List of Famous people who died at 61

Yann-Fañch Kemener was a traditional singer and ethnomusicologist from Brittany, born in Sainte-Tréphine (Côtes-d'Armor), France.

Francis "Frank" Jonik was a Canadian professional snooker player.

Ann Elizabeth Nelson was a particle physicist and professor of physics in the Particle Theory Group at the University of Washington from 1994 until her death. Nelson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004, and she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. She was a recipient of the 2018 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, presented annually by the American Physical Society and considered one of the most prestigious prizes in physics.

Muriel Cerf was a French novelist and travel writer.

Götz Kauffmann was an Austrian stage, film and television actor, cabaret artist and writer.

Lothar Thoms was a track cyclist from East Germany, who represented his native country at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. There he won the gold medal in the men's 1 km time trial by marking a new indoor world record. His time of 1'02"955 was more than 2 sec better than the previous record of the same year held by Urs Freuler. He also won four gold medals in the 1 km time trial (amateurs) at the 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981 world championships respectively, thus winning all kilo events at the major international competitions in five consecutive years. In 1981 he was elected East German Sportspersonality of the year.

Henryk Średnicki was a Polish amateur boxer who represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics, starting in 1976.

Elena Anatolievna Gremina was a Russian writer and playwright who was one of the founders of the documentary theatre Teatr.doc. The fact-based approach to creating theatre that Gremina fostered made Teatr.doc a prominent place in the Moscow theatre scene and the New Drama movement in Russian theatre.

Jean-François Charbonnier was a French footballer who played as a defender and as a midfielder.

James Rizzi was an American pop artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.