List of Famous people who died at 44

Behçet Aysan was a Turkish physician and poet. He was killed, along with 34 others, during the Sivas massacre in Sivas, Turkey when a group of salafists set fire to the hotel where the victims had gathered for the Pir Sultan Abdal festival.

Ali Saleh Mohammed Ali Jaber or better known as Sheikh Ali Jaber was a Saudi Arabian-born preacher and scholar with Indonesian nationality. He has also been a judge on Hafiz Indonesia and has been a Da'i in various studies on various national television stations.

Ibrahim Kalil Konaté was a Guinean politician and computer scientist. He served as Minister of National Education and Literacy and was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Loterie nationale de Guinée.

Russell Hogg was a Scottish badminton player. He reached a career high as world number 8 and has a number of titles to his name. Hogg competed at the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, and won a mixed team bronze in 2002.

Peter Collinson was a British film director probably best remembered for directing The Italian Job (1969).

Nacho Martínez, born Ignacio Martínez Navia-Osorio, was a Spanish actor.

Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985 he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.

Robert Lawrence "R.L." Ryan was an American actor.