2002 deaths

William Thomas McCann Sr. (September 23, 1919 – July 27, 2002) was an American college basketball coach. He served as head basketball coach at Hampden–Sydney College, Washington and Lee University and the University of Virginia.
McCann played basketball and baseball at Virginia. Following his college playing career, he became a high school coach and worked his way up to head coaching positions at Hampden–Sydney and Washington and Lee. He then was named head coach at Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 1957. McCann resigned after the 1962–63 season. His record at Virginia was 40–106.
McCann died on July 27, 2002, at age 82.

William Edward Brandon (September 21, 1914 – April 11, 2002) was an American writer and historian best known for his work about Native Americans and the American West.

Jes Peter Asmussen (2 November 1928 – 5 August 2002), was a Danish Iranologist.Asmussen was born and raised in Aabenraa. He studied theology and the Greenlandic language at the University of Copenhagen and earned his candidatus theologiæ degree in 1954. He then studied Iranistics in Cambridge, London, Hamburg, and Tehran, and earned his doctorate in 1965 at the University of Copenhagen. He was associated with the university throughout his academic career, becoming associate professor in 1966 and full professor in 1967, succeeding professor Kaj Barr. He retired in 1998.Asmussen's research focused on the religions of Iran. He was mostly interested in Manicheism, but also wrote about Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity in ancient Iran, as well as the Judeo-Persian language and literature. He is counted among the central figures of the Danish Orientalist scholarship.He was elected member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1973 and corresponding member of Saxon Academy of Sciences in 1982. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1976 and received an honorary doctorate from Lund University in 1986.Asmussen died in 2002 and is interred at the Cemetery of Holmen in Copenhagen.

(John) Wallace Carroll (December 5, 1906 – July 28, 2002) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and publisher, known for his 1968 editorial “Vietnam — Quo Vadis?” which called for an end to the Vietnam War and influenced President Lyndon B. Johnson’s initial withdrawal of troops from the conflict. Carroll at the time was the editor and publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel (1963-1974). Recognized as among the best of his generation of journalists, Carroll had previously worked as news editor for the Washington Bureau of The New York Times (1955-1963), as executive editor of the Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel (1949-1955) and as a foreign correspondent for United Press in Europe (1929-1942). From 1942 to 1945 he headed the European division of the United States Office of War Information, charged with all propaganda efforts aimed at Nazi-conquered Europe during World War II. He was also the father of journalist John Carroll, the former editor of the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times.

Louis L. Merz (July 20, 1908 – September 22, 2002) was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Kam Fong Chun (born Kam Tong Chun; May 27, 1918 – October 18, 2002) was an American police officer and actor, best known for his role as Chin Ho Kelly, a police detective on the CBS television network series Hawaii Five-O.

Hadda Brooks (October 29, 1916 – November 21, 2002) was an American pianist, vocalist and composer, who was billed as "Queen of the Boogie". She was Inducted in the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.

Edward Lester Smith (October 8, 1911 – September 20, 2002), stage name Bruce Edwards, was an American actor and photographer. He primarily played supporting roles in Hollywood films and film serials of the 1940s and early 1950s. After retiring in 1953, he pursued a photography career. A yachting enthusiast, he was also the owner-director of a summer camp for boys.

Mario Cordero Brenes (7 April 1930 – 10 July 2002) was a Costa Rican football player and coach; he is still considered in his country as one of the top defenders to have played the game.

Guadalupe Dueñas (Guadalajara, Jalisco, 19 October 1910 – México, DF, 13 January 2002) was a 20th-century Mexican short story writer and essayist.