer (Diff'rent Strokes, Happy Days, The Odd Couple), heart attack.

29th
Jack Vaughn, 92, American public servant and diplomat, Director of the Peace Corps (1966–1969), cancer.

30th
Leonard Termo, 77, American actor (Fight Club, Johnny Dangerously).

31st
Teri Shields, 79, American model and actress; mother and manager of actress Brooke Shields, illness related to dementia.