List of Famous people who are 72

James Charles Barnes is an American composer.

Etsuko Toganoo is a retired Japanese badminton player noted for her consistency and impassive demeanor, who won numerous international titles during the 1970s. Along with her contemporaries Hiroe Yuki (Niinuma) and Noriko Takagi (Nakayama), she is one of three Japanese women to have won both singles (1970) and doubles at the prestigious All-England Championships. These three helped Japan to dominate the Uber Cup competition from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. In 1977 Mrs. Toganoo won the women's doubles with Emiko Ueno at the first IBF World Championships.

General Ali Sharif al-Rifi was the commander of the Libyan Air Force until 2011 when his air force was destroyed by the NATO attacks during the Libyan Civil War. Subsequently, he was reported to be living in Niger before returning to Libya.

Peter F. Hartman is a Dutch executive and vice-chairman of Air France-KLM. He served as CEO of KLM until 2013.

Paul Hamblin is a British sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound Mixing for the film The King's Speech. He has worked on over 120 films since 1983.