2001 deaths

Gerhard Ebeling (1912–2001) was a German Lutheran theologian and with Ernst Fuchs a leading proponent of new hermeneutic theology in the 20th century.

Kurt Hoffmann (12 November 1910 – 25 June 2001) was a German film director, the son of Carl Hoffmann. He directed 48 films between 1938 and 1971. He ran a production company Independent Film along with Heinz Angermeyer.
His 1958 film Wir Wunderkinder was entered into the 1st Moscow International Film Festival and his 1960 film The Haunted Castle was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver Prize. His 1961 film The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival.

Charlie Applewhite (November 25, 1932 – April 27, 2001) was an American singer and radio host. The height of his fame came as a regular on the Milton Berle show in the mid 1950s, and he became a highly-paid entertainer, performing on records, radio, and television. The advent of the Rock era and a plane crash that left him severely injured curtailed his career.

Jacques "Jacky" Boxberger (16 April 1949 – 9 August 2001) was a track and field athlete from France who specialized in long-distance races.
He was the great hope of French middle-distance running, breaking the junior world record in the 1500 metres at Stade Charléty in 1968. He represented France at the 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics, placing sixth in the 1968 1500 metres and 42nd in the 1984 marathon. He also won the Paris Marathon in 1983 and 1985, the 1500 metres title at the 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships, the Marrakech Marathon in 1987, and French titles in the 1500 metres, 5000 metres, and 10000 metres. He suffered a knee injury during his military service with the Joinville battalion. His career was the most brilliant among male French distance runners of his era behind only that of former world mile record-holder Michel Jazy.Boxberger was part of the French team that finished third at the World Cross Country Championships in 1976.
In 2001, Boxberger was on vacation with his family in Kenya. While he was trying to film an elephant on a safari, the animal picked him up with its trunk, threw him against a tree, and trampled him to death.The middle distance runner Ophélie Claude-Boxberger is his daughter.

Alfred A. Tomatis (1 January 1920 – 25 December 2001) was a French otolaryngologist and inventor. He received his Doctorate in Medicine from the Paris School of Medicine. His alternative medicine theories of hearing and listening are known as the Tomatis method or Audio-Psycho-Phonology (APP).
Tomatis' approach, a type of auditory integration training, is known as the Tomatis Method. It is promoted as being of benefit to people with autism, but there is no good evidence to support these claims and the Method has been classified as a pseudoscience.

Jean-Philippe Lauer (7 May 1902 – 15 May 2001), was a French architect and Egyptologist. He was considered to be the foremost expert on pyramid construction techniques and methods.

Francisco da Costa Gomes, ComTE, GOA (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku ðɐ ˈkɔʃtɐ ˈɣomɨʃ]; 30 June 1914 – 31 July 2001) was a Portuguese military officer and politician, the 15th president of Portugal (the second after the Carnation Revolution).

Harvey Donald "Hank" Riebe (October 10, 1921 – April 16, 2001) was a Major League Baseball catcher for four seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1942, 1947–1949). He also received a Bronze Star and two Purple Heart medals while serving in the United States Army during World War II. He was a survivor of the sinking of the troopship SS Leopoldville off the coast of France on December 24, 1944, in which 763 soldiers lost their lives.Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Riebe signed with the Detroit Tigers after graduating from Euclid Shore High School in Cleveland. Riebe played in the minor leagues in Beaumont, Texas, Alexandria, Louisiana, Muskegon, Michigan, Henderson, Texas, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Rieber later recalled: "Detroit really moved players around a lot."
In August 1942, the Tigers called Riebe up to the big leagues. He played his first major league game in Philadelphia on August 26, 1942, in the second game of a Sunday double-header. Riebe hit a two-run double down the left field line. He went 2-for-4 in his major league debut and 4-for-4 a week later in his first game at Briggs Stadium. In all, Riebe hit .314 in 11 games for the Tigers in 1942.
After a promising start to his baseball career, Riebe was drafted into the U.S. Army after the 1942 season ended. He served in the 66th Infantry Division in Europe. On Christmas Eve 1944, Riebe was aboard the SS Leopoldville headed for Cherbourg, France, when it was sunk by torpedoes fired by a German U-boat. Riebe floated in the icy water of the English Channel and a Coast Guard cutter pulled him out. Over 750 American troops lost their lives in the sinking of the Leopoldville. Riebe was awarded a Purple Heart medal for injuries suffered in the Leopoldville sinking and later served with the 66th Infantry as it moved across Europe. In the spring of 1945, Riebe was injured by shrapnel from German artillery, earning his second Purple Heart award.
Riebe recalled listening on the radio from a tent in France as his teammates on the Detroit Tigers won the 1945 World Series.
Released from the military in early 1946, Riebe returned to the Tigers for spring training in 1946, but he did not make the team. He played the 1946 season in the minor leagues with Buffalo and Dallas.
In 1947, Riebe was elevated back to the major leagues but was the Tigers' third catcher behind Bob Swift and Birdie Tebbetts. Riebe played in only 8 games in 1946 and went hitless in 7 at-bats. When the Tigers acquired yet another catcher, Hal Wagner, Riebe was sent to Memphis in the minor leagues.
Riebe played briefly for the Tigers in 1948 and 1949, but he never came close to his .314 batting average of 1942. He hit .194 in 25 games in 1948 and .182 in 17 games in 1949. He played his last major league game for the Tigers on September 17, 1949.
Riebe played in a total of 61 major league games and had a career batting average of .212 and 11 RBIs.
Riebe also played for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1950 before retiring from baseball at age 28.
From 1951 to 1977, Riebe worked for a brass and copper company in Cleveland. He died of cancer in 2001 at age 79. He was born and died in Cleveland.
Riebe's brothers Mel Riebe and Bill Riebe played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association from 1944 to 1949.

Robert William Gillespie (October 8, 1919 – November 4, 2001) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played between 1944 and 1950 for the Detroit Tigers (1944), Chicago White Sox (1947–48) and Boston Red Sox (1950). Listed at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 187 lb., Gillespie batted and threw right-handed. The native of Columbus, Ohio, served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II.
In a four-season career, Gillespie posted a 5–13 record with a 4.73 ERA in 58 pitching appearances, including 23 starts, two complete games, 59 strikeouts, 102 walks, and 202 ⅓ innings of work.
Gillespie died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 4, 2001, at the age of 82.

John Douglas Dagenhard (April 25, 1917 – July 16, 2001) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. The 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 195 lb (88 kg) right-hander appeared in two games for the Boston Braves at the end of the 1943 season.
Dagenhard is one of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during World War II. He made his major league debut on September 28, 1943, and pitched scoreless relief in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park.
On October 3, 1943, he was the starting pitcher in the second game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the final game of the season. He pitched a complete game and the Braves won, 5–2. Both runs were unearned.
Prior to his MLB debut, Dagenhard played two seasons in the Class A Eastern League. He recorded a 26-26 win-loss record with an ERA of 4.27. There is no record of Dagenhard playing professional baseball after 1943.