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In my language (Arabic), we say things that can be translated to:
Mr X, God have mercy on him, was ..
Mr X, God puts him in heaven, was. . . .
Mr X, God forgive him, was. . . .
How does one talk about a recently-deceased person in English in similar terms?
The phrase you are looking for is "may he rest in peace". "Robin Williams, may he rest in peace, was..."
The phrase "God put him in Heaven" would sound charmingly exotic. The person you are speaking to would likely have never heard it before, and your sentiment would sound all the more touching and sincere for its unfamiliarity.
"God forgive him" implies you think he did something terribly, terribly wrong. The clear implication (to a native English speaker) is "may God forgive him because I won't."
The previous answers are well and good, but you can also be respectful when talking about a recently-deceased person by referring to them simply as:
"The late Mr. Smith..."
This is a formal (and thus, respectful) indication that Mr. Smith has recently passed away, and also avoids any reference to religion, in case others might take offense or discomfort.
If you want to retain the use of the word "God" you could use the following:
"Mr. Smith, God rest his soul, ..."
The question is entitled 'Polite way of talking about a person recently dead.' Certainly in British English, references to religion are best avoided unless in a specifically religious context.
It would be usual to say either 'the late Mr X' or 'the recently deceased Mr X.'
In English, the following are all in reasonably common use.
The meaning is clear, you will miss the deceased, and wish him peace, rest, and to be with God.
A common way to respectfully refer to a deceased person is of blessed memory
Used respectfully in reference to a dead person:
"a gracious lady of blessed memory" (from here)
or
"Mr. Smith of blessed memory"
It even has it's own acronym OBM - generally used in writing.
"Mr. Smith OBM."
My preference is to refer to a deceased person as if they're still a person, just in the past tense. For example, my grandmother was a wonderful woman, but had many challenges in her life. It's the keeping-the-memory-alive reference style.
I think adding anything involving "resting" in "peace" shows a strong religous bias. (Being Christian, this doesn't offend me, but might turn others off, especially if they have begun questioning their believes as part of the grieving process) If I must include a phrase when referring to a specific deceased person, I would probably have to choose "the late".
In general, secular nations don't use the "God" phrases outside formal or ceremonial situations. If the recently deceased was not known to you personally you simply call them "late" plus past tense: "The late Joan Rivers / Robin Williams was .....". If you are writing something, simple past tense without honorifics is standard. See Wikipedia for many, many examples.
Even England, with its strong Christian history, makes its most important official pronouncement with no reference to any religion: "The King is dead. Long live the King."
Ben's lengthy list would be fine in a speech, most commonly at the person's funeral. Many of those terms would sound rather pompous elsewhere.
I like "Mr X, God puts him in heaven, was..." - it has a pleasant far-away-land feel to it.
"Mr X, God's have mercy for him, " is a bit too close to "May God have mercy on your soul" - a phrase to AVOID at all costs. It was often spoken by the priest or judge just before the condemned person's execution, the unspoken second part being "because we won't."
There is a phrasal verb difference you might feel like minding
Mr. X, who passed AWAY / to have passed away ...
means the person is dead.
If you say Mr. X passed OUT, you'd tell the person lost consciousness, or you'd be commenting on business opportunities.
