List of Famous people who are 72

Sir Gregory Knight is a British politician, author and musician. He has served as the Conservative MP for East Yorkshire since 2001, having previously served as the MP for Derby North from 1983 to 1997, and a minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Thomas Jeffery Cole is the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 4th congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party and serves as Deputy Minority Whip. The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) from 2006 to 2008, he was, during his tenure, the fourth-ranking Republican leader in the House. A member of the Chickasaw Nation, Cole is one of only five registered Native Americans in Congress, along with Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Yvette Herrell of New Mexico, Sharice Davids of Kansas, and Deb Haaland of New Mexico.

Jennifer Helen Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, FSA is a British politician and member of the Green Party of England and Wales. She was until September 2019 the sole Green Party member in the House of Lords.

"Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani, She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2021. She has become one of the most sought after Carnatic musicians today.

Rodney Marinelli is an American football coach who is the defensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He has been a defensive coach for several college and professional teams, serving primarily as a defensive line coach when he has not been a coordinator. From 2006 until 2008, Marinelli was the head coach of the NFL's Detroit Lions, where he oversaw their infamous winless 2008 season.

Matthias Wissmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VdA) from 2007 until 2018.

Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South African politician, doctor and anti-apartheid activist, currently serving as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. She was South Africa's Minister of Health from 1994 to 1999, under President Nelson Mandela, Minister of Foreign Affairs, under both President Thabo Mbeki and President Kgalema Motlanthe, Minister of Home Affairs in the first term of former President Jacob Zuma and Minister in the Presidency for the National Planning Commission for Policy and Evaluation under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Didier Daeninckx is a French author and left-wing politician of Belgian descent, best known for his romans noirs. He frequently uses fictional settings to transport social critique; his writings are characterized by a sobering social realism. An anti-fascist, he has also written on the Alsace Soviet Republic, on eugenicist Alexis Carrel, on Holocaust denial, etc.

Michael Köhlmeier is a contemporary Austrian writer and musician.

Neall Ellis is a South African military aviator and mercenary. Raised in Bulawayo, he joined the South African Air Force after a brief stint in the Rhodesian Army. As a helicopter pilot he was awarded the Honoris Crux decoration in 1983, and later attained field rank. After retiring from the SAAF he contracted for various private military corporations, including Executive Outcomes and Sandline International. During the civil war in Sierra Leone, he and his crew held off Revolutionary United Front (RUF) forces almost single-handedly. He also provided fire support for British troops during Operation Barras.