Roman and his wife of several decades, Mayya Gnezdovskaya, died within hours of each other. Mayya had become gravely ill in late 1993, and was hospitalized. Roman took her home on January 9th, 1994, and she died later that night. He then died himself a short time later, in the early morning hours of the 10th. A neighbor found them in the morning in their Moscow apartment, lying in different rooms.